Véronique

Hey, I'm getting surgery on the 29th too! I'm having mine at Poudre Valley Hospital.

I just started my liquid diet and this being the first time I've ever done a liquid diet, I must say I'm not a fan but that's the way it's going to have to be until the day I can tolerate soft foods. The handbook offered by my bariatric programme says that a key component of the liquid diet is going to be Carnation Instant Breakfast. It tastes awful, but that's not even the worst part. I got the variety that isn't sugar-free (purely by accident) and it tastes like death. That doesn't give me much hope for the sugar-free variety. I have higher hopes for making tomato soup with fat-free milk as a high-protein drink.

I hope I get something good. Boulder, Colorado is the home of Celestial Seasonings and Fort Collins is not too far away from there.

Just got the call, insurance is paying for the surgery!

Yeah, I'm thinking maybe I should start up a liquid diet next week just to be safe. My weight is rollercoastering in spite of my adherence to my 1,800 calorie diet, so this may be for the best.

One thing that makes me worry is the fact that the patient information notebook they gave me is that there is no liquid diet and the only admonishment diet-wise pre-op is that (a) no eating or drinking anything after twelve midnight on the day of surgery, (b) you should quit caffeine because withdrawal is going to be a b***h in the hospital (got that down) and (c) you can't gain weight between the time you have your surgeon's consult and your pre-admit (or pre-op?) appointment.

So today, I got a phone call from one of the nurses at my surgeon's office. She apparently had an issue with my psychologist's letter because it was kinda generic and stuck to the points they wanted them to touch on in the psychologist's letter. But when I told her that she is my regular psychologist who I have been seeing for years and will continue to see after my surgery, she was willing to accept it. I also had a friend of mine phone me to ask if I am going to allow her to stay with me when I have my surgery. She even talked about eating hospital food with me and I told her "dude, I'm having most of my stomach removed, I'm not going to be eating anything for a while".

My bariatric surgeon's office doesn't allow patients to smoke weed for at least three months before surgery and I know that I should be able to pass the pre-op drug test with flying colours. However, I had a very stressful meeting today with some very difficult people. My head was throbbing, and even now that I have some food in me (I had a nice chicken curry with some naan bread and rice at an Indian restaurant), I feel drained and I want some weed. Coping strategies, anyone?

Have you considered Artesian water or drinking really cold water?

Last night, was my second night with my new C-PAP machine and I could only stand it for two hours with the bloody mask on. God, I hope this surgery helps abate my obstructive sleep apnea.

I'm just heading down from the nutrition consult. Sounds like I was approved but my social skills are **** so who can say?

So, I had a conversation with my surgeon's office because I was worried that given the time frame, they wouldn't have the time after I do my dietary consult today (yeah, it's just after midnight where I live so now, it's today) to get my surgery approved by insurance in enough time to keep my date on the calendar. Basically, my insurance typically approves within 3-4 days of submission of the claim, meaning my surgeon's office should have plenty of time to get the approval.

Where? Anschutz or Poudre Valley?

... I guess maybe it's because I'm an atheist or I know that docs that do these surgeries do a ton of them so there's very little risk of this happening, but I'm more scared of getting disqualified or screwing something up than I am dying on the table. Maybe that's just because right now, the ball for this happening is still in my court. Maybe once I get insurance to agree to pay for this, I'll freak out a little more about the tiny risk of dying. :/

Thanks. Pretty sure I'll need it. I could very well be overreacting as usual but I've been working hard on getting this done for over a year and a half now. I just hope everything works out well.

There are three things that could still spike my ability to have this surgery: My C-PAP, My Dietary Clearance, and My Insurance. Frankly, my insurance should be the least of my worries since I have reviewed their requirements and so far, everything looks to be copacetic. However, it's always better to be overly cautious instead of overly lax. My dietary clearance could also be an issue, as I don't know what this entails. None of the paperwork, the classes nor anything else indicates what this entails (apart from the requirement that I bring that binder I received from my surgeon's office). I have this scheduled for the 11th and I hope I've done everything right so far. My C-PAP could be a stumbling block because of my previous provider, Pacific Pulmonary Services. They closed their office in my town and without an active C-PAP servicer, I need to find a new one. We're trying to get my C-PAP servicing switched over to Major Medical Supply, which is on Main Street (which is a much better and more accessible location than PPS was). They say insurance will approve them in a week but I still need to ensure that my physician signs the paperwork and releases the medical records. My doctor's office is notoriously bad with ensuring medical records get to places, so I am going to need to stay on top of this. Apart from that, though, I'm working my ass off to make sure that this goes off without a hitch.

Neat, I'll be having my sleeve on the 29th of August.

Just got my date and I am definitely going to be an August sleever. August 29th at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.

I know the feeling. I've tried lots of different types of diet and exercise, from calorie counting to Paleo. From Weight Watchers to going vegan at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. From kickboxing to Bikram yoga.

I'm planning on having it done with Northern Colorado Surgical Associates at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. I'm trying to keep on my toes with everything just to be sure that on the day of surgery, nothing trips me up. This is the second bariatric programme I've been in because the first one (down in Denver) spiked my surgery because I have clinical depression. I think it had more to do with the fact that they wanted a psychologist who didn't have a working relationship with me to do the psychological clearance instead of my regular psychologist who knows me better. Since I've been working at this for a year and a half, I'm anxious to get this done ASAP.

So, I've just completed my medical weight loss classes, obtained my psychological/psychiatric and medical clearance, attended the bariatric patient education seminar, and I am ready to finally do this! The consult is scheduled for the 31st of July and based on the timeframe I've received from the surgeon's office in the patient education seminar, I can expect to be on the table sometime between the 28th of August and the 11th of September. Unfortunately, because of the way the program is set up, I cannot do anything more at this time (which sucks, because I really do want to get my dietary clearance out of the way but can't because I can't schedule this until I've attended the consult) but the last couple of things are my pre-op appointment with the surgeon (which the surgeon's office will make for me) and my pre-admit appointment.

My consult with the surgeon is scheduled for the 31st of July. Unless my surgeon schedules me closer to the four-week mark than the six-week mark, I'm going to be a September sleever.

So, over the last two days, I got to check off a lot of things in my programme. I've completed my medical weight loss classes (effective yesterday), I have my psych clearance and I did my last appointment with my doctor today (she gave me a letter pretty much saying I'm medically cleared for bariatric surgery). The next step is a consult with my surgeon and that gets scheduled with the bariatric coordinator at my surgeon's practice. At that next step, I'll learn my surgery date. I'm not sure how fast I'll be able to get in but the fact that I've done everything I could do at this point, hopefully, that gives me an edge against many of the other people needing to schedule their consults. However, considering many of the surgeons are taking their holidays over the next couple of weeks so I'm hoping I can get in quickly. Hopefully, I'll be an August sleever, but considering I was told at the patient education seminar that I can expect to wait 4-6 weeks after the date of the consult (so they can get pre-approval from the insurance company), my chances of being an August sleever are slipping.

Hello, So, I'm almost to the end of these horribly pedantic medical weight loss classes, I have my psych clearance and my final appointment with my primary care provider set up for the day after my last class and so far, I've either checked off or scheduled the last remaining tasks I can. My weight is down. When I started the bariatric programme, I weighed in at 155 kg (or 341 lbs) and yesterday, I weighed in at 149,1 kg (or 328 lbs). So, I have had some slight weight loss but nothing to really write home about. I've also been going to this gym that does a 3D body scan and uses that to take measurements (which is awesome, given the fact that I kinda suck at taking my own measurements with the tape). It is kinda depressing that in every area except for my calves (where I've gained), I've lost only somewhere in between 0,6 cm (0,25 in) to 5 cm (2 in). Now, I know for thin people, that's nothing small but when your waist is a circumference equal to the height of a ten-year-old, that's not much. But I digress. The thing that concerns me is that once I see the surgeon, I need to try to lose weight. The programme only really requires me not to gain weight between my consult with the surgeon and the day of but the surgeon wants me to lose weight to try to reduce the size of the liver (or something like that). However, my weight does fluctuate (like anyone's does) and I wonder, how do you handle it if your weight does fluctuate upwards on the day you see your surgeon in spite of a trend of slight downward progress? Can you point to non-scale victories like measurements along with pointing to your weight graphed out (yeah, I use the Withings, now Nokia, scale so when I take my weight daily, it's synched to the cloud and charted for me). Curiously, Véronique

I don't think you understand, I want to reverse a tan, not worsen it.