Hey all, question for al of you, whether pre-op or post-op:

what were some surprising things you discovered during the bariatric surgery process, whether about yourself, insurance, people around you, diets in general, unexpected occurrences etc?

What should someone in pre-op be ready for?

Freedom. Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy with all the dietary restrictions. For the first time in my life, it's easy to stop eating and drinking. Prior to surgery, a weekend like this would have involved massive amounts of food (as in yesterday we had: lobster mac and cheese, smoked pork, hot dogs, hamburgers, all the sides, beer, and more liquor than you could possibly imagine). Spending the day with famiy and friends would have previously involved me eating all day and a VERY high liklihood of lots of alcohol. Instead, I tasted a little bit of the things that looked/sounded good (one or two bites), had a small cocktail and was very satisfied without feeling deprived.

The forced restrictions keep me under control and still allow me to enjoy life without the stress and "shame" of overeating/drinking. Having this surgery has given me the tool that I needed to take control of my life instead of food controlling my life.

8 hours ago, LizzLosingIt said:

Hey all, question for al of you, whether pre-op or post-op:

what were some surprising things you discovered during the bariatric surgery process, whether about yourself, insurance, people around you, diets in general, unexpected occurrences etc?

What should someone in pre-op be ready for?

Insurance: If weightloss surgery is excluded from your plan, save yourself the headache and just change to a plan that that includes the weightloss surgery that you want.

Also some of the research/follow up maybe be on the patient. The paperwork, approvals, scheduling etc are all performed my people and sometimes mistakes can happen.

My surgery coordinator forgot to fax one page of necessary information and insurance couldn’t move forward with approval until they had it. The coordinator didn’t even know there was a page missing (could have stuck to another page)

The only reason I knew and was able to have it fixed was because I checked in on my approval with my insurance company myself.

I discovered that I actually wasn’t happy sitting alone in my bedroom eating a family sized bag of candy and chips every Saturday night. Crazy.

Seriously though, I am impressed at my own ability to follow through and persevere. The whole process isn’t easy, from insurance to surgery to recovery and then weight loss. But it’s nice to feel accomplished and have reached a goal that I set.