ChaChaBurch

In what way? I'm expecting it to be worse.

I'm feeling good so far. Just adjusting to the pre-ops liquid diet. My Doctor requires it 10 days before surgery.

Thanks! Are you pleased with your sleeve?

March 22, with Dr. Kaler in Hot Springs, AR. Just started my liquid diet today. It's great seeing so many folks encouraging and updating.

How did I get here? Today is my first day of pre-surgery liquid diet. I had a lapband in Jan. 2007 and lost about 50 lbs. Since then the band has been a love/hate relationship. Mostly I hate it, and it loves to make my life miserable. Between fills and unfills, I've gained every pound back. Plus, I get "stuck" on a daily basis, and I just can't take having the issues with the band, and not getting any results. So I'm having my band removed and the sleeve done on 3/22/12. I've been in a sort of "dream like" trance since attending the seminar. The various different tests (psychologist, pulmonary, etc), have been interesting, but I really didn't start getting excited until my insurance BCBS Anthem approved the surger. Apparently my doctor has had zero success with insurance companies until me. I'm using Dr. Ron Kaler in Hot Springs, AR. He's an experienced general surgeon who has been doing bariatric surgeries for years. My goal is to blog at least once a week regarding my experiences in hopes of helping others like me.

Thanks! I am actually excited (and somewhat in shock). I've been looking at doing this for about 6 months now. I will keep things updated as I go along. I'm thinking of starting a blog in order to motivate me to bigger and better things. Good luck on your surgery and let me know how things are going!

Well, here goes. I am a 50 year old female living near Hot Springs, and I started my liquid pre-surgery diet today. My surgery is scheduled for 03/22/12. I had the lapband on 1/7/07, lost about 50 lbs, but have since gained it all back. While my band has not slipped, or eroded, I have daily issues with "sticking", and my eating habits have gone down the drain. I am using Dr. Kaler in Hot Springs, and have faith that this is what I really need to do. My insurance approved the surgery (I am Dr. Kaler's first patient to have approval from insurance), so that's a good thing. Dr. Kaler will be removing my lap-band and doing the sleeve at the same time. He hopes to be able to do both lapriscopically, but he warned me that it might not work out, and he will have to actually open me up. I'm not really sure what to expect over the next several weeks and months, but I hope to "chronicle" it here. Any suggestions, ideas, etc., from experienced sleevers would be greatly appreciated.