I am so excited/nervous only 4 days away from WLS that took 15 years to commit to. 1/11/16 will be the day that I can always remember that I changed my life for good! I would love to keep in touch with anybody who is having surgery around the same time I am. Other than my Mom & of course my wife of 16 years, I have not told anybody! It would be nice to message with someone who knows what you're going through and having the same LIFE CHANGING journey around the same time. I would love to have some sleeve buddies, whom I can trust, support and help along the way and vice versa! Of course this journey won't be easy for any of us, However with this tool that is getting done to us (VSG), if we all stick to it...there is no doubt we can all accomplish our own personal weight loss goals!!

There are many advantages to not telling everybody in your life about getting a VSG, however the biggest negative is the lack of a support system I won't be getting. I have lost over 50 pounds over last 18 months to prepare for this surgery however I find most people whom have not been overweight their entire lives (LIKE I HAVE) really are judgmental about WLS and overweight people in general. It makes me sick and really question what the hell is wrong with these people! So personally speaking I choose to keep it private since I think this will be hard enough journey to accomplish without these negative nellies, making the situation even harder. I envy the many people on here that have such a great support system of friends and family but unfortunately I don't! I am not on Facebook so would prefer private messages/conversations. If interested, send me a message or post in this thread. I wish everybody good luck with their upcoming VSG and WE WILL SUCEED! Sorry for the long rant

Hello Todayitends - I am also having surgery on Monday. So I welcome the opportunity to have a "partner in crime". I also have only told 2 people in my life as I feel there is still a stigma attached to WLS as well.

Hello. My surgery is on 01/14/16. I too have been lugging around my "get me to bariatric surgery backpack" literally 20-25 pounds of test results,food logs, seminar papers and everything possible to prove I am in need of the procedure for over 14 years. I came close 3 times however two times I had to care for my ailing parents which both passed. The third was having to have an emergency surgery. My MD suggested waiting 6 months for another surgery since the last one was hard on my body. Once ready the insurance said all pre approval appts and attempts had to be in the last 6 months. I was stuck in a catch22. I had a hard time finding a surgeon that I liked and was comfortable with. Once I found him another roadblock, he came down with a neurological problem and stopped practicing the day he found out. The other problem for me was my weight varied from a BMI of 41.0 to 39.8 when starting the program only to have my BMI go close to 38 and be told I lost "too much weight". I finally found a doctor who said that is a bunch of BS. That is the sole reason most people need the surgery. Most can lose some weight but most gain that back plus more. After calling the insurance to let them know my trials and failures and that the bariatric team wanted me to repeat the program again she was upset. She said that the insurance could have covered the surgery twice over. She called the team and within the hour I had a surgery date. I stood frozen, scared, excited and hopefully.

I am on Facebook and have found a person who agreed to privately converse since I too have not announced that I am having this procedure done. I have only told a handful of people, the ones that truly care about me and support my decisions. There were a few I told that I knew were against it and didn't understand but how I approached it was saying "even though I value your opinion, there is something I want to tell you but all I need from you is for you not to judge or criticize me but support me." There was silence after I uttered those words but thankfully everyone I chose to tell but their tongues very well. Those that have gone thru my struggle for years 10+years are excited for me and my new life.

Hello Todayitends - I am also having surgery on Monday. So I welcome the opportunity to have a "partner in crime". I also have only told 2 people in my life as I feel there is still a stigma attached to WLS as well.

Same Day, same situation...We got this. Sent u a message!

Hello. My surgery is on 01/14/16. I too have been lugging around my "get me to bariatric surgery backpack" literally 20-25 pounds of test results,food logs, seminar papers and everything possible to prove I am in need of the procedure for over 14 years. I came close 3 times however two times I had to care for my ailing parents which both passed. The third was having to have an emergency surgery. My MD suggested waiting 6 months for another surgery since the last one was hard on my body. Once ready the insurance said all pre approval appts and attempts had to be in the last 6 months. I was stuck in a catch22. I had a hard time finding a surgeon that I liked and was comfortable with. Once I found him another roadblock, he came down with a neurological problem and stopped practicing the day he found out. The other problem for me was my weight varied from a BMI of 41.0 to 39.8 when starting the program only to have my BMI go close to 38 and be told I lost "too much weight". I finally found a doctor who said that is a bunch of BS. That is the sole reason most people need the surgery. Most can lose some weight but most gain that back plus more. After calling the insurance to let them know my trials and failures and that the bariatric team wanted me to repeat the program again she was upset. She said that the insurance could have covered the surgery twice over. She called the team and within the hour I had a surgery date. I stood frozen, scared, excited and hopefully.

I am on Facebook and have found a person who agreed to privately converse since I too have not announced that I am having this procedure done. I have only told a handful of people, the ones that truly care about me and support my decisions. There were a few I told that I knew were against it and didn't understand but how I approached it was saying "even though I value your opinion, there is something I want to tell you but all I need from you is for you not to judge or criticize me but support me." There was silence after I uttered those words but thankfully everyone I chose to tell but their tongues very well. Those that have gone thru my struggle for years 10+years are excited for me and my new life.

Wow this has been a beyond long journey for you to get to. However, be proud of everything you have had to overcome to get to this point and just remember you will succeed with this!! Please keep us updated how it goes!

Thank you and best of luck to you too. Today is my first day on this site so I apologize if I don't respond to anyone. It takes me time but I will get the hang of this.

Thank you and best of luck to you too. Today is my first day on this site so I apologize if I don't respond to anyone. It takes me time but I will get the hang of this.

You will get the hang of it quickly! It is such a great community to be a part of and the help from other members who have already gone through this has been AMAZING!!

I have my surgery scheduled for 1/13/16 I'm excited nervous and grateful over all. I only have to do one week pre op diet and I started that today. I went from planing on getting a balloon, to wanting the lap band, then was suggested the sleve so I just went for it. If my doctor is confident it's the best option for me I trust him completely cause I am ready to TAKE MY LIFE BACK!! I'm 21 years old. I wasn't really too heavy until a few years ago. I'm 5'2 and around 230 lbs. I used to be way smaller but hey I fell in love and my boyfriend and I found time together by eating out together. So here I am! Still in love with the same man but not so much in love with my self. Already I'm missing so much out of life. I turned 21 in July and still haven't celebrated since none of my friends recognize me from the extra weight. I've kinda been hiding away. I was recently diagnosed with pcos, have always had depression but now with horrorible anxiety. So I must say today is the day I change forever so glad I have found this forum with others going through the same thing

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I have my surgery scheduled for 1/13/16 I'm excited nervous and grateful over all. I only have to do one week pre op diet and I started that today. I went from planing on getting a balloon, to wanting the lap band, then was suggested the sleve so I just went for it. If my doctor is confident it's the best option for me I trust him completely cause I am ready to TAKE MY LIFE BACK!! I'm 21 years old. I wasn't really too heavy until a few years ago. I'm 5'2 and around 230 lbs. I used to be way smaller but hey I fell in love and my boyfriend and I found time together by eating out together. So here I am! Still in love with the same man but not so much in love with my self. Already I'm missing so much out of life. I turned 21 in July and still haven't celebrated since none of my friends recognize me from the extra weight. I've kinda been hiding away. I was recently diagnosed with pcos, have always had depression but now with horrorible anxiety. So I must say today is the day I change forever so glad I have found this forum with others going through the same thing

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Good luck to you! You will do great and I wish I would not have waited so long to do my WLS since I really relate to everything you are saying and I have been doing that for over 20 years. Would have loved to enjoy my 20's & 30's and I guess better late than never. Keep in touch and let us know how it all goes for you next week.

I will definitely stay on top of this site. So far everyone question I have had has been answered here. What a great community

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Hi everyone. I was reading the blog and see that you all are being sleeved in January. There is a private group on Facebook called January 2016 sleevers from bariatric pal and it's really great. Since we're all going thru it and around the same time it has been a tremendous support. Check it out if you all want. Good luck to you all.

Hi everyone. I was reading the blog and see that you all are being sleeved in January. There is a private group on Facebook called January 2016 sleevers from bariatric pal and it's really great. Since we're all going thru it and around the same time it has been a tremendous support. Check it out if you all want. Good luck to you all.

I would love to join the group! I'm not telling a lot of people about my sleeve tho. If I become a page member will my other friends see that I became a member of the page

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Hi everyone. I was reading the blog and see that you all are being sleeved in January. There is a private group on Facebook called January 2016 sleevers from bariatric pal and it's really great. Since we're all going thru it and around the same time it has been a tremendous support. Check it out if you all want. Good luck to you all.

I would love to join the group but I'm not telling many people about my sleeve. If I become a group member will my other Facebook friends be able to see it

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Surgery day is Monday for me as well! ????

Surgery day is Monday for me as well!

Good luck with your surgery.

Feel free to keep in touch along the way!,

I live in NC & am having the sleeve done Tuesday Jan 12th! Very excited..I, too, have been overweight all my life. I am

56y/o and have been trying to have WLS for more than than 10 years. God's timing is perfect though & everything has just fit into place. Since June, I've lost 40 pounds under supervised weight loss period required by insurance. I've lost 15# just on pre op diet. Much luck to you & stay in touch!

Holy crap guys, it's almost game time freaking out a little