Howdy folks.

I hope all are doing well today.

I've had a lot of activity leading up to today and now it slows down for a short while.

I had my pre-op with my surgeon yesterday, pre-op with the hospital yesterday and my EGD this morning and it went really smoothly.

Seems like it's been a whirlwind of activity.......checklist items completed.....one after another after another. NUT, Physche evals, appointments, workshops, education and etc.

Now I'm done with all that and can relax. I started my 14 days of liquid diet this morning after the EGD. I can tell it's going to suck.....but, that's just part of it. The NUT guideline says I can have 5 Protein shakes per day (from the approved list of protein powders and ready-made shakes), however my surgeon is sticking to his guns.....he says only 3.

I've lost 40 pounds since deciding to do the surgery......it wouldn't surprise me to lose 20 more during this next two weeks.

The whole time I was seeing my first surgeon it was a foregone conclusion that I would have bypass (my choice). I chose this thinking it would offer the most benefit long term and I'd make biggest changes with it. He supported it.

As things progressed...and my insurance really started to present delays and roadblocks.....I switched over to the other local option. It's another bariatric center.....a center of excellence and is much larger than that previous program I was in.

More insurance delays after switching over the center of excellence finally made me made enough to tell them to piss off. I self funded the procedure and things began moving at a very fast pace. I'd completed 2 of my required 6 months diet when I made this decision. I'm able to have the surgery in the 4th month vs waiting what was actually going to most likely take several months more.

My employer is dropping our current insurance provider and doing open enrollment now for our new provider.....things were being delayed to the point where I could see my late December surgery being pushed back well into next year.....new deductibles to meet with a new provider to work with........arggghhhhhh. At best they were going to pay only 50%. The decision to self fund actually was cheaper for me in the long run. Crazy, insane scenario but a testament to the games played by insurance companies.

Anyway.....the new surgeon has been good. He's been upfront and consistent in his message from the first time I met with him.

He's sees my very pronounced umbilical hernia and knows that is going to be a large repair to work around. Today he also found the hiatal hernia that he's repairing at the same time.

He's concerned over my high bmi and doing the bypass at this point. He said it could be very tight having to pull it far up to reconnect it. He reserves the right to make a decision once inside to go with the sleeve after looking around and evaluating. He's done many of these and I trust his judgement. If it's not safe, then its just not safe.

The options were for me to delay the surgery and keep dieting for a couple more months and burn off some of the internal fat to provide more room........or do the sleeve now.

He maintains that he's seen equal effectiveness with each procedure in terms of weight loss in his 8 years of practice.

He also is aware of my poor knees and back injury situation and prior surgeries as well as the fact that nsaids are a source of relief for me.

I don't have reflux trouble.

There were other reasons he went into as well that everything in his opinion was pointing me towards having a sleeve not bypass.

So......after a long night staying up reading, studying, evaluating......I told him this morning that a sleeve was what I wanted to do.

Ordered my Vitamins, Iron, B12, D, Protein powder and Calcium. I know what I'll be taking to the hospital. Have my script for post-op pain meds. Recliner and extra pillows for the bed are ready....

A couple more weeks.....

I order everything I can from vitacost.com and what I cant get there i'll order from amazon. Vitacost has good prices and i always use coupon code mobile527 for a 10% discount. The shipping is a flat fee no matter how much you order but they always have a free shipping deal.