leenie625

Today's the day!! Check in at 10AM, surgery at 11. So ready for this. I'm amazed at how calm I am. This whole journey has been a God-thing and I'm so glad He's got my back! See ya on the flip side!!

I start my pre-op diet tomorrow. Sleeve surgery is 8/28. I am 63 and can not believe I am going to let someone remove 3/4 of my stomach and risk all the complications because I can not control my weight! I have lost 25 lbs in the last 6 months and wonder if I should just cancel the surgery and see what happens in the next 6 months. I am currently 225 and have all the obese related diseases. I am not frightened about the surgery, just everything that comes after. I think if I did not have to wait so long for the operation day, I would have gone ahead with it. I just want to run away and forget all of this.

@@Nicie, I'm on day 12 of my pre-op diet and I am 61 years old and felt, at first, just the way you do. I was so embarrassed that I could not lose the weight on my own and was ashamed that it had come down to surgery to lose this weight. On day 4 of the pre-op diet, I had a panic attack around the thought " I can't do this! I can do this on my own!" and I wanted to walk away. But, I want my life back. I have severe spine issues and if I don't get rid of this weight, I'll be wheelchair bound within a year. I've got 10 beautiful grandchildren that I want to have a life with, and I do not want to spend my time left on this earth beating myself up because I let myself get this way. All of the prep and the recovery is temporary. Use this time to change the relationship you have with food. I used food for EVERY occasion; happy, sad, angry, bored. Throughout the pre-op diet, I truly have not been physically hungry, but I've been extremely head-hungry. I'll mute food commercials on TV, I've pulled out my crocheting to keep my hands busy, I'll go to bed. Anything to keep from thinking about food. I've found some blog spots from VSGers that are very encouraging and I know that I can do this. I'm looking at the pre-op and recovery as a wiping-the-slate clean, and then, once I start to re-introduce food into my diet, that I make the choices that are healthy and smart and begin to build my life again, without that emphasis of food.

Wishing you God's blessings and strength. You've got this!!

I've been obese nearly all my life. I was athletic, I had friends, I coped well with the mean comments and jeering whispers that go along with being morbidly obese. But as I aged, the weight started tearing on my joints, and, having an hereditary malformation at L4-L5 L5-S1 in my lumbar spine, I'm in constant pain, and mobility is becoming a huge issue. I think it took me so long to embrace WLS because I was embarrassed and ashamed that I could not control my weight on my own. But, when my pain specialist, 2 orthopedic surgeons, and a neurosurgeon all recommended that I have WLS, I had to consider it.

I had started the process with my insurance company back in October, 2013, but put it on the back-burner when I tried, once again, a futile attempt to lose the weight myself. I reached a point with my pain that I knew I had no choice. I contacted my insurance company again, and, having my history of pain treatment on hand, they allowed me to restart the process where I left off. It was a series of God-moments that made me realize I was doing the right thing. My pain specialist was begging me to have VSG, but I told him I wanted to see one more back surgeon, and if that surgeon said "No", then I would consider it. Turns out the surgeon I wanted to see was my pain specialist's teacher during his residency, and he told me the man was brilliant, that I had made a good choice. I went to see the neurosurgeon, and he agreed that I definitely needed back surgery, but I was not at emergency state, so he recommended WLS, too. He gave me the name of the Dr. he recommended, and turns out that physician was the ONLY physician my insurance company covered in this area. God-moments...

So, I get sleeved on August 21, 2014. I'm on my liquid diet and doing well, and I'm excited about my future. Blessings to all of you!!!

I love my broths too...I've been jazzing them up with squeezes of lemon and hot sauce.

great idea! I'll give that a try!

I'm having mine on August 15th. I'm not required to do a pre op but I feel I need to. Will you help me get ready for surgery? I will follow a liquid diet for 7 days with you

My Dr. has me on three Protein Shakes per day, plus Clear Liquids in between shake meals. I'm using Premier Protein ready made shakes right now, but I've got an order on it's way from Unjury for their starter pack. I want to try out their different products so I have some variety. I'm using sugar-free Jello, sugar-free pop cicles, Water, and tea for my clear liquids. I'm going to make a batch of Bone Broth this weekend so I have something hot to "eat" on this liquid diet. I never was hungry on day 1, the only thing was that everything was cold. I need some hot, so I'll explore broths over the next couple of days.

I start my two week pre-op liquid today! Believe it or not, I'm excited about the liquid diet! I'm anxious for change. August 21, hurry up!!! Any other sleevers scheduled for the 21st want to buddy up?

August 21 at 11AM. I have my EGD tomorrow and start my pre-op liquid diet on Thursday! Very excited!

I am August 21. So excited!!!