LoserMama

Count me in. Combine the liquid diet with the anxiety, excitement, fear...recipe for cranky!

I think it's totally normal. I am having mine a day after you and while I am not terrified, I am alternating between nervousness, fear of complications, fear of losing my food, and excitement and thinking about hopeful NSVs. Then I have the thought that I will be like the ONE person for whom this doesn't work... Just keeps rotating, I feel really self-absorbed!!!

Yeah, it depends on plan design and what plan your employer selects. There are a bajillion blue crosses, ok, not that many, but then each of them has lots of different plans that employers can choose for their group benefits. The employers can customize too.

I agree, exciting!!

Good luck, I am right behind you on 12/21! Excited and nervous!!

Sending you patience vibes.. is there someone you can call to check on their status?

OH man. I would be so frustrated. I'm so sorry. But good attitude about using the extra time.

bcole, I have the same surgery date as you, and even though I HAVE tons of complications and DON'T like the way I look or feel, I'm still having second thoughts. I think its pretty normal. In the end, you need to weigh the pros and cons for yourself. My high weight in August was 278 at 5'7" and I just believe I need the tool of wls to get back to healthy. I think you hear tons of people on here saying I wish I could have done it when I was younger. I'd also weigh some of the things that may be in your future in your pros and cons list. For example... if you want to have kids, our pregnancies are higher risk and more often end in c-section than our normal weight peers. Once you have the kids ,chasing them is not fun when you are not healthy. And your behavior is a big influence on your kids -- so it becomes a cascade of potential obesity problems. If you don't want to have kids what other things are on your bucket list that you know you can't do without losing weight? On the other side, this is a major surgery with risks, and if you think that you could do this alone through diet, exercise and behavior change, definitely do it! I saw a story about a young woman the other day, who has lost something like 200+ pounds on weight watchers, so it is possible, with support and dedication to do it on your own. Just get the supports around yourself to do it, and still know that at our weight we realyl have to do something, but we have to be ready to do something, because we have to feel it inside ourselves that we are ready for, and have a reason for, this change.

Very cool -- we'll be doing this together! Good luck to you as well!

glad we could help. I bet there will be some incidental charges for supplies, meds and stuff that will increase the total bill, but I think those are the big chunks.

I am only on day 2 of 7 days of full liquid diet. I have to say I'm still a little uncertain how much I can be having, because I was just told full liquids, no specifics beyond a list of examples of full liquids. So, I have had liquids both days so far, and fine. Like tonight, it was my youngest son's birthday, and we went out to Red Robin. I had them blend the chicken tortilla soup for me and it was great! I also had about 1/4 of my husband's mint chocolate milkshake, so I'm sure while that was liquid, it wasn't exactly on the list, ahem. Today I had 950 calories, and yesterday I had 1100. so I'm going to just try to get myself down to say 800 tomorrow and then hang out at that level.

me me. I have to pay $35 for each doc visit, $25 for each dietician PA visit and psych eval. So preop, I've spent $150. I got my financial responsibility letter from the surgeon, its $150 for the surgery total for him. Then I think its $150 for the hospital and apparently nothing for the anesthesiologist as long as they are a preferred provider. http://fepblue.org/benefitplans/2011-sbp/bcbs-2011-RI71-005.pdf

Woohoo, so excited for you!!! You are going to rock your sleeve, woman.

You did -- there is a slight glimmer of hope...LOL!

This is kind of what I think and what i meant by "nature"....lol. I am kind of sort of wondering if you have awful stretch marks, whether you probably have less elastic skin and that means you'll have more snap back problems....I'm just assuming I will not have good bounce back. Sadly. How much does brachioplasty and the panniculectomy cost if you are self-pay?

wow, well, this is interesting. Now I'm freaked out! I didn't get diagnosed with silent reflux until november, well after my initial consult. I told the PA last month that I started dexilant for reflux, that didn't raise any alarm bells for her. Hmm. Oh god, if I hear I can't have the surgery tomorrow....man. I'll keep you posted. I would go bypass though instead if I had to. He had told me either was an option for me. I can't figure out what the difference would be however. did he tell you why bypass doesn't have this problem? I'm so curious.

looking at old threads and wondering if anyone was on PPIs before surgery?

Kicking this back up, because I would like to hear about this too. I think a lot of it has to to do with nature -- what your skin resiliency is, and then how fast we lose weight, how much we have to lose, how much muscle we build, all comes into it, doesn't it? I'm expecting a lot of hanging skin, unfortunately

I'm not post-op yet but will definitely try to remember to come bakc to this thread to share. I did ask my doc about this , as I've had three prior c-sections, and he said the recovery from this physically will be a walk in the park compared to the c-sections. So I'm hopeful I'll be able to handle it. I have been schooled in the importance of walking and moving and getting going quickly though because of the c-sections.

Here are my specific guidelines. They are good for post-op and give a pretty decent list of what is ok on full liquids, but it doesn't address the quantities of calories or protein to get PRE-OP -- all the guidelines are for post op so I still have a question as to whether the amounts are this small pre-op. But I hope it helps some. SleeveGuidelines.pdf

I am on day 1 of liquid diet and this is basically what I did too, with a last night at Tucanos, a brazilian grilled meat type restaurant, so even that while I ate a bit more than I should it was low carb -- all meat and cheese except two tiny cheese bread ball things.

I amd on day 1 of my pre-op liquid diet. OMG. Its getting closer! Anyway, I was given all of these post-op nutrition guidelines and phasing and examples, but for pre-op, was simply told to do full liquids for 6 days prior to surgery and Clear Liquids 1 day prior to surgery. What was not included was whether my pre-op portions/calories/protein targets should be the same pre-op as they will be post-op. The sample post-op full liquid diet phase is 4 oz of Protein shake for Breakfast, 1-2 oz of additional full liquid if still hungry, same for lunch and dinner, and then an evening 4 oz of Protein Shake. is that the total amounts i should have in pre-op phase? That will be a ridiculously small amount of food with a still huge stomach, but maybe that is the point. Were you given more specific guidelines for amounts/calories?

The questions I have on my list (not that these will be your concern) that I didn't ask him at my last visit because it was so early in the process... are: Can i have my gallbladder removed at the same time? (can any tests be done pre-op to evaluate current gallbladder health prior to surgery?) How do you close the stomach? Staples only or are there stitches too? What size will my new stomach be (bougie size)? Do you ever progress patients to full liquids faster (my nutritionist plan says a week to 10 days of Clear Liquids.) if you see any other issues (like hiatal hernia) when you go in, will you correct this at the same time? Since you will be gone after my surgery, what will happen if there are issues, who will do rounds and discharge me? (this is definitely unique to my situation) is it possible for me to be early in the day? What kind of drains will be used? will they be left in and if so, when do they get removed after surgery? Will it be okay for me to be traveling at 3 weeks post surgery? I've heard I could be in the hospital 1 or 2 nights, what is typical?

Yes, the isopure zero is super good, I hope I like it after surgery. It tastes kind of like weak koolaid. and none of that weird whey aftertaste. it does have an aftertaste, but liveable and nothign like the shakes.

this is great, so great to hear an update of a real meal out "from the other side." Thanks!