Bimmerboy76

Hi all New to the forums here as I've been researching due to my decisions earlier this month to seek consultation for weight loss surgery. A little background about me. I'm 36 yr old AA male that started to think about this very seriously after my wife and I finally were able to get pregnant after numerous bouts of bad luck. We experienced numerous miscarriages and in 2011 actually had an episode of still birth around 6.5 months. We were on the fringes again this past yr but am proud to say we're parents to not one but 2 of the most beautiful 6 month old boys you could lay your eyes on. This has really got me to thinking at this weight am I going to see my boys get married, go to college, or even go to high school. Thinking towards the future there aren't many 370+ pound 50 yr olds out there! So after all that being said I had my consultation on January 18th. Dr Kellum is highly recognized in the field of obesity surgery but I gotta say I was left a little uneasy after it seemed him and his staff tried to sway me towards a sleeve gastrectomy. They in my opinion were telling me all the negatives to force me to choose another procedure. I chose the lap band because of the minimal evasiveness of the procedure. Did anyone else here battle with the decision to band vs another procedure? Thanks for your replies in advance.

I see this a very talked about topic. Lapbandster I couldn't have said it better myself as I'm in the same boat. I feel I need to lose at least 100lbs and quite frankly can't do it alone. I too fear then cutting away of body parts etc that's why I'm choosing the band.

Just wanted to add that most people consider this to be about vanity when it clearly isn't. I see subtle changes in my health coming on. Back in June 2012 I was placed on blood pressure meds. In 2010 I had reconstructive knee surgery after tearing up my left knee playing sports....30 and over baseball and semi pro football. I've always been large guy but in pretty decent health. After the knee issue I started to view things in a different light and put my career first. Now with a family I've really slowed down so taking the weight off is even more difficult now. Thus the reason for considering the procedure.

Thanks for all the great responses! Lapbandster I'm just seeing your earlier post looks like you amended it. Indeed that was my first thought too that they were strictly after more money. I spoke with one of my coworkers who have had a lot of medical issues and he too believes its related to money! Catfish I'm definitely leaning towards the band. I got all geared up for the band and even got my wife on board too. She was on the fence with me about the other procedures and just felt the cutting away of the stomach was a bit much.

Thanks for your reply lapbandster All the things you mentioned we're definite concerns of mine. I'm not concerned about how fast I lose the weight. They told me things like there were groups of band patients that did everything right and still didn't lose weight. That was hard for me to believe? Realizing that this isn't a magic pill and it requires work, I'm willing to put in the work to achieve the results.