mrshall617

@@Audriana661 Congrats on making it through the surgery! Good luck on the leak test

Congrats on getting through everything! I keep reading about what other people have to go through to get approved. I'm grateful that my insurance doesn't require all that. They just require a bmi of 40+ and my surgeon's diagnosis of "medically necessary".

I started my pre-op liquid diet this past week and I'm drinking the Premier Protein chocolate drinks and I think they are pretty good. I haven't tried any others yet. For the pre-op my Doc only gave me 4 options to choose from (Premier, Ensure, Slim Fast high Protein, and a bariatric powder that's only available online) and the Premier seemed to be the highest rated on the message boards so that's what I went with. I was planning on getting a mix of different types for post op to see what I liked the best for afterward. I'm curious to see what answers you get here!

Hi all - I'm new to the group and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Michelle, I'm 47, live outside Philly, married, no kids. I'm only 5'1" and I started at 241 lbs so my BMI is a little over 46. According to the charts I need to lose about 130 lbs but I'll be happy with 90. Although reading the boards I may be able to achieve the 130! I'm in the middle of my pre-op liquid diet, my Dr only has me doing 1 week. I'm thankful as I noticed some people have to do a lot longer than that! I'm already down 9 lbs in 4 days I didn't grow up heavy but started gaining weight during my first marriage as a young adult and have yo-yo'd my entire adult life. I never really considered WLS as an option, not seriously, until I went to a new pcp in Feb of this year. She suggested that I look into it at my first visit. I gave WW one last shot and was as successful as I had been on my last 30 attempts (obviously not at all!) so I went to the information session for the bariatric practice that I've chosen and liked what I had to hear. That was at the end of March. I had all of my pre-op testing done in April - bloodwork, ekg, chest xray, abdominal ultrasound (which showed a gallstone - so I'm also having my gallbladder removed during surgery), blood gas test, psych eval (15 mins, really?), 1 nutrition session. Had my consultation with the surgeon on May 2nd. Endoscopy/Colonsocopy mid May. Then I was approved for surgery and scheduled for 6/18! It all seemed to happen so fast! After reading what many people have to go through for approval I realize that I'm lucky. My insurance doesn't require me to go through a lot of hoops or red tape - they just require my BMI to be over 40 and for the surgeon to say that it's medically necessary. All of the testing was for the surgeon. Anyway - here I am - in the middle of my pre-op liquid diet, just counting the days till surgery and the start of my new life. I pour through the before and after stories on here. They are so inspirational and encouraging to me! I hope to be that for someone else someday My husband is very supportive of my having the surgery. I met him when I was heavy but not as heavy as I am now. He loves me no matter what size I am. He's actually doing the liquid diet with me to show solidarity He needs to lose about 30 - 40 lbs himself so he figures it'll help jump start him anyway. I'm happy to be here and to get to know everyone!

My doctor didn't give me a goal but my pre-op diet is 7 days of liquid (Protein shakes, Water, clear liquids), veggies and fruit - no veggies and fruit for the last 2 days. I've lost 9 in the first 4 days. I guess all docs are different. The nutritionist told me the main goal of the pre-op diet is to shrink the liver so it's easier for the doc to get to the stomach during surgery. So it's probably not as much about weight loss as shrinking the liver and I think the low carb aspect of the diet is doing that. I'm sure whatever you're doing is achieving your doc's goals

Good luck! My pre-op tests showed I had 1 gallstone so my doc is taking my gallbladder out at the same time as he's doing my sleeve. I hope your surgery went well this morning!!

I take Excedrin MIgraine for bad headaches (I take something else for actual migraines) and I won't be able to take that anymore - ever, according to my nurse and surgeon. I'm also wondering what I'll be able to take instead - I don't believe the surgery will alleviate my headache issue since I've had them since I was in my teens and before I was heavy. My surgery is Wed 6/18! My nurse told me to check with my neurologist to see if I could take tramadol instead. It's a script because it's a narcotic. I haven't called about it yet, I'll call on Monday and see what the neurologist says. I haven't found anything that works for my bad knees - I'm looking forward to losing this weight so my knee pain is relieved!!! I'm so glad you started this thread - this is one of my biggest concerns! I'll keep following to see if anyone else has something OTC that works as well as Excedrin Migraine for headaches!!!