Remmy75

My surgeon required an appointment with a cardiologist just to make sure there are no heart issues. You may have to do one too. Think of it as a chance to make sure all of you is healthy.

My first appointment was on 5/22. My surgery is on 9/28. I scheduled everything as soon as i could to make sure I got this done sooner than later. My insurance required 40 bmi or 35 with comorbidities and following the surgeons program. The program consisted of the following: Lose 10 pounts or 10% of weight if over 55 BMI 2 surgeon appointments 3 nutritionist appointments 2 psyche appointments sleep study Upper GI and Bloodwork Cardiologist appointment Letter of OK from Primary care doctor

I have Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Massachusetts. They covered mine!

I am day for my pre-op and how fun it..ugh! My nutritionist said I could drink the GNC Lean 25 shakes. They are pretty good. They have powder and pre-made. I got lucky because labor day weekend they had a bogo deal of buy one get one half off. So I made a big purchase. They also have their gold card that is $20 for 2 years. You can get like $1 off each item you buy. So it's not a bad deal. I figured it was worth it since I knew I would be needing Protein stuff a lot going forward after surgery.

@@Soxgirl Don't fret, there is tons of support. I am day 4 on my 14 day preop diet with surgery on 9/28 I am not saying there aren't issues and challenges but think about all the issues and challenges you have when you just because you're overweight. I almost lost a foot due to infections for uncontrolled diabetes, that is much worse then dealing with people who think WLS is the easy way out or whatever. Let me share with you a story about how supportive people who have had WLS can be. I was with my family in GNC to get some Protein shakes my Nutritionist said I could have on my pre-op diet. As we were talking to the girl that worked there this man came in and heard our discussion and knew immediately that I was having WLS surgery. He stood there and talked to me for 30 minutes and gave me advice and tips based on his experience. I have already used some of the advice he gave me while on my pre-op. He even gave me his cell phone number and asked me to touch base once I had my surgery. Just remember haters are gonna hate. People hate you because you're fat. People are going to hate you because you had surgery. You have to find the strength within to do this for you. For me I do it for me and my daughter because she needs her dad to be there for her for a long time. My journey has already had a positive affect on my daughter and my relationship with her. She is 9 and they did healthy goals in health class at school. She told the teacher her healthy goal was join daddy on his nightly walks. So last night she joined me on my walk. I hope that my positive changes can have long term affect on her so she doesn't face the challenges I had being overweight my whole life.

I have blue cross/ blue shield of Massachusetts thru my employer. They are covering most of it.

@@Yaberhoo Yes its my first surgery. I am ready to get it over with at this point. I am not so much afraid of the surgery itself as I am the life changes that go along with it. I worry about failing.

@@Yadi Perez, I too am having my surgery on 9/28. My fear is that all my other issues will take me away from my daughter. I am doing this for her as much as I am for me. She needs her dad. Your family needs you too. Hang in there and I will see you on the other side! We can share a spot on the losers bench!

I thought about going to the seminar for about 2 years before some serious medical issues pushed me to attend the seminar. I came out of that saying there is no f^#cking way i can do that. I resolved myself to diet and exercise. I did that for almost a year and all i did was yo-yo over the same 10-15 lbs. None of my medical issues got any better and i have diabetes, high blood pressure and so on. So after my last physical in May, i decided that the consequences of not doing more were far worse than to continue on my path. So did the seminar again and made my first appointment for May 25th. Its been a roller coaster since then. In the end i am currently on the 3rd day of my 14 day pre-op diet. I am 32 pounds down since my first appointment with the surgeon on 5-25 where I was 322 that day and i am sitting at 290. My surgery is scheduled for 9/28. I am terrified about the process and the future. But I am more terrified that my 9 year old daughter will grow up without her dad. I lost my mom to a heart attack when she was 54 and I was 26. It was devastating to me. I don't want her to go thru that and that's where i draw strength when I think I can't go on!

I was lucky my surgeons office gave me samples of several flavors of unjury. I considered buying the starter pack but I passed on it. In the end I bought big containers of chocolate Splendor, chicken Soup and Unflavored.

I quit soda over a year and a half ago and my surgery is in 2 weeks. What i did was a replaced coke with coffee. I never drink my coffee with sugar and just a little half and half. This kept me from having the caffeine withdrawal. I drank like 2 pots of coffee to start because I needed to replace the void of not drinking soda. For a carbonated drink, we got a sodastream. I was able to carbonate Water and add poweraide zero drops to it. So it was like a flavored soda but no caffeine or sugar. Then I slowly transitioned from the carbonation to just regular water with the drops in it. This is all i drink now. I still had my coffee but cut back to 1 cup a day. I am not completely off the caffeine as i prepare for my surgery.

My preop diet is 4-5 shakes and 2 fruit servings and 1 veggie.

Mine is the 28th. I start preop diet on the 14th.

I am being sleeved on 9/28. 20 days to go!

Just a thought that you maybe should have chosen a different word than vacation. If he equates vacation to fun and all he can think about is having fun. Maybe try and talk to him again and tell him that it's not really a vacation but an important business type trip. I don't know what term to use but if vacation upsets him then tell him its something important. Just a thought. My daughter is 9 and she knows I am having surgery. She is very supportive of what i am doing.

I grew being the fat kid and having to pretend I didn't like things because I didn't want to be embarrassed because I was to big to do it. I didn't want the other kids to make fun of me. I don't want to live that way anymore. When I have doubts I think about all the things I missed out in my first 40 years because I was afraid. My worst moment came almost 2 years ago when I got a terrible strep infection in my right foot because my diabetes was out of control and I wasn't facing the reality. I almost lost that foot! So, I sat down and thought to myself what is worse, being stuck in a wheelchair and/or scooter for the rest of my life? Or do I want to finally go thru with the surgery suffer some pain and live a different life and be there for my 9 year old daughter. I lost my mom at 54 and I was 26. I have live 14 years of my life without her. I don't want that for my daughter. So that brings me back to what have i done? I think about what I have done to myself in my first 40 years. I want to be proud of what I have done to myself in the next 40. That's what I do when I have doubts and I have had plenty. I chickened out on the process once already but I have to move forward with my life in a positive way. I have my surgery on 9/28 and to me that will be the first day of my new life and my new outlook. I want to live my life and not just survive in it!

I would do the Facebook group too. Rem1975@yahoo.com. Or what's the group name I could search for it.

September 28th here

I am having surgery with doctor Sandor at Lawrence memorial in Medford. I got my date of September 28 today!

By the way I had my A1C checked. After a month on Victoza, my A1C droped from the 8.2 down to 6.6. If you are having troubles dropping it, that might be something to look into. It also helped me drop 15 pounds like it was nothing!

My surgeon said be wanted my A1C of 7 before surgery. My last check was 8.2. I'm so very close. I have appointment next week with the diabetes clinic. Hopefully I'll be down below 8.

I am just starting the process but I decided to tell my immediate team members and boss. I felt like I owed my team that much as I am out periodically for appointments now. I also work in IT and a lot of our work load is scheduled released so they need to be aware when I be gone to adjust the work load. So far all positives in that group. They all wish me well since they don't want anything bad to happened as they would be screwed without me! Haha!