Anew77

Bandjennafar, I'm glad you are happy with the clinic SLIMBAND. I had a friend who was banded by Dr. Yau and he has lost 120lbs! I did not find out until recently:). Continue to post, I didn't fill out my info until recently and I was posting blogs;) My pic is a photo of my pug;))) as for the original post, I choose SWLC and will be banded in November....

Just the motivation we need....

I've known my family physician for 20 years and he's the MD of my parents and my brother. He's the one who mentioned WLS, in passing the last time I saw him. Well today I had a follow up with him and I mentioned I was having the Lap Band and he was little annoyed with me. Firstly, before I had stated that I wanted the Lap Band, I told him I was considering WLS which he supported, but he wanted me to have Gastric Bypass. Faster weight lost and it's better for the morbidly obese... Crap, am I morbidly obese? He said the Lap Band are for those individuals who have under 100 pounds to lose... Really?.....So I brought out my research;)... His response: I've forgotten that you love to read.... After, he heard my arguments and my points, he then proceeded to tell me that I can have it done free in Quebec since our provincial insurance pays for it.... I found out this lately but there's a waiting list of 2-3 years...not interested..... He's upset with me because he does not know the MD, so I provided him the name and the phone number to call him, which I know he will never do, he's too busy.... However, he seemed a little irked with me, but, stated he hope I do well, but the failure rate is high... Sigh...I literally had to remind him with any WLS, failure is an option if you do not change your lifestyle, which he agreed, we then ended with if I'm planning to have kids and I realized that this man has been part of my family for too long, my mother is rubbing off on him... Anyways, I remind him not to say anything to my mother, which pissed him off further since, he mumbled he is a doctor and patient confidentiality.... But just to be sure.... So now I have more motivation... A Lil surprise for my MD at my 1 year check up;)

I originally wrote a blog about my disappointment in finding a couple of posts that had gotten "nasty", then realize, no one cares and I can just ignore... So blog deleted... Moving on....Got my pre-op shakes today, 3 weeks worth ($189.00). I then proceeded to read the ingredients MILK CONCENTRATE... I'm bloody lactose intolerant! How did I miss this?.....I guess I'm going to be taking the Lactaid pills prior to consumption since I have to take them 3 times a day....sigh.....on the bright side maybe I will lose some more weight;)....Joke

Thx Patty, it just freaks me out, how quickly time is flying by... Congrats on your 30lb weight loss, I can't wait to be on that wagon:)

Cool.... I'm aware how he anchors the band to the stomach, I just wasn't aware how it was called..... Thanks for letting me know, when u know:)

Okay, I'm sorry I misunderstood...I thought plication was when they fold the stomach, I believe staple it and then place the lap band at the top, almost like a sleeve but without the cutting? ...I thought that's what we were talking about ....Some Lap Band doctors are performing this proceedure

Thanks , I'm currently looking into it and I have no problem having it....He did not mention it when I last spoke to him, so I thought that maybe you need to ask for it..Thanks again for a quick reply and looking forward to reading your post-op report:)

I'm constantly reviewing the boards on information about the Lap Band procedure pre, post and maintenance. I look at the success stories/pics to give me motivation and I read the newsletter and magazines. I will even add that I'm a member on 2 other Lap Band forums but this is the only one that I blog on. I guess because it was my first and to be honest I find there's more information here. My surgery is the 07th November but because of my assignment, I need to get all my pre-op done now for I will not have any time later, so today I order my two weeks of protein shakes. I'm fortunate cause the company that my MD recommends is 20 mins away from my home, thus I save on shipping. Next week is all about blood work, family MD and sending all the required information. I'm still having a problem finding good chewable vitamins, I guess I will go with the Life brand one and of course Biotin, the hair loss stories are giving me nightmare, lose weight , lose hair...sigh...I guess I can rock the Sinead O'Conor look for awhile:0. I took out all my clothes the ones that fit, the ones that don't and I put them all back in my closet. My goal is that as soon as the clothes don't fit ( too big), Salvation Army. My ultimate reward for losing the weight is a $5 000 shopping spree, since I don't expect to lose 119 lbs in 3 months , I have some time to save for it. I refuse to weigh myself every week. I know that's one of the rules in my Patient Guide ( I think) but I refuse. I will weigh myself either once a month, or prior to my fill. As for my fills, I prefer to get those fills when I'm in town. Some of my assignments take me to reservations where there are no cellphones or internet and I don't want to have an issue of being "too tight" where I will need to be flown out. Which means that my fills might be every 6- 8 weeks, kinda worried about that, but as my boyfriend says, "Don't rely on the band, rely on you!"...He has such faith in me..... Going to get the Magic Bullet this weekend, it's to mix my shakes and later for the puree stage. I also purchased a camera and took some pics of me side, front and back...traumatic...I never knew that I was an apple shape:)...Anyways, one of my goals was to get more exercise and i'm failing miserably, so back to the drawing board...I will be honest the hard part is starting , because when I'm actually working out, I really do like it....shall be my primary goal for the next couple of weeks. However, as of today, it's been over a month that I haven't had any type of soda, two weeks that I haven't eaten fast food, still struggling with juice, but mostly Lemonade and Apple Juice and of course exercise. So I still have some work to do but I'm drinking 64 oz of water a day, so I'm pretty happy about that:)

A little off topic, Nurselydss , did you ask to have the plication or is Dr. Cobourn just does the procedure? And if so, how much more did it cost? Thanks

Well, I've just returned from my contract of 5 weeks and it feels good to be home. I was happy to see that I lost 9 lbs just by cutting back on soda, drinking more water and decreasing my fast food habit...YEAH BABY, YEAH....However, two things that I was diagnosed with last year has returned; vertigo and Pilonidal Abscess. So, last year I was at work in the middle of delivery and I almost collapsed. I couldn't stand, sit and I was sent to the ER. MRI cleared, blood work cleared , no inner ear infection. Doctors believed it was either stress ( I worked 3 jobs , 1 full time, 2 part time jobs as a nurse) or my weight. I was off work for 2 months and over the next couple of months it will come and go, my last flare up was in September 2011 but Friday evening, my boyfriend had to help me inside, today it's much better thank god. Something else I need to take care of in the coming months. The Pilonidal Abscess was the most painful event that took place last year...nope ...my gallbladder was the worst. However, it was the most embarrassing. As a L& D nurse I never heard of this disease and my research when I was diagnosed made me realize that my weight may have led to this predicament. However, I thought when I had surgery done, it was all removed. I mean I spent 4 weeks having my BF do my dressing and now it seems it has returned...sigh....now I'm doing more research on the matter and it looks like this thing is here to stay. My hope is, if I lose weight, maybe it will decrease my flare ups. If you have no idea what a Pilonidal Abscess/Cyst is, look it up ...let's just say it's to do with your behind. Anyways, I have two weeks off before my next contract, thus, I need to do all my pre-op test during my time off. I decided before I do my pre-op that I'm going to do a month long natural cleanse, as a type of preparation for my new way of life. I know it sounds corny but, ( hoping not to jinx myself) something is clicking up there. I'm saying no, when I would say yes. I'm stopping when I'm full and I'm not beating myself up if I slip. I just hope that this is not temporary. However, when I got on that scale and i saw that I lost 9 lbs in 5 weeks I was very proud of myself. Moving on..so today, it's about starting my cleanse, entering my weight and pic on the forum and taking pictures and measurements. I need to buy 2 weeks worth of shakes, so that's what i'm doing this week, including going to doctor's appointments and going to Curve. I made out a plan and I'm sticking to it as much as possible and so far, i'm doing pretty well...going to find a pic for my profile...not of me of course, that will be for another time...maybe a pic of my beloved pug:)

When I was 19, I was interested in this guy, who flatly told me I wasn't his type due to my size. I was so pissed by another rejection, that I started walking the next morning. Six months later, I was working out twice a day, lost 55 - 60 pounds and was a size 6, then I got arrogant. It started innocently, I had a slight knee injury. I was squatting 150 lbs and was not paying attention to form and I pulled something, but I wasn't worried because I would never be "fat" again, so I took time off from the gym. Couple months later I was a size 10, but that was okay, I was too skinny anyway and I will take it off, when I got back to the gym. However, I was never that committed as before and the weight just kept creeping on. What I remember about that time is my belief that I could continue with my eating habits because I was skinny. I really believed I did not have a food problem. I had become an exercise freak and I was so caught up in the attention I was receiving that I didn't see the cliff until I had already fallen. 13 years of imbedded bad habits and I'm trying to look at every loophole, for the fear of re-gain is so strong. I know that this time around with the lap band and a therapist (yep, I found one) and my eyes wide open the result will be different, but that fear is so strong, it's suffocating. I read somewhere that we cling to things because it gives us some type of payout. I honestly do not know the reason behind my food addiction but hopefully with time it will become clear because I refuse to continue to live my life this way. I'm no coward, I plan to face my demons but tonight the fear of failure is thick in me. For today, I finalized my financing, the surgery date is set but not finalized so it's like my mind is freaking out... I went to the grocery and had an instant craving for pork rinds! I NEVER ate the thing but today I felt like trying them, so I left the grocery so fast, still had some cup cake but yep, can't wait to see the therapist, this MADDNESS has to stop.

I know there's a couple of people on here who got banded by CIBO, maybe you can contact one of them. For me, I never got to speak to the surgeon at CIBO, it was always through the Patient Coordinator. I hope some of those who got banded with them will give you some feedback;)