TexasDy

Hey girl - I agree with hummingbird, milk it for attention!! LOL

I'm sorry your family is being discouraingly-encouraging. Mine has the same problem. Hopefuly it will get better as they see it working for you.

So far, I LOVE the True Results team in Austin, Texas. My patient advocate Paul Gandy is a lot of fun and very knowledgeable. Dr Alex Esquivel did my EGD 2 weeks ago and was very polite and efficient. I'm looking forward to our meeting prior to surgery to get to know him a little better.

I haven't found anything recent in the forums about Dr Esquivel. Most is 2010 or older. So I'd like to ask any other Austinites what your experience was w/ the staff at True Results and Dr Esquivel himself.

Thanks!

I had an EGD w/ Dr Esquivel 2 weeks ago and surgery scheduled for June 22. Thank you for the reviews!!

I've been struggling with this same question!! Thank you for posting - and thank you everyone who responded!! Much better info than my patient advocate gave!

=_) Thanks guys!!

What an A**! I agree w/ the "screw them" expression. I need to remember that.

I am thankful mine wasn't to my face. I cry easily so it would have made it worse!

One thing that was said... a friend's boyfriend asked her "why would you want to hang out with that fat hippo instead of me?" Yes, she broke up w/ him.

So SCREW 'EM!!

Thanks for the encouragement =)

So... I'm having trouble this week. My husband and I have been looking into the band for almost a month. We had a consultation. I had an EGD and found out I do have a hernia. We're making progress towards surgery... but I'm having trouble remembering that I'm doing this for me.

My #1 reason - I want to have a baby. Desperately. My husband and I agreed that I needed to lose weight to have a healthy pregnancy. We've tried everything and nothing would stick. Weight Watchers, HCG, diet and exercise, Slimfast... We'd do it for a while, not see much results, get discouraged and stop.

Well, since we started down the path to the band, I've been getting comments that I've never heard before - towards me or anyone. I'm sure b/c of my size things have been said behind my back. But WOW. I didn't know people could be so cruel. And of course, it had to happen AFTER I made the steps toward something that could actually help me be healthier.

I've never had a self-esteem problem. I like me, always have. I'm not getting the band b/c I think I'm ugly or unattractive. I want to be healthy. I want to start a family with the man I love. But these remarks are so hurtful and discouraging. It's hard to remember that this is for me. That I don't need other people's approval. That I'm not trying to prove them wrong.

What's your motivation? What keeps you going? How did you fight ugly-on-the-inside people before the band? And after?

Still waiting to schedule my surgery... just a lot of ifs, ands, or buts to go through...

For me, my husband and my parents know. Before surgery, I plan to tell my grandmother and our pastor. Really that's it.

I work in a salon/spa with a lot of beautiful, thin women that don't really like themselves. I LOVE ME (just not the fatness!) and have a hard enough time keeping my self esteem up when I'm around them that I can't even imagine the "trying-to-be-positive" negative remarks they would make about this.

But I ultimately agree with what most people have said. It's a personal decision for you to make. As long as you have a good support system, anyone else is just a choice.

Thanks to both of you. That really does help a lot. =)

Hi... I do not have the band nor scheduled my surgery, yet. It's a huge step that I want to take but am more than a little nervous about.

A little about me - I'm 26, 5'9" 335lbs, married to an amazing man and my best friend for 2.5 years, photographer, biker, no kids yet just animals - a pug, a cat, and 2 birds =) that's me in a nutshell!

My husband and I went to a band-consultation together - with him thinking "let's do it" and me thinking "i don't know". Afterwards, we traded opinions. For now, we've decided, if we move forward, it will be for me alone and he will probably do it at a later time.

My hesitation now is that I did what I was advised to do... research the good and the bad. The good is, of course, amazing - the perfect partner to help you achieve your goals. The bad... is pretty bad - worse than what the patient advocate described. The doctor and band related complications are terrifying by themselves. But also the possibility of causing problems by not sticking to the program - WOW!! I'm looking at this b/c I've tried to lose weight on my own and can't. How is this really going to be any different? Now, if I get off my diet, I gain the weight back (with all the future illnesses that can cause). With the band, if I don't do exactly what I'm supposed to do... I could cause all kinds of damage to my body, be completely miserable, have projectile vomit, get malnourished, and so many other things.

For now, I don't know what we will ultimately decide. But I'm very glad I found this site. It's extremely helpful.