karaserene1985

Thanks for all your replies. I have cancelled my surgery that was scheduled for April 15th. My goal now, is to find a personal trainer and work with them for a little while, still planning on getting the sleeve done some day soon. Sometime in the next 6 months. I don't want to put it off any later then that as I want to have childrent before I'm 28 and with the recovery time I would be cutting it close. I plan on researching surgeons now. Less expensive surgeons with more sleeves done with better results. I would have to do some convincing with my husband If I were to go to Mexico, but I can see if I can find someone in the states that has good experience for a good price. The research begins. Another major thing I'm doing is trying to find a new job. I currently work as a service banker for a full service bank that's open 7 days a week. We don't close our office until 7pm and I typically work 4 out of 5 nights a week closing. When I get home from work, I'm so tired that I don't do anything but SIT and eat dinner. I eat way to late every night. I didn't get finished with dinner until 8:30 tonight. That's way tooooo late... I don't want to eat after 7 pm and that's kind of hard if I'm still working. The job market is very slim in my area as it is all over the country. I just keep applying for open positions in my field hoping to find better hours! That would be a big difference for me. Not eating after 7 pm!!! Anyway... i will keep you all posted!!!

Thank you for all your replies. I really do think the 6 months will help. During that time i can convince my mother about the surgery, and find a less expensive surgeon with more experience to do the operation. In that time, hopefully I can lose some weight as well! :smile: I'll still be on here! Posting and watching... the sleeve will still happen one day!

So my mom really wants me to work out with a trainer for 6 months and then if that doesn't work do the sleeve. I think in that time I can look for a different surgeon, less expensive surgeon who has done more then the surgeon in my area. The sleeve is still an option but they want me to try and work out with the trainer first. What's 6 more months right? I know its a lot, but if this makes my family happy then i think i need to do it. I really do care about what they think, and if I prove to my mom that I actually do try then maybe she'll support me to get the surgery. I really do need her support.

Thank you for all your posts! Here are my stats! I'm 5'8". Right now I way 298 lbs. I do not have any other health problems. No high blood pressure, no cholesterol problems, no diabeties. The really only issue I have is my weight. I've battled with it for years. I'm only 24 years old. I've tried a lot of things. The most important is that I worked out for 6 months straight. I worked almost 5 days a week. I was on the Phenermine pill for the first 3 months and I lost 25 lbs. I was taken off the Phentermine because I had to lose 4 lbs a month, and my final month I only lost 3 pounds. After that, the rest of the 6 months I continued to work out just as hard and eat right. I did not lose a single pound more. I did not gain any weight back but I didn't lose any more weight. This is what frustrated me. I started a new job in August and I work late most nights. Till 7:30 at night. Because i worked so late, I ate late, and I've gained all the weight back. This is what brought me to the point of wanting to have the surgery. My mother is overweight, and so is my one sister. I of course am the largest, and always have been. I have a brother who thinks that if my surgeon knows what he is doing and thinks its what i want to do, I should do it. I have a sister who is 5 feet tall and weighs about 95 lbs who really wants me to get the surgery. Its my mom, and my aunt who don't want me to have the surgery. The problem is that I am using the money from my trust fund given to me by my mothers father to pay for this surgery. She thinks its crazy for me to spend this much money. She thinks if I higher a trainer it would cost so much less and I would get the same results. She keeps throwing it in my face about how all these ppl who have had the surgery have gained the weight back. (What's her name from the Wilson Phillips). She thinks about all those ppl who go on The Biggest Loser and lose all that weight. She thinks I should just do it that way and save my money. UGG!!! I just don't know!!!!

Hello, My name is Kara. I'm 24 years old from Green Bay Wisconsin. I have been overweight my entire life and have struggled for years. I can typically lose about 15 to 20 pounds on my own, but that's the most I have ever lost. It doesn't stay gone. Here's my story... About as far back as I can remember. I have a huge family. My mother has been married 3 times, and my father 4. I have two biological sisters who seemed to get my fathers genes. My one sister who is 2 years older, is exactly 5 feet tall and weighs about 95 pounds. My one sister who is 4 years younger is a little over 5 feet and weighs around 110. I am 5'7 1/2 and my last weigh in was 299.9. I was so elighted to see I was under 300! :001_smile: Anyway, as far back as I can remember, I was teased about being overweight. I never really ate that much, but it just kept adding on. By the time I was in 5th grade I was already in a size 14. Throughout middle school, I got the nick name blubbercheeks. Infact, I started calling myself it because it made the teasing stop. Kids in school didn't find it amusing anymore when it no longer bothered me to be called a name. I was now calling myself names. I continued to gain weight throughout middle school. I wasn't very active in sports, but I was in volleyball. In highschool, same thing. I wasn't really active in sports. I tried out for volleyball freshman year but was cut from the team. Sophmore year I tried out again and made the team. I was 290 pounds My sophmore year, and lost only 15 pounds the entire volleyball season. This took me down to 275. I was involved in a lot of other things in school. Forensics, Theatre, Choir, Pep Club. All this to keep my mind away from my weight. I maintained the same weight all throughout the rest of high school. I think my senior year, I finally dropped down to about 260. Senior year of highschool, I met my husband. He was my first boyfriend, my first everything if you know what I mean. We dated through graduation and the start of my freshman year in college. I don't know what happened, but my freshman year I was happy, in love, and I lost some weight. I got down to about 250 on my own. No dieting nothing. The world turned.... I suffered from severe depression, and I started making myself throw up. I got down to my lowest on record. 236. This only lasted about a week. I had to drop out of college because my mom didn't want me to stay as I was making myself sick. I quit school and moved back home. My husband and I at the time were driving a very rocky road, and because of the stress I started gaining all my weight back. I was a size 20 at this time, my lowest that I can ever remember. Things changed, and my husband and I got our own place and got married. I was 19 at the time I got married. My weight was pretty steady at around 275. That seems to be the magic number. I'm always around 275. Now I've failed to mention that during these years, I was constantly on diets. I have tried everything from making myself throw up, to weight watchers. The weight would come off, a few pounds here and there but as usual would come back on. 5 months after I got married, I re enrolled in college. A week into school and my husband and I had to get up and move 1/2 way across the country to Massachusetts. You see, my husband is an immigrant and throughout our marriage we had tons of immigration problems. Our lawyer felt this was the best way to get things moving. Boy was he wrong. We moved to Massachusetts and nothing happened. We wasted a lot of money and precious time. Because of all the stress, I got up to 305 pounds when I moved. I told my husband that I couldn't handle it anymore and I wanted to move back home. 6 months after being there, we moved back to Wisconsin. Back home, I started school again, and worked full time. The immigration problems continued so I always had stress in my life. Some people lose weight with stress, but I gain it. I lost about 15 pounds and got back down to my 275 and was pretty steady for quite some time. I've had the same doctor since I was 15 and she knows my history with weight. I would meet with her often asking her why I couldn't lose weight. She would ask me how I eat, what I drink things like that. I always got the same answer.... You need to excersise and watch what you eat. I always have, just can't keep the weight off. She finally decided to put me on Phentermine when my weight got back up to 305 pounds. In order to stay on it, I had to lose 4 pounds a month. I lost 20 pounds before she took me off. What do you know, as soon as I was off even though I was excercising the same and eating the same, the weight came back on. I asked to go back on it again in January 2009. I just started a one year membership with Anytime Fitness and was working my butt off, but was not losing weight. She put me back on, and I got down to 265. My lowest in years. I only lost 3 pounds that last month so she took me off the Phentermine. I continued to work out 5 times a week, while off the Phentermine and I did not lose a single pound. Now, I didn't gain any of the weight back but I did not lose any more weight. I went back to my doctor and asked her why I wasn't losing weight on my own. Why could I only lose weight while on Phentermine. Her Answer! Some people just can't lose weight! Not what I wanted to hear.... I continued working out all this last year, I continued to diet, but the weight came back on. I am now at 300 pounds again! Finally.... I give up!!! I do not have any insurance and I started looking into WLS. I was really interested in the band until I went to a seminar from my surgeon. This is where I heard about the sleeve. It seems so simple. There are more risks during the surgery for the sleeve, but post op there are less risks. During the surgery for the band there are less risks, but after there are so many problems. I scheduled my surgery for April 15th. 8am! I am soooooo scared.....!!!!! I don't have any heath problems besides the weight. I don't want to go into this and ruin the rest of my life because of a problem from this. I don't have much support. My mom is really against this. She is overweight herself, but says I shouldn't waste my money on the surgery w/o trying other options first. Such as a nutritionist and personal trainer. I know if I did the trainer and nutritoinist, I would lose weight. I just know it wouldn't stay off.... I hope I'm doing the right thing. My surgeon has only performed 10 sleeves before and 1 of them had a leak. He says I am an extremely low risk patient as I'm not severly obese and don't have any other health problems. He doesn't see a concern with doing the sleeve on me. He said the patient with a leak was high risk going in, and new there might be complications..... I just don't know... I don't have any kids so I have never had a hospital stay in my life. I am not scared about the before or after of the surgery, just the surgery in itself. Because i'm self pay, if anything goes wrong It'll be a huge difference in the cost of the bill. These are the things I think about! What kind of concerns did you all have going in? I know this is long, but I wanted to give you all a backgound. Thanks for all your advice! 35 days and counting until the rest of my life changes! Kara

Hello, I plan for absolutely everything! My surgeon says with no complications, I will be in the hospital for 2 days. What did you all bring with you? Did you bring clothes to wear during your stay, or just for the return home? Did you have to wear the dreaded hospital gown the whole time? This seems like a stupid thing to think about, but I honestly to plan everything! Kara

So thank you for your replies. There have been a couple of posts on what was brought for the dry mouth. Any other suggestions?

So definately bringing chapstick, gas X strips, and comfy clothes to wear home. Thats about it. And of course my toothbrush and toothpaste.

Congrats on getting your surgery scheduled. Mine is April 15th, so I'm just ahead of you! Best of luck to you.

Thank you all for your kind words! I do think I'm making the right decision with my surgeon. I once went to the Wonder Bread store to pick up two loaves of bread because it was cheaper and faster then going to the grocery store. The point of this was to save money. Because this wasn't the normal way I went home, I got into an accident because I thought an intersection was a 4 way when it was not. This trip to save picking up bread cost me over $500 because of my insurance deductible. I don't want to go to Mexico because its cheaper, just to save money. I have done that in the past and it ended up costing me more. I think I will stay with my surgeon, and have faith that everything will go as planned. Thank you! Kara

:scared0: You think so! I'm guessing for everyone that has gone to Mexico, they have to pay to meet with someone back in the states for any post op check-ins. I know my regular nurse practioner is $120 a visit. Just to meet with her. What would you consider a years worth of post op appointments to cost? I hope I'm not overspending! But I would pay so much more for an extended life!

After seeing other posts, it does seem like mine is quite expensive. $7500 only goes to my surgeon. $10500 goes to the hospital for the stay and use of the facality. $1700 goes to the anestegolist. (sp?) The rest is preop tests, and Upper GI test after surgery. I guess I can be paying for the conveinence. This price includes 1 year of post op appts with my surgeon. The office is only 15 minutes from my house. Does your price include all air fair and hotel stay as well? What are you going to do when your back home for post op care?

Thanks Kim. I wish you the best as well! When do you have your surgery? MlkPas, thanks for the hug! That's more then my real mom does. I'm not joking! I'm glad we have this forum to talk to others who are in the same boat! Its important to have support when going through something this dangerous. Does your son know your having the surgery?

Congrats! I have until April 15th but soon enough I will also be able to say I've been sleeved! :scared0: Can't wait!

Thank you all! The spray for your mouth sounds like a great idea! I hate the cotton mouth feeling! When I was on Phentermine I had it all the time! It'll be great to have something to keep my mouth moist. I use chapstick everyday so that won't be a problem! I'm from WI and you need it almost 8 months out of the year because of the weather! :thumbup1:

Thats what this is all about, doing this for myself. I'm tired of doing something for everyone else. It's about time I take care of myself! That's what 2010 is for! For Me!

Wisconsin_Gal, where are you from? I'm from Green Bay and am going to be getting the sleeve done on April 15th by Dr. Kemmerling here in Green Bay. He is from NEW Surgical Associates. Your post looks to be from December. Did you have your surgery? Was it done here in WI? How are you doing? I'd love to talk especially if you had the work done here! Kara

I haven't had the surgery yet, and I've become a slave to the scale. I can't remember how long it has been since I haven't gone a day without weighing myself. I weigh myself every morning when I wake up. I know this is going to need to change as soon as I have the surgery. I just don't know how to stop. Its an addiction.

Sounds good! I'm 24 years old so you'd be perfect! My mom is 58. Even though I'm only 24 I've done a lot of dieting also. Phentermine twice. Weight Watchers, Just plain old diet and excercise, slim fast, low carb, you name it, i've tried it! I'm glad I have this option before I have kids. It'll mean for healthy pregnancies and a healthy lifestyle for my children. I've been married for 5 years and everyone asks me why I don't have kids yet. My answer always was because I wanted to lose weight first. I didn't want to be 300 pounds before getting pregnant and be on bed rest my whole pregnancy because I couldn't move! I'm having my surgery April 15th. If I wait a year and 1/2 before getting pregnant, I will be just about 27 when I have my first child. I will have my whole life ahead of me. A whole healthy life! My mom doesn't see that. She only sees the right here and now. I wish she what i'm seeing for myself and my future.

My mother does not support my decision. Its very hard. I have my husband and one of my sisters behind me on this. We know as a person what works and what does not. We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't think it was what is best for us. I hope your family comes around. I personally know how hard it is. I really want my mom to be there the day of my surgery but I know she will have an excuse.

I don't know what it is about my mom. It would be really nice to have her support. I think its because i'm so young. She thinks there are better options out there less drastic and less expensive. I know this is what I have to do. I have done my research and I'm just going to hope for the best. My husband supports me, and I have my older sister behind me. *Crossing my fingers everyday that it'll all be okay without any complications* Kara

Thanks! My mom still doesn't want me to have the surgery! I'm hoping she'll come around!

Glad to hear your doing well since surgery! Keep us updated. Have you had any complications? or has it been a smooth road?

Best of luck to you! Please let us know how you are doing!

WOW! Maybe I should talk to my surgeon at me pre op appt about getting a script for anxiety. I don't want to cause any trouble because of nerves. My self -pay will be around $21,000 for everything when done. Thats for all the extra tests and everything. I don't have any insurance at all to cover any part of the surgery. Thank you all for your posts. I plan on starting the cabbage Soup diet next week to help with some preop weight loss. Then a week later I will be going for my preop visit and given my preop diet. More excited then nerves. Hoping all goes well! Kara