Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum so bare with me. I am in the process of getting ready for surgery for my weight loss. I'm 5' 9" and I weigh 290 lbs. My BMI is over 40 and I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. I am excited and nervous at the same time for the surgery. For some reason I am hesitant to tell people that I'm having the surgery. I feel embarrassed and I'm scared that people will question me and look at me strange when I lose the weight so quickly. Does anyone else feel this way? I now know that I need to do this for my health and quality of life, I'm just really scared of the changes I have to make in my life after the surgery i.e. eating, drinking alcohol etc... Thank you for any info you can pass along!

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@mysicpink74....I hope u get approved this time....I had to get approval thru my insurace before I even started the process. I got my approval in November after all appointments and classes my sugery date is Tuesday!!...Good Luck to you!

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@mysicpink74....I hope u get approved this time....I had to get approval thru my insurace before I even started the process. I got my approval in November after all appointments and classes my sugery date is Tuesday!!...Good Luck to you!

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How did you get approval first before all your Appts?? I just don't want to be "let down" after getting my hopes up for this! I've worked too hard & come to far to be disappointed again

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Congrats on surgery!!! Please let me know all the things you go through Kesha1020! ????

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Thanks..Ok...will do..I had an appointment with my regular doc and we talked about it and she agreed with me that it was a good idea to have the sugery. Then she sent the paper work to my insurance company and they sent my approval letter in the mail. Then all of my appointments were set up after that...you have done the work... now Pray about it!!...

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It's going to be a huge change in lifestyle for me. I'm a beer drinker and I make my own beer at home. I'm really into craft beers and breweries and it is one of my passions. These types of beers carry a lot of calories, 250 calories and up each beer! Drinking and visiting breweries and hanging out watching football games on Sunday's with my friends is something I love to do but I know it's not healthy. I'm just scared of what the future will bring

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I know the feeling well of being a big beer drinker myself and especially watching it football and drinking eating with friends. Unfortunately some of my friends couldn't handle me having surgery and started making comments so I had to cut ties with a few of them. It's a hard decision but at the end of the day the only person that cares about you is the the person in the mirror. We all have to make hard choices but the end result is worth it. I added a pic to show my progress.

Omg...I have the same feelings. I haven't told anyone because I dont want any negative comments or people saying all you have to do is......or....U not that big....u taking the easy way out...Blah blah blah...I'm already embarrassed that I couldn't do it by myself and have to have the sugery. I'm not even scared of the sugery just scared of what I will look like afterwards....I'm scared that I might fail like all the other time I tried....I'm really an emotional wreck...I just break out crying and I don't know why...My sugery is Tuesday I'm on my pre-op liquid diet...just doing alot of praying!!!

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The unknown is always a bit scary...but I'll bet if you look back over your life you'll find some outcomes you've worried about that never happened. You're at a good place...taking advantage of an opportunity to regain some joy in your life. Good for you! And anyone that's negative or even just jealous....that's their problem.

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I'm sure everyone here has had a battle going in their minds about wether or not this is a good idea. I'm having that battle now. I feel like I am overreacting. I know deep down that I need to do this. I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around it. I'm not necessarily afraid of the surgery but what it's going to bring after the fact. I've seen people that have had it done and they don't look quite right. I've heard people say "is he sick?" Or "he looks unhealthy, he looked better fat". That type of crap scares me.

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I probably go back and forth at least 5 times a day since I got my surgery date. It's May 10th and I'll probably go back and forth another 5000 times before I just do it. It's the waiting and anxiety that makes it worse.

My main thing is the permanency which is the reason I chose the sleeve in the first place lol. That's about 60% of my anxiety. It's scary. It's a major life adjustment. Probably more than marriage. That's how I feel anyway.

About 10% is surgery complications.

About 10% is fear of failure

About 10% is never eating (fill in the blank) again

And the last 10% is the effect it will have on my relationships with my friends, husband, new people I meet, my family and what they think of me.

Edited March 28, 201610 yr by Tssiemer1

Jmc534 & Tssiemer1....I have all of those exact feelings...my sugery is TOMORROW!!!!...and I've been crying all day!!... just not confident about my decision????????...scared of the results!

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Edited March 28, 201610 yr by Kesha1020

Kesha1020 please let us know how everything went. Good luck!

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So today I told my best friend that I was considering weight loss surgery during lunch. He seemed very surprised but very understanding. By the way, he is bigger than me! He just told me that I have to do what's best for myself and my family. He weighs over 300 lbs and is pre-diabetic. He also has many other health issues. I wish he would look into surgery as well but I didn't say anything to him because I didn't want to push the issue.

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Jmc. I am ten hours post surgery and i have to say it all went better than i expected. Im a big wuss when it comes to needles etc but the process was prompt and professional. I am relatively painfree as in its not like a toothache or headache, just abit sore when i swallow. So dont be discouraged from going ahead but alsomake sure you are committed and happy to ahead. For me im looking for increased life expectancy and more participation in life. Im happy with the sleeve asva choice as i can always have a full blown bypass but this was the first stage of a bypass that they then realised alot of people disnt need to go further. Its also a quicker and less risky operation. Goodluck with your decision.

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@@kiwijet thank you very much for your input. I actually had diverticulitis surgery a year ago so it's a pretty similar process as far as how they do the surgery i.e. Laparoscopic etc. I missed 2 or 3 months of work so I'm sure the recovery is not that long. I should rephrase my original title of this post. I'm not really nervous about the actual surgery but more so the weeks and months post surgery. It sounds weird but I'm nervous about losing so much weight in a short period of time. I'm scared that I'm going to look "sick" or "unhealthy" I'm worried that I will fail. If I'm going to do this, I'm going all in. No regrets.

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I have my immersion day on April 6th where my wife and I will meet with the surgeon and the team that will help me on my journey.

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I've been thinking about bariatric surgery for years. Last year, I had decided to pursue it in 2016, and about 2 weeks later we got our new insurance plan at work...and they added bariatric surgery coverage. I had to go to the ladies room to cry in private because I was so overwhelmed. I've struggled my entire adult life with obesity, and all I could think of for the last several years is how diabetes runs in my family, and I don't want to be another family statistic with a lost limb or blindness. I'm 3 months down out of the 4 months of weigh-ins/nutritional counseling. I have my psych eval done, and my surgical consult complete. I just need one more round of weigh-ins and then the surgeon's office will put in for approval. I have PCOS and hypothyroidism. I've been getting mixed results from friends, but most are very supportive. I've been nervous, occasionally thinking that maybe I shouldn't do this. Then I found out this weekend that I have a 1st cousin who is having his foot removed this week due to complications from diabetes...once the blood clot near his heart is resolved. He's only 10 years older than me. And because we don't really keep in touch, I had forgotten that his father had also died of diabetes complications. I had "conveniently" thought that my diabetes family history was all with the great aunts and uncles, all long gone. Not so. This bad news was a huge wake up call and I'm now even more convinced that I've made the right decision.

I've done a lot of thinking and a lot of research. I'm going to continue to read the forum and learn from others' experiences. But I'm now also choosing to turn my nervousness into excitement!