Mr-Smith

A stingray liver is what my doc calls our liver after it has been shrunk by the pre-op diet. Force the body to use up the glycogen stores in the muscles and liver and throw us in to ketosis. Thank goodness I only need to be on it for six days! My surgery is next Wednesday on 9/14 and I'm on day three of the pre-op diet. I can handle hungry but the low carb thing is making me thick headed and draining my energy and a head ache to boot. I'm hanging in there but I'm a single parent this week with my wife out of town. I ran a red light lastnight because I was spacing out. It was a left turn so not a huge deal but still... In some ways I can't wait until the surgery is over so I can have some carbs again! Just venting, Thanks for listening

When my five year old boy poked fun of my man boobs

Sounds crazy to me but I bet your family is loving it.

Hey Skinny, The way my doctor does it is he has you come in for a pre-op either 2 weeks (diabetic) or 1 week (everyone else) before your surgery. At the pre-op, they go over the diet and send you home with everything you are allowed to eat so there is no guess work.. It's about 650 to 800 cals a day and totally no carb. Outside of provided diet, I can have sugar-free Jello, sugar-free Popsicle and various sugar free drinks like crystal light. Four meals a day are an 8oz shake or bowl of broth. I can have one NutriMed bar a day as well. The second day was the worse for me, once your body hits ketosis, it's a lot easier. I felt hungry and craved food but the headache and sluggishness have subsided.

All, I wish I still had my mom around... Cancer got her about 3 years ago, she was perpetually over weight too and I suspect that contributed to her health issues.

If I recall correctly, 1 French = .33 mm so your stomach was actually three times smaller at 10.56MM in diameter. Still the size of a straw

I have the same concerns and fears, my surgery is 2 weeks out and I'm having trouble sleeping at night. From what I have read, the biggest regret at 1 year out is not getting this done sooner. The recovery and transition will be hard but then again, maybe not as bad as we think. Now about the fear. I have been avoiding thinking about it as much as possible but coming to the boards doesn't help me with that The fear is natural, this is a life altering event. Oh, and us dudes need to stick together, we are the minority here...

No kidding! Particularly with labor day weekend between now and then. My date is 9/14 Kinda freaks me out and excited all at the same time.

9/14/11 Please add me to the rooster..

Hmm, I can't speak to the spouse thing but my daughter of 9 told me she didn't want me to change either. She will have to adjust, like you my health issues are stacking up and she will be glad I did this when she is 30 and I'm still around to be her dad.

Hang in there! Stay busy, focus on the habits of your new life. My surgery is 8/14 but between then and now, I have a ton of stuff going on with school starting, labor day weekend camping trip, going to the in-laws my pre-op visit and diet will be here in a blink of an eye then a week later, surgery.

Well, to make a long short, due to some documentation issues I can't fix, my insurance company will deny coverage for WLS. I could keep appealing until it's approved. It may take a few months to a year but doable. BUT... My company was just purchased by Manpower and my insurance could switch over to a new policy anytime in the next four months. So the timing is looking bad right now, I could spend a few months getting approved and then have my insurance change over and not cover it at all or find it is covered and the requirements require less rigor for approval. Either way, I need to wait. Or fly to Mexico LOL. -Mark

All, thanks for the reply. I need to see what happens when the dust settles from this merger and evaluate from there. MX is not off the table Mark