Anakin Jay

Well, I ended up going on the date, and it was pretty terrible I kept talking about everything I was passionate about in life trying to get her to come out of her shell, and finally she says "Man, it's great you're into so many things, I really don't have passion about anything, I kind of just sit around, and go to work." LOL. It was a really awkward date. I had fun, but I probably would have had 95% as much fun without her there So I think I'm going to take that as a sign, and just hold off on dating for a bit, looking forward to experiencing what dating is like as skinny folk

So I'm almost 2 months into my 6 month pre-op diet. I've gone to 2 visits. The problem is, my PCP's scale only goes to 350 pounds, I'm 399 right now according to my home scale. So my doctor's been filling out the forms, and adding little foot notes saying "Patient supplied weight, we cannot weigh over 350 pounds." I called my surgeon's office and asked about it, and they said I should start bringing my home scale with me to the Dr's office and let him see when he records it to be safe. Anyone else have any experience with this? I'm worried I may have just set my surgery back 2 months because my PCP's scale isn't high enough. :/

I'm pretty sure I can relate to *Every* post here, lol... On the one hand, I don't want to waste a perfectly good chance at love, she seems really awesome... On the other hand, like SouthernSleever said, There's a big part of me that wonders what it would be like to be skinny and single. I never got to experience that part of life, I've been heavy since I was 12. Still not sure what I'm going to do, but at least these are good problems to have

I got really lucky with my psych eval. The first thing the guy said was "A lot of people get nervous when they think they're coming here and I get to decide if they can have surgery. In reality, my job is to assess if you are ready for surgery as you are, or if you will need help overcoming the mental and emotional blockades that come along with this." Our entire session (about an hour) was mostly spent talking about who I had to support me, and who I could turn to. I think the biggest part of it, was him making sure I realized that I was without a doubt going to lose "friends" over this. People will become jealous and spiteful over my success, and if those friends were people I depended on so much that I couldn't live without them, then he would have wanted me to come back in on a regular basis to make sure I was making the adjustment to losing my support system, and creating a new one. Fortunately, he felt my support system, and self reliance, were both really good, and he didn't see a need for any further work.

WOW! You look HOT! Great job! damn....

I went cold turkey no caffeine last month (still 5 months away from surgery). drink PLENTY of Gatorade or Water, and take any medication you can to reduce swelling. (Caffeine withdrawal headache is actually caused by something in our brains being swelled up.) I was miserable for 2 days... couldn't even go to work. Then I was fine.

UGH... bad news... just finished my sleep test this morning, and apparently I have partial apnea. I have to go back in a month and they're going to test me with a cpap machine. *SIGH*... It sucked btw, was hard as hell to sleep with all those wires, and I was dumb enough to schedule my heart stress test for the day after, so I'm sleepy and getting ready to leave here and have them test my heart. They'll still do my surgery if I have apnea right? I *really really really* hope I don't have to use this cpap thing forever. Even the guy there told me that 6 months after surgery I should get re-tested and probably won't need it... I'm trying to keep that in mind. Wish me luck at the heart doc today!

WOOT! Just got back from my psych eval... I'm sane!!!! Now just the heart test and the sleep eval, and the only thing between me and the sleeve is 5 more months of dieting

congrats!

My surgeon said asprin is bad during the healing process for VSG... but after you're healed it's fine. Gastric Bypass on the other hand, you can never have asprin again for the rest of your life.

So we all know about ghrelin... but according to my surgeon, once the brain detects ghrelin it starts to prepare for a fast. The body slows down the metabolism thinking we won't get to eat for a few days or something. In addition, there's something called the omentum (I had NEVER heard of that before.) that serves as a fat depository, amongst a few other things. One of the problems with the omentum is that once your BMI starts getting over 30, it starts to act as a blocker between the nutrition you're eating, and your cells. And the more weight you put on, the more nutrition it blocks. So what happens when you're not getting enough nutrition? Your body signals that you need to eat more by producing more ghrelin. Which in turn lowers your metabolism. So, even if you just ate an hour ago, a fatty omentum will block your cells from getting nutrition, you'll make ghrelin, shut down your metabolism, and be hungry again.. Sound familiar? I know it does to me... sometimes I'll eat a whole large pizza, and be hungry again an hour later. My surgeon said it's one of the reasons he truly believes obesity is a disease. Because you have to not eat even when your body is telling you it's hungry. Then all that sugar in your blood that the omentum is blocking from getting to your cells, just stays in your blood, and that is the cause of diabetes. (at least one type of it) So part of what makes the sleeve so awesome, is it cuts out the ghrelin producing part of your stomach, which eliminates the omentum's ability to make you hungry when you shouldn't eat... BUT it also means your brain always thinks your stomach is full.... which means your brain is constantly running your metabolism at full speed. I'm not an expert, just repeating what my surgeon said. But I found this REALLY interesting, and I thought maybe someone else on here would too.

Been working really hard on my pre-op diet... I was 405.9 at my pre-op consultation, and this morning I was down to 395 !! 11 pounds in 3 weeks hope I can keep this up.

The alcohol is probably your problem. Whenever you drink alcohol your body will burn that for energy first before anything else... it's like pure energy. No matter what diet I've ever been on, alcohol always causes a stall.

OMFG. So, I call into my insurance, trying to be a responsible adult and wanting to make sure my new policy would cover my VSG surgery before I switched. The response I got: bcbs: "I'm sorry sir, we can't tell you any details about that policy because you're not enrolled in it" me: " Then how am I supposed to know if I want to upgrade? " bcbs: " You should have gotten a sheet of benefit highlights " me: " I did... it says 'Surgeries' does that mean all surgeries are covered?" bcbs: " No " me: " Well then how am I supposed to know if my surgery is covered?" *literaly 20-30 seconds of silence* bcbs: " I'm sorry sir, we're not allowed to give out details of a policy you're not enrolled in." me: " Ok, well if I enroll, is there like a 7 day period where I can change back to the old policy if I'm not happy with it or something? " bcbs: "No" me: *sigh* I'm going to do it anyway. I'm on the cheaper plan now and I'm covered, if either of the plans had this excluded I assume it'd be the cheap one... just frustrating...

So, today is the last day of open enrollment for insurance at work. This is the time of the year when I can make changes to my plans. Right now, I pay $50 / month and the insurance covers 80% "surgeries" (doesn't list anything specific). My VSG surgeon's office called my insurance and they said that yes that covers VSG. Today... I can switch to pay $100 / month for insurance that covers 100% of "surgeries"... just worried if I do that something might go horribly wrong. like... What if surgeries on the new plan doesn't cover VSG, or what if the act of switching makes me ineligible for some red tape reason... anyone smarter than I am with insurance have any advice? I'm going to call today at lunch, but I don't even know how to word what I'm trying to ask... lol.

What makes it easier for me is thinking about it like this... I've spent 30 years being overweight and hating life. This time next year I'll be down 100 pounds and out kayaking or something. What's 1 year compared to 30? Visualize the goal Start imaging what you're going to be doing a year from now. That helps me stay strong.

I've had nutritionist, and EGD done.. Psych eval is 2 weeks away... Not looking forward to it, still haven't figured out how to convince him I'm not crazy.

Hi Sarah! my 6 months just started last week. Looks like we're in the same boat Jan 2012 sleevers represent!

The worst part was getting the IV in my hand. After that, they walked me into the OR, I laid down, they strapped all kinds of stuff to me.. oxygen in my nose, some plastic thing in my mouth to prop it open. And thats the last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital room. I don't remember anything at all about the actual EGD. Good drugs They came and gave me some food... basic hospital stuff, milk, apple juice, Water, outmeal, and a little icecream. After I ate it and used the bathroom. (They were insistent I pee before leaving for some reason.) I was clear to go. Whole thing took maybe 2 hours, counting paying for it and filling out paperwork. In case they didn't tell you, you'll need someone to drive you home afterwards. The medicine keeps you loopy for a while.

It's another kind of Upper GI basically... except instead of swallowing barium and taking an x-ray they stick a camera down your throat and look around at your stomach that way.

I just got back from my EGD. The worst part was putting the IV into my hand... ick. Other than than, I went into the OR, they put a bunch of crap in my mouth and my nose, and told me to lay on my side... I remember looking up at the clock, then the next thing I remember is waking up in my room. It was a cake walk.. one more down!

Thanks Wishes!

Yeah that's what's scary to me... what are the "right reasons" ? I just want to be healthier and less limited in life.

I know right? ... plus... I don't know exactly what would disqualify us... I mean, we're obviously unhappy because of our weight.. we obviously have issues with stress eating or emotional eating, or something... Just now "Normal" do we have to be to pass this thing?

Boy do I have mixed feelings about that... The "Growing up on disney movies" side of me wants to believe that people would love me no matter what I look like because I'm a great person. The "Reality" side of me knows that's BS, and wonders how many amazing people I've missed out on getting to know in my life because of my weight. (And conversely, how many people have missed out on getting to know me.)