So, I have a date set and I scored a pretty decently priced roundtrip ticket. I say score, because it has been running $100 more than I paid these last few weeks and, just after I purchased it, it went up $200 on the same site! Phew!

So, March 21rst with Dr. Aceves in Mexicali.

Crap...Now I have to try and not think about it until then...or figure out how to not panic. Somehow, between now and then I need to be a good grad student. Again...Crap...

We are on the same day with Dr Aceves! I know the panic and excitement after I paid for my plane tickets.

Congratulations ... Yep! I think most of us hit that panic moment once (or twice or three times) once it became "real". Keep coming out here, learn as much as you can and try to breathe!

Breathe? **gasp** What? **gasp** BREATHE!!!!!????!!!! **thump**

Om........

Okay...all better now...for the moment anyway.

I've been putting it off for a few reasons, part of which was the unexpected prices of the plane tickets. Before the new year it was running around $350 RT (I was just in San Diego in early December) but then all I was seeing was $450+! Yikes! When you're a grad student, every single penny has to be saved. I've even taken to "permanently borrowing" condiment packets from the cafeteria. Who needs to pay for honey, Peanut Butter, mustard, mayonnaise or jam when you can get serving sized packets for free!?!

To be honest, I had started to chicken out a bit even before getting the ticket. I kept thinking, "Man, this is a ton of money. What if I just take it and put it towards a personal trainer and nutritionist or something? or Jenny Craig? That worked when I was in middle school (yes, middle school)." But, I am committed, whether I like it or not!

Hey Bugwitch! Congrats on booking your surgery! I was just sleeved with Dr. Aceves a week ago today. My experience was excellent. Every detail is taken care of for you, all you have to do is pack and get on the plane. I've already lost 11.5 lbs. in just a week (I never even came close to that kind of weight loss ever before on any other diet!) and with the sleeve I am hunger free and so happy I did this for myself.

I noticed you are still debating sleeve vs. lap band. I just have one story to share with you. One of the ladies that was having surgery the same day as me was getting a sleeve after a failed lap band. She had 3 perfect years with her lap band and then starting having horrible problems, and had to have it removed. She gained 30 lbs. very fast after the band was removed, and so decided to have the sleeve to get her weight back under control. I have to say I have seen/heard similar stories many times since I started researching weight loss surgery; I don't think it is that uncommon. Obviously you have to make the best choice for yourself, but if you are paying for surgery and are watching pennies, just think about what MIGHT go wrong if you have the lap band ... could you afford to pay for surgery if there are complications with it (port flipping, band erosion, can't get the fills right, etc.) or to have it removed, and deal with the weight gain that seems to accompany most people with the removal? The scary thing about VSG is it's permanent, but that's also the good thing too. You don't have to worry about fills, or band problems, or anything like that.

I wish you all the best and you are in excellent hands with Dr. Aceves and his team regardless of which procedure you choose. I know many other people here on VSG will say the same. March will be here before you know it!

If I have any advice at all for you as a pre-op it is get used to a high Protein, low carb diet. That is what you are going to be on for the rest of the year -- really, the rest of your life. If you follow South Beach or some other type of hi-pro/lo-carb diet, you will also lose a decent amount of weight so by the time you are ready to be sleeved you will be in an optimal position for success. I wish you all the best! Yay for you!!!!

You sound just like me. I was thinking why not take this $6000 and put it inot a trainer and a Weight Watchers program. To be honest, ecery day my mind wonders there. But then I think about my experience with Quick Weight Loss. Over $2500 on a program, where yes I was loosing weight, but I was always hungry, hated buying their terrinle powder Soups and Protein bars, and not being able to drink aything besides Water Like Tiff said on an another post, I don't want to have to diet forever!

I too started this journey looking at the Lap Band. It was all I really knew. I knew nothing of the sleeve 5 months ago. But after reading the horrible stories, looking at the complications thread on Lapband Talk, and talking to people from OH, I knew I couldn't spend $5000 on something that could would cost me more ($100 self pay fills) and could cause me so much pain.

So here I am, gettng sleeved in less than a week.

Whenever I hear those nagging thought creeping up, I look over at my beautiful daughter (almost 7 months) and realize I am doing this for her.

Good Luck on whatever you choose.

I'm working with his office now and am hoping for March 22nd. I would fly down on the 20th, do pre op on the 21st and surgery on the 22nd. Flights are $200 less the next week, probably because that spring break for so many. But, that week works better for me than the next week.

As far as flights (just FYI) keep checking the sites every day. I found a RT flight from Columbus for $360. Just the day before, it was 500 and many still averaged around there. Travelocity, Expedia, and also check out the actual websites. Southwest is a great airline.