Well, I just got a call from my PCP - who informed my that my triglycerides were sky high and that she would not clear me for surgery. She wants me on meds and said that we can redraw labs in 3 months and see where we stand. My cholesterol was also slightly high.

From what I'm being told there's a chance my 90 day lifestyle program may expire by then, and I may have to start over from square one.

My main problem is aren't these two things that getting a bariatric surgery will help resolve? I mean, triglycerides and cholesterol are both issues from poor eating habits, and poorly managed diabetes can also lead to high triglycerides.. both of which are resolved by the surgery... I don't get it. I'm no professional but it doesn't make sense to me.

Any thoughts?

Well, it's Tuesday morning.. surgery in 24 hours (give or take) .. I'm nervous, and can't sleep.. up until today I had been pretty excited about things and ready to take it on, today I woke up nervous, and worried... it's coming and going in waves.. I've been through such a battle getting this approved, and I feel like if I don't go through with it everybody will think I wasted this great opportunity, I know it as well.. All I can think about are my kids, and family... and it's rough.. because I'm the only income for our household, and I worry if something happens to me, what will they do? but then I think.. I'm in bad shape, I'm pretty overweight.. my cholesterol and tryglicerides are through the roof.. To say I'm doing this surgery just for me is a lie.. I personally.. don't care about losing the weight.. I can live with myself either way... it's about clearing up my medical issues with me.. the diabetes, the high blood pressure, the cholesterol and tryglicerides... the weight loss is an added bonus... i'm sure everybody thinks like this, in fact, i've read several other posts this morning on people being nervous... and I'm more just using this to type my feelings in hopes of just getting it out of my system, so I apologize for the rant... I have a 1pm appointment with my surgeon to go over the game plan... hopefully the consult will set my mind at ease.

Everyone is nervous, that's totally normal. In fact nervous, scared, terrified and everything in between..I felt all those! Above all else, I was excited. If you're really feeling that gut feeling that this isn't for you when it comes time then maybe it isn't. All I can say is that I had to keep telling myself "it's ok, I can leave anytime I want to!" and that got me through. Really it was just mind*f-ing myself but it's how I got through it. Sometimes a "wasted opportunity" is just a way of opening up an even better opportunity at a later date.

At any rate, I'm so pulling for you right now and I know you can do this! You'll thank yourself when it's all over and you can look forward to a healthier you. You'll be around a lot longer for your wife and kids!

Renee`

Well.. I'm about 15 minutes from leaving for the hospital. I met with Dr. Umbach yesterday, he was nice and easy to talk.. but I found him a tad cocky (not always a bad thing). Overall I was impressed with him, despite the fact that he really, despite a couple weeks of communication, didn't know anything about me. He asked me to take a nutrition class that I had already taken. I mentioned my insurance 90 day program, and his response was "what 90 day program?" - but he spent ample time with me, answered all my questions and concerns, and I feel ok going into this.

I did have my labs redrawn last week (8 days after original bad labs that started this whole thing) - the 2 issues in question.. my cholesterol and triglycerides were 100x better.. my triglycerides went from 4056 to 501 and my cholesterol went from 666 to 215.... not great numbers, but keep in mind I dropped those numbers in 8 days... kind of makes me think the original labs were incorrect, that's a pretty severe drop for 8 days.

I'm just rambling to kill time, I got about 5 minutes to go... surgery in less than 3 hours.

Wish me luck!

Good luck! Please post and let us know how you are doing when you are feeling up to it!

Praying for your quick and wonderful recovery!

Best of luck to you. Sorry you didn't have a great experience with your pre-op visit. But, glad that you felt comfortable to have the procedure with him. He is definitely confident in his skills.

Keep us posted on how you are doing with recovery.

Good luck Spivey!!! Sending lots of good thoughts your way!!!!!!!

Good luck! Praying that you have a speedy recovery

Hey all,

I appreciate the positive vibes sent my way. Surgery went off without a hitch.... Met with Dr. Umbach roughly 10 minutes before surgery, he came in to double check to see if I had any questions.. They took me in, and the guy that was going to put me under came in to talk to me and was awesome... a quick trip to the OR, and the next thing I knew it was over... right after I woke up I was pretty nauseous and had some pretty severe gas pain on my left side... they rolled me up to recovery after about an hour because the pain was so bad, it took a tad longer... then after I went to the bathroom, they let me go home... I have one of those little balls, that feeds medicine onto the wound...

I went and got my pain meds (liquid loratab) and paced the house for a bit trying to get the gas to pass, cuz it was bad.. probably a 7 out of 10.. once I took the loratab, i went and laid down for a couple hours in the fetal position, and when I woke up (15 minutes ago) - i felt 100x better.. still some minor gas pain, but nowhere near as bad... I had a couple big burps while I was laying down, or maybe it's still there and the loratab is just doing a good job.. but overall, I feel good... I took some gasx strips as well.. seemed to help.

Dr. Umbach came out and talked to my mom and wife, and let them know things went great... he came to see me by I was groggy and had a hard time staying awake... my mom and wife said he was a lot more personable today than yesterday, maybe he was just having a bad day...

Overall.. as far as Dr. Umbach goes I'm going to say at this moment, that he's legit good guy, and a very skilled surgeon, despite the one horror story... I'd recommend him, and my wife is considering going to him in the near future... His office was great the whole time, i'm drinking Water fine, haven't tried much else yet.. think i'm going to chill for the moment and stick on water the rest of the day..

I feel that my journey has completed phase 1, and now it's time to reap the benefits... I went in surgery weighing 283, losing a total of 17lbs from the diet... and a high weight of 305... I'm excited for a future of no diabetes, and being healthy...

Thanks for letting me share my story!

I'm so proud of you for not letting your fear get the better of you...WELL DONE! It's a bit of a rough road for a little bit but I know you can handle it. WAY TO GO SPIVEY!!!!

Welcome to the losers bench!

xoxo, Renee`

I am so happy to hear everything worked out and the surgery went well. I wish you a speedy recovery. I go in on Monday morning so send some good thoughts my way.

Glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery ... just take one day at a time.

Thanks guys! day two has been better than day one.. that's for sure.. the gas pain is gone, but now i'm pretty sore... which the soreness is way more tolerable than the gas pain was.. the lortab helps, but keeps me kind of groggy... I decided to hang out in Vegas another week before going back to my boring existance in Oklahoma, thanks to Dr. Umbach filling out my short term disability papers saying I can't go back to work till the 18th.. I was considering trying to go back to work Monday, but I think it's best to take it easy a little bit longer.. plus, I don't wanna go back... Going to have a follow up with Dr. Umbach on Monday, and probably take my pain ball out this weekend... we'll see how i'm feeling tomorrow... overall though, i feel pretty good.. I wasn't able to get in all my fluids today, but I got close, I got in 2 bottles of Dasani and a glass of Crystal Light... and 50g of Protein.. so it's a good start to day 2 I think.. I only see it getting better...

Anywho, good luck to everybody with upcoming surgeries.. I felt great going into surgery, but when I woke up I was like.. wtf did i just do? but a day removed, and a lot less pain later, I'm excited for the future!

yeah I think I asked that question to myself (or yelled it to everyone, who can remember?) after surgery. Like you said, day 2 is much better from the bits and pieces I can remember.

Dude you are ROCKIN it already! You're going to do amazingly well and I'm so happy for you

xoxo, Renee`