DaddyD

Man, I am worried about this too. I tend to drink a LOT of ice Water or ice tea with my food, especially when eating out. Right now it's not a problem, because I'm still having so many liquid meals, but after I'm on to normal food I'm going to have to be really careful about the whole 1/2-hour before or after thing. Also, this thread is both funnier and sorta sad if you assume we're talking about alcohol. "I JUST CAN'T STOP DRINKING. "

Most mornings I've been making a Protein shake that is very frappachino-like. It's just 1 scoop EAS chocolate Whey protein powder, 1 cup organic Silk soy milk (unflavored), and a teaspoon or two of instant coffee. Usually I'll add in a little Splenda to bring up the sweetness a little, or some sugar-free Hershey chocolate syrup. Occasionally I'll put in a tablespoon of Smart Balance Peanut Butter, which is pretty amazing -- definitely ups the calories, but it makes for a filling breakfast replacement. I'd never heard Starbucks has protein powder on hand. I've been kind of afraid to go to SB since most of what I like there is just liquid calories. Used to be always java chip frapps, but now I stick with Splenda-sweetened shaken Tazo iced tea.

I'm a week out, and I can pretty much sleep on my stomach now. Maybe not all night, but for a while.

It's completely normal. Right now your only focus should be on healing from the surgery, not on weight loss. I expect that after your first fill you will see a significant increase in food restriction. Also, if your ticker is accurate, you do not seem to have so much excess weight that you can expect it to shed as quickly initially as someone who is 100+ lbs overweight. I know that for me a BMI of ~30 is way closer to my GOAL than my starting point.

I'm 4 days post op, and decided today to switch to "full liquids". The clear liquids only was really getting old fast, and when I accidentally ate a blueberry yesterday morning packing my son's lunch it went down well. So I had a protein shake for breakfast and added sugar free creamer to my coffee. So far so good. My first post-op appointment with the surgeon isn't until next Thursday, and I expect I'll be doing soft foods by then too.

I had my surgery on Tuesday, came home Wednesday, rested Thursday, and today being Friday I feel mostly great. I really only get discomfort if I'm swallowing something to quickly, so I'm really using minimal painkillers. I move slowly and I know I still need to be careful (especially about picking up heavy things) but I'm really pleased with how quickly I'm recovering. Makes me much less afraid about Monday, when I'll be home alone with my two little boys again.

I'm only two days out from surgery, and I'm doing as well as I could have ever expected. Uncomfortable at times, but that's it. Dr. Harrison and his team did a great job, and the nursing staff at LVH Cedar Crest was awesome. They took great care of me.

My wife had both of our children with the band. It's totally doable. Just be careful about throwing up (as always) because that can cause the band to slip.

Tucker will be 3 in September, and Coltrane turned 5 months on Sunday. They're the best. And a longer, healthier life with them is one of the biggest reasons I'm doing this.

About to be discharged. Looking forward to my own bed. Not looking forward to not being able to let my boys sit in my lap for a while.

About to be discharged. Looking forward to my own bed. Not looking forward to not being able to let my boys sit in my lap for a while.

Had my surgery this morning, and have been chillin' in my hospital room all day. Just finally figured out how to log in here on my phone. Everything seems to have gone great. They're happy with my recovery progress so far. Right now I'm mainly uncomfortable and HUNGRY! Can't have anything more than sucks of water off of some sort of sponge lollypop until tomorrow. I've gotten pretty good at peeing in a bottle...

I have Aetna through my wife's job, and while Aetna DOES cover it, I had a heck of a time getting approved, because at the last minute (3 weeks before surgery, after completing a 3-month program with all the bells and whistles), contrary to everything we'd been told, I get a call that Aetna has denied me because my wife's employer put an exclusion for weight-loss surgery in their plan. I was devastated and angry. But it turned out that there just was a wording difference between the plan the company actually had, and the plan that Aetna thought they had. Yes, there was, according to the company, a general exclusion, but it would be waved if you could prove "medical necessity". But Aetna didn't have that part in their records. So, we were told they'd fix the error, but it would take a couple of weeks (!!!???). Okay. So a couple of weeks later we re-submit, and now they say "Okay, so we DO cover this, but we need to see weight records from the past two years from your doctor." I'm like, WHAT. I hadn't seen a doctor that weighed me since 2006. I managed to get THAT record, and praise the Lord they took it as fulfilling the requirement. I got official approval literally on the Friday before my scheduled Tuesday surgery. Which was, I was THEN told, too close, because the hospital needed me to come in for pre-admission testing first. Did that, and now my surgery is set for this coming Tuesday. So, long story short, yes, Aetna covers it, but make sure you know all the details.

Not quite, Jachut. Sashimi has no rice at all. You just get slices of whatever fish or seafood, arranged nicely and ready to eat. But technically, sashimi isn't really sushi at all, since "sushi" literally means "seasoned rice" and that component must be present to be sushi. It comes in three types: maki sushi (also known as "rolls"), nigiri sushi (where the seafood is laid over a small rectangle of rice, sometimes held by a strip of nori [seaweed]), and temaki (where the rice and other contents are held in a cone made of nori). To my knowledge all sushi restaurants sell sashimi, however. Whether it is raw or cooked depends on the item. BBQ eel is always cooked (hence the BBQ part of the name!), as is most crab and shrimp and octopus, unless specified as raw. Things like tuna, salmon or squid are either raw or just seared on the outside before slicing. Dang, now I'm craving sushi!

The rice is definitely the carb problem. Get it sashimi-style instead though and you cut out most of them. Unagi (bbq eel) also tends to come with a sweet sauce on them that probably adds more, but it's negligible compared to the rice. I LOVE sushi, but I've had the habit of wolfing it down in large quantities, so I'm hoping that post-banding (one week from today!) I'll be able to appreciate a small plate of sashimi even more.

I have a pre-op diet, but it's more of an Atkins-like thing (very high in lean Proteins, low in carbs) rather than a liquid diet. One week tomorrow is surgery day!

This is the recipe I did. It originally called for some Peanut Butter cookie flavored Protein powder that I didn't have (though it sounds awesome) so I just used my chocolate EAS powder. Worked well though. 2 large eggs 1/2 cup part skim milk ricotta 1/2 cup protein powder 1/2 teaspoon baking powder pinch of salt Whisk or blend together, and cook like regular pancakes (I suggest making them small) on a medium-hot griddle sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. I found they puffed up nicely but kind of deflated as they cooled. Still, they were nice spread with a little bit of sugar-free preserves and rolled up.

I made chocolate-ricotta pancakes the other day, and they were made of just ricotta, protein powder (EAS Whey chocolate), eggs, baking powder and a little salt. They were surprisingly decent.

Oh, I think that the exhaustion of dealing with obnoxious comments (no matter how well-meaning) is definitely worth considering. I know I'm in an advantageous position, where most of the people (read: family) who would be making such comments live on the other side of the country, so such things would be rare. I also work from home so I don't really have co-workers to deal with every day. That said, "going public" would mean I might find myself frustrated that conversations with local friends would end up feeling like they are always about my weight and what/how I'm eating. I'll have to figure out if that frustration is outweighed (no pun intended) by feeling like I'm doing some good both for myself and by trying to educate others about the band. And of course if for some reason I end up not losing much, or losing a lot and gaining it back, I hate the thought that I'd suddenly become one more anecdote. So... still thinking about it!

I'm thinking at this point that if I don't "go wide," so to speak, it would be mainly out of respect for my wife and her desire to keep her surgery mostly private. I dunno. Not that I'd be discussing her own journey with the band, but I'd definitely want her permission, because her success and knowledge is definitely a big part of why I am such a believer. I guess we'll see!

I've been thinking recently about the issue of who to tell about the surgery (I'm scheduled for June 21). I know there are a ton (probably most) of people here who just told one or two or a handful of people, if anyone at all. But I'm curious if there are people here who went beyond that but actually were wide open about what they were doing with anyone who asked, bringing it up themselves, even, and perhaps went to the point of publicly blogging about it and what-have-you. A little back-story: My wife was banded about 6 years ago, not long after we met, and only told a handful of people such as her parents, brother, and a close friend or two (apparently her willingness share with me was a big point of "oh my God, I really trust this guy!" for her). There are several friends who, I'm sure, have some idea that she had some sort of bariatric surgery, and in general I think everyone has been quite supportive, or at least bitten their tongue. She had very very good results her first year, so I'm sure that was helpful in people at least not telling her it was a mistake. Her parents actually paid for it, so they knew and were supportive, and at worst her mom has just said a few awkward things in public like mothers do (oh God, wedding dress shopping was hilarious). As for myself, I've been overweight since I was in about 4th grade. I'm only 5'6" but was at 320lbs when I started my 3-month pre-surgery program, so I qualify based on BMI alone. I've been lucky enough to have no other co-morbidities so far, such as diabetes or heart disease, other than high blood pressure, which is now under control. I have two small sons (almost 3 years old and 4 months old) and am determined to do this to not only save my life but to help ensure they have a father who is alive and is not limited by his weight and inevitable obesity-related declining health. Anyhow, I've been thinking about going beyond the handful of people, and actually being very open about it to the point of almost "announcing", I guess you could say. Perhaps posting about it on Facebook and other web forums I frequent with an explanation of what is being done and why, and talking to the leader of our church worship team to ask that that amazing bunch of people can be praying for me (never mind have an honest excuse for why I won't be able to sing for a couple of weeks), and that sort of thing. My reasons for wanting to do this basically break down to these: 1) I want to be honest. I don't want to lie and say I'm had a hernia or something just because I'm embarrassed to admit I need this surgery. Of course it's no one's business but my own, and I'm never going to judge someone for wanting to keep their band private, but for me it just doesn't feel like the right thing. I also feel like being honest about it would be a big step in confronting my relationship with food and admitting that it was an abusive one, in need of a drastic measure. 2) I want accountability. The way I see it, the more public knowledge it is amongst my friends and family it is, the more people I will have to face up to if I'm not using my tool properly. I know this will almost definitely mean more unsolicited advice and rude comments than you can shake a stick at, but hey, I'm a stay-at-home-dad, I get that all the time already. 3) I want more people to know more, accurate information about the lap-band. This is probably my biggest reason. Several years ago, I lost quite a bit of weight on Atkins -- about 85lbs total. In the end I did gain it all back (and more) because I stopped following it properly and stopped exercising the way I had been (mostly weekly judo classes). But before, during, and after, I was a HUGE advocate for Atkins (still am) and spent a lot of time among friend as the go-to guy for debunking myths about Atkins and low/controlled-carb diets. It killed me how many people misunderstood how it worked, why it worked, etc. With the band there is the same thing, times 10, with the added element of people thinking it's an "easy way out" or what have you. I really really really want to be able to help educate people about the band without needing to do so anonymously, or bite my tongue to avoid people finding out I have one. I figure the only way attitudes will change and the stigma go away is if the very people who are getting banded don't seem to be agreeing that it's something to be ashamed of doing. Has anyone else here done this sort of thing and would be willing to share how it went? Are you glad you did, or do you perhaps regret it? What are some of the effects it had on your own journey, good or bad? Do you think I'm crazy for even thinking of this?

My insurance is Aetna (through my wife's work) and once they finally got their act together in regards to admitting it was even covered (long story) then they said I needed to send them documented weight history for 2009 and 2010. This was just last week they finally asked, and my surgery date was supposed to be June 7th. Called up a clinic I went to in 2009 and was told it would be 2 weeks before they could send records. I was really crestfallen, because the only other time I'd been to the doctor and been weighed was in 2006. Luckily I was able to get that record sent in really quickly, and thank the Lord they accepted that as fulfilling whatever they needed to know. Had to move the surgery date (to the 21st) so I had time for pre-admission testing at the hospital, but 2 weeks late is WAY better than the "no surgery unless you pay for it yourself" situation I thought I was faced with.

Thanks!

June 21st here.

Hi everyone! I'm scheduled to have lap-band surgery on June 21st. I was originally scheduled for next week, but because of some very stupid insurance problems (as in, screw-ups by work insurance reps) it took so long to get approved that we had to move the surgery date. BUT! I am now approved completely, have the date set, arranged for child care for the week (I'm a stay-at-home dad with an almost-3 year-old and 4-month-old boys), started the pre-op diet already but set for a couple of extra weeks to shrink my liver a little more, and pretty much bouncing off the walls. So, so excited about this next phase of my life, particularly how it will allow me to fully enjoy being a dad for much longer.