butter-fly

What was your start weight? You look great! Everyone looks great! So inspiring!

You can consider going to Mexico? Surgery is a fraction of the cost in Mexico compared to the US and the quality of care is awesome.

You can consider going to Mexico? Surgery is a fraction of the cost in Mexico compared to the US and the quality of care is awesome.

Pipulla gave you the same verse I was going to. Personally, I have unintionally worshipped food for far too long. I have thought about every meal, obsessed over the scale, perused recipes, wasted $$ on failed diets, read books, and on and on and on with food, more so than my God. I have been deeply convicted of this. My heart has been more focused on food and my weight for years. It's like a love affair - I think about my weight and my size all the time, I plan my next diet just to fail at it and feel badly about myself. Food, and diets are my idol. If I have a good day with my diet than I feel good about myself. If I have a bad day with it, then bad about myself. I have gotten my self esteem more from my wieght than from God for years. This is not how He wants us to live nor where he wants us to gain our identity from. Food and my obsession with it and my weight is the biggest sin in my life. God commands that we love Him first and have no idols before him, and if something causes us to sin, we are to flee from it. Or as Pipulla stated, if our right eye causes us to sin, we are to cut it out. I believe that this surgery will help me get rid of this idol. I will no longer be distracted by food. I will eat to live, not live to eat. God intended food to be sustinance for life, not the center of all enjoyment. I have had total peace since I decided to have this surgery. I personally feel that I am doing in obediance to Him.
Now that said, that's me. If you DON'T have a peace about it, or if this surgery will cause you to obsess more, than carefully consider if it is God's will for you. I totally appreciate your friends thought process and where she is coming from, but she probably doesn't understand the sin and idol that food is in your life. God bless.

Pipulla gave you the same verse I was going to. Personally, I have unintionally worshipped food for far too long. I have thought about every meal, obsessed over the scale, perused recipes, wasted $$ on failed diets, read books, and on and on and on with food, more so than my God. I have been deeply convicted of this. My heart has been more focused on food and my weight for years. It's like a love affair - I think about my weight and my size all the time, I plan my next diet just to fail at it and feel badly about myself. Food, and diets are my idol. If I have a good day with my diet than I feel good about myself. If I have a bad day with it, then bad about myself. I have gotten my self esteem more from my wieght than from God for years. This is not how He wants us to live nor where he wants us to gain our identity from. Food and my obsession with it and my weight is the biggest sin in my life. God commands that we love Him first and have no idols before him, and if something causes us to sin, we are to flee from it. Or as Pipulla stated, if our right eye causes us to sin, we are to cut it out. I believe that this surgery will help me get rid of this idol. I will no longer be distracted by food. I will eat to live, not live to eat. God intended food to be sustinance for life, not the center of all enjoyment. I have had total peace since I decided to have this surgery. I personally feel that I am doing in obediance to Him.
Now that said, that's me. If you DON'T have a peace about it, or if this surgery will cause you to obsess more, than carefully consider if it is God's will for you. I totally appreciate your friends thought process and where she is coming from, but she probably doesn't understand the sin and idol that food is in your life. God bless.

Just quote her Matthew 5:20 and tell her God gave you his blessings. That should shut her up very quickly!
"And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."
Only because I prayed about this, and this was given to me as an answer. Be at peace with your decision. It's right there in black and white.

I haven't read every response so I'm sorry if I'm duplicating. And I thought I read you were going for a cosolidated list, so I'm putting it all in here. If that's not the case, ignore as appropriate. My sleeve next month will be my 4th abdominal lap procedure and 2nd bariatric procedure, and based on my lessons learned here's what I suggest:
For hospital:
Wear somethong with no waistband, preferred. Like a house dress. Inevitably I've had an incision EXACTLY where my waistbands fall. And I'ev also had a few incisions that were intentionally left unclosed. Those hurt the worst, even though they're the smallest, and also tend to be right where my pants hit. If you must have a waistband, try to find one without elastic (e.g. drawstring) so you can fully adjust the tightness. When I had my band out I wore one of those velvety track suit things, mine has a drawstring waist. Perfect.
Wear slip-on shoes if you have them. Socks are hard to get on when you can't bend comfortably, and I don't like other people putting socks on me. Flip flops, or those fugly plastic clog shoes (forgetting the name), or a ballet flat or something like that. If youdon't have or can't get, then when you take off your sneakers pre-op, leave the laces all loose so you can just slip them on later.
Nook or Kindle or book or whatever. My sleeve will be the first procedure that requires me to stay overnight, and post-op I've een either asleep or prepping to go home, but pre-op? I played Boggle on my iphone for almost 2 hours pre-op. Was glad to have it. DH was there but is always more nervous than I am and wasn't a great talker.
I always bring a small hair clip. You can't do anything but wash/rinse your hair the day of, and you're probably (technically) not allowed to shower the night of. I have curly hair that gets bushy if I can't put some kind of product on it while it's still wet. So I always bring a clip to at least pull the hair back from my eyes.
I prefer to bring my own slippers (they have memory foam soles).
I bring my own robe. I haven't been able to wear it (IV lines, etc.) but hospital blankets are cold. Even the warm ones get cold too quickly. My robe is warm. And it can double as an extra pillow, because those flat jokes in the hospital aren't cutting it.
Chapstick, deodorant, my own toothbrush, skin lotion and hand sanitzier. (I put all of the above in my purse). If my face or hands are dry, I will not be able to focus on much else.
Pillow, for supporting your stomach. Especially if you have a large pannus, this will help. When I had my lapband put in, it took me about 3 days of walking completely hunched over like an ancient lady until I realized that the majority of the pain was coming from my pannus "pulling" down on my incisions. As soon as I started to support my pannus with my arm, it was like night and day. LIttle nicer doing it with a pillow than your forearm, but hey, I was desperate. I will also help to apply steadying pressure when you go over potholes on the ride home. (About 4 days post-op DH drove me to visit my parents. He took a route that goes over a train crossing. He had a "theory" that the faster he went, the less I would feel the bumps so he gunned his truck and his them going about 45. Our marriage almost didn't make it to the next block.)
When I had my lapband out, I had the most horrible sore throat from all the gear using my mouth as enter/exit. Truly it was far worse than strep, and easily the single worst pain I had after surgery. I didn't have any eating/drinking restrictions so I used Chloraseptic. If you can have some type of analgesic lozenge or something, go for it.
Electric razor. Let's just say I'm 1/4 Greek and would be a good candidate for laser facial hair removal if everyone hadn't told me it feels like exacto knives slicing your face repeatedly. This isn't required, but I need it for comfort level.
For drive home:
I haven't yet had anesthetic make me nauseous, but it can make a lot of people sick for a while. I drove my mother home from a bariatric surgery she had and we kept having to stop on the interstae so she could chuck on the side of the road. So the REAL suggestion here is get a driver who doesn't get queasy when she hears others chuck. Second suggestion is to bring some type of a barf bag (those blue emi-sleeves the hospitals have are great) if you know or suspect the anesthesia will affect you. There's something about car rides that seems to make it worse, even if you've been "fine" for a while.
Keep said pillow with you. Either to support your abdomen, or to nap, or both. (If your procedure is outpatient, you'll probably still be nap ready by the time you're released)
Keep a blanket in your car. I'm always freezing cold after surgery, for a day or two. And DH is not, so it's nice to able to limit the use of the heater - for his sake. (BTW, when people lose weight, especially quickly, they tend to discover they're perpetually cold - you might want to just keep a blanket in your car long term).
At home:
I have DH bring one of the recliners up from his theater room and station it in the living room. From there I have same-floor access to the door, kitchen, a half bathroom, etc. This recliner becomes my docking station for at least 3 days until I can comfortably lay in bed. And on that note, I'd suggest getting some extra pillows. When I CAN lay in bed, I do best if I'm VERY propped up. I suspect this will be true with sleeve surgery, especially until my acid production drops off.
Don't wait until you're out of surgery to try and find supplements you like. Have them selected before hand, and have a few options. Things will probably start tasting different. Have cold & room temp Water ready. Not all bariatric stomachs tolerate all temperatures. When I had by AGB surgery DH bought a little apartment fridge to keep in the LR so I didn't have to walk into the kitchen. That was overkill. But if somehow being able to stay on the same floor as the fridge weren't possible, it would've been awful handy.
I'm queuing up movies & shows to watch on Netflix. Daytime tv sucks monkey butts. Also holding off on getting a few books I really want to read, so that I can have something to do until I can comforably move around.
If you have someone who can help you around the house for a few days, do it. Think about kids if you have 'em, pets... and how may up/downs it is just for an hour or two.
I don't like to take my hydrocodone any longer than I have to, so I use liquid Tylenol and try to have a few bottles on hand. Gas-X never did a thing for me other than taste bad. The gas that Gas-X works on (I say "works"lightly) is not surgical gas, i.e. the piercing ache you might feel around your collarbone/shoulder area... so don't buy it thinking it will bring relief. Surgical gas, and intenstinal gas, are two wholly different things. As an addendum to what I just said - I just remembered that an RNY friend dumped on liquid tylenol. For VSG it might be better to wait and see if you can tolerate it, unless your surgeon gives you the OK ahead of time.
If your shower hyas a stationery head, I suggest getting one of the kind of tubing that you can move around. Especially for ladies out there. Bending and twisting is gonna smart, and let's face it. Some things in life require us to bend and twist, or be able to hit it with some Water. I'm just sayin'...
When I had my AGB and the graduated diet, I made sure to buy everything a few days prior to my surgery so that I didn't have to go to the store if I didn't want to. Ends up I wanted to, the next day, just to walk around a bit. But having the option is nice.
Since my AGB both of my parents have had bariatric procedures. I've made each of them a large gift basket and brought it to the hospital. Here's what I try to include:
small plates (cocktail size)
toddler utensils
refillable water bottle that will fit into a car drink holder, and has ounces hashed so they could track water intake
liquid Tylenol
Wet wipes/hand sanitizer
Snap-up robe (belt can be uncomfortable)
SF Jello
Mio or Crystal Light (was allowed with their surgeon)
liquid breath freshener
Sudafed dissolvable strips
corn bags (cloth bags filled with field corn, I think they're far superior to heating pads, and caln also be frozen)
Book, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, etc.

I'm 200 lbs and have been trying to do the pre-op diet for over a week now. I do well for a few days -then I blow it! I'm still at the same weight as when I started. Anyone else have this problem? Is this indicative of how I will do post-sleeve? 6 days till surgery and frustrated with myself!

Oops, I mean I thought they provided at the hotel.

I think what you are feeling is normal. I got the book "Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies" and have found it extremely helpful and even motivating.

Anyone who has already experienced their surgery -- were there any "additional" costs you were not expecting?

I'm "penciled in" for Oct. 9 with Drs Lopez/Osuna. So excited!

Faith can move mountains and can take care of bills! Prayers lifted.

I did HCG - was successful-- gained it all back (plus more.) I'm getting ready for surgery in Oct and a little scared that my metabolism is so screwy from being on a vlcd and that the sleeve may not be successful for me because of that. So those of you who ate past HCGers and current sleevers- how's the weight loss going for you with your sleeve?

I "only" have 70 lbs to loose. I know since i have less to loose I will loose slower. I'm wondering how much can I expect to loose the first month and how long has it taken others to make it to a 70 lbs loss goal.

Where are you going? I'm hoping to get sleeved in Mexico in October.

I'm "penciled in" for Oct. 9 with Drs Lopez/Osuna. So excited!

I "only" have 70 lbs to loose. I know since i have less to loose I will loose slower. I'm wondering how much can I expect to loose the first month and how long has it taken others to make it to a 70 lbs loss goal.

I "only" have 70 lbs to loose. I know since i have less to loose I will loose slower. I'm wondering how much can I expect to loose the first month and how long has it taken others to make it to a 70 lbs loss goal.

I was sleeved in Tj, Mx on 8/3. I did not have any complications, but just from the research I have done over the last yr that lead to my decision in all honesty complications are NO MORE common in Mx than here in the states. As a matter of fact, surgeons in Mx have been doing the procedure longer than our surgeons here.
We also have a complications forum as well as a Self-Pay/Mexico forum and you may get a few more responses there.
Hope this helps....