My name is Jenn and I'm 30 years old. I'm 5'1" and I weigh 226lbs. I'm scheduled for the sleeve on Feb 9th at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, NJ. I wasn't always overweight, but I have been for about the past 10 years. When I started college it was easier to stop at fast food places in between classes than it was to go home and eat. I didn't think it would be a problem as I never really had a problem being overweight. WRONG! I didn't know that I had an underlying thyroid condition until I really started gaining. Once I got my thyroid levels under control I thought that it would be easy to take the weight off...WRONG again! The past few years have been the worst with my weight. I've tried WW, low carb, low fat, counting calories, meds, and I even went to the Center for Medical Weight Loss. I was always able to lose the weight, but I'd be killing myself in the process. I'd wake up really early to exercise and follow the diets and by the time work was over I was ready to crash. I felt like I had to work 10x as ha d to lose half the weight a normal person would lose.

I started thinking about WLS and was going to get the band, but then my sister who is a nurse came to a seminar with me. She said that if she was going to do surgery she would do the sleeve. I began doing more research and decided this was best for me. I had my first consult on Dec 11th. I've done all my required things for ins and was approved on Jan 6th. I have to do pre-admission testing within the next week or two. I'm scheduled for Feb 9th and I can't wait to get my life back! I have the best support system. My mom is excited for me, my boyfriend although very nervous couldn't be more supportive, and people who I thought would be negative surprisingly weren't. That definitely made this wait til surgery even easier.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the insurance approval! If you haven't been on this forum much, poke around and you'll find lots of tips for your hospital stay and how to get through the first few weeks. Also, something I'm working on, and I wold suggest to you, is to not compare your post-surgery progress to closely to others. Everyone is different, comes from a different starting weight, or is a different age, etc., and we all have different experiences. For example, I am 56, 5'1" and have lost 60 lbs since surgery on August 13. I had no complications, minimal pain, have never vomited, burbed or even felt nauseated since surgery! I did go through the typical first stall during weeks 3-5 post op, and just recently at about 4.5 months. But I'm thrilled with my progress, and look and feel so much better!!

Glad you have a good support system - I do too and am very grateful for that. It makes a big difference.

Ellen

Welcome! WOW! You are moving right along! Be sure to let us all know how you're doing!!

Congrats. I just found this place a couple days ago and have been thrilled to learn as much as I have even though I'm only nine days away from surgery. Like you, I'm thrilled to have such supportive and accepting friends and family.

@@CountryGirl5584 Getting close!! The hospitals name is "holy name"'I don't know why that made Me laugh! What a name!