I am the last person that I thought would be here sharing my trials and tribulations of weight loss; however, here I am. After much internal wrestling, I decided that WLS was the way to go. Initially, my insurance company said I had to weight 6 months and jump t hrough many hoops, but 4 months in, the policy changed and I was eligible to have the surgery at any time. Between getting that news and now many things have occurred that have stalled my decision to move forward. In addition to working full time in the area of child protective service in a large urban area on the east coast, I am a full time doctoral student. If that isn't enough, I have a partner that I have been with for the past 8 years. He and I went through a really rough spot back in July and so I left. That was really hard on me, but eventually we worked it out and are now back together. He is even on board with me having surgery. In November I had surgery to repair an upper respiratory problem and two days after tht my father died. I could have allowed all those things to derail my decision to make this significant change in my life, but I didn't. At 46 years-old, I feel like I have many good years ahead of me and I want to do everything I can to make sure they are just that. I have only told a handfull of people about my surgery. I asked for the first two weeks off at the first of the year so that I can start off on the right track. If I need to take longer, I will, but I am trusting and believing in the procoess and know that I am going to do fine.

Any tips or suggestions on how to navigate this process is greatly appreciated.

I am the last person that I thought would be here sharing my trials and tribulations of weight loss; however, here I am. After much internal wrestling, I decided that WLS was the way to go. Initially, my insurance company said I had to weight 6 months and jump t hrough many hoops, but 4 months in, the policy changed and I was eligible to have the surgery at any time. Between getting that news and now many things have occurred that have stalled my decision to move forward. In addition to working full time in the area of child protective service in a large urban area on the east coast, I am a full time doctoral student. If that isn't enough, I have a partner that I have been with for the past 8 years. He and I went through a really rough spot back in July and so I left. That was really hard on me, but eventually we worked it out and are now back together. He is even on board with me having surgery. In November I had surgery to repair an upper respiratory problem and two days after tht my father died. I could have allowed all those things to derail my decision to make this significant change in my life, but I didn't. At 46 years-old, I feel like I have many good years ahead of me and I want to do everything I can to make sure they are just that. I have only told a handfull of people about my surgery. I asked for the first two weeks off at the first of the year so that I can start off on the right track. If I need to take longer, I will, but I am trusting and believing in the procoess and know that I am going to do fine.

Any tips or suggestions on how to navigate this process is greatly appreciated.

I too am just starting this process so I am also looking for tips/suggestions on how to navigate the process. We have a similar story though as i am knocking on the door to 44 and work in child protective services in the midwest. I believe surgery is the right choice for me but i am having trouble reconciling myself with the idea of having the majority of my stomach cut out because i can't lose weight on my own. i struggle with the idea that i didn't get to this point in my life by having a healthy relationship with food and what will i do to address those issues to be a success with the sleeve? My insurance only pays for lap band or bypass, neither of which i am interested so i am considering self pay in Mexico. The thing that worries me with that is that there are no required pre-testing, no pyschological meeting etc. What if I can't do it? Will I know how to live life as a skinny person? Anyways, I would like to stay in touch and share the journey with you.

I too am just starting this process so I am also looking for tips/suggestions on how to navigate the process. We have a similar story though as i am knocking on the door to 44 and work in child protective services in the midwest. I believe surgery is the right choice for me but i am having trouble reconciling myself with the idea of having the majority of my stomach cut out because i can't lose weight on my own. i struggle with the idea that i didn't get to this point in my life by having a healthy relationship with food and what will i do to address those issues to be a success with the sleeve? My insurance only pays for lap band or bypass, neither of which i am interested so i am considering self pay in Mexico. The thing that worries me with that is that there are no required pre-testing, no pyschological meeting etc. What if I can't do it? Will I know how to live life as a skinny person? Anyways, I would like to stay in touch and share the journey with you.

Is the reason your insurance doesn't pay because it is an investigational procedure? If so you might want to try and appeal. I did and it worked. I know others have done this as well.

Lucill,

It is good to make your acquaintance. Any support I can provide just ask. What part of the Midwest are you from? I am from Kentucky but now live in New Jersey.

Lucill,

It is good to make your acquaintance. Any support I can provide just ask. What part of the Midwest are you from? I am from Kentucky but now live in New Jersey.

Lucill,

Thanks for replying to my post. We can make it t hrough this journey together. I am originlly from Kentucky, so I am only a transplant in New Jersey. My roots are midwestern. What part of the midwest do you live?

Theresa

Is the reason your insurance doesn't pay because it is an investigational procedure? If so you might want to try and appeal. I did and it worked. I know others have done this as well.

It is a BIG decision to make and everyone has their "demons" we must deal with, with food but I can tell you of my expereince! It has been FANTASTIC thus far!! I am 5 weeks post-op and I feel GREAT! I haven't felt this great in a LONG time!! One thing that hasn't totally changed for me is the thinking about food BUT it has changed on HOW I think about food. It's on my mind a lot through out the day because I am trying to make sure I'm getting enough calories and Proteins, where as before I was always thinking about how much more food I could shove in me! LOL

I had surgery on a Monday and was released from the hospital on Thur morning since I was so tight and wasn't able to drink on Tue so Wed was all about sip sip siping on water! Since I have been home it's actually been pretty darn easy! I went back to work at 1 week and also started going to the gym again that week as well!

Before surgery the best thing I did was join here and read read read all sorts of back posts and also doing a lot of research on the surgery! I knew this was the answer for me because I didn't want something inside of me and I didn't want my intestines rerouted!! LOL

Good Luck with your journey!