NobodyYouKnow

I don't know of any way to make the hunger stop, but I can tell you this: day 3 is seriously the worst part. I hated everyone and everything that crossed my path on day 3. The first few days, actually, are completely miserable. BUT, it does get more manageable. If you can hang on a little longer, it's almost as if your body goes, "fine, whatever, do what you want" and sort of gives up on the headaches and crankiness and the worst of the hunger. Which isn't to say that it becomes easy, but it becomes a bit less hard if you just hang in there. (And if you can make it until surgery, afterward hunger will not be a problem anymore.) Good luck!

I'm scheduled for Nov. 20, which is a year to the day since my psych eval appointment... I currently live in a very rural area with 2 surgeons to serve the entire northern half of the state, so things move s.l.o.w.l.y. But it's all good. I've had time to lose a good bit since starting (and I started with quite a lot to lose), so I've got a head start. My mom is coming up to take care of me for surgery and the week after, so we're just skipping Thanksgiving this year. Honestly, it's kind of a relief to just shrug it off and say, "eh, we'll do it next year." It'll be homemade chicken broth for thanksgiving dinner this year... maybe I'll steep a sage leaf in it to make it festive. ? But if my calculations are correct, and if things go smoothly, that will have me moving up to pureed foods for my birthday on 12/5, soft foods for Christmas, and done with the recovery stages for New Years. I've never *ended* a diet for New Years before... We'll see how it goes.

So, counting from my first "real" visit (not the initial information session), I began this process in early January of this year. My insurance requires only three months of a supervised diet, but the program I'm in is a six-month process regardless of how you're paying. Fine. So I've been going along, hitting all my milestones on time, dropping the weight they asked for. I got slowed down a bit over the summer by everyone taking turns going on vacation, but finally, last week, I went in to see the surgeon again. He sees my progress, sees that I've fulfilled all the program requirements, and he says he's going to submit me for approval to my insurance company. Mind, I'm currently in month seven of a six-month process. Great, doc, what are we looking in terms of timeline? When do you think this might happen? And the answer was November. Some factors worth noting: I live in a very rural state, and this is the only bariatric clinic supporting essentially the entire northern half. This clinic has exactly two lead surgeons. So I'm not really surprised that it's going to take a while... but it was a bit frustrating to think I was getting close, only to find that I'm still months away. And it's frustrating to hear that people who started after me are going to get to go soon, while I'm still waiting around. And fine, that'll give me more time to work, etc. But man, I'll be on month eleven of six before I actually get the surgery done. Anyway, yes, let's estimate eleven months for me.