Hey everyone -

I'm very new to the site and this is my second post. I thought I would place it here. To put it simply, I have been a busy dude in getting this stuff rounded up.

I have completed this mammoth packet of paperwork and just faxed it to the doctor's office. I had an appointment with my Primary Care Physician yesterday and he gave me his soapbox rant about weight loss surgery (to which I endured without blinking an eye). In his view, weight loss surgery is something that is too easy to become a candidate for and that everyone can lose the weight if they had strong enough will power, etc.

I rebutted that he is right in some regard, but for someone like me who has been grossly overweight since I was 8 years old (I'll be 33 next month), it's a lot more than willpower. In the meantime while I have been yo-yoing away with failed diets and weight loss that plateaus, my general health is deteriorating. In the end, he recommended me for the surgery and appreciated that I didn't shy away from his malingering commentary.

I am also going to be having a sleep study. I believe I have mild sleep apnea. We'll see. I should be having that study in a couple weeks. I'll update everyone afterwards on the results.

The psych eval is also something I need to complete. I have that scheduled in a couple of weeks, so I hope that is as non-threatening as people on here have suggested.

The last part of my insurance approval is being on a physician-supervised diet for 3 months. Weight watchers qualifies for this and so I'll just stick to that. Everything going to plan will result in being qualified by April. I'm hoping for a surgical date by May or June.

Jason "The Night Shift Nurse"

St. Louis, MO

Sounds great, Jason. Glad you are a nurse and could withstand your PCP's assault on surgery. I was a bit put off when I told my doc I wanted it and he about ran to his computer to print up a surgeon's name for me. Did he just call me fat? All-in-all it was a relief and things went smoothly. Glad I didn't have to do the 3 month diet. I am a great dieter - its once I am off I get into trouble. Plus after 3 months my BMI would have been too low. I was concerned that they would then refuse me!

Sue "the former night shift nurse whose husband didn't understand so now she is a day shift nurse"

Sedalia, MO

Sounds great, Jason. Glad you are a nurse and could withstand your PCP's assault on surgery. I was a bit put off when I told my doc I wanted it and he about ran to his computer to print up a surgeon's name for me. Did he just call me fat? All-in-all it was a relief and things went smoothly. Glad I didn't have to do the 3 month diet. I am a great dieter - its once I am off I get into trouble. Plus after 3 months my BMI would have been too low. I was concerned that they would then refuse me!

Sue "the former night shift nurse whose husband didn't understand so now she is a day shift nurse"

Sedalia, MO

Heh, I guess I would understand where you would wonder about your doc running to the printer. LOL. For me, though, it's sort of a Quest and so I suspected a doc who doesn't appear to have extra weight on would take the attitude he did. It was honestly a moment of truth and I'm focused to the point that I would have likely fired him if he refused to recommend. I've been seeing him for over a year now and have been attempting to lose weight through his guidance. He has offered nothing other than order bloodwork to see how horrible my lipids were. In the end he gave me the green light, so now I don't have to work through him any longer. (Yay!)

Cheers,

Jason

My doc is a skinny twig - but a good guy and very supportive. He is also blunt - I like that. Glad to hear you are focused. Do you know anyone else who has had it done. Both of my step-daughters have done it and both have had some success but are even more successful at cheating the band. Their problem is sweets - mine is volume. Sweets seem to go down very easy so one keeps drinking her mocha caramal cappacinos with extra carmel and the otther her ice cream and candy (even for breakfast) I hope I have learning from their mistakes! Plus I really have the problem of wanting the biggest steak and the biggest potato and yes to appetizer thank you. The biggest eye opener to me is learning to eat my Protein first . I have always always eaten all the veggies first. Surprise - the protein really does fill you up!

Sue

My doc is a skinny twig - but a good guy and very supportive. He is also blunt - I like that. Glad to hear you are focused. Do you know anyone else who has had it done. Both of my step-daughters have done it and both have had some success but are even more successful at cheating the band. Their problem is sweets - mine is volume. Sweets seem to go down very easy so one keeps drinking her mocha caramal cappacinos with extra carmel and the otther her ice cream and candy (even for breakfast) I hope I have learning from their mistakes! Plus I really have the problem of wanting the biggest steak and the biggest potato and yes to appetizer thank you. The biggest eye opener to me is learning to eat my Protein first . I have always always eaten all the veggies first. Surprise - the protein really does fill you up!

Sue

Well, I started on the Weight Watchers plan on Wednesday night. Since I was already well into the day, I shrugged off Wednesday and planned to start Thursday. I had a ceremonial last dish of chocolate Ice Cream, a couple beers, and some pizza rolls. LOL. My wife has joined as well. That's nice to have a partner to do this with.

I don't know if anyone is familiar with the weight watchers plan, but I was told that I can have 71 points per day. LMAO!! My wife gets roughly half. I don't know whether or not I should feel like I'm a total fatty or what, but I'm taking it in stride, really. I'm finding that I really have to just gorge myself to consume that number of points. Yesterday, I only managed 59 points. Today, only 48. The good thing is that I don't feel hungry on this plan and I really do see that I'm eating better. I'm two days clean from a McDouble!!

My doctor also called back and let me know that my Hemoglobin A1C (the determining factor for diagnosing diabetes) revealed that I am borderline diabetic. I can control this with dieting. In addition to this, I found out that my testosterone is on the low side. By taking some topical ointment for this, it will resolve this problem.

I'm just taking it all in stride. I know that I am going to make it through this and nothing will deter me. If anything, these results are steeling my resolve.

Cheers,

Jason "The Night Shift Nurse"