Finding_Stacy

Hi there, lizard. I'm sorry this happened to you. I had a similar experience back in December. I went into my surgeons office so excited to get the sleeve. I watched countless videos on YouTube and read so many testimonies that I was finally sold on weight loss surgery. But when I met him and his nurse practitioner, I couldn't have been more deflated if you stuck a pin in me and I popped. They said the sleeve would still leave me obese with a high bmi. They urged me to have the DS procedure, which is like the bypass, but they sleeve your stomach then move onto the rearrangement of the intestines for the malabsorption aspect. It would leave me with a 90% total weight loss for life. And hey, that sounds great, but whenever I have to make a hard life decision, I base it on one thing. Don't laugh. I always ask myself, if I had to live in apocalyptic times, what would be my quality of life afterwards if I had no means for support with this procedure? For instance, I have a chipped front tooth that happened in high school. I have a cap on it that has served me well for over twenty-five years. Every now and then, there comes along a dentist who wants me to put a crown on it, in place of the cap, because it lasts longer. To do a crown they would have to shave my tooth down to a little pointed peg just to fit a crown. The crown isn't permanent. What if something happened tomorrow where dentistry was just a memory and I needed a crown? I would walk around looking like a cannibal, scaring the masses, opposed to just having a chipped front tooth. What does that nonsensical little story have to do with wls you ask? Well, with a DS surgery, I would have to take vitamins to survive. Sure, with the sleeve I take vitamins too, but if something happened tomorrow, I'd still be ok without vitamins on the sleeve. The ds and bypass are malabsorption surgeries. That means even though you are absorbing less calories, you are also absorbing significantly less vitamins, and with the ds I could die without my vitamins. So, that's a no go, no go. Like I told the doctor, if I could get to 200 or 170 on the sleeve, I could get to 135 as well. I've seen it done. You know why? Because no matter the surgery, the hard work will always be up to you mentally to overcome, even on those darkest days when you forget why you did this at all. You're the one who has control. If you eat right and follow the plan, there's absolutely no reason you can't lose 100% of your total weight with the sleeve. So do what inherently feels right for you. What helped me snap out of my mini depression after my appointment was watching more YouTube videos of people losing 130,150, and even 250 pounds on the sleeve. It works if you do, so again, do what's right for you <3

Wow, blizair09! You've done an incredible job!!! Truly inspiring...keep up the great work and thank you for being such a good role model for us to follow <3

I'm being sleeved on April 24th too. Insurance took a matter of only a few hours to approve my surgery and that was on February 24th. I have my final blood work/physical with the nurse practitioner, appointment with the anesthesiologist, and 3 hour pre-op class all on April 17th, a week before. I am so happy. I've been on my low carb diet for almost two weeks now. They require a low carb diet two weeks before surgery, but I started two weeks ago, just to get a good 7-8 weeks head start. Yay for us!! April is a beautiful month, more ways than one now. It's our new birthday

What an inspiration you are

Steph, it just varies between different insurances, to specific policies, individuals, and doctors. For example, with me, my first appointment was on December 21st. I'm eligible now for the surgery, but the doctor doesn't have an opening until February, so that's when I'll have it. If it wasn't for the holidays, I probably could've had it done within six weeks from start to finish.

Yay!!! Good luck!!! It has got to feel so surreal. I'm officially submitted to insurance today. This next week will be nerve racking.

Stephanie, you can do this! Whenever I've faced some pretty daunting tasks, like walking into a surgery room three different times, I just focused on how great I'll feel an hour afterwards. Maybe not physically, but mentally I know I'll be so proud of myself for accomplishing such a big goal. But most importantly, before they wheel you away towards your new life, take a moment to say goodbye to your old self. A therapist once told me that I was afraid of success. I do believe that. It's not failure that haunts me, because I'm very comfortable with that. But to make a change, and stepping out of my comfort zone, is absolutely terrifying. I think for whatever reason, most of us in this situation are afraid of success. Some of us, like myself, are afraid to see just how great we can become. We self sabotaged ourselves so indefinitely, we carved out this safe niche with food and stretchy pants. Tomorrow is your change, butterfly. You'll be more than fine.

Very inspirational. We're you afraid of drinking for the first time after the surgery? I'm a little nervous in not knowing if it will be painful or just in general difficult to do.

So much good news tonight. Good luck everybody. My file was either submitted to insurance today or will be tomorrow, so I'm hoping to join you all next month! Since we leave for vacation late March, my cutoff to have this surgery is mid February, or I'll have to wait until late April, which would suck...so...bad. Doctor said he needs me six weeks out before I can fly. So I'm still hoping I'll somehow pull this off.

It is all consuming, isn't it? This may sound crazy, but I never realized how much of an emotional eater I am/was until I had that first consultation. We went to Red Lobster afterwards and I kept eating until I was in pain. Since, I've caught myself doing it many and many times, I think from the stress of this process among other things. Or maybe I'm binging because I know I can't soon enough. I don't know. It's all so....confusing, sometimes. But I was going to ask, have you guys ever watched the YouTube vlogs on life after wls? I find myself crying each and every time when they're still in the hospital, signing the last of the papers before being rolled away into surgery. That signature is a goodbye to your old self, all the heartache and self hatred. It's a goodbye to the 'I wills and I can'ts because of my weight'. It's putting all your chips on the table and gambling for a better life, because now you've found the right road to who you were meant to be all along, and now, finally, you're putting your past to bed. Yeah, what a powerful moment <3

Because it's tentative. They messed up and didn't upload all my tests and procedures properly on my first visit, so they can't give me a surgery date until they have all that done. Then they'll run it through insurance, but because they know I do have them, and they're the ones who screwed up, so they went ahead and booked me, figuring it will all be in and done by that date. All they need now is an Iron test from me (the only test I didn't do beforehand) which I'll get done tomorrow, then they'll send it to my insurance for preapproval.

My preop class is February 6th. I'm hoping to have a mid February surgery date, so we'll see. What dates are/were your preop classes? Is it normally two to three weeks before the surgery?

I had my first appointment on December 21st. It's exciting, isn't it? With mine, it was a three hour appointment. I met with a nurse, then the nurse practitioner, the surgeon, the dietician, and finally, the psychologist. It was both, an exam and interview, to see if I was a good candidate to get into their program. Fortunately, I had a lot of tests done in the last six months for other things, such as a Pap smear, ultrasound of the liver and gall bladder, lab work, mammogram, sleep study, and chest X-ray. I have low cholesterol, bp, and sugar so I guess that's why he didnt have me do an ekg. But in the month between December 21st and up until yesterday morning, I didn't hear anything from them. I didn't know my next step or if they still needed something. I was going out of my mind. Yesterday morning I decided to call and it's been a whirlwind of calling several places since, getting things faxed to them because they never uploaded all my tests properly the day of my visit--which is frustrating. So stay on top of it. My preop class is February 6th and I'm hoping to get a surgery date soon, but I'm hoping mid February. So that's two months from start to finish. Probably could've been sooner if I called them a couple of weeks ago.

I thought everyone had to do one too, but I was told today all I have left to do is an iron test. My preop class is on February 6th (I can't believe this is finally happening!). But I did read somewhere that they do one during the surgery. If this is true with some or all surgeons, I don't know.

So, here's my newbie question of the day. I read with the ds, the passing gas and pooping can stink like something fierce. Is that the only time you stink? Does this surgery make you have a bad odor in general? Also, I'm for the Atkins diet/Keto diet where eating fat isn't a bad thing. Can you eat the fat in sour cream, cream cheese, cheese, etc, or do you have to go fat free because fat signals the dumping syndrome? And lastly, my doctor mentioned there's a pill to help with the stinkiness of the new ds bowels, has anyone tried that and has it worked?

Hi Greg! Congratulations on your approval. That's great news! I just first want to say that I, too, have BCBS of IL. I'm not sure where you're having your surgery, but even though I live in N. Indiana, I'm having mine at the University of Chicago. When I went into the surgeon's office for my first appointment, I guess I was expecting to be on an all liquid diet for two weeks before, and two weeks after the procedure. My doctor said that a low carb will suffice for two weeks before because that's how he wants his patients to eat for life, not on a liquid diet. Now, having said that, maybe it's a patient to patient thing. I have 225 pounds to lose, ideally, so that should tell you that I'm not on the light end of the BMI spectrum. But maybe some patients have more of a fatty liver that needs to be lean in time for surgery, so a liquid diet is the best bet--I don't know, I'm just shooting something out there into this vast strange universe known as the internet. I want to have only the sleeve done and that's it. My doctor was/is pushing me hard for the DS procedure. Which surgery are you planning on having-- the sleeve, gastric bypass, or the ds? Some surgeries will have you lose faster than others, but either way, you will lose a ton of weight quickly since you're a man starting at a higher weight than a man who's, let's say, is only 270. And a man...did I say a man? Yes, you're a man. Us women tend to lose slower, so that's definitely a bonus for you. But good luck and definitely keep us posted!!!

For all of you University of Chicago patients, what did you think? I have BcBs of Il and wonder what the time frame from my first appointment on December 21, 2016-surgery date will be. I had the sleep study done last summer. Chest X-ray and liver ultrasound done a month ago, along with lab work. I also have normal, to sometimes low, blood pressure, as well as no diabetes and low cholesterol. I feel like I have all my ducks in a row, but it's been over two weeks and I'm still waiting on a letter from them, entailing what they still need. I am so impatient!!

Nice. I will vlog. Just trying to get the courage up. I have a question, though. Your sound quality is really good. Do you use some type of microphone?

I'm glad to see someone else wondering the same thing that I have. I keep searching for an answer as well. I had my first appointment on December 21st with my surgeon, dietician, and psychologist. I brought in recent lab work, ultrasound of my liver and gallbladder, my sleep study report, and chest X-Ray. Everything the insurance needs, I already have met. I talked to them and since they have copies of all my records, they said I'm good to go. But I guess I was hoping someone would've said something at my doctor's appointment. All they kept saying is that they will send a letter out the first week of the year. I even asked, 'What would be in the letter? Would it say if I'm accepted into the program?' But the only answer I got was 'Oh, you're definitely in the program.' So, I never got my answer.[ So, long story short, I too am wondering if they submitted last week my information to the insurance for approval and what could possibly be in that letter. Maybe it's the tests they still may need me to do, although I can't imagine what it would be. I'm not sure if all doctors require an EKG or endoscopy, but my blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol have always been really good. Sorry, I'm just going out of my mind and really want to, one, have a surgery date, but two, find out exactly what still needs to get done. ***Edit to add*** My original appointment was January 11th, but I was so impatient, I changed surgeons just so I could get in a month early.

Hey Lady C, congratulations!!!!

When did you guys find out when your surgery will be, this or last month?

Ok, so to add another layer to this topic, I have a question. I've had to walk into a surgery room a time or two, and was completely awake and in my right mind as they prepped my body for what's to come. Every single time I was completely terrified. Do they give you medicine in your iv beforehand to relax you before the grand entrance to thy sterile chambers?

Thank you so much for this. Your embarrassment was my chuckle for the evening :-D

@bariatricbutterfly---you look amazing!! Did you have any loose skin at all? You look gorgeous...seriously, good for you!