Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story

I just got home from the doctor's office. They did my history and physical and went over any questions that I had and scheduled my surgery. December 13th!! I am so happy and excited. The hospital will call me for my pre-admission testing but I don't have to do a pre-op diet.

I had to do 4 months of weighing in and seeing a nurtritionist...now I'm doing a 10 week online weight management course for a total of 6 months. After this I will be ready to sch. surgery which I'm hoping will be late Jan. early Feb. I'm so excited and I REALLY think this will be the perfect tool for me. I know it will be hard but well worth it! I have been over weight for 16 years now and have gained and lost the same 35# about 35 times now but I have never been able to get even close to a normal weight for my 5' nothing self. I have arthritis and some back problems, scoliosis, high colesterol, borderline blood sugar, and now recently high blood pressure so this …

I started the lapband journey in Feb 2005 with getting my first band installed (the 4cc) one and losing 80 lbs in 9months I was use to that band and doing well minus the acid reflux, then I had a slip. I had my band replaced (the 10cc) in Nov 2008 weighing 154 and I have never seen that weight again...unfortunately I have been really disapointed in this new band but they kept telling me "it's totally different than you first band" so I would need to change my ways. I have tried doing what they have said and eating protein first and yada yada but have had absolutely no restrictions or weight loss...only GAIN! I found out I was pregnant May 2010 and had all my fluid re…

I tried making an appointment with the local hospital for two days. Today I just decided to go there and actually make the appointment face to face since they were not picking up the phone. I found out the waiting list is 3-4 months long. I could go to another hospital with a shorter waiting time but that is too far in my opinion. Anybody else on a waiting list for their first appointment?

Intersted in hearing how you all are doing and any adivce you wish someone told your your frist week out!!

Hello *waves* Im Nonster. I'm just starting to presue the lapband. I have a consult with Dr. David Kim on weds that im anxiously awaiting. Not sure what my future holds at this point as far as if or when i can get the lapband but i have faith. I have really bad sleep apnea and a fatty liver so im hoping those ailments will help expedite the process. Glad to be here!

Hello everyone, I am new here in this forum and I am scheduled to have my sleeve surgery on 11/18/11, five more days and I will be through with my liquid diet! If you have any suggestions for preop, list of things I should take to the hospital and etc for the postop days I would appreciate. Congratulations to all that are out and good luck to all that are going to have the sleeve soon! God bless!

I just found this forum board! Hi everyone! I had my VSG with Hiatal Hernia Repair on Nov 10th, released from hospital on Nov 11th by 7pm (Thank Goodness or they were going to kill me!) The ride home was over an hour and I cried the whole ride home, even though I was doing amazing in the hospital (despite the oopses they were making). I am still on Clear liquids, tomorrow I should progress to full liquids. I am walking, and tolerating clear fluids well. Where I hurt, is not my stomach, or the 4 out of 6 puncture marks from my laprioscopy. The 5th puncture (the one over my liver) hurts the most. My Surgeon said that is where the deep muscle stitches and where he pull…

Hi - Recent lurker here, just thought I'd post an introduction. I have been reading the posts and have gotten some great information. I live in the DFW area and am scheduled for sleeve gastrectomy with Dr Nick Nicholson at Forrest Park in December. I am an ex-bandster but not a band basher. The lap band worked well for me but I was too tight for too long (any bandsters out there reading this take heed - don't be too tight, it will not turn out well). Ultimately my stomach prolapsed up through the band (very painful!) and it was removed in January 2010. I had released about 90lbs but have since acquired 55 of those lbs back My biggest concerns are not so much…

Hello everyone. I'm new to this website and I'm working on my story and will post it very soon. I just wanted to stop by and say "hi."My journey started on may 21st when I went to orientation at Crozer Medical Center in west chester Pa. My surgeon was Dr.Katz..(He is the best) and the hospital staff was wonderful..From when I started my tests to Post op .It was great experience..I was on the fence about this operation for about 4 years..but finally made the decision to go for it..Sometimes I forget I had anything done..Except for when I eat I just get full fast.But I am in tune with my stomach it kinda makes this feeling and I know its full..I do not try to eat anymor…

Hi! I am 12 days post op and 19 lbs down! I am excited to be on this journey and glad I found this forum! I've been struggling with my weight since I was a child. I am looking forward to getting and giving support along this journey!!

My surgery is this Monday and I was wondering if anyone had any tips for post-op? I am worried about the diet most of all, just making sure i sip the right amount and getting enough protien in. So any tips would be apreciated. I have been reading everyones stories and they make it alot easier to cope with some of the nervousness but anything can help lol. Will be somewhat difficult with waking up day after surgery getting kids ready for school and animals fed, hubby wont be able to stay home to help as much since we have Disney World in March to go to and He needs all his vacation days, BUT i have seen lots have even gone back to work a few days after surgery. So h…

Hi everyone, This is my first time posting here, although I've been lurking and learning for a few weeks, now. I completed my pre-op journey, and had my Lap Band surgery today! Before surgery, I've lost a total of 14 pounds. My goal is to lose another 98 (and more, eventually). Surgery went really well. I arrived at the hospital at 5:30, did my preop stuff, and surgery started at 7:30. I woke up in recovery at about 10:00. My surgeon said it was textbook, and that everything went really well. I left the hospital at 2:30 in the afternoon. My belly is swollen and sore, and it's hard to bend over, but I can't complain! I've been up and walking around for m…

I am new to this site so I will introduce myself. I am 33 and have struggled with weight all of my life. I have two beautiful daughters. I want to get healthier so that i can see them grow up and be able to help them to be healthy. I have tried so many diets and programs but nothing seems to work. I decided in March to check out the lap band. I went through all the qualification steps and my insurance denied the surgery. After two appeals I have now been approved and i am so excited. I am scheduled to get my band on January 30th, 2012. If you have any advice for what i should do in the next two months to prepare please share. I would be very appreciative for a…

Hi everyone! So happy to be joining the forums, and begin my journey!

Hey everyone!!Just wanted to say hi and introduce myslef.I cant wait to get my surgery.Not sure at this moment when that will be or whether my insurance is going to cover it or if Im going to have to self pay.Either way I am super excited to start this new journey!!!

Hello Everyone, this is my first post in this forum/website. After years of one thing or another I finally have my surgery date for a gastric sleeve, December 5th is my magic day. I am having the surgery done in Tijuana Mexico with Dr. Almanza, only a 3 hr drive for me. I am so excited but nervous at the same time as I hate hospitals and have never been admitted to one for any type of procedure. I am 28 and have struggled with weight all my life, it never really hit me hard until I climbed over 540 lbs, then everything took a turn for the worst with my health. My sleep apnea got worst, my feet are swollen and hurt everyday, I have diffuculty walking even short dista…

Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Diane, I'm from southern Maine, and am 55 years old. I've struggled all my life with my weight and have done the yo-yo syndrome many, many times. I am very excited to be having my Lap Band surgery 3 weeks from tomorrow. I'll start my pre-op liquid diet next week - any hints, recipes, suggestions will be most welcome! I look forward to getting to know some of you and while I have a great support person, my husband, I will welcome the support that only a fellow bandster can provide.

Where do i put the ticker code in at? I cannot seem to find where i put it. Hope someone can help

Hi my name is jane and I am being banded on nov. 15th. I can't wait I have been sad and lonely for years because of my obesity I am 55 and scared a little about the surgery and recovery but I feel like this is my last shot at getting healthy and living a normal life so in that respect I can't wait has anybody else on here had Dr. simpson in AZ. do there band I really trust him but he hasn't put me through a battery of test like I hear from other people and I am now wondering why, anyways I am looking at this forum for support and hope that I can make some educated banded friends insanejane

I was so happy to find this forum. I've had issues with my wt just like everyone else has and I'm excited about this journey. I was just banded last Tuesday and so far I'm 9lbs down. The only pain issues I have dealt with concerned the hernia fix they did at the same time. As far as being hungry I haven't had an issue with that. I HAVE wanted to eat though. It's hard to fix supper and NOT be able to eat it but it's all good. It will be worth it in the end. That has turned into my daily mantra. I look forward to reading the forum for suggestions to make this a SUCCESSFUL journey.

the hospital called me today & changed my date to meet with my surgeon to the 29th of november which is when ill schedule my surgery date. my 6th month insurance required appt is dec 1st. im praying to be sleeved on dec 19th or 20th. QUESTION: • how long after submitting your papers to your insurance were you approved? • how long after being approved were you sleeved? i talked to my nurse practioner who talked to the surgeon & he said its realistic to get sleeved by then. im so nervous that i wont get my desired dates.

Hi Everyone, I am new to the site, although I have been reading the posts for the past few months and have found them extremely helpful! I am working through my preop diet currently. My surgery is 8 days away!!! I am so excited! I am looking forward to sharing my journey and hoping to meet fellow "sleevers" that I can talk to when I need help or just want to share Right now, I am getting a little nervous about thepain I will be in afterwards. Anything you can share will help. Thank you!!!!

Hi there! I am new here. Until a couple weeks ago I 'knew' I wanted Lap Band, but as the time of final decisions gets closer, I am leaning towards VS. I am doing this as a tool to help me lose weight, and live a loooooong healthy life and keep up with my kiddos. Thank-you all for the abundance of info and sharing your experiences! love, Sabrina. (My surgeon is going to be Dr. Mueller in San Diego @ Sharp... if anyone has experience with him, let me know! I'd love to hear about it!!)

I am new here and don't yet understand this sight but am glad to see, share or read from others that already experience the beginning of the vsg journey

I can remember being very young, six or seven, and a girlfriend wanting me to try on some of her clothes. I told her they wouldn't fit. Looking back at pictures of the two of us, I'm actually smaller than she is, but apparently my body image was skewed from an early age. I moved on to chubby, overweight, obese and morbildly obese. I've been on a diet, reading about losing weight, looking for that breakthrough that would turn my life around. I imagine many of you share that journey. I was adamantly against by-pass surgery. Then a fellow RN had a sleeve. I'd never heard about this type of WLS. I started researching and decided to go to an orientation meeting and see what …

Scared, Nervous, and excited all at once.. Is this possible? My surgery is tomorrow at 11 and i am so anxious to get it over with. Also just joined this site yesterday so i would love to make new friends and go through this journey together...

Hi everybody .... I'm recently new here I think LOL I signed up a while ago and it wouldn't let me log in but thanks too Adam he was able to help me.... and here I am :becky: I'm surfing through the forums and man is there a lot of them!! But my husband and I are attempting to get approval from PH Insurance to get the VSG we both have high BMI's along with co-morbidities. So we're keeping our fingers crossed I know it won't be until next year but we're still excited! So don't think I'm a creeper I'm just checking things out on here I'll be peeking :behindsofa: Excellent to see you all, and love reading your posts they are so informative for newbi's like myself I r…

I started my journey in May at 328 I got sleeved on the 8th of November weighing in at 297 3 days later I'm at 290 I'm so glad I did it I had very little pain I can even eat if I wanted too but I'm not hungry.

Hello everyone. I am 31 year old, mother of three, who has struggled with my weight since my teenage years. I started my banding process in June 2011. I have recently finished my six month md supervised diet and other insurance neccesary tests and am waiting to hear back from Highmark BCBS about my approval. It has been a little over week, and everyday goes by I get more and more anxious/excited. I hope to have my Realize band procedure done by the end of the year. I have been seeing Hope Bariatrics, Dr. Michael Felix. The office has been wonderful and patient with me thus far! I hope to hear good news soon! Good luck to those just starting out and those who hav…

I weighed 227 pounds when I had Sleeve surgery on 9/14/11. I am 5'2" tall and 58 years old. As of today (11/12/11), I weigh 179 and my goal is 135. I'm half-way there! My surgeon is Dr. Trivedi of St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, NY. The only problem I have experienced is occasional nausea especially after eating eggs (which I love or used to anyway). I'm still waiting for the energy to kick in ...

STALL, STALL, STALL, STALL STALL...lol Ok my VST family, I am now 7 weeks out. When I reached 3 weeks I hit the dreeded stall! It stayed for 2 weeks and then I got sick with a cold. Because of the cold, I actually dropped 2 lbs. Now, I have been watching the Protein intake; taking in more Water, and yes -- I exercise like a champ in a race. But, my scale would not move. Now, at 7 weeks I hit my 2nd stall. Then one day someone said to me, "You are really loosing alot of weight! Look how small you are getting". Now, in my mind -- "I am stuck at the same ol' 27lbs down (Up\down 2-3lbs from my stall) weight loss for the longest. (yeah, yeah, I know I am still f…

Hi everyone, I am new here. I just made my 1st appointment today to start this journey. I am so excited! :purplebananna:

Steve here from South Florida.41yrs old.I was scheduled to be sleeved on Oct 31st (halloween).I did my 6months of hoop jumping ,Pre op Diet for 2 weeks and surgery got canceled due to the fact I was "difficult to intubate" , my lungs collapsed and spent a day and a half in ICU. I was sent home on 24/7 oxygen. With that said. I am determined,I feel much better have met with surgery team and will meet with pulmonary specialist on Monday for clearance .FINGERS AND TOES CROSSED. I will be back in surgery on November 17th.So we shall see.I look forward to contributing to the forum as much as possible.

I was sleeved on November 9 at 1:45 p.m. My doc also repaired a hiatal hernia. The second day I was so nauseated I thought I would die. Today I am home and feeling better. Thank goodness there are good meds for pain and nasuea. Now I am overwhelmed by the different drugs to take and having to figure out how much protein and carbs to get in while sipping every 15 minutes. It's a little scary but I am thrilled to have taken this step that will change my life for the better. Any advice about how to get all the protein and carbs in would be very much appreciated. Thanks for listening!

Just wanted to say hi to everyone. My name is Joe, I'm a 41 year old male that lives in a suburb of Buffalo, NY. My doctor has been suggesting for me to get Lap Band surgery since my quadruple bypass in 2007. I think I am finally ready to start the process, but before I do, I thought I would seek a site like this to find out what the pros and cons are. I'm currently 300 pounds, and would ideally like to get down to 180, but honestly, I'd be ecstatic at 199. I can't remember the last time my weight started with a "1". lol I'm not sure exactly what questions I have right now, but I'm certain I'll have quite a few. Most likely things like how difficult was the surgery? Ho…

I have not had surgery yet. N I'm really finding everything here very helpful. There r so many thing I'm excited about n there r many things I'm worried about when it comes to this surgery. I have put my self into therapy n also join a lot of support groups to help me with all my troubles. I read so many good things about the surgery n I still find my self worrying over it. I just want to be myself still after this surgery n not become a mean girl. I know that I have to be strong n GOD will help me though it all. I'm very pleased with the hospital that I have selected to have this surgery because I know that I'm in good hands with them. Thank you all for sharing your wond…

Hello All! I am new to the board and wanted to introduce myself. I am excited/nervous about my surgery next week. Today is day one on my preop liquid diet and things are going well so far. I look forward to interacting with everyone.

I had my operation on 9/12/2011. Today is 11/10/11 and 2 days away from the 2 month mark. I have lost 48 pounds so far. I live in the Boston area and had my surgery performed at St. Elizabeths hospital in Brighton Ma.

Hey everyone! I've been lurking for quite some time and am "officially" coming out... My surgery date is Dec 8 and I will start my liquid diet on Thanksgiving! (Actually, the doc's office said I could enjoy dinner and start afterward) I am so excited to start my journey!!!

Hello to all! I'll be scheduling my VSG surgery next week and am sooo excited and scared at the same time. I've done research over the past year and have finally decided to go through with the surgery. My BMI is 36 and since I had open heart surgery 5 years ago and a full hysterectomy 3 years ago I've been fighting my weight. I lose weight only to gain back more. My story is very typical. I also have Hypothyroidism, Hoshimoto's, arthritis in my hips and lower back, Fybromyalgia and osteoporosis in my neck. You could say I'm a medical mess! I'm hoping that if I lose this excess weight I will feel better physically and be able to get back in to life. I'm 5'7" and w…

After 1 year of consideration of lap-band and many years of failed weight loss with diet and exercise, I have set a date for sleeve surgery. Getting nervous now, but in a good way. Time seems to fly by, and by this time next year, I will be at my target weight, (I hope). I am 39, 375, BMI of 54. I was very athletic and have lots of muscle mass, but have a big appetite too, and my health has spiraled downward out of my control for 10 years now. I have always loved food. Exercise is not an issue, but my metabolic rate has slowed and now I have gotten used to eating less, but at my size, life is so difficult. Getting dressed is a b***h. When I walk into a room now, i scan ar…

Hello, I had my surgery a little over 3 weeks ago. The surgery went very well and I've been doing well so far. I was having a problem with anxiety for a bit. It's all so new and there is so much to think about. My primary doctor has put me on a very low dose anxiety med (I did suffer from mild anxiety years ago); and I feel so much better. I'm currently on soft solids and am starting to run out of food choice ideas. I'll take any suggestions. I do get to add in fibrous veggies in a few weeks; so I know that will help. I have a friend that had the band done, a friend that had the sleeve done; and a friend that had the full bypass done; but I'm hoping to find some p…

So today I was told by my insurance coordinator that my insurance will not cover the sleeve (which is what I have been planning to get for the past 6 months). Surgery is scheduled 10 days from now. However, she said that my insurance WILL cover the band. I have heard a lot more horror stories about the band than the sleeve. Also, the idea of having a foreign object inside of me for the rest of my life, gives me the heebie jeebies. Even my doctors tend to push the sleeve and is actually where I heard most of the horror stories from. I told my coordinator that I will get the band instead. I could do a member appeal, but it's been such a long road already, I don't want to d…

Hi everyone my name is kyle, i was banded in 2009 when i was 16. Insurance stoped covering my lap band fills and they were trying to charge me 350 dollars a fill so i gave up and gained my 95 pounds back. Im now currently 335, insurance is covering me again and no more giving up )) im sure excited to be skinny Pray that I do well ))

Hi Everyone! I've been reading the forums since before my surgery 8/22/2011, but this is my first post. As I approach the 3 month mark, I can say that I am completely happy with my results. Although I didn't have any medical complications associated with my weight, it was a significant hindrance to my quality of life. As I became heavier and heavier, I found myself becoming more and more withdrawn from the world. Didn't go out shopping anymore, didn't visit friends, and teleconferenced at work rather than go to meetings in person. I wasn't happy with how I looked, and I didn't want anyone to see me. Recently, I went on vacation with my husband. I really enjoyed…

I'm a sixty year old woman with Afib. Had a heart attack about four years ago and my doctor has been trying to get me to loose weight. I've tried believe me I've tried them all in the last 30+ years with no success. I just can't seem to stay on a diet longer than 4 months so cardiologist is recommending the lapband. I have heard good things and I have heard bad but no real information as to what you can eat afterwards. Do you loose weight so fast that you end up needing plastic surgery to get rid of the rolls of loose skin? I've also heard that many people gain their weight back in about 10 years. This all scares me but having another heart attack frightens me more. …

24 hours out. Anesthesia worn off and a little discomfort. It went a lot quicker than I thought. Checked in at 630 and was out by 1045 or so. Head cleared up at 920, began drinking and walking at 1000. Slept in bed on my left side for a nap and at night with no problems. Getting up was a little tricky. I felt good enough to eat yesterday, but stuck with Water and broth. Wasn't really hungry. Biggest problem was the after effects of the foley. No one ever mentioned it or the complications associated with it. Luckily my wife is an RN so she was able to let me know what was going on. Today is DAY 1!

Hi eveyone although still in pain, I have lost 11 lbs!!

Hi Guys, I just got banded on September 14th and am doing great! I am going in for my first Dr.'s Appointment tomorrow and am excited to get on the scale. I am in Dubai but am American and I cannot enter info without a Zip code but unfortunately we do not have them here. Any suggestions? ">