I have been lurking but I wanted to share with you...

First of all, Dr. Jawad does not eliminate caffeine from your diet, but he does say NO to soda, so you can have coffee post-op, but no diet Coke. Secondly, if you have your surgery on a Wednesday then I will come visit you on Thursday.  Rusty visits the Monday surgery folks on Tuesday and Jodi visits the Tuesday surgery people on Wednesday.  I hope I do get to meet you!  Between the informational seminar that I speak at and doing the angel thing once a week, I am so thrilled to meet so many of you!! Can't wait to have YOU on the loser's bench!

Oh wow that is FANTASTIC!!  I know that insurance approval is one of the biggest and most exciting hurdles to complete!  Don' worry about that letter in writing! You are approved! They made the call to your surgeon and that's it..... you are on your way woman!  Now take the time before surgery to get your body in as best shape as you can. Make sure you take a good multiple vitamin. Get LOTS of protein because protein help heal. Get as much exercise as you possibly can... it REALLY helps you to recover fast.  I'd suggest eliminating caffeine from your diet now too. You won't be able to have it after surgery and quitting before helps you so you don't go through caffeiene withdrawal while you're recovering too. It will also make you healthier for surgery. I was never a big drinker but I still cut out all alcohol a couple months before surgery too. It sure doesn't make you healtheir and I wanted to do what EVER I could do to ensure I'd come through the surgery with ease. I have to tell you, I was AMAZED at how I flew through it without complications AND felt great within days.  Keep us posted and let us know when you have a date!  And I'll make sure we save you a seat on this here LOSERS BENCH!!   Hugs, Marianne C.

Thank you Marianne...The info you gave was great....it is going to be so hard to give up caffeine, but I'll do whatever it takes....I am exercising already...I wanted to try and build some muscle...I figured it might help.  It will also be hard for me to take the vitamins....that's a good idea to start right now....I am always on the go and forgetting stuff but if I start now hopefully I will have a routine by surgery time.

Thanks again!

That's great that you are already exercising!  I think that was the biggest reason I did so well. As for vitamins... you may as well get the ones you can use after surgery so make sure you get chewable ones.  The one's you'll need post surgery are a good multivitamin, B-12, iron and calcium. I get all chewable kinds at http://www.bariatriceating.com and they all taste really good. It's like eating candy. They are not cheap though but they are formulated especially for WLS patients. My surgeon  recommended them. I buy the Bariatric Advantage brand of everything.  You are also very smart to get that routine of taking vitamins etc before surgery. I also started not putting any drink on my table at dinner time. It was hard at first but by the time I had surgery it wasn't even an issue because I was already used to it.  Keep in touch! Marianne C.