Hello everyone! I finally got a date - September 6, 2018! I will be having multiple surgeries along with my vertical sleeve gastrectomy. I will elaborate on the other things I will have done in a separate thread - I want to keep this for the sleeve part only. I've been in the conversation since March 2018 and am on my second surgeon, whom I've been seeing since June 29, 2018. I've lost (as of Aug. 2, 2018) 28 pounds so far. I am officially on the four-week pre-op diet. The surgeon is concerned with my liver size. I had to have a CT scan yesterday to specifically look at the liver and the blood flow through it. He thinks I have what is called Portal Hypertension. The CT scan should give him the answers he is looking for. He did say that if it turns out that I have portal hypertension, he may not be able to perform the surgery due to higher risks of bleeding. Fingers crossed!

The surgeon also found during the upper endoscopy that I have an hiatal hernia. He said he would repair this also when performing the VSG.

My pre-op diet consists of greater than 64oz of water a day, a protein shake and veggies/fruit for breakfast & lunch, a snack (cottage cheese, greek yogurt, etc.) and veggies/fruit, and 3oz of lean meat and veggies for dinner. I'm limited to strictly 800 calories or less per day while getting greater than 90g protein. I've been doing this diet for a bit now and I am averaging 795 calories, 95g protein, and greater than 90oz of water each day. So good, so far. Right now, I'm eating 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup of mini peppers, and 1/2 cup of sugar snap peas. I added some Cholula green pepper sauce and some Cholula chili garlic sauce to the ricotta cheese - I'm not used to the flavor and texture yet, so this is helping me eat it. (I have to do the same with cottage cheese, that or add some salsa)

Good luck to everyone!

Edited August 4, 20188 yr by macadamia

20 hours ago, Christabelle said:

Yeah, you're dealing with special circumstances so self-pay would not be the wisest option.

Holy moly those injections are expensive. You have really good insurance it seems. Yes, I take umbrage with the term of "Affordable" in the ACA. Our deductible went from $4,000 to $12,000 over the course of 2-3 years. We meet our family deductible early in the year because of my son's autism therapy, but still pay a lot afterward. My husband's company said we have one of the top insurance plans in the state, and yet when I got my CPAP, we still owed $700 just for the machine. When I tried to explore seeing a psychologist as part of nutritional counseling and such, we would still have to pay over $300 for each one hour session. Definitely not something I could do for the recommended 6-8 sessions.

Yeah, thanks Obama! but I digress...

Medical bills suck and without insurance, I'd probably be dead. It sucks that you are paying so much for those things. When I first got my C-Pap machine a couple of years ago I had not met my deductible, so I had to pay for the entire machine. Luckily, I also take advantage of the flexible spending account, so I paid for it with that money.

Update, my patient advocate was awesome and pulled some strings, so my surgery will now be 9/13 and I don't have to try to change my flights.

Congrats mine is scheduled for September 5th as well...

Congrats everyone! Mine is September 6th!

1 hour ago, Christabelle said:

Update, my patient advocate was awesome and pulled some strings, so my surgery will now be 9/13 and I don't have to try to change my flights.

That's awesome! It's amazing what can be done when it is necessary to have something changed. Sweet!

33 minutes ago, reb101568 said:

Congrats mine is scheduled for September 5th as well...

Awesome! Good luck with your pre-op phase!

10 minutes ago, BetterLife2018 said:

Congrats everyone! Mine is September 6th!

Same as me! That's awesome! and good luck with the pre-op phase too! I've been having a few setbacks so far, but overall, I'm doing pretty well. Just over two weeks out!

Is this the sept 2018 group? I’m scheduled for sept 5 also! Just found out yesterday that I was approved and got the date. Looks like there are quite a few scheduled for September 5! I start preop 8 days prior.

1 hour ago, TX4everLinds said:

Is this the sept 2018 group? I’m scheduled for sept 5 also! Just found out yesterday that I was approved and got the date. Looks like there are quite a few scheduled for September 5! I start preop 8 days prior.

Yes, this is one of the September 2018 groups. I created this one specifically for sleeve gastrectomy patients, but everyone is welcome! There are a couple of others.

Welcome and good luck with your journey. Only eight days for pre-op? You are very lucky! I've been struggling with my pre-op diet now for almost a month, and I have two weeks left! We'll get through this and be better off after, to be sure!

Which surgery are you having?

On 08/21/2018 at 12:11, Christabelle said:

Update, my patient advocate was awesome and pulled some strings, so my surgery will now be 9/13 and I don't have to try to change my flights.

That’s awesome girl! Mine is 9/10! I created a group on fb for September sleevers if you’d care to join ?

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2157638997846802

On 08/22/2018 at 11:18, TX4everLinds said:

Is this the sept 2018 group? I’m scheduled for sept 5 also! Just found out yesterday that I was approved and got the date. Looks like there are quite a few scheduled for September 5! I start preop 8 days prior.

I know there are some here on BP but I created one on FB if you’d care to join ?

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2157638997846802

Got my date today. Mine will be sept 26th.

48 minutes ago, H2neal said:

Got my date today. Mine will be sept 26th.

That's awesome that you have your date! Good luck!

Congrats everyone on achieving this major milestone.

I was approved on August 16th for September 19th. I will start the liver shrinking diet on Wednesday or Thursday of next week - I have a move planned on 8/31 so I’m thinking I’ll be too busy to think about what I’m missing.

I’m concerned about the social implications of weight loss and nosey people (I’m a private person but body changes are not private)!!!

But for now I’m proud of 6 months of preparation and getting to this step.

Wow what a nice group of September 5th/ September 6th people, what a change this will be in your life and mine. I will be a RnZY But I am still c3lebrstingbwith all,of you!?