triplenmomma

You look wonderful! Does she offer financing? Did you fly into San Diego and they picked you up there? Did she make you separate the surgeries or was that your choice. I will need neck, boobs, 360 tummy, butt and thigh lift. Can you stray longer than a week if you had more done or by choice? Thank you!

My surgeon says no straws and I miss them! My nut said it's the air in the empty straw at the start of each sip that is bad for you and will stretch your stomach. It seems like such a small amount to me though.

Yes, I had to get everything done before they would schedule. They had to have results from all tests and medical clearance first. I got my date the second they received all the results.

Pictures are tough. I have some picures in my gallery from when I started this journey last Feb. I will be taking more during my pro op appointment. I've thought about blogging my experience. It would help keep me on track. Excited and nervous! There are many of you in earlier Feb, so I look forward to hearing about your experiences. I started looking at my Protein powders and Vitamins last night. I think I'm going to go with Celebrate at first, only getting 30 days worth to be sure that they sit well with me. I need to find a Fiber I like as my doctor has me on that also. I hate the fiber drinks, and can't imagine drinking that thick stuff after surgery. I take fiber capsules now due to my Crohn's, so maybe I'll just mix them with pudding or something. Syntrax is on sale on vitacost right now, but I found Amazon to be cheaper than even the '45% sale' prices. I think I'm going to do Syntrax nectar in lemonade and fuzzy navel, and then Premier Protein RTD for my Protein shakes. I need to find an unflavored that I like to mix with broth now. That's my plan. What is everyone doing for protein? Heather

Hello! Can I join in on the fun? Got scheduled for February 24th today. It's finally happening! It's been a year of struggle. Finished my testing today and will see my pcp for medical clearance next week! Do not have my pre op appointment scheduled yet, but I am just so excited to finally have a date. This is happening! I'm ordering some sample packs of Protein and Vitamins tomorrow. My pre op diet starts 2/10. I need to get ready. It's great to 'meet' you all. Heather

So excited for all of you! Due to insurance error at the start of the year ams lack on communication from my doctors office, I just found out the opposite, that I have to do the diet when I thought I didn't. I loved reading the excitement in this thread though. That will be me one day! ☺

Good advice. I'm concerned abort this also, and ask my husband daily if he's still going to live me when I've 'melted'. (My way of verbalizing the hanging skin.) He always says yes. My plan is to do what is suggested above while keeping my skin will hydrated.

When I first started on this journey, I was obsessed. I've had so many delays though, that my obsession comes and goes so that I don't drive myself nuts worrying. I do have an obsessive/planning /type A personality though. I remember doing weight watches years ago and becoming obsessed with food and points, etc. It got to the point of being unhealthy. I'm trying to obsess in moderation now. If there is such a thing. ☺

I've talked to my insurance a couple of times. The issue is that they had the wrong info at the start of the year. They changed from a 6 month diet to a 4 month diet, but their system erroneously dropped the requirement completely. Then my doctor's office failed to communicate that to me due to the staff turnover. They do not have a case manager for me. I'm still figuring out my options. I am going to call them next week to see how to file a complaint. That is awesome for you though to have someone watching over both of your interests. I am sure. My husband and I have both been in this field for 2 decades. It is somewhat common for hospitals to insure themselves or only fully cover themselves. They will pay for out of network procedures for most things but not bariatric. I have to use their own services if I want any coverage at all. I guess I didn't expect so many to have such flexibility on their coverage that so many of you can and do suggest to start over. That is eye opening. I can only work within my options though. Thanks to those that offered their support. I will be ok, I'm concerned about the diet part, but agree that it will be good to get my head back in the game so to speak. My insurance sent me their guidelines and I have to show the inability to lose greater than 2 bmi points to qualify. I don't think I could do that if I tried in only 4 visits. My current bmi is so high. Hopefully this is the final hurdle though. Now, no more just switch your surgeon talk. I can't do it. I can give up completely, but I refuse to do that! I'm down but not out.

Yeah. I wish I had the money to just go where I want, but I don't. I am going to file a complaint with the health care company, but at this point just need to jump through their hoops. I've gotten this far and don't want to start over and pay out of pocket. It sounds like many of you have more than one option. I wish I did. Filling a complaint is my only recourse at this time. Thanks for your thoughts.

Just wanting to vent. I've been on this Journey since last January with my first MD appointment on 2/7/14. We discussed surgery in May and the MD said that was doable. I was told that all I needed to do to get my surgery was the Psych eval, EGD, and one pre surgery class. I got my Psych eval done in mid March 2014, and waited to hear from the MD office. In early April, I started emailing and calling the office and didn't hear back. I've been an RN myself for 18 years, and just couldn't believe that I was being ignored. My the end of April, I had given up on my May surgery date as I had never spoken to anyone from the surgeons office since my appointment in early Feb. Out of the blue, in June, I received a phone call from a nurse in the office that stated that she was new, and saw my emails and voicemails, and didn't see where anyone had gotten back to me. She was nice and apologized, and stated that they had had major turmoil in the office with almost all the staff leaving. I got lost in the shuffle, she was apologetic, and sympathetic to my voicing my frustration and anger. She stated that she would talk to the insurance 'people' and have them call me with the next steps. I never heard from anyone again. In late July, I called again, and left a voicemail stating that I would really like to schedule my EGD and finally move forward. I was actually called back within 2 days, and scheduled the EGD for the 9/2/14, and my class on 9/8/14. On the morning of the 8th, I call and talk to my patient care coordinator that was just put into her position 2 weeks ago. I ask her if there is anything else I need to do because by the information that I was given in Feb, I was ready to be submitted to insurance for approval. She comes back and tells me that I have to do a 4 month supervised diet now. I am so discouraged. I am so ready to have this surgery, and I've gotten nothing but the run around from this office. I can't afford to pay for it out of pocket and it's the only place that our insurance covers. (My husband is an RN at the same hospital.) So, while I've sat around for months waiting for the office to call me back, I could have been dieting but they neglected to tell me that my insurance had this new requirement. Ugh. So, now I'm hoping to have surgery in late Dec/early Jan. Anyway, thanks for listening. My journey continues. Any tips for the diet? What if I lose too much? We'll see what my PCP says about it next week.

Congrats and rest up!

Congrats! Rest up and enjoy some pampering.

Hello! I'm new to these parts also. Just have my initial consultation yesterday, and am aiming for a May surgery date as well. I also started off thinking of getting the band, but switched to the sleeve after the information seminar. My doctor group won't even do bands now. I'm comfortable with the decision, and anxious to get things started. Just wanted to say hi and good luck with your journey! Heather

Thanks everyone! CowgirlJane, you are beautiful, and agree with your thoughts on staying at the upper end of a healthy BMI. I was watching a youtube video last night, and the person was talking about how family pulled her aside and told her that her weightloss was too extreme. She was my height (5'4") and 127lbs. She didn't look unhealthy, but I can see how her family would think that as they were not used to seeing her at a healthy weight for so many years. I too wieghed in the high 120's in high school, and it was perfect at that time, but I feel that change might be too drastic at my age. I'll just have to see how I feel and look as I lose. Haters will hate, and so I need to go by how I feel. You all have made me look at this differently, and I thank you for that. Now that I think about it, the friends that were saying the winner looked bad were all of my overweight friends. I'd love to hear what some of my healthy weight friends think. It's all in perception. Just something else I need to work on before May! I'm loving this journey so far.