2 week pre-op anxiety, wondering if I should cancel!

[Nomorethickchick 13]

@@jenn1, yes of course! I am having this surgery in the united states and it's covered by insurance, I fall within the guidelines.

[rkingston 6]

Don't cancel. You have struggled with weight all of your life. It's been issue number one. The sleeve is a tool to decrease the angst over weight. You start eating small portions not because of willpower but because that is what feels best. You can start to put some of that energy you spent struggling with weight on other things that will reward you. You sound to me like someone who will not abuse the sleeve but someone who will allow it to work. GERD, if it happens, is easy to control. Get the surgery and spend the rest of your life on issues other than weight. If you had a choice would you choose to put on a 68 pound backpack every day and wear it all day? Dump it.

[Nomorethickchick 13]

@@maryannotginger, why wouldn't you have it at 50? Is there a bad result of this surgical procedure on aging?

[maryannotginger 15]

@Nomorethickchick

I had gastric sleeve surgery just this past March 24th at age 59 because I have congenital heart failure and couldn't loose weight fast enough to take the load off my heart. Both my dad and his mother died at my age of heart failure and they were not obese, as I was. I had surgery to save my life.

I have lost 92 lbs in FIVE MONTHS and have a LONG way yet to go. At this point in the journey, I am healed well enough to eat what I choose and this is where the same old DISCIPLINES of CHOOSING the right foods and exercise are mandatory. Weight loss slows to a crawl if your head is not where it should be, even with the pouch. It is a DISCIPLINE for the rest of your life. The pouch is a TOOL in this discipline. It helps, but it is not a cure.

My caution to you as an older woman is just to very carefully weigh abdominal surgery to remove 7/8 of your stomach and the natural effects of menopause and aging with a 65 lb. weight loss. We simply are not 24 anymore.

Only you can make this determination for yourself and your health.

Edited September 8, 2015 by maryannotginger

[bbsbk221 23]

The surgery was fine, was up and walking within a few hours. The hospital staff weren't great and the gas pain was horrible. First two weeks honestly sucked for me, I didn't walk enough when I got home and didn't blow in that lung thingy enough so it was basically my fault. Everything else is just trial and error, don't drink and eat, do wait the 30 minutes in between, don't take that last bite of food just cause your brain is telling you to cause your stomach will be really pissed. make sure you take the Vitamins and eat Protein Protein protein, your hair might fall out a lot or a little. It's all one day at a time. Like I said everyone is different and everyone loses at their own pace. Doctor says I'm doing good might be off the blood pressure, cholesterol meds soon.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Only you can decide if this is right for you.

I have much more weight to lose than you and was sleeved on April 20 at age 50. I now weigh less than I have in the past decade.

For me, the worst part of the process was the pre-op fear and anticipation. It is scary to step off into the unknown. What I do know is that if I had backed out at the last moment or postponed, I would still be stuck where I was pre-surgery.

Now I feel so much better, am regaining my mobility, and am more optimistic about life than I have been in years.

[Jennifer Cunningham 18]

I am 6 days post op and I can say I honestly would do it again! I have had no pain no nausea - I've even questioned did I really have the surgery? I know I did due to all the incisions on my stomach. My recovery has been great - the key is walk walk walk and sip sip sip - My husband took me to all my favorite stores after my surgery - It was too hot to walk outside so he had me in stores walking and I truly believe that helped me the most!

Your life is going to change for the best - yes you are going to have to give up things just as you would if you were on a diet - I know in time I will be able to have a bite of something I'm craving - and not consume an entire plate - It's a tool - you have to listwen to your body - I have to listen to my tummy everytime I sip and when I have Jello - It's a new lifestyle. I was not heavy my doctor expects me to loose 70-90 pounds and yes I could of probably have done it alone - but I'm 37 and wanted a tool to assist me and I have no regrets!

[amymina 4]

I am just starting the process of getting approved and having the surgery done, but I can tell you that I talk with people day in and out as part of my job that have had this surgery done or are planning to as part of my job as a RN. I recently talked with someone who was doing this with a friend and backed out because she didn't feel ready to do it and wanted to try is again on her own. This is something you need to be sure you want to do, you need to be at the end of your rope, and know that you don't to end up as a statistic down the road. If you need to take pause and weight a few months or a year until you are comfortable and sure it is what you want to do, that is better than going through with it before you are ready. But I can tell you that almost every person that I talked to that has had the surgery said that they wished that they would have done it sooner.

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

I was 50 when I had surgery and turned 51 shortly thereafter. I was an active fat. I went to the gym regularly and was always very outgoing. I had no co morbidities, but I was pre -diabetic. However I was already in menopause due to a hysterectomy from uterine cancer 10 years ago. I wish I had made this decision when I only had 65 lbs to lose. As it is now I have a long way to go. My surgery was easy, my recovery was uneventful. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

@@BLERDgirl, sometimes I think we are twins!

[NikkiDoc 312]

I was 46 when I had my surgery in February. I needed to lose 100 pounds, so right as the cut-off point of your question. I have lost 72 pounds of that in 7 months. I would do it if I was a few years older, I would do it if I had only 65 pounds to lose. I had looked into WLS 6 years ago. I did not qualify since I did not weigh enough and didn't have the right co-morbities for insurance. 5 years later I was now heavy enough to not need the co-morbities but now had those too.

I wished I could have had the WLS 6 years ago.

I was taking diabetic meds off label for PCOS and was pre-diabetic. No more. I was taking meds for high blood pressure- one week after surgery and no more high blood pressure meds.

I was taking Nexium for GERD for years prior to the sleeve. I stopped taking Nexium after my 3 month visit.

I am down to Celebrex and I no longer take it daily, just as needed.

Only you can make the decision but I would not cancel it 2 weeks out. If you are going to cancel wait until the last moment. Look back over your personal history of weight loss, weight gain, weight loss and decide whether you can take it off and keep it off. Many of us have proven we can take it off but we can't keep it off. Are there things you want to do and can't do because of your weight? Write up a list of pros and cons. Is transitioning to by-pass the worst thing? I don't know. But there are plenty of people on this board that their WLS of choice was by-pass and they are happy with the results. Does anybody want to go through the extra revision? No, of course not. GERD is a real concern. I had it before the surgery. My surgeon fixed my hiatal hernia during my sleever surgery. No more GERD. Losing the weight helped with that too.

[Nomorethickchick 13]

@@amymina, I read that too. But i play this internal questioning gme with myself. I have Lymphedema, I am sure as an RN you know what it is, and what it does to weight and the body- and I started this process to see what I can really do about making it better. Not curing it, but the things that make life ALOT more difficult- like, my leg has grown so big that I have to buy 2 pairs of shoes for every one pair I wear. Most dress shoes are out. Sneakers. Orthopoeic looking shoes. Those are what I wear. Pants, I am a size 14-16 on one leg and a 18+ on the other side. What I do know about my edema is that as I lose weight it does go down- in proportion to its own size- just gets smaller. If I can get my leg smaller that way maybe I can buy regular shoes. Maybe I can participate more in the work world- because I don't have a seamstress to make all my clothes fit to my body, I cant wear a suit, unless it[s stretchy. My entire wardrobe on my lower body is yoga pants. I am totally serious.

If I can help move the scale from 212 to 140 I'd do it/ I just don't want to have crumbling teeth. lose too much weight (My surgeon snickers at this one- like- don't worry about that one my dear) Be bald. Have gerd that god forbid I would have to have a surgery to fix- I hear they fix it by converting people to a Roux en Y. Be nauseous. That nausea thing is the single most worry that aches my stomach. So debilitating. How long will it last. 2 I have already a light gag reflex, if I get into a coughing fit, I dry wretch.

Doing this to finally get to a normal weight is something I can do and prepare myself for but these things that worry me, they do worry me. I've chickened out 2x!! Last year I researched this surgery and was going to go to Tiujana to get it. I chickend out. Then I had a schedule for July 5th here in Connecticut. I got so sick with nerves that I stopped eating altogether. For like 3 days. I got terrible IBS. SO I called my surgeon and said I need to reconsider. Am I 100% convinvced that if I don't do this I will die? No. I don't think I'll die. I'm not morbidly obese now. I'm right on the BMI approval line for insurance. But if I don't get this leg under control- and my weight is a factor in size of it, then I will probably end up on disability. I can track a downward spiral of work and relationships and stress in the last 10 yeasr and I've only gained 12 lbs in the last 10 years. But it's affected it.

I either need an anti-anxiety med, or to hear alot of people who have not had these kinds of complcations I wrote above because I've read them all.

[Nomorethickchick 13]

@@NikkiDoc thank you. How old are you? I'm 50.

[Nomorethickchick 13]

@@NikkiDoc, well, 70lbs to take off, say I take of 50 of them, and then the doctor has to convert me to a bypass? With minimal weight to take off? That's my concern about the bypass. I want to be thinner. I don't want to be too thin.

[dforre50 4]

I actually went to my final NUT and surgeon appointment today ready to submit to insurance for approval. Had a small snag with insurance that will get fixed but took that as a sign. I too am scared of the potential complications. I am worse, since I only need to lose 30 to 50 lbs at age 52, in menopause, have two co-morbidities high blood pressure and pre diabetic, plus a fatty liver. I am really rethinking to try to lose weight on my own one more time.