Scylla

When your husband tells you "Why can't you just not eat too much and exercise?" you should ask him if he'd say the same thing to an alcoholic! It's an addiction, just like alcohol, but it's even more insidious because we NEED to eat food to survive! You can't just NOT eat! Re being selfish, maybe we are being a little selfish. But we NEED to be! If you're anything like me, you always put your husband/boyfriend and kids first! This time, for this little while, we need to put OURSELVES first!

At my bariatric surgeon's office they would measure me EVERY MONTH during my medically supervised weight loss. I thought this was weird, so I asked about it. Apparently, all that weight compresses your spine and can make you shorter. Sure enough, when I got my driver's license when I was 16 I was 5'6. Now I'm 5'4 1/2. It remains to be seen whether I will get my 1 1/2 inches back--I'm getting sleeved on 4/23.

Congrats! I just finished my 6 months/7 visits of medically supervised weight loss in early March and will be sleeved on 4/23.

Every surgeon's office has different requirements (and different pre-op diets). My doctor's office said that they do this diet for either 2, 4 or 6 weeks, depending on the patient's BMI. The goal is for the patients to lose weight and also to shrink the liver to make the surgery easier.

My insurance required six months of medically supervised weight loss (which was actually seven months, because they don't count the first visit). At first I was aggravated that I had to do that, but not that I am done and surgery is scheduled I feel it really was to my benefit. I was able to "kick" my soda habit, start to minimize my caffeine consumption, start eating better and do a lot of research! I had to lose 10% of the weight I was overweight before my surgeon's office would submit me for insurance approval.

I am on Day 3 of a four week pre-op diet that consists of 4 Protein shakes a day (Myoplex Lite) and raw vegetables. The first two days were ROUGH but the weird, foggy feeling is finally gone and so is most of my real hunger. Dealing with head hunger periodically, though!

Sounds like you are having "food funerals" for foods you think you won't ever get to have again. A lot of people do this! You WILL get to have your favorite foods again--although it will take time and you will get to eat them in MUCH smaller portions. It helped me a lot to know this! Best of luck to you!

I started the pre-op diet yesterday, but I am on it for FOUR WEEKS! My surgery date is 4/23. I felt weird most of the day yesterday and dealt with some major "head hunger." I know it wasn't "real" hunger because I am able to eat raw veggies and made sure that I ate plenty of those. I am also very cold--had to put on the sweater I keep at the office AND run my little portable heater. I was also extremely tired-- I took a nap for an hour when I got home from work before making dinner for the family. I NEVER take a nap! Also, making dinner for the family was not too bad. What was weird was not being able to taste what I was cooking to make sure I was seasoning everything properly. I had to enlist my son to help me with that and to be my official "taste tester." I'm confident that the tiredness and general "weird" feeling will go away after a few days, just like it did when I did Atkins years ago. It was as if a fog suddenly lifted about 3 days in. But the next two days are going to be a drag until the fog lifts!

After jumping through insurance hoops since late August, I finally got surgical approval yesterday! My surgery date will be April 23 and I will begin my liquid Protein and raw vegetables diet on 3/24.

A year backlog?! I take it you are not in the United States? Thanks-- I loved "Little House" when I was a kid and thought this was a great pic of Nellie to use as a profile pic!

I finally got my insurance approval and surgery date! My surgery will be on April 23 at 10:30! *happy dance* I begin my 4 weeks of liquid protein and raw veggies on 3/24. Not so excited about THAT, but it's all part of the process.

So, yesterday was my last visit of medically supervised weight loss. I lost more than they asked me to and I have completed all of the other hoops that I needed to jump through in order for my surgeon's office to submit to my insurance company. They told me I just need to have blood work done to test my Vitamin D level right after the appt. (at the hospital) and they would submit the info to insurance for approval that day. YAAAy!!! Surprise! One of the nurses called me on my way back to work from the hospital to say that my insurance has an additional requirement that they forgot to tell me about (!) before they could put in for approval. I have to submit a stool sample so that they can test for h. pylori, which is apparently a bacteria that can cause ulcers and stomach cancer. So I stopped on my way home from work last night to get the collection kit (ewww) and then dropped off the sample at the lab this morning on my way to work. Not a huge deal, but it's annoying to be surprised with another hoop when you think you're done! Now they just have to wait for the results and then they can put in for approval. I searched the forum and it doesn't seem like many people have had this testing requirement (and that those who did had to take a blood test, not a stool sample) and that if they did it was usually AFTER surgery. I'm a little concerned that if I test positive for h. pylori that my surgery will be further delayed. Anyone else have to do this BEFORE surgery? If you tested positive, did it delay your surgery date? Thanks in advance!

7 Bites Jen, I'm surprised that your daughter's pediatrician ordered a strict diet at such a young age! I applaud what you are trying to do for your daughter and her health! Your mileage may vary, but I can tell you that from my experience with my own mom a restrictive diet and severe ground rules about food at such a young age had the opposite effect on me. It caused me to want to rebel against her restrictions and eat the forbidden foods whenever I could get away with it. And, boy, did I!

I have a 12 year old son and a 16 year old daughter. My son is very active and plays hockey. My daughter is not-so-active and struggles with her weight. She is acutely aware of her weight and is trying to make changes and get more active, but finds it difficult in the winter. The best thing you can do is to continue to show her the importance of good eating habits, portion control (even if the habits she learned before were bad) and encourage her to exercise. She will (hopefully) pick up on your healthy habits. Maybe you can even exercise together, like take a Zumba class or something fun?

I had a catheter when both of my kids were born because I had c-sections both times. It wasn't painful at all, and, yeah, during removal it just feels like you have to pee. What *I'M* concerned about is drainage tube removal, and I have heard that can be uncomfortable (although not every surgeon uses them).

I have had a Mirena since after my son was born in 2002 and I love it! I am one of the lucky folks who doesn't get a period at all and no side effects. I have been a Mirena evangelist ever since. My friend Laura was told by her doctor that she couldn't get Mirena because of the hormones it releases, so she got a Paragard instead. She was plagued with heavy periods before it was inserted and afterwards they became even heavier and lasted longer. It bothered her so much that she had it removed after about 6 months and she and her husband went back to their previous BC method.

A colonic is basically where a small hose is inserted in your anus and your colon is gently flushed with warm Water. Then the same water and the waste products in your colon come back out through the clear hose. I had one once because a co-worker highly recommended them. Although it wasn't particularly physically uncomfortable, it was very weird lying there with a hose up your butt and the therapist commenting on the stuff flowing through the clear hose. I wouldn't do it again.

Hi fellow Chicago sleevers! I finally finished jumping through all of my hoops last Tuesday and on Friday my doctor's office submitted for insurance approval. It will be any day now before I get approval and have to start my 30 day pre-op liquid diet!

takingaleap, I am so glad to hear your husband agreed to go to therapy with you! Your husband might not see texting another woman as "cheating" or as a big deal since it doesn't involve a physical relationship. However, texting or chatting online with someone other than your spouse creates an emotional relationship which is often even more hurtful than a spouse having an affair and saying it was "just sex". This happened with a friend of mine. Her husband went to his 25th high school reunion and he started talking to an ex-girlfriend from high school. They became friends on Facebook and started texting. Turns out, it was pretty innocent on his part--he works nights as a pharmacist by himself and has no one to talk to that late at night and it's often slow at the pharmacy. The high school ex GF knew this and would text him at night. The texts themselves were pretty innocent, but when my friend saw them it became clear to her that things were escalating, at least on the part of the high school girlfriend. She was wanting to get together "for coffee" and had let on that she was only very recently divorced. Once my friend let her husband know that she saw the texts and was not cool with him meeting up with his old friend and that she felt their relationship was unacceptable they met with their pastor and started going to counseling. Best of luck to you! I hope your husband will see the error of his ways and come around to your way of thinking on this.

That's terrible that Medicare patients would have to pay out of pocket. I wonder if they would pay for a revision to a sleeve rather than just simply band removal?

Interesting. My surgeon's practice only does endoscopies on people who are having gastric bypass--not if you are having the sleeve.

Two.penguins, glad to hear your surgery went well and they were able to figure out that you were having a reaction to the pain meds and that you are doing better today! Karen W, I hope your surgery went well! Please keep us posted!

My Nut said no gummy vitamins, as they don't have the same percentages of RDAs as chewables. Mine actually recommended the Costco/Kirkland brand children's multivitamins. Similar to Flintstones chewable vitamins, much cheaper (and sold in bulk) but better RDAs in some things. She also said that I will need sublingual B-12 for after surgery and chewable calcium citrate tablets--she actually made up a schedule for me of when to take each vitamin every day because apparently the multi-vitamins have to be taken at a different time than the calcium citrate for best absorption. I don't recall the frequency on the B-12, but, yeah, I think it was once or twice a week.

For what it's worth, when I started looking into weight loss surgery in August, I was totally set on lap band. I was prepared for having to go in frequently for fills, etc. I started to changed my mind when I kept seeing how many revisions are being done because of people not having good success with the band. What really helped decide it for me was the fact that my doctor said that lately for every one band he is putting in a patient, he is taking four out and revising them to a sleeve.

That is beyond awesome! Congratulations!!!