TheCurvyJones

Countdown Clock 48 days to surgery. Went on a bit of a shopping spree yesterday, so a few packages are going to be coming to me in the next week or so. My Clarisonic Mia has shipped and should arrive in about 5 days. I also ordered some wild growth hair oil, which was recommended by a friend that I call my hair guru. She's really just a product junkie that keeps her finger on the pulse of black hair care. She recommended this stuff for my edges. I'm also hoping to get some thickness back in my hair. Once I have the surgery, I am guaranteed to lose hair so I want to thicken it up a little bit before then. I used to have a lot of hair, but it has really thinned out in recent years. I ordered a new coat from Target. It'll be the last plus sized coat I buy. It's tight in the arms but I am keeping it because soon I hope to be swimming in it. It'll be a nice gauge to me for weight loss. When that coat is too big I will rejoice. I also have some vitamins and biotin on the way. Going to start getting in the habit of taking them now. I went to the gas station yesterday and because I was hungry I let myself buy some junk, so that's all I had for dinner last night. And I have more of it today. What I SHOULD do is throw it away and go to the store and get some protein, some sugar free jello and some water. Maybe later on...... I DO want to start ramping down the junk, because I have 38 days before I will be on a liquid diet before surgery. Yesterday I went to lunch with a coworker and ended up telling her about the surgery. She and I work closely together so there is no way she won't notice. I will also tell my boss, but I believe that's about it, from work. Eventually everyone will know but I want to keep my plans to have the procedure under wraps right now. Anyway, we were talking about how great the new year is going to be with a whole new me. "Can you imagine," I said. "I could be down by 50 pounds by my birthday at the end of March. That would put me under 200 pounds. I haven't been under 200 pounds since college. That's CRAZY!" I'm ready for some crazy.

Hi. Welcome to my quest. I turned 38 on March 25th at a whopping 273 lbs-- the heaviest I have ever been on my birthday. I dieted down to about 243 by June 1.... and then bounced between 243 and 238 ever since. As of this moment I am sure I am over 250. I have been fat since my teens, so a very long time. I have been as low as 218, but I haven't seen that number since the end of 2007. I haven't been under 200 lbs since I was in high school. On top of that, I am legally blind and I wear very thick glasses. I am awkward, shy, and painfully introverted. A fun night in is a bowl of popcorn and a good book or all my internet buddies. I know nothing about makeup and most days I don't give a crap what I look like. I don't date at all. Men aren't interested in me even if I wanted to date, so that makes it easy to just not care. I am scheduled for Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy on December 21, 2012. I've told myself that I have a bit over a year to get my act together and be 'fahn'-- not pretty, not 'okay if you're looking at her from far away', not 'well the fat one has a pretty face', not 'would be so pretty if she was thin'-- FAHN. It's a word that my friends and I use when we mean more than pretty, more than beautiful, more than hot, more than sexy. FAHN. By 40. I will be there. Since I have a bit of time before my surgery and I am ANXIOUS about it, I need a project to distract me. I am going through things I want to do to make changes and one of those things is my face. Well, the skin on it. I have facial hair, I have melasma (dark brown patch on my cheek), I have stubby eyelashes, I don't wear makeup and I don't really give a second thought to what my brows look like. Tangentially my hair is frequently just in a ponytail. I don't do anything to it and rarely have the desire to. So to distract myself I am working a bit on my appearance while I prep for life changing surgery. I have ordered a Clarisonic Mia and I'll be tracking it in Nov to see if things improve on my face. I am also looking to get a scrip for Vaniqua so that I can start stunting the growth of hair. Drinking more water to make sure my skin stays clear, once I get it there. And in general starting to care about myself and my appearance. My dad was recently in town and preached to me about loving myself. I'm trying, dad. Working on it. A few befores. May I never be this fat again. I'm the one in orange/ the one in the long dress w/blue sweater

:waves: Hello all. I'm new to this site and this group. I live in Atlanta Georgia and I will be sleeved on December 21 in Mexico. I'm really excited and nervous and counting down the days already. 49 days and counting!

They don't need to know the numbers. People don't look at a person and say 'oh she's lost 5lbs!' What they see is the inches... the smaller clothes, the collar bones, the shape that comes from the loss of fat. I'd feel comfy saying I went down X sizes, but other than that, it's none of their business. Just say quite a bit and still working at it... then nod and smile until they feel uncomfortable.

It was definitely hard choosing. I looked at a number of things like reviews on each doctor from real people and following their losses and/or complicatinos, their specialty and how many procedures they'd done, etc. I also looked here and didn't research anyone that was below a 7. I also liked that Dr Alvarez has a presence on twitter and youtube... feels like a more robust program aimed at educating people about the procedure and making sure they get great care. He just seemed to go the extra mile and not be about 'come here, it's really cheap." Location was also important and since the friend that is going with me lives in Texas, it was just much simpler for me to choose Dr Alvarez and then return to Houston, rest up for a few days and then fly home. When it looked like I might not have enough money, I considered going elsewhere but I just couldn't make myself do that.

I am having surgery with Dr A in December. I feel really confident in my decision. He is highly skilled and comes with glowing recommends. You will be in good hands. As far as the folks around you-- everyone will have an opinion. They have a right to theirs, I suppose. What is YOUR opinion? DO you need the surgery? COULD you do with just diet and exercise? if you COULD, why HAVEN'T you? People have the idea that you just go and get surgery and then lay around and wait for the lbs to come off. Nah uh. We stil get to WERK. it's just that when we work, it won't be eating nothing good or tasty for weeks or months on end and exercising your tail off for a measly 6 lbs in 6 months and trying to feel good and motivated about that. When we work, the tool works with us.

I have to complete a 10 day liquid diet. That's all I know for now but I haven't received the big pack o' info from Dr A's office. I'm not planning on being too crazy with anything until then.

One thing my friend suggested was to get used to taking small sips of water instead of gulping. It will take a long time to get used to not being able to guzzle a whole can of soda or water. And to also test out or get some samples of protein drinks but not get attached to anything because your taste buds will change after surgery.

Dr Alvarez is doing my sleeve December 21. \o/

Enormous sigh of relief. Date confirmed. Loan docs signed and e-filed Monies paid Freaking out commenced

December 21.

Yes, I've exhausted all other options. Looks like I am good to go, just waiting on the $$$ to come through. What it is that because of my credit I have to put down a security deposit. As well the loan fees are not rolled into the loan, those are separate and I ASSume I will have to pay them both before they will fund. I'm just being prepared, it's really more about 2800, but when you don't have that much it may as well be a million.

.. and jumping in. Waiting to hear about approval from my surgeon and a surgery date for December, tentatively the 22nd of December, less than 60 days away! I am DW. I am black and I live in Atlanta GA. I'm having my surgery done by Dr Alvarez. I'm currently 248lbs. My heaviest was 273... I get to this point where I lose 30 to 40 lbs and then nothing happens. I haven't been below 230 in years. Looking forward to this journey!

I've been talking with the coordinator and everything looks good. My application is being reviewed and I should hear back soon and then I pick a date. I managed to find a private loan to bridge the gap I needed to get funding underway and my friend and I are discussing logistics. I'm MAD excited. Crossing my fingers that everything works out.

It's hard to explain. Maybe it's a... I don't know! Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I think when people lose weight rapidly, there are certain telltale signs, sometimes it's just a bit of loose skin in the neck... I could be talking out of my butt, or maybe I see it because I know they've had surgery...

Hello all. I am D, or TheCurvyJ. After much thought and consideration and watching a few friends shrink, I have decided to take the plunge and have VSG. I have chosen Dr. Alvarez and am in the process of having my patient file reviewed to be cleared for surgery. My biggest issue is the money... Dr A is considerably more expensive than other doctors. When I think about going to someone else though, my stomach turns. I need to feel stable and secure in this decision and Dr A makes me feel confident in this decision. In addition, he is a few hours drive from my friend who will be coming with me. This way I can convalesce at her home instead of flying back right away. I was approved for $8500 through medicalfinancing.com. Dr A's financing rate is 9100, so there is a $600 shortfall that I am sure I can cover. My issue is that it will cost me almost $3K upfront to borrow the $8500 (1700 of which will come back to me after the loan is paid). Weird, right? I've never had a commercial loan before... only a student loan and an auto loan. I've never heard of having to pay to get a loan. Unfortunately my credit is not the greatest and my debt to income is high because I purchased a car awhile back and I have some credit cards. I was declined for Fundmydr and I've not tried CareCredit because Dr A's office will not take a credit card. I'm in the position of having to secure a short term loan in order to accept the funding. Insurance will not cover this procedure and I don't have anyone I could borrow from, so this is pretty much my only option. I'm determined to make this work, though. I turn 40 in March of 2014. Every year, I say I am going to be healthy by my next birthday and every year I am fat as ever. If I have my surgery in January and even lose 30lbs by my bday I will already be the smallest I've been on my birthday in over ten years! Scared out of my mind about having surgery-- I have never had surgery before-- but so looking forward to having this done and stepping into a new chapter.

One of my friends is 9 months post op and hasn't told anyone at work or in her personal life. VERY few people know. You can't HIDE that you're losing weight, but people that see you everyday will only see that you've lost a lot of weight. I suspect that most people will guess and murmur and gossip but she has never (and never will) talk about having surgery. IMO people who've lost weight via WLS have a 'look'. I can usually tell because I am used to seeing it... but I think most people will just see a considerable amount of weight lost and won't OFFICIALLY know, but will guess at it.

I'm only going to tell my boss and HR. I'm am Exec Assistant so he will definitely notice my absence. Plus he is the fatherly type. He hears surgery and he till worry. I'm hoping to wrap it around a holiday when we will be down. No one else needs to know because I don't want to answer any more questions than normal and I don't want anyone "Watching". I work with men so i hope they will be oblivious. At the same time, if someone asks point blank I have no intention of lying.

Thanks everyone. I've got a list of things to call BCBS about.

Thank you I will look into that depending on what my insurance company says. What about any followup visits, like to basically check on you... that falls under regular doctor visits, doesn't it? Not specifically post WLS care.

Hello everyone. I'm new here. I have a question for people who are being sleeved in Mexico. I'm concerned about post surgery care, for example if you spring a leak or something? Does your regular health insurance cover postsurgery care? I have Blue Cross Blue Shield, which covers the surgery however my employer puts an exclusion on weight-loss surgery. I'm just wondering if I have to go through any extra hoops to make sure I get good care after I have the surgery in Mexico.