JayhawkJess33

I am self pay as well. My insurance won't cover anything related to weight loss :mad5: . My surgery is March 20 and my total is $12,500. That includes everything - hospital stay for one night, surgeon, anesthesia, etc...and followup visits. My surgeon is Dr. Domkowski in Sebastian, FL. He is wonderful!

Thanks so much Vance and finaly! I am beyond excited to change my life in such a positive way! Finaly, what date is your surgery? I definitely want to stay in touch with those being sleeved right around the same time as me - my husband and mom (who lives with us) are incredibly supportive but I find the boards SO helpful and every single person knows what you are dealing with. Vance, I will definitely keep in touch! I understand what you mean completely about it not being Lawrence ) We like Florida a lot too but its definitely not the same and the people aren't NEARLY as friendly as in the midwest, for the most part. How wonderful that you have had such huge changes in your health with what you have lost already - that is awesome!! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

The only reason I can think of that you might have a negative home pregnancy test and still be pregnant is if you were too early for the test to detect the hcg in your urine. If you are a month late, there should be no issue with the test not detecting it. I once had a negative urine test in my OBGYN's office and turned out to actually be pregnant - it was just too early when they did the test. 4 days later I still hadn't gotten my period and just had a feeling so I bought another test and did it at home and it was SUPER positive then! Good luck - hope you get some answers soon!

Congrats on your sleeve! Sounds like you are completely normal ) Don't worry about the extra pounds! They pump you full of fluids when you have surgery and it will take some time to get rid of that - after each of my c-sections it took about 10 days but I have seen lots of sleevers say that by 5-7 days post op that fluid weight is gone. Keep up the great work, keep us updated as you feel able!

Wellllllll, Vance, I might give you a run for your money :biggrin5: I am a HUGE Jayhawk fan! I grew up an hour from Lawrence in Garnett (tiny!) and then also went to KU. Lawrence is just about my favorite town anywhere and I miss it so much. My husband (also a Jayhawk) and I moved to Orlando about 9 years ago but we will always be Jayhawks. All of our family is still in KS so we still get to go back and visit once or twice a year. What took you to Texas from KS? Awesome job with your sleeve! How is it going for you?

Thanks Diva!! I am very excited to begin this journey and see how my life changes. You are truly an inspiration to all of us newbies and your encouragement is incredibly helpful! Will keep you updated!

YAY!!!! It's a little further out than I had hoped for but I had to work around my husband's travel schedule for work. My surgery is scheduled for March 20!! It's amazing how fast things move when you are self pay vs. insurance. The only thing I have to take care of before then is my blood draw. I start a liquid diet on March 13, so just one week before surgery. It feels much more real to me now since I have an actual date to plan for. I can't wait to join all you sleevers on the loser's bench! Thank you all for all your support and information!

I have answered lots of posts on VST but this is my first actual topic post. It feels like I have been waiting ages for today and tomorrow to get here and now it finally is! I have my psych eval this afternoon and then my nutrition appt, EKG and labwork tomorrow morning and an appt with my surgeon tomorrow afternoon. I live about an hour and a half from all of the appts so I am staying in a hotel tonight while my hubs stays home with the kids - I don't think I will know what to do in a quiet hotel room! I already feel nervous for all the appointments for some reason.......but I am SO excited to feel like the real part of my journey is starting. I'm hoping to get a surgery date when I meet with my surgeon tomorrow Will update after appointments!

Yay!!! Today is YOUR DAY! How very exciting! I can't wait to join you on the loser's bench in a few weeks! Best wishes today for a smooth surgery and start to your recovery! Keep us updated as you are able and get lots of rest.

FABULOUS!!!!!! You look amazing and so very happy! I can't wait to be where you are! Great job!

I am so glad to see this post! I am still preop and had some egg drop soup the other night and it started me wondering if I might be able to eat it postop, both for the liquid and protein properties! I hope I will be able to tolerate it as I love the stuff! Will have to check on the MSG though.....hadn't thought of that before.

Wow! What an inspiration you are to those of us who are soon to be sleeved! You look wonderful!

Yay!! Congrats on your sleeve - sounds like you are doing fantastic! Take it easy and update us as you feel able! Can't wait till I am right there with you!

Don't panic! I am not sleeved yet but have had 3 c-sections and after each one of them, I came home weighing several lbs more than when I went in AND had had a decent size baby! It always took about 10 days and then all over a sudden it would just fall off. They really pump you full of fluid in the hospital so just give it a bit of time and try not to weigh yourself for several days - then you will likely get an impressive drop! Congrats on being sleeved - I can't wait to join you in a few weeks!

Congrats on joining the ranks of the sleeved! I can't wait to be there too! Take it easy and keep us updated as you are able. So glad everything went well for you and you aren't having too much pain!

That all sounds great - I do think that is a pretty reasonable price. Dr. Domkowski that I am going with is $12,500 and Dr. Kim at Florida Hospital Celebration was around $16,750 for self pay. I, too, considered Mexico and really thought long and hard about Dr. Aceves as he has been doing WLS for so many years and is very respected in bariatric circles but in the end, I just didn't feel great about traveling to Mexico and then not being close to my surgeon if I would have complications later. Plus, I feel SUPER confident in my Dr. He is wonderful and his former patients have nothing but wonderful things to say about him, as well as the nurses from the hospital that he does his surgeries in. I believe I have to do a one-week liquid diet before my surgery but of course I will have all the ins and outs next week when I meet with him again! I am so very excited to get started. It can't get here fast enough for me. I am SO up for the challenge.......... I just can't believe where I have let myself get to....It truly affects every facet of my life, both physically and mentally. I let it interfere in everything. I have about 127 lbs. (from my highest weight) to lose to get to my goal weight of 160 - although, to be honest, I have no idea where I will actually be at that weight because it has been so many years since I saw that number. I think I will have to wait till I get closer and re-evaluate. I'm tall (5'10") so I have to keep myself from looking so much at what other people's goal weights are and know that I just can't go that low.....really I just want to be healthy and comfortable in my own skin. I'm lucky enough to not have health problems (no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, no sleep apnea, etc...)

Don't fret (too much ) For each of my 3 c-sections this happened to me and it all melted away around the 10 day-2 week mark. I felt like that was sooooo long but it was consistent each time and I knew it wasn't "real weight" - plus its kind of fun to see the scale drop such a big amount practically all at once! Congrats on graduating to the loser's bench!

Lissa, I'm thankful you have a caring and competent surgeon too, considering he is also mine!!! LOL Seriously though, every time I read something about Dr. D I feel more and more that I made the perfect decision to go with him ) Lilu, I am so sad to see how much you are hurting because of this - I know I would feel the same as you even if I knew it was for the greater good in the long run. I read a quote from a poster this week that was something like "Keep your goal in mind and the bumps in the road won't matter" and I have thought back to that many times since. I think it is fitting for you too - I know it seems impossibly hard to stay positive right now and believe that it will, in fact, happen. My surgery can't come fast enough (I don't have a date and am so anxious to move forward I can't hardly stand myself!) so I know how frustrating more obstacles must be but really think about what the other posters have said. You want to be your healthiest for surgery and look at Lissa's situation - the extra time and hoops literally saved her life by preventing those clots from circulating. Keep coming here for support and answers to your questions - we will all get through it, one day at a time!

Pheonix, You are absolutely not alone in this! I love how BionicBroad put it - for every up-beat post, there are at least 10 lurkers having a hard time. I don't have any explanation for the up and down weight but wanted to reinforce the fact that you are certainly not the only one. Come here often for support and answers to your questions - that has helped me tremendously and I am not sleeved yet either. I love your posts too Rootman! One day at a time, my friend.

Wonderful!! That is SO exciting! I live in Orlando and looked into several doctors, one being Dr. Jawad. I have ended up choosing Dr. Domkowski in Sebastian. I am scheduled for my surg. consult, psych eval and nut appt all in the same day so I am hoping to be able to go ahead and schedule my surgery that day as well (I am also self-pay). My husband has several business trips coming up in late February and early March (of course, since that is really when I wanted to be free to schedule my surgery!) so I will have to work around that but am so very anxious to get a date and get this journey started for real! I am doing a self-imposed pre-op diet which is really just tracking my food, lower carb, higher protein, getting in ALL of my water every day and exercising some. I figure if I can take some off now, that is less I will have to take off after surgery and I like the goal-oriented nature of it. I have lost 11 lbs. so far in just over 2 weeks and would like to have a total of 25 lbs. off by surgery day. Do you have to do a liquid diet before your surgery? If you don't mind my asking, what is Dr. Jawad's self-pay price? Maybe we can be sleeve buddies since we will be so close together for surgery time

This is why I LOVE belonging to this board! Everyone here gives WONDERFUL advice! I completely agree with it all - take your own drink and do what you can. Drive separate if that is an option so that when you reach your limit, you can go without feeling stuck or frustrated. You will feel great having gotten out but also great that you could make your own timeline and do what works for your recovery! Let us know how it goes!

BJ's is a wholesale club similar to Sam's Club, Costco, etc....I think they are only in the south as I had never heard of them before I moved to Florida. That recipe sounds delicious - will definitely be giving that a try! I am heading to BJ's this morning anyway so I'm adding the veggies to my list! Thanks for sharing!

What an inspiration you are to us all!!! I am soon-to-be-sleeved and so anxious to get to the losers' bench - I am just tapping my foot waiting for my next appts. and was kind of in a funk earlier in the week. You have renewed my optimism and excitement about getting sleeved!!! I am on a self-imposed "pre-op" diet, which is really just lower carb, higher protein, more veggies and absolutely getting in all my water every single day. I am down 10 lbs. so far and have at least 3-4 weeks till surgery (don't have a definite date yet) so I am hoping to be down quite a few more preop. You have done phenomenally well for 5 1/2 months out - I hope I can be as successful! That really is an amazing drop in sizes too - SOOOO exciting! I am a nurse as well (but I stay home full time with my little ones now) and last time I was in the workforce I was in 2XL scrubs and I am a little heavier now than I was then so I can sure imagine how amazing it would feel to wear MEDIUMS!! Keep up the great work!

So very very exciting! I am hoping for a date next month and I know I will be BEYOND excited when I am as close as you are! We will all be thinking of you - check in and update us when you are able!

That. is. awesome! I can't WAIT to get to sizes that I haven't seen in many years! 33 lbs. in 2 weeks is phenomenal! Keep up the good work and keep us posted!