Nikki Monroe

I was told that once you are approved by your insurance company that you can not go back to being denied because you lost weight. Surgeons tend to want you to be as small as possible so that they have more room to move around in during surgery. Once you are approved, don't worry about it. Lose the weight of you can. If will only make your journey easier on you to get to your goal. I would talk to your doctors office for confirmation. Good luck!

Thanks!Thank you!

I'm moving soon and trying to prepare for my sleeve surgery coming up in September. I was thinking, what are some good thing to put in my fridge and cabinets to prepare for surgery? No sense in spending tons of money in groceries just to have to give them away! Need ideas for liquid phase and full liquid stage and purée stage! DETAILS PLEASE!

absolutely HATE cottage cheese? Any substitutions?

what kind of drinks? Need details! Lol!

Hey guys! Wondering how much help will I need after surgery. I was thinking maybe a day or two but what were your experiences? What did you need the most help with?

WOW! How was that? I understand that you are physically exhausted afterwards. My surgeon is recommending 2 weeks.

Not sure when sleeve surgery is. Probably sometime in September. I'm waiting on insurance approvals first then a surgery date after that.

So I have made the decision to have the gastric sleeve surgery. I also have decided to be very selective on who I share my journey with. A couple of reasons why I decided to keep my sleeve somewhat secret is mainly because I don't want to deal with other peoples opinions on what I have decided to do with my life during the most emotional time in my life. Some people think that losing weight is as easy as just pushing away from the table and have no idea what it means it means to live a life being overweight and unhappy. I'm not saying that I will never tell anyone what I have done to lose such a massive amount of weight in a short period of time. I am just saying that I want to decide when I want to tell people or share my story when I feel that I am emotionally ready and strong enough to do so. People will judge you no matter what you decide to do in your life. That is a true statement. I just choose to have more control over the negativity that I may be subjected to because of people's lack of understanding. I am not ashamed of my decision and I am only doing this because I feel is best for me and my future. I am already a sensitive person by nature and I feel that after surgery, knowing that my hormones will be all over the place, is a time I want to deal with me and my feelings and whatever buyers remorse I may be feeling at that moment without others people input. I may get to a point to where I do want to share my story and perhaps help someone else, but at this point my focus is on making sure that I am healthy physically and mentally. Please share your thoughts with me.

I can relate. I am still very early (about a month from my decision) in this process, but I am not sure about telling my family either. It being surgery, so I probably will have to. Its not as though they won't notice something is up, but I just am not sure about their reaction. Is it better to "ask" for permission or for forgiveness? I know it will hurt them if I don't tell them, but they have never been good about being helpful on my other weight loss attempts. They do things they think are helpful, but truly aren't. My friends have been great and wonderfully supportive. I have a couple of friends lined up to help/let me stay with her post-op. I have one friend that is supportive, but very practical, who has been asking good questions to make sure I have all the answers I need before I have surgery. My knee jerk reaction to her initially was I don't want to talk to you anymore, but then I realized that her questions were really valuable and came from such a good place. I have promised this friend and my boss that I will talk to my psych. about it and will follow his advice/plan of action about whether and how to tell my family. I have slowly continued to tell my friends. I will not be saying anything at work beyond that I am having surgery. They will notice and I am sure ask after, but I'll deal with that then. Its truly not any of their business. I work in a terribly dysfunctional department so I dont' want to become any further a part of the dysfunction. the few people I decided to tell I made sure to prep. I didn't just come out with "I'm having weight loss surgery". I told them I had something life changing to tell them and asked them to be respectful of my decision and be careful of their responses and it seemed to work. I don't believe everyone in my family has the right to know. I'm only telling a select few that I feel will be supportive and that I can call on. Just because we are related doesn't entitle you to know my business. I'm not even telling my mother because I don't want to hear the negative things she will say. Good luck with your decision. Think about it this way...you will have a lot of emotional overload hat you will have to deal with surrounding your surgery. Do you want to deal with other people's opinion and perhaps negativity with that as well?

Hey guys! What was your experience when you decided to tell friends, family, coworkers and the DOG that you were having or had VSG? I'm interested in all experiences. I decided to keep my quiet and only told a few select people. What did you decide to do and what was our experience like?

AWESOME! I finally met Dr. Scott this past Wednesday morning and I will say that when I left the waiting room was PACKED! I will continue to make my appointments at the beginning of the day. Question for you. How long did it take you to get approved and then scheduled for surgery? How long was that process? They told me up to 6 weeks.

Thanks! LOL!! Good for them! Too funny!????

Wow! Can't believe I'm getting ready to admit to this.... Well here goes nothing???? I absolutely refuse to buy anymore clothes in the current size I am in now which is an 18. The slacks that I wear to work no longer fit me...meaning I can no longer button them. I have damaged so many of those metal hooks and bent them out of place that now I just use my belt to hold them in place. The zipper on them doesn't work any longer as well so I try to wear shirts that are long enough to cover the zipper and constantly pull my top down all through out the day. I can't tell you how many pairs of slacks I have literally busted out of! Super embarrassing. I can't wait to start my journey with a new tool. I don't ever want to worry about busting out of my clothes again! LOL!

I have an appointment to meet with my surgeon, my nutritionist and my psychologist next Wednesday. What questions should I make sure to ask them? What questions do you wish you would've asked them prior to surgery?????

What kind of supportive care do they offer? Support Groups Gym membership, etc.?

That sound awesome! Hope my doctor offers the same!

. Glad to hear you had a positive experience! Different strokes for different folks.????

thank you so much for all of the great info! I feel more prepared than ever!????

OMG!! You are heaven sent!! You really answered a lot of my questions. I was THRILLED to see you had a long response! LOL! I have already met my out of pocket so hopefully I am covered as well. Which supplement store did you go to? Brentwood? And b-12 nasal? I'm assuming that's a spray right? Also, what do you think I should take to the hospital with me? Doesn't seem like much if you were there less than 2 days.

awesome! What can I expect? Pre-surgery and after surgery? Liquid diet and whatnot?

how are you responding to questions about your weight loss?

Posting this question for someone getting ready to start their journey. I don't know the answer, but I'm sure many of you have some great suggestions. Hopefully she sees this! I have the Syntrax nectar shakes because I don't drink milk and don't even like things that remind me of a milkshake. I start my liquid diet on August 10 and the dietician said she was concerned that I would get enough calories because those shakes have only 100 calories per shake. Any suggestions from anyone on what else to do during the liquid stage to get more calories? The dietician was no help what so ever. 4 shakes will give me 92grams of Protein but only 400 calories. I feel defeated before I even get started.

Does anyone recommend any protein powders /shakes over another and where to get free samples? Thanks!

im going to post this question for you. Hopefully you can get some helpful suggestions!????