Sleevie WonderLand

*doin a happy dance for Wishes* Congrats! Hopefully you dont have to do a 3 week pre-op diet or anything....

Hate the artificial sweetener taste. I'm gonna have to just remain accustomed to drinking pure Water cause I cant stand the taste of artificial sweeteners, and i find that if I force myself to drink "diet" beverages, I'm almost guaranteed to suffer from a headache soon after.

@losetobeme - thank you i am gonna call dobrenski tomorrow. Will keep u posted.

I have to get my psych eval done, but I dont think I should pay outta pocket if it's covered under my insurance. If you're in the New York City area, please give me your Psych doc's name. I can check my insurance to see if they're covered and then I can make my appointment and be another step closer to the sleeved me. Thank you kindly!

My surgeons office did give me names but i want to find a A psychistrist that takes empire blu cross blu shield so i will only have a copay fee vs $250

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sending positive vibes your way for a speedy recovery and speedy weight loss. Sometimes we have to nudge our doctors even when they try to brush us off. I hate that they treat us all the same. My symptoms arent always the same as your symptoms, and if a patient has a concern or a pain, a doctor should definitely pay attention and not chalk it up to being a "usual" response to surgery.

I went to my junior high school reunion this past weekend and was horrified at the aftermath of pictures that captured me in all my 250 pounds of flesh and flab. I’m not in denial, I know that I’m obese, but dammit, I didn’t realize that my arms looked like ham hocks and that I would look like a circus tent in my maxi dress that I thought would be flattering. I have that little piece of fat that almost hangs over my elbow point, and seeing it in pictures brought me to the lowest of lows. I’m fat. I’m obese. I’m so unhappy with me right now it’s not funny. *Note to self* Must remember to disable the "tagging" feature in Facebook. To top things off, my girlfriend who I haven’t seen in about 8 months decided to roll out with me to the reunion. She comes to my house to pick me up, and this heffa has lost at least 75 bleepin pounds. She has on a form fitting dress and she looks like a freakin goddess standing next to big ol hulkin me. This hussy didn’t even tell me that she had lost all that weight! I know what you're thinking..and no, I didn’t ask her if she had surgery. I wanted to, but realized that if she wanted me to know she would have told me. Am I a little salty about that? Just a tad. Wait, no. Because I’m not letting anyone know of my plans for surgery, so I can dig where she’s coming from. I went on and on about how fabulous she looked and was truly amazed at her transformation. She used to be short and round, but somehow she seemed a little taller now that she’s slimmed down. She could have worked hard and exercised and changed her eating habits to achieve this monumentous weight loss, but I really don’t think she went that route. I would bet money that she had some sort of WLS. So just to confirm my suspicions, I watched her eat. There was an abundance of food at the reunion…ribs, burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, Spanish rice, mac n cheese, corn on the cob, fried ckn, bbq ckn, turkey wings, pasta salad, garden salad, fruit salad, cookies, cakes, pies. Before the weight loss her plate would have been piled up with “a little bit of everything” on it. When she got back to our table she only had a bbq rib (a very small one) and about a half cup of Spanish rice. I sat and watched her pick at the rib and chew a small piece of it for the longest time. Then she had a spoonful of rice and pushed the plate to the side. To further confirm my suspicion, I brought her a bottle of water to drink. She told me she didn’t want it, she’d probably have something to drink later on. BINGO! I think after I’m sleeved, I’ll share this story with her. I’m a little disappointed that she didn’t trust our friendship enough to let me know she was planning to have surgery, but like I said before, I understand why she didn’t say anything. The funny thing is that while she got lots of compliments on her weight loss, no one asked her how she did it. Throughout the course of the day we were talking about how one of our classmates resembled Raven Symone and my friend blurted out “I think she had the surgery!”. Everyone nodded in agreement, but my eyebrow went way up into my hairline. That was definitely confirmation for me. I just got quiet for a minute and daydreamed about next year’s reunion and my hope of sauntering my newly found fabulousness amongst my schoolmates.

@G-Diva...glad I could inspire you. I'm realizing more and more that our success is based in our attitude. It's such an obvious thing, but hard to live sometimes, especially when we're judged on our appearance THEN our attitude. You encourage me with your words, and I appreciate that more than you know. @ BigSexy...girl, I cant wait to give ERRYBODY fever! I'm big now, but I still like to think I raise temps a little bit when I walk into some rooms! Again, it's all attitude. If I'm feeling myself on a particular day, you cant tell me nuffin! I cant wait to see your pics...you better be sure to take lots of them, especially of those people who's jaws hit the floor when they see you...PRICELESS! I had an ex boyfriend that used to call me Big Sexy. *fanning myself after having a few flashbacks* Dont tell my hubby! LOL

Fighting with that inner you is always stressful...just glad to hear the faithful you is in control! As long as you know this stall is temporary and that your body is trying to find it's way to the new you, you'll keep winning. Be encouraged my sister! ((((hugs))))

Last Thursday I went to get a sonogram of my gall bladder as required by my surgeon. I was a little grumpy because I was hungry and couldnt eat until after the sono and felt like I was waiting forever to be called. So finally the tech calls me into the room and tells me to lift my shirt and lower my pants so she can get to my gut region. She asked me why I was having the sono and I told her that I was pursuing weight loss surgery. She squirts that warm gel on my tummy and immediately goes into a story about how she used to be overweight and lost 80 pounds in two years by swimming and changing her diet. She went through a bad divorce and decided that since her kids were grown up and out of the house that she wanted to focus on herself and get healthy and lose weight. She said she went swimming early in the morning counted her calories during meals and went swimming in the evening when she got home from work. She’s telling me all this, and I'm just listening, trying to keep calm, because she's saying it in a sort of condescending tone; almost like she's trying to convince me not to have WLS. She goes on and on about what size clothing she used to wear and what she wears now, and I still listened, but I didn’t say a word. I'm the type that will usually take on a challenge, but all I wanted to do was get outta there and get my bacon and egg english muffin samich. Then she said those effin words..."I would never do the surgery, that's the EASY WAY OUT" and everything started to move in slow motion for me...like in the movies when a bomb is about to explode. I had to do everything in my power not to jump up off that exam table and cuss her out. I dont know what she said after that because I was literally trying to figure out a way to tell her that I wasnt interested in her opinion and didnt appreciate her trying to make me feel bad about having weight loss surgery. I took a deep breath and relaxed. Her opinion was her own and meant nothing to me. However, I did feel the need to put her in her place. I'm so proud of myself....I said to her, "I'm happy that you were able to find a way to lose weight by swimming and counting calories. Unfortunately for me, I dont have the time in my busy day to go swimming in the morning and evening, as I have an entire family to take care of in addition to my full time job. I've tried countless times to lose weight with conventional methods and have failed every single time. You said it took you two years to lose 80 pounds? Well hopefully with my surgery I will lose 80 pounds in half that time, and can focus on maintaining it with my diet and regular exercise, but I know for a fact that it will not be an easy way out." (I was real sassy when I said that last part). She then begins to apologize about not meaning it "that way", that she was just explaining to me that since she was able to put her mind to it and focus she was able to lose her weight “naturally”. My response was "Well, I'm puttin my mind to this surgery and will focus on it and lose my weight “naturally” too. I took one of them huge hospital paper towels, wiped that gunk off my tummy and wished her a good day as I sauntered off into the hallway.

*patting myself on the back* My surgery date hasnt been scheduled yet but im praying for Sept. Still gotta complete my cardioligist clearance, endiscopy, and psych eval. Hopefully i wont run into any more people with diarrhea of the mouth!

I havent been sleeved yet, but I think the most important thing is to make sure that you are really aware of what you're getting into. what I've gathered from all the posts I've read from the people who have been sleeved is that this is a truly life changing experience. You have to modify your eating as well as your thinking. You have to be ready to make conscience and wise decisions about what you are putting into your mouth all the time. All the time. There may be loose skin to deal with later on too, so begin your research on panniculectomys and body lifts. It's early in the game, but it doesnt hurt to educate your self on what your options are if you happen to need them.

I LOVE that. I gotta store it in my "clever comebacks" folder!