Advice on picking a surgery date?

I'm meeting with my surgeon on November 14 to schedule my surgery date. I was wondering everyone's thoughts on whether I should do it during the holidays or after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thoughts?

Consider that you'll likely be on a liquid diet for a max of two weeks prior to surgery and two weeks after. Have you done work with a therapist that will help you get through the holidays with a new mindset?

Good point. I am meeting with a dietitian as part of my pre-op requirements, but we haven't talked about the holiday eating or mindset yet. I hope we will do that in our last session on 11/8/18.

Meeting with a dietitian is not the same as meeting with a therapist. Regardless of when you choose to have WLS, you really should follow Gwen's advice and start addressing your food issues with a therapist, and select one that is experienced with bariatric patients. Good luck!

Do you do a lot during the holidays? The pre-Op diet and surgical recovery can cause a lot of fatigue. If it was me, I'd schedule after the holidays because I have tons to do during that period.

Does your insurance have an annual deductible? That'd be a really great reason to wait until after January 1st.

It depends on how motivated you are. I had lapband the day before Thanksgiving - and obviously was not able to eat before/on or after the holiday. I felt like I could sacrifice one Thanksgiving for a life of health. I ended up having the lapband removed and got VSG about a week after Easter. My nutritionist gave me permission to eat on Easter (I was on liquid pre op diet) and so I ate 4 oz of ham and some veg. Christmas may be a tough one to get through, but I would opt for the earliest date and get my life to thin on track asap...but that's just how i roll. Good luck!

I say do it as soon as you can get on your surgeon's schedule. If you get it done before the holidays, it may be tough, but you will be fine.

I am a teacher and was hoping to get mine done during the summer but I was not able to get on my surgeon's schedule until September. Not ideal since the school year had already started, but I was ready to begin my journey and did not want to wait until the holidays or the summer to get it done. I wanted my new life to start ASAP.

Another vote for meeting with a therapist to help you along this journey!

You may also want to consider how it will impact your finances. I had mine done at the end of the year which saved me money as I had met my insurance deductible already. I was willing to have a subdued holiday season.

Scheduling it following the holidays could lead to a lot of "last holiday meals" & "food funerals" which can be damaging. The sooner you take the leap the sooner you'll be on your way to your goal.

When I initially met with my surgeon my surgery was to be scheduled in January. They called a few days later with a cancellation and that day was 11/26, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Luckily my surgeon only required 1 day of full liquids. They allowed me to think about it because after all it was the middle of the Holidays.

After a day I JUMPED at the opportunity to start my new life on 11/26/07 and I haven't looked back or regretted it since.

I would gauge it to your usual holiday activities.