Goddardgo

Oh I've gotten this from family, and a really good friend of mine called me a cheater when I told her I was considering the sleeve. Don't you worry about what the outsiders say, you want this and yot for you.. so do it for you and own how awesome you look and feel afterwards Good luck to you!! I should be sleeved in June.. it can't come fast enough.

I work for Cigna, its 89 day supervised weight management. I am in my 2nd month now... can't wait to be done :-). If you meet your deductible you will just have your copay most likely, if you meet your out of pocket Max you may not have to pay a penny, just depends on your benefits.

um.. is it weird that I cried? Your journey is sooooo inspiring!! Thank you so much for sharing

I actually adutioned for season 9 with my cousin. I am thankful that I didn't get the call. Now my cousin did, the next season. She was part of the season 10 cast. She did an awesome job while being on the ranch, lost 96 pounds during the season. I will say, she has reminded me that it is a "contest" and they really do try to win the prize. I know that she had a really unforgettable experience while being on the ranch and is happy she did it, but I think this last season just went to far! The winner looked ill.. too skinny.. not healthy. I just can't wait to get my sleeve on!!

THANK YOU for the inspiration!! I can't wait to be sleeved!! I'm on day 28 of my 89 required weight management.. It feels like a lifetime away lol.

Super encouraging! Thanks for posting!!! You look fantastic! Can I ask you how your tummy skin is now that you've lost so much wait? My body type looks very simlar to your before pic. If you don't want to share, that's totally fine

I can't even imagine right now fitting into a 16!! You are AWESOME! I haven't been sleeved yet, hoping sometime in January or February.. before you know it, you'll be donating those and going into a size 10 LOL.. good job!!

It's official, I'm in my second guessing stage.. I realized that I didn't want to spend the $7,500.00 on my sleeve and decided to cancel all of my appointments with my weight loss program. I plan on selecting a new plan this month during my open enrollment for benefits and selecting an "in network" surgeon for the surgery. So I have a lower deductable and go in network to reek all of the benefits of my plan. So.. I stepped away from the forum for a while and started thinking about just being banded, because it's cheaper, it's reversible and I would still have all of my stomach. I really felt like the sleeve is what I wanted, I didn't want to wait a long time to start seeing results like I would if I had the band.. and the thought of the band doesn't set well with me. I feel like I am just trying to convince myself to do things the old way and start a diet, but I know how that goes.. I've been there.. I've done that and always always go back to my old weight. I now weigh more than I have ever weighed in my life. I noticed I actually started gaining more and more just with the idea of surgery. I need advise here. I need to get back on track and I need to start feeling good again about this.

Thank you everybody! I knew that coming on here and just starting the conversation would help me get out of my funk You're comments are greatly appreciated

I am torn, my heart is with the sleeve. I have a cousin that just had her band removed after 7 years.. and she has gained quite a bit of weight back.. that scares me.. she said you can easily cheat the band and that I would find a way to do that eventually. I was only thinking the band really because of the skin that may sag from losing the weight so quickly with the sleeve, and the fact that the band can be removed. I am nervouse only about the fact that once you're sleeved, there's no going back. I think I have to mentally just deal with that, and I'm honeslty leaning more toward the sleeve because it's what feels right to me.. I just get confused when other people start weighing in and messing with my emotions

I stopped going because they were out of network and I knew I could change my plan this month and go for an in network provider. I felt like I was wasting time for the weight loss institute if I knew I would be changing. I am still in the process however. I have an appointment with my physician this week where she will start me on the 3 months of required weight management I need and I figured once I got to my new surgeon in January I would already have most of that done, so I would just have to do whatever he/she requires and hopefully have surgery in January of February.

Due to finacial reasons I have asked my surgeon to sleeve me outpatient rather than inpatient. I was hoping to hear from some of you that had their surgery outpatient and see what your thoughts were.. were you okay at home after the surgery or would you have stayed in the hospital if you could have? The surgeon said I would have a drain, but only for 24 hours, he also said that I would put a blue dye in all of my liquids to assist in finding a leak if there was one. How safe am I doing this and a few hours going home? I have plenty of help at home (husband and 4 kids).

I am still at the beginning stages, and I've seen my surgeon twice already. Apparently they say I will see him at every appointment. It was a little weird though because we had already covered everything I thought at our first meeting, so the second time he came in 45 minutes after I met with my dietician... he woke me up when he opened the door so I was a little taken by the entire thing.. then he sat down and asked if I had any questions for him. I guess I should be happy that he wanted to talk to me... but um.. it took him so long I was napping LOL

I am only about 20 minutes from the facility, is that what you're talking about?

Thanks Laura-Ven! I read it and will go searching for more outpatient stories I think in one hand that my surgeon would have refused my asking for outpatient if he wasn't comfortable with it.. I'm just trying to see as much as possible that others have gone through so I have an idea if that's what I really want to do.

Funny that you responded to my post, because I just got done responding to yours LOL My surgeon did agree to it and told me that he's done the sleeve outpatient without any issues. I am hoping to get some more responses from people that had it outpatient so they could tell me if they regreted it.

I am 5'9 and am 277.. I have gone through this stage a couple of times now.. Actually I am going through this now I have only been hospitalized 4 times.. once for each baby No other real issues.. I do have headaches often, but nothing a little time relevers can't take care of. My latest issue is that I withdrew money from my 401k to help pay for my surgery. Now that I have that check I am thinking of all of the things I could be doing with this money. I finally broke down and asked my husband if he thought I was being selfish for taking the money out and using it on surgery.. his response was this " it's just money, who gives a sh#+" He really snapped me out of my 2nd guessing I just think about how although my kids would never admit they are embarrased of me.. I would be at their ages.. they won't have to be. I can take family pictures and be happy in them. I can wear a bra and panties in bed and not cover my mid section with a blanket so my husband doesn't get grossed out. There are far too many pros for me. I just have to remind myself of these often and get past this. Good luck to you, you'll make the decision that is best for you.

I am so excited about this procedure LOL!

I live in Phoenix and have an appointment at Banner Estrella early next month.. I am very excited about it. I wanted to know if anybody has had this procedure in Arizona?

So I had my first appointment with Weight Loss Institute of AZ today. It took about 3 hours.. met with the financial lady first who told me the procedure would cost about $9000.00 that would depend on how much the facility charges. I asked if there was an outpatient option and she spoke with the Surgeon who agreed to do my surgery outpatient which means I have to come up with $6,000.00 it's a little sad that this is the amount I have to pay using my Cigna insurance considering I work for Cigna Anyway I will have to deal with that by withdrawing from my 401k and maybe having a bake sale hee hee! I am a little confused now though because my surgeon started giving me information on the lapband just so I knew there were other options. My husband was there with me and now asks that I just weigh my option between the two. Does anybody have any advise for me regarding the lapband vs the sleeve? I knew going into this process that the sleeve is what I wanted, but now I am second guessing.. thoughts? Thanks everybody!!

OUCH is right! Is that something you can do? It would take me years lol