Rainy Days

I've had my gallbladder out already. The pain comes from the upper right abdomen area. For me, it was right under my lowest right rib and radiated out. I don't think a lot of insurances would pay for an unnecessary surgery, so it's probably not common practice to remove the gallbladder "just in case" it could cause problems later. However, if you surgeon notices that the gallbladder is full of stones, then that could be justification for removal during the sleeve. When I had my gallbladder out, I also signed a consent to remove my appendix. Since the surgeon was looking around in there, he did look at the appendix and it looked fine, so it wasn't removed because insurance wouldn't have covered that.

I was just recently diagnosed with mild sleep apnea. The paperwork they gave me says the CPAP machine cost about $1100 (not sure if that included the mask that they said cost $190). My portion will be about $300. I am a little frustrated to spend so much money on this when my pulmonologist said she felt I wouldn't need it once I lose some significant weight. However my surgeon won't proceed with surgery unless my sleep apnea is treated, so I'm stuck. On the bright side, it's not as bad as I thought. The mask fits really well and isn't that horrible. I don't notice a difference in my sleep (yet) but I do appreciate that it's probably protecting me from negative effects from the apneas.

With my surgeon's office, their medically supervised weight loss is done with monthly visits with the dietitian from their office. Each month it's not just about weighing in, but she teaches me the diet/lifestyle that is needed for losing weight pre and post-op. I'm not sure just knowing your weights from past doctor visits would be enough if they aren't actually supervising the weight loss.

my surgeon uses it, but honestly I haven't looked into it. Is it suppose to reduce pain and recovery time?

Are these considered clear liquids? I am trying to get some ideas for immediately post-op

hahaha! I don't want anyone to misunderstand my question. I wasn't at all suggesting that a person shouldn't follow their doctor's pre-op diet. I just wanted to know if people had done the diet and still ended up getting their liver cut. It was a good point that a surgeon might stop the surgery if they feel the liver hasn't shrunk enough. My NUT told me about my pre-op diet today and she also affirmed that the surgeon would stop the surgery if the liver seemed to be a problem. My pre-op diet is 10 days with 1 weight watcher frozen meal and 3 Protein shakes a day. Sadly, that falls over the 4th of July, so no BBQ for me!

I had my labwork done within days of seeing my surgeon the first time. I came back as Vitamin D deficient. The office had me start D3 right away. I'd think getting the labs done early would help if it indicated something that needed to be addressed prior to surgery.

oh, what a great point kmorri! I hadn't thought about the surgeon just deciding to not go through with the surgery at all. That would be really horrible! When I had my gallbladder out, it was an urgent surgery so there was no pre-op diet or anything. And I guess cutting the liver was a reasonable risk in that situation. Your pre-op diet sounds good. I meet with my NUT today and I'm going to ask about what my pre-op diet would look like.

Oh yuck on that drive! I completely understand though. My insurance only pays to in-network surgeons, and those surgeons are 4 hours away! My surgeon has really worked with me and arranged for me to have multiple appointments in the same day. My next appointment is for the upper endo and my last NUT visit. And my local PCP will be handling my post-op incision checks. However I still have to go back to the surgeon for periodic post-op checks. If I could switch to a local surgeon I totally would.

I think I'm set for July 11th! My FMLA representative told me that my boss can't ask me to reschedule the surgery. I looked at all the time off for my dept and that date was fine, but apparently another dept was going to be short handed, so my boss wants me to reschedule. I think I'll stick to July 11th and let them figure it out. I hate to say that, but otherwise I have to wait another month or two. And little does my boss know, but one of my coworkers plans to quit in August. Eeek. So I want to have my surgery done by then for sure!

oh no MamaRhea! I will be hoping you get a quick appt and can be back on track for this year. I can't imagine hitting the OOP max for 2 years in a row. Ouch! And that brings up a concern I've had. My surgeon waits until I've done 3 months of dieting before doing the upper endoscopy. If they find something that late into this, that will be frustrating. Why can't the upper endoscopy be done much earlier in the process? Anyway, wishing you well!

Yesterday I got my surgery date from my surgeon (July 11) and I asked my boss for the time off. My boss asked me to reschedule the surgery because of another department having extra people out at that time. I was a little upset about that. Anyway, she told me to file for a leave of absence (FMLA?) with Sedgwick. So, I called and started that process. The representative told me that my boss can't tell me to reschedule or deny my time off for surgery. That my job is protected now and as long as I have the paperwork filled out by the doctor then I'm safe. I hate to ask, but is that true? I have never done a leave of absence before.

The surgeon's office called me today to remind me of my NUT appointment on Friday and I asked about getting me a firm date for surgery. The surgery scheduler put me on for July 11th like I was hoping!!! But then.... I requested the time off work and was asked to reschedule surgery . A person in another dept has that time off and one of our people was going to cover for them. I asked them to reconsider, but I'm pretty sure I'm out of luck. The surgery scheduler did mention an opening for May 31st, but getting insurance approval from May 20th (my last appointment) by May 27th would be tricky. So... if my work doesn't approve of my time off, I'm likely out until August because the surgeon is gone in June. Crossed fingers that my work approves my time off for July 11th.

I lost my interest in soda when I was on Topamax. My doctor had prescribed it several years ago for weight loss. It didn't help me lose weight, but it makes soda (and beer) taste horrible. And now I still can't drink it. For those having a problem breaking the soda habit, maybe ask your doctor about it? And I should mention, Topamax isn't a traditional weight loss drug. My doctor was prescribing it because my insurance wouldn't cover regular weight loss meds.

I may be an August sleever. I'm hoping for July, but there is only one day in July that my surgeon does surgery at the hospital that I am required to go to. So, there is a fairly good chance I'll have to wait until August. So, where is everyone in there progress toward surgery? I complete my required 3 month weight loss on May 20th and have my upper endoscopy/pre-surgical appointment on May 19th. Just got my CPAP machine yesterday and did great with it. I have to be using it 15 days before my upper endoscopy, so I'll be okay with that.

That is awesome Whitefoot- it's so close! I'm still in the 3 month weight loss and getting all the pre-surgical requirements done. Got my CPAP today for my sleep apnea. I'm hoping to have surgery in July.

My surgeon is female in Washington state.

I'm crossing my fingers real hard for July 11th as my surgery date. When I was at my first appointment, the scheduler threw that date out as my probable date, so I'm clinging to it. She said the surgeon only does surgery once a month at the hospital that I'm required to go to. So if it isn't July 11th, then I'm out to August which would be a bummer. I also have to schedule it around my coworker's vacation times because we aren't allowed to have 2 people off at the same time. And right now nobody has that time off in July. I can only hope everything works out with scheduling. My last weigh-in and my upper endoscopy are scheduled for May 19 and 20th.

I thought that the first 200 times I tried to lose weight and keep it off. Now, I don't have faith in myself to keep it off without a surgical intervention. But the thought that motivates me to do this now is thinking about getting more unhealthy than I already am. I have high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and get tested for diabetes every 3 months because I'm real close to having it. How much more am I willing to take? If I don't have surgery now will I become someone that CAN'T have surgery later because I'm too unhealthy from heart disease or whatever? I don't want to chance it. And I don't want to wait any longer to finally have the life I really want.

I think it is important to have a PCP that is supportive of weight loss surgery but I wouldn't say that switching to one that had referred a lot of patients would be critical. My PCP is involved in my pre-surgical care because I live 4 hours away from the weight loss surgeon that is in my insurance network. Even still, my doc only had to weigh me once, deal with my blood pressure issue, and refer me for a sleep study. After surgery she will do my post-op incision check and that is pretty much it. Everything else is handled by my surgeon so far- the insurance clearances, the paperwork, lab work, nutritionist stuff, etc.

I also am having surgery done at a distance from my home... 4 hours away, 8 hours round trip! So I understand wanting to know about all the post op appointments. My surgeon wants me back at 6 months and 12 months for sure. My PCP will be doing the incision check and I believe I'll have a 2 week video conference. I've found my surgeon to be really willing to work with me. So ask yours about that too!

Ugh. I had the home sleep study last night. I couldn't sleep very well because the nasal cannula made me a little claustrophobic and I couldn't breathe through my nose. I had to mouth breathe all night. I struggled to fall asleep. I would sleep for 90 minutes or so, then wake up and be awake for 45-60 minutes, then finally fall back asleep. I did that for about 7 hours until I said enough. I won't know my results for a week or so. My worst fear is that they make me do it again. I really hated the tubes in my nose. I felt like I was being smothered. Has anyone else had trouble with sleeping during the sleep study? How little sleep is enough to get a result? The office staff wouldn't tell me when I turned the equipment back in.

I am being issued a C-PAP machine by the pulmonologist that ordered my study. She said I would probably not need it within months after surgery, but she ordered me an auto-adjusting C-PAP machine just for that reason. I wish I didn't have to use the machine, and I may not after surgery, but until surgery I will use the machine to be compliant.

Great topic! I'm planning a Disney World/Universal trip for next spring break. At that point I hope to be about 9 months after surgery. I've been looking up the menus online and getting a feel for the best places to get something to eat that matches my limitations and my family's interests. Hope you have a good time!

My psych eval was super easy and I had the nicest psychologist (who has had WLS, so that was extra great). My eval was scheduled for 2 hours, but it took less than 1 hour. She asked me basic questions about what have I done to lose weight before, what are the potential complications of surgery, what do I feel the outcome of surgery will be, etc. She also had me answer random questions like what is 8745 backwards, draw a circle inside a triangle, and other odd things like that. I asked her why she did those and she said it was to demonstrate that I can follow directions. She also asked about depression, anxiety, etc. I have some anxiety, but it wasn't a problem as I'm still a functional person . In all, it was a very pleasant meeting and I knew immediately that she'd approve me for surgery. Try to not stress about it.