Thucydides

I started from a very similar point as you when I was sleeved on November 10th. You will be amazed at how quickly you feel better and make progress. Best of luck, @@Justin Curtis. You will do great!

@@leighannnn1791 Are you sure that you don't look dramatically different, but that you don't see it? I say that because I don't see that I look tremendously different when I look in the mirror after losing 96 lbs thus far. My clothes have always been pretty loose fitting, now they are just baggier. Where I see it, however, is in more mundane things. I fit in my truck a lot better. I'm more comfortable in furniture. I have a lot more stamina in walking around. Family members (how don't know about the surgery) have commented on how my face looks.

You should be immensely proud. Losing 93 pounds is a tremendous achievement. Having lost and regained large chunks of weight many times during my life, the one thing that I know is that I have always been the last one to actually notice it. Keep up the good work and trust that you will increasingly see the changes yourself.

@@dbatche I completely understand where you are coming from. For years, I resisted bariatric surgery because I figured that since I was going to have to follow a diet after the surgery, why not just follow the diet in the first place and skip the surgery? Over the last 12 years: I lost 75 lbs, gained it back; lost 125 pounds, gained it back; lost 220 pounds, gained it back. In the end, I decided that I needed help to both lose the weight and make the lifestyle changes necessary to keep it off and be healthier. I am now 6 weeks post-op and could not be happier with my choice. It is already completely worth it, and I have a long way to go.

I started dealing with it right at the 2 week post-op mark, never having had insomnia before. I wondered if my Vitamins might have had something to do with it, so I change when I took them to first thing in the morning and around mid-day. Not taking Vitamins later in the evening seems to have resolved it for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's really helpful, BLERDgirl! Thanks to the great advice here, I added a Pure Protein shake and used some of the other recommendations here. That got my Protein up to 105 g today, kept my calories at 670, and even allowed me to fit in some vegetables!

Between my 4-week pre-op diet and 6-weeks post-op, I am completely blown away by (1) how good I feel and (2) the fact that I have absolutely none of the junk food cravings that I had before. It is nearly Christmas and I just realized that I have made it through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and nearly Christmas without any candy, Cookies, pie, etc. That would have been unthinkable just a few months ago!

Thanks everyone for your really helpful information. It sounds like I need to up my Protein intake from what I have been doing.

I am exactly 6 weeks out from surgery and things are going well but, even after talking to a dietitian, I am still uncertain on what my Protein target should be. Her advice was that 60-80 grams of protein per day would be good, but 100 grams per day would be good, too. I am eating virtually nothing except protein-rich foods, but it is pretty tough to get much over 60 grams of protein a day and stay at the 600 calories per day that the dietitian recommended. From reading these forums, it seems that most men aim for a higher protein target. I would normally defer to the advice of the dietitian, but my consult with her turned out to just be a less than 12-minute phone call that was pretty uninformative.

Dr. Roshek did my EGD prior to my surgery (Dr. Nicholson did my sleeve). I liked Dr. Roshek a good bit and would have been more than comfortable with him doing my surgery as well. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I guess I should think about eating the same way that I have thought about drinking. I drink even if I'm not thirsty to get my requisite fluids in. Sounds like I need to do the same thing in terms of eating.

I realize that this is an exceptionally dumb question, but I am wondering if I am ever supposed to eat when I don't feel hungry. I started the soft foods stage this week and have had no problems with the foods that I am eating. During the liquid phase, I was fortunate enough to have no problems getting enough fluids and Protein in. The problem that I am running into now that I am eating actual food is that I am simply not hungry, but this means that I fall short of my protein target. I could eat, even though I am not hungry, but I am uncertain on whether my priority should be getting enough protein or only eating when hungry. Today I have had 350 calories and 59 grams of protein, which is about 15 grams short of my protein target.

I started the soft foods stage yesterday. My doctor does allow yogurt (Greek yogurt). Thus far, I have had thin-sliced turkey deli meat (also on my list) and some yogurt. pudding and Jello are not on my list. I think that the thinking is that those do not have much Protein and the priority in eating at this stage is eating soft things with Protein.

I'm 6 days post-op and things have been going very well. I haven't had much pain, just some discomfort around the left incision where my stomach was removed. Since the surgery, the incision area was indented quite significantly. Last night, I accidentally tapped it lightly, felt a weird pop sensation, and the indentation went away. It feels much better now. Does anyone have any idea what happened?

I think that the level of pain varies a lot from person to person. I had my surgery on Tuesday and have had virtually no pain and I haven't had to take any of the pain medicine that was prescribed. Oddly, I think the only soreness I feel is in my abs from using the Spiro meter on a regular basis!

I hope that you feel better soon, treblecutie23.

My surgery went well yesterday. My surgery time was 7:30 am and I was discharged by 1:30 pm that day because I was walking around and able to tolerate liquids. I'm in less pain than I expected from the surgery and am moving around pretty well. The nausea is not fun, but I expect that will improve in the next few days. I hope things went well for everyone else!

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone. I'll be sure to check-in when I can. Assuming that all goes well, the plan is for me to be released the same day.

Best of luck barryswife!

I'm scheduled to check-in for gastric sleeve surgery at 5 am tomorrow morning. I was getting a bit of cold feet earlier this week, but feel remarkable at peace about this now. After a year of pre-op appointments, an insurance nightmare, cancellation of my first surgery date iin September in the middle of my pre-op diet, and now finishing a four-week pre-op diet, I am definitely looking forward to this now!

I am three weeks into my four-week pre-op diet. It wasn't fun at the beginning (hunger, light-headed, grouchiness), but it has gotten better over time. The other benefit is that, although my surgery is not until next week, I am already losing weight and feeling better. You will do great!

That is awesome @Boombalatty. I have to travel a fair amount in my job. I will be thrilled to not have to buy a second plane seat. The idea of being able to put down the tray table seems unfathomable. Great work!

@@Boombalatty Thanks for posting your information. I'm starting from about the same point that you did, so your amazing progress gives me great hope! I'm scheduled for November 10th.

It wound up being a pretty major ordeal for me. With less than 2 weeks before my surgery, I was still getting prices that were all over the map, some of which were unbelievable because I knew that i had both a $5000 bariatric co-pay and then a $2000 additional out of pocket max. This meant that I knew that I would owe at least $7000, plus any amount above the $13000 maximum that my insurance would pay. Finally, I just went to the hospital and asked to speak directly to the patient account director. Once I had there information, I knew that my out of pocket would actually be $18,000. As a result, I had to switch surgeons and hospitals and do some shopping around. I'm now scheduled for November 10th.

I have to do the pre-op diet for four weeks. I'm on day 3 today and, honestly, don't feel too badly. I was pretty grouchy on day 1 and it feels strange to be eating so few calories, but I am feeling pretty motivated. Best of luck, ididit34!

My surgery date for gastric sleeve is September 14th and I am still having problems finding out how much my portion of the surgery cost will be. My insurance has approved me, but its coverage for bariatric surgery is pretty limited. Even after I pay my $5000 bariatric deductible and then my co-payment maximum, my insurance will only pay up to $13,000 for my surgery. I will be responsible for paying anything that exceeds that. The problem that I am running into is that I cannot get my insurer to tell me the contracted amount for my surgery and neither my surgeon nor the hospital have been able to tell me that either. Between the hospital financial counselor, surgeon, and hospital business office, I have received 3 different estimates of my portion of the bill that have each varied by several thousands of dollars.

Has anyone had this problem and figured out how to resolve it? My surgeon's office has not been very helpful, telling me that they cannot give me any information about the hospital costs for my surgery and have just left me to call around trying to find this information. This has made me start to wonder if I need to look for a different surgeon that has a better relationship with the hospital where my surgery will be. Is this an unreasonable expectation? I'm genuinely at a loss on how to proceed and am grateful for any advice.

I'm scheduled for September 14th and I feel exactly the same way, Kgl24!