Wenjea

Evilah - I don't think you could go wrong with any of those docs. I chose Dr. Oh because he is closer to home for me. He is a very good surgeon but not the most freindly guy. Dr. Harai is much more personal and usually does the fills. The office is not much to look at but the nurses are friendly. He is a little cheeper the NW and I am a self pay so 3,000 is worth it to me. I will let someone else sell you on NW.

sillywilly - I was told to wear something really stretchy around the waist becasue your stomach is blown up with gas. I'm taking old sweats with lot's of room around the waist. I've heard it can take a couple days for that to go down. ragdoll - I see you! Bandmates! Twinmommy, eljmom, Wen, LisaM, how is the pre-op going? I totally blew it last night but didn't gain anything this morning, didn't lose anything either but . . . . I'm down 18 total so far!!!! Monday Bandsters - Huge group! Hope all 7 of you do great!!! Can't wait to hear how you all did. Hugs and good luck, lot's of prayers to you all!

Pinenut - Thanks band buddy! I got on the scale this morning and there was no weight gain from last nights splurge . . . . no loss but . . . I am back on the plan and running the race to win! my plan is to reach my goal in a year. Keeping my eye on the prize and with Gods help it will happen!!

SElaine - the pre-op diet gets easier . . . . and then harder . . . . . .and then easier . . . . . . .and then harder . . . . . catch my drift? I don't know the ages of your kids but i sent my oldest to the grocery store with one of my twins and told them to buy what they wanted to eat for the next week. When they ask me whats for dinner I say,"I don't know, what did you buy?" after a couple of days, they quit asking. Youcould send them with dad if their to young to go by themselves. The down side is they spent $162.00 on mostly junk food.

Went to a dinner at The Lobster shop tonight paid for by the school as a thankyou to the auction committee members. I felt like I had to eat in front of all those people or I would be asked why I wasn't eating, so I ate about 2-3 small bites of each thing. Hope it didn't screw up anything to much. I ate like I had a band on already and I was plenty full. . . . or at least how I supposed I would eat if I had my band already. The stupid thing is at the end of the night this one person who knew I was getting the band came up to me and said (in a very loud voice) . . . Now when is your surgery for lap band? OMG! all that food for nothing!! I was really wanting to crawl in a hole but instead I had to stand there and answer a bunch of questions from people who wanted to know about the surgery. I was wishing I had kept this thing a total secret!! Why do other people think they have the right to blurt out my business? Okay, rant over. . . .back to liquids I go.

Pinenut - I'm glad you are going through with it because the 17th makes you my band mate and I need someone to walk this road with me. We wil do this together! nbjen - how's it goin two weeks out? how long before you were feelin like yourself after surgery? OMG - only six more days and I'm in bandland!!! I can't wait! we had a fun time walking today. Mer joined us and we did some walking and a lot of laughing! You guys should come and join us. Anyone close to Tacoma should come.

Mer - dress warmer! you better be there or I'm cominlookin for you!

Macysgranny - You're back!! I was soooo woried for you. You sound good now and I hope that from here on out goes great. Did your insurance cover everything? You were in the hospital a while I heard. Hows recovery going now?

hi twinmommy - I'm doing great!! 18 pounds so far and I still have six days to go till surgery. I have been faithfull about walking, though sometimes it's only one mile. Today I'm meeting with a walking group of banders here in the NW and we are doing a 2+ mile walk. Some days I think about food a lot! Yesturday we went to Red Robbin for my girls birthday lunch and I had french onion soup without the bread and cheese in it and some ice-water with lemon. I was fine and the soup tasted sooooo good after all that broth. I rewarded myself for the first week well done with one little square of Dove dark chocolate. It didn't taste as good as I remember. I have two different types of protein right now. My vanilla is called Alpine Vanilla by PRO-RATED (22g protein/scoop) and my chocolate is Cocoa-Mochaccino by CHAMPION NUTRITION (23g protein/scoop). I like to mix my vanilla with different flavors of crystal lite and add ice to make it like a shake. I love my chocolate one hot. I can't believe we are less then a week away!

slackaction - i have six weeks total of liquid diet, 2 weeks pre-op and 4 weeks post-op but I drink 90gr. of protein a day on all of them except the one week following surgery. I also take a fistful of vitamins/day. Anything else is broth, crystal lite, sf popsicles, sf jello. I break my protien into 4 20gr shakes/day so I don't get as hungry. I'm dropping weight fast also but am very excited about it! I keep telling myself as long as I am giving my body everything it needs (protein & vitamins) the rest is just for my head hunger. It's tough but what a great start. Rejoice in your loss as long as you are giving your body some nutrition.

let's meet and walk on the Grandview trail (the flat part) at 11:00am. Drive down Bridgeport to Chambers Creek Rd (just before Fred Meyers) Turn right onto Chambers Creek and drive to the first turn-a-bout, go three quarters around and drive into the park. The bathrooms are straight ahead of you. We will start there. Anyone can come!!

Patty - Hope your blood pressure gets lowered and surgery goes fine for you. If you are not sure then wait, get it down, and do it later. My mom had a massive stroke about a year and a half ago and that is partly why I decided to get this done now. My grandmother died in her sleep of a massive stroke when she was 57. I am 51 now so I better turn this train around before it is to late. One more week and I will be on the right track! Day seven of liquid pre-op is over and surgery is one week from tomorrow! I am really dealing with the head issues of eating these past few days. I have five more weeks of liquid to go before mushies. sometimes I don't know if I can make it. I know . . . . one baby step at a time . . . Good luck tomorrow all you May 9th banders. Hope the rest of this weeks banders are healing well. I am so proud of all of you!

Welcome Beckie - you will like this site alot, everyone is really great and very friendly. I didn't catch where you were from here in WA. Mer - You tell me. How did you feel the day of your surgery? did you sleep alot or were you feeling well enough for company? My husband and daughter-in-law were wondering if they should come up and I didn't know what to tell them. nbjen - feel free to answere this one too about visitors. I'm glad to hear that your rash is doing better. this liquid stuff is the hardest thing I have ever done. My stomach is really growling tonight!! I got through the first 7 days and i only have 45 more to go . . . . . help!!

Day 7 of liquid pre-op . . . . here I come!! Yesterday was challenging . . just when I thought it was getting easier. I found myself thinking it was okay to cheat a little bit. This morning the scale was up a little so i guess that tells me I can't even think about food without gaining pounds. Who knew smelling chip bags were fattening . . .

Sillywillymommy - how did you get that cool blue a-MAY-zing Bandster 2007 thing on your signiture. I like it a lot! cindyluhu and cfred - good luck tomorrow!!!! I'm on day 7 of the liquid pre-op and for some reason day 6 was soooo hard. I felt like I was dragging all day. I hope today is much better! One week from tomorrow is band day for me! It is coming fast now!! Sounds like all the banders so far are doing very well. Thanks for the encouragement guys!!

I switched mine under my name - what do you think?

Good Luck to JerseyDori, ShayDee, and Mischievous1 tomorrow. Prayers for all of you with good thoughts of skilled surgeons and quick recovery with no gas. LOL

I love it!!! The best so far!! A-May-zing!! Let's use this one. It's all inclusive, easy, and explains everything that we are going through. Perfect!

Sue did the ticker for me because my computer kept getting an error message. I bet she could help you with it. You can go to tickerfactory.com and design it yourself, just follow the leads. I had trouble getting it to my signiture. That's where Sue helped.

Give it some time and work up to it. Just walk around your neighborhood and try to go a little farther each time. It will come back when your body is ready. We walk for about 40 minutes on the flat surface. You can join us when you are up to it. This web site has been the best source of support around! Sue and I are going to try the one at St. Joseph Hospital the first and third Tuesday of the month. Join us!

Give her my best and I hope she isn't to discouraged. I can't wait to hear what happened . . . the whole story, when she is up to it. With that long in the hospital I hope she isn't a self pay! Give her a hug from me!

Mer - we are going to walk on the waterfront on Rustin Way around 11:00 give or take a half hour. Here is my cell if you want to meet us. #253-229-8981 Call and give me your number if you want to come and I will let you know the exact time. Wendy

wow! you guys are a posting machine! I am off the thread for one day and had to take 20 minutes to catch up. Good news! Things are moving (slightly) in the lower regions of my bowels. The nutritionist said take some milk of magnesia to get things moving and take colace (stool softner) for after surgery. she said you will not want any straining with your stitches. she said the anethesia can be very constipating. Who knew!! My doctor gave me a scare today when he asked if i wanted to move up my surgery one week. Ack! I decided no because it is my twins 13th birthday, mothers day, and we are supposed to be going out for a thank-you dinner on Friday. (I know . . clear soup) I already cleared my schedule for next week so I decided to stick with the 17th. They also put somebody elses ultra sound results in my folder. My doctor told me i had severe fatty liver with cirrosis. I told him I didn't even drink so I thought he was wrong. After I asked him about a million questions he finally checked the name at the top of the page and it was someone else. Whew! Welcome LisaM to the 17th. It's a great day to be banded! Good luck everyone on surgery tomorrow! Godspeed to all of you! Day five went off without a hitch. Still hangin in there with the liquid stuff. . . . . icky

punkeytres - I live off of Steilacoom Blvd on Weller Rd. Where are you?

punkytres - I walked with Sue tonight on the grandview walk in U.P. and We sometimes walk at Fort Steilacoom Park across from Western State Hospital on Steilacoom Blvd. Right now we don't have a set time. Tomorrow, we are walking along the waterfront on Ruston Way. We realized we both had morning appointments in Federal Way so we thought we would pull off on the spur and walk the waterfront. I think it will be around 11:00am or there abouts. You can call me on my cell if you would like to join us. #229-8981. Anyone is welcome if they feel like a walk!! Done with day 5 and this is getting easy. Sue and I went to soup night and met a great gal there. The three of us thought we would check out the support group on the first and third tuesday at St. Joe. Anybody ever go there? My surgeon asked me today if I wanted to move up my surgery one week to this Thursday but I feaked out and said no. I have cleared the calendar for next week so I'm stickin to the 17th.