Dallas_P

Does your social worker have a degree in psychology and are they licensed as a psychologist? If not I wouldn't expect that a social worker could clear you for bariatric surgery. Check with your surgeon for a list of acceptable professionals. Most that are affiliated with the surgeons have a specialty in dealing with bariatric surgery patients.

Food funerals are for the weak. No one that is having this surgery is being asked to give up their favorite foods forever. If you feel the need to pig out one last time you haven't changed your mindset and aren't ready for this. Use this time to start learning new healthy eating habits instead of eating the food that made you the way you are today. All these excuses like closure are BS. If you can't go into this the right way you're not ready and won't be successful. Lots of people have had this surgery only to eat themselves back to the weight they were and them some. Get mad at these unhealthy trigger foods and go into the surgery on a roll. It will make life after surgery and making massive lifestyle changes much easier.

Same story here. When I had my endoscopy they found 10 polyps in my stomach. I was orginally going to have the RNY Bypass but my doctor told me that they could not do followup endoscopy's with the RNY so I switched to the sleeve. I had my colonoscopy about 10 days ago and they found 5 polyps and removed them. I'm still waiting on the lab results. The worst part of the conolonscopy was the prep for it the night before but the procedure itself was uneventful. Just went to sleep, woke up, and went home. I'm glad I had it and got these polyps caught before it was too late. I'm also maxed out on my out of pocket now so my surgery will be free. I'm having it July 31st at Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano, TX.

Hi, I'm July 31st also at Baylor Plano in Texas. I started the weight loss diet about two months ago with the Optifast shakes and Protein bars. I ate nothing but Optifast six meals a day (a little bit under 1000 calories per day) and averaged slightly over 1 lb a day weight loss. I stopped after two weeks and went to the two shakes a day one sensible meal plan. I'm down 40 lbs now and I'll stay on this diet until the day before surgery. I've got three different flavors of Isopure in the refrigerator and some beef and chicken broth in the pantry. Will pick up some sugar free Jello later. I think I'm basically ready. Good luck to eveyone. I'll be posting more as the day gets closer. Only 13 days left. Dallas

I had my pre-admission testing yesterday. When I told the nurse that was taking my history that I was taking phentermine her faced turned white and she put a big red flag comment about it on my record. She asked me if my surgeon knew about this and I said yes and it was actually another bariatric surgeon that prescribed the medication for me as part of the Optifast physcian supervised weight loss program. I had not taken it yesterday and decided based on her reaction to stop. I haven't felt any side effects and my EKG results had acutally improved to normal. So I think I'm cleared for surgery (July 31) unless somehow this comes back to bite me.

I'm telling everyone the truth. I'm not afraid of what they might think. For me its just easier to do. I understand for others that this is a very private matter. I'm not ashamed of having the procedure. I've tried everything else and failed and I'm determined to succeed with this. The questions will come quickly and I don't want people to think I'm sick so I'm telling everyone that is interested what I'm doing. I've even posted it on Facebook. I haven't heard any negative responses yet. In fact I've had people comment on my pre-surgical weight loss. So far I've found everyone at work, home, and my friends to be accepting and supportive. Some are a little bit afraid for me but I think that goes back to the horror stories from the old days when people were dying from having weight loss surgery. The laproscopic surgery has really taken a lot of the risk out of this and significantly increased the recovery time. So I'm ready. 13 days to go.

I had both the endoscopy and colonoscopy. Had polyps discovered in both procedures. I thought the endoscopy was the easier of the two procedures. The worst part of the colonoscopy was the cleansing out of the system prior to surgery. The Gatorade concoction made me sick. The procedure itself was easy. Go to sleep, wake up, go home. Nothing to it.

Wow! That's exactly what I was afraid of. Dr. Kim's office told me that I'd only be billed what the in network rates were but I talked to an individual at Texas General and she couldn't guarantee me 100%. She told me if there was a differential that they could set up a payment plan over time to cover the difference. That didn't exactly give me the warm and fuzzy's so I switched to Dr. Nicholson who does the surgery at an in network hospital. I'm sure your bill will be taken care of but it's scary to see a bill like that with your name on it as your recoverying from surgery. I'm glad to see the surgery went well. Dr. Kim is a top notch surgeon. There was never a question about that in my mind. It was only the hospital that gave me pause. Dallas

Hi, my surgery date is also July 31st. I struggled in the beginning with losing weight. If you have to lose weight 15 lbs in 15 days, I'd recommend going on the Optifast Program. It is a physcian supervised weight loss program. If you do the 800 calorie program you might be able to lose that amount of weight. The 800 calorie program is 5 shakes or protein bars or soup meals a day. You'll average about 1lb a day weight loss. I lost 40 lbs on my program. After two weeks I switched from the 800 calorie program to 2 shakes a day and one healthy meal. I lost about 20lbs in the first two weeks on the all liquid diet. Here is a link to Optifast. Best of luck to you. https://www.optifast.com/Pages/index.aspx Dallas

You look absolutely stunning! And you have a glow about you as well. Congratulations! I'm glad you got the results you were looking for. Dallas

You look great. Tremendous results for only two months out. Keep up the good work! Dallas

Dr Kim did mine in June 10th I started with Dr. Kim and switched to Dr. Nicholson. The only reason I switched was because the hospital did the surgery at (Texas General) was not in my network with Cigna. Dr. Kim is a great Dr. and a good guy. I enjoyed meeting him. So what did you think of Texas General? I know it's a relatively new hospital that opened up after a long hiatus. My suregery is July 31st at Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano. I've been working on this since January 6th. Glad to finally see it through. Dallas

I've heard nothing but great things about Dr. Alvarez. I subscribe to his youtube videos and read everything he publishes. I even listen to his podcasts. He is a real gentleman and extremely professional with so much experience. Dr. Alvarez was my backup plan in case my insurance company denied me which they did but I fought back and won. I actually would have considered Dr. Alvarez if my insurance company would have covered it. My surgery date is July 31st. Only two weeks and a little out. Best of luck with your surgery and recovery. Dallas

It is great to see the progress that everyone had made in this group. I'm the last one to have the surgery (July 31st) so I am very appreciative of all the tips that everyone is giving. It is great to see that everyone is coming through this without complications and that they pain is controllable and relatively short term in duration. The one thing i struggle with is sleeping. I'm on a CPAP machine and years ago when my snoring was said to be that of a large bear I tried to compensate for it by sleeping on my stomach. I know that that is out with this surgery. Side sleeping would be my second choice and I see that that is not recommended and I'm told to refrain from sleeping on my back because of my sleep apnea. What I was thinking about doing and was wondering if anyone has tried this yet was to sleep in my La-Z Boy recliner. I generally fall asleep in that chair watching TV that way anyway and get better short term sleep in it than I get in my bed. I thought with it being a recliner with hearting and vibrating abilties that it might make a good choice of a place to sleep in while I'm healing. Has anyone else tried this and if so how was it. Thanks again and congratulations to all those that have done this and are one their way to meding and weight loss. Best of luck to everyone who is about to have this done. See you all on the otherside! Dallas

I am amazed that so many people are able to get a surgery date before they have insurance approval. For those that are self pay I understand but my Doctor won't even discuss surgery dates until there is a written confirmation from the Insurance Company. For me the whole approval process was a complete nightmare. It took a total of 75 days before I finally got approval. In the first go around I had to wait until the afternoon of the 30th day before Cigna would even tell me that I was denied. I had called Cigna weekly to see if they had everything they needed to make a determination and they told me that they did. When I was told that my surgery was denied they said it was because my application did not contain my Physicians letter reccommending surgery and clearing me for surgery. I went to great lenghts to get the letter so I know it was sent. I was also told that my file did not contain clearance from a mental health professional and yet that was in my file as well. I protested and we resubmitted everything and did get approval 15 days later. Only problem was by that time I had my endoscopy which showed that I had 10 polyps in the stomach. I had originally applied for the gastric bypass RNY surgery but the problem with that surgery is they completely seal of your old stomach and make a small pouch which becomes the new stomach. My doctor and I thought it would be advisable at that time to do the sleeve instead because with the sleeve the polyps could be monitored and a new endoscopy done every three years. So we had to apply again and wait another 30 days. I had mentioned before that Cigna said that they only give quick 5 day approvals for those patients that are requesting overnight stays in the hospital. My doctor and hospital require that the surgery be listed as outpatient with 23 hours of observation (which means one overnight stay possible). To top all that off before I could even apply to Cigna I had to get clearance from my cardiologist because I had an abnornal EKG. I had to do a nuclear stress test which was inconclusive and eventually had to have a heart cathertization done (which cost more than the sleeve surgery). In the end all is good but you can see why it might be dangerous to schedule your surgery before the approval process with all the possibilities of things that can go wrong. The good news is, is that on this Thursday I am going through the pre-admission testing at Baylor Regional Hospital in Plano, TX and if all goes well I'll have surgery on Thursday July 31st. Best of luck to all the July Sleevers that have had this done and to all those that will have it done. The process can be confusing and frustrating but well worth it in the end. I propose that someone should start a threat next year of all the July 2014 sleever and have everyone post before and after pictures. No one will remember then the insurance company frustrations and we'll all be able to Celebrate the great accomplishment we all have made in our appearance but most importantly ourt health. Good luck everyone!.

I'd be glad to help as well. My surgery is July 31. Finished the liquid diet and just waiting for the end of the month to come.

I am currently using it as part of a physician supervise weight loss program (optifast). I've had good results with it as an appetite suppressant. The first day I was on it I felt this energy rush but it that eh he t went away the next day. I've lost almost 40lbs on the pre-surgery liquid diet and plan to stay on it until my surgery date. The program has worked so well that I thought that I might be able to do this without surgery but like others here have said I've lost weight before only to see it come back with a vengeance. I've had no side effects since the initial energy rush. I'm looking forward to my surgery date (July 31) with the goal of greeting rid of all my medications and especially my CPAP machine.

I had my endoscopy last month. The procedure went really well. I saw somewhat fearing this procedure because I have a strong gag reflex. I was very pleased when they told me that I would be under general anesthesia and I went out like a light and woke up with no side effects from the anesthesia. When I woke up my doctor told me that they found 10 polyps in the stomach. They did a biopsy on one and fortunately it was benign. I originally was going to have the roux-en-y bypass procedure but changed to the sleeve instead because the doctor told me they like to closely monitor polyps and they can not do this with the roux-en-y procedure because they old stomach is sealed off and can't be entered into through endoscopy. So we had to resubmit to Cigna for approval and start the waiting game all over again. Good new is I got approved on July 3rd and will be having the sleeve procedure on July 31st. I decided as a precautionary measure to have a colonoscopy procedure as well which will be done on Monday July 7th. I figured if I have polyps in my stomach there is a strong probability that I will have them in my large intestine or colon as well. This is my first colonoscopy and I'll report back on Monday how it went. I was just curious whether other members have had polyps detected in their endoscopy as well and what they have done with them. Can they be removed during the VSG surgery? It sounds kind of crazy but I first started out thinking that I would have the sleeve but had some fear of losing such a large percentage of my stomach forever. Now that i know that I have polyps in my stomach I'm looking forward to having the sleeve hoping that most of the polyps will be taken out with the stomach and I'll start out again polyp free. My doctor told me that these polyps are relatively common but haven't talked to anyone that had them. He recommended an endoscopy every three years to track them. I think having the colonoscopy is a good idea for those who have had polyps detected. Has anyone else here had polyps detected as a result of your endoscopy procedure?

Dr. Nicholson is my surgeon and is considered to be one of the best bariatric surgeons in the country. I don't know if you have been to Dr Nicholson's seminar or not. He has a free seminar every two weeks and it is very well attended. At my seminar he talked about selecting a surgeon and stated that your surgeon should have performed at least 1000 bariatric surgeries. I am not familiar with Dr Charlton. Did you pick him or did someone at the clinic suggest him to you? I would go with Dr Nicholson. He has the experience and his name is on the clinic. You can't go wrong with him.

Hello everyone! It looks like I'm last in line. I'm July 31st at Baylor Plano. Best of luck to everyone for a speedy, pain free recovery and a successful weight loss journey!

My last supper will be a Protein shake. I've made the decision not to indulge in the foods that got me the way that I am. I decided that I am a food-a-holic at least in regards to anything Italian (I love pizza and pasta). I'm just afraid I'll binge on the meal. For me it's like a bad relationship. I'm drawn to it but I know its not good for me and the best thing I can do is just stay away. Everyone is different and this is not meant to pass judgment on anyone that has a last supper. For me I am now in a comfortable place where I do not crave these foods any longer and don't want to start the craving and mental hunger for these foods all over again. I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming surgery and if you are going to have that last meal of your favorites go ahead, do it in moderation and by all means enjoy it without guilt.

I agree that with others and you that this is something that should not be rushed into. Here is what I would recommend. Continue your discussions with your nutritionist and your psychologist and focus on losing weight naturally through diet and exercise. I had a rather lengthy approval process and decided that I would aggressively try and lose as much weight as possible while I was waiting. I started the Optifast program and had very good results losing approximately 20 lbs per month which is about what you would expect to lose post op as well. What it showed me was that I could make the break from my old eating habits and develop new healthy ones and it gave me the confidence to move forward. When you finally make your decision to either move forward with surgery or not should be something that you are totally comfortable with and look forward to having. There is no turning back after the surgery so make sure that you are committed to doing this and hopefully you can make a decision that you won't regret. In the end it's all about becoming healthier. Whatever you do, don't give up. The worst thing that you can do is to accept your current situation. It is much more dangerous to do nothing and remain obese. Just make sure you are totally comfortable with what you do and then don't look back.

I too originally chose the RNY procedure but had the decision made for me to change to the VSG based on my endoscopy which showed that I had polyps in my stomach and there would be no way to monitor them if I chose RNY. Even before that I was struggling with the complexities of the RNY procedure with the rerouting of the intestines, complications such as ulcers were much higher, and the issues with possible malnutrition and side effects like dumping syndrome. The VSG does seem like a much simpler procedure with results that seem to be as good as the RNY. In the end both procedures have very good results and I don't think you can go wrong with either. It's a hard decision to make and I wish that surgeons would be a little more proactive in helping us with the decision. Good luck with your decision. In the end these are just tools. You can be equally successful with either procedure if you commit to sticking with the diet and exercising.

I barely qualify for this group but I'm in! July 31! All tests and diets completed. Down 40 lbs from first visit with surgeon. Good luck everyone!

Go to mycigna.com and set up an account. It's a very good site that has a tracker to show where you are at from both a deductible and out of pocket standpoint. You also have access to all doctors and hospitals that are in and out of network. As of today because of the out of pocket payments I've made on all the tests and other procedures my VSG will only cost me $42. My deductible is $600 with a 20% co-pay but maxes out at $2800 out of pocket. Every plan is different. Set up your account at mycigna.com today. You'll use it often. https://my.cigna.com/web/public/guest?