VSG4aHealthierMe

As of right now, they unequivocally will NOT cover ANYTHING to do with it. I would love if they did but walmart has such tight pockets I doubt it will EVER happen They won't even cover blood work because its considered "routine" or so I am told by insurance company. Personally, I think the execs are afraid of losing a couple mill a year out of the multi-million dollar paydays to offer adequate coverage for their employees who are barely making it week to week. But that's just my opinion.

Frankly it would scare the crap out of me to be perfectly honest.

As far as anything requiring credit I have been denied for every loan I have tried to get (lack of credit history). My family is poor like me lol, they can't afford to loan anything that would make ANY kind of difference. Payment plans or lump sum will be the same as far as how much we can afford because we plan to save every penny of my $$ once I get a job because DH's check pays the bills and for diapers, etc.

Its moreso price than anything. I worry about taking them across the border because my son HATES holding hands and I worry he will disappear. I may have to get one of those backpack leash things Price is the biggest issue. We were barely gonna be able to pay for it when it was just the 2 of us. DH and I are trying to figure out a way. He is going so far as to check into cashing in his 401K, but I just don't know if we can make it work...

Thanks ladies. I was just so excited and now to realize this may not happen for me.... Well, my name says what I am feeling right now. "FatTrapped".

As I have said b4 I was relying on my mom and my sis-in-law to watch my boys while I went to mexico. I have been waiting to hear from my sis-in-law. I never doubted she would do it, never thought she would say no. She did. She had very valid reasons and I don't hold it against her but without her help we will have to take the boys with us. My mother can't handle them for a week straight. She was just gonna watch him for a couple days and a few hours during a few other days that week to give my sis-in-law a break. Taking the boys with us tacks another (roughly) $1500 (maybe more) to the trip cost, when we were barely gonna be able to afford it w/o taking them. Also, I don't know how I feel about taking my boys out of the country this young At this point I am looking at over $12,000 to do this. I am almost starting to wonder if I shouldn't try again to see if I can find an affordable doc in the states... I don't want to price shop but I can't see myself affording Mexico @ this point. I feel like the bottom has been pulled out from under me :broken_heart::cry_smile:

Awww, you really had had a hard time! Praying that you will heal quickly from it all and it won't be postponed!

Good luck to all the august sleevers!

That's a really good idea! I will have to remember that! For the TS- (hugs)

I'm a little late on this but I hope everything went wonderful and I hope your recovery is easy and quick! Welcome to the beginning of your brand new life!

Ok, my brain is cranking all kinds of things out at the moment but only 1 thing is making a whole lot of sense that hasn't already been mentioned. 40 hours PTO in one weeks pay. You keep saying that you will only need off 10 days, right. Well can you take 1 week vaca and have them schedule you off the first 3 day of week 2? My reasoning is you will be paid for week 1 then the first 2 days of week 2 would be like your regularly scheduled off days. Then you would only be short 1 day of pay. FYI, you don't have to wait until Dec for FMLA. Its there everyday of every year to be used. Sometimes, like this, you can give your employer a heads up, other times its an emergency situation with no notice. They don't only offer it certain months. I don't know when your surgery date is but if they are trying to get you to hold off by telling you its only available to you if you wait until Dec they are bold face lying to you. Also, you son't have to take the full 3 months. You just have to get a note from your doc releasing you to return to work Hope I helped somehow. Good luck!

I'm a little late on this but I hope everything went wonderful and I hope your recovery is easy and quick! Welcome to the beginning of your brand new life!

What she said :lol:I couldn't have put it any better myself!

Congrats on your new beginning! Rest as much as you can. The more you rest the more energy your body can devote to healing. I don't know what you are feeling right now but just remember its temporary and soon you will be better than ever! KUP!

I am pre-sleeve but from what I have read you should see you GP (general physician/practitioner) about 2 weeks post op just to many sure you are ok, check your blood work, etc. Then your GP should monitor your CBC and other levels regularly thereafter to make sure you don't become malnourished, dehydrated etc. The beauty of the sleeve is you are not in and out constantly getting adjusted but for at least awhile (not sure how often of for how long, you may want to ask your surgeon about that) you need to keeps tabs on your blood work so that you know what your body is lacking that it needs. Someone, please, correct me if I am wrong but from what I have read that's what *I* have gleaned from it. HTH! Good luck!!

Well, for once I can say it pays to be a college student with 1 income and 2 kids lol. If it weren't for tax returns I wouldn't be able to go to him either. That will help with a chunk of the cost and we just have to save up the rest... plus with me being in school I have to wait until spring term lets out to get it done which is why I have to wait until may I wish we could get financed and do it sooner but sadly I have zero credit history. I considered almanza and ortiz as well as one other doc and aceves (I really "shopped" around lol) . Have you see almanza channel on youtube? I went there and had a bunch of questions answered. As good as everyone and everything says Aceves is he really isn't a video person. He didn't even narrate his vid on the sleeve. I hate that as I am the type that would love to get to know him BEFORE I actually show up (which is one reason I seriously considered Ortiz for awhile- his vids are all over the net and he seems very personable and knowledgeable), but this time I decided to take a leap of faith and trust that Aceves is as patient centered and friendly as all the testimonials say he is. In the end I was comforted by the fact that I could not find one single bad thing about him and his surgical abilities, and trust me I looked. That's what settled it for me. All I can say is as long as you have done your research and feel comfortable and safe with the surgeon you choose then that's the best you can do. The rest is in God's hands When do you think you will be able to do your surgery?

I hope things are going better for you now. My prayers are with you!

As I said, I just recieved my pre-op diet. The short version is: It says the point is to put you in a *temporary* state of ketosis, but with the post-op diet being so similar is it really temporary? If not, whats different, other than the obvious, post-op that makes it different? I kinda like the idea of the whole high protein thing, because it will give me an excellent excuse to try out some protein shakes and other things lol. As far as the "plain water" part, does that mean I can't even use sugar free-flavor packs? Water and I don't get along, tap or bottle- doesn't matter, it ALL tastes "rusty" to me. I always thought I could use diet, sugar-free packs. Is the plain water things JUST b4 surgery or after too? I think I can suck it up and do it for a week... but for the rest of my life is a much bigger commitment. Not that I wouldn't do it. My life is more important than flavored water. But I know myself. I am MUCH more likely to get in the recommended amount of aqua per day if I can flavor it. So, this is a point of interest for me. I do gotta say its nice to know I won't have to starve on a liquid diet like some people I have seen on here. I felt SOOOO bad for them reading their posts. No matter how good a reason its HARD to be hungry and not get something to eat. My kudos go out to each and every person who did a liquid diet and stuck with it! You've got bigger cojones than I do

Hmm, I guess I will have to play it by ear and see how much lifting is required with him by then. My oldest didn't require much lifting by 2 but he was always much more independent. Eli, my youngest, has always been more sensitive and dependent so he may be more high maintenance at age 2. If walmart approves it my DH can take the week of surgery off using vaca, 3 weeks off leave using sick time to get pay while on leave, then possibly use his second week of vaca at the end of that totaling a max of 5 weeks paid time off. He rarely uses his sick time, which is why he has so much of it, so I am not too worried about that but I would hate to have him have to use both weeks of vaca up, plus sick time, plus what little personal hours he has all for this surgery and leave him with nothing left. Besides, his family reunion in next august. If I take his second week of vaca he won't be able to go May just do a week w/o pay if we really must... Don't know. Luckily (the only good thing about having to wait till next may) we have time to get this figured out.

No, you are not alone. I have considered surgery many times in the past but always decided I wasn't ready to give up trying. Now that I have decided to do this it all I can think about...and I still have 10 months b4 I can get it done!! If I had the $$ today I would schedule it for tomorrow if I could, lol. I keep telling myself I have more time to prepare this way but I just won't listen to myself.

I'd like to know this too! I have been looking and its all so overwhelming, even with the few recommendations I have read/heard about there is still alot left to get overwhelmed by!

:lol:The sad part is some people wouldn't see that as sarcasm

Wow, you really did have a quick recovery! The last time I had lap surgery I was down and out for awhile. I've noticed that my body treats surgeries kinda like a virus. The first one is horrible and the following one(s) (even years later) aren't so bad. Like with my cesareans, my first one I took FOREVER to recoup from it was like 6 months after that I even started to feel like myself again. After my second on I was up and getting around great b4 I even left the hosp. So I am hoping the same will apply to my second lap surgery... Yeah walking will be my primary exercise immediately post op. I figure its something that is easy to stop when I can't go anymore, its low impact so I don't have to worry about my incision ridden belly bouncing too much and hurting me and its something the whole family loves to do DH and I have been talking about getting a treadmill too for the days when the weather is yucky or too hot or for when DH isn't home (its not easy getting 2 kids ready to go anywhere by yourself, lol) that way I will have absolutely NO excuse not to exercise. I figure even if I am completely exhausted I can still manage a 5 min slow walk on the treadmill so it seems like a good investment. DH and I have wanted to create our own little workout room for sometime now but other more important things have always come up to prevent us. This time this is the most important thing and almost everything else(my family is always numero uno above any other priorities) will just have to take a back seat lol. Then as I heal more and can do more we will add pieces of equipment a little at a time like an elliptical and something like a total gym when I get to the point where I am ready to start toning up Any advice on the best workout equipment? If you go to the gym what are/were the pieces of equipment you liked best and/or found the best results with?

I'm curious about the above mentioned things. I am mainly asking because I am curious if a week post-op is enough time as far as when DH goes back to work. How long did the post-op weakness last? How much were you able to lift at what point post-op. By surgery time I will have a 5 year old and a 2 year old so I kinda need to know (esp with a 2 year old) how long it will be b4 I can lift him and care for them. I am also curious how long post-op that I may feel up to getting out and actually playing with my kids (running with them and such- energy and healing wise). Thanks in advance! ETA: I just realized I must be an idiot this week, lol, because I put YET ANOTHER post in the wrong place. I was thinking the "pos-op questions and answers" were for the post-op people with questions. I just read the discription and realized this belongs there not here. Ack.... Bear with me please, I am new to the board and trying to figure everything out still

Lol, yeah his boss is a man hehe. Unfortunately, he will be taking 2 weeks off for my surgery. The first week he will take vaca for. He has 2 weeks vaca a year but walmart (ours anyway) has this ridiculous policy that you can only take a week at a time. So the second week he will take off to give me some recoup time b4 I am all alone with the kids again and for that he will have to take a FMLA leave. In order to do that Dr. Aceves will need to fill out some forms (I have already talked to his office and they said this will not be a problem). Having taken an FMLA leave b4 due to a high risk pregnancy I know what is required on the forms and you must list the reason the leave is required. So Management will find out one way or the other. I am a self-pay, but it will take us several months to save the $$ to time wise it will be like doing it in the US with insurance. I have already been approved though and I am calling to schedule a tentative date tomorrow. They don't have a schedule for next year yet because they don't know when the seminars and whatnot that he must attend will be. Once that info is known a firm date will be set. With the info I sent her I included stats, so I really can't do much more. Now I am just waiting and hoping she comes around on the procedure. She seems to have excepted that she can't talk me out of it. I don't know if she finally read the info or what but when I mentioned something about it today (well actually my son did. He said "When you go to Mexico I am going to stay with "punk-punk" [my mom], "baba" [my grandma who lives with my mom] and aunt angie[ my sister in law who will share the the responsibility of watching them so that no one has them for a week straight, they will take turns]) she didn't get super quiet like she has the past couple days. I also mentioned aguy on youtube (MrSmileyFL) and was telling her that I liked his videos because he is real. He doesn't act like he went to the spa the day after surgery, he was honest and admitted he was feeling kind weak. Plus he does reviews on high Protein foods which is helping me get acquainted with my options post-op. Anyway, I told my mom all that and she actually seemed kinda happy to see that I knew that this is surgery and it won't be easy (even though I have said a hundred times that post-op adjustments would be difficult). Whatever helps, lol.