Forsythia

Double this and you have what it cost at Northwestern Memorial hospital in Chicago. I ended up owing $1800 OOP after insurance..

Endoscopy depends on your doctor/hospital program. I had one. It was easy peasy. They did what they call conscious sedation. You are actually awake the entire time but remember nothing. I remember being walked into the room, getting on the table and rolling over on my side. The doctor came in and chit chatted with me and then I remember waking up in the recovery room humming a song. LOL. They gave me a ginger ale and some animal crackers and sent me home.

You can also get Protein puddings. And you can of course add powder to things like yogurt. There are unflavored powders you can add to soups and the like. And chicken soup flavored protein even. No need to have something that is too sweet if it is the sweet that is bothering you. Since I am on general diet the easiest way for me to tolerate my protein is to put a scoop of vanilla body fortress in my coffee, then add flavored sugar free syrup to it. That way I get my daily caffeine and 30 grams of protein in one fell swoop.

I have that loose drapey skin on my inner thighs, but my legs have always been skinny from about 3 or 4 inches above the knee on down, so I can still wear shorts and skirts. I also had a lot of side boob fat that does the same thing. I can just shove that into my bra. Not sure how my tummy is gonna pan out. That is where a lot of my fat still resides. Not sure how well it will turn out.

You should also schedule a visit or two with your clinic's psych for some one on one sessions as well. It is hard to manage a food addiction and the psych your surgeon uses is well versed in eating disorders/food addictions and can help you.

My first stall was approximately at week 2, and lasted for about 12 days. It sucked. But it will go away. Your body is basically saying "HOLD UP! WTF DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Once it heals a bit and calms down, weight loss will resume. Continue to follow your instructions and ramp up your daily activity to promote healing.

I like how you managed to take your selfies in the same bathroom. Tee hee. You look great. And yeah, even though I'm still fat (but creeping closer to onederland), I realize that when I was over 300 lbs I must have looked terrible in the minds of other people.

Because I am running. Who the hell are you, Andrea Diggs? A runner? Let me say that when I run, its like a minute or two of walking, then a minute of running, then back to walking, etc. So it is not like full on half an hour 45 minutes of running. But I am on a treadmill doing something I swore I would never do, ever. Running. And it is not bad. I'm slow - only 4.2 mph, but walking has gotten too easy? Running on actual pavement is harder than the treadmill, but at the gym I feel I've hit my walking limit and almost have to move on to running to get the calorie burn that I want. At 228 lbs, I burn fewer calories than I did at 280. I gotta make up for that somehow. Please seriously, let me know if you see any zombies. Because this is a sign of the apocalypse.

Oh, I swore up and down that I would never run. The last time I legit ran was Junior High (think 1990). And when I did that, I fell into a mole hole and sprained my ankle pretty darn badly. So I'm already predisposed to be wary about it! So the fact that I am doing it is just bizarre to me!

I have no issues going out to eat. Just know that 2/3rds of it is going to be boxed up. Think of all the money you will save on lunch the next day at work - you can have leftovers for three days. LOL! Once I was back on general diet, I was able to eat whatever I felt like at a restaurant. When I was first sleeved I stuck to things like Soups at restaurants just because I didn't know how my stomach was going to react to things and Soup was always pretty safe.

I really only considered the sleeve. The band just seems to have too much potential for issues (and the surgeons at my hospital really prefer not to do them because of the issues). I liked the idea of having something permanent that did not reroute my insides or effect digestion. I don't like idea of malabsorption for another 30 plus years. So for me the sleeve was the best choice.

You are going to feel pretty full until all the swelling goes down. So like, three bites and you are good. And you will have more than that on your plate and totally think it can't possibly fill you up. But yeah, it will. Those first few weeks I wasn't even hungry. I had to force myself to eat. I suggest only eating a bite or two. Even if you think it can't possibly fill you up. Then wait a few minutes and assess if you need more. If yes, have another bite, if no, refrigerate for later.

I had trouble with plain water post op. It bothered me cold. It bothered me lukewarm. I could only tolerate it with crystal light or some kind of flavoring. Now I have no issues 5 months out, but those first couple weeks... nope.

Sugar has no nutritional value. It's just empty calories. A lot of people find that carbs like sugar slow down their weight loss. I have no issues with sugar. Some people do, but I can eat it just fine now.

Sleeved on May 5th. Currently I'm 228. Down 84lbs since the surgery. Woot.

My job at the time only had PTO (paid time off). No separate sick/vacation/personal days. I took a week of vacation. I chose not to take medical leave because I did not believe that I was going to need more time off than that. Also, I could not afford to be off longer than a week since medical leave is not paid. I could have gone back after 5 days.

I'm a nut, because I was not nervous at all! Even as I walked up to the hospital, I was pretty chill. I figured if something bad happened I had a good run. LOL.

Awesome!

You look good!

I didn't have to play the weight game like you did, but I knew that my surgeon's office's scale weighed me four lbs higher than my scale. Always.

Being the vain sort I never really minded looking in the mirror at myself. I look in the mirror and sometimes I'm like, "Oh hey, look you have collarbones." But most of the time I just don't see the weight loss. I see the smaller numbers on the scale and smaller sizes, but to me I see the same rolls and lumps so in my mind I look the same, even if those rolls and lumps are smaller. People swear up and down that I look good, but I fear there is always going to be a disconnect, even with therapy/mental work.

By the time you get all the tests and visits scheduled you will have used up that three months, possibly more. I had to have an endoscopy and had to schedule that out by a couple of weeks due to availability. So fear not, that time will fly by.

I got guilted into telling my parents (by someone who is no longer a friend because of this). My mother promptly told her sister who told her daughter. I play words with friends with this daughter. She commented to me "congratulations on your lap band". I didn't have a lap band. And this illustrates why I did not want to tell my parents. Now the entire Stewart/Lynch side of the family knows my business. So tell the people you want to tell, but don't give into pressure to tell anyone you don't want to. And know that if someone in your family is a gossip everyone is going to know.

I love my gym. Honestly, no one is going to care if you are on the treadmill. You get into this mental zone where it is just you and the machine you are on where you tune out all the other goings on. And this is generally how everyone is. Besides, at 230, you will not even be the fattest fat person at your gym - trust me. I was the fattest fat person at my gym when I was 312 lbs and no one paid me any attention or made fun of me or anything.