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Preop rollercoaster...nerves of steel needed



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I am at the very beginning still and very nervous! My journeys barely started but the emotional rollercoaster is looping already. I was very inspired by the post by @7 Bites_Jen on the emotional rollercoaster posted elsewhere in the forum.

I've made my decision, I'm having a gastric sleeve (and this is after 10yeaes with a band, that hand to be removed as it mechanically failed, and I've regained back the weight having been within healthy BMAi range)

I'm alternating between feeling scared about facing yet more surgery, or worse, facing more obesity. When I think about it I get that feeling of my heart suddenly sinking to the pit of my stomach, I worry about my children and husband and what I'm doing to them.

Then the feeling flips and I just feel a sense of angst, which seems to be there most of the time, except when in completely absorbed by something.

I've got to go through all the preop assessment hurdles. I've seen my surgeon and before I can go ahead with surgery I need to have appointments with a dietician, psychologist, endocrinologist. So that's another three big swooping twists on the rollercoaster for starters!

I feel like I'm still at Ground Zero, and I have event got to stage 1 that @7 Bites_Jen described yet! Jen's stage 1 is "preop elation" when you're finally approved for surgery... so I'm looking forward to this, but almost feeling nervous bout what this will feel like. It will feel so real and final by then. Some of the waiting will be over and some of the uncertainty will be gone. But equally, the surgery will be nearer, so I'm sure I will feel another big swoop and my feelings will be doing crazy loops.

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Lets put it this way.. My surgeon wont touch the band anymore cause of the failure rate. Thats just my surgeon.. Now with that said if u dont do something you will regain weight. Though bottom line is with the sleeve you can still regain the weight if not committed to lifestyle change. Its the best thing i have ever done and would not look back. Have the surgery and save your life.

Chris

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Oh yeah. Any good program makes you go through all the hoops to make you prepared. I have met several people on here that have not had to go through all the hoops ans are having a real hard time eating right etc etc and will not have success unfortunately. So having all the hoops to jump through is worth it.

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Hi I agree with the above statement, my doctor does not even offer the band because of its failure, you want to live and be there for yourself as well as your family, you survive the band and this too shall pass , you need to be shellfish and focus on the positive and one day at a time , you are fighting for your life as well as bring healthy , if you let fear drop you I promise you that you will develop more health issues due to your weight. Congrats on making the decision to live and be healthy and doing something about it before it's to late. Good luck .

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So I think they make you go through all of the pre op hoops for 2 reasons. One obviously to make sure your healthy enough for it but also to see if you "drop out". The more they put in my way of letters and clearances the more determined I was to get a darn date!! And the further along I got, the more I learned about myself and proved (at least to myself) that I have faith in ME. I am going to succeed and so will you. Yea, surgery is a risk and I panic that things could go bad and what about my kids??? But at the same time I want to inspire them to be healthy and set a good example. I am no good to them fat. You can do this. We all can.

Edited by sboulie77

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So I think they make you go through all of the pre op hoops for 2 reasons. One obviously to make sure your healthy enough for it but also to see if you "drop out". The more they put in my way of letters and clearances the more determined I was to get a darn date!! And the further along I got, the more I learned about myself and proved (at least to myself) that I have faith in ME. I am going to succeed and so will you. Yea, surgery is a risk and I panic that things could go bad and what about my kids??? But at the same time I want to inspire them to be healthy and set a good example. I am no good to them fat. You can do this. We all can.

Exactly! I'm day 2 post op and have a moment or two of "oh, @&$?"! But I keep my eyes on the prize of health. So I'll sip my shake, wishing I could just guzzle and move on. I think if you are vacillating in your decision, then you're really going to make the right decision. Looking at it from every direction is a good thing. All good programs should make every candidate do some soul searching and homework. I was not willing to be 300 pounds the rest of my life. I also know the real work starts now. It's a journey for sure. Good luck - keep posting, reading and asking questions.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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