Anks

hahaha, love your answer. Now I am all EXCITED to get this done as soon as I can.

You are a champ and such a good human being. Thank you for explaining everything in such detail. Learning others experince definitely soothes your nerves as you start anticipating your own journey through their experiences.

Those are the reasons I liked him too. I had my surgery at Coral Springs. My only other surgeries were an emergency c-section in 1991 and a female surgery in 2007. Both left me pretty icky feeling and nauseous. I was a little worried with this one.
We were pleasantly surprised from the minute we walked through the door bright and early Friday morning. Check in was quick, and a lady greeted me by name at the top of the elevator and took me right into a room to change into a gown and start prep, including more bloodwork. Hubby got to stay with me the entire time, which helps with nerves! The Iv wasn’t the most fun, but tolerable. The process went pretty quick, I spoke to Dr Taggar, the anesthesiologist and the nurses checked in often. They took my nausea history pretty serious, gave me a patch, IV meds and I never had any issues. When it was time to go, they had me use the rest room (so no cath!) and they put meds in the IV and I didn’t even remember leaving the room. Also very good for nerves! I’ve read where some people are wheeled into the OR, aware of everything and I was worried I’d freak out. Next thing I knew, I woke in recovery to a nice nurse tending to a few post op patients. I asked what pain meds I had been given, and she said none. (I wasn’t in any pain, which seemed surreal) Hubby got to come back and visit, while we waited for a room. I was awake the whole time going up stairs and ended up helping transfer myself to my new bed, as mine was broken. There were 3 ladies trying to do it, but instead of laying there like they asked me too, I just grabbed the handle and scooted over. My nurse Luis did a once over, assessed my pain, got all the meds hooked up and had to go tend to other patients. When he got a chance, he came back, walked with me and verified I wouldn’t fall, then cut me loose. I was determined to not need assistance and I was able to get my leg cuffs off by myself, get myself out of bed, walk, get my leg cuffs back on and then settle back down. Slow process and sometimes comical, but what else did I have to do? Repeat over, and over for about 24 hours! Some of my neighbors were not feeling too hot, but I felt pretty good and walked over 100 laps before discharge. I received 3 food trays while I was there – tea, broth, Jello and crystal light and was able to finish all of it slowly. I felt like my pain was well controlled (I had none) but I had a reaction to something so they used IV benadryl which knocked me out and then I felt better. I never used the call button, but they came by to check on me, take vitals, blood, etc every few hours. My IV did blow and was painful, but I refused to let them do it again. Dr Taggar came by mid day Saturday, and asked if I wanted to go home, and I said of course. I walked myself out of the hospital (slowly with a babysitter nurse) around 3pm and went back to the hotel with hubby. Felt good enough to go to the beach (quick visit – it was hot) and walk around costco.< span> The gas pains hit right about the 24 hour mark and were slightly alarming, but the nurse promised it was gas, recommended walking, gas X, and laying on my left side. Said it would change my life, and he was right.

One thing that sort of weirded me out at first, is there were a lot of people speaking Spanish. Not to me, but to each other around the nurses station and such. I come from a very rural town, and it took me a few minutes to realize “duh, this is South Florida and this is normal!”.

I also like how I was able to create a patient portal account and download my records after surgery. Nothing like surgical notes or medications, but discharge instructions, test results, etc. I had to have this for my disability claim. The hospital also called to check on me post discharge a few times.

hahaha, love your answer. Now I am all EXCITED to get this done as soon as I can.

I wish I’d asked how much better my penis would work after the surgery, because the answer would have been “MUCH better.”

Looks good. I think getting the surgeons recommendation is a good idea. I did it and it helped a lot with my comfort. Getting your centers stats is great, the one I went to hasn't had a leak in over 2 years (close to 1k surgeries), which was comforting. I asked to go with the surgeon who was more senior and asked his staff what they felt his "best day" was when scheduling.

Thanks for your response. Yes, my insurance is through my employer, changing jobs is not an option (just a personal thing). I live in Mass but have no problems getting the surgery done in any state within the U.S, as long as it is most economical. What else info can/should I provide? I apologize, I just started today so still learning about this website which so far seems awesome by the way.

Hi pals,
I am a 31 yr old male, 340lbs as of today and have diabetes, high blood pressure, and severe sleep apnea. My physician brought up the topic of getting bariatric surgery and how it could be helpful for someone like me. I started doing research on various surgeries, their benefits, complications, and side effects and after much research, I have made up my mind to get a gastric sleeve done. I checked with my insurance today and learned that the surgery will not be covered under my plan, which sucks due to the high costs involved but I think the costs and risks outweigh the benefits over time.
Could you pals help me get started on my journey here? I am looking to get it done sooner than later and since I will be paying out of my pocket, I am looking for some economical options stateside. Please share your experience with me, especially if you have had one done recently and the cost was a consideration in your case too.
Thank you very much!
Your pal