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My surgery (RnY) is in a couple of weeks and I've never stayed in a hospital before so I have some very basic questions about what to expect. They said to bring comfortable clothes for walking around in after the surgery. I think I know what I'll bring but is one set of clothes enough if I'm expecting to stay just overnight? Will I be able to wear a bra? TMI, but my ladies are not appropriate for nor accustomed to being loose in public! Does it matter what I wear in the morning of the surgery? I assume I'll change into one of those horrible gowns when I get there and then into my comfy clothes later? Based on past questions and my clinic's instructions, I'm also bringing my phone charger, kindle, chapstick, slip-on shoes, and hairbrush. Am I missing anything super obvious? How am I supposed to bring all this stuff? Do I just show up with a backpack or something? I feel like this is so obvious and a silly thing to get anxious about but here I am lol.

Thanks all! Knowing what to expect really puts me a little more at ease.

This whole practice of being billed for an out-of-network provider during an in-network procedure is starting to be banned in a variety of areas, with a federal law coming into effect in 2022. If anyone's interested, you can find more info here. I'm so glad it worked out for you in the end! I hate that we have to go through medical bills so carefully, but I understand that medical billing in general is super complicated and I wouldn't want that job!

I think it's allowed after a month as long as you're not using it as a vehicle for cream and sugar. 😆

Same here! I was out at breakfast last weekend and the thought hit me that this is the last time I'll be able to have coffee WITH my breakfast. It's not helped by the fact that I'm trying to quit coffee this week while I can still have NSAIDs before my surgery. Ugh I'm so frustrated with my clinic over this paperwork. They just uploaded the completed version and it's all based on my original surgery date, not the new date they gave me! Shouldn't they know when this is happening?! Also I told my work two weeks based on previous conversations and they filled the paperwork out as three weeks. I work from home and thought even two weeks was a long time.

How are everyone's pre-op diets going? I start on Wednesday and I'm nervous but excited. My doctor's plan is pretty reasonable--two weeks of 2 protein shakes, one healthy meal, and a couple of snacks a day if needed. The key is that I have to stay under 50g carbs and 1000 calories. It sounds a lot like doing slimfast when I was younger so I just hope it's more successful lol. Still just waiting on my FMLA paperwork for work but otherwise everything is all set. I had my last pre-op appointment today to go over medications etc and I guess I'm ready?

Quiet thread, but I'm sure others will join. My date just got moved up to August 11th because of scheduling drama at the hospital. Suddenly that seems VERY soon!

My RnY was just scheduled for August 17th. When I started this process last September, I anticipated having surgery around May, and had a vacation to Japan booked for November, thinking that it would be 6 months out. I imagined that I'd be mostly adjusted and just eat tiny portions on the trip. Now, it's only a three month gap and I'm a little more nervous about whether this is a good idea. Has anyone gone on a big vacation so close to surgery? It would be difficult to delay this trip for a number of reasons that are too long to get into. Japan may not even be open for tourism by November and our initial plan was to rebook for Italy if that's the case, but I don't think Italian food would be any easier! My husband and I travel a lot in general so I know I need to figure this out at some point but is it too early?

Thanks all! This is so reassuring. 😁😁

I'm late to this conversation and I think Hop_Scotch above is correct about OP's intentions, but I also wanted to say that sometimes it's NOT helpful to others when you're really open about it. A few years ago, I worked closely with a woman who had bariatric surgery. I wasn't ready to start considering it myself, but I felt like every time she told anyone, they immediately looked to me like "she's just as fat, why isn't she having surgery too?" So basically, you can't win either way and should decide to tell or not tell based on your feelings, not anyone else's!

That's a great idea about just staying in an apartment and shopping at the stores, thanks!

Me! I just got my date and it's August 17th!

This is so frustrating! I've been jumping through hoops since last SEPTEMBER to get all my appointments scheduled, and I'm almost at the last step: the EGD, after which my doctor will schedule my RnY. I just learned that neither of my insurance companies consider the EGD to be medically necessary. I'm double-covered with my husband's insurance because it's free at his work as long as it's secondary coverage, and my own insurance specifically excludes bariatrics. The actual RnY has been pre-approved through my secondary coverage. Both companies are different branches of Blue Cross, so maybe that's the issue? I'm really annoyed because it's a HDHP, so my out of pocket was already going to be substantial, and paying cash for the EGD means I could have done self-pay elsewhere months ago! Anyone else have trouble getting the EGD approved? My doctor said that this is becoming a common way for insurance companies to avoid some of the costs associated with bariatric surgery.

I'm struggling with this statement because it would be really unusual to follow the program's diet and gain back 70 lbs. On the other hand, it seems like it's really easy to gain 70 lbs by slowly letting your food habits creep back to your pre-surgery ways, and it can happen slowly enough that it still feels like you're following the rules! Regardless, it sounds a little bit like you already know you want the bypass and just want everyone to confirm your decision, which is totally relatable but just thought I'd point it out. The choice is really individual since we all have different bodies.

Hi all, I'm just starting the journey so I've been reading and researching a lot! I attended a seminar and I have my first individual consultation later this week. My concern right now is with my husband. He's technically overweight on the charts, but has never been obese and hasn't gone through that experience--he can shop in regular stores, sits in middle seats at concerts, and actually prefers booths at restaurants. My experience is pretty opposite, as I've been big since I was 15 (25 years ago lol!), and have ballooned up to a BMI of 51, the highest ever. When I first brought up the idea of WLS, I positioned it as a tool to give me a head start on the weight loss and to give me some time to develop healthy eating habits without starting so far behind. I think he's really nervous about surgery in general because he started tearing up and said that he's really scared, so we talked about the risks of surgery vs the risks of staying this obese, and so on. I thought he was coming around to the idea since he said he supports it, and when I talk about going to the "fat people clinic," he corrects me and says that it's just a tool. It's super sweet actually! Now he's started offering new diet suggestions instead. He's seen me go through a number of diets in the last eight years, though I'll admit I've given up a little in the past couple of years, but he hasn't seen the whole history. He thinks that because I do really well with losing weight when I stick to a diet, I just need to do a better job of sticking to one, but I keep telling him that if it were that easy for me, I would have done it already! Just today, he suggested "what if you do the keto diet but this time cut out all artificial sweeteners? I really think that's why you had trouble before." I understand that he's scared, but it's making me question myself a little. Do I really need to try every different variation of all the diets out there? I've also never really tried any of the prescription weight loss drugs (outside of some bronkaid/coffee stacking experimentation that was super unhealthy in a number of ways). Is there more due diligence before I give surgery such heavy thought? The other part of this is that he thinks that the doctors are only interested in their profit and won't give me accurate information, and while I believe that they deserve to earn a living, I have some trust in the hippocratic oath. I do understand that when you have a hammer (or scalpel?), every problem becomes a nail (or surgery lol). Anyway, I know this isn't a relationship advice site but I thought others may have encountered a similar situation! I'm venting a little but would appreciate your thoughts!

Hey all, thanks so much for the advice and thoughts! It's definitely helpful to hear from those who have been through the same things. He came with me to the initial consult and asked the doctor all kinds of questions that I hadn't even thought of, which was really nice, and he said he was satisfied with her answers. Since then, I've had a couple of appointments and he's interested in what I'm learning and how I think it's going. I'm also making some incremental changes in my diet/habits to start getting ready for this massive change, and he's been supportive so far. It seems like he mostly needed to get over the initial fear. Thanks for also pointing out how spouses can start acting weird once it all starts sinking in; I'll try to be mentally prepared for that at least. My husband did make a comment about me getting skinny and leaving him, and I told him that if I wanted to leave I wouldn't be waiting to be skinny first lol! Still, it was a moment of vulnerability and I can work with that if I know what's bothering him.