Malyss

The month is definitely flying by. I just had my PAT this morning. I don't trust the hospital's scales and I'm looking forward to getting back on my doctor's scales at some point. The hospital's scale had me down from 350lbs to 321lbs. I've definitely lost some weight on the pre op diet, but I doubt that I've lost that much.

Sorry to hear about the rough start, but hopefully it will get easier from here on out. Best of luck to you!

I can't remember, but I think that I ended up sleeping on my back for my sleep study. I usually alternate sleeping on my side, but with all of the wires, I just couldn't see trying to turn one way or the other. For my sleep study, I had to show up around 9pm. The technician showed me to my hotel-like room. She left, then I got into my night clothes. When I was done, she came back and we went to another room to get me set up with all of the little electrodes. I think that the worst part were the electrodes in my hair. The next morning, it was difficult to remove the paste that is used to adhere the electrode. Even though I thought that I had washed my hair rather well in the hottest Water that I could stand, I still found paste in my hair later in the day. After getting wired up, we returned to my room. I had to lie down on the bed, the tech plugged a wire into the box that was connected to all of the electrodes on my body, and then she went back to her station to test everything out. There was an intercom in the room through which the tech instructed me on what to do for the various aspects of testing out the wiring. I had to do things like stimulate rapid eye movement, flex my feet, pretend to snore, etc. There were one or two wires that were bad that the tech had to replace out, and then repeat that aspect of the test until everything was working fine. I was given the option of reading or watching the TV before going to sleep. Then sleep eventually happened. I found it hard to sleep in a strange room with so many wires attached to me, but I guess that I eventually fell asleep. My study did find that I have sleep apnea, so I did have to go in a second time to run through a second test and this time, they hooked me up to a CPAP machine. That was a scary experience at first...until I finally learned to breath with the mask on. I felt as though I wanted to freak out and tear the mask off of my face because I felt as though I couldn't breath. The tech told me to trust her and to relax and that it would be okay and somehow it was. Also, I got wired up for this test as well. This site has a pretty good description of what to expect.

Oh, boy. I just got the call from my surgeon's insurance coordinator. My health insurance has approved the surgery! It looks like I'm definitely on for 2/22. I have my PAT on Friday. My after surgery prescriptions have already been called in and are ready for pickup...as soon as I get paid on Friday. Oy. The big day seems so much realer now!

It gets better. I'm on a 14-day pre-op protein shake diet and I'm about a week into it. I've been trying to practice some things that I'll need to start doing after the surgery such as not drinking about 15-30 minutes prior to "eating" and not drinking again until at least 30 minutes later or so. I'm allowed 5-6 protein shakes per day and if I choose to, I can make them with skim milk or water. If I'm still hungry later on, I can have a lean protein and low carb vegetable. I've been trying to space out my meals as best as possible. I'm probably averaging between 2-2.5 hours between my allotted meals. Try not to let yourself go too long in between. My husband and I were out for a bit on Sunday and I went a bit too long between shakes. It was probably low blood sugar that had me so horribly cranky. It had been maybe 3-4 hours or so since my only shake of the day.

Wow, congratulations! I am also looking forward to someday kissing the plus size stores goodbye. Heck, I'm not a fancy person...so I'm kind of looking forward to having more choices at the thrift shops, but I am also looking forward to having more affordable clothing options at "regular" stores.

It's probably best to discuss the appropriate strategy with your surgeon. One of my prequisite tests showed that I have a rather large gallstone. I spoke with my surgeon about it and since it is not currently giving me any problems, we're going to wait until 2-3 months after my sleeve to take out my gallbladder. I was worried that I was going to have to my gallbladder out before the sleeve. I asked about having it out during the same surgery as my sleeve, but my surgeon prefers to do them separately.

Yay, I'm back on track. I met with my doctor yesterday and we're going to put off the gallbladder surgery until 2-3 months after my sleeve. I'm a little relieved. Now, I have two weeks of my pre-bariatric diet to get through.

My nutritionist and doctor have not banned caffeine for me, but I've decided to kick the habit prior to surgery. My primary motivation was just to avoid the withdrawal symptoms during my recovery should I not be able to fit in any caffeinated beverages. I've been a hardcore user and have been known to drink a 24oz cup of coffee, and 2-3 Coke Zeros throughout the day. So far, so good. I haven't had any caffeinated beverages since Tuesday.

Bah, I think that I'm going to be delayed a bit in getting my surgery. It sounds as though my doctor wants me to have my gallbladder removed before I have my sleeve surgery. I'll know more after I meet with him on Tuesday. Just when I was starting to get my nerve up for the sleeve surgery, I find out that I'm going to be having another surgery. I guess that after finding out that I have a somewhat large gallstone, I was hopeful that they'd be able to remove my gallbladder during my bariatric surgery. According to the office staff, it sounds as though the doctor prefers to do the surgeries separately. *sigh*

I'm fortunate. He's very good about complying with the wearing of the "sock." Heh. My mother had me when she was 46 & my father was 58. I still think that it was a menopausal oops for them. I also question the wisdom of pairing a menopausal woman and a small child together. Bless her heart and may she rest in peace, but there were times...

Scary. And to think that my husband thinks that I'm crazy for wanting to use condoms even if I'm on the pill. I've long believed in the belt and suspenders method.

Man, time is flying by. I just completed my last hurdle, which was my upper GI. I'll soon have my big pre-surgery class and then I'll have to go on the Optifast diet for 2 weeks prior to my surgery. Best of luck to all of the February Sleevers (and all the others as well).

Congratulations, Dooter. I'll be finishing my cardiac clearance on Tuesday. The cardiologist wants to put me through a stress test before he give me final clearance. At least my EKG looked good. He just didn't like my family history. I still have to finish my psych eval and my gallstone check.

I'm from Salem County. I'll be getting my sleeve 2/22/12 via the Salem Surgical Weight Loss Center.

My surgery is scheduled for 2/22/12 with a doctor that is local to me. I'm nervous, but optimistically looking forward to this change.

While researching the surgery, I have watched a number of videos online. Some have been illustrations of the surgery, but most have been actual footage from surgeries. I feel more prepared for having watched them. I feel as though I have a more comprehensive idea of just what it is that I am considering having a surgeon do to my body. I feel as though WLS is not something that I should enter into lightly. It's a big decision for me. I'm basically asking a surgeon to do a partial amputation of an otherwise properly functioning organ. Also, I have no qualms with watching graphic videos. I enjoy surgery and ER related shows, plus I watch odd things online, so I'm not terribly squeamish.

Greetings. I am a 35 y/o woman with high blood pressure and sleep apnea. I have tried a variety of methods for losing weight and after a recent regain of some of my weight, I started researching WLS. Back in September, I attended an informational seminar held by the surgeon that I am interested in having perform my surgery. I had my consultation with him back on the 29th. I am working with my insurances to work this out. I am very interested in the VSG. Over my lifetime, I've gone through a few different weight loss programs. I can remember joining Weight Watchers with my parents back around 8th grade. The summer after my freshman year of high school, I chose to attend a Weight Watchers Summer Camp up in PA. I spent 4 weeks in weight loss prison camp and lost 20lbs and got down to about 260lbs, but eventually regained it after returning to civilian life. Back around 1999, I found out that my weight had crept up to 382lbs. I only know this because at the time, I was a holiday temp at a postal facility and was able to make use of one of the walk-on scales one evening. After that, I bought and read the Atkins New Diet Revolution. I cried while reading it because many of the ideas expressed in the book just made so much sense to me. While following that program, I was able to get back down to 260lbs, but I eventually relapsed and started gaining weight back. Earlier this year, I rejoined Weight Watchers via their online program and started losing weight again, but eventually went off of the program. I think that part of what trips me up is my hunger and large stomach capacity. I can eat large amounts of food before ever getting any kind of signal from my body that I'm full or that I should stop eating. If I eat to satiety, I end up eating a lot. I'm even a slow eater, so it's not quite as though my body isn't getting a chance to register that it should be full. I just don't know. Based upon the materials that I've read and watched concerning VSG, I find that it appears that it should be a good tool for me. The restrictive size of the new stomach should be helpful. Also, the reduction of ghrelin would be beneficial. So far, I've attended an informational seminar held by the surgeon that I am interested in having perform my surgery. On September 29th, I had my consultation with him. At my doctor's appointment, I weighed in at 348lbs. I'm 5'8.5" tall, so I have an approximate BMI of 52. I have my laundry list of quests to accomplish towards my goal of having the surgery. I can cross off the sleep study from my list, as I have already recently gone through that ordeal. Back in late August, I woke up on a panic one evening after having an alarming episode in which I was unable to breathe in or out for a moment or two. It took some severe coughing before my breathing returned to normal. It feels as though it has taken a while, but tomorrow I will receive my CPAP machine. I don't want it, but I acknowledge that I need it, at least for now. I'm dreading it, but I am also looking forward to the device and the assistance that it should be able to provide me in getting a better night's sleep. As far as I go, I have my hobbies to keep me busy. In addition to reading (Terry Pratchett, George R. R. Martin), I dabble in a variety of crafts including sewing, painting, steampunking, and so on. My husband and I attend the annual Asbury Park Zombie Walk. In the past year, we've become interested in the steampunk genre and attended our first Steampunk World's Fair last May. I have a variety of steampunk projects in the works for next year. At some point, I need to assemble a Gatling gun arm for my husband. I'm not quite sure what I have in mind for my costuming for the next event. I think that I am going to wait and see where I am weight -wise before investing in sewing up any costumes for myself. Not my surgeon, but I have found some of this doctor's question & answer videos to be quite informative.