Beni

My pleasure Jyoyonomore. Love your screen name by the way. You see, you all are my support too and each others support in so many ways. Alex deserves all the credit for starting Bariatric Pal. No one I know up close and personal is obese. "No one knows my troubles" wasn't that a song. Then I though, all of us are going through this and we all need help. United we succeed. If we have a question, someone may know the answer, when we need to share, someone will "like"it and we get it because we know what we are going through. Your struggle is my/our struggle. And, lets not forget a group is ALWAYS more successful then an individual. Yes, one person can climb mount Everest alone but he/she will have a much better chance if he/she has a support team, don't you think?

I am pre-surgery but it's coming up soon. This is one of my greatest fears, not having success after going through all of this. I am beginning to think I can't do this alone. What I mean is, I am going to need a lot of help. I am now examining, therapy, trainer, whatever. A team of support in addition to doctor and NUT. Any thoughts?

Welcome!

Glad you are doing well.

WOW, I live in Northern Virginia and I wear the lightest nightie. It's going to take some getting used to after I lose my insulation. Another funny one, I have heard is, people realize they no longer float on pools and promptly sink in the Water.

Isopure at GNC store. They come in glass bottles in all sorts of fun colors, I mean flavors, lol!

I know, it's an odd concept but you have to wear compression garments when you have plastic surgery. I'm serious. So there is something to this. It's like lycra support not a corset. It's like wearing lycra pants to a workout, no organs move or get hurt.

Yep, us gladiators need to keep strong to fight another day. We all have battles in our lives. But I feel like this is the battle of all battles. Giving up is not an option. Failure is not an option! I plan on resting and enjoying this weekend. The weather is changing and this is a beautiful season.

Hi AuriP, so happy to hear from you and that you are doing well. Tomorrow, home for some well deserved R&R. Yeh, anesthesia makes you sick. Normal! Please keep us in the loop we are thinking of you. We care, your fight is our fight. I'm feeling much better today about my "worst day ever." Worked through every single detail. Called Psy office and was finally able to get the report faxed. The bariatric doctor's office is supposed to fax all of my paperwork "as is" to insurance. I will follow through Monday and if any thing else is required, well, I'll work through that as well. I AM UNSTOPPABLE! It was just too much at once yesterday.

It will, and it will make you feel better. It makes sense for your mother to worry, she loves you, it's her full time job to worry about you, right?

My dear friend, you are suffering from a disease. It's called obesity. Your cure is not stop eating too much any more then stating, the problem with drunks is they should stop drinking, or patients in need of quadruple bypass patients should watch their diet and exercise. I know I am being cheeky. However, I think it's important to wonder why so many obese individuals fail to realize they have a disease? Myself included for many years. If we could control it, wouldn't we have done so long ago? You and I need help. We can't perform our own quadruple bypasses because we don't know how. We wish we could. What kind of help do we need? Depends on the patient, of course. We have to use all our might to figure out what might work for us. It may very well be surgery, or not. We owe it to ourselves to figure it out and try because the alternative is devastating. Best luck on your journey

Go Jack!

They call it "Head hunger." who knew there's an actual term for what you feel right now. Having prowled this board for a while, I have found it to be commonly reported. Not everyone gets it though, at least some say they feel no hunger at all. My NUT warned me about it and all the dangers. Distract yourself in anyway you can and focus on Water and Protein according to what your NUT plan is. Good luck

Oh, I forgot to mention. I have not told anyone besides my husband about my surgery. This is your journey, your decision. Unless you need them for support this is not a surgery by "popular vote." This is about you and how you choose to take care of yourself. I know this surgery is not for everyone, it takes serious focus, the last thing you need is to have to care for everyone's emotional needs at this time. This is about YOU!

I wouldn't recommend buying protein shakes to stock up for after surgery. There are important requirements your nutritionist will go over for bariatric protein shakes. Make sure you are going to a nutritionist (NUT) associated with a bariatric practice or experienced in this field. Please do not go and see a random nutritionist. You can decide what doctor to go with at a later date, the NUT appointments will transfer as far as insurance is concerned. But many bariatric practices require that you see their own nutritionist. You see, different doctors have different approaches to diet both prior and after surgery. Each thinks theirs is the best and sometimes won't operate until you have received the proper training. The best would be to pick a doctor and go with the entire program based on your choice. Research takes time and there are no short cuts for most of us.

Hi utahgirll, I too have been researching weight loss studies and have been fascinated by all the gut flora studies in mice. I am absolutely amazed and so wishing I was back in college. Isn't the skinny mice gut flora making the obese mice skinny astonishing?

I am a big fan of bone broth as well for all the reasons you mentioned. I have made batches that are frozen in 1/2 portions. These will be for whenever I am sick of water and crave something salty. It is also delicious warm and I like to eat it like a soup. It feels like a treat. Sometimes, I add a chunk of cabbage and a few baby carrots in the last 1/2 hour of boil. Of course I strain it really well. It adds a nice flavor twist. I also have a bag full of ice cubes I made with the broth. I'll be able to add them to anything such as vegetables for a bit of flavor

Take Biotin but from what I have researched it may happen anyway. It does grow back.

Karen, how are you doing? I have been thinking of you! Mostly before the you know what hit the fan.

Amy, Thank you. I feel terrible. I don't usually cry but I have twice today. After my car and the NUT phone call. I have a note from August and another from September from that NUT. The second NUT I saw in September and October 1st, They have to be one from each month. My doctor's staff were so sure I would have no problem with my insurance as I have great coverage and they usually only take a week or two to respond. They went ahead and scheduled the surgery because I was trying to do this before Christmas. Joy, looks like you too had a horrible time through this and you are still here. It gives me hope this too shall pass But there is still hope insurance will approve with the bad NUT notes. I won't know for a week or two.

Perhaps I should have mentioned, most insurance companies require 3 or 6 months of nutrition counseling (NUT). Sometimes you may have to wait several weeks to see a Bariatric Doctor. I waited 8 weeks to see my first doctor and another 3 to see another whom I liked. Meanwhile doing the NUT consults will save wait time. But as I said above, select NUT carefully.

Make sure the nutritionist you see is at a Bariatric Surgery office or is VERY familiar with the insurance process, not some random nutritionist your GP recommends. Even if you don't go with that doctor for surgery, the nutritionist's visits are worth gold. The paperwork will be submitted to insurance and the random nutritionist may not have the kind of notes from your visits that are acceptable for insurance companies. Apparently, it happens all the time. You'll have to have them redone at extra cost and months delay.

THE WORST DAY EVER! Before I started on this journey I knew my insurance required 3 month NUT visits for approval. I wasn't sure I wanted to do WLS but decided to go see a nutritionist because if I did, I wouldn't have to wait 3 more months. Then, I went on research mode. Ended up deciding to go for it. Decided on my Bariatric Doctor (BD), etc. Saw his NUT 3 times as per his requirement. Have had 5 NUT appointments in 3 months, 2 with first NUT and 3 with second NUT Now comes time to submit paper work for insurance and the NUT I saw for visit #1 and #2 is different from my doctor's NUT (for visit #3). The first NUT turns out has the worst note taking skills. My Dr's staff thinks there's a chance insurance won't approve surgery because of this. They request that I ask her to do another write up with more detail. NOW MY DAY 1. NUT: First NUT refuses to redo her paperwork because she is offended and has been doing this for 500 years and this is the way she does her notes. I cannot convince her otherwise and I tried everything, even paying her for another hour for her time and trouble. 2. PSY EVAL: My Psy Evaluation, (done two weeks ago) has not been sent to BA office as requested and the Psychologist is out of town. Nobody at the office can fax eval. 3. Pre-surgery medical clearance: Done yesterday. Turns out the nurse who drew my blood forgot to freeze 3 tubes of blood as required for tests. Have to redo blood test again today. Since I have only one good vein with 1/8 inch location, she has to go in with the needle on same exact location. It hurt like no blood test I ever did before. 4. Drive back home from blood test #2: Arm hurts way more then it should and won't stop bleeding while I'm driving home. It did eventually. But I did drip blood all over. Shouldn't have removed bandaid. 5. Jerk in highway honks and refuses to allow me to merge in construction area (even though it was my turn to merge and no place to go) causing me, the one arm driver, to hit the concrete barrier damaging my 3 month old dream car. I may have to wait another two months for my surgery because insurance may not approve it due to NUT poor note taking skills. And, oh yes, I'll have to do that blood test again for the third time because it will be outdated in two months. What the &$#%

I have the 28th, will beat beat you to it!

My oh my, I can hardly believe it, but it looks like you are going to beat me to the OR. Mine is October 28th.