Karon

Thanks for sharing your day of surgery experience. I am going july 12, can't wait. At least I have an idea of what to expect now. wishing you much success in this new life and journey.

You just can't assume that you can open a capsule and take the contents. Some meds are time released and my doctor told me that they cannot be opened up and put into applesauce or taken some other way. There would have to be an alternate med prescribed. Please don't take it upon yourself to decide what to do with your meds, speak with your doctors and pharmacist about this problem. I know because it is going to be somewhat of a problem for me with some of the meds that I take.

Well at least they didn't require a 5 year weight history as my insurance did, United Health Care. They consider other things though--other co-morbidities and the diabetes will help. Don't despair. Things will work out for you, just have a little faith.

Hi: I was told that I should eat my food on a "saucer", the one that your cup sits on, you know cup and saucer. Not even a salad plate. That is how I am to gauge my food. Haven't gotten to that point yet, but that is what I am going to do. Gonna to try and be obedient as I know that is the only way this thing is going to work.

OK, so maybe you should try 6 and work up to 6.5 maybe. I don't know how they increase in increments, but it would seem that you do need a little more restriction. just my 2cents worth.

Yes you are so right. I enjoy the stories but hate the doom and gloom. I wish people would keep their negativity to themselves.

Hello: Glad you have thought about doing it the right way now. I have always been an eater of Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice meals for lunch when I was working. They are quite good, both of them. The sweet and sour chicken is especially good, the glazed chicken, actually any of their meals I have found to be quite edible and filling. On those rare occasions when I was extra hungry, I have eaten two of them. However, with our smaller stomachs, I don't think that will be a problem for you. Also I was wondering if you had had a fill since you were banded/ Maybe that's the problem, you are too loose and you should be tighter. Just a thought. k

Hello everyone, I have type 2 diabetes and was wondering if anyone has had the surgery who is diabetic? My specific question is what do we do before surgery as we can't go too long without eating? I know these are questions I should and will ask my doctor, but it just occurred to me after i met with him on Thursday. I am going to have my surgery in June, don't have the exact date yet. I currently take Metformin for my diabetes control and know that I will have to crush this med up after I am banded. Any information someone can give on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Kay

Hey Thee-0 I will definitely keep in touch, you don't have to worry about that.

Hello: Welcome! You have to lose 10% of your weight before they will do the surgery? Is that what you are saying? Wow I haven't heard of that before, but I am relatively new to these forums myself. Well at least you sound encouraged to do so. I wish you the best. What are your plans for losing the weight? Is it a number that you can see yourself achieving seeing as most of us have a hard time losing weight which is why we want the band. I'm here everyday, so if you want to add me as a friend, I will help to cheer you on. K

Hi Jacob: Thanks for responding. That sounds great. I hear the same thing time and again. Good luck to you and I only hope that I have similar results. I'm sure they will take you off some of those meds and probably all once you reach goal. Stay in touch. I go in on 7/12. Wish me well. K

Hello Tia: Wishing you a safe surgery and all the joys associated with your new life change. My surgery is 7/12. I'm very excited as I know you are too. please keep us posted on how you made out, the experience, etc. Best wishes, K

Hello Carolyn: Welcome. You've come to the right place. I won't bother to reiterate how I felt, you can read it in my blog, but I do know how you feel. I was where you are and I am being banded in 29 days. I can't wait. Like you we share some of the same ailments. I have had both knees replaced, and a hip. I still suffer pain in my knees as the surgeries weren't totally successful. I have grandchildren that I can't do things with like I want to. We're taking them to Carowinds this summer and I'm going to rent a motorized scooter so that I will be able to keep up with them. so trust me I know how you feel. But you have made the right decision and you are doing your research. all good things. In no time at all, you will be counting down the days to your new life. I wish you much success on your journey and please keep in touch, add me as a friend. I'll be here for you anytime. K

Hi: You will take Vitamins and Calcium chewables after lapband surgery. Call around and get samples of the shakes most companies offer samples packs, I just got a whole slew of them, some I paid for, some were free. My doc calls for a 3 week liquid diet with Protein for dinner of chicken or fish and oatmeal and yogurt along with Jello we can have. I am having my surgery on 7/12 so I don't have the answers to the rest of your questions yet. I'm sure some nice people will jump in and fill you in. Are you on the 6 month supervised diet right now? Just wondering. Stock up on jello and sugar free stuff, truvia for sweetners, applesauce, soft stuff like that that won't go bad because you will be eating a lot of it.

Thanks for the response. You have certainly come a long way. God is good all the time and He certainly is not through with you. If we keep the faith, I believe that, as the scripture says, "all things will work together for good..." Be blessed my friend.

Thanks Grider for taking the time to read my blog. You are fortunate to only have to do a 3 month supervised diet. That's real good. I ended up having to do mine twice cause the first time I didn't lose any weight. Bummer. I'm sure you will be banded way before December 31, 2011. There is no reason that it should take that long. YOu should be good for September no later than October. Be optimistic. What I did was bought lean cuisine dinners to help me and they worked. I'd catch them on sale and that is how I lost my weight. Best wishes for a speedy experience. Kay

Hello Everyone: My name is Kay and I'm getting banded in June. I joined this site yesterday and read all day. I began this process in 2004 when I was all scheduled to have a RNY Gastric Bypass and upon having the ultrasound, they found a mass near the area that the intestines would have to be rerouted. It turned out that instead of having my gastric bypass, I had a biopsy instead. I was so devastated. After that, there was not an option for me as the lap band was not covered by my insurance at that time. In the interim, I put on more weight and finally relocated to North Carolina in the fall of 2007. In, 2008 I found that there was a young doctor in my town of Winston Salem, named Dr. "Fuzz" Fernandez, who had a very good reputation and success rate. I sent for the materials and was a little put off because he required a psychological evaluation that would cost almost $700 and that had to be paid out of pocket and not through insurance. As I had just spent so much money moving to this area, I was again was disappointed as I didn't have this money to spare at the time. So I put the materials away and said I would get to it later. Later turned to almost 2 more years. In 2010, I had myself together again, was working and decided to go to the seminar which was required of everyone. I also found out that my insurance would now cover the lap band and I was excited, to say the least. It was similar to what I had learned in 2004 but there had been a lot of new developments with the lap band that I didn't know of at that time. They were getting good results with the band now. People were losing almost as much weight as with the gastric bypass. I went along very fast getting my blood work done, the psychological exam, meeting with the nutritionist and dietitian. Completed everything that was required of me and thought I was ready. This was about March of 2010. Then I was told that my insurance, United Health Care, required a 6 months doctor supervised diet. Another blow I thought. Oh well, I had to do it. Now my doctor told me that I didn't really have to lose weight but just participate. So that is what I did. I didn't lose any weight!!!! When the nutritionist got my doctor's 6 months notes, they didn't look good. It looked like I wasn't even trying to be in compliance. She told me that my insurance would never approve me. I was so down I don't know what I was going to do. Six months wasted! So, I went back to my doctor and said "hey look we have to do this again because I'm going to have this surgery." And we began again. So this time, I joined the YMCA and I purchased all low calorie foods for my dinners. I would eat cereal everyday for breakfast, have a piece of string cheese for a protein snack and the rest of my food was made up of fruits and vegetables. Surprisingly to me, I began losing weight. By the time the six months were up, I had lost 30 pounds. Everyone was happy, and you know I was smiling from ear-to-ear. So I called for an appointment with my surgeon. When I met with him on May 19, 2011, he said "you've done everything, you're all set for a date. We just have to call the insurance company to get the approval and you will have your surgery in June if you want." I was like that's fine with me. So June it is. I hope to hear from his Coordinator this week with the exact date. Oh and I had lost another 11 pounds since March. Down 41 pounds now. Yea!!!!! I can't believe that it is finally happening for me. I have had some support but people always say "oh you can do it yourself and I know someone who did this or that or the other."...and that can be discouraging at times to hear. Even yesterday someone tried to tell me about a Dr. Simeons diet using some type of drops... I wasn't trying to hear that. I have wanted this surgery for 7 years now and I'm going to have it! I believe that obesity is a disease and that one way to treat this disease is with this surgery. So that is my choice. I have tried all the other diets as I'm sure anyone reading this has. We know about the merrygoround rides up and down with the weight. One false hope after another. I believe I can do this. It is a life changing event, it will be different, it won't be easy, but I can do it--I know I can and especially with God's help. Anyway as for some beginning info, I currently weight 303 pounds and my goal is to weigh 180 as I am 5'6 inches tall and that weight looks very good on me. However, if I continue to lose that would be fine but I wouldn't want to be smaller than 150 pounds as I was skinny at that point in my life. I can't even imagine that. I currently wear a size 22 dress and between a 2X and 3X in tops and bottoms. My bottom is where I carry most of my weight so in dresses and skirts I can hide it fairly well, thus people saying I don't need this drastic a surgery. But the numbers are what is important not how i look in my clothes. And beyond that as for health issues I have diabetes since last year and have had high blood pressure for years. I'm told that by losing weight I will be able to possibly come off the diabetes meds and that my pressure should not require 3 different pills, if any, to control. So getting my health back is a priority for me at this time too. And finally, I never wanted to die a fat person and be seen in a coffin as "fat". That may seem like an odd thing to say, but that is how I have felt getting older. And by the way, I'm 53 years young So this is the beginning of my new life. Blogging is different for me and I will upload some photos as time goes by and keep you updated as to my process and progress. Thanks for reading. Kay

Hello again, Well let's see what has happened since I last wrote. Well I had my appointment with the Nutritionist to discuss life after being banded. She gave out some vitamin and calcium samples, a power point presentation discussed food and eating habits, diet and exercise. I was in the class with a 71 year old man who says that he wants the surgery so that he can walk in the room and the women will say 'who's that hottie." Oh how I laughed, But God bless his soul for being brave enough to embark on something like this in his truly senior years. He inspired me to say the least. The Nutritionist also gave us a packet of information from the company that makes the band and we can chart our progress at their website www.lapband.com. I came home and read through the materials and looked at the vitamins. What I have learned now is that this program is expensive in more ways than one. I hear the cost is close to that of a new small car and in addition, there are out-of-pocket expenses that we must shell out for these protein shakes which are not covered and are not considered food purchases. They can cost anywhere from $13 to 40+ for a container of whey protein. She gave us a list of the types that we have to have pre-op since we will be allowed to eat chicken and fish once a day along with the shakes and some veggies and fruit and oatmeal oh and non-fat yogurt. That's about it for the 3 weeks. Someone on here posted a list of places we could call or email for samples and I spent all day yesterday doing that. There must have been about 20 places on the list. The title of the message was "Samples, samples, samples" in case you can search for it. There were quite a few who are sending me free samples, some have sample packs where you only pay for the shipping and others have sample packs where you pay a small fee for the products and the shipping and handling. I ordered some Unjury and she is going to throw me in 2 samples of different flavors. I also ordered the sample packet of Chike products as I have heard they are good and Nectar products. The rest are freebies. However, today I found out that I could use the product sold at Walmart so I order 3 2lb tubs in different flavors for $40. That was a good deal along with some chewable Flintstones vitamins and chewable caltrate as we will need these things too. So my total at Walmart was $69.00 and that should tide me over at least for the3 weeks plus maybe a week or 2 after I come home. I am hopeful anyway as I am on a fixed budget and every penny does count. I have to pay for my one nights stay in the hospital, out of pocket for that is almost $300 and I hear they want that up front and cannot be billed. So again, I say this is not something for those who don't have the extra money to pay. Then there will be the doctor co-pays for the fills which happen every 4-6 weeks and in my case that will be $40. Yes, I think I am sort of venting about money right now, but someone told me I wasn't complaining when I used to go out and eat all the time and think nothing of spending $40 on my meal alone or when I want to buy a new computerized gadget. This is for my health, my life, so why complain. Just do what you have to do Karon and keep it moving, as the young folks say. I spend a lot of time at this site reading the posts and listening to people vent and rant and rave about they aren't losing fast enough, or this hurts and that hurts and when is the first fill and on and on and on. I would bed happy to have lost 78 pounds in 3 months as one lady did and she was still complaining about she needs to hit the gym more. Some of these folks seem obsessed. I don't want to become obsessed about this decision, this new life, etc. I have never been that type of person in the past and I don't want to start at this stage in my life. However, I understand to each his own and what's silly to one person makes sense to someone else. Those reading my blog may find me to be a ranter and raver. Who knows. OK, so I can step down off of my soapbox for now and go and enjoy and old movie. Something that gives me lots of pleasure and entertainment. I will have a cup of strawberries mixed with green grapes. Oh, and I joined Myfitnesspal.com . I really like that spot. A lot of support there and people who are dieting, doing weight watchers and various other things to lose weight. The nice thing is you can have a food diary and keep track of your workout times, etc. It is also compatible with cell phones and you can post in one and they will sync up. So that's a nice little feature. I have been staying under my allotted calories so far and am happy about that. The program says if I keep eating the way I am in 5 weeks, I will have lost 8 pounds. I put that I wanted to lose 1.5 pounds a week. I'm not greedy. I would be happy to have lost 8 pounds. Every pound means something to me, to lose them means something as well and I'm not looking for a magic bullet because I think if it's too magical I won't appreciate it. I want a nice steady pace. I don't want to ask for too much or expect to much. Let me be pleasantly surprised. Enough!

Thank you Judy. I will use a different color for now on.

Hello: Here is a list that was given to me by my nutritionist: unjury (has website) Chike (has website) EAS - Walmart MetRX - Walmart Super Boost whey Protein - Walmart Syntrax Nectar- Amazon.com Designer Whey Bariatric Advantage (has website) Optimum Nutrition (has website) ISS Complete Whey powder Isopure Perfect Low Carb Maximum Protein Labrada Lean Body Revival soy Protein Powder these are just a few that are available. some of these will send free samples or sample packets for a small fee. Hope this gets you started. If you can search for the thread "Samples, samples, samples" someone listed about 20 different brands of shakes that we can email or call to get samples. I requested a bunch and have already began receiving them in the mail. This way you can try them before you buy or put out a considerable amount of money and you may not like all of them. Good luck.