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I'm new to VST, but definitely am ready to share this amazing experience. I decided to have the sleeve in September of 2012. I've gone through 3 months of nutrition, psych evaluation, and an endoscopy. My surgery was approved this past Monday and my surgery date is set for December 20th. Boy I'm nervous. Needed a few forums for some extra motivating support (VST did not let me down!)... I'm from Carson, CA and my surgeon is in Beverly Hills, Dr. Feiz to be exact. It was a smooth, but confusing process. Finally got after 2nd review because AETNA said, even though my BMI is over 40, the photos don't appear to make me look like surgery is needed.. What?? Are you serious right now? Anywho, the small battle is over. The real war starts Dec 20th. Looking forward to my new relationship with VST and I pray this journey is one of peace, fulfillment, and most of all enjoyment! xTia

starting weight 319 weight today 285.1! yessssss. dancing so excited. and i have an hour PT training session tonight. very excited and nervous about it.

I am 22 days post op and although all my incisions have healed there is one (the biggest incision) that has about a centimeter of it that's not completely healed, its red and this morning a saw pus coming out of it, its very small though, how should i treat this? Help!

Ha! They said from the picture! lol. Im soooo glad that your insurance didnt take you for the ride of your life as mine did. Thats super awesome!

My breath is absolutely horrible!!! My mom calls it "ketosis breath". It's bad! I can't wait for the bad breath to go away! I hope it will be soon!!!

I'm getting sooo sick of stage 2 food. SO, tonight, I took some of my husbands tomato juice and added some chili powder to it, warmed it up and YUM!!!!!!!! It was a really really nice change. Healthy too! I normally do not like tomato juice, so getting the nutrients from it. I gulped milk accidentally today. Not recommended... OUCH! I am 11 days post op and have lost 14 pounds since surgery (38 total) and have met my first goal! I'm not sure about rewarding myself... I think my reward is that I am losing weight and feeling better! I can tell I'm losing weight in my waist, but my top seems to be staying the same. I'm impatiently waiting to start changing sizes. Today I signed up to become a member of the new Anytime Fitness that is going to open in my town next week. We got a good deal and I can't wait to take full advantage of it! I just hope my excitement doesn't wear off as quick as it has in the past. I found out that the liquid omeperzole they gave me to take can be taken in the pill form. I think it is horribly cruel that they gave my a prescription for the liquid. I do NOT recommend it unless you are having a really hard time swallowing anything. I didn't have any problems and wish I would have known. I could not choke that stuff down. It is the nastiest medicine I've ever tasted in my life! To top it off, you have to "sip" it so it fills your mouth with its grossness about 5 times. I couldn't do it! I was told the Prilosec OTC can in a capsule and if you broke the capsule open it had a pill that was small enough to swallow whole. I got Prilosec OTC and it didn't have a picture on the box so I assumed it was the capsule... it wasn't. I just broke it in half and had no problems at all. Totally love it!!! I threw away the $30 bottle of liquid. Sucked to waste sooo much money, but my tummy needs to be protected!

hey guys! december 6th i will be one month post op. my co worker told me to take a before and after because she can already see the difference lol. i decided to wear the outfit from before surgery. so here it is!! so exciting

Just got back from a beautiful wedding. I thought they would have food I could eat, so no worries. Well I was wrong, there was all pasta, and I'm on the Adkins type pre diet. Well thankfully they had salad and for the kids they had chicken nuggets. So I peeled off the breading from the chicken and cut it up in my salad and made my own dinner. Got some exercise from dancing. Any other diet I would have said, oh well, and ate what was there. I think I'm finally learning to adjust food to my requirements, not just go with the flow. I hope I always stay true!

i need to get this ALL out before i insane. or i guess to prove that im NOT insane. nor do i have BEHAVIORAL ISSUE. lol i cant believe this. UGH anyways. lets start from September 5th. September 5th was the last day of my 6 month NUT visits. completed and faxed over to my Surgeons office the same morning. September 6th. I gave it a day and didnt call them. They received my paperwork but again i never called the Surgeons office because I was told my paperwork was complete and would be given to Kathy our Surgical Coordinator. In my mind i assumed everything was fine due to the fact that the notes in my file say i chose to go with the gastric sleeeve. I had also met with my Surgeon a month before making my final decision and he specifically said lap band would be a waste of time and probably have to be removed a year later due to all complications and issues. (plus i have a 2 year old and all the fills wouldnt be logical with my schedule.) moving on.....i gave in and called the insurance directly because i was told that i would be submitted. not until the end of the business day did the say that got a call from my Surgeons office questioning authorization code something along those lines. so i called my surgeons office and spoke with one of his nurses and advised what surgery i wanted and got transferred to voicemail. one of them call me back i think it was on the 10th. One of the nurses called me and said she needed to speak with the Surgeon and she was out of office for one day. they prolonged this all week and then i didnt find out until thursday the 13th that the coordinator ended up back with my chart NOT sure why but basically it had to be inter officed through the carrier to be present for my appointment on the 17th. so again no submittance to insurance. Monday my appointment with my Surgeon was effective but short. The coordinator DID explain to me that she will not be submitting to insurance until after Monday AND that my Surgeon cannot schedule my pre op or surgery date until approval has been received, I TOTALLY UNDERSTOOD THIS. there was a handwritten note on my flie and my SURGEON took it upon himself to call the Coordinator while we were in our appointment. he fought for the push and understood that its not good practice to get the patients hope up and then be denied for some reason. I called the coordinator to explain to her that i FULLY understood but that My surgeon insisted on calling her. he took it upon himself to question and fight for me. SORRY cant control that so basically that was that. i was told my chart would go back and it would be submitted the next day. so instead of bugging the coordinator i called my insurance. just to CHECK. ok great no submission. Wednesday i let it pass. didnt call anyone. Thursday it is now the 20th and i talk to the coordinator. she says shes working half a day and that my file wont get submited. i hvae to wait for friday or Monday. so based on me i called insurance this morning hoping it would be there. THEY then asked me for her phone number. called her and then she called me. she expressed that she explained these things to be over and over which i understood but i guess lack of communication from the beginning put me in paranoia and reading the forum just made me in the mind set of CALL CALL CALL. basically my forms just got SUBMITTED TODAY. finally BUT that the entire group at the office has meetings a week and they brought up what if i have behavioral issues. are you serious??? because im anxious about my surgery>>?? because i know your busy but my case has been completed for weeks. because i have a 2 year old and work on a small team at work where our schedules are made waaaaay in advance and i work occassional weekends so its really important to know whats going on. i feel bad and sad that they would think of me this way but i feel like i didnt really do anything worng yeah a little obsessive but all in good reason. i told them that i also need more time to talk to my Surgeon during our appointments because there are things i still want verbal confirmation directly from him. i dont know it makes me feel low but i know in my heart that i DONT have behavioral issues. i was told to deal with the Coordinator only (even tho during this time i was going through an address change and had issues getting my address fixed) it may have seem like i called to check on approval but other things too. all in all i was told not to raise red flags and if i have anxiety to meet with my dietitian or one of the nurses. sigh. yeah everyone has anxiety im just a working single mom who is anxious to start a new life. sorry but 7 months is gone and im ready. whatever i feel better and now the waiting game really begins. for whoever reads this or made it to the end seriously am i crazy>???? honestly i know im not AND i see where they are coming from but.....come on.