sonjajade

actually he is over 300 pounds himself, though he is 6 foot tall. I don't want him to think I'm not taking his concerns seriously, but at the same time I don't think I should put it off any longer than necessary.

I am, that was one of the reasons I chose this doctor and hospital. I should remind husband of this when we next talk about it.

His father was misdiagnosed by a doctor in 2000, which led to him almost dying, losing his ability to walk, having a colostomy bag, dialysis, lots of horrible bad stuff. He doesn't trust medical professionals at all. Both his parents are gone now, and he says he can't handle it if he loses me because I had a very invasive surgical procedure that was my choice to make. Blood clots scare him, the thought of me leaking scares him (doesn't he think these things scare me too??), but I guess he doesn't see the reward at the end. I wanted to take him to the support group meeting but I have a feeling he won't listen to anyone. He says my surgeon is only in 'this rig for the money', likely because of his mistrust of doctors in general. Like, I want to sit him down with his brother and explain everything that's gong to happen so his brother can reassure him that everything will be fine, but if he starts feeling attacked he'll just shut down the idea even more. For now I've been kind of slowing everything down a bit so he's not overwhelmed. And to be honest, I was a little overwhelmed too- so many appointments so quickly! I have to see a cardiologist, have an endoscopy, see my regular doc, see the sleep specialist, the psychologist- and the dentist on top of all that! This week I have 3 appointments alone! I have 6 months to sort everything out, but I think I'm still leaning toward surgery rather than away from it.

I've been researching and checking into wls for over 3 years now, ever since I realized how much energy it takes to be a parent. In previous years, we couldn't afford it. Seemed like it was always a dream out of reach. Now I have insurance that will cover ALL the costs, and once I started actively pursuing surgery, it's as if my husband has gotten less and less supportive. He says I've never really tried to lose weight on my own (I have), that my weight problem is because I simply don't move enough (which may be true, but I am working on it), and that the sleeve surgery is absolutely a surefire quick path to certain death. I have to wait 6 months before surgery can be approved, and I've been placed on a 1200 high Protein low carb diet, because if I gain any weight past my original starting weight, the insurance company will not approve (which makes no sense, but okay...). I've already lost 12 pounds after adjusting my eating habits and my husband is convinced if I maintain this new food lifestyle, that I'll be able to lose the weight on my own. Now I just don't know what to do. Does anyone have any advice? Should I do the surgery anyway? Should I wait until the end of the 6 months to decide? I'm not really sure at this point and any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.

I'm Jenny, live in Louisville, I don't have a surgery date yet because I have to do the 6 month diet before insurance will approve it. I'm seeing Dr. Oldham and surgery will likely be at Baptist East. I go for my endoscopy next week!

I live literally right around the corner from 2 different hospitals, and I attended both seminars on WLS at each hospital and made a decision based on out of pocket fees and experience of surgeon. I ultimately made my choice because the one hospital was very unprofessional in their presentation (a lot of paperwork to fill out and then they gave out a lot of paperwork to keep up with, the chairs were SMALL, the surgeon was rude and didn't want to take questions, the assistant, who schedules and runs the seminars twice a month, didn't seem to understand how to work a simple projector... It was a mess!). They also wanted a $300 fee just to look at your medical records. I ended up going with Dr. Oldham instead. Their team have been nothing but awesome compared to the other group.

Right now, I have a week before my first pre-op appointment where I meet with the nutritionist and nurses, get my bloodwork and all my first measurements in. Even then I'll have to do 6 months supervised weight loss before they can schedule surgery, so keep that in mind with this! I am 5'3", weigh 335, and I wear a 22/24-26/28 on top, 26 on bottom, basically a 4x.

My 4 year old son cheerfully looked up at me one day and said, "Mom, I wanna be big and fat like you and Dad!" That was when it really hit me that I wasn't being a very good role model for him, and that if I didn't do something soon, he'd be just like me and his father. I look at all the risks I'll be facing and still get scared and question whether or not surgery really is the answer, but then I looks at my little boy and realize I would do anything for him to know a better way to live. Aside from that being THE MOMENT I knew I needed surgery, I had been thinking about it for years because nothing I did on my own was permanent. My knees and ankle still ache every day, the PCOS is so bad that I'm haing trouble conceiving baby #2, I can't even go to a movie without feeling jammed into a seat, and I got a ticket once because I couldn't put my seatbelt on. When I demonstrated this to the cop, he was very unsympathetic.