hawaii_josh

SusieQ63, As of this writing, I'm now 859 days nicotine-free! It was hard at first, as evidenced by my posts around that time. Especially when I had a stressful situation. But I took it one minute, hour, day, week, month at a time and here I am. You're not going to be able to avoid triggers, but you have to figure out a way to manage them without turning to smoking. I ended up reading the Alan Carr book (I forgot the name) for motivation on how to approach quitting. That helped get me in the mind frame. Aside from that, it was just "cold turkey". I'd encourage you to quit as soon as you can. You know how smoking affects your appetite, and I'm sure you know it also affects your ability to have (and quality of) bowel movements. Both of those will really hinder your recovery, so please start now. My surgeon mandated two months of being smoke-free before he'd operate for those reasons as well as to speed overall recovery, so I'd recommend you get started now. I'd hate for you to go through the surgery only to have your recovery hindered.

Congrats on starting your journeys together! That should help the both of you in your recovery and lifestyle changes since you'll have each other to lean on. If I could offer one suggestion, though, it would be to have someone there at your house the first few days to assist the both of you. You'll have some pain after recovery, and it'll be easier to have a third party there to help. Plus, you'll need someone to drive the both of you home! As your recovery progresses, you can motivate each other to get up and move around which will greatly diminish any gas pains. Just be there for each other, and you'll do fine! Let us know if you have any questions!

Thanks for the insights. It's just frustrating not being able to lie down to go to sleep. I've been able to get at most 4 hours at a time, which makes for a very cranky me the next day. I keep telling myself that it's going to get better.

Thanks! I am home but resting through the night has been problematic the last few nights. I try to lay down but end up forced to sit up to sleep thanks to the acid reflux. I've been chomping Tums and drinking some Maalox in an effort to keep the acid at bay so I can sleep (in addition to the once-a-day Nexium prescribed by the doc). Aside from that, I've been ok. Still getting used to how little I'm able to sip.... So it feels like I spend all day sipping or taking small "bites" from Soups and yogurts. I'm still in Stage 2 Full liquids, but my family and I have gotten creative with what all we can make palatable. I go back to the doc on the 17th, so hopefully either I will have progressed past the acid problems by then or can seek his advice on what other options might be available. Only time will tell! Are my experiences relatively normal? Do you see anything else I can be doing to make the process go more smoothly? Thanks for all your help!

I hope so! Thanks!

Today has been kinda boring (although it's not even half over!) and I've been dealing with a caffeine withdrawal headache. Other than that I'm doing ok. Looking forward to being on the other side! I'll update as I can!

That's a good idea. I'm sure I'll be posting as my coherence level allows!

Thanks! Glad to hear that I'll be out of it for most of the day. Now if I can just get through this clear-liquid day today I'll be set.

Thanks and will do!

I'm in the final 24 hours before I report to the hospital to start this new chapter in my life. It's only Clear liquids today then absolutely nothing tomorrow after the surgery. But I'm hoping the drugs will more than compensate for that! I've enjoyed sharing this part of the journey will all my "family" here on the board, and I hope to stay in touch on the flip side. Mahalo, Josh

My surgeon required at least 2 months nicotine-free before he would operate, so I had to plan ahead to make sure I met his requirements. I quit on February 25th and have surgery scheduled for July 8th. Couldn't be happier to consider myself a non-smoker now!

Travel is what I do for a living, so let me see if I can help some: Some airlines do this, depending on the size of the customer, but it's usually in extreme cases. Since you're traveling with someone, it might not be an issue since your husband will be with you. You might require a seat belt extender (I can't really picture you to know if it would be helpful), but that's always an option. It depends on the airports you're traveling to/from, the dates, how far out the travel is, and a lot of other factors. Where did you look for fares? I'd check expedia, travelocity, and kayak. If you're interested in Southwest, you'll need to check their website directly. Also, have you looked at traveling out of somewhere other than Augusta? I would check Atlanta, Columbia, Charleston, Savannah, and Greenville-Spartanburg to see if there are cheaper fares out of there. It might cost a little to drive to those places, but that might be less than the difference in fare from Augusta. Sounds like you're looking at Southwest. They don't have assigned seating (it depends on when you board), but every other airline does. When you purchase your ticket from them (anybody but Southwest), you can select your seats at the time of purchase. That's gonna be really tight if you haven't gotten passports yet. Not sure what the passport website says, but I would expect a good 6-8 weeks (hopefully shorter). So I think this will be your biggest time obstacle in your upcoming journey. Once you have a idea of when your passports will arrive, then the other pieces will fall into place. As I said earlier, the farther out you're looking at traveling, the cheaper the flights should be. Let me know if you have any other questions. Feel free to PM me if you wish. --Josh

Kamp: I'm also a July 8th-er (if that's a word!). Here's wishing you the best!

Haha yeah I know whatcha mean. It feels like I have so much to get done in so little time....but two days ago, it felt like I had all the time in the world!

Thanks! Now it feels like I have so much to get done in such a short amount of time! Two days ago, it felt like I had all the time in the world.

I got final approval today, so I can officially add myself to the list! Surgery Date: July 8 Gender: Male Age: 36 (37 by surgery) Height: 5'10" Highest Weight: 305 lbs Current Weight: 292 lbs Surgery Weight: ??? Goal Weight: Anything less than 200 lbs, preferably 180 And/or a 32-34 waist

Haha exactly! My insurance is being weird: they've pre-certified me for surgery but are balking at paying their portion of the surgical consultation. I had the surgery coordinator give me a copy of the pre-certification approval so that [a] I could see it in writing for myself and have it for future reference in case they balk at paying something else. Hopefully I won't have to use it!

I know this seems to be a much-repeated post on other forums, but I can't help but add one myself... I got my final insurance pre-certification approval today!!! I'm so excited to finally get it so I can start finalizing the logistics for my surgery. I will get an official date once the coordinator reviews my chest x-ray and EKG, but it appears that July 8th will be the magic date! It can't get here soon enough! So sorry for yet another "approved" post, but I couldn't contain myself! --Josh

Hey guys... Alex posted a link to a survey in his first post. I didn't see it until after a few replies here, but I finally caught on to what he posted. If you click the link, you can participate in his poll. Once you've voted, you can the results.

Lol thanks! I noticed your steps dropped off so I was wondering what happened. It all makes sense now!

Thanks, I appreciate it. Sounds like you're well on the road to recovery! Hope it's smooth sailing from here on out for you!

It's not official yet, but that's the plan. I have my one-on-one with the nutritionist next week, and that will be the final step that the surgeon needs to get final approval from my insurance and schedule a date. I've been promised that early July won't be a problem, but I won't be comfortable until I actually set a date. I've got a ton of logistics/planning to work through--getting time off from work, flying the parents in, coordinating my return to work, etc. So once I get the official date, I can pull the trigger so to speak on a lot of things that are right now just in the planning stages.

True...I hadn't thought of that! But truth be told, the majority of my steps were on an indoor treadmill. I'm using C25K as my cardio workout, and I've been able to get a few sessions in this week while I'm off, so that's helped. Like you, I also need to work on walking regardless if I've done the treadmill or not.

Tony: Thanks for the info. I did some research and discovered that the total displayed is your rolling 7-day step total. Since I've only been using FitBit for two days, my numbers are really low. I was able to accept your friend request and see your totals. You've got the majority of your profile set to private, so the only thing I can see is your 7-day step total. I haven't researched the Up, so I don't know how that might affect what you can do with FitBit. Aloha, Josh