mom2kandh

UPDATE:
Even better than Isopure, if you don't care for the traditional Protein Shake, is Syntrax Nectar from mybariatricpantry.com. You can get a sample pack of 10 for $20 and they taste like kool-aid, no need to mix with Vitamin Water to make them bearable!
mom2kandh

My son would be the same exact way *if not* for seeing me "survive" an appendectomy earlier this year. (He was six at the time and the biggest Mommy's boy you have ever met!) It did shake him up quite a bit, but he got over it.
So a few months later when I had a hysterectomy, he did great again. Now he is not worried at all about the sleeve surgery next week. He knows the benefits, that I will be able to do more fun stuff with him and the family, so he's looking forward to it.
Reconsider the probabilities of death due to surgery and the complications of being overweight. That should make your decision much easier.
mom2kandh

Obesity like cigarettes kill you slowly, I know I smoked for a long time and have been heavy all my life. In my twenties no problems I felt invincible in my forties Heart disease X 2 stents, High blood pressure, sleep apnea,knocking on diabetes door oh and also I take more medicine than I care to count. I have two young sons and I constantly think about what can go wrong with my surgery and than I think about how I can have a stroke or heart attack without the surgery for me it's a no brainer I want to be around as long as the good Lord let's me. Life is short nothing wrong with trying to make the most of what we've got. Good luck on your decision!

I was totally a "healthy fat". I did martial arts, I huffed and puffed my fat ass through the park, up the dunes, through 5ks. I had no co-morbidities. I was a master at faking it and just dealing quietly with the pain that was starting in my knees and feet.

It wasn't until I lost 100+ pounds that I figured out what I was really missing.

You should not do this until you are ready and as you don't feel this is urgent for you, I agree that the time might not be right for you. Only you can decide that. You will know when you are ready and NO ONE will be able to change your mind.

I was willing to risk the possible complications over the idea of allowing my children watch me die slowly due to obesity.

My quality of life is so much better and we have more fun together. I am no longer exhausted after a day of activity. I can fit into any ride at the amusement park, I don't worry about weight limits when we go zip lining or rock climbing, and I am the first one to suggest a mud run or a day of tubing on the river.

I wish I hadn't wasted so much of their childhood obese. That's a huge regret for me.

Thank you for the tip! Do you use vitamin water zero?

I am banking on the hunger being minimized. I have FEROCIOUS hunger that is the cause of this weight problem. I'm not a grazer or an emotional eater, I just honestly feel like I am starving 90% of the time. That's why I'm dreading pre op diet. But, I know that this tool will work for me, just like it will you, too. Stay positive. That's the very best thing you can do. Don't get caught up in the "what if's", but rather EXPECT to succeed and you will!

@@mom2kandh I think we all have the same fears of failure. We all have tried many things before that did not work for us. I had my surgery 4 weeks ago today. I have fortunately not felt any hunger and after the first week I have been able to get all my fluids and Protein in. I am not having any trouble following my surgeon's diet at this point. I cook for my family and even though things smell good to me I have no desire to eat any of it. I hope this continues
Have faith in yourself and the procedure. It will work for you.
Good luck and I hope the next week flies by for you!
Summer

I've thought about it a few time's after reading certain thing's here and I'm really nervous about my upcoming surgery September 8th, But the thing to really get my by was Instagram lol. As funny as it is There are a lot of young people on Instagram who have has WLS including Sleeve and are doing great I love going through and seeing all the success. If a 15 year old can go through it so can I. With that all being said, I think someone here had said something along the lines of "Most people who post here are going to post about the bad side of WLS because they need help and are looking for advice, People who are doing well are less likely to post about their success and have less questions so you rarely hear from them" So your more likely to see the negative/scary stuff in other words...

I would like to hear from sleeve patients that have degenerative arthritis and/or fibromyalgia about your results post sleeve. Do you feel better in reference to your joint pain? I know there is no specific [scientific] evidence that WLS results in reduction of fibro symptoms, but sometimes real people might disagree in what is or is not published in a medical journal. Surely the weight loss contributes to much less pain from degenerative arthritis though. Please share your story with me.

I mix them about half and half with Vitamin Water lemonade and pour over ice. The colder they are, the better they taste. My favorites are red, blue, and purple. I'm looking for another non milk shake type that costs a little less.

First of all...deep breath. You have not failed. Your surgery has not failed. The surgery is a tool to help you lose weight and you have. What you have also done is buy into the whole "I lost a ton of weight quickly after the sleeve" routine. I am not saying it doesn't happen, it certainly does. In fact, you see post after post after post on here saying as much. But what you don't see is how many post that they haven't lost as much or as fast. Is it because they failed? No, not at all. It is because each and every human is different. Our bodies are different and our metabolism is different. We all live different lives and do different things. Therefore it is completely and totally NORMAL that we all lose weight differently after VSG. I plan to write a blog or post about this when I hit my "surgi-versary" on 10/21. I too have been upset at times, but it was at myself. It took me a very long time to come to some kind of terms with the reality of it all. That reality is this...We ALL want quick results, a miracle for losing weight. We may research and know all the facts and numbers, but in our hearts we are praying to be the ones we read about. We ALL want to post big numbers lost in a short amount of time. We ALL want to finally be healthy, but mostly we want to be normal. We want to be accepted, by society and ourselves. We want all of our problems to disappear and our bodies to be what we dream of them being. But reality is it may not happen. Reality is we may only lose a little at a time. Reality is the surgery is documented as only losing up to a percentage of your excess weight, not every pound of that excess. Do some people lose every last excess pound? Yes, they do. But not everyone. I believe those of us who don't post that we have only lost a percentage and not all the weight feel guilt, or failure. I absolutely believed this would be my answer for my weight struggles, yet I still struggle. Does the sleeve do what is should? Yes it does. I am restricted in how much I can eat. Can I eat around it? Yep. Can I eat junk I should not? Absolutely. Has my restriction eased over the year? Without any doubt. Can I do better? You better believe it. Am I human and make mistakes? Do I try to do better? Every day for the rest of my life... I didn't want to "diet", but I know I cannot eat foods others do and lose weight. I really dislike exercise, but I know the sleeve will not lose me the weight alone. I know I have to do my part to put this body back into some semblance of order. I was morbidly obese and spent many years well over 150+ overweight. Rome wasn't built in a day...Today I am almost 100lbs thinner. I am over half way to goal. Do I give up because I am almost a year out and haven't lost all the extra weight yet? No. Never give up. Failure only wins if you give up. A year out I am very happy I did what I did. I am glad I had the surgery. Rather than focusing on the 70+ pounds I need to lose hit goal, I think of the 98lbs I lost to get where I am now! Sure I still want more from this, but getting my head in the right place has helped me accept where I have come so far.

First of all, it's normal to stall out at week 2-3 for a while. Second of all, you have lost weight overall since your surgery, correct? I am 6 weeks post-op as of today and down 17 pounds total. Is it frustrating to see others who lose like 40+ pounds in a month? Yes! But I am losing weight. I am sticking to all my nutritional guidelines. I am doing my approved exercise. I know I will eventually get to my goal. When I was upset about my "slow" loss last week, someone who has been at goal for over a year now told me she doesn't even remember how much weight she lost in these early weeks, because once you've been at goal for over a year, does it really matter how fast you got there? That really put things in perspective for me.
I had been treating this whole thing like my "diets" of old, where it always seemed like I was in a race to lose the weight as fast as possible. But VSG is forever. It's not a diet. You don't get to goal and then just be "done" with it. This is a lifelong journey, so if it takes me 12 months vs 6 months to get to goal, how much is that really going to matter in the grand scheme of things?

Blue cross took less than 3 days

PHCS - a day or 2

BCBS Iowa - Less than 24 hrs!!!

Me! Me! Me! Just got my insurance approval today! Scheduled for Dec. 9!! Yippee! My 2 wk pre-op starts before Thanksgiving....guess there's no Turkey & the works for me. I think I'll survive! ????

It looks like I'll be getting sleeved the first part of December as well. They submit to insurance after my final nut appointment on the 22nd. The coordinator said it takes 204 weeks to hear back from insurance then it's 2-3 weeks until surgery takes place. Thanksgiving was going to be my biggest hurdle. I am keeping very quiet about the surgery just because that's the way I am and I didn't want to deal with all the questions over Thanksgiving dinner. I'm not worried about Christmas because it's done in a casual buffet style where nobody pays attention to what anyone else is eating or not eating.

@@kymmiej11
Dec 30 sounds like a great time to have the surgery to me! you'll start the new year off as a new person! As to having to do the whole preop/postop diet over the holidays, I have been on diets before through the holidays and it didn't kill me, so i know i can do it again. Best of luck to you!

I am also hoping for a Dec surgery date. I meet with my surgeon on Thursday and hopefully will get a date then. Still have to get insurance approval. Anyone else have people think you're crazy for doing this over the holidays? I think it will be the best Christmas (and birthday - my birthday is Dec. 13) present ever!

I would love to have a dec sleepers group!! I'm getting my sleeve done dec. 30th and couldn't be more excited!!!

Well that's a familiar story jumping thru hoops me too! All I've done is get medical records go to dr appts or schedule endless test while being told not to eat any carbs or sugar fun! Not anyway I'm hoping for dec had hoped for before dec 1 due to my plan year starts over on that date and I will have to pay out several thousand dollars if it's after that but everything goes so incredibly slow and they space your tests and appts so far apart I don't have much hope it will happen before jan I've had to hound every dr and hospital records office for records it's been unbelievable hope everyone else is having a better experience

Looking for start a mini support group for sleevers who plan to get surgery done in December of this year. I figure its only two months away so we should meet up now and plan for it Lemme know if anybody is interested!

Yes, I also have an inflammatory arthritis. I do not have to get permission from my rheumatologist, but do have to go off the drugs. I took my last remicaid infusion in September, last methotrexate about the same time, and will stop taking plaquenil one month before surgery. Needless to say, I'm taking pain meds in order to sleep at night, but it's all going to be worth it when I've lost 100 lbs!
mom2kandh

Some things I wish I'd known before surgery:
-Like some others have said, I wish I had taken measurements prior to the start of my pre-op diet (I did start post surgery, but now wish I knew what I really was at my biggest)
-I wish I hadn't stocked up on Protein powder and sugar free popsicles before surgery, because the Protein I liked before surgery tasted too sweet after, and I never had trouble drinking Water, so didn't need the popsicles.
-I wish I had known to ask for liquid pain medication from my surgeon upon discharge, and that I'd found more liquid/chewable Vitamin options before surgery. It took me a good three weeks before I could really swallow pills.
Some things I'm glad I did before surgery:
-I'm glad I found a strength training program that I liked, and did it consistently before surgery. I've had almost no loose skin (so far) and credit my muscle mass for most of that.
-I'm glad I started taking a Biotin supplement a couple of months pre-op, because over all, my hair loss has been minimal.
-I'm glad I got on Bariatric Pal, and read all of the advice that everyone on here had to give before I went into surgery. It really helped me feel as prepared as possible going into it!