Caroline125

Hi! I'm having my surgery on the 5th of September and I'm on day 2 of my liver shrinking diet and I'm already losing it. Seriously, I feel like a Victorian woman about to swoon all the time I'm already so weak and hungry. I'm only getting 700 or so calories a day and ugh. I just messaged the dietician to ask if I could add an extra serving of green vegetables. On my diet, pickles are a free food, so I am going to stock up on those too. I have also been dumping spices on everything and praying that they will make me feel all bloated and thus I won't want to eat. On my diet, we can use salt to season our food. Are you allowed to do that? If not, I bet some lemon pepper seasoning (low sodium) of course would really improve low sodium broth. Keep your head up, though. We won't be hungry for that much longer.

Hi everyone, I just got a surgery date of Sept. 1. Now I'm just praying my insurance approves it. It should, but you know, something could go wrong if I don't worry about it 24/7, right? My mom is planning to come up to be with me for the surgery and afterwards. How long do you think she'll need to stay assuming everything goes normally? I'm young, otherwise healthy, and the surgery is laparoscopic. I know I'll be in hospital for a couple days but after that, I mean. Also, I'm a grad student and i'll be teaching two courses. My crappy department doesn't allow us to miss and if we absolutely have to, we have to find subs but nobody will sub. So the less I can miss of teaching, the better. All I'd have to do is sit in front of a class for about 3 hours two days a week. Do you think it's reasonable to expect o return 1 week after surgery? Thanks for your advice! Caroline

Hi everyone, I'm planning on getting either gastric bypass surgery or the duodenal switch through Duke. I had to do a year of medicalized weight loss for my insurance. It will be a year on August 16. Does anyone know how long it typically takes insurance companies to approve surgery? Can you set your surgery date before you have approval (IE before August 16?) I'm so anxious that I will have to wait but I really can't afford to miss too much teaching, and if I got it done as close to August 16th as possible, I might be able to minimize my absence to a week because of when the semester starts. If anyone has had any experience with the switch, negative or positive, I'd love to hear it. I'm really considering it because I have been fighting my weight for so long and it makes me so thoroughly miserable. The switch is more effective but is definitely riskier with more side effects. Also, I want to have a baby sometime following surgery (2 years or so?) so I'd love to hear any experiences anyone has with it. Ugh, I'm just freaking out so much at the moment because I just went to the doctor for a routine check up and I feel the most intense self loathing after going to the doctor. I feel like a freakish specimen they're all disgusted by. I just want this surgery as soon as I can get it. Sorry, this was mostly just a bunch of word vomit, but replies are appreciated. I don't know anyone who's had this, and my friends and family just don't understand why I can't lose weight on my own, so I'd just like to hear from someone who's actually experienced this. Thanks for reading if you made it through!

Do you know whether Duke requires that you lose weight before they allow you get surgery?

Thanks for all this information! How are you feeling now?

Probably not At least, not for the time being. I'm living on a graduate student stipend. One of the reasons I'm leaning towards G.B.

I think I'll try to make the school understand. I teach twice a week so I feel like if I'm having a major surgery, they can be bothered to find a sub or allow me to do a digital class. I also don't want to wait until winter break, mostly because I'll just gain more weight between now and the surgery. Another question for anyone who can answer: my team told me that I'd need to take two weeks off work. Has anyone returned to work more quickly? Keep in mind my that all I have to do is teach two 1.15 hour courses twice a week and I can do it sitting. I'm wondering whether I'd be able to return more quickly? All my other work can be done from home. Also, how much help did you need after your surgery? Could you walk and use the bathroom on your own?

Thanks to both of you for the replies! Yes, as far as i know, Duke gets the requirements done before they schedule surgery so I don't think I'll have to do labs again. I hope not!