gmanbat

Three times the insurance approved three separate operations, 2 wls for me and wife and a gall bladder removal for me. All three times they reneged on paying for the anesthetic, over $3,000 each. As if they wanted us to get cut open biting on a stick. We called and called and called and finally got someone who wasn't a screwball and got them paid.

Actually 60 years later. This story with great pictures really touched me. I'm a sucker for mushy stories lately. http://www.viralnova...ge-sweethearts/

Early on I had a water bottle in my hand almost always. You can sip in a lot of liquid if you keep at it. The idea is to not put a lot of pressure on your recently stapled stomach. Taking it easy now will assure a good outcome.

You show an awareness of the nature of this surgery. It will change your life. You will bid goodbye to former emotional supports and say hello to new strengths. It is a passage as profound as graduation or marriage. You are dying and being born at the same time. That which once defined you no longer will, you are writing a new identity. You are releasing into freedom the self that was always there and parting with the one that imprisoned you. You are a sentient being of immeasurable worth who treasures life. Your emotions are valid. My best to you.

I have never left eggs entirely. Egg drop soup in early stages, eggs in many forms since. They've never bothered me, the protein is great, and the taste twangs my buds.

I think aspirins are a problem. Tylenol is about the only thing recommended. Ibuprofen is not liked either but I take the gel caps sometimes.

I chew big tablets up no matter how bad they taste. Just a foible of mine against tablets. I baby my stomach trying to make up for tearing it apart.

I am 64 and mine are getting harder to find all the time. I didn't think they would fade so much. They are a non-factor now.

I have been assimilated into the collective of folks who think you look great. We are taking over. You must join us. Resistence is futile.

I have an area in the back of my throat that seems to catch food. I actually cough up food and chew it again. It is quite annoying, especially to my family, I sound like Gollum when I'm doing it. I didn't have this before sleeving, may be a coincidence. I'm going to get a doc to look at it.

The often quoted phrase points out a human foible: judging the validity of arguments by the audacity of those who speak them. Degree of craziness is a ridiculous measure of truth but it sways ignorant people who judge not by content but by emotion and "instinct". But then there are the multitudes who lash out at anything that disturbs their sleep. Thinking brings change, change requires energy and can bring pain or pleasure. Most are not willing to risk the effort.

My father was plagued with it, my brother has it. My wife had it and so did I. It ended quickly after surgery for both of us. That is my prayer for you.

No, I left the area when I was in my early 20's. My people all still live there. I had my surgery with Dr. Lalor in Bowling Green, Ohio. He did the gastric bypass on my wife, too. Good doctor.

Sorry you are having a struggle with the cash. Don't give up! I am from Waterloo, Iowa. Dan Gable went to West High on the rich side of town. I went to East High, on the rough side. We ate west side kids for Breakfast. Gable definitely would be an exception.

A lot of folks carry little pillows around to push lightly on their bellies in case of a cough. I believe it would apply to laughing as well, Mrs. Seinfeld.

It was not a movie that I would want to see in 3D for sure but I did watch it. If you can get past obsessing about the fact that someone has a scissors and staple gun working over an internal organ you will be fine. Sounds like a B movie plot: Psycho Office Manager.

So there I was ...330 pounds of exhausted, heavy breathing, high blood pressured, diabetic, sleep apnea laden, shell of his former self humanity. I had taken the "normal" way many times, the slippery slope of hundreds of diets, miracle cures, and sure fire programs only to tumble back down in a heap, more unhealthy than before. My wife began talking to me about weight loss surgery. She had been up that slope as many times as me and fell down with the same result. I was appalled that she would choose such a drastic step, I volunteered to hold a gun at her head at dinner time... in my mind the same as what she proposed. The batting of her big, beautiful eyes melted me down as it always does and I ended up at an "information" meeting held by the surgeon at our local Center of Excellence bariatric hospital. My steely resistence melted away when I detected the sound of sound science and saw the many results obtained by the patients there. I came away from the meeting sleeve-minded to the shock and delight of my bride. Now, a year and a half later, I am free of excess fat, diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and all that accompanies them. The only heavy breathing I do is when I run up a steep hill with 2 1/2 pound weights on each foot, carrying a 20 pound kettle bell, full speed, 12 times. Even then I am back to normal breathing before I hit the shower back home. This from a guy that used to compare the steps to the upstairs bedroom with Mt. Everest. So now I feel guity. It was a lot easier to get the operation than suffer with the effects of obesity. It was easier to make an effective intervention than run down a thousand more dead end streets. It was easier to take a chance on life than taking a dirt nap that odds are would have happened by now. But, you know, guilt can be earned or slapped on you by ignorant people. The same folks that charge you with the high crime of "taking the easy way out" would take the same route in a heartbeat if they weren't such lilly-livered cowards. So I will file the guilt of "easiness" away in the same folder with the shock belt I bought some years ago that was supposed to melt away fat but succeeded in just making burn marks on my belly; the folder of dumb ideas.

I believe analytical thinking is growing increasingly scarce. In the narrowly confined brain activity of the mediocre there is little room for consideration of anything beyond the norm. The average yokel reacts from blind emotion and fear. It annoys the zombie hordes when someone exhibits life beyond widely accepted stumbling and mumbling. Their brain hardly functions and they want to eat yours because it does. I have been an oddball in many ways all of my life. Being different is not so bad. After a while you are happy that you cut yourself from the herd. I am glad you see their retribution coming in the form of your coming slim form. It's turn or burn for them: turn to your side in applause or burn with envy. Let 'em stew in their ignorance.

Very inspiring! Way to go, sara_demae !

Ha, ha,.....yeah......Lortab?

My question: what is the great advantage of a quick surgery date, other than satisfying impatience, that is? If it is a medical emergency such as get the sleeve next week or die, it is understandable. My bmi was only 41 with high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and diabetes. I was not put back by the 6 month wait. I needed the time to research, set my brain, and prepare for the rest of my life. When you have lived 64 years, 6 months is but a moment. I needed the time. Adjusting was rough enough. My time researching and getting my mind right prepared me for the battles ahead. There are quite a few folks on this forum that can't get the insurance to pay for the surgery, 6 months wait or not. They would take the 6 months gladly.

Think about what you're thinking about. If it's not worth thinking about don't think about it.

When I take my negative self talk to the mirror and look myself in the eye and actually say the words it p***** me off and I want to fight! I can't talk that way to me! Actually it makes me laugh. I look like such a dork feeling sorry for myself.

Big hurdle passed! I failed my psych, 60's hippyness tripped me up. My angry surgeon straightened them out.