shawnee1973

Absolutely. I tried to add you but not sure how. Lol. My name is shawnee69 on my fitness. I definitely need to work in my water intake as well. I only get a couple of 16oz bottles in per day. I have never been a big water drinker but I'm trying...I just forget to drink!

Hi Pac-woman. My typical day starts with cream of wheat in morning (4oz), some type of soup for lunch (4-6 oz), usually a cream but I do pieces of soft chicken and potato, and maybe some tuna and mayo for dinner. In between I may have Greek yougurt, fudgesicle, or sugar free pudding. And I try to get in a shake and/or a shot of protein. The shots of protein are 200 calories but 50gm of protein. I track everything on my fitness pal and eat until I reach my goals. I don't always make it but I did notice that once I was able to eat more, I'm losing much better. Hope this helps!

I am 15 days out and couldn't be more pleased. For me, this was much easier than anticipated. The first couple days were rough and I did get a bit nauseous but after that, everything went down too smooth. I can eat about 4oz of anything at this point. I progressed my diet based on what I felt my body could handle. I am now on soft foods and eat around 800 calories per day. I was so afraid that I would never enjoy food again or be able to eat good food. I had way too many "last meals" prior to surgery and put on an extra 15lbs....dumb dumb!! I still eat great food, just much less. My hw was 254. Surgery weight 237 and 230 today. I was depressed about not losing too fast but in the past week, I have lost 3 inches off my bust and waist and 1 inch from that booty! I burn about 150 calories a day walking. I feel better than normal!!!

I was sleeved on the 12th. I lost 5 lbs right away but have been stuck at 232lbs for 7 days. I so badly want to see 220's. I am briskly walking 2 miles a day, drinking water, and getting in my protein and doing well with pureed foods. I think I'm ready to throw away the scales!!

Same boat...it's been 7 days since surgery for me with one small bm 4 days ago. Finally started taking dulcolax stool softener yesterday so hopefully something will happen soon.

I remember a few funny things. First off, when the staff was wheeling me into my surgery they kept saying things like" She's a tiny little thing. This is going to be a piece of cake" First time I had ever heard that at 237 lbs but I will take it..lol. Now on the day of my surgery I was on the last day of my period. I used an extra absorbent feminine product and told my husband to remind me to change it out of surgery. When they were waking me up while wheeling me into recovery, I heard a couple of the male interns nearly screaming asking what was wrong with me. I guess I never factored in the blood thinners because it looked like someone had been butchered under that gown. Thank god a female nurse kindly said, No worries, it happens". When I did wake up, it took them about 20 minutes to get me some pain medication. The pain was excruciating!!! So much so, that that I guess I held my breath for a while cause the staff ran up to me yelling she's not breathing. I just took a big breath and apologized. Haha..that hurried them up a bit! It's now day 4 post surgery. I'm drinking lots of water, taking no more pain meds, getting in my protein and on the treadmill 3 times a day! Life is good! Hw 254 Sw 237 Cw 232

Hi all..its my day 2 post op. I feel much better today except for a pain that I keep experiencing around my sternum...it lasts for about 8-10 seconds but stops me in my tracks. It feels like I have swallowed something way too big to go down. Then goes away for a minute then comes back again...it may just be gas but I hoped someone else may give me some insight.

So I was sleeved last night between 6-8...my pain has been pretty bad but perhaps I just have a low threshold or perhaps it was the gallbladder removal. Anyway, I'm home now. They used staples instead of glue on my incisions. Anyone know why they would do this? I never saw my surgeon after the surgery and nobody else could tell me why because he normally does not.

Loving all these positive thoughts and wishes. My surgery is at 11:30 and it really helps. Happy thoughts happy thoughts!!!!

Wow...lots of surgeries tomorrow... And I agree fitdrea30, whenever I feel the least bit of anxiety, I get on here and see all the success stories and it helps tremendously. Good luck to everyone!!!! Hope to hear from you on the other side!!!

Day before surgery and the anxiety is really kicking in....not to mention I feel like I'm starving. Clear liquid and full liquid make a difference. Hospital told me to call at 8am for a time to come in... I can't help but wonder why I do not have a scheduled time already. And I live an hour away. Strange!

Great thanks Veronica for your feedback!!!

Btw, day 7 of preop and down 14lbs....yay!!!

Well I had my pre-op yesterday. They told me that my gall bladder was only working at 8% so it will need to come out as well. Fortunately insurance did not require an additional authorization. My surgeon thought they would and was planning to reschedule me. I'm scheduled for Monday. Does anyone know how much longer the surgery will be when they have to remove the gb?

Mine is the 12the as well. My Dr advised me a pre-op diet was not necessary but I'm going to start one tomorrow just to be on the safe side. Like you, I am super excited and super nervous as well. Good luck to you. Message me if you need support!

Hello fellow January sleevers. Received my call today. Surgery on January 12th...super excited. I'm in central California. Looks like we have a great support group starting!!!

I decided to write this timeline because I feel that it is important for other people to understand this process and what to expect. In May, 2014, after careful research, I decided that I wanted to have gastric sleeve surgery. I have struggled with weight my entire life. Although I have never had any major health issues or what most insurance companies consider co-morbidities, at the age of 40, my weight was starting to affect me. I began my research with Anthem Blue Cross, making sure the procedure was covered and to understand their specific criteria. I knew ahead of time what labs and x-rays I needed. My first trip to my PCP was early June. I knew that at a weight of 225 and height of 5’4, my BMI was between 39 and 40 so I put on an extra 10 pounds so that I knew I would be covered. She ordered all my tests. I found a hospital (Bakersfield Memorial) and surgeon (Dr. Snyder) that I liked and scheduled a seminar. When I spoke to the nurse who schedules everything for the surgeon, she informed me that how fast this process takes will be up to me. This is why I had all of my tests done prior to my seminar in July. I was ahead of the game believing that a six month wait time was not going to apply to me. Labs, xrays, ekg, abdominal ultrasound all looked great so now it was time to get my surgery consult. Of course this requires an authorization from my insurance. It was at that time that PCP staff advised me that they were way understaffed and authorizations can take up to two months. This was ridiculous in my opinion so I became a major pain in their ass. After about a month, I was informed that my authorization was denied by my insurance because it was not a covered service. I called Blue Cross who informed me that they have nothing to do with authorizations. My medical Group (Independence) must have denied it but I could not contact them directly. Blue Cross attempted to contact them for me but had to leave a message. I finally returned to my Drs office only to be told that my paperwork was misplaced so she could not give me a reason for my denial. After much persuasion, she gave me the number to my medical group. I spoke with the assistant director of Utilization Management who then informed me that my Drs office put the authorization in as a behavioral health consult rather than a surgical consult. She corrected it right away and gave me an authorization number. I called my surgeons office and scheduled my consult for September 10th. The nurse informed me that I should wait until after the consult to schedule my psych eval and nutrition consult. I decided to get the nutrition consult done prior to the surgery consult because it was covered by my insurance. The consult went great and I was told as soon as they received the psych and nutritional paperwork, they would submit it for approval. Once approved, they could get me in right away for the surgery. I decided to pay extra for my psych eval because he works directly with this surgeon and guaranteed he would send the report the next day. 4 days after my consult, I was done with everything. A week went by, I heard nothing. I called the nurse who informed me she had received the nutritional report but it was cut off in the fax. And she had never received the psych report. I called the psych office who faxed that paperwork right away but still could not get that nutrition report to fax correctly. I decided to make the 40 minute drive to pick up the report myself. After all, the nutrionist assistant was on vacation and she didn’t know how to fax. How do you have a college degree and not know how to fax? So finally, all paperwork was in and the nurse sent it off for approval. Actually, she submitted it to the hospital staff who took another two weeks to send it for approval. Another week went by only to learn from Independence Medical Group that my insurance company denied me because I did not meet the criteria. We wouldn’t know what that meant until I received the denial letter and then I could appeal. I was so angry. I knew that I met the criteria, which was a BMI over 40. Another week went by and the surgeons nurse called me to say that I needed two co-morbidities. I explained that it was incorrect and I had already contacted Blue Shield to make sure that I had it correct. So instead of making phone calls to get this straightened out, she told me the surgeon was going to order more tests to try to find something wrong with me and we could re-submit everything and try again. This blew my mind. Instead of getting to the root of the problem, let’s spend more money. So, I contacted Independence medical group who stated they denied it based on Blue Cross criteria and if their criteria was incorrect, Blue Cross would have to notify them. I contacted Blue Cross who then contacted Independence Medical Group to get it all straightened out. So now it was back under review until they received the correct guidelines. Two more weeks went by, no change, no denial letter, no review, no nothing. Needless to say, my level of frustration was very high. I decided to call Independence Medical Group and by some great fortune the assistant director who helped me before answered. I explained the entire situation to her and she approved it again over the phone and educated her staff. A second approval was required through Blue Cross which took a couple more days. But as of Friday, November 14, I am officially approved. The Surgeons nurse called me to congratulate me and inform me that they probably couldn’t get me in till after the holidays but she will call this week to let me know for sure. The entire process when all is said and done will probably be 7 to 8 months but I did not give up. I will have this surgery. I just want anyone struggling with the approval to understand that not too many people are going to go out of their way to help you. It is up to you to make the calls and bug bug bug. Turns out the assistant director has WLS herself so she was a big advocate. If it had not been for her, I may still be fighting this.

Thanks ladies and good luck to you both!