SusinMichigan

While I'm not a man, I would assume the same guy that would be turned off by extreme weight would be turned off by excess skin ... I'm not worried about my hubby, if he loves me at over 300 pounds, he'll love me at 150! He lost 100 pounds and has a little loose skin around his midsection ... doesn't bother me one bit! Been married 28 years now.

My psych evaluation was about 2 1/2 hours long ... the 500 (I believe) questions took the longest part. I thought I'd fly through, I was approved very quickly for insurance payment and had to have a couple tests run. It has taken freaken forever! The surgeon wanted a heart specialist and the heart specialist wanted a ton of tests, every one of these has taken 3 weeks or more before the appointment. There has been a minimum of 2 appointments every week for the last 10 weeks. I'm facing the last week of appointments now ... one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday and two on Thursday. (One of the Thursday meetings is with the cardiologist assistant to get all the results of my tests!) Hopefully, surgery will be scheduled for May, but I won't hold my breath. In the meantime, I'm trying to eat healthier, drinking at least 4 bottles of Water a day, cut out all the sugar already and getting ready to discontinue my coffee habit as well as meeting with a therapist every few weeks to make sure my head is on straight for all that faces us in the future! Hope I'm doing enough to get ready.

I spoke with my brother after I made the decision to have the sleeve (he had gastric bypass) and he mentioned that he cancelled the surgery after it was set up, thinking he could do it for sure one last time ... then he thought he was having a heart attack while at work. He called the surgeon back, set it up and has never looked back.

I am going through the same thing, with just cause. I had to wait about 6 weeks to get in to see the cardiologist and he was the last thing I needed to do. I even have insurance approval already. I finally saw him yesterday and I now need a stress test, echo, had blood work done this morning even though the surgeon's office said I didn't need to do that ... they would take care it one week before surgery ... but my cardiologist wants it! I also have a couple other things the cardiologist wants that my surgeon wasn't even looking for including a "tune up" on my CPAP. I have tests stretched out over the next 5 weeks now. I can't even get a date until all approvals are in place. So it's back to hurry up and wait. I wanted this done before summer, but I guess I'll take it whenever it comes.

Hi Fau2nvy, I, too, am new to all of this and we have the same surgeon! I stopped smoking 4 1/2 months ago and am trying to get on the healthy path. I'm 58 and could have written your paragraph, knee problems, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, etc. I saw my cardiologist today and he was the last step I needed to do before getting my date. Well, he wants a stress test, echo, bunch of blood work and we'll see from there where we go. I guess he's taking his job real serious and I wouldn't expect anything but. As far as taking the easy way out, this is not easy! This is the decision of a lifetime and one you will have to live with for your lifetime. They will see it's not going to be easy. Just give the girls some time. I look forward to following your journey along with mine! Take care and just give it time ....

In reading so many threads, it sounds like insurance approval is the most exciting thing going. I called to see what else I need to do other than visit the cardiologist and to see if I needed to see a nutritionist, the phone call ended with my being informed my insurance has already approved me for surgery. And as soon as my doctor gets the upper GI from the hospital and report from the cardiologist, a date will be set. It seems like I should be excited, but I'm in tears today. Granted there are a lot of things going on right now, hubby just applied for his SSI retirement, we pick up our new car tomorrow and now this ... but these are all good things. Did anyone else feel like this? Am I just strange?

In reading so many threads, it sounds like insurance approval is the most exciting thing going. I called to see what else I need to do other than visit the cardiologist and to see if I needed to see a nutritionist, the phone call ended with my being informed my insurance has already approved me for surgery. And as soon as my doctor gets the upper GI from the hospital and report from the cardiologist, a date will be set. It seems like I should be excited, but I'm in tears today. Granted there are a lot of things going on right now, hubby just applied for his SSI retirement, we pick up our new car tomorrow and now this ... but these are all good things. Did anyone else feel like this? Am I just strange?

A doctor told me this was a pre-surgery to the gastric bypass for the very large -- to get them down to a position where they could have a bypass as a secondary surgery. Don't know it for a fact ... just was told that.