Chi2Htown

Getting my sleeve today. Woot woot!

I'm with you on all of that! I'm going next Tuesday to see my surgeon for the first time, and we will begin the process! I'm hearing different things about what I will have to do for my insurance to cover, 3 month or 6 month supervised diet, so until I know more, I'm in limbo! It's nerve-wracking and exciting. I just want to get started so I can get living again. And the part I dread? The excess skin! Ugh

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! My procedure went well but my time in the hospital was terrible. My pain was through the roof and the hospital staff made everything worse. The treatment was so bad there I asked to come home the next night during a winter storm and I had a 4 hour drive to my house. Once I got home I started feeling much better. I'm getting my fluids in better and even walking more. I'm down 10lbs since my surgery date (1-22) and I'm excited to see where this new journey of my life will take me! Good luck everyone!!! We will make it and we will be successful! ????

The nurses from the hospital just called to do my pre-registration. They told me where to go, what to bring, reiterated my pre-op diet of clears the day before and nothing past midnight, went over my meds, and had me pay my Tricare Standard copayment for the surgery - a whopping total of $18! W00t!!! Lol!
It feels so real now! And it's so close. 5 more days!!!!
To be honest, I'm getting a little nervous...just a little.

I was sleeved on Nov 24th. It was my first surgery too! After I got my IV in and spoke to the doctor I was wheeled into the operating room. I got on the table and they attached these little electrodes to my body. They were talking to me, put an oxygen mask on me and that is all I remembered until the nurse woke me in recovery. She told me everything was fine. It was shocking how in my mind I had just gotten into the operating room. Pain was tolerable. It was worse for about 4-5 days. After that is just felt like a did a lot of sit-ups.
I just started back to work yesterday and am doing great. I can keep everything down and don't seem to have any problems that I hear some folks have.
All in all, I am pleasantly surprised how well I am recovering and how quickly I started feeling better.
It is always frightening to do something you have never done before. That is normal. Only you can make your decisions. From my point of view, being just "a little" on the other side, I can say that it was not nearly as bad or painful as I had thought it would be. Just do a lot of reading and ask a lot of questions. Remember, we are all here for you.

Thanks so much! I was wanting to have it done before the end of Feb so you've given me some hope for making my wish come true???? (I'm from Chicago but recently moved to Houston TX). Were you a sleeve also?

It's starting to look like the end of the tunnel! Called my doctors office yesterday afternoon to check progress of my pre determination and was told it would be an additional 30 days for review (which completely bummed me out). I call my insurance later that night and they tell me 'oh, we sent a letter out to your doctors office today that states it is a medical necessity and you are approved' WHOOP WHOOP!! So now I'm waiting to call the doctor 1st thing Tuesday morning to see when they can schedule me... I'm nervous now but so excited

Well here is the update on this post. I was sleeved at noon yesterday--went home at 5:30 p.m. It is difficult to drink, and the gas discomfort is pretty awful--but I am up and walking around, making my own Decaf tea, drinking watered down sugar free drinks, urinating regularly etc. My surgeon is very reputable. He is a Manhattan, NY surgeon, who went to Albert Einstein Medical School--one of the best in the country. I also have a finger-tip pulse and oxygen count, another item that measures my in breath and I have my surgeon's personal cell phone number. I should also note that I had non co-morbidities. I am 90 pounds over weight and 36 years old--which was a huge reason I opted for the out-patient. Also, I paid for myself--and in NY it is not cheap. I saved 4,000 by using a surgical center instead of staying over in a hospital. Thank you for all of your experiences, I am very sleepy, haven't thrown up once--even though sometimes I feel a little nauseated, and I am working hard to keep up with my liquid/protein intake and managing my pain just fine.
I feel so glad that I have found all of you on this forum,
Even though we are all combating obesity, I think it is important that we are not all the same in every other health aspect.
I'll update you all soon,
Leilie

Congrats! I am also in Chicago (if that is what your name implies). My surgeon was a month out after I got approved so be prepared. Good luck and I hope they can get you in soon!!

...and this is why I stay on these boards. Even if I don't post anything, I don't leave. I've seen too many vets disappear and just like @@McButterpants, it seems they do so when things go south. As much as we like to think folks are successful and fade away into the sunset, and their lives, I am even more convinced that a large portion go away because they are struggling.
I refuse to do this. I'm still about ten lbs. heavier than I was at my 'happy place' of 115 but every morning I remind myself it's a new day and do my best to stay on track.
Glad to see you here again @@McButterpants and hoping this suggestion by your doctor helps you to get back on track. This just shows me that the fight against bad choices is a daily struggle and some days we do well and others not so much.
If I've said it once, I'll say it a hundred times. Don't tell me that food is not an addiction. We're all addicts and the hunger monster is always lurking.

@@Chi2Htown, I live in the Chicago area as well. This forum was a Godsend while I was going through the process. I binge read for three months before surgery, I even went back and read post from years ago. Educate yourself. The sleeve is permanent so you want to make sure you have no regrets.
This was the absolute best decision I made. I honestly never had one second regret, even immediately after surgery when it was hard because I knew it would get better. I'm 52 & wish I had done this 10 years ago.
Wishing you the very best possible outcome.

Just had my 1 week post-op and I am 10.5 lbs down from my surgery weight and 30 lbs down from my highest weight!!!

Today I start my 2 week pre-op of all liquids and salads/steamed veggies.
I found an interesting broth the other day: Millie's Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Sipping broth. Gonna try it today. Hope it is as good as it sounds.

Time to wake up! Gotta shower and head in, I'll update later on how it went! Wish me luck!

Hi! So I'm a year out now - how did THAT happen? I'm not done yet, but it's been a pretty wild ride so far. I'm down 105 pounds from my starting weight, 101 from the day of surgery (I lost 4 on the pre-op liquid diet over 2 days, lol), and at LEAST 135 from my highest, which was earlier last year (that scale only hit 330 and I maxed it out).

Along the way, I've discovered a few personal realities - they may not be true for everyone else, but for me they are.

- Some days I look at stuff I've worn before and think, "There's not a chance in hell that's going over my head." Every single time, I'm shocked when it does.

- Lots of people treat me better now that I'm more "normal". But every time I start counting on it, along comes some jerk...and that's okay. I think I need the reminder that it wasn't always about me anyway!

- I need to leave my credit cards at home. Shopping is a lot more fun now.

- It's easy to fall off track with counting Protein, watching calories, and taking Vitamins. It's like I rolled over one day and just felt like a regular person. This is going to actually require diligence and consideration for the rest of my life. I knew that when I signed up for this, and I'm going to do it - I just didn't think when I came out of surgery that there would ever be a moment that it wasn't in the front of my mind.

- I need treats now and then or I won't succeed. The urge to binge and passive-aggressive desire to eat something just because I shouldn't will NEVER, EVER go away - the sleeve keeps the binges from being too bad, and if I build treats into my plan and track them, I'm a lot less likely to go off the rails. (pizza happens, y'all, and for ME that's okay - YMMV. 3/4 of a slice once a month now vs. an entire medium pizza with garlic dipping sauce, ALL the wings, and half a box of cinnamon sticks every Friday before...it's still a win in my book).

- When I'm hungry now, I'm HUNGRY RIGHT NOW! Gotta keep Snacks at hand or I will tank and hit the floor. Either because I've passed out, or because someone is going to check my hanger and KNOCK me out someday, lol. I've been trying to date and think I scared one off when he watched me shovel a salad into my face like a farm animal. He was late, I was hungry.

- Someone can watch you successfully lose weight, and still want to interject their opinion about how you should be doing it. Nod, smile, and go back to what you're doing. My "instructional guru" has gained 30 pounds back in the last couple of months and STILL wants to tell me how to eat. Life is far easier now that I've learned to take that with a sense of humor and not get angry about it.

- If you never liked exercise, you probably still won't. It'll just be easier to do. Then again...you might just find something you like! I'm a total couch potato but always used to fantasize about running for some reason. Finally launched C25K this week, and something tells me I might like it if I can keep my knees from blowing out.

- I need kleenex around ALL. THE. TIME. My nose runs when I'm full, it runs when I'm hungry, it runs when I get hiccups...sometimes I even sneeze when I've taken one bite too many.

- Speaking of sneezes, sometimes when I sneeze I vomit. I don't have to be overly full, I can eat exactly the right portion for my sleeve, but if I sneeze too close to a meal when everything seizes up it just sort of launches everything back out. That was unexpected.

- I've met guys who care that I'm still heavy. Some who think I'm not quite big enough and are afraid I'll lose more weight, some who think I'm too big, some who think I'll get bigger again. The ones who ARE into me the way that I am don't give one iota about my "shrinkles". I haven't met a good mental match, but no one I've had any physical relationship with cares. I was pretty worried about that but it's been a non-issue so far. My need to indulge in the use of "artistic lingerie placement" (ie, I always manage to keep my tummy covered somehow, lol) has never once been challenged.

- I was lucky to have a respectful, attentive PCP, but I've had issues with medical providers before. The smaller I get, the fewer issues I have.

- It should be basic knowledge for doctors, but if you need to go to the ER, watch out. I've been twice since surgery (once for a car accident, and once when my cat scratched my eyeball) and they're quick to dispense the 800mg ibuprofen even with a full medical history and a "no nsaid" note in the chart. With the eye, I took 'em anyway (along with the other, better drugs). I would've let someone hit me in the head with a bat to make that stop hurting! But it does illustrate the need to be aware and always prepared to advocate for yourself.

- It's so nice to have a lap now. I can hold my computer! My critters! My nieces and nephews! It's wonderful.

- How I see myself is not always how others see me. My boss and my friends all look at me and think I should be done now. I look at myself and still see a butterball. The charts say I'm still 55 pounds overweight, but my doctor (who won't give me a goal) says I shouldn't be aiming that low because she's shorter than me and small boned and weighs what the chart says I SHOULD weigh. At first, I wasn't worried about where to try to settle because it seemed so unbelieveable that I would ever get there. Now that I know it's possible, picking an end point is HARD (and harder still when I factor in a bit of dysmorphia, because I'm not sure I'll ever look in the mirror and see someone small enough to go to maintenance).

- Sometimes I discount the journey I've made, or I want to eat something I know will make me sick and have a momentary pang of regret. I don't feel bad about that anymore, I just try to go do something I couldn't do before to remind myself what a great decision this was. Sitting in a bathtub, going to a store and trying on something in the misses department (that actually FITS), running up the stairs (instead of having to practically crawl up them using my hands for balance), going through my closet and bagging up something that's too big, stuff like that.

- I knew that things wouldn't change in my life by magic, and that not all of the stasis I was in was caused by my weight. It's true that the poor physical condition and lack of confidence both contributed in a very big way, but it wasn't all of it. I understood that, and decided to work REALLY HARD on the areas I wanted to change the most. What I wasn't anticipating was that, in some of those areas (like finding a relationship), the work hasn't seemed to pay off either. I took that pretty hard. Ongoing therapy is an absolute must for me. You may not need it, but if you DO, then GET IT. There's no shame in it.

- Once you've been sleeved, you'll always be sleeved. That built-in off switch is ALWAYS going to be there. I've had some stretches where my eating has gotten a little out of control, but the beautiful part of this is that the sleeve keeps me from going too far. I can recover from those mistakes now, too. More Protein, more liquid, and I'm right back on track. That's why I got this - not because I ever had any delusions that I could or would be "perfect" at it, but because I knew I COULDN'T and I needed help or I was going to die. Suicide by donut - it's a morbid joke my siblings and I use about our parents, but I was on my way there too.

- I have to resist the urge to act like a salesperson and let my results speak for me. My sister and my niece both desperately need to do something and have vacillated on surgery for a while now. I never felt good and healthy as an adult and it's such a huge difference - sometimes I want to shake them and scream, "BUT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH BETTER YOU'RE GOING TO FEEL???!!!???". The reality is, I have to shut up unless I'm asked a question and just live the best life I can as an example, because if someone had harped at me about it a couple of years ago I probably wouldn't be sleeved now. It hurts my heart to see people I love in the state they're in, but everyone has to take their own journey and live their own lives.

- Tiny goals are where it's at for me. I never set a goal more than 9 pounds away - no double digits . I tried to assign meaning to all my goals, too, though ones I had to split up to stay under 10 pounds are just "split goals". But things like "driver's license weight", 20% EWL, 50 from highest ever, graduation weight, etc. I was blowing through them pretty quickly at first, but now that things have slowed down a lot keeping my goals close together is helping me stay motivated.

I can't wait to see what the next year holds.

I have been overweight for most of my life, I tried different diets that worked for awhile but then I would not only regain what I lost but gain even more. A several years ago my sister lent me her Jillian Michaels DVD set which I completely loved, but after two months I lost interest and a change in career had me going back to my old habits. I loved working out and eating healthy but after a long day at work I was starving so my husband and I would go home and eat til I was so full that I did not have the energy to go to the gym. This went on for a few of years until I got to the point when I would look at myself in the mirror and say to myself "this is me, I'm always going to be this fat, I can't change it, I can't do anything about it so I might as well keep eating." I pretty much have up on myself, then on November of 2014 I received a family photo of my mom, sister, daughter and I at a wedding and I did not recognize myself. I could not believe how far I had let myself go, this made me finally decide to take charge of my life. A month later I had my Sleeve done. A year later I love my self more than ever. I love working out, I love eating well, I love the energy I have, I love being able to play with my daughter and I love that I can dress sexy for my husband!
My stats:
Date of surgery: 12/22/14
HW: 265
SW: 255
CW: 157
BMI: 39.8 / 28.1
Measurements:
Before. After. Difference
Chest: 129cm. 97cm. 32cm
Waist: 129cm. 84cm. 45cm
Hips: 136cm. 105cm. 31cm
Arms: 39cm. 28cm. 11cm
Legs: 76cm. 52cm. 24cm
https://youtu.be/wIwL2YIzELs

T
Tomorrow is my 10 months post op. I have lost 100lbs + from my heaviest weight . Used to be a size 18/2X and I am now a size 2/S (xs is some brands ????) I couldn't be happier about my new healthier lifestyle . It has not been easy but it has been the best decision I have made.

Hi all,
Its been just over a year surgery on 25th October 3015. I started at 294ib's and now 181, about 14lb's away from target.
Before

After.

6 months and 86 pounds! I've gone from a size 28 in pants to an 18. Best decision ever!!!

Sleeved on 7/21 ... Left side taken 7/12, right side taken 11/19. Down 72 pounds so far. ????

8 months post op!  

Top is 12/3 when I started the preop diet and the bottom is today. 31 lbs down and lost 20 inches total!!

August 2015 vs Early Dec 2015... Sleeved 11/11...down 46 lbs today!!

I was sleeved April 6,2015. This progress photo was taken Dec 5, 2015.