Syrina

My BMI was 54 last week when I had surgery. I was leaning toward bypass because of my BMI and diabetes and sleep apnea, but my surgeon said he won't do a bypass unless he can't do the sleeve. I ha E GERD as well, and if there had been any anatomical concerns with my stomach that were contributing to the GERD that would have meant bypass.

Overall, 5 days out and I feel great and have no regrets.

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Aaaahhh OMG my surgery date is official! January 17th. Signed the consent forms yesterday.

Pre-op diet starts New Year's Eve. Good thing I didn't make big plans lol. I work in revenue cycle for a hospital and end of month is a big freaking deal so I'll just be working late, drinking Protein, and whining about my life choices lol.

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Aaaahhh OMG my surgery date is official! January 17th. Signed the consent forms yesterday.

Pre-op diet starts New Year's Eve. Good thing I didn't make big plans lol. I work in revenue cycle for a hospital and end of month is a big freaking deal so I'll just be working late, drinking Protein, and whining about my life choices lol.

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Well, I haven't talked to my surgeon's office yet, so it's not official, but I saw my approved pre-auth on my insurance portal and it's dated for 1/17/19 so I think I have a date!

Should be starting my pre-op diet right after New Year's if I'm right. Which is nice, I won't be on the diet over my birthday lol.

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I am not officially scheduled but I'm looking at a January surgery. I have had my nutrition visits, psych eval, etc and go in for my pre-op testing at the beginning of December. If my surgery is approved I'll see the dietitian one more time and get my pre-op visit scheduled. He does surgery on Thursdays with the EGD the day before.

It's getting closer and I'm getting excited!

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I discussed it with my nutritionist and we picked a number at the top of the healthy weight range. I don't want an overweight BMI after all this effort lol

One of my intermediate goals is to get my BMI down to 39. It's kind of a weird thing, but I am a medical coder, so I have to add BMI codes to charts all day long, and from 20 to 39, they get their own codes. Above and below that a range of several points will share a diagnosis code. And dang it, I want my BMI to have an individual code! Like i
I said, kind of a weird goal, but that's what I get for staring at patient charts all day lol

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I went to the ER a couple of months ago about a headache and she looked at my chart and asked me if I'd considered weight loss surgery. Not even "losing weight would help", just straight to surgery lol. But to be fair, I have diabetes and sleep apnea and she was checking my chart to make sure they weren't contributing. And it's nice to know she reviewed my history for relevant data.

But I agree, it will be nice to *not* have the weight talk at the doctor's office any more.

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I went to the ER a couple of months ago about a headache and she looked at my chart and asked me if I'd considered weight loss surgery. Not even "losing weight would help", just straight to surgery lol. But to be fair, I have diabetes and sleep apnea and she was checking my chart to make sure they weren't contributing. And it's nice to know she reviewed my history for relevant data.

But I agree, it will be nice to *not* have the weight talk at the doctor's office any more.

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I am not officially scheduled but I'm looking at a January surgery. I have had my nutrition visits, psych eval, etc and go in for my pre-op testing at the beginning of December. If my surgery is approved I'll see the dietitian one more time and get my pre-op visit scheduled. He does surgery on Thursdays with the EGD the day before.

It's getting closer and I'm getting excited!

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Oh, I can't sleep without it anymore. I ripped it off one night when I was really congested and I only lasted twenty minutes before I woke up with a dry, sore throat from snoring. I put it back on. Once the air starts blowing I don't have any trouble. And of course, there's the fact that it *works*. I had trouble sleeping with the mask one time after I'd been using it for about a month, and I was miserable the next day.

You might try loosening some of the straps. Sometimes it can be too tight. There are also pads you can buy, or just take some soft fabric and cut it into a ring that will cover your mask and leave just enough of a hole to put your nose through. The extra padding is supposed to help with leaks.

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I don't think I'll be off the CPAP after I lose weight. My sleep apnea is *really* bad (130 events per hour at my sleep study) and even as a kid I snored horribly. I suspect I would have been diagnosed as a kid if there had been more awareness of it. I think my sleep apnea will get better but I doubt I'll get off the machine.

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Get systane gel eyedrops. They're thick and goop but the keep your eyes hydrated. I use them every night and I can definitely tell a difference. They're not cheap but the bottle lasts a few weeks.

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Oh, I can't sleep without it anymore. I ripped it off one night when I was really congested and I only lasted twenty minutes before I woke up with a dry, sore throat from snoring. I put it back on. Once the air starts blowing I don't have any trouble. And of course, there's the fact that it *works*. I had trouble sleeping with the mask one time after I'd been using it for about a month, and I was miserable the next day.

You might try loosening some of the straps. Sometimes it can be too tight. There are also pads you can buy, or just take some soft fabric and cut it into a ring that will cover your mask and leave just enough of a hole to put your nose through. The extra padding is supposed to help with leaks.

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I don't think I'll be off the CPAP after I lose weight. My sleep apnea is *really* bad (130 events per hour at my sleep study) and even as a kid I snored horribly. I suspect I would have been diagnosed as a kid if there had been more awareness of it. I think my sleep apnea will get better but I doubt I'll get off the machine.

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Get systane gel eyedrops. They're thick and goop but the keep your eyes hydrated. I use them every night and I can definitely tell a difference. They're not cheap but the bottle lasts a few weeks.

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I had my first meeting with the nutritionist today. It went really well. I already started a low carb diet so we just went over what I've been doing, and coping strategies for my vacation next week (going to visit family who do NOT know I'm doing this, for good reasons). She also reviewed the pre-op diet; they use Optifast, it's $100 a week for the two week diet, but you pay for that and it's literally all you eat. Apparently my surgeon likes it because in addition to the Protein, it has a lot of added Vitamins that I would need otherwise. I'm going to do more research before the time comes. I can put the money aside with this much notice.
I also found out that my insurance doesn't actually require any kind of supervised diet, so I made my consult much earlier than I needed. I still can't move up my surgery due to a 12 month waiting period from my enrollment in the insurance plan. 12 months will be December 1st, but I'm going to push it back to January so I have my full FSA for next year for the initial deposit, and so I'm not coming off of surgery still being tired with people taking vacation for the holidays. I'm a medical coder, so at the end of the month, there's a big push to get charges out and if people are out over Christmas, somebody has to pick up the slack LOL. I don't want to worry about that while I'm still lacking energy from surgery. Also I'm going to have to talk to my PCP about a different form of Adderall, because I need it to work, but I'm on the extended release form and I can't open the capsule and sprinkle it on applesauce or something.
But I have a plan! And I lost 3 lbs this week! I'm feeling pretty good right now.

I have my initial consult Friday! This is my second attempt (got approved for lap band in 2015 but I couldn't make my finances work out). This may actually be better because my new employer covers multiple types of surgery, I believe, and at a lower cost to me.
I feel like I'm better prepared this time, too.

This is my puppers, Mudkips. He is my fussy old man (he's been a fussy old man his entire life lol)





This is mom's dog, Molly. She is adorable and ridiculous



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I feel like I need to do ALL THE READING right this minute. And buy all the Protein Powder. You know, six months out, so I'll be prepared 🙄. My brain does some strange things sometimes LOL.

Yay awesome! I got a call yesterday and my first consultation is April 25th I’m so excited!