parisshel

Suitcase is packed, house is clean, laundry done, kids squared away....I check into the hospital tomorrow (Tuesday) at 3PM and am slated for my surgery Wednesday morning. Not sure where I am on the surgeon's roster but hopefully early! Thank you everybody for the buoying, carrying me (and all of us) across the demarcation line from pre-op jitters to post-op recovery....and then on to success!

I reconstituted it per the instructions to use as "classic" Peanut Butter spread on toast. Yuck! I had bought 4 jars of it, too! All went into the trash.

I must be the only outlier here but I hated it. It tasted rancid. Old, sour and rancid. Like the peanuts had gone bad. I will never buy it again.

As always, love your posts, Rosie. When I first made the decision to have LB surgery, I kept it very close to my chest. Then, as my date draws closer, I find I am very open with what I'm about to do. I'm excited about what's ahead and I just want to share this with everybody! So far, I've only had two "lukewarm" reactions from two good friends, both of whom are obese. So my sense is that my change is a threat to how they feel about themselves...and they aren't happy I'm about to leave the Fat Girls Club. One actually said "who am I going to eat lunch with now?". Re: "Taking the easy way out." First, of course this isn't easy. I'd venture to say that a traditional diet scheme is easier in fact, because if you deviate from that, the worst thing that can happen is you gain weight. If we deviate from our post-op directives, not only do we gain weight, but we experience pain, vomiting, and a whole lot more. So a "diet" is easier, folks, in terms of would-be consequences should directives not be respected. Also, where's the virtue in suffering? That's my answer to those who think this is the easy way. There is no nobility in making one's path hard. Do we accuse smokers who use nicotine Patches of "taking the easy way out to stop smoking"? No, we don't. We applaud them for doing whatever they have to do improve their lives. Just as I am doing with my decision to get a lapband. That's right: the lapband is the nicotine patch for the obese...a tool that helps dim the addiction but doesn't work unless you work with it.

Oh, I don't think this is trite at all. Your entire post resonnates with me, and especially this line. I think this accounts for the excitement, too...I'm so grateful for this surgery and its availability (and track record) so that FINALLY I can be the person physically that I am mentally. Onwards to our rebirths, everyone!

I had originally consulted for a sleeve but decided against it for all the reasons cited by the previous posters. Also, the recovery time is much longer and I couldn't take that much time off from work.

At four days pre-op, I'm surprised at how emotional I am. (My lord, I can only imagine all the emotions the anesthesia is going to make surface!!!). I was having a lot of trouble sleeping, which is rare for me, but finally last night I got a good night's sleep and I feel much more evened-out this morning. I think it is really normal to have such a huge (and rapid!) life change provoke fear, emotion and anxiety. It's not like just "starting a diet", is it? It's a radical change into the unknown. I sense that all these fears will settle down once the unknown becomes the known, i.e., the surgery is behind us, the new way of eating becomes instinctive, and of course we start loving our new shapes and health. So I keep picturing that in my mind....and it helps me remember that these scary times are just temporary and part of getting to the better days.

I'd like to ask my surgeon how soon after surgery can we start up with the sex? But I'm too embarassed to do so. Which is incredibly stupid, since I live in France where people talk about sex all the time! Hey...after you have a baby they tell you without you asking! It should be the same of LB surgery!

Hehe. The Lapband Chronicles is uniquely for this experience and is not my prinicipal blog (of course!). I, too, am not [yet] ready for an across-the-board public witnessing of this. I suspect that will come, however, after I've lost some weight. Then I'll be all dancing in the street naked, shouting "look at me! look at me!" Glad we are almost band sisters!

Hi! I'm in Paris, France. Not a lot of EU members on this site, but I find it helpful nonetheless.

Rosie, I feel EXACTLY the same as you! I just wrote a blog post about this. I've been overweight since third grade--with some moments of being less fat than now--but never under 165 pounds in my adult life. I have great sadness at the idea that I have never seen what the real, organic "me" was supposed to look like. I am thrilled that the band will give me a chance to be this person that I've always wanted to be but I agree that I may been a qualified and understanding therapist to help me let go of the sadness I feel that I wasted so many years in this body which was never the body I was meant to have. Think about it. What is my face going to look like? (I can picture my body because that's easier to imagine...bodies are bodies more or less, but our faces are unique to us). Will I FINALLY be able to see if my children look like me? (My features are so blurred by the fat...who can tell what familial traits lay under them?). To live in this world in a thin body, after 45 years of living in it in a body that was not within normal limits...it's going to be a wild ride. I know I want this---I hate moving through the world at the weight I am currently at---but at the same time I am reflecting deeply on what my new identity (physically-speaking) will be. Everything is going to change. Everything.

Very helpful and thorough. Thanks for walking us through it. I'm going to print this out for myself.

That must have felt tremendous! It's a huge accomplishment. OMG regular clothes. (I can't wait.)

Well done! Must do some "before" pics tonight, which I will lock up until.....6 months from now?!!!

Thank you! As I pre-op, I've always wondered why people recommend this--it just didn't make sense. (I remember gas pain from my two c-sections way back when, and I know that no form of gas med would've taken that pain away, for precisely the reason you cite here.)

I just read your "History." You are a fighter! Much more than I. I would've had the band taken out long before this. You put up with a lot! Good luck as you move forward. You seem to be quite strong and I'm sure will be fine whatever you decide post-band.

Great thread and I'm having to refrain from laughing loudly at work. Thanks for the levity!

I've found this to be quite true in my case. When I was first considering a lapband, I didn't tell anyone. When I decided on a lapband, I told 2 people. When I got my surgery date, I told a few more. With two weeks until my procedure, I'm telling everybody! The pharmacist, the flower merchant, my neighbors! The only people who don't know what I'm doing are those in HR (they work in another country so they don't see me anyway); all they know is I'm taking some medical time off. This is only because I don't want any comments about taking time off for elective surgery. They know I'm having a surgery, but they don't know it is elective.

I'm also being banded two weeks from now and having lots of food funerals. (I'm not a drinker, however. At least there's that!) It's not making me any happier, believe me, and my weight is up 6 pounds from the day of my initial consultation. Lordy I'm fat enough already and didn't need to get any fatter. I am SO looking forward to getting banded and ending this behavior. It's stupid behavior, too, because it's not like I'm never going to eat again. But the drive to say goodbye to these foods is very strong. BTW, I have no pre-op protocol in terms of diet. Anyway, I totally get what you are going through.

Great link. Thanks for pointing us to it. And Molly40P: Don't feel badly. It's good that you are taking this very seriously and making an educated decision. You may just need more time for reflection. Or you may truly feel the band isn't for you. Either way, take care and give whatever path you need to take time to reveal itself.

Hi! I'll be following you with my band on March 20th. It's an exciting and nerve-wracking time, isn't it? I, too, and viewing this as the end to my inability to maintain my weight loss.

Aw. I'm sorry that you are going through this alone. That can't be easy. I hope you surround yourself with good friends that will help you through this.

My surgeon says you can take all pills, just take each one at a time. That said, I think I'll break my larger pills in half because they are pretty big.

This is precisely what the psychiatrist said to me when I went through my eval for this surgery. Me, who had never had a depressive day in my life! She said to be mindful (prepared) that depression may occur even in those people not predisposed to it, for the reasons you cite. It's important for me to be attentive to this--and to know it is normal-- and I'm glad she included it in my sessions.

Everytime I post and see my ticker counting down, I'm "OMG....it's finally happening!" Excited, apprehensive, projecting and imagining all the changes that are going to take place...and...I'm stopped reading the horror stories because that is not helpful as I get closer to my surgery date. It was a good thing to do when I was gathering education to make my decision, but a negative thing to do at this point. Decision made, date set and now my mind needs to imagine the "Best Case Scenario". Good luck to all as we move through "our month."