Welp, the monthly support forum has not been updated for 2016. I know there's a thread somewhere for December & January sleevers, but thought I'd include you January peeps in honor of the upcoming year. Share your dates, doctor/nut/psych visits, tests, hopes, and whatever else you want to share pertaining to your surgery. Feel free to offer encouragement and cheerleading as warranted. Maybe everyone can link up with some sleeve buddies!

I'll start. I have 100 to 130 pounds to lose (no goal set yet). My sleeve was supposed to be in January. Instead, my husband needs to go out of the country on business in the middle of the month and can't guarantee he'll be back, so I'll probably be sleeved in February. It's frustrating to me because my insurance requires 6 months supervised diet. I finished that the week before Thanksgiving (U.S.) I'm scheduled to attend the final "class" they require all patients to take on Dec. 17. My endoscopy is Jan. 13. I could easily have made it in December, but hubby didn't want me restricted over the Holidays. (I had thyroid surgery with complications last year just before Christmas, so I understand how he feels.) Still, you can imagine my frustration now that my surgery needs to be pushed back again!

Who's next?

*Mods please move this to the appropriate forum when you update the support groups.

@@songsmith

The classes were held once a month in a group setting. We went over a lot of material, like how to read labels, what our food triggers are and how to avoid them. How to handle eating out, supplements, after surgery depression, emotional stress on your family. They gave us a folder and each month we added material to it, so now I have every class and all the information to re-read. The last class was a nurse from the bariatric floor that came in to discuss what to expect at the hospital. He also had us meet twice with a Nut, exercise physician and have a psych evaluation.

I'm truly thankful my surgeons practice does this. I'm completely ready for this!

I wish his info was online...I would give it to you

Cindy

Edited December 14, 201510 yr by cindyw41

He told me any wed after my approval he will start me on liquid diet and prepare for surgery

My date is 12/30 - my Dr didn't require the pre-op diet (unless he changes things tomorrow) I have been working on approval since August. Dr said no psych e-val - but insurance denied and off I went to take the Minesota Standardized. I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

Edited December 14, 201510 yr by cherri2082

Awww - I may get put on liquid tomorrow. What ever it takes - I am ready to do! Thanks Mrs. Jones305

My surgery is scheduled for January 5th. I had my initial consultation in September and was told I would need to be on a physician supervised diet for 6 months. I have yo-yo dieted for years, and had even been seeing a physician for adipex on and off for a few years. I had those records faxed to my surgeon's office and was pleasantly surprised to find out that my 6 month supervised diet was no longer a requirement! I could have scheduled my surgery in early December, but opted to wait until January for work purposes. I'm starting to feel very anxious and nervous for surgery, but I'm also excited to start this journey!

I have kaiser and am set to graduate their program on January 15th. they say that this is the season when everyone signs up for the classes in January (new years resolution) so i am lucky i am already through them, i will likely have sooner options for my surgery date. they said it could be within a month or even less from graduation date. I hope that is true. I have my surgical clearance meeting on Tuesday so we will see how that goes. From looking at the blood work results, everything looks good, and my ekg looked normal so i should be good to go there as well. i haven't seen my chest x-ray yet so i have no idea what that would show since i am an ex smoker. happy thoughts on that please! My roommate is a doctor and he says i have nothing to worry about as they are usually looking for cancer and emphysema, and he said i don't appear to have any symptoms of either. I am sure i will be fine, i just will be relieved to see the clearance team and get my go ahead. I also need to hit 10% total weight loss before surgery and i am well on my way. my goal is to lose that by the end of class. i had 26.6 pounds to lose and since 10/1/2015 (class start date) i have lost 21.56 pounds. 1 month to go, i am positive i can do this!

I am getting sleeved on Dec 30 -so kind a sit here. I am nervous and happy at the same time. My pre-op meetings are all today. No one in my office has said anything about a pre op diet but that may happen today. Could be best to stay home from Christmas dinner. Especially the sweet stuff good luck to all of you in the future return post so I can watch it happy happy

I am getting sleeved on Dec 30 -so I sit here. I am nervous and happy at the same time. My pre-op meetings are all today. No one in my office has said anything about a pre op diet but that may happen today. Could be best to stay home from Christmas dinner. Especially the sweet stuff good luck to all of you in the future return post so I can watch it happy happy

@@cindyw41, thanks for the reply. I wish my surgeon had classes instead of meetings with his (dubious) dietitian. I'm lucky. My biggest pre-WLS successes have all been low carb. I learned to read labels way back when and still do. I remember how outraged I felt when I found canned veggies (can't remember what brand) that contained added sugar! It's everywhere. Grrr. My case manager gave me a binder full of information about the upcoming diet and nutritional needs. The shrink suggested I seek additional counseling to deal with my food issues. That's been the biggest help to me so far. In fact, everyone has been great. I like the dietitian; I just don't feel like she's been very helpful. I think everyone could benefit from classes. They don't have an associated trainer. Reminds me. I wanted to ask here how people have gone about locating one that knows how to work with bariatric/obese clients.

@@cherri2082, the psych eval wasn't bad at all. I answered the questions as honestly as I could. Then I second-guessed myself and wondered, "is that really true/false or do I just lie to myself and think that's the case?" The counselor did recommend I see another therapist who specializes in eating disorders to help me come to grips with my emotional eating. (I didn't think I was an emotional eater until after I saw her, went home and ate 2 heaping helpings of butter chicken. Doh. anyway, she's been a great help to me.

@@cherri2082, I know I'll hate the liquid diet once I'm on it, but I sure wish I was starting tomorrow, too!

@@kim1984, lucky! I've dieted, but nothing monitored (not even weight watchers) so I had to put in my 6 months. It's fun to begin our journey at year's end/beginning because we can say to ourselves, "In 2017 I'll be an entire new me!"

@@sleevingbeauty17, I had not associated WLS with your standard New Year's desire to get healthy. Makes sense after you said it. Glad I'm already on the books so I can get mine in as soon as I finish my last test. The six months has been good to me. I had my annual physical two weeks ago, and my PCP was thrilled because my blood pressure has remained down the last two times I saw her. She knows about my upcoming surgery (she's the one who suggested the gastric sleeve to me) and said to cut my blood pressure meds in half because of my current success and to make sure I check back in her two or three months post-surgery because she's positive I'll be off of them by then! Yippie! My blood sugar (I'm pre-diabetic) was also down by 20 points. It's a great feeling to be cleared, huh?

I just found out that my insurance has had my paper work since Dec 4. Still no word and they said previously that approval would take 48 hrs..I'm a nervous nelly

Hi everyone. This is my first post, but I have been lurking for a while. Surgery January 6.

Thanks Songsmith I have been trying for many many years to lose on my own. Mostly the Weight Watcher's and Nutrisystem programs is how I lost the first 145 pounds. The last 6 months have been the high Protein, low carbs diet the surgeon put me on for the supervised diet. I lost 35 which puts me where I am today. I hope I can stay good during the Holiday and not gain anything back. I wanted to get as close to 300 as possible but not knowing when the surgery date is I have no idea if I will make it.

Cindy the class you attended sounded like something everyone should attend. I know I have a 4 hour workshop I have to attend the week before surgery but I have no idea what it will be about.

Hi everyone. This is my first post, but I have been lurking for a while. Surgery January 6.

welcome!! Everyone is really helpful and full of info!! Good luck!

I got my date today. I am January 13th. Anyone on same date? I don't require a pre-op diet. I am 27 years old and weigh 277lbs. I am actually very nervous for this and still can't believe I took the decision.

Surgery Date January 13th, I'm in New York long island. Starting pre op diet on the 6th.