Mattymatt

LOL! This is the only game in town where when you lose, you win.

Dating sucks, relationships are fine. I can understand wanting the companionship but before you take on the complexities of a relationship, get yourself to your goal first. In my opinion, a relationship too early, especially one that goes south, could derail your progress. Focus singularly on your needs for the time being. I think you'll find that once you reach your goal, not only will you be more eligible, you'll be more confident in what you want and do not want. My most recent attempt at weight loss failed because I sought out a relationship, things got complicated, and I got totally off track and put all the weight back on plus 20 pounds and became diabetic. I wished I had worked on one thing at a time. Now, it's going to be goal, then date. It's going to be challenging enough to simply adjust to the new lifestyle that this surgery mandates. I am expecting to have some difficult days ahead.

There are always going to be the naysayers, the people that brag about their success without surgery. Research statistics state that 90% will regain the weight they lost, plus more. Let them have their say. Post surgery, when you lose weight, you could be the part of the 65% who keep it off for good.

I am on February 8th or 9th. They said it would be one of those days.

Yeah 39 year olds date. Hell, I am 40 and I'd like to be dating. LOL! But on a more serious note, I want to date once I've completed rebuilding myself from a morbidly obese, diabetic to a healthy adult.

I am 40 and single right now. Since I've been up and down in weight all of my life, I've only had two relationships and was only in love once. Certainly it would be nice to have the companionship and I can understand your want for it. It's hard for both men and women who are very overweight to date. I'm 6'4" and 170 pounds overweight which puts me at 360 some pounds and I can see the open disgust when I check out some chicks. I am not gonna lie, it hurts but I'm not bitter because I have some shallowness myself but I will never look at anyone who is overweight with disgust. If I were bitter, I would be hypocritical. I am not even going to try to date until I work on myself: mentally, physically, and emotionally. 2018 is going to be the year that this will happen. Stephanie, I will wager that once you come through weight loss surgery you will be the classic knockout. You're beautiful now. I believe it is the woman whom ultimately chooses the man. You'll have your pick of the men and when you do, enjoy it a little bit. Enjoy being you. It's the greatest feeling in the world and it has only happened to me once in my life. It was the time after I lost a lot of weight the first time. I remember being "chosen" by a woman. At that time, it was one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Easy way out!? Pffft. Ain't nothing easy about this. It is a major, forced, and permanent lifestyle change. Let the naysayers say what they want. Bottom line is you and your health are more important than their opinions. Roll with it and let them get purple with jealousy while the new you shines through.

I think I can guess what you were thinking ... lol. You were making your New Year's resolution before New Year's. Seriously, how are you doing post-op?

It would be wise to speak with your surgeon because this should not be the case. My endocrinologist even told me that she was almost certain that I would not be taking any of my diabetes medications anymore, after surgery. She said that it might even lead to dangerously low blood sugars if I were to take them. Instead, my endo advised to check my blood sugars for about a week post-op to ensure that the numbers did not get above 140. If the numbers don't go down then both my endo and surgeon need to communicate.

Oh okay. Nah, not old - just wise. :-)

My surgeon, Dr. Caitlin Halbert of Christiana Care in Delaware, asked for a really extensive extra workup. I originally started my journey with the Penn Medicine system but had a bad experience with the staff - this is serious elective surgery so there is no room for less than 100% confidence. I transferred programs to the Christiana Care Health System. Dr. Halbert asked for an echocardiogram and cardiac stress test as well when there was some concern of a silent heart attack. Gawd that was scary for me as I do not experience pain like many other people do so it could very well be that I could have a heart attack and never know. I was so scared during the echocardiogram that I asked the technologist to turn the unit so I would be unable to see what was on the screen. Something about looking at a beating heart frightens me beyond all reason. Both the stress test and echocardiogram were performed on a Friday and I remember being in a tizzy all weekend long. Finally, the cardiologist called me on Monday afternoon to tell me everything was normal and that the major blood vessels looked good. 2017 was probably the worst year of my life. I have nowhere to go but up.

I am sorry for your loss. That must not have been easy.

Do you work in technology? Your username makes me think of Red Hat Linux. If you work with Linux, come on over to the dark side - OpenBSD

My brother is getting married in August. I'm still single so I'm looking forward to being all GQ in my tuxedo and maybe scoring with a bride's maid.

Nice!

My surgeon and endocrinologist are 100% positive that the diabetes will go into remission, they're not sold that it will be a cure. They're 100% on hypertension going away. I also have sleep apnea but only time will tell with that. I have a friend that is 150 pounds soaking wet and he has sleep apnea. If that doesn't go away, I'm fine with it. I'll use the CPAP because I sleep so well.

This particular story is clearly fake news.

No, we don't have always have to stay in the hospital but this is major elective surgery. I think an abundance of caution is wise, reasonable, and prudent.

Welcome Janet! Medicaid varies greatly from state to state because it is a state-administered program. Federal money gets disbursed to states for Medicaid. There is a StayWell handbook available at https://www.wellcare.com/Florida/Members/Medicaid-Plans/Staywell. This may help.

I would also advise to work with a major hospital system and not a clinic. At one point I considered looking at Barix Clinics and I was alarmed to discover that they only keep their patients in the hospital 1 day post-op. The post-op care was also unimpressive so I quickly crossed that one off of my list. My surgeon says that I'll be inpatient a minimum of 3 days. She said, "And if I even have the slightest thought that more are necessary, you'll be there." Of course she smiled as she said this and it really made me feel like she cares.

Insurers are discovering that the medically supervised diet requirement is really superfluous. Since traditional diet/exercise programs haven't worked in the past, the likelihood of them working now is not very high. Recent research shows that only 10% of those that lose weight this way keep it off. I'm one of the 90% that failed. The chances of success of weight loss surgery go up by an order of magnitude to 65%. This could result in statistically significant long term savings for the insurer.

Each insurance company has its own set of requirements. Consider yourself extremely lucky! Your new insurance is great. Since I am disabled, I am on Medicare. Medicare's requirements for medical necessity include: (1) BMI > 35, (2) an associated co-morbidity like diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, (3) and a documented history of failed attempts at medical weight management. Yet, Medicare does not specify how many attempts and over what time period. It turned out that I could use documentation from 3 years ago. Also, each insurance company operates at its own pace. I heard back lightning quick. I applied on Dec. 27th, approved electronically, and was told by my provider today. We even scheduled today.

Diabetes sucks. I have to take Lantus insulin, Meformin, and Victoza. I was on Glipizide but there was concern that Glipizide might actually be making hungry. Victoza sucks but it seems to work. Numbers improved even more. :-)

Since, I am a diabetic I had to start my modified diet back at the end of October to lower my A1C. As of Dec. 27, 2017 I got my A1C to 7.8%, enough to be safe for surgery. In an effort to make things better, my endocrinologist put me on Victoza. Two weeks before surgery, I have to do an Optifast pre-op diet.

Wahoo! Let's git 'er done!