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I received a letter.

I don't want to go back to work today, but I must! Yes, I do office work. My building is very large, so there is a lot of walking to get from the parking garage to my office, but it's not bad after that unless I have a lot of meetings. I had no meetings yesterday and probably won't have this week. Getting up to walk periodically is important for anyone who sits at a desk, but I have never been one to do so. I lose track of time when I get "in the zone." If I get exhausted today, I will go home instead of toughing it out. If I had my laptop home, I would ask for a work at home day! I'm such a weeny.

Ugh. That didn't go very well. Oh, I lasted 7 of the 8 hours, so I guess it wasn't too bad. So, what did I learn? 1. Don't lean over your laptop for hours. It will hurt 2. Remember to drink your protein shake SLOWLY 3. Just because the soup from the cafeteria tastes delicious, don't eat more than you can "stomach" 4. Always bring liquid Tylenol and GasX strips 5. Be willing to cry uncle and go home and take a nap until the pain goes away

Speaking of exploring "hidden potentials," have you thought about writing as a second career? I am so inspired by your post, that I am going to copy it and refer back to it when I hit those inevitable lows. Thank you!

Congratulations! I hadn't thought about it, but that is one of my NSVs as well. Besides my wedding ring, I have a diamond ring that my mother left me. I would really like to be able to wear that one again. As that one is larger than my wedding band, I'll shoot for that one first. Congratulations again. Nice to be reminded that it is not just about the scale.

I think it took me about a week. I am 12 days postop now and still taking naps, but I sleep soundly through the night. Also can sleep on either side, which helps a lot!

Most likely it will be covered. There are some medical necessity criteria to meet. You can go to the website and read the medical policy for yourself. Here is the link: http://medicalpolicy.hcsc.net/medicalpolicy/home?ctype=POLICY&cat=Surgery&path=/templatedata/medpolicies/POLICY/data/SURGERY/SUR716.003_2012-02-01#hlink

Congratulations to you both! I am happy to just be obese. LOL.

Congratulations! You are an inspiration to us all. I am only 12 days postop. I can only aspire for results like yours.

Karyanne, I am only 12 days postop. I will tell you that you will have moments when you think "Why did I do this to myself????" It is a little scary. I've had very well-intentioned family members ask me, if you still have to watch what you eat, than what's the point of the surgery? At first I didn't have an answer to that, and then it came to me. Because the sleeve will gripe at you if you overeat! I am still on the liquid phase of the postop diet. If I drink a Protein shake too fast, I hurt. It is another tool in the weightloss arsenal. About "eating like normal..." First, what is normal? You will be able to eat the foods you enjoy, just not as much. Will you be able to eat a loaded plate at Thanksgiving? Nope. I think the answer is that normal will be different, but not unbearable. Tonight, my family wanted to go to a restaurant for dinner. They felt really bad asking me to watch them eat, when I can't, but I didn't want them to put their lives on hold for me. So, I ordered minestrone Soup. I could only drink the liquid portion of the soup, but OMG, it was like ambrosia. However, there was a LOT of soup left once all of the liquid was gone. The waitress asked me several times if there was something wrong with the soup. You will get that for a while. My husband had his surgery in April. He eats about half the meal, then takes the rest home. Sometimes he has enough for two lunches! Don't let anyone bring you down. It is so worth it!

Dr. Nick is excellent. He sleeved me, my husband, and several coworkers. I work for an insurance company (not allowed to say the name, of course) and Dr. Nick has top ratings for quality. This takes into account outcomes such as complications, infections, etc, as well as patient satisfaction scores. I also had several xray techs and nurses tell me he was the best. I am not saying the other surgeons are not just as well qualified, but that he is very well liked and respected.

I didn't do self-pay but can tell you that my insurance company approved me about 1.5 weeks after the seminar. If you are self-pay, you won't have even that short of a wait but can schedule an appointment with Dr. Nick and set the date. You do decide where you want to have surgery. My husband had it at Victory and I had mine at Forest Park. I think the nurse to patient ratio is lower at Victory and it is a smaller facility. You might prefer that facility, but honestly, both were awesome. I'm a nurse, so when I am impressed, it's something! And yes, I was asking for ice chips in the PACU. Very nice to get that immediately because I was already pretty much dehydrated by the time of surgery as I had gone 14 hours NPO. You will have a drain and a "pain ball" which slowly releases pain meds at the incision site. You will most likely go home with the pain ball, but the drain will be removed right before discharge. Be forewarned: it feels disgusting coming out!

I hope you have someone to help you after you get home! I am married with three children. We sent the kids to spend a week with my sister-in-law in Austin. I was doing good just taking care of me. But, as you know, you do what you have to do. If my children had been at home, I would have made do, somehow, but it would not have been easy. I was so exhausted.

I was sleeved on 6/25 and I am the same. Yesterday, I barely made it through a Walmart shopping trip. Got dizzy and weak! Scared me because I am supposed to return to work on Monday. Today is better. I know this is normal, but it doesn't seem like it when you are going through it. Helps to know it's not just me, though!

I apologize if I offended anyone with my post. Please take it in the spirit it was meant.

OMG! I enjoyed everyone's posts. I think we all know some skinny person or two who like to complain about how thin they are. It's usually very obvious that they are attention-seeking and are, as my mother used to say, "fishing for compliments." Next time you hear someone try to draw out those compliments, just say, "Oh it must be so awful! I feel so bad for you! You just can't gain any curves, can you?"

Sorry to hear, TexasRed, that you had so much postop nausea! My husband went through that as well. Hope things are better now!

I recognized it from page one. Dr. Nick is my surgeon as well.

Hi everyone! My name is Pam, I'm from the Dallas area, and I was sleeved on 6/25/2013. My husband was sleeved on 5/6/13. It all started in August of last year. Two of my co-workers had VSG done during the same week (unbeknownst to the other!). Both of them weighed significantly less than me. Call it my wake up call. I had to finally accept the fact that I am morbidly obese at a BMI of 45. I went home that evening and told my husband I was interested in this "new" weight-loss surgery. I had never been interested in the bypass because I couldn't stand the thought of dumping syndrome. The sleeve surgery sounded perfect. To my surprise, he not only approved of my interest, but said he was interested too! We went to a seminar held by Dr. Nick Nicholson. That evening, we made our decision. My husband even told me he wanted to go first. He said because he had more to lose. I think he didn't want to chicken out after he saw me go through it! Since his surgery, he has lost 84 pounds, including pre-op diet. I have lost 44.8 pounds, including pre-op. I started my pre-op diet when he started his, so I lost quite a bit more than I would have otherwise. Reasons for wanting to lose weight (besides the obvious): We have 3 children: two teenage daughters and a 7 year old daughter. We have hardly any energy to do fun things with them, especially the youngest, who has ADHD. Going out to see fireworks last night was a big family outing for us! I am so excited and happy. I know this time I will succeed and get to my goal of at least 150 pounds. I want to have energy to give my children quality time. I am also grateful to have found this forum. I also attend a support group at work. I am a nurse who works for a health insurance company. We have a LOT of nurses who have had this surgery, especially since our insurance covers it. It is great to meet twice a month and compare notes.

I had surgery on 6/25 as well. Still on the liquid postop diet. Can't wait until I can chew something!

June 25th for me as well!

Surgery June 25 Highest weight 274 Current weight 229 Lost 12 post since surgery Just starting getting my energy back on 7/4. Went out and saw fireworks! Still struggling with finding Protein drinks I like. Congrats to all of us!

LOL! I'm a nurse also and I totally agree...we make horrible patients. I'm trying though. Still on liquid post-op diet but I want to cheat every day.

Ok, I am post-op 9 days and I have to say, I am sick to death of protein shakes! None of the powders taste good to me. I would rather starve than try to choke them down. I can just barely tolerate Premier Protein chocolate shakes. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you for all of the suggestions! I will go shopping tomorrow and get some samples. Hopefully I will find something that I like. Unfortunately, I am still on the full liquids so I can't add banana but I could add banana flavoring. I had thought that maybe the Nectar protein shakes were not cold enough and maybe if I mixed them in a blender, but I am worried that they will be too fizzy then. I like the idea of refrigerating them. Again, thank you!