Misty Marie

I am wondering how long it took everyone from the time you initially talked to your doctor about wanting to get the surgery to how long you had to wait. I started this journey at the beginning of the year. My first conversation with the surgeon was on January 5th. I did not like her, as she was pretentious and rude. She kept saying, "Someone of your size" cannot get the gastric bypass, so I debated just not doing any of the procedures. I tried to explain to her (as we were doing this as a telehealth visit) that she was misjudging my size by only looking at the numbers. I hold my weight way too well. In high school, I outweighed girls my height and clothing size by 60-80 pounds, but was a state-placing cross country runner. My actual body fat composition was low when tested, versus weight/height ratio. Came to find out that she doesn't like doing bypasses, so she tried to convince all her patients to do the sleeve. After reading up on both, I decided I would actually prefer the sleeve, but not for any of the reasons she gave. I have had three visits with my primary, done the blood tests, and am now waiting on the surgeon's office for my psychology appointment and my final dietician appointment (which is over a month out.) Once I have those, along with an EKG from my primary and getting my paperwork signed off, I then have to wait for insurance to give the final approval. After that, I then wait. So what started on January 5th will take until a minimum of May 15th (final appointment) to even have everything completed... and then two to three weeks for insurance. Then, as my surgeon explained in January, it takes up to 6 weeks for the surgery to scheduled. I am a school teacher with my youngest heading off to college in August, so I am not going to miss taking her. I am majorly concerned that by the time I finally get the surgery, the summer will be over and I won't be able to get time off at the beginning of the school year for this surgery. I am debating talking to my doctor and telling her that I just won't have the surgery because this process is just taking way too long. I have already lost 22 pounds since I first weighed in at the beginning of the year from changing my diet. I am thinking I will be down another 20 by the time I finally get this surgery... or if I can get this surgery.

Sounds like you should be looking for a different job! Working with difficult people is so stressful. Because I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago, I have to have an EKG before I can do the surgery. The dietician was booked out two months, so I have to have 3 months of a diet/exercise record with my primary before I could do the surgery or even schedule the dietician. I have my last doctor's appointment next week and my psych eval as well, so just waiting... waiting... waiting. I teach middle school, so I could see my students being in one of two camps... either totally supportive, or nasty about it. Next year, they will see the weight drop, but I am not going to say a word to them. My daughter heads off to college where I just applied to teach as a distance learning professor. I want to move where she is attending so I can get a full-time teaching position at her university. However, at my weight, I am worried they will dismiss me because I am too heavy. I cannot even comfortably sit in a theater chair and do not fly at all, which I would need to be able to do.

After doing research and considering quality of life post-weight loss, I decided I did not want to have to worry about not getting enough nutrients for the rest of my life. Even if I do take vitamins and such, I don't want to have to worry about not having enough absorption if I forget to take them all the time. I also have read of more complications with the RNY and I am not even remotely diabetic, so that surgery seemed more geared for that than just weight loss. My mom had the lap-band and she ended up almost dying from complications years later, so that was out as well. I have to admit that the video appointment I had with my surgeon was demeaning. She definitely came across as someone who was in this for the money (Louis Vuitton bag draped across her desk was a bit much), and looked down on those who couldn't lose weight without surgery. She also admitted that she was new to the practice, having switched specialties recently. That made me question if I really wanted her to be my surgeon as well, but I figured six month more experience, she should be good to go by the time she got around to mine.

I have pretty swollen legs from too much fluid build up, so I've told my co-workers I need surgery for that, but I haven't told them what type of surgery. I am sure they will figure it out when I start dropping weight. That being said... sorry for the loss of your mother. Congrats on going back to grad school. I am knee deep in my dissertation right now, hoping to get approval any day from my university to start my research so I can finally get my degree finished. I am not even thinking about how I am going to juggle all that too once I finally get approval. Your timeline looks much faster than mine, which is frustrating, as I was told my insurance is the "easiest" to work with (as in least amount of requirements). Grrrr. I wish I could this process to move faster. Honestly, it SUCKS having to diet for months, only to lose a small amount, knowing that once the surgery happens, dieting will work so much better. Wishing you the best on your surgery and success of the weight loss.

I am working towards my surgery. I have to admit that I have kind of gone off the deep end eating everything that I feel I won't be able to eat after the surgery. It has only been in the past few weeks that I decided to actually take this seriously. A few years ago, I tried HCG shots. Lost over 50lbs. Put the weight back on in about six months. Did it again. Same results. I just couldn't maintain. That is what worries me the most. I can do this for awhile, but long-term? I have a really thin daughter who eats everything and an overweight husband who couldn't care less about eating healthy and hates most of the "healthy" foods I eat. That is a serious challenge. I have over 200lbs. to lose to meet my goal weight. That is really depressing. My doctor refuses to consider doing a gastric bypass and will only do the sleeve because I am not diabetic. I do have terrible acid reflux at times, but she wouldn't even talk to me about this. My husband totally wants me to get the surgery, but I think his reasons are selfish. Not sure if he is doing this as a way for me to prove that even if I lose the weight, I won't leave him... as a kind of power trip thing. My biggest fear is that he will try to constantly sabotage me, or use my not being able to enjoy food out with him to try to make me feel like I owe him whatever he wants from me as recompense for altering our lifestyle now. I am only 3 years from retirement (need 30 years) and finishing a degree so that I can change my job to something more challenging. Once I get my retirement and finish my degree, I want to feel confident to go seek a position and being obese does not give me the confidence. (I get judged way too much as being dumb for letting myself become overweight.) Anyhow, I am super super nervous about this surgery and all that will change in my life because of this.