Bryn Dawson

Terrific post, both for the humor factor and the information. Sounds similar to the kidney surgery I had a few years back. My techs didn't ask me my name every time though. I swear, between you and Crosswind I'm not going to need to work out because my abs get enough exercise laughing from your posts.

My husband figured this one out before I did and gave me a duh look, so thanks for affirming my belief that it's NOT that easy an acronym to figure out!

Augh, 2 cup sizes?! What I wouldn't GIVE to lose 2 cup sizes! These girls are heavy as all heck. I hope that happens to me after I have my surgery!

Congrats on getting your surgery date! Woohoo!

Congrats on your new sleeve, Tamz! Another of us pre-surgery minors leaves for the weightloss big leagues! (Ok, so I suck at baseball metaphors, but the sentiment is there.)

I did get my surgery date today, woohoo! It's July 12th! I was afraid I was going to have to wait till the end of August but Nick, the scheduler with my surgeon, pulled a miracle out of his calendar book! Now to jump through more preop testing hoops... ha ha. I have been to more doctors appointments in the last 6 months than in the entire decade previous. Whoof. Sorry for being hyper but I am EXCITED! YAY!

That is THOROUGHLY awesome. Congratulations to you!

Congrats on your July 12th surgery date! That makes four of us that I know of! Also congrats on saving some moolah! That's always awesome.

Hi Randi, I had to go through a process very similar to yours where it included 6 months of nutritionist visits and 6 months of dieting done concurrently. I am just finishing up those 6 months now while I wait for my surgery date to roll around. You are probably going to have to have a lot of testing done between now and your surgery, in addition to the psych eval you have already had. I had to have an EKG, chest x-ray, bloodwork twice, walking pulmonary function test, and sleep study. Other people have had different testing including cardiologist and pulmonologist, etc. It all depends on your current health and the requirements of your surgeon and/or insurance. For me the diet was and continues to be the hardest. I'm bad about going to the doctor on my own but when someone tells me to I'm pretty good about it, so it's just been a minor hassle running all over town to different labs and docs. However, the diet requires willpower, which I sometimes lack. I have fallen off the wagon lots of times, but I try not to beat myself up about it - I've had a lifetime to develop the bad eating habits and it's going to take time to change them. I just pick myself up and climb right back on that wagon (no matter how much I want to kick it sometimes) and continue on. As you get closer to your surgery (like within the last couple of weeks) you might have to modify your diet. Some doctors require a liquid diet, some don't. You have probably already heard that getting your 70-90 grams of Protein in every day is very important - this will continue to be important after the surgery. Lots of people start trying their Protein shakes out early to see if they can find something they like. (I like unjury, myself.) There are many more people here than just me - this is just my experience so far and everyone's experience is different. I thought I'd share mine since we both have the 6 month lead time.

Wow, there's lots of us July 12th-ers! Utterly cool! I need sleeve sisters so that is awesome. @iegal - I think I'm ready for the major changes... I have reconciled myself to being on a partial liquid diet 2 weeks before the surgery (to keep the carbs down per my surgeon's orders and the NUT) and am basically waiting for that period to begin. I'm trying to take a very 'cross that bridge when we come to it' approach, because if it were up to me I'd be having the surgery even sooner! I'm very jazzed up about this change in my life. I have been working towards it since December of 2010 (when I went to the introductory seminar). This step has been a long time coming and I know it's only one step (albeit a big one!) in my weight loss journey.

You're welcome! It's easy to get lost on the boards in all the hubbub and I didn't want that to happen to you.

Thanks Debbie! Rock on us, Aminah! We can be sleeve sisters!

Yay! I'm glad everything worked out!

Any luck? Got my fingers crossed for ya!

It has been a long, long haul getting to where I am now - I have effectively been dieting since Jan 6th when I had my first appointment with the NUT. My ticker's accurate for what I've lost so far because of that dieting. I've been up and down and slipped up and fallen off the wagon a lot of times, but I've also stopped drinking fizzy things altogether, soda included, and I've quit smoking, so yay for those goals! It has been hard and is still hard - tonight I am craving red meat really badly (I always do around that time of the month) but... Tomorrow I see the surgeon and hopefully get a surgery date! *bounces* I am sooooooo excited. I hope I can sleep tonight! Worst case scenario: they decide they want me to have even more testing and I don't get a surgery date. But I've jumped through every hoop for them so I hope things will be good. Wish me luck!

I didn't get my 2 year weight history from my PCP for the same reason - I got it from my obgyn instead. Maybe try that?

I have had to quit smoking before my surgery as well - I don't even have a surgery date yet but I am already quit. I figured it would just be easier that way. I have had success in the past with quitting - my problem is not letting stress get to me and starting back up again a year or more later, which I have done twice now. This time I used the Patches to help me quit. So far I have been smoke free since the last week of March. It is really hard, I had cravings for the first week or so but then it got better. Good luck!

I went through this exact same thing last week and am still fighting it off somewhat this week. I totally understand the 'oh screw it' mentality. It is hard, but what I had to do was force myself to make the right choice. The first few times I was white-knuckling it, I tell you. If there is an easier way, I don't know it. But it DOES get easier after the first few times. And remember - one bite or one meal is not the same as falling off the wagon - one bite at a time, one meal at a time when you can't take it one day at a time. Progress, not perfection. You have to push yourself and keep the future goal in mind. Giving in to temptation is part of what got some of us (me!) here so breaking that habit is where the real change arises. The surgery is a tool - this is the work we have to do to use that tool to its maximum. None of that makes it any easier, I know. But sometimes it helps just to know that somebody out there listens and understands - and boy do I ever understand your situation.

This post had me laughing to tears. OHmygod. If you're not a pro-writer, you should be.

I have to put in a vote for the unjury products! I just ordered a starter kit and it had the following contents: 2 packets each vanilla, chocolate splendor, strawberry sorbet, unflavored, and chicken soup 1 16oz Rubbermaid shaker container 1 trutemp food thermometer (because you can't mix Unjury into temps over 130 degrees F or they get clumpy and gross) all for $17.95 plus shipping of $6. The chocolate splendor in the shaker bottle to me tastes like a cross between Ovaltine and Nestle Quik. The vanilla, which I had this morning, tastes kind of like cake batter, or belgian waffle batter, yum! The packs say to mix with 8oz milk, but I had to go up to 16oz because at 8oz the mix was too sweet for me. Each pack has the following nutritional info: 100 cal (mix only, add cals for milk) 0 g fat 140 mg potassium 35 mg sodium 4 g carb 20 g Protein I think you can only get it mail order, but it's better than palatable, so it's worth it for me. Good luck!