How did you first find out about bariatric surgery and what were your initial impressions of it?

I am not sure

Describe your experience with getting insurance approval for surgery. What advice, if any, do you have for other people in this stage?

United Health care was the best!!!so far anyway!!!I am unsure what to tell anyone because my Dr sent in our request and it seemed like 2 or 3 days later I recived a letter in the mail saying APPROVED and the Surgon had a $10.00 copay and the Hospital had a $100.00 copay after that it will be paid 100% so I feel very lucky ,very very lucky

What was your first visit with your surgeon like? How can people get the most out of this meeting?

He was very open very upfront about the pros and the cons my wife ran him through the mill with a ton of questions and after 20 years of marriage I know that if she is happy with his answers then he must know what he is doing!!!! I think that as long as you go in and ask every question that you can think of( plenty of web sites to help coming up with questions)and if he answers them with out a whole lot of thought then he knows what hes talking about!!! My doctor did more to try to talk me out of it than into it !!!Later he said thats his way of being sure that it was what I really wanted !!!

What made you finally decide to have the surgery?

I need to be forced in to weight loss I have no willpower what so ever and this is like forced willpower !!

How did you decide which proceedure to have?

Doctor recomened

What fears did you have about having complications or even dying from from the surgery, and what would you tell other people having the same fears now?

My wife had a freind Die after having this done and by the same Doctor so she kinda worried about that !But she had some kind of lung problem and had to have a vent tube cut in to her throat and she knocked it out and the nursing staff did not catch it in time so she died so it was not really the docs fault, I am using the same Doctor but a differant hospital!!!!!! other than that just the normal jitters that I am sure everybody has before hand!!!!

How did your family and friends react to your decision? Would you have communicated anything differently if you could now? How supportive were they after your surgery?

all of my freinds and my family say that I am not overweight enough to get this done ! I carry my weight well but just because I look 60 - 70 pounds lighter than I am I know what the scale says and how my body feels !!!! But they are a good group and will stand behind me all they way

How did your employer/supervisor react to your decision? What did you tell him/her? How long were you out of work?

they were ok with it ! they carry Short term disabilty ins on us so I will even have the time I take off paid for me with out missing a paycheck! Plus I dont think they knew i was over the safty weight of our bucket trucks and ladders by about 50 pounds until I told them!!!!

What was your stay in the hospital like? How long where you there? What things are most important to bring?

I was In the hospital for 6 days . The most important thing that I brought with me was my wife she was a lot of support and made me feel better just by being there! The stay was fine the nursing staff was as good as it gets they made my stay very pleasant! they treated me as if I was a freind that they have known for years nit just someone off the street up until now I used Mercy hosp. from birth till 39 years old but due to how the nurse's treated me a IMMC treated me I will go there from now on and would recomend them to anyone !!!

Did you have any complications from the surgery? If so, how did you deal with them?

I had only one compliction I had some infection around my insecion and it looked like a basketball pushing up under my skin it burst while at home and made a hell of a mess but it felt so good after it burst ( like a 200 lb weight was removed from my tummy )

In the weeks after you got your surgery date, how did you feel? How did you cope with any anxiety you might have felt?

I was very lucky I felt fine about having it done The only thing that I discovered was I didnt know how much of my life was based around food!!! It took a little while for me to find things to do with my family and freinds because before 90 % of the time we were cooking , eating or going out to eat now I feel that I have to much free time and its hard to find new things to fill that time up!!! HA ha ha

Describe your first few weeks home from the hospital. What should people expect from this period?

The infection I had made my tummy hurt I had a fever and did not feel like eating anything ( which I thought I was not hungry because of the surgery ) But it was because of a pocket filled with infection building up aginst my tummy because when it burst I lost about 2 lbs of fluid ( aprox I had weighed about an hour before it happened and they weighed me at the hospital ) and it had not finished draining and I became very hungry My wife was so grossed out!other than that it was ok I was a little slow to get up and down and was very sleepy!! If I sat down or laid on the couch I would fall right to sleep!

How far did you travel to have your surgery? (If far, how did this affect your aftercare?)

5 miles It was in the same city that I live in

Please describe in detail what things you could and couldn't eat in the weeks and months following surgery. What foods have been off limits? Please explain how your dietary tolerance changed week-by-week, and then month-by-month since surgery.

I started with a lot of cottage cheese and milk after a few weeks added fruit and some crackers I can eat chicken but pork is a no no and ground beef is ok but other beef makes me sick !! I think I have become a fruit lover I eat a lot of apples (peeled and cut up ) melon, Bannanas cheese and I drink about a gallon of milk a day or a day and a half depends on how I feel I found a protien drink which is not to bad i mix it with milk and a bannana in the blender I get over half of my daily need from that I sip on it most of the morning!If we go out I have found a few soups that I really like but I stay away from most things I can eat the topping off a slice of pizza and feel ok ! It will take some time to adjust but its easy when we go out with family I get a little off everybodys plate and I fine!!!

What aftercare support group/program do you have? How helpful/important is this?

Family

What is your scar like? Is this what you expected?

real light after the hair grows back you will never see it

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

YES !!If my wife and I go out to eat and they ask what i will drink and I say nothing for me it seems as if they cant take no for an answer! ( but I cant even have a glass of water around or I will drink just out of habit and we know that is not a good thing for some of us )and if we split something they give my wife looks because she takes 3/4 of it or they look at us like we are poor and cant afford 2 dinners but the ones who ask questions and understand the answers always get the bigger tip!!!!!