educationrulz

Thanks everyone. You are reminding those of us with last minute nerves of all the reasons we chose this surgery in the first place. I have the feeling that I will be much better tomorrow morning. But if not, I definitely plan to ask for some IV cocktail! :001_wub:

I just wanted to clarify for anyone who might be considering Dr. Macik that when I asked him about oversewing and/or buttressing the staple line, he said that he does. So, maybe his procedures have changed since the patient referred to above had surgery. He did verify that he uses a 40 boughie.

Jeannie, I have UHC so my response is conditional to the fact that I have a different insurance. But, I asked this same question of my nurse case manager during my phone intake interview and she very clearly told me "YES" if I lost too much weight before surgery and my BMI went below 40 (or below 35 with comorbidities) the insurance company would deny me for the surgery. I tried to get some more specifics without totally annoying the lady and I asked something about how this related to which weight was submitted to the insurance company. We had this conversation over 6 months ago, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I remember something to the effect of this applying to my weight at the time the request for surgery was submitted to insurance. So, I took it to mean that if I was still at 40 BMI when the paperwork was submitted, but then lost weight and went under 40 BMI after I was approved it wouldn't matter. But, if I was under 40 BMI when the request went in, they would automatically deny it. Although I'm nowhere near as close to 40 as you are, that moment was when I decided that I wouldn't be working too hard to lose anything during my 6 months of MD supervised diet with my PCP. My PCP thought I was a total flake, but oh well...I got my surgery approved. I think the trick for you is going to be the fact that your doctor requires you to lose some weight before surgery. This seems unrealistic in your case since it might hurt your chances of being approved. I think you should discuss this more specifically with your doctor so that he is clear about your conflict. It sounds like he has already told you that it won't matter, so maybe that means his office will play around with the numbers that are submitted to insurance. But that could be tricky if your PCP or weight watchers is involved in providing documentation. The bottom line is that the insurance company is the bottom line so I think your surgeon needs to be more specific with you about why it doesn't matter and needs to explain to you exactly how they will handle it if you get below 40 BMI. I don't know if this helps you any but I hope it at least gives you some ideas about what to ask your surgeon or your BCBS case manager. Good Luck!

Leave it to a man to just cut to the chase! :confused1: But you're right, I do know what I'm getting into and it's what I want. I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this and it is helping me come out of my fog. The point about KEEPING the weight off and not just losing it really hits home. And, I too am tired of aching joints. I have actually started to calm down in the last half a day and I feel like I'm going to be ok. Despite my nerves, it's not in my personality to back out of something once I make up my mind. So, I'll definitely be at the hospital at 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday and I'll post an update as soon as I can after surgery. Thanks everyone!

Hey Big Kahuna. Congrats on a successful surgery. It sounds like we have very similar post op diets. I'm so grateful that I'll be able to have somewhat regular foods the first week - assuming my stomach tolerates it. I was really worried about being on clear liquids for a long time and being too weak to do anything. I'm sure your energy level will continue to improve as your diet progresses so just enjoy the excuse to rest as needed for now.

Hey kalex. I'm a day behind you and not feeling so calm. But I do at least feel like I'm about to take this bull by the horns and really do something about my weight problem once and for all. That's the most peace I can say I have for right now. Best wishes to you for an uneventful surgery. Enjoy that yummy mag citrate. :001_rolleyes: We'll be on the other side soon!

Let me rephrase this for you Papillon: STAY OUT OF THE SAUNA!!!! The last thing you need to be doing post-op is sucking the hydration out of your body when all you can do is sip, sip, sip. Save that for the past 6 week phase when most of us are cleared for strenuous exercise.

Hey guys, After reading and posting to a thread by Nikki about some issues with people commenting on her surgery, I started thinking about some ways I plan to deal with this post-op. I've discussed this in counseling and I've read some other threads here and there on the forum about how sleevers have handled people who go too far with comments about your surgery. I was thinking that maybe we could have a dedicated thread to discuss this. I tend to be a little sarcastic in nature but I try to keep it under wraps. I guarantee I'm going to let it out full blast when I have to deal with rude comments. But, I'm sure others will deal with it in a more philosophical way, like this great comeback posted by mistiblu - "don't you feel like you're cheating by having surgery?" My reply, " yes, cheating obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, but cheating weight loss no". Please post here with some situations/comments you've had and what you said or plan to say to bring all discussion to a STOP! I appreciate everyone's input because I tend to think of great comebacks 20 minutes after the person has walked off, so I'm gonna need some help in this area. I'll kick things off... Rude comment: You sure took the easy way out. Response: (with a big smile) You're right. It's been SOO easy for me doing it this way...except for that pesky 2 month stringent post-op diet, and making sure I don't get dehydrated, and counting Protein and carbs. Yeah, it's been VERY easy.

Lis, This is so wierd, but after replying to your post over a week ago, my ENT has diagnosed me with this same condition! I still can't get my tongue around the official term. :cursing: It started with my pulmonologist clearance on June 1st. When he looked at my throat, he said it looked awful. So, I had been putting off going to my ENT, even though I'd had a sore throat for several weeks, just because I hadn't been able to fit the appointment in. After the pulmonology visit, I decided to go to the ENT.They got me in to see him on June 3rd. He said my throat wasn't that bad and that he wanted to examine me more. He numbed my nose with some disgusting spray and stuck that long rubber tube all the way through my nose to my throat to look at the larynx. He said it looked fine so there wasn't any damage to be concerned about, but based on the symptoms I've been having, it's probably that silent reflux thing. He then prescribed omeprazole 40 mg every morning to reduce the acid. At that point, I decided to tell him I"m about to have WLS just so he would be fully informed. I got a REALLY strange look and some seconds of silence...kinda of like what your ENT gave you. :drool5: He then said the PPI wouldn't be a problem pre-op. Now, I'm kind of feeliing like this might have been a hasty diagnosis since we were talking about taking my tonsils out about a month ago. But, if the PPI helps all these throat isses (which the ENT said are caused by the excessive acid) then I'll take it. I'm not clear on how taking it once a day will help since I clearly eat more than once a day... Sorry to ramble on about this but I guess I'm still trying to work it out in my head (as my burping seems to increase in frequency by the day ). Luckily I have my Upper GI clearance in 3 days and preop with my surgeon in 5 days, so I'll definitely run all of this by both docs to get their opinion. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I have a hernia. I hope you get more clarity on things on your next MD visit. I would think the GI doc might be a little more level headed about your WLS than the ENT was.

I pray that I will be able to reach the same peace with myself a year from now that you have reached. To be glad that you made such a drastic (positive) change in your lifestyle and feel pride in yourself for following through has got to be an awesome feeling. Oh Lord, my mouth is watering again :-} Thanks for all of your great updates and pics of your personal journey. It's a wonderful resource for those of us who haven't crossed over yet.

Girl, you are too cute in your little white summer pants! I needed to see that side by side comparison of yours because I too am about 270 (having mysteriously gained a few pounds recently:confused1:), a little over 2 weeks pre-op and about to start my pre-op diet, AND needing the strength it's going to take to lose these extra few pounds so my surgery isn't cancelled. :cursing: Seeing so clearly how you have gone from your pre-op weight to goal has given me that little extra motivation I need to kick-a$$ on this pre-op diet. I will not be denied my cute little summer outfits and getting up off the floor effortlessly!!! :drool5: Thanks for all the sharing you do on this forum. It has been a HUGE help!

This is great Sparkle! Thanks!

I'm coming up on surgery pretty soon and looking forward to some post-op dating experiences once I've healed and recovered. But, I keep having these wierd thoughts about how a man might react once he finds out that I used to be obese and had to cut my stomach out to loose weight.:thumbup1: Like, is he going to go running away screaming at the top of his lungs? Is he going to be thinking that I'm going to blow my surgery and get fat again? Will he think it's just better to dump me before I get big again or before I cut some other part of my body off? I know this is crazy, nonproductive type thinking, but I can't help it. I'm doing my best to be prepared for how things will be post-op and this is one issue I can't rationalize or wrap my mind around. So, I'm coming to you guys for advice. I know that the men here will naturally be biased because you're pre- or post-op yourself so you're okay with the need for the surgery. But, can you step out of the situation and think about how you might act if you met a woman who had lost weight because of surgery? Ladies, what has been your experience with dating and telling a man that you had WLS? Did they run off, pretend to be ok with it, or really accept it and continue with the relationship? For clarification, I'm not talking about telling a man I don't know well about this. I'm talking about the point where I have been dating someone for several months or more and am beginning to build a serious relationship with - someone I don't want to hide things from... HELP before I drive myself crazy thinking about this! :svengo:

Alex, I wasn't taking from your overall tone or from some of the messages that have been deleted or reportedly deleted that coordinators are the main focus of your concern. Maybe that was a misinterpretation on my part, but it seemed to be aimed as much at the regular VST members. Clearly there are way more of us than there are coodinators. We're just regular people trying to improve our lives and we rely on info from others to make informed decisions. For example, hearing the story of someone who was in the hospital bed next to someone who had a leak or severe infection is valuable info to others. Especially since the person who had a complication probably isn't in any shape to post their experience. Although we know the dangers of second hand information, we also know its value in some situations. However, I think most of us can appreciate the fine line you have to walk with allowing those types of posts to remain on the forum. It seems like the general opinion here is that we prefer to sift through the information and decide what we take as truth from a particular post. As far as the coodinators go, most of us seem to treat them like a little fly buzzing around. Like BJean said, once I figure out someone is a coordinator or seems to have a vested interest in a doctor, I don't pay much attention to what they have to say. In closing, I personally am not ignoring your request/recommendation for us to address concerns to you in private. However, I firmly believe that if I can't say what I have to say to you or anyone else here "in public" about a general issue then I probably don't need to be saying it. As we can see from another member's post, she has been dealing with some unwanted PMs. I don't want or plan to be inappropriate with you or anyone else in the course of a PM, but I think in that form of communication, things can become a little more heated. So, although I don't have much else to say about it, I'll keep my thoughts about post deletions in public for now (within the VST guidelines) and I won't be offended if you or anyone else chooses to ignore or not respond. Thanks for taking the time to clarify your position on these issues.

Hey guys. Just getting caught up on the responses here. So, I'm reading everyone's responses and trying to take all of this in and own it. It really helps to have other people rationalize this for me because I didn't come to any of the conclusions that you guys presented. I think I'm struggling because of years of my weight affecting my romantic relationships. Of course there are men who like larger women, but I guess after a certain point when you're not comfortable with yourself it doesn't matter if someone else doesn't mind. I guess I have no frame of reference for feeling attractive and feeling like I could attract the average man. I agree that men are not as caught up with the fine details as women are likely to be. So I can see everyone's point about them not caring how I got to a healthy, attractive weight. It seems like all of the issues I'm worried about in terms of post op are coming down to having to deal with it when it comes. Despite my somewhat irrational fears of dealing with these situations, I am still quietly excited about being able to come out of my shell a little bit. I might even get out there and shake my tail feathers now and then. :wink0:

Sorry to hear that you are dealing with this Lis. I can only imagine how difficult this is on top of the typical acid issues post op. I don't have any insight to offer but I would definitely go to a gastro doc for a second opinion if I were in your situation. Even if they come up with the same diagnosis, they may have a better treatment option for you than what the ENT offered. Good luck and let us know how it's going.

Ok, great. So now the posts about posts being deleted are deleted. This is freaking crazy! Is posting about stuff being deleted the same as "hijacking" a thread? It's okay for you to remove posts just because you don't like them or because they get off topic? We get off topic all the time on VST, here and in other threads. I understand as the Site Administrator that you have to exercise judgement about potentially libelous posts and that may involve deleting posts. But few of us have been patient coordinators and we have the right to express our concern about posts being deleted, even if it is off topic or unflattering to you. Yet you've removed several posts made in this thread just prior to yours from regular VST members about posts being deleted and concerns with advertising by doctors on the forum site. What kind of crazy censorship is this?!! I feel like I'm in one of those movies where they burn books or something. :thumbup1: BTW, this is my "personal experience" with posts being deleted.

Cool, that's what I was hoping you'd say. Just think, by this time next year you'll be at goal and on top of your game. :thumbup1:

Hey Bigga, Keep the jokes coming! :laugh0: But for the slow to catch on, like ME, give us a little by-line at the end that says "JUST KIDDING". :001_tt2: I keep thinking about that thread you started somewhere else about the law enforcement personnel competition you wanted to attend a couple of weeks after surgery. What did you decide to do about that? Congratulations and keep rockin that sleeve!

Hey guys. I'm going in on June 22nd. It seems like it's going to take forever to get here but I'm sure the time will fly. I start my two week low carb high Protein diet on the 8th. I've been incorporating some low carb meals for the past few weeks so I think I'll be in the right frame of mind by the time the 8th comes around. I'm nervous but SOOOO excited about having this surgery. Glad to join all of the other June VSGers! :thumbup: Good luck to everybody with upcoming surgeries!

It's good to hear that you made it home safely and are starting to feel better. Congratulations!:thumbup:

Why are you hesitating to go straight to your surgeon with this issue? You don't seem to think it's a clear cut case of typical post-sleeve symptoms, so let him figure it out. That's what they get paid the big bucks for! :001_cool:

Have you talked to your surgeon about this? What size boughie did they use?

That's just sadistic! :001_cool: