Miss215

That is so exciting!! It's almost here! Best of luck to you, you will do great! Can't wait to hear about your success! I am doing much better, I took in all the advice I was given and had a nice stern self talk, lol. Had to remind myself that this is just food, it isn't going to control me anymore, I either want this or I don't. So I regrouped, reprepared and refocused. This journey is truly a journey, as much as you try and prepare I guess you never really are until you are walking thru it. Thanks for checking up! Can't wait to see your journey. You'll do great! Stay in touch.

Something my nutritionist suggested to me was waiting as long as I could to eat breakfast. It's easier to ignore hunger in the morning than it is to ignore at night when you've got nothing to do. You just go as long as you can until you can't, and then just keep on trucking as best you can.
You got this- you'll get through it. The pre-surgery diet is honestly the hardest part of the whole process. Hang in there.

Hey! I’m headed there next week. Will be there from the 20th-27th for the Fast Track program. I hear so many great things about them and being a nurse myself I have a scrutinizing eye for things being up to par medically, so I’m not worried. Even though I’ve been coordinating from way on the East Coast, I feel 100% secure with these folks. I was so afraid I would have to push my surgery back, but I’m so glad I won’t. With all of the Covid changes they’ve put into place, it’ll be a bit nervewrecking to have to go to all of the appointments and into surgery l, alone, but I’m confident it will be great. All of the information has been so well laid out on their websites, videos and info pamphlets. I am thoroughly impressed by them so far.

Screw the run approach - Stay on night shift you enjoy the people! My advice is you are about to go on a journey and it will have some speed bumps! The last thing i would do is switch your shift when it appears you are enjoying the co workers and atmosphere.
You go into this with a mind set of I GOT THIS ............ food will not be that much of a concern after the surgery, Just stay on your plan to get healthy and fit! The mental games are rough in the begining so i would advise you to stay with what you like and get rid of the FOOD obsession. F@#ck FOOD you do not need it to be happy you do not need it to heal emotions, you just need a little bit to fuel the body!

Yeah, I made the mistake of telling my sister last night and now she won't leave me alone about her starvation diet.

Thanks for posting. I feel the same way. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

I had my surgery with them on January 6th with Dr. Sakata. They were wonderful and I wholeheartedly recommend them.
The people were caring (almost if not all of them that work there have had the surgery, so they understand the nerves and everything and can sympathize), and when I had a few complications from my gallbladder, they helped me take care of it and took it out as well (a month after my sleeve).

Oh wow! I’m so sorry to hear that! Stay encouraged!

You really should have a long talk with a bariatric surgeon and nutritionist. But let me see if I can help. I will use gastric sleeve for explanations, since that is the surgery I have. This can also be applied to gastric bypass, but please know there is a lot more involved with a bypass than sleeve. I personally don't recommend lap band.
Before you get weight loss surgery, you need to consult a physician and a nutritionist. You usually have a requirement of 6 months of nutrition counseling. During this time, the nutritionist prepares you for your post op diet. They start off giving you education on what you need to eat NOW. What you need to eat in your pre-surgery phase. And what to eat post op. A good program will have you continue nutrition counseling for AT LEAST a year post op, in which they will coach you through the stages of your post-op diet through until you reach maintenance stage where you are just maintaining your weight.
During the pre-op period, you are also seeing specialists and getting testing for any problems that they may need to know about before your surgery. This includes a psych evaluation usually. And if you do have psych related issues driving you to eat too much, you should take this opportunity to deal with them. Many bariatric patients need counseling. Some need medications like anti-depressants or other psych medications. And some like me gained weight for other reasons (physical barriers). You will likely at least get an EKG if not a complete cardiac workup. You may need a sleep study to determine if you have sleep apnea like so many obese people do. If so, you will get treated for it. They will look for how you swallow, do you have a hernia in the stomach, and other issues affecting your surgery. Once you have jumped through the hoops and are treated for anything you need to be treated for... then you will be cleared for surgery (and no... ongoing counseling does not mean surgery will be delayed).
With gastric sleeve, they remove 80% of your stomach, therefore for it immediately restricts how much food you eat. It also resets your metabolism and your hunger/full hormones. In the short term, yes your calories will be VERY restricted. But because you are seeing a nutritionist, they will help you know what to eat during each stage for optimal health. Water and Protein first. Then healthy veggies. And you will learn to either not eat unhealthy carbs or eat very limited unhealthy carbs. It will be up to you to follow the recommended diet and stick with it. If you do follow directions, you will learn to eat frequent small but healthy meals every day. And over time, once you are closer to maintenance, you will start to eat larger portions, but sticking to healthy meals. Your nutritionist will guide you to ensure you do not go into starvation mode and that you eat a healthy amount of calories to maintain your weight. Most people do lose a little more than they need to early on... but then gain 20 pounds back and then maintain your weight there. The key is to stick to the recommended diet so that you don't KEEP gaining.
You will also get blood work done every 3 months or so and have follow up appointments with your surgeon's office for at least a year. So, with the surgeon and nutritionist, you will be closely monitored. They will make sure you don't end up with Vitamin deficiencies or other problems related to rapid weight loss. You will take daily Vitamins and Calcium as recommended. Your diet will be high in protein and low in carbs and fats. (So not really Keto... but many do Keto post op). The carbs and fats you eat will be healthy carbs and fats if you stick to your diet. But this isn't a "diet" per-say... it is a lifestyle change. You are re-learning how to eat healthy. You are re-learning how to eat small to normal portions. And if you stick with it under nutritionist supervision, you will NOT go into starvation mode and you will not gain the weight back.
Problem with all the fad diets is that there is no long term (psych) counseling, nutritional counseling, medical follow up. Most people eventually go back to their old ways. And gain everything back. If you are following the program with the bariatric team, they will help you prevent going back to your old ways. But seriously... only you can decide how successful you will be, based on your willingness to follow through. Again... if you need to, get counseling. See your surgeon and nutritionist regularly and follow their guidance. If you need CPAP for sleep apnea, wear it. If you need other medications, take them. Etc.
I am 2 days shy of 6 months. I am at a NORMAL body weight. I am 6 pounds from my personal ideal body weight. I am following the recommendations of my team. And I can now eat double what I could 3 months post op and still maintain my weight and I am still losing a pound here and there.
Again...talk to your bariatric team for better information, but bariatric surgery is a TOOL for weight loss. It is only successful if you follow your program. But it is also the best tool out there to reach your goals if you have dieted and failed in the past. But if you follow your program, they will give you additional tools to make you successful (nutrition and psych counseling are two of your best weapons... use them!)

What is it that is “hard” about drinking or eating post-op? Is it just not having an appetite or is it physically being able to swallow etc?

I love to hear about the long term success stories. It will be 3 years for me this coming August and I struggle every day to stay on track .

Isn't that because its done under the national health system and they only have limited places per year?
Lot of people have it done privately.

When I first talked to them everything was fine. Then when the Drs office sent everything in I was told I don't have bariatric coverage but if they list it under general surgery it would be accepted. I'm so upset!!!

Blossom actually does take insurance. In order to by pass the insurance requirements I did out of pocket with blossom. I was 6 weeks start to finish but that had to do with when I could get scheduled. Afterwards, they billed my insurance for out of network benefits and my insurance paid out. I actually paid less then if I’d tried to do it locally with insurance. And I didn’t have the 6-9 month wait.

I actually used the Fast Track program, and I paid entirely out of pocket.
They had me on a two week pre-op diet first, which I started on December 24th.
I made my first appointment (the check up, talking with the dietitian, and the EKG) for January 2nd, came back in to speak with the surgeon on the 3rd, then had my surgery on the 6th, IV Vitamins on the 7th, and I was back home on the 8th (I live in Nevada, so it was just a drive for me).
Honestly, the program is worth it.
They pay for the hotel they put you at, transportation to and from Blossom and Warm Springs surgical center where you'll have your surgery, and it really is "fast track." The people there are lovely, and almost all of them have had the surgery themselves, so they are really sympathetic to any concerns or fears.
It was also nice because I didn't have to stay in a hospital. I was up and walking around 30 minutes after I woke up from surgery, and then pacing around the hotel the rest of the night. It was much less stressful on me because of that.

Best decision you'll ever make.
I'm 5wks post op mini bypass. Couldn't be happier.

I only told ~ 5 people--my closest, inner circle friends--including the two men who helped me: One guy took me to surgery and dropped me off at the other guy, who kept me at his place for 3 days post-op (and took me to the doctor's office for my 2-day post-op visit [my VSG was out-patient]).
Months later, when I resumed eating out, some friends later noticed that I was eating small meals, ordering appetizers only,a nd even having to take some of that home. They'd also noticed my weight loss. I said, over the past months I'd limited my portions and went mostly high-protein. Facts.
You don't have to tell anyone you don't want to tell. Besides, some are ignorant of the 'whys' of having wls, or that wls is 'the easy way out,' etc., and you don't need naysayers who may not understand and lack knowledge of the struggle.

Today is day 5 for me....I'm better than I thought I would be. I try to stay bust. Omw to sleep now.

It's MY time!

Boyyyy i tell you its horrible but you can do this

I’m 37 and was sleeved March 18, 20. So I’m still new to this but I will say the first 2-4 weeks after surgery were rough. Mentally and physically. I was liquids only for 2 weeks and barely sipping anything at a time and it felt like every drop was getting stuck at the top of my stomach. That was from inflammation and eventually went away but it was painful and annoying. Then I was purée for 2 weeks. At that point I was super sick of liquids and purée and wanted to eat. I still wasn’t hungry but smelling food and seeing food was very hard for me mentally. Once I was on soft foods, things got better for me physically and mentally but not my weight. I have been basically stalled since I started soft foods. I’m down about 24 pounds overall but zero in the past 3-4 weeks. I know I’m not getting enough Protein but I also know there is no way I’m eating enough to cause a stall so my body is just rebelling. I eat about 500 calories a day. I can only fit about 1/3 cup of food at a time and I eat 2 or 3 times a day. I’m super active. I speed walk 4 miles 5-6 days a week and I’ve added in some HIIT workouts as well. I am much thinner now than I was but the scale is not budging. I have a follow up with my doctor today and I’m pretty sure I haven’t lost anything since my last follow up so he will not be happy. I know the weight will have to drop at some point but....it’s getting old not seeing the progress I want to see. I’m sure the surgery will be worth it eventually. You have to be prepared for the mental ups and downs you’re sure to have. They seem to come in waves over different things.

My original surgery time was suppose to be the around the end of March. Like many others I was postponed until further notice. On April 25th I started having horrible abdominal pain. It got so bad that I ended up going to the emergency room late that evening. Well due to having some of my pre-op testing already done (in January) I had found out that my gallbladder was in what the nurse referred to as “yucky conditions” and she was surprised that I wasn’t having any pain then. So after a quick google search the only thing I could assume was wrong was I was having a gallbladder attack! I had never experienced anything like it before, it was awful!
So, while in the emergency room I found out that my Bariatric surgeon was the on-call surgeon for the night and he said wanted to see me in his office on Tuesday (April 28). So the ER doc prescribed me antibiotics and pain medicine and sent me on my way. On Tuesday my husband takes me to see my surgeon and we discuss taking out the gallbladder. When my husband says that he should just go ahead and do my surgery AND take out my gallbladder at the same time. When my surgeon says that he would like to do it that way but gastric bypass is considered an “elective surgery” and he can’t do that. So my husband says he just doesn’t see why I would have to go under anesthesia twice when it wasn’t really necessary. So my surgeon makes some calls and tells me that he has been approved to do both the gallbladder removal AND the gastric bypass because the president of surgery doesn’t find it necessary to undergo anesthesia more than one time if it could be avoided! So they finished my pre-op testing and schedule me for next Thursday May 14th. The only thing that could stand in the way was my H Pylori test....I’ve been waiting to hear my results from that for a week. Well I just got my results today and I am cleared for surgery!! I AM HAVING MY SURGERY NEXT THURSDAY!!!! I am feeling so many different things right now....I am definitely scared and nervous...but more than anything I’m excited!

I did a lot of searching didnt find much in the way of self pay that was close to Blossom. I had my sleeve there on 12/23. You need to have commercial insurance (meaning just regular insurance as opposed to medicare or medicaid) and they'll check your benefits to see if you qualify for self pay. They make the process really easy.

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I had mine done at Blossom Bariatrics in Las Vegas on May 15, 2019. They have a 'concierge' type program set up for out of town patients, very efficient. They include lodging at a nice hotel and transportation. I had a good experience and would recommend them to anyone wanting the gastric sleeve.

Had it done Monday and for ME....it was terrible. The only way to go into it...is to expect the worse and look at it as the only thing standing between you and your ever after. I made the mistake of not doing that...and was terribly disappointed. BTW...got my negative test results today. So yayyy...there's that. So it was worth it.

It's MY time!

I haven’t had it done but I’ve heard they do it the same as the flu test. I’ve had that and for me it’s not bad. Quick. Feel a little weird afterwards.