32 Y/o, 2 Kids, 36BMI

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!

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!!!!

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.