I am starting this so all of us who are beginning 2013 in a big way can share stories, advice and experiences.

My surgery date is 1/21/13 and this has been a year long journey for me. I began last December with a physical and my Dr. and I decided it was time. I had to go through 6 months of weigh-ins and visits with the nutritionist before I was even allowed to see the surgeon. I finally met him in July and then was given a whole new list of tests and appointments that needed to be done. My insurance finally approved me earlier this month, but only for surgery after January 1, so January 21st it is.

I am so excited to start this journey and thank you all in advance for sharing your experiences here!

hi

I'm new to the site. I'm scheduled for surgery 01-24-2013

hi

I'm new to the site. I'm scheduled for surgery 01-24-2013

Hi I have surgery on the 21

have you started on liquids yet? I start on the 10th

I have a date!!!!! I got my date today, the 14th!!!

So excited. No liquid diet no anything. Surgeon was amazed how well I'm doing... List 37lbs since early October.

So excited.

Tonight I have fully engorged myself with food and soda. Manor tasted good, but I don't miss how blah I feel!! I enjoy eating better!

I have a date!!!!! I got my date today, the 14th!!!

So excited. No liquid diet no anything. Surgeon was amazed how well I'm doing... List 37lbs since early October.

So excited.

Tonight I have fully engorged myself with food and soda. Manor tasted good, but I don't miss how blah I feel!! I enjoy eating better!

lovealways,

I am having my surgery in Greenville PA. Dr. Christopher Meyers is my surgeon 1/14/2012. I see the surgeon on 1/2/2012 for details.

actually the surgeons office has to provide a surgery date to insurance for the approval process. cause I got a call from my insurance company saying I was approved but they can't move forward without a surgery date. so I made sure it was taken care of within 30 minutes after talking to them lol.

My surgeons office took care of everything and then called me with a date :-) I had already been pre approved, lol I guess you can say, when I started my 6 month nutrition weigh in's and such. The final ok was just for the hospital stay approval. Got that in 2 days after Dr submitted all testing and paperwork to my insurance.

Gen :-) 12/15/12

Struggling on my 2 week liquids... day 7... I hope tomorrow and all the way til the 9th go alot smoother than my day 6th and 7th.

Struggling on my 2 week liquids... day 7... I hope tomorrow and all the way til the 9th go alot smoother than my day 6th and 7th.

Be proud of yourself, you've come so far and are an inspiration. You're almost there!

The liquid diet is tough, but you guys can do this.

For those that I read doesn't have a pre op diet, are you having laparoscopic surgery or open?

The reason for the liquid diet before is so the liver will shrink some so the surgeon can easily work around it. If your surgeons don't have preop diets, it just might be one of their thing and hopefully have full success rate of not accidentally nicking the liver. So trust your surgeon and his abilities, that is why you chose him or her (or insurance did) and your insurance is allowing him or her to perform the surgery :-)

Gen :-) 12/15/12

Pre-op appointment is tomorrow morning. It's a four hour appointment and it's really hitting home that this is coming up soon and I need to step up my preparations. Didn't make it though the whole thing last time in March so I'm nervous. An hour in was where I was told insurance didn't approve me-should be different this time.

Pre-op appointment is tomorrow morning. It's a four hour appointment and it's really hitting home that this is coming up soon and I need to step up my preparations. Didn't make it though the whole thing last time in March so I'm nervous. An hour in was where I was told insurance didn't approve me-should be different this time.

I also have my pre-op appt tomorrow!

Can I vent? I started my two week liquid diet today. Surgery is January 15th. Let me try to make a LONG story short. I'm worried my surgery will either be cancelled, postponed, or all together not recommended by surgeon after tomorrow's pre-op appt. how do I explain this?

At the start of my 6 month supervised diet, I went to my primary doc complaining of fatigue and joint aches. He did blood work and tested me for parvo, mono, 5th's disease, rhemetoid arthritis (I know I'm spelling that wrong) and oter stuff like lupus, hep a,b,c and hiv. Everything came back negative...but my blood results show elevated WBC, ESR, and CRP. Elevated WBC and CRP indicate infection or inflammation somewhere in the body. So my doc referred me to the rhuematologist to check for arthritis diseases. Apparently I don't have any arthritis. He then referred me to a hematologist who found microscopic traces of blood in my stool which indicates I'm Iron deficient due to blood loss. We were thinking it was colitis or celiac. Hematologist sent me for a colonscopy. They did a biopsy of my small intestine to check for inflammation and crohn's disease....but just found out biopsy resultsncame back normal. They did find, however, small superficial ulcers on the last part of my small intestine. This Friday, I have to do smething called a pill cam. I will swallow a pill that is a camera that will take thousands of pictures of my small intestines so my GI doc can get a better view. He wants to rule out Crohn's disease. He said sometimes small ulcers are found and are unexplaimable and not a bother or concern. I will know results Monday night.

I don't think it's crohn's. i don't have unexplained weight loss or pain or loss of appetite.

I will have to tell my surgeon tomorrow what has been going on during my pre-op appt. What can I expect? Will they cancel surgery? What if I did have crohn's? Wouldnt that mean all hope is lost for WLS? I spent all of yesterday crying. I may be getting ahead of myself, but this keeps looming over my mind. What will the surgeon think when tell him this tomorrow? Will he second guess his decision to operate? I am thankful I will have results back from pill cam before surgery on the 15th.

Can you guys keep me in your prayers? I am a nervous wreck. I just hope the pill cam results come back ok. I will have more of an idea of things tomorrow after I meet with the nurse and surgeon for final pre-op appointment. Please keep your fingers crossed

Can I vent? I started my two week liquid diet today. Surgery is January 15th. Let me try to make a LONG story short. I'm worried my surgery will either be cancelled' date=' postponed, or all together not recommended by surgeon after tomorrow's pre-op appt. how do I explain this?[/quote']

My surgeon did his own blood test. A EGD and endo was also part of the testing. I had esophageal ulcers, Gerd, diverticulosis (I think that the one), hiatal hernia. I had a list of things, still had surgery cuz it is able to help. Speak frankly. He should have ordered his own blood testing. If your blood tests come back normal I think the rest can be helped by the surgery. Depends on your surgeon. Try not to worry til there is a need. I know easier said than done. Good luck. Lets us know what Dr says tomorrow.

Gen :-) 12/15/12

The liquid diet is tough' date=' but you guys can do this.

For those that I read doesn't have a pre op diet, are you having laparoscopic surgery or open?

The reason for the liquid diet before is so the liver will shrink some so the surgeon can easily work around it. If your surgeons don't have preop diets, it just might be one of their thing and hopefully have full success rate of not accidentally nicking the liver. So trust your surgeon and his abilities, that is why you chose him or her (or insurance did) and your insurance is allowing him or her to perform the surgery :-)

Gen :-) 12/15/12[/quote']

I don't have a liquid diet because I have lost 10% of my total body weight already so I have shrunk my liver... Now do t gain anything till surgery!!!!!!

My surgeon did his own blood test. A EGD and endo was also part of the testing. I had esophageal ulcers' date=' Gerd, diverticulosis (I think that the one), hiatal hernia. I had a list of things, still had surgery cuz it is able to help. Speak frankly. He should have ordered his own blood testing. If your blood tests come back normal I think the rest can be helped by the surgery. Depends on your surgeon. Try not to worry til there is a need. I know easier said than done. Good luck. Lets us know what Dr says tomorrow.

Gen :-) 12/15/12[/quote']

Thank you for this. This made me feel so much better. Maybe I'm just driving myself crazy with worry unnecessarily. We shall see.