theantichick

Got my date, August 17. So I'll need to seek out the FB group. I had been worried with recent blood pressure problems that I wouldn't make my August goal. And it's a week later than I'd hoped (I'll be on break between school semesters, but surgery will be on Wed and school starts the next Mon - online classes, though) but I'm so happy to have it approved and the date scheduled.

Well, this whole thing has just gotten a lot more "real" for me. So I guess I'll start the "my story" part. I've been overweight my whole life. First diet as a pre-teen. Lots of family of origin stuff. Likely a similar story to a vast majority of the people here. I did pretty OK as an active "fluffy" woman for many years - did belly dance, went skiing, took Krav Maga... as someone else said here, I was healthy and doing well, until I wasn't. A knee injury ended up with a knee reconstruction and 18 months of rehab, then I decided to change careers (IT to nursing) and my weight started climbing through nursing school and my health started crumbling. First I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, then my irritable bowel flared up, then I had a reaction to a medication and ended up needing a heart procedure (all fixed). Then I graduated from nursing school, and thought the active job would help. Then aches and pains in joints, especially my feet, started me on a hunt for a diagnosis. Auto-immune arthritis changed everything for me. Without medication, I was rapidly approaching a point where I couldn't do my job as an ER nurse. With medication, I'm susceptible to infections, which doesn't bode well for a nurse, especially in the ER. I started treatment and left my dream job. Luckily, I have extensive IT experience and coupled with my RN and ICU/ER experience, I was able to transition into a healthcare informatics job. That's when I realized that the 13,000 steps per shift (3 times a week) was actually helping in relation to my weight, because the scale started trending up almost immediately after changing back to a desk job. Topped 300 lbs (which had been my "I will never let myself be that weight" weight) and I started seriously considering VSG. Discussed VSG with my rheumatologist who enthusiastically supported it. Now I'm going through the insurance hurdles. Met with the surgeon, very much liked her. Met with the nutritionist, who was about what I expected and had nothing new to offer me. This week I went back to my cardiologist to ask for surgery clearance. When he did my procedure 4 years ago, he wanted a followup stress test after a year. A couple of scheduling screw-ups (one on his staff, one on my part), several job/insurance changes, night shifts, and then the auto-immune stuff kept me from getting that done. However, in the ICU and ER I had many opportunities to offer myself as a test subject for people learning to do EKG's so I knew my heart was fine. Anyway, he was really encouraging about the surgery and scheduled me for a stress test next week so he can clear me ASAP. I meet with the doc in my surgeon's office who does her supervised diet followups, as my insurance requires 3 months of that silliness. My rheumy will write the required 2nd opinion that I need surgery, and then I need to get my therapist to clear me or if she won't (I'm seeing her for food issues, but she's mildly opposed to the surgery on principle) go see whoever my doc's office has. Since I already have sleep apnea and sleep with my CPAP, I don't need a sleep study. I swear, all of this nonsense is going to cost me hundreds of dollars in copays before we even get to the EGD and VSG. Luckily I've already almost met my deductible for the year. I feel like I'm in limbo right now, doing the insurance hoops dance to get approval. So it hasn't been feeling "real" but somehow felt so much more so when I met with my cardiologist. We're targeting early August for the surgery, and that seems so far away. But it's not, really. In some ways I'm incredibly lucky. I have a super supportive husband who loves me no matter what weight I am, but who will also do whatever he needs to support me in being healthier. He'd love to be more active than my current situation allows, and prefers to eat healthily. So I won't have him sabotaging me or being unsupportive. My closest friends (chosen family, really) are concerned because we know people who have had serious complications (and a couple for whom the surgery may have contributed long-term to their deaths) but they are also super supportive. I have a sister who had the VSG several years ago in S. Korea, and she's been pressuring me to have it ever since. Which is nice, but she's one of those people who are convinced her way is the only way, so it can also be very annoying. My Dad thinks I just need to buck up and eat right and exercise, and my Mom is worried that the complications my sister has had (not really related to the surgery, except in Mom's mind) and doesn't want me to do it. I have a good job that is not very physical, so my time off work will be minimized (I'm planning one week completely off, then working from home 1-2 weeks as needed) and my boss is super supportive. So really, I have everything I need. It'll be up to me to follow through with this and do what I need to do, in order to be healthy. And learn some patience until this summer.

Several years ago I had a knee reconstructed, and learned that getting things done in advance around the house makes a big difference. I needed to make sure my bedroom was de-cluttered and I had a clear path to the bathroom, that I had a mobile workstation set up so I could use my laptop comfortably wherever I was, that the iceman machine for my knee was operational, that we had food fixed up and frozen for quick heating, that I had plenty of drinks and Snacks available in the bedroom, TV/Netflix/DVD player in the bedroom, etc. Made a world of difference in my recovery. I am expecting this recovery to be much shorter (the knee was 3 weeks before I could work from home again, and 8 weeks before I could bear weight on the leg) and certainly food won't be the same kind of issue. Obviously, getting the house as clean as possible, pathways de-cluttered and everything like that will help a lot. What other things did you do to prepare ahead of time, or wish you had done? I've got a little over 3 weeks (surgery date set for Aug 17).

@@Bufflehead - all very good points. I was all but bedbound for a couple of weeks after the knee surgery, but need to see this as completely different, as activity is necessary. I have a good BP cuff and thermometer, as well as an awesome heating pad, too. Thanks!

@@theantichick - are a doctor? Nope, RN. (working on my Master's so I'm in the medical research databases constantly... )

I'm super lucky. I have a devoted hubby who will move heaven and earth to make me happy/comfortable, and a college aged kid who will generally run errands for me if I buy her a Starbucks. With my auto-immune, I run out of steam really quickly already, so grocery stores are hell for me. The family prefers that I spend quality time with them with the energy I have, as opposed to running errands, so they tend to take care of it for me. But I have to budget my energy carefully, so anything I need to have done before the surgery, I need to get started on.

Blood thinners are standard procedure for surgery anymore. We're learning so much about blood clot risks and how to prevent them. The good news is that the shots aren't very painful (at least according to the majority of my patients). And it'll be over before you know it!! Good luck!!

Given my history of issues with insurance companies, I am not going to hold my breath. But. I have a date - August 17. Woohoo! Cigna approved my surgery even before I had my PCP authorization. And my BP was normal (112/78) this morning, so my PCP has cleared me. Now to get the butterflies in my stomach to settle down, since I've got a lot to do between now and then. Woohoo!

Can you get your therapist to put a note in your record about discussing the surgery and that she believes you're stable enough, and then get a copy of your records?

Was out sick today with a nasty migraine. Checked my voice mail, and there's one from my surgeon's office saying I've been approved. Not sure how, since my PCP hasn't cleared me yet, but I'll call tomorrow and hopefully get my date.

I asked my surgeon about it, because 3 out of 5 people I know who had WLS had to have their gall bladders out within a year after surgery. She said the actual numbers are lower than my experience when there's been no gall bladder issues prior to surgery, so it's not justified medically and insurance won't pay for it. So I guess I get to cross my fingers and hope I'm in the group that doesn't have an issue.

@@LipstickLady - I need to pass along a book recommendation that two good friends passed along to me. The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k. Yes, that's the title of the book. The basic idea is that you have a f- budget, and only things worthy of giving a f- about should be taken from your f- budget. The book goes into detail about how to implement this concept into real life. It's basically a treatise on "not my circus, not my monkeys" which is another excellent mantra to live by. This is not to belittle what you're saying, because you're 100% right. Petty online disagreements seem really lame right now with everything going on in the world. People dying is worth giving a f- about. People getting their undies in a bunch in an online forum is probably not (though it's your f- budget, not mine, so you get to decide what to give a f- about). Hugs!!

Sticky sweet pastries are the things I think I'm going to miss the most. I know I will technically be able to eat them, but if I'm successful in shifting my focus to nutrition, I cannot see how any honey bun or pudding-filled chocolate covered donut has any kind of nutritional value, and I have never been able to have just one or two bites of something like that. I'm honestly hoping that my taste buds change as so many sleevers have stated happens to them, and that I start craving something that at least has some nutrition in it. Beyond that, I have a serious love for bread. Whole wheat, sourdough, white, flat, cheese, fruit and nuts, raisin, zucchini banana and pineapple... the only bread I've never loved had jalepenos in it. I like Pasta a lot, but I love bread. So I'll miss the heck out of that.

I have a desk job, and carpool with my hubby, so I'm planning on one week off and one week working from home, but I can extend the work from home a second week if there's issues. I'm hoping that will be enough time. :/

Also, remember that a lot of people will be convinced any problem anyone had after WLS, even years later, is related to the WLS. I have a friend who had WLS, and wasn't very compliant, and had a number of health problems after and ended up dying in her sleep. Friends blame the WLS, saying she was never "right" after. I know that she wasn't compliant, so it's unclear how the WLS played a part, but it wasn't a direct cause of her death. I have a friend who lost his sister years after a bypass, with a similar story. I don't know if she was compliant or not, but the WLS was unlikely a direct cause. My sister had VSG several years ago, and has had a number of health issues since. My mother blames the VSG for all of them, but my sister has several very serious chronic conditions that predate the VSG and developed auto-immune after the VSG. The VSG didn't cause the auto-immune, but the stress of surgery may have been part of the trigger to flare it. Nothing is simple when it comes to health and complications, but death that is actually caused by the WLS is very rare. Whether it plays a part in later health conditions, is debatable. But compliance with post-op instructions greatly reduces the chance of complications. Raise all of your concerns with your surgeon, he or she will be the best person to address them with the best information. But know that the associations lots of people make aren't medically sound.

My sis had the VSG several years ago and has been after me to do it. Since I'd lost weight effectively in the past, I kept saying no I can do it on my own. However, the last 5-6 years my weight has gone up and up. I promised myself about 2 years ago if I hadn't made a significant impact on my weight by the end of the year, I'd consider surgery. Then I started struggling with symptoms that ended up being diagnosed as auto-immune arthritis, and it became incredibly hard to maintain an eating plan or exercise. I was still on the fence because of the permanence and some misconceptions I had about what life would look like post-sleeve. Then I discussed it with my rheumatologist who gave me more information about what the surgery could do for my overall health, all on its own, plus everything I already knew that would be a benefit post-surgery. Because we need to change my meds for the arthritis, and doing the surgery after the change would be problematic, I started the process and am hoping for approval and a mid-August surgery.

That doesn't seem right. Do you have any other options for your therapy?

Oh, trust me... I don't get muzzled easily. I've been around the internet since before it was the internet (yes, I *am* Methuselah LOL). If people want to get their undies in a bunch because of something I say, they're welcome to. I am sometimes taken aback by people responding like I'm being the wicked b**ch of the west when I've given a very measured response to something, but it doesn't shut me up.