Hi Ladies, thank you for joining! When and where are your surgeries? how long have you been waiting to have them? nevous, excited?

I am having surgry May 10, in Tijuana Mexico with dr. Ponce de leon. I have been wanting to have surgery for a few years but it now came to the point that I am so heavy that I could not wait any longer. My wait time has not been very long, I was scheduled to go with Dr. Kelly but then changed my mind and opted for Dr. Ponce instead!. I am both nervous and excited, I am so ready for this!. I will be traveling alone so that makes me a little nervous, and the thought of anesthesia does too, but I cannot wait!!! I wish I could do it today!

Started looking into it last summer, started my appts in October, was scheduled for April 9th. A month ago I was told the dr's office messed up and didnt look at my healthcare requirements, and it is now May 30th with Dr Prokurat in Hamilton NJ (@Robert Wood Johnson Hospital). Nervous but excited! Ive always been a chunkabutt, but was atleast muscular and in better shape from dancing. Thennnnnnn I was diagnosed with ptsd & bipolar, and gained 52-3 lbs from the cocktail of medications they had me trying to stablize. Im now stable, 25, engaged, working at a daycare and get my tail atleast were it was in high school (172), pref at a normal weight range!!!!! (130-5ish) Id kill to have even a size 14 pants back.

Hi everyone! I started the process at the beginning of February 2012 and will be having my surgery on May 15th by Dr. Beth Schrope at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ. I am very excited!!! I keep going from excited to nervous and back and forth again lol Can't wait to get this going already!!

Hi everyone! I went to the WLS seminar at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA over a year ago, and something rubbed me the wrong way about the surgeon. I just didn't feel like it was right for me. He made a comment about how only 2% of obese people can lose the weight and keep it off. So I said forget, let me prove him wrong. I went out and bought an incline trainer and joined Weight Watchers (for the 3rd time) well a year later I was the same weight I was when I went to that first seminar! I work at Emerson Hospital so I had heard how they are no longer affiliated with that Surgeon (that I didn't care for), and that the WLS program was partnering up with Mass General. So I decided to go to another seminar and see if I felt any differently. The Surgeon started talking about the sleeve (which was not an option with the other Surgeon) I was suddenly excited and I knew this is what I wanted. I never wanted the lapband, but was scared of gastric bypass. I think I just knew instantly this was right for me. I made an appt that night for 1/16 and from there my journey started. I have a date for May16th for Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy at Mass General Hospital and my Surgeon is Dr. Ozanan Meireles.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you, and building friendships!

Started looking into it last summer, started my appts in October, was scheduled for April 9th. A month ago I was told the dr's office messed up and didnt look at my healthcare requirements, and it is now May 30th with Dr Prokurat in Hamilton NJ (@Robert Wood Johnson Hospital). Nervous but excited! Ive always been a chunkabutt, but was atleast muscular and in better shape from dancing. Thennnnnnn I was diagnosed with ptsd & bipolar, and gained 52-3 lbs from the cocktail of medications they had me trying to stablize. Im now stable, 25, engaged, working at a daycare and get my tail atleast were it was in high school (172), pref at a normal weight range!!!!! (130-5ish) Id kill to have even a size 14 pants back.

Congratulations on your engagement Ashlee! how exciting! I completly understand about the medicine thing, I have had depression all of my life and have been on medications on and off for that and epilepsy and ADD (not to mention the Depo shots!) I would also die to be on a size 14, I can no longer remember when it was the last time I fit in one of those. Good luck in your journey!

Hi everyone! I started the process at the beginning of February 2012 and will be having my surgery on May 15th by Dr. Beth Schrope at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ. I am very excited!!! I keep going from excited to nervous and back and forth again lol Can't wait to get this going already!!

Hi Committed2Change (I still like your nick ) I am with you on the excited and nervous!

Hi everyone! I went to the WLS seminar at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA over a year ago, and something rubbed me the wrong way about the surgeon. I just didn't feel like it was right for me. He made a comment about how only 2% of obese people can lose the weight and keep it off. So I said forget, let me prove him wrong. I went out and bought an incline trainer and joined Weight Watchers (for the 3rd time) well a year later I was the same weight I was when I went to that first seminar! I work at Emerson Hospital so I had heard how they are no longer affiliated with that Surgeon (that I didn't care for), and that the WLS program was partnering up with Mass General. So I decided to go to another seminar and see if I felt any differently. The Surgeon started talking about the sleeve (which was not an option with the other Surgeon) I was suddenly excited and I knew this is what I wanted. I never wanted the lapband, but was scared of gastric bypass. I think I just knew instantly this was right for me. I made an appt that night for 1/16 and from there my journey started. I have a date for May16th for Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy at Mass General Hospital and my Surgeon is Dr. Ozanan Meireles.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you, and building friendships!

Amanda I absoluptly agree with you, if you don't feel comfortable with a surgeon RUN! Unfortunatelly many people have surgery with people because they feel that they have no choice or because they want to stick to their choice or because they are too lazy or badly informed to make an educated decision. I already changed my surgeon once and like I told him, if I ever was to find something that I did not like eve on the day of surgery I would not hesitate to change it again, my life is worth it! I am glad you found a surgeon that you like!

HI guys! So, I also started this whole process almost a year ago. I had to do everything to finally get it approved, 6 month diet and all. UI am getting sleeved by Dr. Mueller at Sharp Memorial here is San Diego CA on May 14th. I am totally obsessed with the surgery, right now I am at work and I am all over this website! I must say I am so glad this forum exists, there is a wealth of knowledge here that you just cant get from the flimsy packet of paperwork you get from the surgeon. Anyways, looking forward to losing with you guys!!

Congratulations MG! I am having my surgery 4 days before you and I am flying into San Diego! I hear that whole process of approval is a nightmare, I am glad you got it approved!

LBeauty, I saw you mentioned you have taken meds for Epilepsy, I take Depakote for Epilepsy. When I was first prescribed it at 16, was the first time I ever had problems weight. Sucks. Did your surgeon mention anything about how certain meds are tolerated after VSG?

I took epilepsy medicines in the past, I no longer take them. I do take ritalin LA for ADD and Celexa for depression. I did some research on them on my own then went and talked to my psychiatrist about them. What I found out from the literature and later confirmed with both my surgeon and my psychiatrist is that after surgery I will be taking Prilosec (or another proton pump inhibitor like it) and they change the pH of the stomach making it more basic, I will be taking it for about 6 months. This high pH is ok for many drugs but drugs that are slow release, or long acting such as my Ritalin LA do not work correctly in such a high pH. Also because at the begining food is processed faster thru the stomach (since we will be mostly drinking) and the stomach is smaller the medicines will pass faster into the intestines where most drugs are absorbed. there is a sprinkle form of depakote that some people take after surgery. I just did a small medicine interaction on depakote and prilosec and there does not appear to be a problem (you might be given other meds that they need to make sure there are no interactions), but definitely ask your doctor! People tolerate medicines differently after surgery the same way that they tolerate foods differently, but is very hard to know how we will tolerate the specific medications after surgery since everyone is different. Make sure you tell your psychiatrist or neurologist (or whoever prescribed your meds) that you are having this surgery BEFORE you have it. Please don't wait until after because if you have gran mal seizures you don't want to have one during or after surgery. Good luck!

Hi Everyone,

I started my journey on March 19. I was at my wits end with being in pain and constantly gaining and losing the same 10lbs. I realized I needed help so I asked my NUT to refer me to a bariatric surgeon. I like Dr. Nussbaum and I felt confident during our consultation. The next week I had taken all of my consults. I didn't want to waste any time. LOL I was hoping to get sleeved the end of April but that was cutting it close. I'm actually happy my date is May 17 it gives me time to accept it and become comfortable. Right now I'm an emotinal mess! I keep telling myself that I'm saving my life and this is so true. I'm having my surgery at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, NJ. Dr. Michael Nussbaum is my Surgeon he is in Livingston, NJ.

I started all this in 2002. I had a lapband done in Sydney Australia (my home city) and lost about 80lb, but needed to lose more - which I never did. In about 2007 I started feeling I could eat alot more. Long story short I had a 90 percent erosion repaired on January 24 this year - I am now living in Canada.

The surgeon here was going to do the vsg in June - but I heard that he was going on holidays, because it is the public health system I could be waiting forever. I decided 2 weeks ago to just do it - I had been reading for over 1 year and decided on Dr Garcia in Mx and my surgery in 17 May.

Everyone keeps asking me - are you going alone? I am, whatever will be - will happen if I am alone anyhow. I prefer my husband and daughter to stay home and keep everything normal.

Excited - nervous - counting the days!

I am going alone too Glenda! Mine is May 10th in Tijuana too with Dr. Ponce De Leon! I am super excited!

Hi everybody, my surgery is scheduled for May 23rd., in Houston, TX by Dr. Yu. I was originally set for April 11th. but after I arrived and got prepped for surgery I found out I had a UTI that I had no symptoms of so I had to go home, take antibiotics, and reschedule. At the time I was devasted and felt like maybe it wasn't meant to happen, but now I'm ready to go again. I get the pleasure of doing the 2 week liquid pre-op diet all over again... YAY! The first 4-5 days were the worst but after that it was pretty easy. Good luck to everybody else and update!

Good luck Ash!!! I hope it all works out well this time!

I have been dreaming about weight-loss surgery for years. I talked to my Mom about it over Christmas break to talk about the sleeve option and I was really excited about it. My insurance doesn't cover WLS so I thought I was probably going to have to wait until I was done with school and worked a job that would hopefully have an insurance plan that did cover it. Long story short my dear Grandpa decided to help with financing my surgery. A few months later I was scheduled and began long-distance correspondence with my surgeon's office. I flew from Montana to Houston on 5/6/12 and I was sleeved on 5/9/12 by Dr. Yu of Texas Laparoscopic Consultants (http://www.tlcsurgery.com/). I am 3 days into the pureed food stage and actually find myself having to set reminders to eat because I'm just not hungry! I hope this is the beginning of a new healthier me and I'm excited for the journey. Hope to learn some things from this site and also make some friendships.

Congratulations!!! Welcome to the losers bench!!!