Hi everyone -

It's been several weeks since I logged on here, but despite that, I have made some progress towards having surgery. Per my last update, I had joined Weight Watchers as part of my pre-op medically-managed diet routine. I had some success with this: I lost 22 pounds in the first month, but I decided not to join the second month. All in all, I have maintained 14 pounds of weight off, so that's very good. From a health perspective, my lipids are doing better and my carbs have dropped considerably since I've given up the sweet tea.

As of last Thursday, I have completed all requirements necessary for insurance approval and the SSM Weight Loss institute has submitted everything to my insurance. I am told that approval may take two weeks, but since I am an SSM employee, I may get approved as early as 48 business hours after submittal. My surgeon is going to be Dr. Mario Morales. I met with him a couple weeks ago and he was very gracious with the amount of time he spent answering questions and explaining the RB&As of the surgery. He wants me to be on a one week liquid/high Protein diet to help shrink my liver a bit prior to the surgery. He also says that since my health is so good otherwise that I qualify to have the procedure outpatient instead of staying in the hospital overnight. Woot! That makes me happy.

So, if everything goes to plan, I will be having my surgery later this month!

I'm excited that this is getting so close! Will post an update soon.

Cheers,

Jason "The Night Shift Nurse"

St. Louis, MO

Good luck

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