Miss Mac

Hi there, welcome to the forum. Con........a bit inconvenient because my tummy and brain were not getting their way all the time. Con.........a bit physically uncomfortable while healing took place, but once I got on soft foods, I started feeling better and gaining energy. Pros: My health is astronomically better. Here are what 1, 239 other people said: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/ It was a stroke that convinced me that being on a diet since 1978 was not working anymore and I had to do something! If you keep doing what you've been doing, you are going to keep getting what you have been getting.

Agree. your first move might be to contact Cigna and ask for a nurse / case manager to walk you through the process and be an advocate for you. I have Medicare as my primary insurance and BCBS Federal Employee as my secondary (retired from V.A.) I have had to pay very little for anything. For my sleeve, I think I paid about $150 for a hospital related expense.

I was 62 when I got sleeved on 12/23/2013. My option was dying young like my mother, from an obesity related abdominal aortic aneurysm. I never knew if I was going to wake up from when I went to sleep or not. We have no guarantee of anything, not even the next minute. But I knew that I had to do something. My spine was collapsing under my weight and was probably just months from being wheelchair bound. Fear can immobilize you. It is good to look at all sides of this process, but somewhere along the line, you have to do a "cost / benefit" analysis. Are the risks of dying on the operating table worse than not doing anything and letting your earthly container deteriorate? For me, I just knew that I was waaaaay overdue for a maintenance overhaul and some body work. This is like being at the top of the meanest tallest fastest roller coaster. You got that far, so you may as well stay on for the ride. Don't let your age be the major reason to back off. Hospitals and doctors don't make any money from dead patients. It definitely is in their best interest to take good care of you. No, I did not poop my pants - and it's been two years. Did I regret the surgery? No. I was uncomfortable for a few days,but once I started on purees, I began to feel better.....and I have been better every day since. So, make your lists. One list is any excuse you can think of to back down from your intent to get healthy through bariatric intervention, On the other list, write down the 1, 237 reasons to follow through in this "Last Straw" thread. Well, even more than that, because many people have posted more than one reason. I wish you the best. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/page-124#entry4047240

If you did get a divorce, what is the worst that could happen???? You would get happy????

Evolving. I still largely avoid simple carbs and starchy carbs, but I don't freak out over a piece of fruit or a glass of milk anymore.

Me too.....been shape-shifting for a while.

I have a food processor, but used my blender's smallest container since I was pureeing small amounts. I just took whatever appropriate healthy foods were on hand and pureed it with enough liquid (Water, milk, broth, etc.) to make it sloppy. For example, if pot roast was the available meal, I just put some of everything in the blender with some extra broth, and a small amount lasted me for several meals. I got tired of baby food real fast.

Bariatric surgery changes so many other things besides the size of your stomach. It will change your health and your attitude towards what is food and what isn't. For some, it changes relationships as people you thought you knew begin to voice their unwanted opinions about how they value their interaction with you. Here is my favorite thread of all, with 1,234 responses as of today. We share what it was that finally convinced us to take the plunge and hope for the best. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/page-124#entry4047240

I have BCBS FEP and was also approved for five days - just in case. However, I was the first surgery on a Monday morning and went home Wednesday afternoon. It was reassuring to know that, if needed, I could have stayed five days without a battle.

I found out that my calorie limit, just for maintenance is only 1,000 calories. I had hoped for more, because there are days when it just does not feel like enough nutrition. I feel the lack especially on strength training days. Even though the materials given to me by my team says that maintenance will be around 1600. Every bite has to count nutritionally.

eggs will have that effect on me. That is why natural gas is scented like rotten eggs, otherwise you would never smell a gas leak.

For sure check with your doctor and do some independent research on medications and weight. Because of neuropathies, I occasionally have to take Lyrica. The last time (November) I gained ten pounds in twelve days, so I just stopped and endured until I could get treatment at the pain clinic this week. I have made too much progress to gain it back so fast. Otherwise, I am pleased with my sleeve and feel so much better.

Wow......this just smells bad any way you look at it. My insurance submission was based on the weight I was when I showed up for my first appointment at the bariatric clinic. Sounds like a lawsuit and punitive damages, too. Maybe you could approach one of those lawyers who doesn't charge you unless they win their case. They won't take on a case that they don't think they can win. Document, document document. The one with the most documentation wins. While it is fresh in your mind, start a journal. You are going to need to recall the day to day progression of this disaster and who said what. Get names and go kick some a**. Hugs from Chicago.

I agree with psychprof: In Court, in Human Resources, and unemployment hearings, the one with the most documentation wins.

I am doing well, thank you. Internally I feel like my body is functioning so much better.

Oh, how naughty! I love it!

I eat anything I want to. The difference is that what I want has changed. I don't want Twinkies and Pepsi anymore. I want fresh food prepared from scratch. I eat roasted and salad veggies instead of potato chips. I don't eat near as much red meat and cheese that I used to, but I have learned to explore seafood instead of going into a seafood panic shutdown. We keep roasted turkey in the fridge instead of just on Thanksgiving. I eat vanilla Greek Yogurt instead of full fat Breyers Ice Cream. Fruit is a fresh peach, not peach pie. Actually, I have become a "Nutritarian" meaning that nothing goes into my body that does not provided nutrition to fuel my body. Instead of my body being a means to eat oversized servings of everything my taste buds desire, it has become a mechanical container for my spiritual essence of being (my personality, my spirit, that part of me that entered at conception and will exit upon death). It is my full time job now to maintain that container in good condition for as long as possible. My body reacts instantly in a bad way to things I used to eat. I have learned the difference between real food (things you grow, chase, and pick) and edible products made in factories. So, my primary guidance now is to just not eat anything made in a factory.

I would like to think that if my boyfriend or one of my daughters wanted to go out of the country for a medical procedure that I did not agree was a brilliant idea, then I would volunteer to go along to make sure that they were well-taken care of. You said that you thought you might have to fake feeling better that you do on any given day just to prevent "I told you so." Well, they will find out soon enough that you are on a liquid diet and have holes in your belly that need to heal. Tell them to back off and that if you feel like you are not progressing as you should that you will promptly contact your home physician. Take whatever downtime you need. I was weak as I was healing and progressing through the diet phases, but I was able to feed myself, bathe myself, make the bed, drag (not carry) the laundry basket down the stairs, do dishes, etc. By no means was I helpless and asking others to wait on me, but I was glad I am retired and did not have to go to work or take care of little kids. Please keep us informed of how your surgery goes. I am rooting for you! Hugs from Chicago.

I get my Syntrax nectar from http://www.mybariatricpantry.com My personal favorite is grapefruit because when I mix it with Crystal Lite Lemonade, it tastes just like Fresca soda.

My bariatric Vitamins were hideous tasting horse pills (Bariatric Advantage AE). I tried cutting them in half and I tried cutting them in quarters. I mashed them up with a mortar and pestle and stirred it into applesauce. Blech!!!! So, I my doctor let me try Flintstone Chewables, but I came up a little short on my B vitamins with the next blood labs. I switched to a Walgreen's brand for women over 50, plus folic acid supplements, sublingual B12, and D3. I also get Walgreen's brand of chewable Calcium plus D. They have it in caramel or chocolate. Both are ok. My December (year two) blood labs were perfect.

Welcome. There is always room for one more.

I have a lift chair from when I had some spinal surgery, and I slept in that for a few nights. Some people sleep propped up with pillows. This help from pulling on sore abdominal muscles.

I am sorry to hear that the nursing staff treated you badly. Over the decades I have had several surgeries, with hospital care being inconsistent from one to the next. When I had my right knee replaced in 2007, I felt ignored at the hospital. Since I lived alone at the time, and my sister's house had steep stairs, I opted to spend a week in the rehab center of a nursing home. I had worked at a nursing home once, supervising housekeepers, and saw first hand how people who did not have a sitter or got no visitors, were ignored most of all. So, Since I always take a notebook with me to the hospital, I got it out and started writing. Every time someone came in the room, I wrote down their name and what they said and what they did. I wrote down when meds or therapy was on time and when they weren't. I wrote down how the food was and what time it came and was it what I ordered. By the second day, a rumor had gotten around that I was a journalist, keeping track of all of this for an eye-witness report on nursing care. (Gee, I wonder who started the rumor....hmmmm) Ha! By the second day, I was getting everything on time, and people who were grumpy the first day were absolute angels. Everything was on time and staff introduced and explained themselves like they were supposed to do in the first place. Badges that were turned backward the first day were visible the second. Every time I need to spend time in the hospital, I have a notebook out and start writing everything down. When the staffer can't be so anonymous and must account for everything they do, their job performance improves drastically and quickly. Hopefully, any time you must return to the hospital, you will get the care you expect. Hugs from Chicago.

Here is my favorite thread on this forum: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/page-122#entry4029249 We share when it was that we finally decided to take the plunge. Another recurring theme is that many if not most of us wish we had done this sooner.

I'm 64 and retired, so all I want is to be less Cathy Bates and more Rita Moreno.