Donna4545

I thought I would post this in case anyone else is ever in my situation, to let them know it can be done. I moved to North Dakota for a job, and I've been here less than a year. I have no family here, and am divorced. My mom lives on the east coast and her health is too poor for her to travel. Soooo, the bottom line is, except for you guys/gals I'm doing this absolutely alone. I live 100 miles away from the hospital and I drive a stick shift. Doc said no way am I driving home after surgery. Here's where the helpful tips come in. The bariatric coordinator told me that the hospital has a deal with the Radisson Hotel in town, $69 a night hospital rate, and the hotel shuttle will drop me off at the hospital and pick me up when I'm discharged. So if you end up being one of the "alone" people like me, it can be done. I know that most hospitals will tell you "no taxis allowed" but if you talk to the surgery coordinator they can make exceptions in extraordinary circumstances. So you can do this alone, if the circumstances make it necessary. I will be staying at the hotel for 4 nights after discharge, just to have time to heal and be near the hospital if there are complications. After that I will drive myself home. I have everything I need here in the hotel room: Clear liquids, Isopure clear Protein RTDs, Atkins Advantage shakes, unjury chicken broth mix, pudding, and loads of diet green tea. I'm in my hotel room now (free wireless internet, woo!) and am feeling really positive about surgery tomorrow. Donna

OK, it wasn't depression after all--it was hormones. I woke up this morning and Flo had come to town, if you get my meaning. I'm feeling much better!

My program said for max weight loss try for 30 carbs a day. That sounds really low in comparison to what you guys are saying.

You aren't given a surgery date until all the pre-op testing and surgeon's consult has been done and is satisfactory, and you have insurance approval (if you're using insurance). This is in the US anyway, I don't know how it works when people go to Mexico. The whole process took me 2 weeks. All my consults were on the same day. My GP did the chest xray and ECG beforehand, so that was done before I went to the bariatric clinic.

The same day--everything was done in the same facility.

I get sleeved tomorrow. I did a bad thing last night though--I had a biscuit and a glass of wine. I guess it was my goodbye to carbs. I hope I didn't blow it. Today it's clear liquids, and I'm ok with that. Tomorrow I'm on the table. Woo!

Juarez is dangerous. Period. Don't wander around, especially at night. If you go straight from hotel to clinic, you should be fine, but this is not the time to go sightseeing downtown. They average 6 murders a day, and innocent people get caught in the crossfire.

I was told 6 weeks for strenuous exercise

I got a box set of Zumba DVDs for after surgery. I looked at them and they look like fun, though I will definitely be starting with the "Beginner" DVD.

Several people have said that when they weren't losing, they upped their protein, and got some more "good" calories in from protein and that jump-started them.

My surgery is in 3 days, and I need to start thinking about the crucial component for taking advantage of the honeymoon period of weight loss--exercise. I am a total exercise wimp. I hate it. I hate it because it hurts my knees, I have bad balance, and I find it mind-numbingly boring. So here's what I've done to ease myself into it. I decided that I wanted something that I could do at home (I live in a cold climate and there's no way I'm driving to Curves in a blizzard). I ordered a DVD set, "The All New Zumba Fitness: Latin Workout Routine" It has 4 DVDs of varyiing difficulty. It's basically "dancercise" to Latin music like samba, tango, macumba etc. I figure this will be less boring that watching some perky aerobicized blonde bouncing around in ways that make my low-impact self cringe. I wanted something I could DO. It looks like I can start the "Beginners" DVD pretty much right after surgery (taking it easy of course) and step it up a bit until I reach the 6 week point, where I am allowed to do strenuous exercise. At 6 weeks, I have another DVD to add in: "Walk at Home" which I plan to do for a half hour every morning. Hopefully by then I'll be a little lighter and it won't hurt so much. It's at that point that I have to start thinking about a gym for arms, etc. But I'm taking this one step at a time and so I'm not going to worry about the gym today. I'll worry about it tomorrow.

Well, that's what a surgeon says. I would say ask yours to be sure. He was pretty adamant about it.

If you're eating less than 800 calories/day you're not losing fat, you're losing muscle.

Keep on pluggin' Lou!

Good luck to everyone this week!

I am going to be sleeved Wednesday but I'm already thinking a year down the road. An old flame who lives out of state just got divorced, and I'm thinking, in a year I won't be embarrassed to see him lol! Until then I'm just going to concentrate on losing weight.

Ok, this is going to sound weird, but it's perfectly honest. I believe in God, but Christians drive me crazy. Most of my friends are atheists or pagans/wiccans. Can I hang out with you guys? :-)

My doctor told me that pcos would reverse itself with weight loss because my hormones would re-balance. (Fat produces estrogen, which throws the other hormones out of whack). I stopped taking my Spirolactone and my BC pills and I actually feel better, and periods are semi-normal. I don't get sleeved until Wednesday, so I'm just expecting things to get better. I was able to lose weight on the pre-op diet, so I know the pcos doesn't make weight loss impossible.

I'm 5'7 and my consultation weight was 331. I get sleeved 7/14/10 (Wednesday). I've got a long way to go. They set an initial goal of 150, but I have small bones and I think 130 is more like it, but we'll see.

BC/BS ND pays for the pannus but if you want the muscles tightened you have to pay for that part of it.

My ins co (BC/BS ND) will pay for the pannus, but skin reduction only--you have to pay for any muscle tightening yourself. They will also pay for breast work if it is congenital--and I have congenital assymetry that I'm not going to do anything about until after I lose the weight, so that takes care of that. I'll get a chin job if I need one (not covered) but that's all.

I will be sleeved by Dr. Brandon Helbling at Mid-Dakota Clinic/St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, ND. He has done hundred of sleeves with a zero complication rate. The staff are great. Insurance coverage was no problem because he is in a pilot program with BC/BS; I got approval in a week.

The only reason I'm having my surgery in the US is that insurance will pay for a good doctor/hospital. If I was self pay I would seriously consider Mexico. I have a friend who had a lap band in Mexico a year ago and she's lost 100 lbs with no complications. I know it's just one case, but I see so many on the boards that they must be doing something right down there.

I am using DaVinci sugar free syrups that I got online. $4.77 for 750 ml bottle, about 50 flavors to choose from. I got mine from supplementwarehouse.com, which is also a good source for isopure zero carb protein powder.

Tomorrow I start my 2 week pre-op diet of 2 shakes plus an Atkins dinner. I am afraid I'm going to be hungry all the time. After the surgery, my stomach will be small so I'm not worried about post op. But pre-op my stomach is huge. Any advice on how to get through it?