BladeFox

Ok, I get where you're coming from. The part that "...and difficult to keep patients separate....but it is the end of the year..." is scary, YIKES! However, it gives me a new perspective on the situation with the end of the year. Read my reply to woo woo and you will see why I seem stingy. I bet you are learning how to be a better nurse/pa/doctor from this thread.

I respect your opinion wow woo, but here's where you and I differ. See, I have been respectful and allowed the process to just happen, to the point that they have dropped the ball a few times and I had to inquire about it. I have been polite, for as mentioned, going on 5 visits, being given the pre-op because they dropped the ball once before. As a manager, you help your team along and coach them in hopes that they eventually get it right, so I am now at the place of, what else can I do. However, I entrust that my medical team will be on top of it because we hold them in high regard. I am an outsider hoping that this "top-notched" medical division of the hospital will be accountable to each patient. At this point in it, I'm sad to say that my hope is waining. I'm also beginning to wonder if it's just not for me because my pre-op journey is nothing like what I've read on this board, and also wondering if I should get off the board because it makes one anticipate in wait. You, woo woo, can't tell me that you have never held someone accountable in your entire life. I have no other option because they are not my direct reports, but what they are is my highly regarded medical team providing a service that requires surgery and and it is my obligation to hold them accountable and ask questions.

Update...If anyone has been reading my post about my frustration with my nutritionist you will know that I have gone from mad to frustrated to do something about it, to ok...NOW, I'M HOT AGAIN!!! So I emailed my PA to request that they submit my paperwork for approval since I am in the pre-op diet phase. I received an email from the nurse coordinator telling me that I had to complete 4 more things before submission. Two of the four things have been completed, which clearly tells me that they are not paying attention to my file or that they have poor record keeping. The only thing left to do is lose the weight by December 18 and visit with the DR. Ok, so maybe they don't want to submit the paperwork to insurance until I have done the two, but don't tell me that I have to do the other two when it is already done! That is straight up incompetence at play right here!!!! So, I emailed them back an ubber professional reply about my concerns - I had to go in management mode like I would with my direct reports and let them have it regarding my records and their processes. Nothing I said would hurt you, just cut and sting a bit to jar them into reality that they are not dealing with a helpless and incompetent person. I requested that they contact me basically with better news. Please tell me if anyone else has gone through this before? I don't want to be alone in this one. Help me to help them.....

Today I visited with my nutritionist and shared with her my frustration in not having a clear process to date. My insurance only required 3 visits with the nutritionist but here I was at the 4th and according to their records, one of the nutritionist had me down for two more which would have been 6 total!!! I asked why so many times and they didn't have a clear answer except, committment to the process... What!?! What's not to commit to, I have done everything that they have asked me to except lose 5 lbs!!! I was waiting to do that with the pre-diet! So, after deliberation with the nutritionist, I finally have the pre-op plan for my now 8 lb weight loss. YIPPEE!!!! Here's how it will work from this point on and I'm holding them to it: Next Nut visit: December 18 Must have 8 lbs lost by then. Schedule Dr. visit within the same day or next day Dr. approval for submission of paperwork to insurance Insurance approval roughly 2 weeks Date scheduled after approval Must maintain weight loss until surgery Anticipated surgery date: Sometime in January Geesh!!!

I already have low hanging fruit (wings) so I know that I will need something to tone it up after WLS, however; I don't want the upper arm surgery that leaves a long scar. Has anyone experienced with the laser/lipo surgery for this?

Ok, I used to have dizzy spells often. They would come on when I wasn't sitting straight and has happened all my life. The doctor said it was vertigo. It felt like my eyes were rapidly jerking in a circle. I would be off balanced if I walked while having an episode. In my 40's I developed high blood pressure and this vertigo became rampant. I began to research it on my own to find a natural cure and nothing worked, so one day I did something interesting. When the vertigo episode began, I would stand up and bend over so the blood would rush to my head. IT STOPPED THE EPISODE!!! Yet, I still have them at at places where bending over is not an option. Then I noticed that when I am stressed or overly anxious I would have an episode, so I tried to recognize when this would happen. After the episode I would have a migraine (not painful, just those debilitating lightning streaks.) Over time, these episodes are not as often as earlier days. When I get them, I lay down and go to sleep. Also, I have had low potassium due to medication and stress and was hospitalized for it. Nothing to play with! These also caused dizzy spells. I hope you find out what is causing your spells and find the right help.

This Thanksgiving will be my final feast and meal that I prepare. My family doesn't know this yet and I'm sure they will be surprised. For the final goodbye, I will cook a pleasurable meal that will consist of an apple cider brinned turkey, spicy fried chicken, cornbread dressing, greens, mashed potatoes with parsnips and chives and sour cream, brussel sprouts and leaks, and top it off with a peach cobbler. For snacks, I'm roasting chickpeas covered in cocoa powder, brown sugar, and sea salt. (*Remember the warning*) I plan to partake in some of it because I am still in the pre-op phase of my plan so I plan to drink loads of water and exercise like nobody's business to help purge over the weekend. However, this will be my last hoo-rah with these fanfares. I've had final goodbyes before to food but what makes this one special is because I know that the sleeve won't permit eating like this again. Therefore, my teen kids and my supportive husband will need to adjust to this new way of living. This is their final Thanksgiving meal of this magnitude at our home. Say hello to a NEW lifestyle! Gobble - Gobble

I'm assuming she is being quite cranky, depressed, tearful and others that only you know. I'm just glad that she has someone like you to care for her through this. I would say to let her go through this and cater to her needs as long as you know what she can't eat so that you are not an enabler. Read these boards and forums so that you are an educated supporter. Good Luck and hang in there!

I did ask and she didn't know and rather quickly gave me the pre-op diet that I am supposed to follow until my next visit on Dec 18. She was the one that told me that my insurance only required 3 visits with them. It was the Nut that pushed it out another 3 months. Very interesting don't you think?

So I calculated the pre-op diet that I'm starting next week. Yes, the week of Thanksgiving. I'll do it for two days and then re-start it on the following Monday. Anyway, my Spark People calculated a days meal on pre-op to be 784 calories...WHOA! So I honestly asked myself if I can do this plan and I believe I can with a lot of grumbling. I also calculated what I currently eat on a bad day and that came out to be 2,596...WHOA! I said to myself. So here's the mental challenge. I don't think the plan that I got from the Nut has enough protein to help me feel full which is very interesting coming from them, so I will incorporate another 150 calories that will come from protein. That should do it.

Woo Hoo! I would love to fold

click on 'community' and click blog and scroll down.

Surgery date....well, that's another story. Check out my blog on that topic.

I hear you on many of those that you brought up. I also have medical issues that I need to address now before it's too late. My main reason for doing this surgery is not vanity it's to get off meds, see my kids grow up and have my grandkids or find success, and mobility (my knees are painful and creeky.) Also, I want/need to get my head right about food, so I'm committing myself to visits with the nutritionist and possibly the psychologist for those issues after the surgery. I can't keep carrying a person with me everyday...I'm too old for that.

How old are you? Also, make the doctors dig deeper.

I have never heard of this type of problem on any forum related to the surgery. You may need to go see a dermatologist about that. Good Luck!

I'm pre-op but have been on other diets that caused hair shedding. My hair was the length that yours is after the cut, now my hair is a pixie cut due to shedding and peri-menopause (something that you won't need to think about for a bit ) so I chopped. I'm not missing my locks either. Don't worry, your hair will start growing back by 8 months. Congrats on the weight loss!

Congrats and make sure to rest!

Interesting, but I was thinking of things that I quit OR implemented cold-turkey. Pop, putting white sugar in things, social smoking (never a big smoker,) buying ground beef, cooking with olive oil/coconut other organic oils, taking Vitamins and supplements and I'm sure others that I can't think of offhand. I always ask myself what made me just decide to quit those things or add those things so passionately that I never want to do them again? If I could do that with rice/pasta/bread and exercise, I would have it made forever. I say this to say, we are imperfect beings and choosing this surgery is not choosing perfection. It still requires work and making right choices - forever and in all that we do.

As a matter of fact, my insurance doesn't require that I lose weight, it's the Dr's office that requires it. Somethings wrong with this picture...

Shoot, I don't know what to say to help you except, get back on the original plan and clean the pantry. Start from square one and I agree with dnanevett, get that exercise. Sometimes changing something that you do to make yourself look and feel pretty always helps me too. Good Luck!