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So, today It's been officially one year since my surgery. Yay! I am very happy about how much I lost. I started at 264 and am now at 154 and still want to lose a little bit more so my doctor can refer me to plastics. It's slow going but it's going. I wasn't sure what I was going to write but decided to just go with how I was feeling. One of things I love is I'm much smaller and have more energy but I am also a bit resentful. Bigger people aren't taken seriously sometimes by doctors. I complained of chest pain before the weight loss and was told your blood pressure is too high. Now that I am smaller I was told well that shouldn't be happening and got a CT scan done on Thursday. I had to take prednisone and Benadryl because I'm allergic to the dye contrast. Well they did find two blockages in my arteries one at 70% so tomorrow I have to go in and get a stent put in and I'm a bit pissed off that this could have been taken care of earlier if they had taken my concerns seriously. I haven't done any exercise in a month cause I'm too scared I'll keel over with a heart attack. The moral of this story is to pay attention to your body and if you have concerns speak with your doctor and be insistent if you need them to listen.

Congratulations on your success! Medical incompetence when it comes to weight, race, or any of several other factors is horrifying. I'm sure many of us have similar stories. Good luck, Tek

its very unfortunate that fat-phobia is very prevalent in the medical field. I have had friends that have had OBGYN appts coded as weight consults and their insurance denied the visits, even though the visit was birth control and the doctor commented on weight...

I am wondering how long it took everyone from the time you initially talked to your doctor about wanting to get the surgery to how long you had to wait. I started this journey at the beginning of the year. My first conversation with the surgeon was on January 5th. I did not like her, as she was pretentious and rude. She kept saying, "Someone of your size" cannot get the gastric bypass, so I debated just not doing any of the procedures. I tried to explain to her (as we were doing this as a telehealth visit) that she was misjudging my size by only looking at the numbers. I hold my weight way too well. In high school, I outweighed girls my height and clothing size by 60-80 pounds, but was a state-placing cross country runner. My actual body fat composition was low when tested, versus weight/height ratio. Came to find out that she doesn't like doing bypasses, so she tried to convince all her patients to do the sleeve. After reading up on both, I decided I would actually prefer the sleeve, but not for any of the reasons she gave. I have had three visits with my primary, done the blood tests, and am now waiting on the surgeon's office for my psychology appointment and my final dietician appointment (which is over a month out.) Once I have those, along with an EKG from my primary and getting my paperwork signed off, I then have to wait for insurance to give the final approval. After that, I then wait. So what started on January 5th will take until a minimum of May 15th (final appointment) to even have everything completed... and then two to three weeks for insurance. Then, as my surgeon explained in January, it takes up to 6 weeks for the surgery to scheduled. I am a school teacher with my youngest heading off to college in August, so I am not going to miss taking her. I am majorly concerned that by the time I finally get the surgery, the summer will be over and I won't be able to get time off at the beginning of the school year for this surgery. I am debating talking to my doctor and telling her that I just won't have the surgery because this process is just taking way too long. I have already lost 22 pounds since I first weighed in at the beginning of the year from changing my diet. I am thinking I will be down another 20 by the time I finally get this surgery... or if I can get this surgery.

I got the medical glue, too, and was so glad. I am allergic to adhesives, also.

I have the same issue. I had my surgery 3/13, five weeks post op and my abdominal incision on the right side is still giving me a hard time. If I twist, reach or turn a certain way it can go from burning to stabbing. My team said it’s not unusual for this to happen, can take six months to completely heal. I’m 41 so I thought it would go faster… nope! Guess he got me in “just” the right spot 😂 I bought an abdominal binder and that really helped! Take it easy and let others give you a hand if you can. 🤗

Hello, I am at the very end of my process, just waiting for my processing team to look over my file and make sure it fits everything insurance is requiring. I just wondering how long it took all of you to go through your "processing" phase. Not how long it took insurance to approve, just how long it took your processing team to submit your prior authorization to insurance after everything was completed? I'm almost at two weeks and no one can tell me anything, but when I contact the insurance company they don't have it. Is this timing normal? Thank you!

What kind of diet do they have you on? I had to do optifast which wasnt fun. But, def up your fluid. It will help you be hydrated during surgery, it will help with feeling hungry right now, and it will help the headaches which are withdrawls

Hey there. Waiting to schedule my surgery, which should be sometime in May or maybe June. I had my gallbladder out in Dec and have 3 sites and had a total of 12 staples. I got the random burning stinging pain for a few weeks, and the one basially in my belly button would get annoyed sometimes with certain pants. I too have a complete thyroidectomy in 2021, and that didn't bother me at all. (I'm from AL too, lol) Both surgeries, the only real issue I had is that I'm allergic to the adhesive in bandages, so I clawed myself and they were so whelped up. That part stunk. You can still see on my stomach where the adhesive was on my gallbladder sites.

Your welcome! I tried apple sauce, I found out I don't like apple sauce with cinnamon anymore. I have to be on this phase for 4 weeks! I need ideas because I'll get burnt out haha. I can't stomach protein shakes anymore lol.