BypassTheBS

May 17th! 🥰

My surgeons scheduling nurse was a little too ambitious today and had me excited for nothing

She let me know my insurance was approved (YAY!) and to set my surgery day for 5/19 along with my post-op visits too

But then.....

On top of an already f*cked day, hours into my excitement, she calls back to tell me the doctor denied that day for me. The nurse hadn't even confirmed all of that before calling me to schedule. My whole thing is, she should know people are most anxious and excited for this step in the process. These dates and things need to be set in stone at least with the office before even thinking about calling the patient.

Now I'm annoyed and a projected date can't even be confirmed or denied now....back to waiting....

On 4/7/2023 at 2:14 PM, NettyD said:

Nice! I am so happy for you. I’m scheduled for the endoscopy test on 4/12 and hope to get the sleeve July/August
Good luck to you

Thank you!

Good luck to you as well!

Had the Endoscopy done and everything checks out good. I still want bypass instead of sleeve.

We talked very loosely about dates and its a tentative May 17th which is 1 week before when I wanted but it'll still be good. The sooner the better I guess.

4 hours ago, Smanky said:

Clothes browsing and wish-listing was honestly the best distraction and motivation pre and post-surgery. You'll be startled by how quickly you shrink through the sizes on your way to goal! Absolutely advise buying second-hand during the losing phase where possible, because the window of time with each size down is maybe a month or two. I ended up passing on items to goodwill that I didn't even get to wear!

I do still have a few "when i lose this weight" items I've had in the back of the closet that were suppose to be my motivation 😂

Though I don't have a surgery date, yet exceedingly excited without content for where this journey is about to take me...

I'm already browsing clothes I've had my pockets waiting for since forever (if ever). Boutiques that only sell small, medium, large. Reminding me of how retailer 5-7-9 in the movie Mean Girls got its name.

A shop that focused its collection on three sizes 5, 7 and 9.

18 hours ago, NettyD said:

Did they give you a surgery date yet? Good luck on your journey

Thank you! They have not given me a date yet. Hopefully we can discuss it at weigh-in #11 after the endoscopy

A1C levels are 5.6. Right at the edge of pre-diabetic 5.7...oh boy😓

oh and blood work needs to be done

9 out of 12 supervised weight loss visits done

sleep study done

Abdominal ultrasound done

H. Pylori test done

nutrition class done

nutrition class follow up done

Now I have 3 more weigh ins and an endoscopy left to do. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my insurance will approve this swiftly & I can get the May date I want.

For folks who had to return to an office setting (non-WFH)...

Did you take your food scale to work with you or were you dedicated to meal prepping?

14 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

they used to take gallbladders out routinely during WLS, but they don't anymore. Lots of us take ursodiol (Actigall) for the first few months after surgery now. It doesn't completely prevent gallbladder trouble, but it greatly reduces the risk. I never had any issues with mine (almost eight years out)

With having no current gallbladder issues & taking the Ursodiol for hopefully only 6 months will greatly decrease complications

My abdominal ultrasound test results are in!

The gallbladder is unremarkable. No gallstones or sludge identified.

I don't have any history with gallstones and I don't want to take the risk of gallstones developing after surgery because of the rapid weight loss.

Should the gallbladder stay or go?

Has anyone been in the same predicament or similar?

6 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

the majority of sleevers don't develop GERD, but about 30% do. Usually it's mild enough that it can be controlled medically (PPIs, usually), but in some cases it's so severe that the only option is revision. I don't know the percentage of those who have to get a revision, but it's probably pretty low - but still, yes, it's something to consider when trying to make a decision.

some people with pre-op GERD are willing to take the risk, and often they luck out and it doesn't get any worse (and for some, it improves), but I wasn't willing to take the risk. I was afraid I'd be one of the unlucky ones, so I went with bypass. I love my bypass and am glad I made that decision.

I think a lot of surgeons prefer doing VSG because it's an easier surgery (for them) and there are fewer potential complications with it (although honestly, not many people have complications with bypass, either), but they'll often suggest RNY to their patients who already struggle with GERD, because there's a change it could get worse. RNY will usually improve if not cure GERD.

good luck with your decision - it's not an easy one. And remember that ultimately it's your body and your choice. My surgeon did say he'd do the VSG if I wanted it, but he wanted me to at least consider RNY since I had GERD. I'm glad I made the choice I did - but he would have done either one.

I agree with surgeons preferring to VSG because it may be an easier surgery for them. I'm on pre op appointment 7 of 12 when I brought up the change from sleeve to RNY and her tone also changed

6 minutes ago, heatherdbby said:

fingers crossed for you! not that I would ever wish that someone would find something medical wrong with them, i will say that the EGD is what did it for me.
I wanted to do sleeve, but I showed silent reflux and ulcers from it on my EGD so def would have had more GERD after. Now that I am almost six months out from RNY I am super happy with my choice.

I do experience a mild acid reflux occasionally and had an whole episode a few years back. Sounds like silent reflux to me.

My goal is to definitely avoid the possibility of it getting worse

9 minutes ago, SleeveDiva2022 said:

I had the sleeve and got REALLY bad gerd. It caused gastritis and esophagitis, so I was put on really high PPI for a long time, which caused pre-cancerous polyps and nodules through my stomach and duodenum. I'm in the middle of having them all removed before I can have my revision to the bypass. I have loved my sleeve, but if I knew then what I know now, I'd choose the bypass instead. This has been a true nightmare.

Wow what a battle. I'm glad to hear you're pulling through all that's going on and truly wish you the best!

Did you have acid reflux before surgery? Some research says after sleeve it develops or worsens.

As I begin to get my mind right for post op life I've started following parent life bloggers on IG

They vlog their toddlers meals and I absolutely think it will help us Bari's tremendously 😍

The cute little sectioned plates, small portions & recipes just seem so right vs trying to stomach actual baby food. I will most definitely be following more pages like so

Its been awhile since my last post so I just wanted to mention progress so far

Still in the very early insurance approval process. I'm just hitting the 40 BMI qualification so I'm just trying to maintain while also taking my doctors dieting advice.

I had a few tests done already: sleep apnea = negative, H Pylori = negative. I have the Abdominal Ultrasound coming up.

While doing some research and talking to a few people who have been post op for years I've learned the sleeve can cause pretty bad GERD and need the possibility of revision to RNY. Because I want to avoid revision surgery, GERD, and long-term/indefinite PPI use I talked to my doctor about RNY instead and right now she's against it but suggested adding the endoscopy to the test list. If all checks out with the endoscopy I still want to change to RNY instead 🤞

So moving right along 😊

On 1/24/2023 at 4:07 PM, kla7403 said:

My Dr made it really clear at my first appointment that it is the patients responsibility to call and get exact specifications on what your individual insurance requires. They even made me sign a form stating they are not responsible if I don't call them and then later get denied. I have Aetna and I have to complete 12 dietary appointments (no specific time frame) as well as the list on clearances. I know other insurance companies require 6 or 12 months of dietary appointments.

I also have Aetna and have been trying to find others experience with them so thank you for this comment! My surgeons office did not inform me to call the insurance company for any reason but I plan to just to make sure everything is understood. My surgeons office says I have:

12 dietary appointments (no specific time frame)

Gallbladder ultrasound

hpylori test

sleep study

psych eval

1 nutrition class & 1 nutritionist follow up

Do you mind explaining what "the list on clearances" is?

10 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

I had to take a test online. It's been a few years, but I think it was similar to what jeanniebug said - I had to circle a number from 1-5 according to how much I agreed with whatever the statement was (or felt it or thought it or whatever). It took forever - at least 1.5 hours - and maybe 2 hours - and a lot of the questions seemed repetitive. I THINK it was the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). I think they're just looking to see if you have some serious mental health issues (and I mean serious - there are lots of people who have garden variety anxiety or depression issues, and those usually won't stop you from having the surgery). They also want to make sure you know what you're getting into and are realistic about it. After I took the test, the psychologist chatted with me for about a half hour - asked me how much I expected to lose, etc. Can't remember what else. It wasn't a big deal - it was just that test drove me crazy after awhile. Too long and repetitive. But you may not get the same test...

It is long about 20 questions (sorry, i don't have it in front of me at the moment) and all short answer but on paper

16 hours ago, Jeanniebug said:

She sent me a form. It was one of those things like a personality test. It had a range of responses 1 = agree and 5 = disagree, type things. There may have been some yes/no questions and perhaps a few that required an explanation. But, most of them had the ranges.

I wish it was a range of responses. The questions per my bariatric program are all short answer. It may even take 2 sessions to get through them all

I have the option of using my own therapist for the psych eval. My surgeons office sent me a list of eval questions to give to my therapist.

What format did your therapist use to answer and submit your eval? Ex. Question-answer, summary, etc?

I’m very new here and I’m so ready get sleeved!

My insurance (AETNA) requires 12 visits to my surgeon on a medically supervised diet program. The 12 visits can be scheduled however I see fit so I’m choosing weekly.

My surgeon is pushing for me to spread out the appointments so I can instill new eating habits and see some weight loss before surgery.

I want this so bad, I’m sticking to weekly appointments while really trying to put what I learn in this program into practice such as reading labels, journaling, following the surgeons’ calculated macros.

I think I can make weekly progress if I really turn on the tunnel vision.