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Just wanted to say Hi All! I'm new to this app and to the Bariatric journey. I'm still in process of trying to get my sleeve. Hoping it happens this summer! I joined here in hopes of making friends and support from those that "get it" and who knows maybe click with a special someone! Dating just got a lot more complicated with this whole thing lol. So, any and all advice/suggestions about surgery, life, whatever... are more than welcome! Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

Just wanted to say Hi All! I'm new to this app and to the Bariatric journey. I'm still in process of trying to get my sleeve. Hoping it happens this summer! I joined here in hopes of making friends and support from those that "get it" any and all advice/suggestions are more than welcome! Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

Just wanted to say Hi All! I'm new to this app and to the Bariatric journey. I'm still in process of trying to get my sleeve. Hoping it happens this summer! I joined here in hopes of making friends and support from those that "get it" any and all advice/suggestions are more than welcome! Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

19 Days Post Op - 211.8lbs (-10.6lbs from SW-222.4lbs) Ok, so I have things to discuss. ROFLMAO. Let's talk Celebrate Vitamins. I chose to go this route because my RD and doc highly recommended them as giving good labs down the road. So that means, they are easily and well absorbed. To me, that's like a life insurance policy geared toward success. I also chose them cuz I got samples from several companies and these had (IMHO), the best tastes overall, and the most choices for types of vitamins (i.e. capsules, chewables, chewy bites, drink mixes, sublingual tablets, etc). So now I want to report on what I got and how I love them/tolerate them. I got 2 different kind of Multi-Vitamins because I was afraid that I would get to hate the drink mix if I had to have it 2 times a day. Here are my 2 multi-vitamins to take care of my daily bariatric needs: Essential 3-in-1 Multi Drink Mix in Citrus Splash and it's the 60 serving tub. So I use 1 scoop a day in water with ice. And what I get for that is: 1/2 of my multi-vitamin needs + 500mg of calcium citrate + about 3g of benefiber stuff. And it tastes like Tang! I'm a Tang kid. I loved the stuff growing up, just as I loved the instant Lipton Lemon Iced Tea. LOL. So I look forward to having my big glass of this stuff, 30 minutes after breakfast or morning snack time. YUM!!! I thoroughly recommend it. I love that I don't have any gross burps or nausea after it and it tastes yum. And I don't have to swallow a bullet sized multi-vitamin. The tub will lat me 60 days cuz I'm having it one time a day. The other multi is a chewable orange tablet that I take with dinner. Chewable Tablet Multi-Vitamin in Citrus. I like this vitamin. I let it kinda dissolve like a huge sweettart. It does have a mild vitaminy taste, kinda like the old chewable vitamins or baby asprins we took as kids. I like it, tolerate it and best of all don't get burps or nausea behind it. If only taking this vitamin, you need 2per day. But I take 1 at the evening meal and the drink mix for the other half of my vitamin. The drawback with this chewable is that it does not contain the 500mg of calcium citrate like the drink mix contains. So that means I require 1000mg of calcium citrate from another source which means more cost. But it gives me the greatest flexibility. . Calcium Citrate Chewy Bites - 1000mg/day (1500mg actual, but I get 500mg from my drink mix multi above--so I only need 2-500mg chewy bites) I love these chewy bites. I have to take 2 that are separated from my any other big vitamin source of calcium or iron by 2 hours. I take 1 at noon and the other right after dinner. Watermelon Chewy Bite - 500mg calcium citrate + D (love to take this in the afternoon) Chocolate Chewy Bite - 500mg calcium citrate + D (love to take this after dinner kinda like a sweet touch finish to the meal) . Thiamine 100mg Capsule. Nothin' amazing to report here other than that it is small and easily swallowed and digested! I take it in the morning since B1 thiamine is an energy vitamin! . Vitamin D3. I don't have to take an extra supplement because between my 2 multis and the calcium citrate chewy bites, I meet my 2000mg D3 requirements each day. Score! And a money saver! . B12 500mg/daily or 1000mg/every other day Sublingual Soft Melts in Wild Cherry. This is so easy to take. I dissolve it under the tongue. It dissolves quickly is faintly wild cherry. And I take it every other day with my Thiamine and Multi Drink Mix. YUM! And pretty cheap! . Iron 18mg (from iron fumerate) + C (for better absorption) Chewable Tablet-Tangerine Flavor (every other day at bedtime cuz I'm post-meno and only need about 10mg/day). This is another big chewable tablet that I let dissolve. It's not bad. Doesn't have an aweful taste and is the best choice so far for flavor and lack of after taste. It doesn't make me sick to my tummy either. Big score! I tried others that sent me praying to hurl! I only take it every other day at night. I separate from any other vitamin or tummy pill by 2-4 hours so that it will absorb. . Notes: And that is it. That's my vitamin regimen. I think the cost over time was about $35/mo? Or something cray like that? Bariatric Pal has these in their store at the same price as direct from Celebrate. I do love the customer service at Celebrate and work with someone there personally. So I do use Celebrate. But they are the same price and I'm sure you could get great service from Alex's crew. I don't know if I will continue doing the chewables and drink mixes over time. What I don't like is that rather than pills or capsules, I have 55-60 calories from VITAMINS!!!! and have about 10-12g of sugar alcohols (I subtract about 8-9 grams of fiber/sugar alcohols as a guestimate). So they could potentially impact your weight loss. I don't like to thing that right now, they represent about 10% of my daily caloric intake! Whoooooooaaaaaa Nelly! But I'm willing to suspend disbelief and continue to take them in the hopes that they will be well-absorbed and will keep my labs beautimous and also because I don't have to swallow huge ass pills right after surgery! OK, so there you go! Vitamin Central. LOL. More later...

@mylighthouse you are just the beacon I need to see. I'm at a ,loose 26 just about,to go to a 24, About ready to wonder if I'll lose any more while I wait for the Baiatric God's to smile and grant me another audience. I've had a rough road to surgery land, hot thrown into a pothole last month, but maybe things might get fixed. I hope to be smaller when this nightmare is over,maybe a 15/16? But you give me renewed hope I could get even smaller? Gosh you did it, maybe I can also? Thanks for posting today. Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

I was banded in June 2008. My weight loss fluctuated - but for the most part, I didn't lose that much - about 40 pounds. The only reason my weight was down when they took out my band in February 2017 (1/3 of my band slipped into my stomach) was because I lost 40 pounds working at horrendous job. I lost it without trying, but I don't advise going through extreme stress to lose weight. My debanding took place at a different hospital than where I was banded. I went to the hospital closest to my house, as I was in extreme pain. Luckily, they have a bariatric surgery department. Having said that, I was glad I had the band. If I didn't, I could only imagine how much I would have gained without it. After the band was removed, I did gain 20 pounds back, which scared the hell out of me. The hospital where I banded would not consider operating on me - they told me I'd have to be at my pre-band weight. The bariatric surgeon who debanded me was very open to helping me obtain permission to get sleeved. I was sleeved on February 14, and I've lost the 20 pounds. I was on the liquid phase a bit longer than most because I was banded, and my surgeon told me I would heal slowly due to stomach scars from the band - I didn't have a "virgin" stomach on which to operate. Twenty pounds feels great. I'm sure I'll stall in the near future, it always seems to happen to me. Your results may vary. I feel much more restriction than with the band, and I'm really pleased about that. I'm grateful that I have been able to have this procedure.

I woke upthis morning on the verge of a panic attack. Yeah The Little Engine That Could feels like she's falling off her track. I reached out to another Bariatric program, went to their seminar, turned in my paperwork including a release of information form, signed up to be seen by their staff psychologist, but I don't know if I can stand waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. What if these people don't like me either? Can I emotionally stand another rejection? Help me to stay this course, to patiently wait, today this ole cowgirl's got herself in a blue funk. Help me see light,in this situation.[emoji8][emoji8] Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

Do you do a barium swallow test after surgery for leaks? What support staff is available if I have questions? Do you have a patient support group? Do you have nutrition and/or cooking classes, lending library for bariatric information? Do you have a notebook/binder with all the acceptable/approved vitamins and protein shakes, appointments required, explanation of the surgeries, etc. Good luck.

My husband and I are both scheduled for gastric sleeve surgery April 9. Yep, both of us on the same day!! We’ve been married for 18 years, we own our own business together and feel like this is just another adventure in our lives. I’ve read many posts and feel like I connect with y’all for many reasons. We also live in Georgia and haven’t told many people as family members tend to be critical and not supportive in others aspects of our lives. Our insurance policy does not cover bariatric surgery so we are self pay. This is good and bad. Good in that we are on the super fast track but bad because we don’t have access to the months of training provided as part of the ins requirements.

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a member of the 90% of people who were unsuccessful with long term weight management through diet and exercise alone. Yes, that's the statistic. To the people that would tell me that I took the easy way out I say I took the smart way. I am giving myself the best possible chances at long term weight management. The research shows that 65% of people with a BMI >= 35 that use surgery as a tool have long term success at weight management. Another way of looking at this is over 2/3rds of the people that undergo surgery have success. I would argue that surgery is harder than traditional diet and exercise. We have both mental and physical challenges to overcome with bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery essentially forces a lifestyle change upon us. Ironically, I had a much easier time with medically-supervised diet and exercise. I just failed in maintenance.

Hi I recently saw a few groups that have meetups in the area they live in. I think we need this in Mass. Not sure if this is the best way to go about it or if there is already something in place, so I thought I would give it a shot. Dawn Marie

I’m having my surgery at Memorial in May. I wanted to know if you can tell me if they provide private recovery rooms after surgery? I’ve heard some hospitals have you sharing rooms with other Bariatric patients.

Pushing seven years out here. Are you involved in a bariatric program yet? If so, they should be able to hook you up with some long term post ops, and there may be some who hang around their support group meetings (if they hold them.) Beyond that, ask away, and good luck on this venture.

I had my surgery about 2.5 years ago and I, too, also only told a couple of close friends and my family. I wasn't ashamed of surgery, but I preferred not to have to explain and/or answer questions. I suspect that people probably guess that I had surgery, since dropping 300 lbs is a bit of a change. Honestly? I regret not telling people about it. I wish that I had done this years ago, as I think about all of the opportunities that I missed and all of the pain & aggravation that being 518 lbs caused. If there is one person who is in the position that I was and could feel a sense of hope from my experience, I would really regret not being able to offer it. I also don't want to contribute to any sort of false stigma to bariatric surgery. Like the other guys on this forum, I have worked pretty hard at this and surgery was not a magical cure-all.

When I decided to pursue the revision the surgeon who performed my initial gastric sleeve performed my EGD. When his staff submitted the package for insurance approval that was all submitted, that submission was denied. Instead of submitting an appeal I opted to immediately see a bariatric physician that I could possibly get approval with within the last quarter of the year. After talking with my new physician a second EGD was performed, an abdominal ultrasound was done to view my gallbladder, an ultrasound on my legs and arteries and a stress test to actually monitor how I performed and breathed while cycling. The stress tests showed I had the capacity of someone 30 years my elder and showed a sac full of gallstones that my initial surgeon didn't want to remove and never did tests to show there was an issue. When these were submitted the 2nd time to my insurance, I was approved immediately for a revision, from a gastric sleeve to a duodenal switch. Although my first surgeon didn't submit and real problems with my sleeve, my second surgeon saw that a portion of the stomach was left during my initial surgery that should have been removed. My initial surgeon would not admit that there was an issue in the submission to the insurance company which was a cause of the initial denial. I'm now approaching my 3month post-op revisional surgery. I felt defeated after speaking with my first surgeon...stay strong you still have options Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

Relax and read some of the success stories on here. There are people who were just as scared as you and worse. You will often second guess yourself, a lot of us had doubts but if you committ yourself you will make it through. And a good thing is: you have all of us to cheer you on., you have sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and me, a grandma-ager in this worldwide Bariatric family. There is not a worry you can think up that one of us has not already had and overcome. When I joined I had and am still having some doozies and they have helped me with them all. They will do the same for you. So welcome and please stay around a while! Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

Congratulations on your weight loss, I hope when I have my surgery I do so good Also. I will be a RnY, yeah I know this is sleeve forum but on Bariatric Pal we visit back and forth. Our innards may get rearranged,a little differently,but we are all in this weight loss derby together. We all support each other and often feel each other's pain. Welcome and we hope we can help you in your recovery. Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

I was wholly unprepared for the psychological aspects of the journey to bariatric surgery so I sit down to write this in the hopes that you might not make the same mistake that I did in taking this so lightly. When I first started out, I thought this would be similar to the journeys of the other weight loss attempts in my life so I totally discounted the psychology. In fact, I did not even want to think about matters related to the mind. It was the pre-op diet that forced me to take a very long and deep-seated look at the exact cause of my obesity; food is love, relief from clinical depression, and medicine. The realization hit me a week and a half into this pre-op diet that I am no longer going to be able to use the medicine that worked so well. I am a survivor of almost twenty years of verbal and psychological abuse from peers, teachers, parents, and co-workers. Food was what was simultaneous keeping me from suicide and basically killing me. If ever more morbid a paradox existed, I am at a loss for thinking of any. Even the times when I was thin, I always knew if things went downhill, food was merely walking distance away. I have had a range of emotions from anger and hatred towards those whom abused me, to hope and forgiveness. I write this a day and a half before my surgery as I go through a treasure trove of old digital photos of me in different stages of my life. I also went through and organized all of my music. It was something that necessarily had to be done because it's an important part of closure that I never did. I looked at the albums of photos with the two women whom ever had the courage to love me at one point in time or another. I kept them because I was grasping at straws to keep from going over a cliff. I hoped that one day one of them might be a part of my life again. However both are married now, and hindsight being 20/20, they would not be ideal mates for me nor I for them. I looked back on those photos with a mixture of pride, happiness, and sadness. Purging the photos gave me the closure that I needed. Love was possible twice, it will be possible again. I want to stop the cycle of self-loathing. I am not going into the operating room out of self-disgust, I am going out of self-compassion.

I am employed by a medicaid insurer, look on the back of your card and call the benefits line listed. Once you reach a rep, tell them you would like a list of providers sent to you for bariatric physicians and a list for behavioral health providers (for your psych evaluation later)...they will send all of the providers that are credentialed with their company that accept your insurance. That way you don't have to call only the ones that you know are doing bariatric surgery. Also, if you don't find a good one that takes your Medicaid please ask if they are willing to do a 'Single Case Agreement'...this will allow your insurance to partner with the hospital and surgeon to receive services and payment for your case only. Don't give up, there are always options! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask...everyone deserves a chance to become the healthiest they can be! Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

Interesting. What hospital is this, where are you located? Is it a Bariatric Center of Excellence? I am now on day 5 of my semi liquid pre op diet and all is going well. The headache feeling passed by the third day. The only trouble I have is when I am out and about and stop near a restaurant or fast food place. I swear, there should be a law about those odors wafting across parking lots and assaulting our noses. That gets my saliva going. food odors need to be contained to the premises! 😂😂

I struggled a lot wondering if I should tell people about getting weight loss surgery. I had considered getting sleeved a couple years before I did and told a few people I was considering it. I was surprised at their responses, especially my parents. For one, most people had a pretty negative view of it—even a doctor friend of mine. But it was clear most people were not well-read on the topic and were prone to all of the common misconceptions. At first my parents sounded like they would be supportive but them wrote to me in unison telling me that I shouldn’t do the surgery. My dad had been successful at losing a bunch of weight and controlling his diabetes a few years back but has since gained most of it back. Their thought was that if I needed to have a lifestyle change after surgery to maintain why not just do the lifestyle change and forego surgery. They also thought that if it was something I had to be secretive about (because I had asked them not to mention it to my siblings) then it must not be right. Well, this discouraged me and I decided not to do the surgery but try to lose weight on my own. And, as you can imagine, I did not succeed. My diabetes got a lot worse and I started daily injections. I also developed sleep apnea and needed to sleep with a CPAP machine. The trajectory of my health was not good and I came back to the idea of bariatric surgery. I thought that I would not ask my parents their thoughts but just tell them my decision and ask for their support. My thought was that I had to tell them because they are my parents. But I struggled a lot thinking about how they would respond and doubted that they would keep it from my siblings, who, if they knew, would tell the world. I actually talked to my primary physician about it and she supported me and suggested that since I’m an adult (46) my parents don’t even have to know. So I wrote to my parents a desperate message telling them the extent of my health problems and that I needed to do something. I asked for their prayers. I already decided to get sleeved but didn’t know if I should tell them. I decided that if they replied and changed their tune about surgery and brought it up to say they’d support me if that is what I decided (since we had discussed it before) then I’d tell them. But otherwise, I would take that as a sign that I should not tell them. They just said they’d pray for me, so I decided I wouldn’t tell them. I also decided that I couldn’t tell people in my workplace because of gossip—telling one would be the same as telling everyone. So, in the end, the only people in the world who know, besides the doctors and nurses who performed the procedure and my other physicians, is my wife. I didn’t even tell my young kids. I was afraid people might guess I had had the surgery if I suddenly lost a lot of weight—especially the few people I had previously told I had been considering it the first time around. So about 3 months before surgery I posted on Facebook a pic of me on my bike and that it was time for me to reset my diet and lifestyle and lose weight. I did start exercising then and would regularly post pictures and updates so that people would get accustomed to the fact that I was exercising and working hard, which would leave little room for suspicion about the cause of my weight loss. This worked really well and I did indeed lose 38 lbs pre-op through diet and exercise, which, to this day, convinces me that I did do this and can take credit for it. I took a 2-week vacation and got the surgery on the third day of the vacation. This gave me time to recover so that I’d be in good shape by the time people saw me again. I had told a couple people that I was going to take my vacation to ramp up my weight-loss efforts and alter my diet. I lost a quick 10-15 lbs immediately after the surgery and when I went back to work a couple people noticed. I went to my explanation: “I had been losing weight since August but no one could tell but me; then when I get to a certain threshold everyone starts noticing and thinks it happened overnight, but truthfully, ive been losing weight over the past 3 months!” I’ve lost 34 lbs since surgery and am much thinner than before. But I’ve continued to run races (5K, 10K and half-marathons) and post about it online. People have said some very encouraging things to me but I’ve been a little surprised that I haven’t gotten more comments about my weight loss. Maybe because I’m a guy—might be different for a girl. Not one person has asked me if I got bariatric surgery, or have seemed to be “fishing” for that either. I’m sure some people think I’m just being prideful by posting so many selfies and race results, but I decided that would be both understandable and effective for keeping the secret about surgery. So far all has gone well—I don’t regret the surgery or keeping it a secret. I also don’t feel like I’ve lied about portraying myself as having done it all on my own when really surgery did it for me because I lost more pre-op than I have post-op, and I have still had to maintain all that discipline since surgery as well. I can eat a lot more than I thought I would be able to, and so it is still my self-discipline that is keeping food out of my mouth, not just the sleeve. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5’8” HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 198, GW: 170

I struggled with this a lot. I had considered getting sleeved a couple years before I did and told a few people I was considering it. I was surprised at their responses, especially my parents. For one, most people had a pretty negative view of it—even a doctor friend of mine. But it was clear most people were not well-read on the topic and were prone to all of the common misconceptions. At first my parents sounded like they would be supportive but them wrote to me in unison telling me that I shouldn’t do the surgery. My dad had been successful at losing a bunch of weight and controlling his diabetes a few years back but has since gained most of it back. Their thought was that if I needed to have a lifestyle change after surgery to maintain why not just do the lifestyle change and forego surgery. They also thought that if it was something I had to be secretive about (because I had asked them not to mention it to my siblings) then it must not be right. Well, this discouraged me and I decided not to do the surgery but try to lose weight on my own. And, as you can imagine, I did not succeed. My diabetes got a lot worse and I started daily injections. I also developed sleep apnea and needed to sleep with a CPAP machine. The trajectory of my health was not good and I came back to the idea of bariatric surgery. I thought that I would not ask my parents their thoughts but just tell them my decision and ask for their support. My thought was that I had to tell them because they are my parents. But I struggled a lot thinking about how they would respond and doubted that they would keep it from my siblings, who, if they knew, would tell the world. I actually talked to my primary physician about it and she supported me and suggested that since I’m an adult (46) my parents don’t even have to know. So I wrote to my parents a desperate message telling them the extent of my health problems and that I needed to do something. I asked for their prayers. I already decided to get sleeved but didn’t know if I should tell them. I decided that if they replied and changed their tune about surgery and brought it up to say they’d support me if that is what I decided (since we had discussed it before) then I’d tell them. But otherwise, I would take that as a sign that I should not tell them. They just said they’d pray for me, so I decided I wouldn’t tell them. I also decided that I couldn’t tell people in my workplace because of gossip—telling one would be the same as telling everyone. So, in the end, the only people in the world who know, besides the doctors and nurses who performed the procedure and my other physicians, is my wife. I didn’t even tell my young kids. I was afraid people might guess I had had the surgery if I suddenly lost a lot of weight—especially the few people I had previously told I had been considering it the first time around. So about 3 months before surgery I posted on Facebook a pic of me on my bike and that it was time for me to reset my diet and lifestyle and lose weight. I did start exercising then and would regularly post pictures and updates so that people would get accustomed to the fact that I was exercising and working hard, which would leave little room for suspicion about the cause of my weight loss. This worked really well and I did indeed lose 38 lbs pre-op through diet and exercise, which, to this day, convinces me that I did do this and can take credit for it. I took a 2-week vacation and got the surgery on the third day of the vacation. This gave me time to recover so that I’d be in good shape by the time people saw me again. I had told a couple people that I was going to take my vacation to ramp up my weight-loss efforts and alter my diet. I lost a quick 10-15 lbs immediately after the surgery and when I went back to work a couple people noticed. I went to my explanation: “I had been losing weight since August but no one could tell but me; then when I get to a certain threshold everyone starts noticing and thinks it happened overnight, but truthfully, ive been losing weight over the past 3 months!” I’ve lost 34 lbs since surgery and am much thinner than before. But I’ve continued to run races (5K, 10K and half-marathons) and post about it online. People have said some very encouraging things to me but I’ve been a little surprised that I haven’t gotten more comments about my weight loss. Maybe because I’m a guy—might be different for a girl. Not one person has asked me if I got bariatric surgery, or have seemed to be “fishing” for that either. I’m sure some people think I’m just being prideful by posting so many selfies and race results, but I decided that would be both understandable and effective for keeping the secret about surgery. So far all has gone well—I don’t regret the surgery or keeping it a secret. I also don’t feel like I’ve lied about portraying myself as having done it all on my own when really surgery did it for me because I lost more pre-op than I have post-op, and I have still had to maintain all that discipline since surgery as well. I can eat a lot more than I thought I would be able to, and so it is still my self-discipline that is keeping food out of my mouth, not just the sleeve.

I have a regulation Ohio State jacket size 18 hanging up. Not the cheap discount store knock-off. Make you a promise when I can fit it I will post the picture on Bariatric Pal even if it is the height of summer. Also I want a Columbus Crew t shirt. Before Anthony Precourt makes good on his threat to move the Soccer Club to Austin Texas. The biggest I've seen so far is a L, got any idea long ago,I was a L? ,,,. Clue: Hector was a pup and that dog's so old he don't hunt no more! ................Bahdump dump dump. Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

So are they being very blunt: did you have bariatric surgery? Or is it more like: you look great - what are you doing? I know I've asked close associates the latter when they start losing big, prefaced with "if you wouldn't mind me asking...". Mainly because I just want to know what works for people!! I think if someone overweight took me aside and asked, I'd tell them.

I'm not having surgery with Dr. Valenzuela, so I can't give you any insight on her. I know where you are mentally because I have a Lapband that slipped twice and now has a leak. It was a great tool and worked well for approximately 10 years, but the last 2 years have been a real struggle. Since my band can no longer hold saline fluid, I've regained the 135 pounds and a bit more of the weight that I lost with my Lapband within 2 YEARS.!!! I was so frustrated and continued beating myself until I realized that I can't help the fact that my band is leaking. Since bariatric surgery is an exclusion in my health benefits here in the US, I've opted to go to Mexico for my revision surgery. I'm scheduled for (Lapband to VSG) revision on April 4, 2018 with Dr. Jorge Maytorena - Longterm VSG/WLS. I chose this surgeon, because a I have a few friends that had VSG surgery by him and have had great results. I'm quite nervous, but I know that this is something that I MUST do. Everything is going to work out fine for the BOTH of us.