Congratulations Carol!

The weeks between getting my date and having surgery went by quickly for me and I hope that they do for you too!

Something that I did ahead of time that was helpful to me was trying different kinds of protein shakes so that I found one that I could handle drinking and had on hand when I got home.  Also, I sorted the pills into one of those daily pill boxes so that I was ready for at least the first week at home.

I wish you all of the best and look forward to updates on your many successes!!! 

OMG!!!  I finally have the surgery date set!!!!!!!!!!! It is March 2!  I'm sure it will be here before I know it.  Any wise words of wisdom for the month of preparation until then.  I wasn't nervous before the date got set, but now that it has, it's like I can't even think straight!!!  Oh boy, am I ever excited!  It took 15 months, but I have finally made it!!

Carol B
NE Iowa

Sally,
I went to Dr Rizk for my results from my Upper GI I had doen last week. He said my pouch is still small and looks good. Did not see any sign of ulcers. He said that the pain may be an internal hernia which I will just have to keep a record of pain and what I have done prior to and how long the pain lasts. I go back March 16th. He talked to me about a tummy tuck again. He said we would talk about it in March and that I could have it and healed by July. WOW! Only thing is that I would need to lose 20 lbs. I have tried and just can't seem to stay on track. You would think wanting the tummy tuck so bad I would be able to get focused and stay focused.  That is not much time to lose the weight. I have such a busy time coming. My son is moving to Iowa and is also getting married in June or July not set date yet due to military schedule which he will have when getting home from drill Sunday. Wow so much has happened lately. He wanted to get married before deploying in August so, I guess we will have a WV wedding soon. I love my soon to be daughter in law. I will be traveling back and forth to WV a lot from now til deployment. The good thing is that I can still work when I do go to WV. I just have to drive 1.5 hrs to the office in VA but can still see my family and help out. My dad was put in the hospital last week with acute heart failure, blood pressure extremely high and today found out has kidney failure and after being admitted lost strength in his left side which he has not gained back yet. He is 100 lbs over weight as well so, I am here worried and  wanting to be there but it is just not that easy to go. So, with all of that as much as I would love to do the weight loss program at Dr Rizk's office I believe at this time it would be too expensive and hard to do being in and out of town. Dr Rizk did suggest that I do the program. Due to weather and being sick I had to cancel my appoinment with Megan the dietician but did leave my number for to call me for appointment.
So, if you do not mind me asking Dr Rizk discussed the tummy tuck showing me what he would do and I had no idea that insurance would pay for it all lower and upper abdomen. He said yes but then mentioned that the belly button is removed and that this doesn't bother people that it is only cosmetic. I am not sure how I feel about not having a belly button but he said for $400 to $500 he could give me one. So, with your tummy tuck did you have your belly button put back or removed? Was it very expensive to haveyour arms done? Thanks for listening!! Jenn

Good luck!!  From what I read on the VSG message board, more and more insurance companies are covering it.  That's a good sign...hopefully your insurance realizes that there are fewer complications and it's a cheaper procedure than RNY, so it makes sense to approve it in the way that insurance companies understand...the $$$$!!!!

Good to hear, thanks for letting me know. I have BCBS Wellmark and it's still considered investigational. There are people who have managed to get approved still so I'm going to give it a shot.