Roo101769

I have a picture on my profile of the cake, just don't know how to attach a thumbnail here. Maybe this is it..

I am still pre op but from all I have read from those already sleeved ( and my own online research) alcohol should be avoided. First of all, it is empty calories. Second, your absorption rate has been significantly changed, so a very small amount can have a much more intoxicating effect. Basically, you become a cheap drunk. LOL I do understand many people who have WLS swap addictions. They are not mentally able to conquer the demons that caused their overeating, but now they cannot physically overeat. Or they may just have addictive personalities.. Either way they move on to other addictions, be it drinking or gambling or even sexual addiction. That is what the pre op psych evaluation is supposed to determine, if you are ready mentally to be successful. But many of these evaluations are done too quickly and not thorough at all, so I think a lot of folks slip through that would benefit from additional counseling.

Truly inspiring! Thanks for sharing and a big congratulations!!!

I too went into the process for WLS thinking I would get banded. But after doing research and seeing how many people have given up on the band, ( not to mention the complication rates) I started looking at the sleeve. I never was interested in a Roux-n-Y but the sleeve looked promising. I did more research and talked to my surgeon. He said I should do great with the sleeve. The important thing to remember is it is like every other WLS, you get out of it what you put into it. The sleeve is a tool. There are ways around any method of weight loss. But unlike the "go it alone" method, when you put effort into the sleeve you WILL get results. Plus there are less side effects and other negative issues. ( Yes there are some, but from what I have read in my research they are much less than band or bypass ) I have one last clearance to do before paperwork is submitted to insurance. I cannot wait to start my journey in earnest and to be the healthy me I dream of!!!

Well last night sort of messed up the whole "no temptation" part. While I am still not really tempted by the cake itself, the icing was another story. I decided to make homemade buttercream icing, which I have never done. Once I got the batch made I had to taste to make sure it was ok..Oh yeah, it was "ok". LOL I will NEVER again buy a tub of icing. Not only is it easy to make, it tastes AMAZING!!!! But the problem was I found myself licking my fingers way, way too much during the crumb coat phase. I licked off the caramel that oozed on the table, I licked the buttercream that happened to be on my knuckle. When all was said and done I would hate to begin to imagine the amount of calories and fat I ingested. This morning I had a Unjury protein shake just to help detox from last night!!! The leaves are taking a bit longer than I had imagined. I should have worked on them farther in advance. But you live and learn. Like I said, I am a novice. You are right WANNABALOSER, it is a bit pricey. But a lot of the items I bought to make this cake can be used again and again. ( the items used for decorating) I was able to get the cake mix really cheaply. ( The cake itself is a mix, everything else is being done from scratch by hand) I would estimate about $40ish in product for the cake, but the hours spent are where bakeries get to charge an arm and a leg. TES I will do my best to post a picture when it is complete.

Your husband was wrong to give you an ultimatum. Marriage is supposed to be "in sickness and in health". So you probably already had issues, as you stated. But making the choice to have the surgery was brave and wise. You should care because you are important. ( if to no one else you should be important to yourself) Once you feel better physically start doing something for yourself. Find a hobby or activity that gives you a sense of peace and well being. You deserve happiness, so find it. It is very hard to be the one everyone depends on. ( yet rarely are they there for your needs) Just do it for you if for no one else. Sometimes the first step to change is the hardest, yet the most rewarding. I wish you so much success and a future of happiness and peace.

Maybe the stress is causing the weight gain?.. Try to ease up a little. By now you know what is and what isn't good for your sleeve. Stay with the program, but learn to live it instead of stressing it. (does that make sense?) Just an idea. I have not been sleeved yet, so I could be off base. But I know from what I have been doing (since I changed my diet) the less I worry the better. I wish you luck and peace.

Yes, it is a complete oxy moron that a person who is in the process of getting approved for a sleeve is baking cake. But that is what I am doing. A good friend and co-worker is getting married soon and we are throwing her a shower at work. I was asked ( rather nominated) to make the cake for it. I am pretty well known for my baking skills. (Yep- another stereotype. A fat baker!) I heard through the grapevine she is not having an actual wedding cake at her wedding, so I decided to go all out and make her one. I am also completely insane and have a masochistic side! LOL What the HECK was I thinking? And this ain't gonna be your average thrown together, out of a box cake either. Nope. It will be three tiers, all double layer. The bottom will be devil's food with butterscotch caramel filling, the second layer is marble with chocolate ganache and the top will be white with raspberry filling. And if I wasn't already a glutton for punishment I am making my own homemade buttercream icing for it and decorating it with fall leaves I am making by hand out of gum paste! Really? REALLY?? And here is the kicker....I have NO formal training whatsoever. I just got a burr up my butt that I could do this. I jumped on the internet for ideas and it snowballed. This is also a loooong process. Last night I spent 5 1/2 hours baking the bottom layer of cake (2-14" cakes) and making the gum paste. Then I rolled it, cut out the leaves and started to paint them. Had to stop as they were still too tacky. So today at lunch I went home and painted a few. Tonight I am going to make the other two layers of cake ( 2- 12" and 2 -8") paint the leaves, and crumb coat the first layer. ( after I make a batch of icing) This is all after working an 8 hour day, and I also have to entertain a 4 year old! Tomorrow I will finish icing and decorate the whole thing for it to be ready for Friday. If I did this for a living it would be ok. It is kind of fun to be creative and make something. But to work a full time job, take care of a preschooler AND do this on the side.....well it isn't as much fun as I had thought. Yet here is the weird part. With all the cake and sugar and smells around me last night I had to make myself stop and eat something! I get so focused on getting done I don't want to eat. And once I stopped for the night I was so tired I didn't care about food. So maybe baking IS the key to weight loss...Hmmm

First let me put your mind at ease a little. I weighed 280lbs when I conceived my daughter in 2008. Plus, I was 38 years old. I had pretty little complications during pregnancy, nothing that effected my child. She was born full term via C-section. ( That was because she had a big head! LOL) My daughter was completely healthy with NO problems. I healed easily from the C-section and by the time I had my 6 week check up I already weighed less than I did when I conceived her!!! ( by a couple of pounds ) So please do not be too concerned about your weight as far as that goes. Eat healthy, get as much exercise as you can stand and try not to worry. And if you are pregnant you can always reinvest yourself in your weight loss after the baby is born. The tool will still be there, just start using it again!

I have severely arthritic knees too, along with vascular damage in my right leg from repeated DVTs. Exercise is difficult for me as well, but not impossible. Do what you can that does NOT involve your knees. ( working upper body and your core) For lower body you can do things like leg lifts that will help tone w/o stressing your knee joints. For cardio my favorite is the pool. While I am not a "swimmer" I can spend hours in a pool walking around. It builds your muscles supporting your knees, ( which will help you) and gives you some cardio. Yes, the first couple times I did it I was a bit sore and achey the next day. But over time it got a lot better. Plus, as you lose weight you will take pressure off the joint which will enable you to do a bit more. I have dropped nearly 20lbs since August 1 just changing diet and doing these things. ( I am still pre op!) Good luck!!!

Thanks Kathie, I will check them out!

I purchased OPurity bariatric vitamins ( for sleeve/ Roux-n-Y patients) because they were suggested by my NUT. Also, I have to be very careful about what vitamins I use because I cannot have ones with added vitamin K. ( warfarin lifer here) These things are like giant Sweet Tarts! Let me tell you, I've never been a big Sweet Tart fan. I brought them with me to work to have in the afternoon because I just could not stomach them in a.m. ( I am pre op but since my change in diet I believe it is good I am taking vitamins) I don't chew either, I let them dissolve slowly. It is the only way I can do them. But heaven only knows what I will be able to handle post op. I like the idea that these have what I need in one pill ( except needing extra B12 a couple times a week and calcium) but whew.... Can't they come up with a better flavor???

Hi there! I am in Miamisburg. ( Between Dayton and Cincinnati) I am just about at the end of my clearances and then paperwork will be submitted to insurance. Welcome!!!

I have been very open and told everyone about my surgery. Except my grandmother. I have a VERY small family so not much worry about pressure from anyone. But my grandma is 93yrs old and has dementia. She could never begin to understand what I am doing, and I just don't want to worry her. I just wish my mother had been able to have the surgery herself. She died in 2003 of liver cancer. The surgery probably would not have saved her life, ( unless they had caught the cancer early because of and treated her) but she could have had a much more enjoyable life while she was here. Instead she suffered a great deal of pain from osteoarthritis and other weight related issues. She could barely walk with support of two canes at the end. Her knees were shot and her lower back hurt her all of the time. ( she had needed surgery on her lower back, but was told due to her weight it would be useless) I just think of all the things she could have done, how different her life could have been had she not had all the weight on her she did. I think that also helps others in my family understand and accept why I have chosen this. Because I choose to follow a different path. I want to live without constant pain and weight related issues. I can understand and empathize with folks who worry for us and having major surgery. I just don't think they can understand where we come from because they haven't walked in our shoes....

I have already bought a couple wigs. But I am an extreme case. (and haven't even had the surgery yet) I lost a lot of my hair due to PCOS in my mid twenties. It stayed fairly consistent for several years. Then I got pregnant. During the pregnancy was awesome, a return of my thick hair. But after my daughter was born, when my hormones settled, it fell out with a vengeance. I was thinner than I had been previously. At that time I started using Toppik hair fibers. They actually worked for me and bought me more time. This year after another DVT/PE I was put on Coumadin for life. The rat poison...I mean blood thinner... has further thinned my hair. ( and my dose was just upped) At this time the Toppik is barely able to camouflage the baldness. Without anything in my hair I seriously look like someone receiving chemotherapy. So...anticipating the "great post op shed" I decided to start trying wig looks now. I haven't taken "the plunge" to wear them yet, but the day is rapidly approaching.

I believe there is a HUGE mental battle that happens when you are crossing over from "thinking about" to "SERIOUS about" having the sleeve. There are so many parts of your mind and soul that wants to lose weight and be healthy, but the other parts are afraid. Afraid of the change, afraid of pain, afraid of the what ifs. And afraid to admit you have got to the place in your life where you know the only option left for you is surgery. But once you cross the hurdles, once you commit yourself over to what you know has to be....it gets easier. It's about surrender. Knowing this time you need help, acknowledging you got to this place. I started seriously thinking of surgery in June. I learned I had vascular damage in my leg that was never going to go away. I was in pain and I was scared. My vascular doctor told me that eventually it would get much worse. For a few weeks I had a pity party for one. I looked into going on disability. But then I searched my heart and soul. I had gained weight and was up to 316lbs. If I gave up, went on disability that would be it for me. I would never get the weight off. I would get worse. My pain would be more than I could handle. That was my turning point. It was kind of like "A Christmas Carol". A saw a future that was grim, one I did not want to live. So I gave myself over to knowing I had to get the weight off. I made up my mind and have not changed it since. I started changing my eating patterns as of August 1st (lots of protein, little carbs. Low calorie/fat) and so far I have lost 19lbs. I haven't really "exercised" but I am able to be more active as my pain levels have dropped. I guess my long winded post is to say that once you are at peace totally with what you are doing, I think you will find it is a lot easier to make the changes you need.

The end of all my clearances is on the horizon. Today I went to the pulmonologist. He is scheduling a blood oxygen test, a chest x-ray and some other test. Not expecting anything negative. But it is what I have to do to get to the next step. Once those tests are done and the clearance is given, then my paperwork will be submitted to the insurance company. I am still very anxious to get to the next chapter. Yet I will admit some nerves are starting to creep in. It is to be expected. Once I wake up from the surgery it will be ok. I will expect to hurt, but if I don't then bonus. I will expect to have to learn how to live with my new stomach, but if it goes smoothly then bonus. I will expect my entire life to change, to shift at least. If it doesn't then I am doing something wrong!!! LOL I cannot wait to be able to be more active. I cannot wait to have a body that allows me to enjoy things I once took for granted. I cannot wait to spend time playing with my daughter. This weekend we spent time doing yard work around the house. It was needed badly. Due to my leg issues and weight I have not been able to do much outside this year. But my leg is feeling a lot better. Yes my knee still hurts, but not as much. And I do still get occasional pain in my calf from the vascular damage, but it is now only occasional. Just losing 19lbs has created that much difference, I can only imagine what my future holds once I lose a significant amount of my weight! This weekend I did yard work and then housework and laundry the next day. I was not so stowed up I could barely walk after. I ached some, but today I am doing ok. This is what I want my life to be. I want to LIVE my life, be an active participant. So any fears or anxiety I may have going into this major surgery, those things are what will keep me going. I am so very excited to see where I will go!!!

Sometimes it feels like I am doing the job of the office workers in my doctor's office! I realize that I am the one who wants this surgery. I am the one who wants things to move along as quickly as they can so that I can get to the place I need and want to be at. Yes, I am impatient. But I seriously wonder sometimes what would happen if I left things to happen when they happened. ( I would probably not like that answer) Take for example today. I have posted before that I have had a 4 week space where nothing has happened because I had to wait to get into a pulmonologist for clearance. It has been the LONGEST four weeks of my life in many ways. I feel like time has dragged by. I have wanted to do something to move this process along, but all I could do was wait. Well next Monday is the long awaited appointment. Even then it isn't "it", as this is only a consultation. Any tests will have to be scheduled and performed at a later time. ( Yes- I am going to push to try to get them scheduled next week) I decided that I would call my bariatric doctor's office to see where things stood on everything else. Basically find out if anything else needed done, was there any other clearance or paperwork I needed to have. First thing mentioned was my diet. This has gone round and round...It was once mistakenly said that I needed a 6 mos. diet before authorization. Well that information was incorrect. My insurance did clear it up with the lady in my surgeon's claims office, but apparently in is still notated in my chart somewhere. So once we got past that she said they still had not received my PCP letter of recommendation or last 2 years medical records. I was a little surprised. I saw my PCP on 8/28 for a check up on my leg. While I was there he asked if I had a surgery date scheduled yet. I said no, because of the pulmonary check. I also commented that was my last clearance, and that I hoped all my records and his letter had already been sent. Obviously the doctor has no idea what his staff does because he seemed like he was looking forward to me having this surgery too. ( in a weird way) Anyway, I called my PCPs office after speaking with the surgeon's office and left a message that they never got the records and letter. A few hours later the lady in the records office of my PCP called me back and said she had never received the request for the records or letter from Dayton Bariatrics!!! WTF?????She was very apologetic and said she would gladly send them over just as soon as she got the request and release I had signed and turned in back on 8/6. She even gave me her fax number so they could fax the request over and not have to wait for it to be mailed. I then called back the surgeon's office and relayed the information. She said she would get right on sending it over... So Wow. It is a good darn thing I am being so anal about this because who KNOWS what delays I might face if I didn't stay on top of it. I can only imagine now what I will probably go through once everything is ready to submit to my insurance. I would probably feel better if I could just do it myself!! LOL I know from all I have read on here that I am hardly the first person to go through this. I also know I am not the only patient any of my doctor's have in their practice. But if I did not stay on top of everything I am responsible for in my job, well I probably wouldn't have it for long. Oh well, lesson learned. I know what I have to do to get where I want to be.

Before returning check with your surgeon's office. Maybe they can recommend someone to sell it to.( Maybe put something up where their patients can see it) Would save a lot of shipping hassle if someone local wished to buy it. Also try the Craigslist idea.

My surgeon's office gave me the pre op "liquid" diet sheet already. ( although my date has not been scheduled as of now) Basically it is more mushy food than actual liquid. Can have applesauce, cottage cheese, pudding etc. Post op is when they are more serious about liquids. The idea is to shrink any fat in the liver pre op. As long as you stick mostly with your plan you should be ok. If you really get hungry try reaching for one of the items I mentioned. I totally understand every surgeon has different requirements. They are all just doing what they believe is best for us and our long term success.

I started eating the "post op bariatric diet" back on August 1st. Basically I eat lots of protein and low calorie, fat and carbs. Since I started I have lost 16lbs with just changing my diet. It is helping me get in the mind set of how I will eat after. Since this is forever, I want to get in the groove now. My thought process was it will help me succeed later if I get used to it now. (which the psychiatrist agreed with) And I have started getting used to it. I do have times where it is hard, as everyone does eventually. But overall it hasn't been as bad as I had once imagined.

I told my four year old mommy was going to have surgery to get skinny. No use trying to explain health benefits or necessity to her at that age. Actually she had a little bit of a hard time dealing with mommy "getting skinny" because all she has ever known me as has been obese. She even told me I wasn't fat and to stay the way I am. But when I pointed out all the things I can't do with her now, that I will be able to do once I lose weight, she was soon on board. Now she just says "your not skinny yet". LOL

Too funny. For my lunch today I had low fat tortillas with garlic herb laughing cow spread on, then a few slices of turkey (thin sliced). I wish I had some onion that would have been good. ( Rats- I do have some fresh banana peppers I forgot all about) Just funny how similar it was. I am pre op now, but I have been eating "the diet" since the beginning of August. ( down 16lbs so far)

I too was on the fast track. I got all of my additional clearances (vascular, hematologist) and had my NUT and psych evaluation. ( Both were one appointment deals as I was told I am very prepared) Then it was decided I needed to have a pulmonary evaluation as I have had PEs (blood clots in lungs) in the past, as recently as this past May. I was not able to schedule in with the pulmonologist until 9/9. I basically had to sit on my hands for 4 weeks and do nothing, which has been difficult. I am hoping to get this clearance quickly so the paperwork can be submitted to my insurance. After that, the REAL wait begins! LOL I am staying as positive as I can because I know this is the path I need to be on...

I forgot to mention, they are not caffeine free though. 100% Arabica beans.