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Surgery is Tuesday as well. Gonna stick with it and it'll pass soon.

My surgeon will not work with candidates that injest nicotine from any source.

My pre-op is only 3-5 Protein shakes and non-calorie liquids. I could chew threw a chain link fence right now to eat a salmon fillet or a can of tuna.

I really enjoy a social drink, too. I just reached the point where I was ready to put everything else aside and do the surgery and commit to it. You'll know when you reach that point.

I'm wondering how long I'll need due to the large umbilical hernia & hiatal hernia he'll be repairing as well. What does everyone suggest? 3-4 weeks ?

I haven't a clue. I'm jealous, though. You'll be back to the game well before I will be. A torn ankle tendon on my downswing with a 3-wood on Sep 1, 2010.....Morehead City CC. We were in the fairway of the first par 5. The group ahead had cleared the green and I was going for it....trying to make up for a week drive. Snap. Ouch. Surgery two weeks later. No more golf since. I'm hoping that I'll reach my weight loss goal and regain good back flexibility and core strength all along. I'll evaluate this and see where I'm at. Maybe a Tommie Copper ankle sleeve and an easy swing and I'll be back in the game. Good luck. Hopefully your surgeon can answer your question on when you can return to the game.

Well.....a couple more things arrived today. Also were three memory foam body pillows. I'll layer these so I can slay elevated....hopefully comfortably elevated...in bed. I've had a couple odd developments over the past couple days. Tuesday, wee hours....found me in the emergency room taking one of my employees. She'd slipped and fell while walking to the restroom and broke her left wrist. 4 hours in the emergency room waiting room surrounded by folks that had flu, pneumonia, walking dead virus, etc. I was glad that her break would not require surgery nor need further manipulation. Just a follow up with her ortho-doc for a rigid cast. Grateful. Upon returning to work and getting my employee squared away, I later explained to our nurse about being surrounded by the walking dead.....and having surgery next week. Not only did she support the idea that I get on some antibiotics....she gave me a good general antibiotic that I started right away. Today was a day off. Working all weekend and have surgery on Tuesday. Tried to get as much done as I could around the house. Our mailbox has been pissing me off lately so I replaced it. Somewhere along the way of digging the hole, shopping for the new mailbox & wood post and lifting the 80 lb bag of cement mix i really aggravated my healing back. Not good at all. Back on the pain med & muscle relaxer. All I freaking needed. Idiot. The mailbox could have waited. No spasms yet.....so I'm not at DEFCON4. Just moving gingerly and resting. Going to be very, very careful at work tomorrow. I also broke ranks and cheated yesterday on the pre-op diet. Cheated and enjoyed every single bite and slurp. My cheat meal was Chic Fil A's grilled chicken nuggets, chicken Soup and two large diet lemonades. Damn tasty. It happened. I'm done with it and have been back on the Protein shakes since. Oh well. Sh@t happens. I'm hoping the new unjury chicken soup flavored protein is decent. I'll be using in the days and weeks after the surgery. Getting ready to hit the bed in a few and hope that the back will ease up for a 4-5 hour nap.

MyFitnessPal is excellent. I need to explore what FitBit has to offer on their site. I've never update my macros with fitbit....just my activity.

I would sidestep that contest for sure. No good would come of it. You've already won. Just ride it out and work your plan.

Surfer Girl nailed it.....keep that Water bottle filled and sip hard. You'll be staying hydrated and maybe helping weight loss, too. That's exactly one of the tactics I've been using during this timeframe. What I've found is that when I"m up on that bathroom break, I'll stay mobile and walk around the work area more, too.

Huge respect for those that traveled after having surgery. The umbilical & hiatal hernias being repaired at the same time of my sleeve surgery has me thinking I'll be fairly sore and I'm not looking forward to the 30 minute car ride home from the hospital a day or two after surgery.

Hope everyone is doing well. It is absurd that you each had so much difficulty in contacting the office. This Sylvia person is in the wrong line of work.

I've had three different C-PAP machines paid for by three different insurance companies over the last 12 years. They covered just about all of it.

My only regret thus far is that I waited so long to make the decision to have weight loss surgery. October 13th here, too. We are going to kick arse.

I have seen her comments on many posts and several times she has said things that are wrong. Or, she says things that were just her personal experience as if it is the hard truth for everyone. For example, when she said "no ifs ands or buts" about the rings. That may have been her experience but she shouldn't say it will be everyone's experience. That kind of statement is misleading, especially for newbies. Everyone's experience will be different. Also, I never professed to be an expert so I'm not sure where that came from. Calm down. She spoke from experience. My experience has been the same: no jewelry allowed for surgery. You simply were rude and derailed the thread to start with.

Wow. I can't believe that any type of bariatric surgeon wouldn't be ensuring his patients were knowledge on the crucial basics. This could be dangerous. The kind folks here can get you on target.

Awesome !!!!! I was a heavy smoker for many years and also quit cold turkey several years ago. It is certainly not easy......but it does get easier with every day that passes. As the same time the urge ebbs you will continue to feel better and better. The feeling better process went on for years afterwards for me. Keep on kicking butt !!!!!

Three things come to mind: 1) You are going to change your life for the best. You are taking charge of things and making a decision to improve your life. This was the biggest hurdle I faced. Everything else afterwards just flowed logically and fairly easily. 2) If you are concerned about a pre-op diet......then maybe you could contact your surgeon and do one. Have that discussion and don't let it be a source of stress. 3) If your anxiety still is high.....maybe something could be done about that, too. I had an honest conversation with my primary care doctor....and laid it all out for him: my sources of daily stress: preparing for this surgery and irrational fears of it, my job stress and my fear of the workload that would be piling up as I'm at home healing up (3-4 weeks due to a couple hernia repairs during the sleeve surgery), life stress....etc. etc. We agreed that I'm not having depression, but periods of anxiety that hits....not every day and not even every week. He prescribed a medication to take as needed. I've used it on 6 occasions over the last two months and it helped. It had relaxing effect....chilled me out....allowed me to remain calm and sleep easy that night and awake fresh and renewed to face the next day's challenges. This stress has eased off a great deal since getting through all the steps leading up to the surgery. The date is set and all I have to do is continue following the pre-op diet and ticking off the days on the calendar. I wish you the best.

Au contraire .......feel free to post up any pics you'd like of your fine self. You have rocked the results really well and have been a great source of inspiration and motivation for me. I get frustrated or down about things and have a weak moment......and just think about you and some of the other folks here and how they are living with the successful results......and I snap out of it and stay with the plan. I can't stress how much it helps to communicate with people that have lived this and can appreciate the struggle.

The fear is that don't take you seriously and/or feel you aren' t prepared. Losing weight is a bargaining chip against the insurance company playing this card. It can also reach beyond the insurance company, too. Both of the surgeons I consulted made it very, very clear upfront that if I didn't lose significant weight pre-op then they would not operate. This was both with insurance or with self-funding the surgery. There are some in our class that have been rolled back until later surgeries because of this very thing. I sort of anticipated this, though, due to my high BMI. It was easy logic to follow. If my BMI was lower....I'd probably be at war with myself on being so strict during this timeframe. Things are much simpler for me.

It's a low consideration of mine at the moment, but I can see where a long while down the road it could be nice to enjoy a beer while grilling a salmon filet or some other tasty Protein. I am done with the old ways, though, of sitting around a bar and guzzling 36oz drafts beers and grazing on chips 'n salsa. The old trick was to do this for the duration of a football game and then ordering fresh guacamole in the fourth quarter and enjoy watching them prepare it for my food calories to wind down the evening. This or an order of wings. Not a thing in the world wrong with the above scenario if I'd nurse a beer.......and have celery with the salsa or guacamole and some types of wings are going to be great. I just don't see myself feeling much like sitting around for games once I get well into this. I think the new life is going to be more active and restless energy will find me in the gym daily, tackling productive yard work and engaging in new outdoor hobbies. Games can be watched later on....from my recliner with ice packs on my ailing areas that are sore from pushing it hard on my misadventures. I can't wait..... lol....got the pain meds working in ya. Hope they truly are working for you and easing the discomfort. I know I'll be making some posts while under the influence of them next week, too.

I've been wondering the specific locations, too. I have a ginormous umbilical hernia that my surgeon is going to repair during the sleeve surgery.....and a small hiatal hernia. I wonder if there will be additional incisions. If there are....so be it. No biggie. Just curious. It'll make for some interesting theories while enjoying the swimming pool next summer. Was he shot? Stabbed? Attacked by a bear ?

I ordered the calcium citrate chewables directly from Bariatric Advantage. I am not kidding when I say they are like candy. Very tasty. I have been following my pre-op diet plan very strictly and have found having these to provide a nice flavor is something to look forward to and savor them. 1 or 2 really does tame the head-hunger-beast. That sounds really interesting. Who makes them and where do you get these ???

I can't imagine how difficult quitting smoking must be on top of everything else right now. Best of luck to you. Put 'em down and profit from the surgery. It's amazing at how much healthier you can emerge from this.....nonsmoker & non-obese. This could be a powerful time for you to own your health. We are now into flu and pneumonia season. Having clear lungs as you prepare for surgery will be an immediate bonus. Who wants to be coughing when they are post-op, either.