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Aren't husbands funny? (Sorry guys who are reading this!) Really, I think it's just the non-surgery spouse who doesn't quite know what to say or what to do. My hubby said "I'll do the 2 week, 20 carb a day diet with you!" but he keeps forgetting and ordering mac and cheese and drinking milkshakes. I'm strong, though - people are going to drink milkshakes in front of me and that's their decision. My decision is to follow all the rules and kick some sleeve butt.

I had that, too! Surgeon said No worries - we'll fix that while we're in there. And apparently inflamation can be from anything and probably temporary. It is unnerving to go in for something that you think will be normal and have them find something weird, huh?

Thanks for the idea, Disney. I'd really like to stick with my surgeon. Everything is lined up for next week. I'm just confused with what the surgeon's insurance person told me. Basically my insurance company is telling me they'll pay for anything related to the hernia repair, but the person at my surgeon's office who is doing the billing says she won't even bill them.

Hi All- I am lucky enough to have great insurance, but they require a 6 month diet/fitness at a location that I just can't do. So, I decided to go ahead and self pay. Ugh. 20k here in Seattle. When my surgeon did the endoscopy, he found a hiatal hernia that he's also going to repair. I talked to my insurance company to see if they'd cover the hernia repair that was being done at the same time. They told me they'd cover that, plus the anesthesia, hospital room, etc - anything related to hernia repair. Whoo hoo! Right? I called the surgeon back and the insurance person there says it's still 20k, that they will bill my insurance for the hernia repair but it doesn't change anything because the surgery is actually more than 20k and they are giving me a price break because I'm self pay. Anytime I see my insurance paperwork, the in network providers (which my surgeon is) always gets a huge discount. I can't imagine they'd lose money by charging a self pay person less than the surgery costs. So - what do I do? The insurance specialist at my surgeon's office pretty much shut me down and said I have to pay the 20k. Help!! This doesn't seem right.

I agree! Even though my husband is as supportive as possible, if I thought he wouldn't miss me, I'd sneak off and never tell hiim I had the surgery. It's just embarassing to think I weigh this much and the less people who have to know, the better. That's one reason I didn't choose the band - I don't want to have to go back and mess with fills. I want to fix this once and for all and move on as a NORMAL person. April 10 for me too - gonna be a great day!

I'm two weeks preop, but it must be maddening to be following all the rules and barely eating just to hop on the scale and see a gain. That's definitely the kind of thing that would make me think "Well, this diet isn't working - I should give up and have a cookie." That scale can be such an enemy. Your gain is probably just your body storing water to repair the muscles you're building - hopefully the scale will show results for you soon! Good luck!

Courtney - I think we were on the same eating plan as 14 year olds! I was thin and all I ate was a single hoho for lunch and small bag of jelly Beans for dinner. No wonder I'm here now,huh?! Yay for no more pretending to not exist so people don't notice us. And let's all think skin tightening thoughts so we look awesome in those swimsuits!

Tomorrow is preop admission stuff for me, plus the visit with the surgeon, nut, etc. And when I give them my $$ and convince myself this is going to work. April 10 seems far away since it's still March! I'm having a hard time convincing myself I could actually be thin. Nothing has worked before and I don't want to get my hopes up. Trying to maintain a positive attitude!

The pros and cons of stretchy pants! Congrats on your loss and loose pants!

jocelyn - I tease my husband, what if I change my mind after they are rolling me down the hallway? Will they be mad at me? Good to know the preop isn't too bad. I guess I've made it this far, so a few more people asking questions and poking at me isn't too bad. I just want to jump ahead, oh, maybe next year this time!

The phone call was the wow moment. Up til now, I've been jumping through hoops, etc,not really looking further ahead than the next hoop. Now I'm outta hoops! The Nectar protein powder is good, btw!

Does anyone know what the preop is, exactly? I'm always more nervous when I'm not sure what to expect!

Just got my date - April 10! Now I'm flipping from "Whoo Hoo!" to "Oh...am I really going to do this?" Anyone else feeling nervous?

Those tests are definitely torture. And they can never find a vein in me, so that just adds to the fun. I was pretty much the same amount of FAT with each pregnancy but my first baby was born when I was 27 and my last when I was 36. Unfortunately a 36 year old body doesn't do as well with the stress of pregnancy as the 27 year old body did! So I did have gest. diab, but the finger sticks weren't bad. Maybe watch your cake intake before the next test. I feel bad for you. It's embarassing to vomit in front of a bunch of people! Let us know what you find out.

Oh, that's miserable! I had gestational diabetes with my last baby and I just had to check my blood sugar wtih a finger prick a few times a day. Maybe your OB will let you do checks for a week and see how your numbers are instead of doing that horrible three hour test? If you just barely tested over, your finger pricks will probably be fine and you can have one less thing to worry about!

Sounds like the first week is the worst. I'm not scheduled yet (fingers crossed for soon!) but I love to hear it's easier than c-sections. I've had 4 of those also and they send you home with a newborn. J.Fabulous - I think our pups are related!

Hi Piper, Me, too! Getting chubbier each year health problems getting slightly worse each year tried all the diets with success, then failed with regaining everything plus extra avoiding social events same weight as you, but I'm shorter endoscopy scheduled for Wednesday this week but... do I really want to do this? The thing that has motivated me the most is that although there are complications you read about, I haven't read anything from anyone that they are unhappy a year after surgery! For me, that's amazing. I had my gallbladder removed a few years ago and I'm not sure I'd recommend that surgery to anyone. But this surgery - everyone ends up loving. So I guess it's just time to bite the bullet and know the next 6 months will be difficult but what's the chance we'll be the only two people in the world who regret the surgery a year from now? Hope this helps!

Had my psych consult yesterday. Passed! Whoo hoo! Not too crazy! But, he asked me something interesting and I want to pose it to you. I told him I had been struggling with the decision to have WLS for years and he said that's not unusual. Most people he speaks with have the hardest time with thinking they should be able to do this themselves. Yup, that's me. I still wonder that. So, I ask you, my sleeved family, what happened to make us gain weight back in the past? Boredom? Won't I get bored with a sleeve, too? Eathing unhealthy food? Won't that be possible, although in maybe smaller amounts? What is going to make me stick with this program when I never stuck with the others? I'd love to hear from people who have been successful with their sleeve and know what keeps you on track?

Love this thread! I'm seeing my surgeon on Thursday and I've been trying to eat like I should, managing to lose 10 pound in the past 3 weeks. Then that little voice speaks up and says "Save your $20,000! You're smart! You can do this!" But if I look at my history, I know I can lose it but it always finds me again. I love hearing that other people have the nagging little voice, too. Maybe that voice resides in the part of our stomach that will be removed?!

SO Jealous! Wish I had started this 8 months ago. You look amazing! Congrats.

I'm right beside you on that roller coaster!! I'm hoping to get a date in late March and sometimes I think this is the best idea I've ever had and sometimes I think what the heck and I doing? I think it's the emotional side of our brains that are saying things like "Oh, you'll never eat cake again." and I've found if I can just use some logic on those thoughts, they go away. Like, Sure, you can have a bite of cake. And that's all you'll want. And you'll look awesome eating that bite and walking away instead of shoveling the entire cake down and then being ashamed. I'm 42 and I look back at all the junk I've eaten. Was it worth it? I've spent pretty much 20 years eating whatever was near by and not tied down and it's about time for me to stop that. My kids are younger than yours, but I avoid the camera like crazy. Who wants to face those pictures and the truth? I'm looking forward to pics that I can look at and feel good about. If we don't have some reservations about surgery, I don't think we're being honest with ourselves. I'm sure you'll hear from many more people who are riding our very same roller coaster.

And GB people tend to talk a lot about slime? Hmm.. never looked it up, but pretty sure I don't want that!

Hi Dreamkin, I heard a similar thing at the information night I went to. I walked in the door, knowing I wanted a sleeve and the surgeon talked a lot about GB and the band, and just barely mentioned the sleeve procedure. When I specifically asked about it, he said it was the "new kid on the block and getting a lot of hype." He prefers to do the GB because, in his words, if you have diabetes or if you've ever had acid reflux, the GB fixes those. I'm with you, though, I think the sleeve would fix them, too, and with less complications. Maybe not immediately fixed, but when you lose weight, they should get better, right? I love how the sleeve is kind of a happy medium between the band and GB and I'm still wanting to go that route. Good luck!

Lots of good points. Thanks for all of the replies! It sounds like 60/year is a reasonable number. I don't want to be the one they "learn" on and I also don't want to be number 784 where we are all lined up and just a number to the surgeon. On a side note, I talked to a surgical center that is popular here (seattle area) and they had done 100's. But, when I googled the surgeon I was scheduled to meet with, he had just gotten off of probation for giving out blank prescriptions to people who wrote them for oxycodone!! Ugh. I guess the lesson here is to choose wisely and that the numbers aren't all you need to know.

Hi All, So I've found a surgeon I like and with the gastric sleeve, he's had no deaths and no complications. None? Well, that's what he tells me. Over the last 12 months, he's done 60 of these surgeries. He does more bands and a lot more bypasses. He's been doing these surgeries for about 5 years, so I'm trying to decide, is 60 surgeries a year enough for him to be good? How many sleeve procedures have your surgeons done? I don't want a newbie! Thanks!