Happy to have an area for Ghc members

Howdy all!! I am happy, this way we can chat about what needs to be done and how it works. I am just now getting in the process and hoping to find someone who has done this before to kind of walk me through it without being a nurse( you know 1st hand experience) I want to do the right thing and get healthy. I hope you all had a peachy Easter and a wonderful day!

Welcome Lhasaraptor Mom. I like your name. I'm so happy for you that you are approved! Having the WLS has been one of the best things I've ever done. I had mine ~3 months ago and lost over 70 pounds and have ~100 more to go to reach 145. But I'm extremely happy with just the 70 I've lost so far. It's made a huge difference in my life. I see you're into body piercing. I've thought about piercing my nose. I think the itty bitty diamond stud is kind of sexy. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about any thing. Love Diana

I am waiting for my weight to go down and then one of my goal prizes is a belly button tattoo. Mostly I like the body piercings on men... If you could help me with the beginning process like what will I be chatting about with the people at free and clear? What kind of stuff do I need to know so I can be prepared. How much water do I need to get my body used to drinking? I just don't want to throw my body into complete shock by changing everything at once... Thanks for replying Jean

Hi again. You should be getting a pretty thick packet of information from GH pretty soon. The information contained within those pages will answer most all your questions. If you still have questions after reading that information, let me know. My telephone conversations with my nutritionist mostly involve what, when, and how much I ate. Actually you will be asked to keep a food log and I send mine to her via e-mail. She/he will also want to know what kind of and how much exercise you're getting. The one thing you should try to get used to is not drinking any liquids for at least 45 minutes after you eat. That's a tough one for me, espcially if you eat something salty. I think about 8 cups of water a day is recommended. Love Diana

Welcome to our little corner of Obesity Help! I am a little bit farther in the process than you. I have completed all of my testing (except one) and have paid most of the nutritional counseling fee. I am hoping to have both of those complete within the next week. Then I get to wait until Harriet schedules me for the orientation. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. Good luck to you in your journey. We are all in this together!!! Lori

Do I need to pay for the nutritional counseling BEFORE the orientation? If so it will be a long time til I can get to the orientation. When I heard about the requirement for the NC I was glad that it usually took a year to have ther surgery cause it will take me at least a year to get 1450 together...sigh. I just got my appointment to get the referral. Carol 330/xxx/150

I don't know if you have to have the NC paid for before the orientation. But you do have to have it paid for a minimum of 12 weeks prior to your surgery date. Since most people have the orientation about 2 months before surgery, then, yes, you would need to have paid it off. They do take payments. You can explain to them that you will need to make payments over time and you could probably get your orientation/surgery scheduled when you have it paid off. I have found them really easy to work with. Good luck!!! Lori 270/270/1??