Georgia Pritchett

My date is Sept 3 (the day after my 52 birthday). I'm living on the liver shrink diet but not loving it. Oh, and I'm now in a GIANT walking boot to deal with tendonitis and a heel spur on my left foot. Joys of being old and overweight :-)

My sister is the only non supportive family member. Thankfully, she's kept it mostly to herself.

51 232 Sleep apnea, arthritis, high blood pressure.

September 3, the day after my 52nd birthday.

@@jam526, that's the day after me!

I'm glad I called, too (Anthem BCBS CalPers). It turned out some paperwork was missing and the person at the surgeon's office didn't understand that part of it was missing and just refaxed what she had already sent. Added time to the process. But I was approved 3 days after they got the missing info (I was told it was a 5 business day window they were using now but that may be because it's CalPers).

You just want to give up the carbonated stuff after surgery (at least according my surgeon and dietitian).

Woo HOO! I have a date--9/3 (day after my 52nd birthday). Liver shrink diet starts now. Georgia

Well, based on some pre surgery recommendations and people being out at work, it looks like I'm doing the beginning of September for my surgery time. I'm still waiting for final insurance approval (crossing fingers). I was actually thinking I might do my birthday, September 2.

I have my final surgeon visit tomorrow and then everything gets submitted to insurance. Still on track for a late August surgery.

I don't even have anything other than a tentative date yet and I'm scared. This is a big step but I know it's the right one for me.

Looks like I might make the end of August! Yesterday the last of my pre-surgery reports made it to my surgeon's office. Now I just need to do my followup on July 28.

I got through all my pre-surgery appointments without any issues. I had to make them myself because my surgeon is 60 miles away. So I called to see where we were with reports getting there (this was Monday). Only my family doctor and the dietitian had stuff up there! I called people Tuesday and Wednesday. Supposedly, everyone sent stuff (well, I had to call twice to get one group to call me back). So I checked today. 1 person's stuff got there but they actually faxed it to the wrong number (the doctor's old office) in spite of me checking the number. Sigh. So instead of calling, I faxed them record transfer forms (shouldn't have to do that since I went to all my visits with everyone knowing it was for bariatric clearance for surgery but, hey, if it gets the stuff there, I'll do it.) Who would have thought that it would be this much effort AFTER the appointments to get things where they need to be. I really hope the last guy's office handles things better (psych eval). I had to pay for that one up front because insurance doesn't cover it.

Everyone keeps telling me I will lose the boobs but my daughter is a 30F. I think mine are here unless I finally do the reduction surgery after I lose weight. I have lost prior to now and the band went down but not the cup. But most people do lose cup sizes. I feel so special.

Activa has yogurts with artificial sweeteners that I like.

Hey I just wanted to say cool to the birthday present. I am giving myself surgery, too. Hoping for the last week of August and my 52 birthday will be September 2.

I am still pre surgery but I know one of the things I have to do is get rid of "All or nothing" thinking. I have chronic illnesses so when I "mess up" (don't walk as much as I want, eat bad, etc.) I tend to say "F*ck it" and stop walking all together or eat garbage for a month or two. I'm trying to deal with that before surgery. Sigh. Good luck to you. I think the first step isn't the hardest, it's the first step after things go wrong!

At work, I have told some people and not others. I'm in the process of switching departments at work which complicates things a bit. More people in the old department know than the new one. I figure once the surgery is scheduled, I'll tell everyone. The only person who hasn't been very supportive so far is my sister. She's a low fat, low calorie that's the way to go type person. I've lost weight before doing higher Protein and good carbs and she questioned that. She's going through a rough time so I am being really supportive of her but I'm not feeling the love. I sent an email update to the siblings and she didn't respond. I sent her another update after my last doctor's appointment and asked how things were going with her. She responded to the question about how stuff was going but ignored the other stuff. Hey, at least she isn't outwardly attacking the idea. My younger brother is my cheerleader right now. He's getting ready to start his own bariatric journey, too.

Wow! I started with the question of what hospitals I had to use and they told me the ones within 50 miles. I picked the hospital I wanted from that list (50 miles away) and then selected a doctor on my list. I would *hope* your specialist visits would go over to the new doctor you have to use. But, I did have 2 stressful calls trying to figure out the requirements for pre surgery dieting. They didn't ever really answer me--they pointed me to an online document under the providers part of the website but would answer no questions about it. Sigh. Anthem uneven customer service at it's worst. In my case, I am Anthem in California with CalPERS (our insurance book says you have to use their specific hospitals which is why I started with that question).

I am just starting my journey (surgery hopefully in August) but I am working on my emotional eating now. I was surprised at how often I am eating because of emotions even though I am losing weight pre-op. I am using Recovery Record (an app available on both Android and Apple). I also am reading 50 ways to soothe yourself without food. A very good book for me. Good luck.

I am down to a visit with my nephrologist, my EDG, and the psych evaluation. I can't wait!

I haven't found a website. There is a great book I am reading now, 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without food. The author does recommend that you journal about your eating in some way--specifically how you were feeling before and after you ate. She also provides some nice coping skills for dealing with emotional eating. I did find a printable journal sheet on line at someone else's website http://www.healthyeatinghub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/THEH-Emotional-Eating-Journal-Printable.pdf. I thought about writing stuff down because I find that actually makes me put more thought into the exercise but besides getting ready for surgery, I'm also going through a fairly busy time at work. You could also blog about your eating (and make those blogs private). Good luck to you! I really believe dealing with this will be key for me.

I was looking for an app to help me track my thoughts and feelings about eating. If anyone else is interested, here's the app I found: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.recoveryrecord

Hi. I'm making my way through the pre-surgery appointments. I did get good news from the pulmonary doctor--I have lung function at 140% of most women my age in spite of my extra weight. Cool! Something that isn't wrong with me. Of course, I still have sleep apnea so I have to use my CPAP when I come out of surgery so I don't stop breathing then. Georgia

The only thing I don't like about myfitnesspal is that it complains when my calories are lower than 1200 (which doesn't happen much right now because I'm pre-surgery). I wish there was a specific bariatric patient tracker somewhere that worked with my fitbit.