Hello I just discovered this app a few days ago. I have come to terms with my weight. I am not happy where I am in my life and my size and I am ready to do something about it. For the longest I have been just the big guy in the room and have been ok with that. Now I am in constant pain and can’t move like I used too. My quality of life is being challenged. I have and do fear the thought of weight loss surgery because of the unknown. That’s why I’m here, I have scheduled a consultation for next week with Emory BariatricPal to start the conversation. Currently I weight 420 and everything hurts

Congrats on making the first step! I’m in pre-op stage and already I feel the change my decision has made. I have hope, I’m excited for the future, and for the first time I am making myself a priority.

There is so much info on this site, including others who are in similar stat categories. Good luck on starting your process!

You sound as if you and I may be inhabiting the same things in life. You have reached the point where the thought of surgery frightens less than the thought of existing as you are, large and in pain. I am a skosh further along. I went through a bariatric program completely, I had first contacted these people in August 2015, was doing well in the program, lost insurance in January 2016 due to job termination. Figured that had screwed it for me, although I had Medicare which now moved to primary I wanted a secondary so applied for Medicaid. Tried to lose weight on my own, wasn't getting anywhere so consulted with my PCP, he put me on phentermine, instead of losing I gained 30 pounds in one month.Yeah, that's not how it was supposed to be. I hope you're sitting down relaxing because the story goes on! In November 2017 I re-enrolled with the program, hurried and redid all the prerequirements again. Came to February 20th, they kicked me to the curb, seems the 3 surgeons in the practice had themselves a little meeting and decided they no longer wanted to do my surgery. My PCP when I talked to him, we've known each other for close to 10 years thought because of my age (72) I would be an anaesthesia risk, I was 69 when I had established there, surely they didnt expect to start subtracting years with each birthday? The excuse their mumble-mouthed liason gave me? I am emotionally unstable, mentally incompetent and couldn't make such commitment with any degree of intelligence,! Bovine excretement!, I have a Mensa level IQ, knew what I was doing, the psychologist told me the testing she gave me was perfect, shook my hand, wished me well with my future surgery, gave them a conflicting report saying I was unstable, and I got screwed over, didn't even get a nice steak dinner or a few kisses out of this deal! As a further dig, as if I wasn't upset enough with the proceedings,informed me when I lost my company coverage and had to switch to Medicare, Medicare's requirements were less and I could have had my surgery in Spring 2016. How was I to know?,? they sure didn't tell me that! Hokay, after bawling my fool eyes out for a couple days, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and started searching alternate programs. There was one at OSU with an entrance seminar March 9th, one at Riverside Methodist the next day March 10th. I could arrange transportation for the 9th so that is the one attended. Both of these are in Columbus Ohio 48 miles from where I live. Liked what I heard so signed up for their consideration. After about 5 days they called back with an appointment to meet with their staff psychologist Dr Kramer April 25th 10AM- noon. So there's. how my story goes so far. Previous program offered to fax over their records showing completion of all their program, so I might have surgery May-June if they don't have anything different I have to complete. I'm a little apprehensive about the psychologist, PCP told me just to be myself, shoot it wasn't good enough before for the other people! Now you know how" the mop flops" for your truly. So how is YOUR day? Hope you will want to be friends some days I think my enemies have formed a club with jackets, so I'll take any friends I can find[emoji12] HW355 CW323 and holding!

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Hi @2big1 I was 299 lbs. on the day of consultation. Just the month before, I weighed 305 lbs. I decided to pursue surgery because I got to the point where I couldn’t go on into another decade living with my excessive weight. I had to give this a shot. And,I dedicated myself full force to the process, which can be incredibly frustrating at times. Sometimes the frustration comes from how certain staff members are in certain offices or from not losing much when I’ve put everything in.

The rewards are realized some along the way but, for me, the most significant and impactful were when I was approved by insurance for surgery, when I got my surgery date, and my surgery day which was 12/28/17. I prepped myself mentally to expect tremendous pain, difficulty walking, sore throat, nausea, etc. I did have soreness and mild pain. Because I have chronic pain anyway, my back and shoulder pain was worse than the surgery pain. It was an easy experience for me. I wondered why I had built it up so much in my mind...guess I wanted to be prepared for anything. In the weeks following, I did experience nausea here and there. Overall, I was so happy. It felt so good to know I was on the other side and that I could do be successful. I could actually leave the heaviness (literally and figuratively) of my life.

My surgeon told me that it’s pretty much 50/50. There are 50% of patients who have an easy experience and others who struggle. The odds may be in your favor. Of course, there are real risks and that’s why anxiety hits us. Unfortunately, we face real risks too as a result of obesity.

What surgery are you thinking of having? Mine was gastric sleeve. Had I known how well it would go, I would have done it a decade ago. I can tell you that if your in the hands of a skilled surgeon with an exceptional reputation, your surgery will go more smoothly - pretty obvious. You may want to ask how many surgeries your doctor performs each year; how many of his patients describe their surgeries as “easy” (no problems or few problems) vs. moderate vs. difficult (rarer complications). Whatever you’re curious about, be ready to ask.

The journey is worth the destination. [emoji304]

Thank you

You sound as if you and I may be inhabiting the same things in life. You have reached the point where the thought of surgery frightens less than the thought of existing as you are, large and in pain. I am a skosh further along. I went through a bariatric program completely, I had first contacted these people in August 2015, was doing well in the program, lost insurance in January 2016 due to job termination. Figured that had screwed it for me, although I had Medicare which now moved to primary I wanted a secondary so applied for Medicaid. Tried to lose weight on my own, wasn't getting anywhere so consulted with my PCP, he put me on phentermine, instead of losing I gained 30 pounds in one month.Yeah, that's not how it was supposed to be. I hope you're sitting down relaxing because the story goes on! In November 2017 I re-enrolled with the program, hurried and redid all the prerequirements again. Came to February 20th, they kicked me to the curb, seems the 3 surgeons in the practice had themselves a little meeting and decided they no longer wanted to do my surgery. My PCP when I talked to him, we've known each other for close to 10 years thought because of my age (72) I would be an anaesthesia risk, I was 69 when I had established there, surely they didnt expect to start subtracting years with each birthday? The excuse their mumble-mouthed liason gave me? I am emotionally unstable, mentally incompetent and couldn't make such commitment with any degree of intelligence,! Bovine excretement!, I have a Mensa level IQ, knew what I was doing, the psychologist told me the testing she gave me was perfect, shook my hand, wished me well with my future surgery, gave them a conflicting report saying I was unstable, and I got screwed over, didn't even get a nice steak dinner or a few kisses out of this deal! As a further dig, as if I wasn't upset enough with the proceedings,informed me when I lost my company coverage and had to switch to Medicare, Medicare's requirements were less and I could have had my surgery in Spring 2016. How was I to know?,? they sure didn't tell me that! Hokay, after bawling my fool eyes out for a couple days, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and started searching alternate programs. There was one at OSU with an entrance seminar March 9th, one at Riverside Methodist the next day March 10th. I could arrange transportation for the 9th so that is the one attended. Both of these are in Columbus Ohio 48 miles from where I live. Liked what I heard so signed up for their consideration. After about 5 days they called back with an appointment to meet with their staff psychologist Dr Kramer April 25th 10AM- noon. So there's. how my story goes so far. Previous program offered to fax over their records showing completion of all their program, so I might have surgery May-June if they don't have anything different I have to complete. I'm a little apprehensive about the psychologist, PCP told me just to be myself, shoot it wasn't good enough before for the other people! Now you know how" the mop flops" for your truly. So how is YOUR day? Hope you will want to be friends some days I think my enemies have formed a club with jackets, so I'll take any friends I can find[emoji12] HW355 CW323 and holding!
Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

Thank you

Hello I just discovered this app a few days ago. I have come to terms with my weight. I am not happy where I am in my life and my size and I am ready to do something about it. For the longest I have been just the big guy in the room and have been ok with that. Now I am in constant pain and can’t move like I used too. My quality of life is being challenged. I have and do fear the thought of weight loss surgery because of the unknown. That’s why I’m here, I have scheduled a consultation for next week with Emory BariatricPal to start the conversation. Currently I weight 420 and everything hurts

Welcome!!!

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I wish you the best on your journey. Lots of good experiences here & I enjoy reading the success stories:)

Welcome to the boards! Dive in, the water's great!