NtvTxn

I'm sending you a personal message.

I took a 45 minute nap every afternoon for a month, which was nice. I walked a little more every day and I used a heating pad when I was sitting during the day. I used liquid Tylenol during the day and used the pain meds only at night for 9 or 1o days. Drink liquid.....find something you like, water with lemon, crystal lite, whatever and drink. Take it easy, don't expect to lose massive amounts of weight - slow and steady is good. Take this time to develop good habits and make them your new life, your new normal. This is fun, enjoy it. I bought a disposable camera and my husband took a picture of me the day before surgery and then took a picture every month on my 'date' of surgery.....for the first year. After the one year anniversary, I took the camera and had the pictures developed. Wow, to lay them out, side by side and see the transformation. I am glad someone suggested it and glad I followed through. Like I said, have fun. Good luck!!

I forgot and responded, forgive me. I lost my memory when I lost my tummy I think!

Texans do. Just for the record, we think of ourselves of Texans first, Americans second. We love America, but we are Texans. Like I said, a different breed. It's like a bumper sticker says, if you're one of us you can't explain it and if you are not, you will not understand. A guy who works on a cruise ship said Texans are the only ones who, when asked 'Where are you from' say Texas, rather than America. Until I moved away, I had no idea how different we are.

Bless your heart. Every Texan is not like me, first of all, I can laugh at us, and how we are, deny it all you want. We are a different breed, all you have to do is look at our governor, like Rick Perry or not, he is a good Texas boy and we keep electing him, over and over again. Really, that says something right there. Then we have the Texas Nationalist Movement, a group who REALLY want us to secede from the others! Now, what were you saying, oh yeah, we aren't all like me. No, not all but....well, I'd rather have a stick in the eye than argue with a 'fellow Texan' about The Lone Star State.

Thanks Amy! Have a nice afternoon!

No, she wasn't kidding. Now I have a name. I know nothing about this person. Man, woman? Sleeved, non-sleeved?

I too hate ins company's, I knew right off the bat that ins would deny me. My BMI was under 36 and I had NO heath issues. I was self pay, but I didn't pay 30k, I had it done in Dallas and it was 12,500 at that time and included 2 nights, before appts and all follow ups for the first year. You also got three nutrition classes and we have monthly support groups we can attend. If you have those available near you in KS, find one or two and go. It doesn't even have to be with your doctor, everyone is welcome at every one I attend monthly.....I have four! It's fun and informative!!! Good luck!

I agree, there are mitigating factors for some. For me, I wanted and enjoyed eating....the good stuff, not a big junk food, Twinkie/Ding Dong kind of girl, although I do like sweets. I was fat because I have the self control of a five year old, or I use to. I'm better now, but I am a work in progress!!!

do you have a doctor? that is the first step, and then register and attend their seminar, I know the three doctors I considered here in Dallas, require you attend. It was great, informative and I left feeling really good about my decision. I was self pay, so I didn't have to jump through hoops to get approved, I really don't know what will be next for you. The pre-op diet, if your doctor does this, most do want you to lose a little weight prior to surgery. I was almost 50, and even though I was in good health, he required that I have a stress test. After that, just blood work the day before and the liquid diet the day before surgery!!! where are you located?

It is HORRIBLE being from the 'starving children in Africa' generation. I have had to retrain my mind, and some times I still have fleeting thoughts of those starving kids....I started changing my thinking and doing this when my youngest was in HS, back in the late 90's. I would tell her she did NOT have to finish, I KNEW this was a bad habit.....I told her that whether the excess food takes the scenic route, via her mouth, or goes straight into the disposal, it will end up in the same place. I had a hard time practicing what I was trying to teach my daughter, it was another fifteen years of ME letting the food take the scenic route before I did something about it permanently!!! Now I CAN and DO throw food away. Guilt free....MOST of the time!!!

You, my dear, look marvelous!!! Congratulations, keep up the good work!!! I tell pre-op people that they won't believe what their life will be like a year later!!! you're living proof!!!

I believe you did! Congrats!

this is what I found. PACE (Pre-operative Assessment, Consultation, and Education) is a program designed to make it easy and convenient for you to have all your pre-operative tests conducted at one time and place.

No, serious as a heart attack. I've been here since Dec 2009 and did not know there was a "founder" among us!! LOL I do have to say that just last week I contacted somebody that use to be here ALL the time and she said she moderates a secret FB page now, but left this forum because she doesn't like the owner, or had a falling out. Anyway, I have not/did not question her on it. So I'm guessing this is "Alex"???!! Learn something new every day!

Consider it done and seriously, have a great day.

Are you kidding. I am not bored at all, this is entertaining and funny as can be, surely you see that!!!! If I was bored, I'd clean out a closet!!

I'm actually a greeter at one of those Bible thumping Baptist churches. Believe it or not, I love greeting people and making them feel welcome. I love it and I'm good at it. A church, any church, any denomination is full of sinners, not a soul in there is perfect or without sin. If the preacher isn't stepping on MY toes, I know he's not doing his job, I know me! I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I recognize stupidity when I see it and I'm not bashful about throwing down the bull**** flag. If that is offends some and steps on THEIR toes....sorry about that. It sure does bring everyone out of the woodwork or maybe just lets them slip right into the gutter, those opinions will differ as well.

I predict you'll do GREAT!!! I attended a support group a few months ago and the speaker was the PhD that does the psyc eval for this group. He said something that sticks with me and I like to repeat it every chance I get because this is how I got to where I was.....100 additional calories a day, every day for a year, equals 10 lbs a year. OMG - it was like a light went on. You know how LITTLE 100 calories is, it is ONE tablespoon of peanut butter, one of those little 100 calorie packs of WHATEVER.....it takes very little, just tasting food when you're cooking. This is what happened to me, 3 lbs one year, 5 the next, 4 one year.....of course I'm making up numbers, but the number, 3, 4, 5 is so "little" that when we weigh 4 lbs more in June of this year, than we did June of last year, we accept it and go on. It creeps up on us!!!! Again, good luck, if/when you do this......you will NOT believe how your life has changed one year later!

I'm 53 and sadly, I have a lot of fun when by just making one statement, I can get so many involved and admit it or not, it's like a free for all. It's a sick game. On FB I can just post a interesting news story, and say nothing but....."I am speechless" - no comments about agreeing, disagreeing....nothing. Then I sit back and wait for the fun to begin. I've had one or two that will have close to 70 comments of people debating, arguing, call it whatever you want. I know, I should probably shop more or do volunteer work. I'd like to say my tail is tucked, but it's all in fun and makes so many people so passionate about 'whatever'. A friend from HS calls and says, I see you're stirring the pot. Seriously, have a great morning!

Bless your heart, you are a Badger fan too I bet. I gave you more credit than that - the Republic of Texas, you can't miss it. I have a framed map of the Republic of TX hanging here in my LR, I actually had it framed at Michael's in Wausau!! C'mon down, you'd love shopping at the Galleria in Dallas or Houston. Not even the Mall Of American can compare. I'm serious....or rent a beach house in Padre or Galveston. It's like heaven.

There are small, east Texas towns that think anyone not from that county, even other Texans, are foreigners....actually they call them 'outsiders'. I'm serious!!! We lived in one of those little towns for 20 years, we had friends, had a business all that jazz, but we were ALWAYS outsiders. The one saving grace is, we conceived and had a child in that little town, she was 'one of them'. LOL

Who the h*ll is Alex???!!

The thing is this.... with those of us thrilled and the other side, who are not. It's kind of like being pregnant, people can tell you what it is like, some are miserable and sick, others feel better than ever. You can talk about indigestion, feeling the baby kick for the first time, how it is to have a basketball sitting on your bladder when you are 8 months along.....you just cannot understand what it is like until you are pregnant....or in this case, until you have the surgery. That is the bottom line.

This is truly a topic I don't "get" - I've never for a moment regretted doing this, but I'd like to understand this feeling. I attend 3 or 4 different support groups a month and being this far out, I am always one of a few 'veterans' in attendance. This subject is sometimes brought up, normally by pre-op patients who are curious or recently post-op patients. I want to be compassionate but I do not understand. I am thrilled that I eat less. Dr. D never wants his patients to eat more than a cup of food at a meal. I cannot eat a full cup, I pray it will never change. I hope that at 3 years, I'm at full capacity. Time will tell. I still eat, and at this point, I do not feel like I'm on a diet at all. I just eat less. I sit at a restaurant and see a table of four adults or two adults with a child or two and everyone gets a huge plate of food, and normally they all eat all or most of it. It is disgusting to me, I think it is disgusting because I know that was ME. My husband and I would each get our own big plate....share???!!! Surely you jest!!! I am so glad I don't and cannot eat like that any more. I hated that 'I am stuffed' feeling, now if I've eaten to much it is magnified to really uncomfortable, but it seldom happens theses days. I try and always eat under my sleeve, meaning, I eat LESS than it can hold. Just because I can eat more, doesn't mean I should. I love it that I can nibble and pick like I've seen friends do for years, get full and be satisfied. I wish I could understand the regrets, people have said, they wish they'd never had the surgery but NOBODY has ever said they wish they were fat again; that they'd get their full capacity stomach put back IN, if possible. Would any of you do that, I guess that would be my question.