sberrys

I am signed up for an info session on the 4th of August (Next Tues). I'm really excited that I've finally made the decision and I want to get things moving! Does anyone have any suggestions for things I need to ask at the Info Session?

I have finally made the decision to have the lap band surgery (at least I think I have, it's a tough decision for me). I'm about 200 lbs over weight and 26 years old. I've been over weight since I was a little girl and put on the majority of it after I had back surgery for curvature of the spine at age 14. I don't consider myself to be an emotional eater, but I do love food and I think I just let myself enjoy it too much. I rarely snack between meals, skip Breakfast, eat late, drink too much sugary drinks, and do all the things they tell you not to do and I am pretty much completely sedentary. After I get off work from a day of sitting in front of a computer, I get in the bed and veg out the rest of the night in front of the TV and my laptop. I want to have a more active life style and be in pain less but have never been able to commit to a healthy life style for longer than a month or two and a 20 lb weight loss. I feel like I live on dose after dose of tylenol and it really doesn't do enough for me all the time. I think my biggest fear of having the band is that I will never be able to enjoy eating again. I can stand a year or two of not being able to eat a lot but the idea of never being able to go to a restaurant and enjoying at least a small portion of the appetizer, salad, and my entree again really bothers me. Not being able to drink during meals would be really tough for me as well. I want to have kids before I get too much older and I feel that I can't be as good a mother as I'd want to be in my current shape. I can't fit on rides at Disney or do any physically active activities, let alone walk for long in the mall without taking a break on a bench. The idea of not being able to do those types of things with my future children is really sad. My husband is very overweight as well and has very high blood pressure at age 26 and we are a bad influence on each other as far as our eating habits go - really I'm the worst bad influence. I've thought about the band for the past 8 years but have been unable to come to terms with the fact that a life style change is needed some how some way, be it surgery or whatever. My mother and both her sisters have had gastric bypass with good results but I also know people who have had life threatening complications from it so I want to take the less invasive route with the lap band. It scares me to watch my mom get sick after almost every meal when she only ate like a 10th of what other people ate. I can't imagine being like that forever, it's one of my biggest fears with surgery. You could say I was doomed from birth with genes from a family full of obese people but what it boils down to is the fact that I haven't done anything about it all these years and now I find myself in pain all the time and not too many years off from a wheelchair and I'm only 26. I'm currently working a temporary federal job with great health insurance but my job may end in November or December so I'm hoping and praying that I haven't waited too long to look in to lap band surgery. I could extend it out a few months after the job ends with COBRA but not sure how long I could afford it. SO, sorry for the long post but I needed to get some of this off my chest and hopefully I will find the support of others who have walked this path and come out the other side as happier and healthier individuals.