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.

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

I'm getting closer and closer to my surgery date (tentatively scheduled for early July), and I've started to get more interested in various tools that will help me monitor--and keep me motivated for--my weight loss journey. I picked up the FitBit Aria scale, and only after one use I really like it. Now i want to get the FitBit One to start tracking steps.
One of the options with FitBit is to have "friends" on the app to motivate each other towards our goals. Do any of you use FitBit and/or would you want to be FitBit Friends? I don't have my FitBit linked to my Facebook, but the e-mail I'm using there is joshav8r@gmail.com.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Aloha,
Josh

I'm getting closer and closer to my surgery date (tentatively scheduled for early July), and I've started to get more interested in various tools that will help me monitor--and keep me motivated for--my weight loss journey. I picked up the FitBit Aria scale, and only after one use I really like it. Now i want to get the FitBit One to start tracking steps.
One of the options with FitBit is to have "friends" on the app to motivate each other towards our goals. Do any of you use FitBit and/or would you want to be FitBit Friends? I don't have my FitBit linked to my Facebook, but the e-mail I'm using there is joshav8r@gmail.com.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Aloha,
Josh

This is a blatant steal/repost from the General Forums, but PBS aired a documentary entitled "All of Me" that follows a group of women who formed a social group in Austin. From the PBS site:

The entire show is available for free at http://video.pbs.org/video/2365190806/. I watched it earlier today and thought it was really well-produced and interesting. It gave me an idea of what challenges I might expect as I go through my WLS journey.
Thought it might be interesting to you folks as well.
Aloha,
Josh

Thanks for checking in!
It's going! Haha. Sorry for the delay in responding...I've been at work which is both a blessing and a curse. It's good because it occupies my mind and time so I don't have as many opportunities to think about smoking or crave a cigarette. It's bad because there are parts of the workday during which I would normally smoke, so those triggers are still there.
According to my quitting app, I'm 3 hours shy of being 9 days nicotine-free! I'm still dealing with triggers and cue-induced cravings, but I'm slowly getting over them. It's been a process, but one I see as analogous to my upcoming weight loss journey. I'm trying to use this as a learning experience and trial run so I'll have an idea of what to expect when surgery gets closer.

That's the way I've been trying to look at it. In fact, I had almost this exact conversation with a co-worker yesterday (who is a smoker but ironically a fitness trainer). Things were going well until she mentioned that I don't look that fat and that all I need to do is walk some more and watch what I eat for the pounds to come off. She's the second person I've spoken with who had that mentality, and I was prepared for it, but it's something I should've expected knowing her background. Oh well, I kept the conversation focused on me quitting smoking, and that seemed to help.

Thanks for checking in!
It's going! Haha. Sorry for the delay in responding...I've been at work which is both a blessing and a curse. It's good because it occupies my mind and time so I don't have as many opportunities to think about smoking or crave a cigarette. It's bad because there are parts of the workday during which I would normally smoke, so those triggers are still there.
According to my quitting app, I'm 3 hours shy of being 9 days nicotine-free! I'm still dealing with triggers and cue-induced cravings, but I'm slowly getting over them. It's been a process, but one I see as analogous to my upcoming weight loss journey. I'm trying to use this as a learning experience and trial run so I'll have an idea of what to expect when surgery gets closer.

Just an update for all who may be interested and who contributed their insights to my struggle...
I'm currently 3 days, 9 hours, and 42 minutes nicotine-free. I knew my job wouldn't allow the use of Chantix and Wellbutrin, and I didn't want to wait to find an acupuncturist (but thanks for the info BellaDonna!). I smoked my last two cigs on Tuesday morning and decided to see how it would go. I was working for a while after those last two, so that helped kill some time and cravings. This time around has been a little easier than the last couple of times. I was doing good with cravings until the last few hours, but I know that this, too, shall pass.
So thanks for all your kind words and encouragement! I keep looking one hour and one day ahead, and so far I've been able to make it!
--Josh

Thanks for following up for me! Yes, I'm on O'ahu, so that won't be an issue. It's still mid-morning here, so give her some time to wake up! Ha ha!

Thanks for following up for me! Yes, I'm on O'ahu, so that won't be an issue. It's still mid-morning here, so give her some time to wake up! Ha ha!