starting journey to life

[homebondliz 0]

Hello my name is Lindsey i am 23 years old and 362lbs my heaviest being 399. I hope to get down to 175-180. Currently going through the doctor evaluation to see if i can have surgery.

[PhillyKristina 7]

Hi Lindsey my name is Kristina and I am 24 years old and my heaviest weight was 368lbs and I'm currently 363lbs. I met with my surgeon for the 1st time yesterday and everything went well....his team scheduled all my upcoming appts and with my insurance I have 3 month weight management so I'll be looking at a late September surgery...good luck with everything

[ShrinkingPeach 1,291]

Hi Lindsey and welcome! Congrats on making a great decision for your health!

Ask tons of questions and changing your eating habits now will make for a smoother transition to post-op. You can try different things and learn what to eat later.

Good luck on your journey and you also @!!

[PhillyKristina 7]

Thanks a lot @@ShrinkingPeach! Would you mind sharing your story?

[ShrinkingPeach 1,291]

Sure! Skim over what you don't want...lol

I am 51 and have been overweight my entire life. My highest was around 350 but I don't know exactly cos I avoided the scale like the plague. I tried maybe 5 times over my life to lose and the best success I had was starving myself and walking 2 miles a day. I lost 80 pounds and then I hit a plateau that lasted for over a year so I gave up as I had every other time.

My primary care doctors would ask occasionally if I had ever thought about gastric surgery but I would always say no. I honestly don't know why except it always scared me, the thought of surgery. Finally after going through a divorce that was a bad experience and then several years later meeting the best guy ever and getting married, my pcp again asked if I would consider going just for a consult.

I scheduled my consult for January 29, 2015 and did tons of research on surgery and pre-op diets and post-op diets. My husband has Crohn's and had gone gluten-free the year before and was also doing a paleo diet which is basically high Protein and low carb.

By the time I went for my consult I had changed my eating habits for 2 weeks to the high Protein and low carb options. I was drinking Protein shakes and trying different things. I had lost 9 pounds in 2 weeks and wasn't really as hungry as I had been in the past. I was eating about 1000 calories per day and feeling pretty good.

I had decided I really wanted the sleeve because I had some Vitamin deficiencies already and I didn't want added issues with bypass. I didn't want a foreign body with the lap band nor did I want to have to pay for adjustments to it.

My consult day came and I saw the surgeon who agreed the sleeve would be great for me because he said they were not doing as many lap bands anymore and he said that I had been somewhat successful on diets in the past so he had no reason to think I wouldn't be with the sleeve.

I had to meet some requirements for my insurance company which were a letter from my pcp stating that she thought I needed the surgery and the co-morbidities I had, a psych evaluation (to show I was stable and would be able to handle the changes and the issues with surgery), an upper GI, an EKG, bloodwork and notes from my doctor showing a supervised weight loss plan for at least 6 months (3 of them being consecutive). I got it all done and my pcp provided the visit notes showing where I had even tried phentermine but had only lost about 15 pounds because I couldn't take a whole pill without feeling like I was strung out on caffeine...lol

It took a bit but I finally got my surgery date of 5-15-15! I had to do a 14 day pre-op diet that was eating every 2 hours- sf yogurt, Protein shake, gatorade, sf applesauce, sf Jello, broth. The diet is to shrink your liver making it safer for surgery since your stmach is behind it. Not fun but after day 3 I really wasn't hungry anymore. I knew it was temporary and my surgery was coming!

I was sleeved 5-15-15 llaprascopically as an outpatient. My surgery was at 7:30am. I was told to arrive at 5:30am and they had me change, did my IV, gave me a pill for nausea with 1 ounce of Water. I went to surgery and woke up in recovery. I had no nausea and no gas pains as I had heard many do. They gave me pain meds and ice chips. The ice chips were the best thing ever lol I came back to pre-op a bit later where my husband was waiting for me. I got to have a popsicle and I couldn't even finish it lol.

I was told that I needed to walk and pee before I could go home. My husband helped me by pulling my IV pole and walking with me but I walked all the way around the halls. I stopped by the bathroom and peed and the nurse heard me when I came out and said okay lets get that IV out and you can go home.

I had already filled my pain meds and my nausea meds. The pain med was liquid so easy to take. I took it for about 3 days and didn't need it anymore. I had also had a hernia repair when they got in there for surgery they discovered it. I was up and walking same day I would just get tired.

So here I am 20 days post-op and I have lost 55 pounds including what I lost on the pre-op diet. I am walking on a treadmill now and building back up to walking longer and farther. I also attend support group at the hospital because its free and I get to talk with people pre-op to 6 years+ post op and learn from them as well as share.

The ONLY regret I have is that I didn't do it sooner but I know it happened when it was supposed to. My husband and I have been married for 2 years and I may have found him late in life but I want to spend as much time with him as I can. This surgery is making that possible. I still have lots to lose but I know now that I can do it with this tool.

If you want to know anything else just let me know!

[PhillyKristina 7]

Thank you so much for sharing that was very informative and congratulations on your weight thus far! I'm taking it one day at a time and I hope to join you on the losers bench soon ????