I live in Texas, I love to eat, especially tacos! I work fulltime as a pediatric RN. Over the last several years my weight has slowly crept up and I am currently at my all time heaviest (245lbs). I am fairly tall, 5'8" so even mentioning gastric surgery has gotten me a ton of flack since "there's no way you weigh enough for that", "your not big enough", "you can just diet and not do surgery". According to everyone else I carry my weight well...BS. I am outwardly happy and outgoing, but inside I am saddened at how I look and how big I have gotten. I have been researching weight loss options and reading through real self for a while now, I finally talked with my husband and had a consultation with a bariatric surgeon. If you're looking for pricing info KEEP READING! I hate not knowing what things cost so I am including pricing for EVERYTHING! I am finishing my last requirements for sleeve surgery. My insurance requires a lot of hoops to jump through to pay for surgery- since I am less than 40BMI the only way they would pay for the surgery is if I had a co-morbidity in addition to >35BMI. I don't have high blood pressure, or diabetes, the only co-morbidity I could have potentially qualified for was severe sleep apnea. I completed an at home sleep study ($295) & it came back negative so I will be a cash pay patient. My Bariatric Solutions charges $8500 for the surgery including the hospital stay, labs, xrays, and any medications. My pre-procedure requirements include: blood work- hemaglobin A1C ($30 filed through insurance), sleep study ($295 cash price & company said max out of pocket filing to insurance would be $295), dietitian evaluation (included in the consultation cash price $75--$75 goes towards the surgery cash price), cardiac stress test with resting echocardiogram (filed with insurance but cash price is $600), and lastly a psychological evaluation ($150 cash price, I filed through insurance and am paying $70) I have been checking off the pre-op requirements one by one. My cardiac stress test came back high risk for surgery (WHAT!!!) which means I cannot go to surgery without a cardiologist clearance. As of yesterday (4/13) I am cleared for surgery from the Cardiologist ((after completing a stress echo- office said the cash price is $2200 but again I filed mine with insurance and was billed and my out of pocket is $79)). Today I will complete the psychological evaluation (over the phone) and will be able to schedule surgery once cleared! ....stay tuned! Updated on 23 Apr 2017: Passed my psychological evaluation! Pre-Op visit with the surgeon & pre-op with anesthesia scheduled for May1, sedated EGD May2, & sleeve surgery schedule May 12!!!! Updated on 14 May 2017: I weighed myself the day of surgery, 7day pre-op liquid diet, lost 14lbs! Surgery was two days ago, Friday May 12, today is Sunday May 14th. So far the 2nd day, Saturday, was the worst. I begged to leave the hospital Friday night & then again Saturday morning. No sleep + slow response times for medication requests had me at my whits end. Qualifications to go home were tolerating 4oz of fluid and hour, and walking a minimum of 20 laps (total) plus pain under control with oral medications. I had no trouble urinating (small victory!). Once home I had my husband go to the store for GasX and milk of magnesia (the NP who works with my surgeon said the MoM would help w the nausea bc once have bowel movement it will enable the fluids to go down easier & relieve that big pressure I had been feeling). GasX has been a lifesaver- try the strips if need. The MoM hasn't produced any results yet. I texted my surgeon to see about taking a 2nd dose of the MoM, she said to wait a few days since there's probable not enough in my gut to make a bowel movement. My surgeon uses a numbing injection to help the pain post op- I've been told my stomach was hard to get out through the incision & to expect the worst day (pain wise) to be the 4th day when the injected medication wears off. Gave myself my first lovenox injection today, not too bad but it burns! At this point I'm just following the program, walk, take meds, sip sip sip & tracking everything medication & fluid wise. Updated on 3 Sep 2018: So it took me over 6months to stop feeling like surgery was a bad idea. I was constantly asked “would you do it again”, while I never said no, I was always conflicted if I actually would do it again. I truly didn’t know. Initially I was regretful of the surgery...hello, big lifestyle change! I lost very fast. My head and body definitely disagreed. To this day, over 1yr post surgery, I still don’t believe it’s me in the mirror, me buying small scrubs, small shirts...small everything. I am not the ideal patient. I stopped taking my multivitamins at 4mo’s, I was nauseous every single morning & I couldn’t stand the smell of those things so I stopped taking them. I told my PA at follow up appts but my blood work was always on the low side of normal so they couldn’t really fuss too much. Initially I followed the meal plan- protein first, limit carbs, etc...probably after the 6month mark I really started eating what I wanted but in moderation with making good choices always in the back of my mind... My weight loss stopped about month 6-8. I’ve maintained the 80lbs I’ve lost. 3 months ago (June 2018) I finally started going to the gym...first time in my life. What a game changer!!! Now I go 5 days a week, weightlifting, abs (crunches), and cardio (stair master or elliptical for 10-30min) daily- tbh I hate cardio, if anything is going to be skipped it’ll be the abs and cardio. My starting weight was 245, now I range between 155-165 depending on how shitty I eat. No, I do not drink sodas, yes I eat carbs ;), no I still do not eat and drink at the same time, I will occasionally have a beer but I prefer mixed drinks without the carbonation- I maybe drink once every few wks or so. Here’s a collection of photos throughout my journey. Running theme is I hate body shots. You can see a lot of change in my face, that was immediately noticeable.
