ShoppGirl

Oh good. I use the Baritastic too. It’s pretty great isn’t it? I’m so sorry that your dietician didn’t help. I know how frustrating that is because I went out of my way to see a second one, even and they didn’t help either. Did your surgeons office give you a book of any sort? Mine didn’t have like a calorie goal or any other macros other than protein and water but it did say what portions they expected me to eat at each stage and stuff to avoid. What were your questions? Maybe between the group of us we can tell you what advise was given to us and that will help. If I were you I would see if you can meet with the NP or PA at your surgeons office if they have one. I told mine that the dietician wasn’t very helpful with the SADI so she has just been going over the nutrition stuff with me.

Oh I have so many questions that I seen the NP like five times since surgery and I call In between 😆 The NP finally gets it that with my anxiety I just need a little more reassurance throughout such major changes. She is so helpful. I ask her about my macros and stuff. I didn’t really feel like the dietician was very knowledgeable on my surgery. The goals the NP have given me are nothing like what the dietician had said. They should be fine to answer about the more common surgeries though. And they can tell you specific foods that will work. The NP just looks at the bar charts from my food logging app and says things about my trends. If you don’t have a fitness watch, consider one of those. They have some pretty inexpensive ones on Amazon now. I got one on sale for $20 that seemed like a good one but my husband was able to get my old watch to update so I returned it. It’s really nice to be able to tell them your activity trends. And if you have an iPhone and carry it with you when you walk around you already have it on your health app. The watch will record your heart rate too though which gives you a better idea of calories burned.

Exactly. Everyone is different in terms of loss. The important thing is how you feel and that the trend is down. We will all get there eventually.

Ooh. That doesn’t sound fun at all. Glad you were able to get that repaired at the same time. I mean I’m sure recovery was a bit worse but to me I’d rather get it over in one shot. Thanks for clarifying.

Have you talked to your team about your fitness and your macros. I was actually eating too little for my level of activity. It was really scary to be adding carbs but I trusted the NP and I’m still losing. You’re definitely not over reacting though. I was upset about not losing as much as I have been and I made an appointment to talk to my team about my loss. They reassured me that I was doing what I should be doing. I recommend that you do that if you can. It can be so upsetting and sometimes even makes people less motivated to exercise and make poor food choices if they feel like it’s not working for them and I’m sure it will feel much better to hear from them whether you are on track for what they expect for you.

It definitely couldn’t hurt to check with different attorneys. It’s just about their judgement as to whether they think they can win the case and like everyone In life some are all about the money but some actually care about justice. You should be able to find one that wants justice for you. I mean had they called for an ambulance right away and sent you to the closest ER you may not have even needed such extensive care. I think in medical claims they have another doctor review it to see if they did everything they should have. I’m not a doctor but it doesn’t sound like it from what you’re saying.

@Greekmom4 I have a question for you. How did you know that you had a hernia. I have a sneaking suspicion that I developed an umbilical hernia post surgery. The NP doesn’t think anything is weird but my belly botton is shaped differently and I can feel that it’s really hard inside and it was not like that before. Not sure why she can’t feel what I’m feeling. Maybe I’m feeling the sensation from the inside. Anyways, do they do an ultrasound or something?

What is Wednesday? Your follow up appointment?? If you have an appointment Wednesday and you can stand waiting you could call earlier, but you really should find out about it at your appointment If not you can just say “you got my psyc clearance, right??” And see what they say. Just make it about your concern they didn’t send the paperwork and not your concern that you didn’t pass. Honestly I think you did though. I can’t imagine that a psychiatrist would leave the surgeon to be the one to break the news to you that you didn’t pass this time. They know that they are better qualified to help you get through it if it is upsetting to you and it would be for many of us, once we make up our minds to do this we want it now. But you already know that if you didn’t pass YET, that it is just a delay. Try to focus on that for now. It may be one more hurdle but you are still on your journey to get your surgery.

Maybe check the hospital website so that you can get the person’s name that you need to speak with so when you ask for them by name, it holds a little more merit than just asking for a supervisor like genetically. And if they won’t put you through then just send something in writing usually things in writing (email). Usually they have to respond to that because you have proof you sent it. Good luck.

Yea, maybe just ask if they got your clearance yet instead of asking Did I pass?

I didn’t even think about the fact that they had him drive you. I have heard of some people getting the surgery as an outpatient although I don’t think it’s very common but yea @SleeveToBypass2023 is right. They even wasted precious moments waiting for your husband to get you there while you were essentially bleeding out. The purpose of an ambulance is to get you there quicker and have care in route. I mean if the Dr couldn’t help you then surely your husband couldn’t while he was driving. That was a really bad call on their part.

You have to keep on them. Tell them if they got “pre approval” then you want the pre authorization number to call the insurance and give to them so they can pay it. Ask for the BOD or whoever is the higher up at your hospital. They don’t want to do more work rebilling but you only have so much time to appeal things before it’s too late. Also ask insurance how you can get to start an appeal on your own. I had a bill that my local doctor didn’t get prior approval for the procedure so it wasn’t covered but should have been because it was medically necessary and I had to fight for like 6 months until they finally wrote it off and that was only like 5 grand. I called three times a week to see what they were doing to rectify it. I actually used my headset and walked back in forth in my house while I was on the phone to get my exercise in when I was post surgery. Keep detailed notes of everyone you call, email, leave vm, etc with dates.

Yea. Fingers crossed it does go away, but for some it doesn’t. If you haven’t always had it then hopefully it will go away but I know people who are very fit and healthy who still need BP meds. 🤞

possibly or also some people have high blood pressure that is purely genetic I mean if it’s not diet or weight related maybe the surgery doesn’t make it go away?? I imagine that reducing weight and changing diet would have to help some, but maybe it doesn’t cure it entirely. Good you are back on it though for now if you need it.

I wonder if you would qualify for some financial assistance. I mean even though you may not qualify otherwise and you have insurance, that’s a large bill for most people and you are self pay in this case. Did the hospital warn you that insurance may not pay. I mean if they let you believe they take your insurance you would have no reason to anticipate a bill like that. Don’t they usually warn you if things won’t be covered? I guess that may be different given it was a very urgent case but, I would do a little research to see what laws apply in your specific situation. Them “accepting” you insurance but providing non covered care without warning you.

That’s true. They may not call just to tell you. The only reason I asked about it was becausr they didn’t think I needed to do it for a revision at first but it turned out that I needed it and I already had surgery scheduled so i had to get it to them quickly so I followed up to make sure the Psyc’s office sent it.

It’s takes a little while. They have to transcribe everything and make it all official so it can go to the insurance. Some doctors don’t have anyone on staff to do that and they have to send it out so to speak. Mine was over a week.

Do you like seafood? I mean have you tried it post surgery. I didn’t like it presurgery. Would occasionally have a little Mahi just because I knew it was good for me but never really liked it. Post surgery I usually eat seafood at least twice a week, I also have things with ground turkey such as a Mexican skillet, meatballs or turkey taco filling (I just do the meat and toppings without the taco shell or the lettuce). The lettuce would be fine of course but it just takes up valuable room. I also do things with lean beef such as chili. I will also do a “pasta” dish once a week which is either the ricotta bake which I make with a protein and veggies added, zucchini noodles with fresh basil pesto, or a low carb Italian bake that I found the recipe for online although I make mine with turkey sausage to cut the fat a bit. There are quite a few bariatric recipe sites that have some great recipes. I did like 3 weeks of all different recipes. You can also do like a white chicken chili or southwest chicken with peppers and onions. Just so your don’t have to eat just plain chicken nuggets. If you don’t love to cook the southwest chicken and the chicken chili are recipes from seasoning packets so they are fairly simple if you have a Walmart the southwest ranch is a street taco seasoning from McCormick and the white chicken chili seasoning is by McCormick as well. Those two and the McCormick tex Mex chili are three of my favorite meals that are relatively simple and the chili Freezes well so I have been doing a double batch and then use my souper cubes to freeze single servings. The chili does have healthy carbs though so of course be mindful of that. I am allowed some carbs because I’m pretty active but I still budget for them by doing pretty low carb for breakfast and lunch on days I know the plan is chili is for diner.

Many team will just start you out on the vitamins that people tend to become low on to try and get ahead of it, but you should be getting labs every three months for a while and then at least once a year once you are on track. Your team should tell you what to change based on your labs.

I would call your doctor. If your BP is high off and on maybe you still need a low dose of the BP med or something. Just rest and feel better.

Not a bad idea at all. I just returned the ones that were for sure too big. Maybe I will try the ones on that I just bought at the thrift ina. Size smaller and if they work I can return these too and save my money for where I’m smaller and can get really cute ones.

Just got an alert from my health app that my resting heart rate has gone down 7BPM for the past 21 days. Apparently my cardio health is improving. 🎉

And a very nice birthday gift to yourself for sure.

Well your shirts will fit soon enough. No thrift stores? Do people have sales of their old stuff? We call them yard sales but they aren’t always at a house, sometimes they are at churches and the call them bizarres. I have a feeling that I am going to be shopping. Lots of yard sales and thrift stores over the next year or so. It feels better to be wearing clothes that actually fit but I can’t afford a new wardrobe every couple of months.

My NP said anything you can easily cut with the side of your fork is soft. Avoid fibrous veggies and stuff with skins which are harder to cut with the side of your fork so that should be a given. Add sauces and gravies to meats if they don’t go down well. Just chew chew chew and try a couple of bites and wait a bit then go back if you’re not sure. Try one new food at a time so if something doesn’t agree with you it’s easy to pinpoint the issue. Cut things into tiny pieces too.