Smye

Feb 12, so getting close. I'll post my own as well but would be thrilled to join you in this venture.

Aaand, I just got my Sx date, Feb 12. I'm so stinking excited!

Finally got a date, Feb 12 on a cancellation, WAHOO!!

@@makemyownluck, I first read this post 6 months ago, sitting well above 400 lb. I've spent much of the time since dreaming of joining you in Tres Town. I finally decided to have surgery two months ago and am far enough along in the process to be on my pre-op liver-shrinking diet (<40g carb/day, 3 weeks). This morning I hit 397, first time in the 300's in a long time. Thank you for your inspiration and co-celebration, if separated by a few months.

@@Kellsbells, I hear you - I'm in the same boat right now. I've done all my preop tests (the last one was Saturday) and am now just waiting for the surgical team to get the reports. I called today and my NUT (who works in the same office) "hasn't gotten around" to submitting her notes, nor has my bloodwork arrived yet (taken 3 weeks ago). But I trust that, with a little prompting here and there, the process will go forward

Any advice for men on this topic? Not so much for 'shaping' as for holding what my wife calls my upcoming "saggy-baggy elephant-ness" (her favorite book as a kid) in place.

It's looking like February, I'm hoping for the 13th or the 16th.

@@Kate M, Good luck! Congratuations on all your previous testing. I've just scheduled my sleep study consult (Tuesday) and my psych, nut, and fitness consults (next Friday). I've also already done my bloodwork (waiting on results), EKG (perfect), anesthaesia consult (perfect) and have been told I'm "freakishly healthy" (exact quote) by 5 seprarate physicians so far. At first I was nervous that would mean I wouldn't be a great a candidate for the sleeve, but they all seem to think it will be well in my favor. Sorry work, I'll be using a fair chunk of the 3 weeks of vacation I have stored up here pretty quick.

YAHOO! Thanks again to all of you who've been so supportive in the last few weeks in my anxiety over getting scheduled. I had my first consult today and, pending a sleep study and blood work (both of which were fine 6 months ago), I'm all set for getting sleeved mid-February. I should have a solid date in the next two weeks or so. I'm so excited! I'm sure the anxiety and nervousness will kick in sure, and I'll Celebrate all over again once the date is actually nailed down - but right now I'm on cloud 9, and I don't even have to go to work after because I took the whole day off .

If you're anxious about how even asking HR "why" might impact you, the company, or parent company, should have a confidential Ombudsman who can help you. That's his/her job to deal with matters like this and answer any questions you may have in complete confidence (excepting the whole harm to self/others clause). Most companies ask for that sort of information to ensure you are cared for properly in the event of an emergency. Earthquake? Flood? Coworker gone postal? They want to be able to tell EMS your medical history quickly and efficiently without having to try to take the time to contact your next-of-kin. As weird as it sounds, it's standard practice to ask these sorts of things in most large organizations. That said, everyone here is right, you have no obligation to disclose. Maybe, after you're hired, ask your surgeon if (s)he thinks it would be worth it to share for emergency purposes. If (s)he says 'yes', at that point you're informing just HR (not your supervisor) and have solid grounds for a wrongful termination lawsuit if you lose your job over it (and since they know that, you won't). Personally? I'd leave it off entirely or ask the Ombuds.

Hi all, I'm hoping someone on here can give me, from first or second hand experience, a sense of whether my weight loss goals post WLS are realistic. I appreciate all of the feedback I've gotten from folks on my other posts, but I'm really looking to hear from folks who have done what I'm hoping to attempt or personally know someone who has. At my last weigh-in, Dec 2014, I weighed 410 Hoped-for surgery date is Feb 2014 (meeting to schedule surgery next week if all goes well) Goal 1: 375 by May 1015 Goal 2: 325 by Dec 2015 Goal 3: 275 by Dec 2016 Goal 4: 225 by Dec 2017 Stretch Goal 5: 185 by Dec 2018 My Dr. tells me I'm freakishly fit for someone my weight (I walk 2 miles/day, haul hay around my farm, and have only GERD and a little incontinence as comorbidities, BP fine, joints fine [excepting bilateral bunionectomies 12 years ago], I don't eat junk as I raise 70% of my own calories [though my fat intake is too high], etc) so I don't see exercise being too much of stretch to do post-op. I'm having the surgery largely as prevention of larger problems once I get older (still under 30) rather than intervention, and am hoping my current fitness will help spur weightloss rather than quash it. Any thoughts, is this realistic? Obviously I'll be talking with my Dr. about these goals as well, but wanted to hear from the forum as well.

@@Zentastic, how did you know? Yes, I am indeed OCD, my wife hopes it will be a strength moving forward. And yes, I'm definitely nervous about the likely depression given the massive hormonal influx as I lose fat. Fortunately (I guess) depression isn't exactly new to my life and I've got a fantastic support network - this new step on my life's journey will definitely be a stressor on that network, but I'm confident we can all get through it. The only "I HAVE TO GET THERE" goal I'm allowing myself is <300lb by the time I'm 30 (26 now).

@@geelynn - thank you! Not comparing is going to be really hard for me moving forward and the reminder is much needed. I've just added it to my list of "To-Do's" at my next appt with my counsellor. I'm so excited for this surgery - scared, but excited!

@@BitterSweet* Good point. Usually I try really hard (and often unconsciously fail) not to abuse my society-given male privilege, but I'll admittedly take this one (not that I want women to lose faster, but I'm glad to lose fast).

All - thank you so much for your encouragement, this is a huge boost! @@SuperDave - Thank you! Congratulations on your huge accomplishment! @SLONP-lapband2bypass and @@BitterSweet* - yes, that was a typo on my part, thanks for catching and now corrected. And yes, my wife is super supportive and my 18 m.o. son is too young to do anything but cheer @@LipstickLady and @@McButterpants (I need to know the origin of that name, it's excellent!) - thank you for your words of caution. I haven't been south of 200 since I was 10 years old (I was 207 on my 10th birthday, what were my parents thinking not getting me any help?) so its a little hard to guestimate. I got down to 250 for a year in high school at my current height and felt pretty good, so anything south of 250 will feel INCREDIBLE (really anything lower than 400 will be an enormous boon). I've got "no slavery" written on my scale right below the numbers. Thank you again. I have to admit though, taking myself from the kid who hit 100 lb when he was 6 to someone even in the neighborhood of slender is alluring.

I will be meeting with my patient coordinator on Thursday to (hopefully) schedule surgery in the next few months (LSG). I'm so excited and relieved to have found such a great support as BP. I am, however, also in the middle of a job hunt. I have a steady job making 30k/yr and I love the work, but have just finished grad school and am heading into management, enjoy the job even more (my internship was incredible) and triple my salary - this means that from Feb-Oct I could (and likely will) be having fits and spurts of interviews. My question is this: How long post-op can I reasonably expect to go into a job interview and knock their pants off (assuming mine don't fall off from weight loss)? I know I'm supposed to be able to resume moderate exercise in a few days and be back to full activity by two weeks, but wanted to know how soon I can reasonably expect to be my 'normal' self barring complications. I'd hate to go into a final round interview and find myself weeping partway through or look down to find a blood staining through my suit in the middle of my belly. I suppose they'd always remember me

I'm currently pre-op and am looking to plan out some of my post-op exercise routine sooner rather than later. My Dr. and NUT both tell me one of the key differences between those who have 40-50% EWL after WLS and those closer to 90-95% EWL is in the exercise. I can barely afford the loan for surgery, so paying for a trainer isn't an option right now - though it's certainly something I hope to do long term. Can you all please share with me an example of what your exercise routine looks like, both shortly post op and longer term? Currently, despite my high BMI, I raise 70% of my own calories on my hobby farm and spend my evenings hauling hay, 50# bags of grain, and taking my dogs on long walks around the lake - I'm nervous that since I don't eat junk and excercise as above now but still have 54.1BMI, what will I need to do post-op for exercise to see success? I'm willing to wait long term, but am very eager to be in the 90-95 crowd.

Hi All, Several months ago my gastroenterologist of 5 years whom I trust suggested bariatric surgery. I've spent the time since abusing my access to scholarly journals through work and had initially settled on the sleeve. I've got an initial consult with the local sleeve expert surgeon 1 week from today. It's all he does and all he's ever done, I was so excited! I wanted the sleeve! However, while continuing my obsessive research last night, I decided to look specifically at "super-obese" patients with a BMI between 50 and 60 (my BMI is 54.1) and what I found was devastating - according to the NIH, among the super-obese, the average EWL for VSG is 40-50% whereas the DS has averages of 70-90% in the first year and early studies suggest a much higher success rate at 10-years post-op. Anyone here go through a similar experience? How have you handled it and what results have you had? I am a teacher and can't qualify for a loan large enough to cover DS without a few years of saving just to qualify, but don't want to waste time and money on VSG if I'm only going to have to save for several years and take out a second loan later for revision to DS with only 40% EWL in the meantime. I know DS is often done in two stages with VSG as stage 1, has anyone here done this? How does the cost and experience of doing it in two parts compare with doing the full DS in one fell swoop. Thanks for putting up with this rambling post. I'll be posting in the VSG forum as well, please forgive the cross-post.

For those wondering, here are some of the articles I was looking at: RYGB> VSG for super obese VSG EWL rates for super obese DS>RYGB for super obese - found on NIH (in tandem with the first link by the transitive property, it seemed safe to assume if DS>RYGB and RYGB>VSG, then DS>VSG) And lastly, because I wasn't satisfied with the transitive proprty alone - staged DS > single-step-DS > VSG for super obese I'm also curious as to whether the staged DS (VSG->DS) is cheaper than the cost of VSG+DS.

Thank you Forsythia, Ann, you're right, I overspoke. The NIH itself does not per se, recommend DS over VSG, however I was looking at the following studies: RYGB> VSG for super obese VSG EWL rates for super obese DS>RYGB for super obese - found on NIH (in tandem with the first link by the transitive property, it seemed safe to assume if DS>RYGB and RYGB>VSG, then DS>VSG) And lastly, because I wasn't satisfied with the transitive proprty alone - staged DS > single-step-DS > VSG for super obese I'm curious as to whether the staged DS (VSG->DS) is cheaper than the cost of VSG+DS.