Thus far, I have been to the 3 hour seminar by the surgeon where he outlined everything and answered questions. He said he only does a sleeve for patients with a BMI over 60. I am only a 39.4, but my family physician is driving hard for the sleeve because with the roux en Y I can't take my time release medications that I need. So she called his office and they are going to leave it up to the insurance company to make the call.

The insurance just took out their regulation for a 6 month doctor supervised diet because they realize at this point its a waste of time. So now I have to have 2 appt. with a psychologist and 2 with their dietitian. Those appointments are booked for September. Then I also have to have 2 months with the CPAP machine for sleep apnea which I didn't know I had. Turns out the doctor read the results wrong when I had the test done 3 years ago and told me it was negative. Now she's really embarrassed and is worked extra hard to help me get this pushed through.

The other link to success in this is support at home and I definitely have that. I used to have a husband who would run out to the store and buy pies, chips, chocolate, etc. everytime I would announce, "I've just lost 7 lbs." He constantly sabotaged me. My new husband listens to me and goes out of his way to find the things I need and see that I have them. He comes to all appointments with me that he can get off work for and takes a real interest in my health care. I also have chronic fatigue syndrome and with the excess weight there are a lot of things I can't do for myself and he so selflessly takes care of me. I know I can count on him for this.

I am reading a lot and trying to prepare myself as much as possible ahead of time for the surgery, even though it's still probably about 3 months away. I'm practicing making my meals last for 30 minutes. I'm practicing not drinking with meals, and watching the clock before and after meals so I don't take liquids in. I'm starting to eat with the baby utensils so I adapt to the small bites. I'm practicing chewing 40 times per bite. I'm trying to find out things I can prepare in advance so I'm ready when I come home from the hospital. I'm open to advice and ideas and getting to know the people here.

Welcome! I'm from Wisconsin Rapids and was sleeved July 12th in Wausau. You're starting right by chewing more and making your meals last longer. Hoping they let you get the sleeve!