Allieg8tor

Tomorrow is the day. Nerves have eaten me up today, but tomorrow, after surgery, I'll be glad I did it.

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 for me. I have to be there by 6:30. I'm nervous..

I'm getting kind of nervous. Anybody have any words of advice for shaking the nerves? What happened during prep for you guys? Tomorrow morning kind of seems like an approaching rain cloud for now, and I'm really nervous. Other than that, I'm excited about everything after tomorrow.

I have a collection of my favorite kid shows, movies, and musicals to go through while I'm not feeling well. if I can just reach that anesthetic part, I'll be fine. That's how it was when I had my tonsils out when I was 18.

Hi everyone! I'm Allie, and I'll be banded on Oct. 2nd by Dr. Hekier. I'm a little bit nervous right now, but just pre-surgery nerves! On July 2nd I started preparing myself for LAP-Band surgery, limiting my food intake and exercising and all that good stuff, and it really helped me transition into the liquid, pre-op diet! I've already lost 36 pounds over the summer, and I can't wait to see how the band helps me keep up the weight loss! I just hope I can maintain everything for TC and TAMUT while going through this process, but I've gotten a lot of school work out of the way ahead of time in anticipation.

I'm Oct. 2nd too. My diet consists of 4 protein shakes a day, 2-3 sugar free popsicles a day, and all the sugar free jello and water I want. It's been 11 days, and I think it's gotten a lot easier. I'm starting to get a little nervous about surgery though. xP

Thanks! I'm using a shake called "Total Lean" that you can buy at GNC. I use the ready to drink shakes, they come 4 to a pack, they're loaded with all kinds of good for you stuff, there's very, VERY few carbs, and there's only 170 calories per shake! They also taste great! They're a bit pricey, but GNC gives you every opportunity to save money. Base price is $10.99 for a pack of four. They come in Strawberries and Creme, vanilla Bean, and Swiss chocolate. As a general rule, one has 25g. Protein and 6g. Carbohydrate. They have something like 24 Vitamins and minerals too, but will only give you 40% your daily dose of Potassium, which has been weighing on me (haha, pun intended xP) a bit, and I have had a few, bad leg cramps. Don't worry though, it's only for a short amount of time, and the positives of these shakes definitely outweigh the negatives. My diet consists of 4, Total Lean Protein Shakes a day (100g. Protein, 24g. Carbohydrate, and 680 Cal.), all the sugar free Jello I want in a day (which isn't much), and 2-3 sugar free popsicles a day (usually I have 1-2, just for that bit of crunch), and all the Water I want. I'm also taking some Vitamin C supplements to keep my immune system healthy before surgery, I take 4 a day. 2 chewable, "Flintstones" vitamins a day, which are much tastier now than they were in the 90's, lol! xP I don't really ever feel hungry anymore, but days 1-4 or 5 are pretty tough, and I felt hungry often then.

Yay!!! I'm so happy for you!! I'm glad we will be going through all this together as friends! Before I had to do the pre-op diet, I really focused on limiting my portions before hand, I started that after my very first appointment on July 2nd. I kind of weened myself into smaller portions, and I think it made everything for me pre-Op diet that much easier! I'm at day 11 of 14 right now and I haven't been tempted too much, haven't worried about cheating at all, and am just enjoying watching the pounds fall off! I felt empowered when I realized that I got myself out of the 300's without the band. My scale currently reads 298, and on July 2nd, I was 336. More importantly though, babying myself out of such large portions was the best thing I think I could do for myself to prepare for my liquid, pre-op diet. Best wishes, and good luck my friend!! <3 I'm so happy we get to enter this journey together and help each other!! <3

Xylitol is the best option for me. It tastes the most like sugar but is healthier than most, like stevia. However, in large doses, it can cause diarrhea, though I've never had that experience, I don't use that much.

We're both having surgery on the 2nd! I hope the pre-op diet is getting easier every day for you like it is for me!

I did that all summer long, lost 33 lbs. on my own! It definitely helped me prepare for my Pre-Op diet, and I'm sure it will help on the post-op diet too, I guess I'll find out on the 2nd! I also focused on lowering my portions significantly.

Dr. Hekier, but I met with Dr. Keilen for my pre-op appt. today! She's so bouncy and fun! I really like her! <3 Dr. Hekier is really nice too, I like them both! I'm officially scheduled for 7am, Oct. 2nd. I'm getting a little bit nervous, but I think it will be okay. Was the post-op diet near as hard as the pre-op diet?

Ooh! I am right now! I'm living with some friends this semester! I'm over by the country club. It's pretty awesome to find someone else going through this whose so close by!

I can imagine missing home, but has living in the UK been a fun adventure??

I'm in Texarkana, TX. I'm going to be banded on Oct. 2.

Day 4 of the pre-Op diet was much easier than the earlier days! I'm hoping day 5 follows in it's path.

At the moment, I'm pretty happy that I followed my doctor guided diet really well. I miss food, but I'm kind of use to the food restrictions already, which is amazing! I'm not struggling near as much as I thought I would, and now, by day three, I really enjoy the protein shakes. The only hard thing is smelling the food all my family is eating, that kinda gets me down a bit, you know? Today I found out that I can have sugar free jello and sugar free popsicles though, so that will be amazing! I'm so excited!! I've finally transitioned into making his a positive experience as much as possible, and finding this website has proved very helpful, I just hope I can find some talkative friends, you know? Well, not everything is about the LAP-Band for me, I can't just focus on that, I need to focus on more social aspects of this journey, like the opportunity to network and meet people who are more than just mentors, but also friends. That's what I'm looking for most in this experience, especially with this website! I'm going to use this as a chance to enjoy my LAP-Band by finding people who I never would've found without it. That way the darker parts don't see so dark, you know? Currently, I'm listening to some uplifiting Beatles' music, because everyone loves and relates to the Beatles! I'm also counting down the days until the first "Gleetlemania" episode! My dad made me a Beatles' fan at a very young age, and I've carried that throughout my life and I just love watching the Beatles be reinvented by other artists and being interpreted in new ways! I might watch "Across the Universe" in preparation too! <3 I'm reflecting on the Beatles piece I did for my dad a couple of years ago. He's been my biggest support throughout the LAP-Band process and I'm really glad that we share things like music and entertainment together. This took me 18 months, but it was totally worth it. It's a mixed media piece.

I'm October 2nd! I have no skinny memories either, and I'm super curious about what I'll look like too. Yay October bandsters! =D

A lot of you had to go through so much and I guess that's normal? My insurance required 3 months of a doctor guided diet and that was it. In fact, I only followed it for 2 months, adapting myself to the Atkins diet an taking Adipex, and then went in for my third appointment, and was told to turn in my paperwork. Insurance approved me only a few days later. On Tuesday I sign consent forms but I'm already scheduled for surgery on Oct. 2nd. I never had a sleep study or psychological exam or any of that stuff. I met with my doctor once, went through the doctor guided diet program, and will meet with my doctor again before surgery. I'm already on my 3rd day Pre-Op diet, which is 4 Protein shakes a day. Did anybody else have a simpler Pre-Op process or am I just extremely lucky? I'm sorry all of you had to go through so much, but I'm really happy so many of you are so far into your journeys and I'm getting a lot of inspiration from you guys! You've made it through so much that I can make it through this too, you know?

Thank you so much Mrs. Jamilyne! That sounds like a family to be proud of! I'm glad you are so happy and all your animals sound adorable! This site has already helped me a bunch and I'm really, really grateful for that! I'm really happy to hear about your progress and I'm glad the band is working for you so far! I can tell that this place will be able to help us both go through this process successfully, happily, and healthily! <3

There is a lot of follow up care. I'm not sure if they're going to require a sleep study or not, but I'm positive I do not have sleep apnea. I sleep in the same room with my friend Michelle, and sometimes she's awake while I sleep and she's never noticed me having trouble breathing or anything like that. I do have a bit of insomnia sometimes though, but I think that's because I have minor anxiety sometimes.