ready2B

I am so bummed! Found out that once my insurance is approved (probably the first week in Sept) that the surgeons here are scheduling 6-8 weeks out! So that means I will likely have my surgery closer to NOVEMBER! Ugh - I am so ready to do this NOW. I had no idea it would take that long once I did my part. Now what do I do? I had everything ready, my protein shakes, my vitamins, my blender, my head wrapped around all of this, support lined up, I'm all psyched ... now having to put all my emotions on hold just seems like torture!

First of all - good luck with your surgery! By how many replies there are so far, you can tell mothers are a really hot button for a lot of us! My mom was kinda the opposite - always had a weight problem, my sisters too. Everyone in my family is way overweight. Part of it is probably genes, part bad eating habits and part is all the crazy relationship issues! At any rate, you would think she would be understanding of other people's weight struggles but instead has always been critical. The first comment out of her mouth to me if she sees one of my sisters is about their weight ("OMG, she's gotten HUGE!") so I know she says the same sort of thing about me. My mom had lap band surgery about 8 years ago, had lots of complications and really never lost much weight. She still vomits up most of her meals (she doesn't chew, eats way too fast) but cheats badly with high calories liquid foods like an extra large full fat milkshake from Sonic every day. But, that doesn't stop her from thinking she's a world class expert! She also can't keep her mouth shut about anything personal I share with her - she would be on the phone in minutes calling her "prayer chain" (aka gossip hotline) to tell the world every detail. So, I've chosen not to tell her, because it would open a big fat can of worms that I just don't want to deal with. Deciding to take such a drastic step that will forever change my life was a deeply personal and difficult decision. I'm going to need support, not criticism or a bunch of unsolicited & useless advice, even from those I love.

Though I am pre-op this is something I've given a lot of thought and I basically decided I don't owe anyone any excuses or explanations unless I want to tell them. It really isn't their business and in this day & time lots of people are on special diets for a variety of reasons. If anyone insists on drawing attention to how much you are eating and why, they are just being downright rude. It is perfectly fine to set whatever boundaries you want with people. I told a coworker that I was planning WLS (because it will affect her job too) and she asked "how much weight do you have to lose?" To me, that was way too personal - I don't want everyone knowing how much overweight I am, so I just answered "sorry, that is personal." and changed the subject.

CrashNCamsMom - I read something recently that explained very well the progressive nature of obesity and how just dieting makes matters worse. If you go to http://asmbs.org/patients/disease-of-obesity and scroll down to the bottom for the section titled "Diets" - it gives a really clear scientific reason why once we get to a certain point, it becomes almost bioogically impossible to lose and keep off the weight (without surgical intervention.) This is my primary reason for having weight loss surgery - I have yo-yo dieted for so long that I now gain weight at a much lower calorie level that ever before and I am terrified at the thought that I would very likely gain it all back and more if I went on yet another diet to try to lose the 150 lbs I need to. A few years ago, I lost 92 lbs by following a diet religiously - didn't cheat one single bite in over a year and a half - only to start gaining weight back while I was eating only about 1000 calories a day! There was nothing as disheartening as that - to know that in spite of my very best efforts, I could not get & keep my weight under control. I desperately need to break this cycle and drastically change the way my body processes food or I will continue to have more and more health problems. I am so grateful to finally have an opportunity to do something that will give me a much higher chance of success. And I am really excited to get this show on the road!

Raising my hand as another member of the childhood Clean Your Plate Club! As with a lot of other things I later realized didn't make sense or weren't good for me, I'd swung hard the other way and have often been really wasteful. I'd buy more groceries even when my pantry & fridge were already full, throw out things that were perfectly good just because I decided I didn't want them anymore or let other things go bad because I just had too much in the fridge to eat before expirations dates. It's like I wanted to prove over and over to myself that I had LOTS of choices of what I wanted to eat, as well as the choice to not have to eat them just because they were there. Funny how early control issues with food (and our reactions/rebellions to that) can have such long lasting effects.

Greetings! This is my first post. I met with the whole team today - nurse, dietician, insurance person & surgeon. It's a lot of info to take in just in one day! But I am excited and anxious to have WLS and begin to get healthy again. My BMI is 52, I am on 3 kinds of blood pressure medicine, pills for GERD, a CPAP, various treatments for all the back & joint problems, sleep meds, and have hormone issues that can lead to cancer due to my obesity. Miraculously I am not diabetic My insurance is great and will cover any procedure. (Yay!) And even better new, they only require one month of supervised WL program which I am already 3 weeks into. With everything else all lined up, I could possibly have surgery in about 6 weeks! I've researched the sleeve, bypass & lap band and have ruled out lap band. (Too nervous about having to have a revision later down the road. Also worried about not losing enough weight with it. Plus, my surgeon doesn't recommend it for me.) But I am stumped trying to decide between the other two. My surgeon said he really has no preference for me - either would work really well and he's had great success with both. From what I understand, the sleeve might aggravate GERD more and doesn't have as much long term data, but might allow me to eat more "normal" foods, whereas the bypass might give me faster/better results but have to be more careful about what I eat and taking supplements. Are these assumptions correct? Are there any other big differences I need to consider? I think I am emotionally prepared for either one. I want to lose as much as I possibly can, as quickly as possible and be able to keep it off long term and at this point, I am willing to do whatever that takes, but want to make a decision that is based on the most information as possible. So, I'd really love feedback from those of you who have already had one of those two procedures - what were the deciding factors for you in choosing one over the other? Thanks in advance!

Thanks all! My surgeon doesn't require a pre-op diet, just full liquids the day before surgery. So that won't add to the time any, just however booked up his schedule is. I am ready now!!!

Thanks all! I think I would like to go for the bypass, even though it is more invasive in some ways, I don't want the chance of having to do a revision later. And I really do want the best chance of long-term success. I have my Endo next week and that might decide it for me since I have been on medication for GERD for years but don't know how much damage was done before that. (Or even still happening). I've had a little more time to wrap my head around the idea of the big lifestyle changes that any WLS would require and I feel ready to deal with them. For me, the malabsorption with bypass is actually more in the plus column. Since I have always started gaining back weight while still dieting and eating low calories so many times in the past, I am really concerned about my body "adjusting" to just the lower calorie intake of the sleeve and gaining weight back in spite of doing everything right a few years from now. With the bypass, because your whole absorption of foods is changed, I think that would be less likely to happen.

I am hoping to have a Sept surgery. I will have all my requirements finished in the next two weeks and my insurance company said it should only take them a couple of days. (We'll see.) I don't have any pre-op diet to follow except full liquids the day before. So it all depends on how far out my surgeon is scheduling. Arrrrggghh - the wait is crazy-making!

Congratulations! How cool that your coworkers are so supportive and throwing you a celebration. I hear you about the OMG thoughts though and I don't even have a surgery date yet. I am sure as it gets closer, I'll do some more panicking! I'll be watching your progress since I won't be too far behind you. Good luck with everything!

My daughter is a vegan and she likes Lifetime Life's Basics Plant Protein. They have it on Amazon.

I have the Factor V gene mutation (one instance of it, you can have one or two) that predisposes me to blood clots. I had a DVT about 10 years ago and then a partial one a few years later, so the finally did the testing. Having the genetic test didn't really change much, I already have to take Lovenox and use the leg pumps whenever I have a surgery because of my previous DVT history. Being obese certainly makes my risk of clotting higher as well as the high postmenopausal estrogen I have due to obesity. And I am pretty sedentary because it is so difficult to be active when I am carrying all this extra weight. So having the surgery, while taking all the necessary precautions, will help reduce my risk of future clots significantly.

I am waiting on a surgery date, so I am impatiently waiting too. I should have things to insurance by the end of this month, so then it is out of my hands. In the meantime, I've been sending off for free samples of protein drinks and vitamins, checking out things that might come in handy like a blender bottle or pill crusher, adding puree recipes to my pinterest board, making a "bucket list" of all the things I want to do once I lose weight and can do them again, reading on this forum and learning anything that might be helpful - yeah, I guess I am a bit obsessed!

Congratulations!! I can't wait until I get my surgery date. I might be in Oct too, though I am hoping for sometime in Sept. Do you have someone to help with your son? How long before you can lift him? I am sure 6 months from now it will be totally worth it!

I wish they would standardize clothing sizes! At least men's clothing is based on waist measurement, inseam, sleeve length, etc. There are no standards for women! It makes me crazy. A few years ago, I bought 3 pair of capris from Kohls, same brand, same size, same exact style (even the style number on the tag), just three different colors. One of them was way too big, one was way too small and one fit! How can that be? The only difference was the color and I ended up having to buy three different sizes!

I keep swinging back and forth between "let's get this party started!" and "I am glad this process takes a while so it can sink in more before I actually go through this." All this swinging is making me dizzy! I am almost done with my requirements then I get to wait for approval & to be scheduled too. I am sure I will be a lot more impatient then!

This is a great question. I had a lot of things holding me back, I guess. The first of which was that my life had to get "bad enough" for me to admit that I really needed to do something. I had to rack up enough comorbidities (even though I didn't even know they were called that) for me to be uncomfortable enough in my body to want to fix it. Constant pain kind of got my attention finally. Before that point, it was easy to just stay in denial and think "I may be fat, but at least I am healthy!" Ha - who was I kidding (besides myself!) Then I had to deal with the whole shame thing. It's mortifying to admit even to myself that I am so overweight that it will take something this drastic to get me back to a healthy weight. I had to beat myself up for a while. Then I had to be mad at the rest of the world for making me feel so ashamed of how I looked. I had to then go through the whole fat acceptance thing and learn to love and respect myself regardless of what size I am. After that, I had to deal with all my misconceptions, the horror stories I heard about complications, the people I knew who had surgery but gained it all back, etc. I had to research the hell out the of the internet until I could sort out what the facts and statistics and risks really are and accept that my chances of success are actually pretty high and that I can make them even better by how well I follow instructions! Then money was an issue - I wasn't sure my SO would be on board with us having to spend the $$ out of pocket if insurance didn't cover it. I wasn't even sure if he would be on board at all! So, we had a heart-to-heart and it turned out he was so happy I wanted to do anything that he was willing to support me no matter what. So, it was just icing (ok, a lot of icing) that my insurance will cover it. Fear of the pain or the diet restrictions or the lifelong Vitamins & changes to lifestyle - I had to get my head wrapped around all of that too. I figure it is all better than the road I have been on. :-) So now, finally, there really is nothing left holding me back - at least within my control. I'm going through the process, checking off all the requirements and hoping to have a bypass sometime next month.

Glad I asked! Sounds like things could happen fairly quickly. That's good news but also means I need to really get prepared more!

Hi! What you decide to tell anyone is your personal choice. But here's the thing - I am more concerned about what you tell yourself! Particularly these words "super embarrassed", "biggest failure", "fear of condescending opinions". What we think about ourselves and what we say to ourselves has a MUCH bigger impact on us than what everyone else on this planet out together thinks. I am working on this too! As others have said - not being able to lose 100+ lbs and keep it off with dieting alone does NOT make us failures. It makes us NORMAL! It's an almost impossible task for anyone. Would you be embarrassed if you had some other medical condition beyond your control, such as cancer - and couldn't just heal it yourself? We just have to deal with it by choosing the best medical treatment for the health condition we have. For me, I am learning to view and treat my weight loss surgery with the same respect I would any other medical treatment. There's certainly no shame in doing something that is necessary to save my life! As far as the condescending opinions of others - there will always be ignorant and judgmental people about ANYTHING! If you had cancer, there would be some idiot who would be convinced it was your own fault because you drank diet cokes or used a certain household cleaner. And of course, some people are already condescending about our weight (whatever it is) - why not let it be about our getting healthier instead? You really can't control what other people think. So - try not to let that get in your head. We have a hard enough time keeping our own negative thoughts out!

I'm in the process of having to make the same decision. I've researched both about as much as I can on Google and am leaning strongly towards bypass for the same reasons everyone above has listed. I figure if I am going to have WLS, I want the best "bang for my buck" - and bypass seems to have a proven track record of doing that. My surgeon seemed to be trying to steer me towards the sleeve, but that was just in my initial 15 minute visit with him. He did say he thought I would do well with either one. There still isn't much long term data on the sleeve and that worries me a little. Also the fact that with the sleeve, they say "if needed, it can be converted to bypass later." Why not just do the bypass to begin with instead of possibly having to go through major surgery again? My stats are similar to yours. I've also been able to lose a lot of weight in the past (92 lbs once!) but always gained it back quickly. And I believe part of that was due to gaining weight at a much lower daily calorie intake after long=term restrictive dieting. So I am hoping the malabsorption part of bypass will be another element that can prevent that same cycle from happening again. I've been very disciplined with taking medications as directed every day, so taking the Vitamins needed to deal with the malabsorption doesn't seem daunting to me at all. I also am very good about following through with routine medical exams like blood work (I had to have blood drawn monthly for 5 years for something in the past), so that also won't be a problem for me. You might want to consider those things since they will be a lifelong requirement for bypass. I have an endoscopy still and that might make the decision for me if it shows effects of GERD. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you!

I just had my seminar last week too so I'm very new at this I'll be your friend. ????????

I just had my 1st appointment last week and I may be able to have my surgery in a month. In one appointment I met the surgeon, the nutritionist, the insurance lady and the coordinator. All clear on insurance. I have to have a EGD and get a letter from my primary care doctor. And then I have one visit with the nutritionist again and the psychiatrist and then they can schedule my surgery so hopefully in a month.

I was looking at babyfood blenders because they come with several small cups and I thought that might come in handy for puréeing food. Has anyone else tried one of those and what did you think?

Exciting!' Hope all goes really smoothly for you. ????????

I've been researching the differences between the bypass and sleeve options and it gets really confusing! My understanding from most studies is that you can achieve comparable weight loss over the first couple of years with either. But, since I have such a long history of losing large amounts of weight and gaining it all back and more, I am really concerned about choosing the one which will give me the best chance of keeping the weight off for the rest of my life. So, from all I have read so far, the biggest difference between the way bypass works and the sleeve is, that although both restrict intake and hunger, the bypass also changes absorption. So - I assume this means that if I get to the point 3-4 years down the road where I can consume 1000 calories a day with either (which several sites suggested is typical), fewer of those calories will actually be absorbed with the bypass than with the sleeve. Is this correct? My biggest fear is that if I go for a long period of time eating less calories - which will happen with both - will there be a time when my body thinks it is in that starvation mode again and switches back to that horrible place of being able to gain weight at a much lower calorie level than normal. For example now, I might normally eat 1400 calories a day, but if I want to lose weight so I might eat 1000 calories/day for a few months. Then if I start eating 1200 calories/day, I gain all that weight back! Is there that same "diet rebound" with WLS in general or not? If not, why? And if so, is there less of that with bypass because your body just doesn't absorb as much ever again?