I have been using this site for a lot of my research throughout my decision process, and now that I am moving towards my surgery date. This has been my journey so far:

Around Thanksgiving of 2016, i had made my final decision to pursue bariatric surgery. I had the support of my family and friends, and I was ready to go. I had a recommendation for a surgeon, and so I made my consult appointment.

I had my first consult on December 6, 2016, and I brought every piece of medical information with me to that appointment that could possibly prove that I had met the insurance qualifications for approval. I left that appointment fairly certain that I would have my surgery some time in January 2017.

On December 14, 2016, I had an appointment with my PCP for medical clearance, and I also had my psych evaluation that same day. They were both kind enough to provide me copies of my records right after the appointment so that I could give them immediately to my surgeon's nurse.

Once they received all of those documents, along with the proof of following a 6 month medically supervised weight loss program, they scheduled my surgery date for January 17, 2017. YAY!!

I had my Endoscopy done on December 20, 2016, and was cleared or surgery.

At this point, I am scheduled on January 4, 2017 for a pre-op class that will explain pre and post op eating plans, and any other surgery prep items. I then have my last appointment with my surgeon on January 5, 2017 before my surgery.

This whole process has moved so fast, which I am so excited about. At each step of the process I have been worrying that one piece or another would disqualify me from the insurance approving the coverage. My surgeon's office has assured me that I meet all of the qualifications, and there is no reason the insurance should deny me. At this point, I am just counting down the days to January 17, 2017. I am so excited that I have already started cleaning out my closet!

Thanks to everyone on this site for sharing your journeys, and allowing all of us newbies to learn from you! I look forward to becoming an active member of this group.

Your journey so far sounds like what I expect mine to be. But I made the decision a few weeks later. I'm glad it's all coming together for you! Seems like you've got a great support system too. Many blessings on your journey! Keep us posted.

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Very excited for you! It was about a 4 month process for me from first visit with surgeon to surgery day, and even with that amount of time, after surgery I still couldn't believe that it was actually done and I was on "the other side." Don't be surprised if you feel that way after surgery, it can be a bit of a mind <insert f bomb here>. Best of luck!

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I also have my surgery on January 17th. It can't come soon enough, I am just so excited about it!

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On 12/23/2016 at 0:01 AM, Jackson53 said:

I also have my surgery on January 17th. It can't come soon enough, I am just so excited about it!


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Jackson53, how are you coming along since surgery? i hope everything is going smoothly for you.

Doing great so far. Last Friday I was down 35 pounds since I started my pre-op diet. I was down 18 pounds since surgery, about a pound a day.

I'm feeling really good, no issues at all, and I was cleared for exercise on Friday and started my first workout other than walking yesterday.

My biggest challenge is getting enough water every day, but I am slowly improving on that.

How about you?

I'm down a total of 21 lbs I started my liquids Monday and it looks like I'm losing between 1 .5 to 2 lbs a day but I also take water aerobics everyday !


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@"Jackson53", I am down 25 lbs since starting the pre-op diet. 12 of it was post-op. I haven't been cleared for real exercise yet, but I can't wait to get back in to the BeachBody workouts that I was doing pre-surgery.

I usually get about 70oz of water, which meets the goal, but I am really trying to drink more. I feel like it will flush things out better if I can drink more. I have progressed through all of my stages of food to the point that I am able to eat chicken now, so I am getting about half of my daily protein requirements from real food. It's been good to be able to cut out one of the protein shakes I was drinking each day. I still can only eat about 2oz at a time, so still very low calorie intake right now.


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