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

ive seen programs about this and i think this is a life saver for so, so many

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

so far so good, they approved all my testing within a few days and now im waiting for aproval for surgery which was processed on jan 15

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

he was my second sergeon i seen, the first sergeon i was in and out of his office in 20 min. with dr. bellanger and his staff of new weigh i was there for several hours. his staff is so wonderful and polite and the doctor himself seem to be very up front and very knowledgeable.

What made you finally decide to have the surgery?

i want to be healthy, i want to live longer and most important i want something for my self.

How did you decide which proceedure to have?

might as well have the gold standard,

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 fears are now if i continue as i am, i will end up with furthur complications and looking like the rest of my family and their health complications and death

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?

husband is what im for and most others dont understand, they dont have the knowledge about obesity and wls. i have one son that doesnt want me to do this at all, and my other son i would like to see just get knowledge about wls, you see he has battled his weight all his life to. my childrens father is deceased and i think that what scares my one son from this surgery is if something would happen to me

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

most of my employees are for this but my boss says i dont need this, but she'll have to go with the flow

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

i was there from tuesday to late fri afternoon, and my stay at the hospital as far as the staff and the hospital was great, and the most important thing i think to bring is your personals and chap stick and we wre allowed to rinse out mouth out in icu with a mouthwash and ice chips which was refreshing since we couldnt have anything to drink till our leak test the next morning

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

alot of gas and stomach spams which i was prong to getting spams to begin with.

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 on cloud 9 and maybe 2 days till surgery is when the anxiety set in, which me i just felt i had to make all my rounds to my love one and friends and family and have quality time with.

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

the first few weeks for me i had no complications, felt a little week and very full on just a few sips , i went back to work in 2 weeks, i was one of the very very lucky ones my only greatest prolbem was meets it took till i was about 9 or 10 months post opt before i could start tolerating them little by little and my biggest mistake in eating was taking my time to eat very slowly and still is to this date.

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

60 miles and only in the aftercare programs not doctor visits

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.

meats were my biggest prolbems up to 1 years out before i could tolerate some i would chew and spit out to just get the flovor, i ate alot of cottage cheese, cheese and nut, nut could chew up real well, and milk still cant tolerate at all and im 18 months out

What was your actvity level in the days and weeks after surgery?

each day my activity level grew i excersized i was very lucky i had very very few complications

What vitamins and/or dietary supplements have you taken since your surgery?

daily, all my b's calsium

What side effects (nausea, vomiting, sleep disturbace, dumping, hair loss etc.) were worse for you? For how long after surgery did they persist? How did you cope with them?

vomiting due to my own fault of eating to fast and trying meats because ive always been a meat and milk

What was the worst part about the entire bariatric surgery process?

gas pains following for a few days

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

have none near me which leave me not knowing what there all about

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

very very little not noticable

Please describe any plateau experiences you have had since surgery.

lost very little in past 7 months would like to lose 10 to 15lbs more at the most

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

yes and like it alot