pomeerin

I have UHC and they approved it in about 5 business days! They said that was on the longer end of the range because everyone is trying to get all their stuff approved at the first of the year when benefits start over. But I think 5 business days is pretty ok! However, call them every other day because they will only notify you via snail-mail which could take god knows how long. I was approved days ago and still haven't received my written notification yet. They should give you a specific notifications department phone number and also a reference number to make it easier for you to call in to check.

Hi everyone! I was hoping to be sleeved in March over spring break, but I made the hard decision to push it back til May until after finals are done. Now I have more time to prepare both mentally and physically so that I can make the surgery a life long change. I think I'm happy with my decision even though it was bittersweet.

Welp, I made the hard decision to push my surgery date back til May. I'm in school full time and was hoping to get sleeved over spring break, but I came to realize that I have too much to lose if I have complications, or the anesthesia makes me loopy, or my body has a hard time adjusting. So I'm going to wait until right after finals when I have 3 full weeks before the summer semester. Good luck, March sleevers! I'll see you on the flip side!

How's everything going, OP? I assume you had the surgery already?

I'm in South East Plano (very close to Richardson/Garland/Wylie) and I'm from Garland! I'm hoping to get sleeved this March, but I'm waiting to find out what exact date. My surgeon is Dr. Colleen Kennedy who works out of Baylor Plano, Baylor Dallas, and some hospital in Rockwall also. I can't *wait* until I can fit into 16's, lol! Eeee, I'm excited to find people so near me!

Awesome!!

Here's a video about the staples I just found. It's rather reassuring.

You hit the nail of my worries right on the head, AFinch. :/ I am hoping to have my surgery date be March 8th, still waiting to hear if I get that date or not. I am absolutely worried about long-term complications as I am only 26. I'm worried about surgery because I've never had any surgery before. I'm worried about infections that can be picked up from the hospital. I'm worried about energy level issues because I'm in school and doing this mid-semester. So many doubts and worries, but Kirk2013 is right. What option do we have? Stay fat, get fatter, get sick, then die early? The overwhelming majority of people on here have said one thing: they wish they had done it sooner. So I am going to put trust in that and just go for this. We'll be fine. Come join us over in the March 2013 sub-forum: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/forum/328-march-2013-sleevers/

Wow, this process seems like it is going so fast for me! I have been tossing the WLS idea around for years, but I only decided to pursue this at the end of November 2012 and had my first surgeon consult then. Then I decided to do ALL of my pre-op testing visits in January using my flex spending account money. My insurance only required an upper gi barium swallow, a stress echocardiogram, a psyche eval, and only one nutritionist visit so I was able to get them all done as of two weeks ago. Then I just had to wait for them all to send their reports in to my surgeon. After a slight bit of prodding, the office submitted it to my insurance today! What next? Should I call my insurance in a few days?

Ugh, I am holding my breath about what the final amount will be. I have a straight 80/20 plan, but it's not just the surgeon, it's the hospital, the anesthesia, etc, etc, etc. One tip I've heard to save money when you're in the hospital is to bring your own liquid Tylenol or other surgeon-approved medicines. The hospital will of course give them to you if you forget, but they will charge a giant premium for them. Chin up, just keep thinking about how you will recoup your losses tenfold over your lifetime from the grocery bill savings.

I am pre-op and the vitamin sample packs from Celebrate were the very first ones I tried. And I was stupid and took them on an empty stomach my first time taking them, so yup, I vomited within 10 minutes. I am going to have two backup plans: ENS Shakes from Celebrate, and also liquid vitamins. I'll see what I tolerate best post-op. Good luck with the liquid vitamins!

Yeah, I've heard of full liquids pre-op in order to shrink the liver and get used to it beforehand, but according to most people on here and also my surgeon that includes meal replacement shakes that include vitamins, water, low/no sugar liquids, and *can* include milk if I want it. But 100% all milk seems nutritionally deficient and sadistic on the part of the surgeon! Like they want you to fail! I really hope I don't come across as too negative or harsh here. I truly wish you all 110% success, but I'm just flabbergasted that some surgeons would insist on this.

Does anybody know the reasoning behind milk-only?? I have never heard of that prior to today.

I'm using one I found at a Natural Grocer store called 100% whey Protein by BioChem. I picked it out specifically because it didn't have any artificial sweeteners which taste so bitter to me - gag!! Don't even bother with the chocolate one though. I only bought the sample pack so far, but here's a pic of the tub version: http://www.amazon.com/Biochem-100-Protein-Vanilla-Ounce/dp/B0017ODT0Q And thanks for the tip, Astephenson!

I made one this morning with milk, ice, vanilla Protein powder, and Peanut Butter, and it's the very first one that I've enjoyed at all! It sounds so, so simple, but I had been avoiding the vanilla because I thought the chocolate ones would be better. I'm soooo glad I finally figured this out!! I can't even begin to tell you guys how relieved I am to have found a recipe that works for me - I was getting extremely discouraged. Anyway, I just wanted to share this rather major (for me, at least, haha) pre-surgery victory. Now I'm off to go hunt down some of that peanut butter powder I've heard some of y'all talking about!

Thanks for all the info! I just feel like I'm playing catch-up because I am just now purchasing the sample packs of everything and starting to get stocked up. I need to hurry up!

Oh dang, I forgot I was still using an old username for mfp. But I fixed it and I sent you both friend requests. You two will be my very first mfp friends!

Wait, am I missing something? Does vsg cause you to get grey hairs regardless of age?? Or are the greys unrelated to the surgery?

Yeah. :/ Maybe us newbs can help revive it though. What's your favorite Steam game right now?

Hi! I'm new to this sub-group, so I'm not sure if anybody is active on here or not! I'm planning on getting sleeved this March. Unfortunately... I've grounded myself from games because I'm in school full-time and I wasn't behaving, LOL. The only thing I let myself keep was my bi-weekly D&D game.

That's a pretty sobering thought (pardon the pun). Addiction is no joke. :/

My nutritionist recommended a year. Both for healing purposes and also the avoidance of empty calories. She said that sleevers tend to get drunk on only a few sips of alcohol rather than a few drinks! Think of all the money we'll save later on down the road!

Triplets! How awesome! Good luck with the pre-op diet!

What did you buy to get ready for this? So far I bought a shaker bottle, a personal blender, a sample pack of Protein from Syntrax nectar, a sample pack of Celebration Vitamins and supplements, and a pedometer. I'm probably going to get as many samples as I can, and also start actually testing them out! Another poster said they got "