Ylime

That is awesome! I haven't worn shorts in forever mainly because being overweight makes it really hard to shave my legs. I'm looking forward to the day I can wear shorts again!

In Denver I can see online that individual 32oz bottles are $0.89 but the eight packs of 20oz bottles are $3.77 making them $0.47 each. I think I'll try some of the eight packs, but only buy a single grape given the wonderful reviews on here. lol

Let me know what you find out about the study and the impact on your surgery. I'm in a waiting stage with all that. Did you have previous GI issues or is just a precautionary test for everyone?

A bit of background before I get to my real question: When I started considering surgery I did a TON of research on the procedure and on the programs in my area. I researched six different surgeons and found all the info I could on them - experience, reviews, hospital affiliations, and peer affiliations. I narrowed my top choices down those with great credentials and had a lot of information online including videos of them doing their orientation/info sessions. This really helped to get all the info in a short period of time and get a sense of them as a person. I set up initial consultations with my top three. One surgeon saw me within two days of my call. The other two I had to schedule a few weeks out and have yet to see them. My husband accompanied me to the consult with the first surgeon. We both agreed we really liked everything about him - his personality, his perspective on why his program is set up the way it is, and the way he was empathetic to all my concerns and questions. Also when I told him I was self-pay and already had financing set up through one specific company, he told me he didn't have a relationship with them but went out of his way to get set up with that company to ensure I could use them with his practice. Something he didn't have to do. So here's my question - Because I feel so confident in the first surgeon I'm leaning towards not even meeting with the other two. Is that crazy? The reason I narrowed it down to these three is that they all have the same excellent credentials and perform the surgeries in some of the top hospitals in the area. Because I already know how their program is set up I feel like the only purpose in meeting them is to evaluate their bedside manner and if we click or not. But because the first surgeon checked all the boxes for me, is it a waste of time to even bother meeting the other surgeons? Or is it just reckless to not talk to anyone else and go with the first one?

I'll echo what others have said about finding a different doctor. Every doctor has their own opinions about weight loss and it doesn't mean one is right and one is wrong. My appt with my PCP is next week and I don't know how she will react. I'm hopeful only because my surgeon knows her, but I failed to ask him if that was a good thing or not. But I have already identified a few other practices I could go to if she isn't supportive. Since I am self-pay I don't have to meet any insurance requirements, but I still want a medical team that is on my side and will support me when I need it. I read someone else say that you can also call your surgeon's office and ask them what PCPs most often refer their patients for the surgery so you can get an idea of who could be in your corner. I have a lot of medical issues and have dealt with my fair share of a** hole doctors. But in a large metro area doctors are in abundance and I have no patience for jerky ones.

Good luck ladies! So exciting for you to be starting your journey!

I am more concerned about complications than I am about actual death. Part of putting my fears to rest was to ensure I had complete confidence in my surgeon (based on his experience, reviews, empathy towards me and my fears) as well as confidence that the hospital I would be in had a dedicated bariatric unit so I would receive the level of care I needed and deserved. Lots of research helped as well and following all the rules you're given for before and after surgery reduces the risk of complications.

Try not to stress too much until you meet with the cardiologist. I had an abnormal EKG when I was pregnant with my son. That resulted in wearing a heart monitor for two weeks, an Echo, and a scope down my throat. All of that to tell me I only had an atrial septal defect, most likely from birth, but symptoms that were brought on by the excess weight during pregnancy. A block can be caused by this defect, or several other conditions. But from what I remember all of them are either medication or light procedures, but none are life threatening unless untreated.

Duplicate.

Welcome! Was your Upper GI a requirement or due to previous medical issues you had? I don't know yet if my surgeon requires this or not. Good! My psych and nut eval are still to come but I'm looking forward to them! You are moving right along!! Yay! Welcome to you too!! I'm anxious about getting to the point where I'm anxious for the surgery. lol I totally understand wanting it before your birthday, I'm that way too. My birthday isn't until November but I'd really like to be fully recovered and down a few pounds by then. Your surgeon seems very strict. Mine doesn't require any weight loss at all before the surgery and I love that he explained that that no one needs that stress before surgery and if people were able to lose weight on their own then they wouldn't be in his office in the first place! Good luck with your weight loss though, we'll be cheering you on! Have you already done the sleep study and are just waiting on the results. I'm waiting to hear if I have to do one or not. I've recently had a sleep related diagnosis and not sure how that will impact any sleep study needs.

Ugh - Well I hope you get the call soon!!

I am in LOVE with Vitamin Water Zero - I have an orange sitting on my desk right now. I too love the acai flavor. I've got a lemonade in my fridge that I plan on trying tonight. Really they just taste like watered down kool-aid to me. Not something I would normally choose, but when avoiding sugar, it's the way to go. LOL! Now I want to try the grape just to see how it compares to your review!

My mom had gastric bypass many years ago and due to an inept surgeon she nearly died and spent weeks in ICU. To make matters worse, my mom didn't tell her mom which of course ended badly since she had serious complications. So imagine how nervous I was to tell my parents I was going to put myself through a similar surgery. Not telling her wasn't an option because I learned from her experience. I went in armed with all the reasons my surgery (sleeve) was less invasive than hers, how technology had advanced since hers, and how much research I've done on the surgery and the surgeons I was considering. To my surprise both my parents were incredibly supportive. They are obviously concerned as they would be with any surgery, but recognize the benefits I'll get from this procedure. I would recommend just pulling off the band-aid and telling them to get it over with. They will probably need time to get comfortable with it so providing time prior to your surgery means they would be better prepared to support you afterwards.

Awesome Trixie! How did all your pre-op requirements go? Did you feel they were beneficial?

That's good to hear! I do think it will be good for me too. I'm looking forward to it and the dietician appt the most.

That's awesome that you had such a drastic drop in pressure with only a portion of your weight loss. I'm currently on just 1 liter of oxygen so not a lot, but anxious to be rid of it altogether. Thanks for the hugs! Thanks much. I plan on updating as I go through this entire process so stay tuned!

Yay! How was your psych eval? I'm reading some very different experiences here.

Absolutely - The more the merrier!! I think that I only have to do one visit with my dietitian. But my classes are once a month which I think is crazy since they are only 30-40 min long. I suppose for insurance purposes they want to stretch it out to be sure it's something someone really wants to do.

Do you know how long it takes to get a date once your insurance reviews and approves? I see such varied timelines on these boards.

You and I are nearly identical. I'm 5'1", 246.6 and my goal is 130. I anticipate it would take me about a year to reach that goal, but I'm prepared for the journey!

Bear with me as I share my story of recent medical events, a scary diagnosis, and a validation of moving forward with surgery. Up until recently the only co-morbidity I had is chronic back pain due to my weight aggravating a spinal defect. It prevents me from doing everyday chores, but also exercising the way I want (lifting heavy things and conquering racing obstacles). The impact this has on my life as well as my increasing weight was enough to drive me to begin researching weight loss surgery. The other part of my story is that I have epilepsy and was first diagnosed when I was 13, so it’s been a part of my life for 30 years. For the most part it’s well controlled with medication but I do have the occasional breakthrough seizure. It had been nearly six years since my last seizure. This past Sunday my brain decided to go haywire and I had three seizures within a two hour period and didn’t fully wake in between any of them. I’ve never had back to back seizures before and certainly never three in a row, so my husband called the paramedics to take me to the ER. They admitted me to the hospital where I stayed for two nights while I recovered. While I was in the hospital the staff noted that my oxygen levels decreased drastically when I slept. They diagnosed me with Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome. I had never heard of this before and thought it was a different name for Sleep Apnea. While it’s related and sometimes occurs in combination with sleep apnea, it’s actually something completely different. The short explanation from my research is that “it’s a condition in which severely overweight people fail to breathe rapidly enough or deeply enough, resulting in low blood oxygen levels and high blood carbon dioxide (CO2) levels”. This is a condition that apparently can be fatal since elevated levels of carbon dioxide can create a variety of serious medical conditions. The good news is that it can be cured by weight loss which validated my decision to have the surgery. Further research on this condition cautions patients going into surgery to ensure their surgeons are aware as some sedatives used could worsen the condition. I am not one that subscribes to the “everything happens for a reason” theory. But I do believe that many situations are connected to other situations, even if we don’t recognize them right away. I believe the powers of the universe (whatever they may be) have a way of interfering in our lives in both positive and negative ways. I may never have known that I had this fatal condition if not for my hospital stay due to a pattern of seizures I had never experienced before. So I am willing to believe this was a way for the universe to both make me ok with the decision to have surgery but also ensure I was properly prepared for the potential risks that may come my way. This new information has also changed my perspective on the surgery itself. I am still a bit embarrassed by the need for the surgery and do feel like a failure that I couldn’t make all the normal weight loss tactics work. Because of this I had planned on keeping the surgery a secret from anyone not in my family. But now that I have a potentially life-threatening condition, I almost feel like I should be sharing my story with those around me. I’m still contemplating this piece, so we’ll see what happens.

I would love to make some surgery buddies now so we can go through all the pre-op requirements together and stick through surgery and beyond. Anyone else already know their surgery will occur this summer? My surgery is going to fall in the July or August time frame. Most of this is dependent upon checking all my surgeon's boxes, the rest is dependent upon my financing since I'm self-pay. I'll be getting the sleeve. I love my surgeon and feel really lucky to have found him. So far the pre-op stuff has gone smoothly, but I am just at the beginning stages. I've scheduled all my evals and classes and attended my first weight loss class last week. I found it to be mildly helpful. It was certainly geared more toward those that hadn't already read through the surgery binder and/or those that had no clue what healthy eating consisted of. I'm hoping future classes focus more on the post-op eating. My first visit with my PCP about this surgery is next week as that's the soonest I could get in to see her. I'm hoping she'll be supportive as my surgeon knew of her when I told him that's who I see. But if I have to find another PCP so be it. My first dietician appt is next week and psych eval is the week after that. I only have to get these three meetings out of the way to schedule my surgery. So I'm anxious to get that done! I'm excited to hear from others along the same timeline as me!

5'1" here as well, and at 246.6 currently my pre-surgery BMI is 47. I know people see me as fat, but probably not "obese". Heck even I don't really see that which is why it took me so long to even consider surgery as an option - that and a bit of denial thrown in as well. I haven't heard that we would lose more slowly and my surgeon certainly didn't say anything to that affect. I would say though that there are a lot of factors that contribute to how fast and how much anyone loses - following a strictly healthy diet, amount of exercise, and just plain genetics all factor in.

I posted this in one of your duplicate posts, but figured I would place it here too: I have not yet had my surgery, but I have done a lot of research, spoke to a lot of people, and had a lengthy discussion with my surgeon about some of the issues you mention. So I'll share what I have learned and the advice I've been given. Having read a lot about the diet restrictions I worry that not having good mental control over my eating behavior could cause problems. Mindless eating by its nature is uncontrolled and I wonder if others have found this problematic and if so how did they deal with it. My surgeon has instructed me to eliminate ALL distractions during meals to avoid mindless eating. No eating in front of the TV, while driving, or at the movies. This will certainly take some time to perfect as you have to change your mindset but it is something that has to be done to achieve willpower over mental cues/habits. Are holidays and special occasions ever the same post surgery? The euphemism "pigging-out" is actually something pleasurable beyond just food. For example most holidays and special occasions have a component of overeating. Almost seems that once you have the surgery those pleasures are a thing of the past. How do you break this or is it always a struggle? I've been thinking a lot about my favorite holidays (i.e., Christmas, Thanks Giving, Fourth of July) and in my mind I hear "Maybe I should just try a conventional diet program again at least I'll still be able to enjoy turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie at Christmas". From people I have spoken to, holidays (and any meal really) is significantly different for two reasons: 1. The obvious that your stomach is now teeny and cannot hold nearly the capacity it once could and overeating can lead to becoming physically ill thereby teaching your brain that overeating is no longer a pleasant activity and 2. Due to the reduced amount you can eat and feeling fuller sooner, people have told me that food no longer runs their life. They have stated that where they used to be either eating or thinking of eating, their brains have shifted because the body doesn't need (and in some cases doesn't crave) food the same way. They now eat to live rather than live to eat. I travel a fair amount for work. I have actually delayed the surgery until summer when my travel and speaking schedule slow for a few months. I am scheduled for surgery the third week of June which is three weeks after my last trip. Then I don't have anything else scheduled until early September but that is in Europe. I have read a lot of posts but I have not found many that outline traveling success recommendations. While there is some entertaining in the mix it is not excessive I am more interested in how people manage a restrictive diet around the chaotic schedules of business travelers. You may need to adjust your eating schedule to work around your travel, but the same rules should apply where feasible: No distracted eating, no snacking unless unavoidable, when you do eat choose Protein first, and stay hydrated. Last but not least. One of my bucket list items has long been to ride a bicycle across the country from coast to coast. Before I even contemplated the surgery I started making plans for when I might be able to do this and how I could go about making it happen. One of the big issues was certainly my weight which would be helped by the surgery. However, again with the diet restrictions and hydration needs I wonder if there are any challenges or problems with long endurance activities like this. Currently this would be a couple years post surgery so healing should be complete, my concern is are there problems with dehydration. I haven't researched this particular topic, but several years out it seems like many have returned to a "normal" diet. Not back to overeating or eating poorly, but eating reasonable portions and drinking reasonable amounts of Water. In this regard, I imagine the risk of dehydration would be lessened so long as you aren't going all day without some form of nutrition or hydration. You do seem to have a lot of mental obstacles to overcome. You could certainly benefit from additional therapy before and after surgery, possibly by a therapist experienced with food addiction.

Definitely let us know your concerns, worries, and stressors. We're going through the same things as you!