Kat Crowder

My suggestion would be to say that you're trying to eat better and follow the advice of your doctor - which is totally true. I'd feel guilty if I actually lied.

I haven't heard about Bound Brook, NJ in years! I lived in Bridgewater when I was a kid about 35 years ago - what a kick to see the name!

I'd never heard of them before, but I googled around a bit and people at least like it for holding them in place. They're rubbery and you're soaking after wearing them. We'll have to wait to hear your reviews!

I got a referral from my PCP two weeks ago. I have BCBS-IL too. How long should I wait to hear back from the insurance co. I have a BMI of 43.

Afyna, it never hurts to call the insurance company and check. A lot of people, including me, have had a response come quickly after calling to follow up. Whether that's coincidence or not, I don't know.

Good luck!

After 20+ yrs in OA & still 317 lbs. this surgery was my last hope. I lost 32 lbs b4 the surgery as my insurance required & only 28 lbs @ 3 1/2 mos post-op. I can't find words for how discouraged I am with the results of this surgery. I've stayed the same wt now for about 5 weeks. I am so afraid this is it for me when I have sooo much left to lose (100 lbs). I wish now I'd gone with the bypass choice or lap band. I am so frustrated & ready to give up & go back to eating sugar & junk. I've already mentally thrown my hands in the air. This surgery was meant to save my life in more ways than one & now I don't care anymore.

Please don't lose hope! Look at how far you've come already - 60 pounds total out of 160 to lose? I agree with everything that walesmary said, just keep working on your exercise and nutrition, and look at the other ways things have improved. Going to the sugar and junk will just make you more unhappy.

I'm a week away from my surgery, and I know I'll probably think similar thoughts at some time or another - and I know that the wonderful people here will help pull me back from that precipice. We're making an investment and commitment to our health, and we've got to stick with it!!

-Kat

My denial at BCBS-IL was reversed after submitting additional documentation an having the surgeon talk to the insurance company, without even submitting an appeal. A lot of people seem to get an initial denial and come out with approvals.

Congrats to you, and good luck! You're right, it's the first day of your new life!

I sorta have abs, when I suck in my chest I can see a 4 pack. I'm going to try very hard for abs and if I get a flat stomach I'm going to say "F" those stretch marks and wear a bikini.

Woo hoo, go you! Sounds like a plan, and one I'll follow, too. Though right now I'm in pre-surgical-diet unhappiness mode.

Good luck, you guys! There's a lot of you May 14th-ers for today, so you're in great company! I'm a week out from y'all, so I look forward to hearing how everyone's upcoming week goes post-surgery.

Good for you for blogging!

If only Blago were going into his next journey looking to come out an improved man! Hope it goes well, and keep us posted!

Took my effexor and went for a walk with my daughter this afternoon! So, feeling better!

Waiting for Monday sounds good, maybe things'll smooth out on their own. Are you taking the Effexor XR? My doc said I could pour the capsules out into my mouth or into a small amount of shake or something, but I'm not entirely sure how to make that work right.

Hey everyone! I know its been a few days....not feeling 100% at all. Stayed 2 days, had a fever, and very low bp. Pain is very manageable. I had dilauded for 3 days. I now feel like i have the DT'S! LOL. My head is soooo foggy still. Everything i put into my sleeve, it cramps like crazy!! Just one more note for those of you who had to find out the hard way like I did...if you have to "toot", make sure you are on-the-toilet!!

Good to hear from you! What have the doctors advised on the sleeve cramping? My general thought would be to try lukewarm or roomtemp stuff.

Inline, sounds like a great plan - I'll echo what the others say, make sure you get some Protein before your workout, and getting your endurance up and having muscle before the surgery should be good for recovery. I'm 4 days into my 2 week pre-op diet, and I was so glad that I felt energized enough to work out yesterday in my class. 600 cal just seems so low; my SparkPeople.com fitness tracker won't let me put in a calorie goal less than 1000.

Hey my Chicago Sleevers! My name is Juli and I was sleeved on the 17th of April. I was glad to see that this group was started as I am always looking for others that are nearby that have had the same thing I have had done. I am always thinking of questions and really am not sure where to turn. I currently am in my 3rd week and have not lost a pound for 3 weeks so I am feeling a bit frustrated. I have heard that this is normal but i cant help but think that I am doing something wrong, ya know? Any one experience this before?

Hi, Juli -

I'm new here myself - getting sleeved at Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village on May 21st. The Post Surgical forums are probably the best place to ask questions like yours about stalls, usually people say "make sure you're getting your Water and Protein in, and walking, and you'll move past it, don't worry!"

The groups based on localities are kind of odd - it's nice to know there are local people we can identify with, but questions and comments about anything unrelated to just Chicago fits better in other forums. I'm glad to make a connection with fellow Chicagoland folks, and doing something in person sometime would be great, but there's such a wealth of knowledge on these boards that it seems that when searching for info it's best to keep things with the group at large.

Those are my thoughts on why there's less activity here.

We'll keep an eye on you! Congrats and good luck!

Finally good news my bank did the loan phew

Glad to hear it!

Tick tock ... I will be getting on a plane in less than 8 hours. I am so excited and not nervous. I must say that the bowel prep sucked!

That's great that you're not nervous. I'm curious how they plan the pre-surgery prep stuff when you have to fly to get there, because my bowel prep is the day before my surgery. Are you on Water only, or fasting?

I'm getting sleeved May 16th! One week left!

Yay, one week! I have a week and a half, it seems so much farther away than a week!

I had surgery at Tucson Medical Center on Monday. I didn't ask how long I was out after surgery. But it seemed like whatever narcotic they gave me in the recovery room did not work. As soon as I got to my regular room I was given PCA Morphine and was able to walk around right after that. My pain was much better after that. After a one night stay in the hospital i came home yesterday with a script for Vicodin. I'm not gonna sugar coat it. It was a lot tougher than I expected, but I know it will be worth it. I hope this makes sense. I just took another round of happy pills.< /p>

That's kind of how I expect it to be - tough but worth it. I've never had any sort of surgery except wisdom teeth extraction with twilight anesthesia, so I'm a bit nervous about that, but I'm trying not to be too anxious. I'm glad you're home and on happy pills!

Well, user BlackBerryJuice sure has abs!

Good luck! There are so many little hurdles that we encounter - even if there's a delay, you'll get there! *hugs*

Good luck!

May 21

I'm May 21, too! I didn't realize there were a couple May threads on here. I moved away from Seattle in 2005, I miss it a lot. Soooo beautiful!

DONE. Thank you all for the well wishes. It was really bad for the first two hours post surgery. But now I'm feeling good. They fixed a large hiatal Hernia and found a bunch of cysts on my spleen. Cysts were benign.

Yay for the benign-ness of cysts!

How soon after the surgery did you wake up, and where were you? I realized I haven't seen that mentioned elsewhere.

So, I had all my pre-surgical testing today, and apparently I have an abnormal EKG and gallstones. After briefly panicking and then doing some research, both of those seem pretty common. My primary care doctor will look at the EKG tomorrow and either consult with a cardiologist and clear me for surgery, or have me go in for something else. I'll talk to the surgeon about the gall bladder, but I think I'm going to choose to keep it in for now and only deal with it if I actually have problems in the future. Since we're planning a single site surgery and the gall bladder may require a larger incision, I'm just as happy letting it stay in place until (or unless) it becomes a problem.

I went to The Melting Pot for my last meal before going on the 2 week liquid diet, and I managed to put on 7 pounds overnight! It must be mostly Water retention, but golly! I have a Withings scale which automatically sends the weight and body fat calcs to my computer, and decides which subscribed user was weighed by the weights in the system, and I was too far off from any other weights for it to believe it was me - I had to manually assign it to my weight line.

Anyway, that's how things stand with this upcoming May sleever!