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I'm not a religious person, but you know what they say: "If thy right hand offends thee, cut it off." ...Or something like that, haha. Only in our case it's the stomach.

Haven't met with him yet, but I believe he'll be doing my EGD next month. Good luck to you as well!

My doctor put me on phentermine for my three month supervised diet (his idea, I didn't even ask for it). I've taken it before with some success, but it honestly doesn't do a lot for me. I don't really feel any different. Fortunately no side effects, but only a slight decrease in appetite so far. Anyhow, some of the information my surgeon's office gave me included no diet pills for at least two weeks before surgery. So just make sure you clear it with your surgeon before taking anything. And whatever happens, best of luck! You can do this.

If everything goes as planned I'm looking at an early Fall / late Summer date. Just need to get a three month supervised diet out of the way. My guess is it'll land around September. Good luck to everyone!

Thanks so much for the kind words I'm definitely nervous about everything, but crazy excited too. And I've never been more hopeful for the future. I actually met with my PCP today to knock out the initial visit for the monthly weigh ins. There's the initial, plus the three followups. So only three months to go!

So yesterday I had my first appointment. "Intake Day." I met with a psychologist, nutritionist, physician assistant, insurance specialist and my patient advocate. Everything went really well, and everyone seems to agree that I'm a good candidate for the gastric sleeve. It turns out my insurance only requires a 3 month supervised diet, so assuming everything else goes well, I could be looking at a late summer/early fall surgery date. But we'll see. Next on the list is an EGD. It's a procedure I'm only vaguely familiar with, so naturally I'm nervous about it, but I'm told it's no big deal. I just hope it goes smoothly.

So tomorrow my journey officially begins. Intake day. I'll be talking with the PA, the Psychologist, a nutritionist, and a financial/insurance specialist, as well as having some blood work done. I'm nervous but excited to finally be moving forward with this. Anyone else who had surgery with Dr. Weiss? He comes very highly recommended. I'm told the best in the state. I'd appreciate some "intake day" insights if you have any. Thanks.

Maybe check out Soylent

I'm definitely afraid of hair loss too. Male pattern baldness is rampant on both sides of my family and I already seem to notice signs of thinning. I'm worried that after my surgery, I may never see again whatever hair I lose, haha.

Seriously stunning!

It's definitely the little things I look forward to the most. I can relate to pretty much everything all of you have already mentioned. Most of all I'd love to be able to kick these blood pressure meds. At least one of 'em (I'm on two different BP medications). I also wouldn't mind dodging the diabetic bullet that I know has my name on it.

Didn't know that. Fortunately I never touch the stuff.

Oh of course. I'm not assuming anything. Plus even if the insurance doesn't require it, the surgeon very well may. It sure would be a lot more convenient for me though, haha. Either way I'm ready to do whatever it takes. Thanks a lot everyone.

So I received a call back from the surgeon's office today, and my first appointment / intake day will be May 15th. She said my insurance didn't actually have a lot of criteria, other than BMI, comorbidities, etc. She didn't say anything about a 6 month supervised diet, so hopefully I can get the surgery sooner than I had expected! I'm insanely excited to get started, but of course crazy nervous too. Which I'm sure will only get worse, haha. So I just wanted to post and see if anyone had any insights/warnings/things to consider for the first appointment.

I submitted my patient packet in early March, received an email about week or so later saying it could take up to 4 weeks to be reviewed. So I guess I just have to play the waiting game now. Of course I'm sure this kind of thing varies considerably from surgeon to surgeon, so your mileage may vary.