Lannie

@rlsanch2005 - Good luck on your surgery. The staff at Rose were wonderful. All bariatric patients stay on the 6th floor in private rooms.

I am approved for surgery and have decided to tell immediate family and select friends. These forums were helpful as I considered if I should tell people and who to tell. Since many of my friends are overweight as well, I decided that that I owed it to them to be upfront about having surgery. Hope this helps as other consider how to tell. ----------------------------------- Hello Family & Friends, I have decided to have a type of weight loss surgery called the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (or Gastric Sleeve). This is something I've been thinking about and looking into for nearly a year now. This is not a quick fix, or the easy way out. The sleeve is a permanent tool to assist with making life-long changes. I've been morbidly obese for nearly 20 years and right now I am at my heaviest. I have tried countless diets and medically supervised plans but have had limited success in managing my weight. I have reached the point that that I am no longer willing to accept the physical limitations of my weight. When my insurance agreed to cover the procedure – I decided I needed to take advantage of this opportunity. I have done a full investigation into this surgery and my surgeon, gone through all of the seminars, and have finished all the required testing. My surgery is scheduled for June 13th. The hospital and my surgeon is a Bariatric Center of Excellence. If you would like to look further into this surgery and the program I chose, please visit http://denverbariatrics.com/ At this point, I am only telling a select group of family and friends. I do not want this to be a secret however I also do not feel the need to publicly broadcast personal medical information. Your discretion with further disclosure is appreciated. I’m excited about this next step in my life and your support would mean the world to me.

Google Fat Head Pizza...it will give you a recipe for a low carb, cheese based crust. One of the better substitutes I've found.

I was clear liquid only for 2 days pre-op. Wasn't bad at all. Isopure makes several clear drinks. The protein helped ward off hunger during those two days

I ate Keto pre-op and plan to resume after I am healed. I will do low carb, high protein, moderate fat. My husband (normal weight athlete) does low carb, high fat. We will be on similar eating plans which will be a lifesaver. We can cook one meal, and he can add extra fat to his plate only. We have found this to be a sustainable way of eating. And it is right in line with my NUT recommendations.

The doctor said to start the vitamin...but was more focused on fluids and protein at discharge . I may wait a couple more days...I start soft foods on Wednesday and have my 1week follow up. Thanks

I'm 6 days post op with the sleeve. Started my multivitamin today....Bariatric Advantage chewable. Less than 10 minutes after taking, I started vomiting. Feel a little better now but still nauseous. hoping this is just due to taking on on empty stomach. Will try tomorrow after taking a protein shake. Problem due to empty stomach? Find a new vitamin? Any thoughts?

I was on the fence,but my surgeon was helpful in making the decision. Medically he said I was a good candidate for either. He estimated the bypass would result in losing 30 pounds more than vsg. When I expressed concerns about the malabsorption of bypass - he quickly said that that the right procedure is the one I'm most comfortable with. He had a very practical response and said a 30lb difference (lose 120 vs 150) isn't worth my hesitation. Was sleeved 5 days ago.

JC Penny Xersion brand has cute plus size and is affordable. Their capris are about $15. I've worn them for rnnning 3x week for over a year and they are still in dec by shape.

There ar a lot of apps with decent training plans. Have you run before? One mistake new runners make is to start too fast and then get discouraged. When starting you should be able to speak in full sentences....if not, your going too fast. Overtime your cardiovascular strength will improve and you can push harder, faster. Make sure you allow time to build up your endurance.

The first couple of daysplain water made me nauseous. Still not great but getting better. Mio drops helped, I can get all my fluids in now. , DR said I could use vitamin water zero, mio, isopure, decaf tea. The DR is more concerned about staying hydrated at this point. Use whatever you need to keep hydrated

I'm 3 days post op ....still working to get all my water in. Each day is easier. Plain water will cause a burning feeling. As long as I add a drop of mio flavoring, it goes down ok. Good luck

Glad you are home and doing well. I'm 3 days post-op and I is a challenge to get the water in. I think I was going too long between taking pain mess. I'm not in a lot of pain....just uncomfortable. When I take the Mede on schedule, I feel better and can drink more easily. Ive had the tummy growls a few time...when that happened I switch to a protein shake from water. Good luck.

I was sleeved on Tuesday too. I'm uncomfortable but not painful. I found that I need to set a timer and just take the pain meds as scheduled even if I don't think I need it. If I go too long then I have a problem. It is a lot easier to get my fluids in when I'm not so uncomfortable.

I am pre-op and exercise regularly. I do triathlons....so I swim, bike or run 4 - 5 days a week. Did a 1/2 marathon last week, so this week was a recovery of hiking and a 5K. I'm not fast but I am consistent. Activity is an important part of my stress management. People are always amazed at how much I exercise at my size. Great example that it isn't as simple as eat less, move more. Excited to see what more is possible post-op.

That's a great point! I sent the letter as a group message so they could all see who was on it. I didn't consciously think about that...but will consider if I tell others. So far the response has been overwhelming positive. I didn't realize how nervous I was to tell people until after I sent the message. As soon as I hit send...I had an overwhelming sense of peace.

If you take personal time/vacation instead of medical leave, you can avoid the FMLA and disability forms that require disclosure. If you are using company sponsored insurance they will get claims data that shows the plan paid for Bariatric surgery. The claims data will not have your name attached, but your company will know that someone had the procedure. If you are at a small employer HR may be able to guess...larger company's maybe not.

Can you schedule a consultation appointment? You may have to pay the office visit fee but it would give you the opportunity to personally meet with the surgeon. I found meeting with the doctor helpful in making my decision to have surgery.

Can you ask the Bariatric center to give you a specific instructions on what needs to be included in the documentation for the supervised diet. If you take those instructions to your PCP that should help ensure you have the documentation required. Might as well get a jump start instead of waiting for August. Good Luck.

That seems a little backwards to me. My doctor won't schedule until we had the insurance approval. I have BCBS of Illinois and it took about 2 weeks to get approval after the submission of the paperwork. It may be worth asking your doctor about alternative dates in case the approval does not come through in time.

I have BCBS of IL and it was fairly straight forward. Had to have letter for clearance from my PCP, attend a meeting with nutritionist, psych eval. There was an additional class required by my surgeon not required by the insurance. It took me about a month to complete all of those requirements. It was about 2 weeks from submission to paperwork to approval.

Don't forget that you can use your Flexible Spending Account or your health saving account. Normally vitamins are excluded - however if your MD writes a "prescription" stating it is medically necessary it is permissible. The key words are medically necessary. I plan to ask my surgeon to write note for both vitamins and protein shakes so that I can use my HSA.

If the Feds aren't going to legalize they should at least reschedule. A schedule 1 prohibits research and controlled study. There is so much qualitative data to support the medical benefits....now we need the hard data. the scheduling is tied to this country's racist history (which continues today)...We need to get over ourselves and look for at it from an objective science based approach. /end rant.

I work in the substance use prevention field...many of us supported legalization in CO. Are re you in a state where it is legal? If so you may be able to make a case for legal off duty activity...perhaps they would allow you to continue to do random testing to show that it was old use. A series of tests will show the levels dropping. With drug testing there is no way to tell if a positive for THC is from recent use or several weeks ago. Since it is stored in the fat cells...weight loss can prompt a positive test well after you would expect (several weeks). Passing the the test will depend on the lab used, cut off levels, etc. if you drink lots of water you may get a dilute test but the THC would still show up....however it may be at a level closer to incidental exposure. Not sure I'm much help. Good luck.

My doctor is requiring that I go off the pill for a month prior and a month after surgery. Then recommend a secondary method (condoms) for the first year post-op. Basically said that fertility will spike and hormones will be all over the place so pill may not be as effective in the first year.