Lap-bandit

Here is the link - just click on it and it should take you to the thread http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/post-op-checklists-things-have-before-surgery-14814/ If it doesn't, let me know.

I booked my flight into SAN (San Diego International), so I hope that is the right one. I was told that Laura Martin is the one that will be picking me up....but I am not sure if that is different if you are going to the hospital. Also, I would check with Laura or Dr. Valenzuela before booking to see what time range you should be arriving and departing. I was told I had to be there before noon on the day before my surgery and I was to schedule my flight out, I think they said after 10:30. I would check with them to see what your requirements will be, since you will be going to the hospital instead of the clinic.

Hi NM sunshine- Congrats!!!! I am also getting nervous. It is not far off at all. I am not sure what is more nerve racking for me....the procedure or the flight. I am not certain if I will see you if you have it done in the hospital, but good luck and take care.

Hi NM Sunshine- Were you given a choice about where you wanted to have it done? I was not and did not think to ask, because I just figured that they were all done in the same place. Anyway, let me know what you find out and when you are set up. GOOD LUCK!!

NM Sunshine and Annie 5 - I am having my surgery on the 14th of September. Let us know when your date is set up....maybe we will run into one another!!!

Hey There- I am anxiously waiting for you two to check in.....I can't wait to hear how everything went and what your experience was like and if there was anything that was unpleasant....I want to know everything, even if it is something that may not be so good....can't imagine it, but you never know. I just hope that things are going well and you are adjusting to band life. I wasn't sure how long you were staying in TJ before heading out. I personally will only be staying for 4 days from start to finish. Take care and hope to hear from you soon!!!

All those reason you listed are my reasons too. I eat way too fast and I know with the band that I will have to control that or I will be constantly sick. It really isn't that I make super bad food decisions I just overeat and overeating even good things can make you fat! Good luck to you also.

Hi Kathy- Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I was only able to come up with a portion of the money for the procedure and not nearly enough. So, I looked into Mexico and they had much lower prices (I know, it is not always about the price) and there was very good reviews on all the doctors. I am scheduled for banding on the 14th of September with Dr. Francisco Gonzalez in Tijuana. I hope all goes well with you and your band. I am in PA. I would be interested in hearing from you regarding how it goes for you since you have a lower BMI also. I am especially interested in knowing what the weight loss rate is. I am assuming with a lower BMI the weight may not come off as quickly as it would for someone with a higher BMI. If you wouldn't mind, could e-mail me at brown-eyed-sheila@peoplepc.com with your experience thus far I would really appreciate it.

Oh....I am not banded yet. My surgery date is September 14th of this year. I hope that I will never have to use the word "diet" again. I know that this is not a walk in the park, but either is the torture of dieting. Hopefully a year from now, I can say "my band was a success". I guess it can only be a success if you but forth the effort to change your lifestyle and habits.

I am not sure if anybody responded to you privately or not but here is the link for some questions to ask. I found it while browsing the site. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/some-questions-ask-about-lapband-20272/ Hope that helps!

Okay Annie - I think I have the link below. See if it works for you. If not, go to Lap-band FAQ and References on the main page. It is pretty good list....some of the things I would have never thought of....Thongs???? Anyway, you will know what I am talking about when you go there and read the discussion. Oh and by the way, watch out if you are going through one of those finance companies that some of the doctors sites recommend to get your money....I amost got screwed. If you want to know more PM me. Good Luck http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/post-op-checklists-things-have-before-surgery-14814/

I am a low BMI too and also a self-pay. I have about 65-70 pounds to lose and I figured that instead of yo-yoing from now until I am dead, I would like to keep from getting to a point where I am marked as "morbidly obese". I think it is a wise decision. Why wait until my health starts to fail. I have not been successful thus far with dieting.

Beckie- My friend went through gastric bypass, she is five years out and has a whole host of problems that have developed within the past two years. She almost died at one point due to an ulcer. Not only that, because she was so malnourished from not getting all the Vitamin and minerals and vital nutrients that she needed, she had a very rough recovery. She is now looking at having her period stopped due to extreme Iron deficiency anemia. She looks like a walking stick because she is having a difficult time gaining the weight back that she lost from being so sick. She is about 5'9" and weighs about 125 lbs and she does NOT look good and she knows this. Anyway, after seeing what she has gone through, I would never have gastric bypass. It is a very extreme surgery. If you are still unsure, I would really dig in and read as much about it as possible. I think reading about other people's personal experiences is the best way to find out information. Not that everybody is going to be the same, but it will give you an idea of what you are getting into. Good luck with your decision.

Hi Cindyn- Although, I am not being banded until the 14th of September by Dr. Gonzalez in Tijuana, my thoughts went to September 11th and the fact that I would be flying around that date. I have only flown once as it is, so for me that is a scary deal. I had started September 11th of last year on Jenny Craig and it was a very easy date to remember as to when I started my diet, for the obvious reason. Nobody in the united states will ever forget what they were doing and where they were at when they heard the news of the attacks. Good luck with your surgery. I hope all goes well.

I made the decision to have lap-banding done. I had looked into this over the years, but I did not qualify for the procedure due to the insurance companies guidelines. This is kind of like discrimination in a sense. Basically, I was not "fat enough" to be considered. My BMI is 35. Yes, that is on the low end, but if I continue at the rate I am going, I will be morbidly obese in a couple years. So, after losing 30 pounds on Jenny Craig and then gaining about 18 of that back, I decided to start looking for new ways to get the weight off. That is when I came across the lap-band again. Now, I knew from previous inquires that I did not qualify for this and I was almost ready to do a new search when something caught my eye about affordable lap-banding. Well, I looked and it was an ad for belitewieght.com and it was offering lap-banding for $11,800 in Detroit. Well, I had heard that lap-banding was expensive and I didn't think that $11,800 was all that bad, so I was curious and I filled out the information form and received an e-mail back almost immediately. It went over the details of the procedure and what was included and as I read on I kept thinking.....but how high does your BMI have to be???? Because when I had initially looked at the site, the qualifications for the surgery were not discussed, at least about the BMI. That was another reason I decided to get some info. Then, towards the end it said BMI's of 30 and above qualify. That made me speechless (not for long though). I have been looking at this procedure on and off since it was approved and I have never seen anybody offering it to individuals with lower BMI's. I was even shocked that BMI's of 30 were being considered. So, this really got me excited about the prospect and so I started reading the forums and getting as much information as possible and I also started on my financing. Now that was difficult in itself. $11,800 is a lot of money to borrow unsecured. When I got word back about financing, they said (citera) could finance me for $3600. That is a far cry from the $11,800 that I needed. Coming up with the additional money seemed hopeless. The lady from beliteweight.com suggested Mexico, but at that point, I was not even remotely interested in Mexico. In my mind, Mexico was not even an option for me....but that changed. While I was looking on the forum, I decided to check out the doctor and hosptial section that had discussions on different doctors, their experiences and opinions. The more I read, the more I realized that there was a LOT of people who had went to Mexico and there dis not seem to be any regrets or problems. So, now the prospect of surgery in Mexico was starting to sound good. Although, beliteweight.com is who I started out with, that is not who I went with. After searching high and low, I decided on a doctor I was going to contact. His name was Dr. Franscico Gonzalez and he was in Tijuana. That is actually where a majority of the doctors are. So, after reading all I could about him and not finding any bad comments, I called the office. I was shocked to actually get to talk to a doctor. I assumed that, like in the US, that a nurse or office assistant would answer my questions, but this was not the case. Dr. Valenzuela, the clinical manager, took my call and he spent over 30 minutes on the phone with me. He answered my questions and also ask me questions about my weight and how long I have been overweight. He told me that I qualified for the procedure. I discussed the fills that needed to be done. This was a concern of mine. Hopping on a plane to fly cross country for fills was not realistic nor cost wise. It would cost me more to fly to Mexico than it would to go to a fill doctor and pay to have it done close to home. So, with that in mind, Dr. Valenzuela started searching for a fill doctor for me to go to. He did not tell me "you must find a doctor" he said "I will find you a doctor" and he was true to his word - he did. The coolest thing about the whole thing was that the procedure was $4550 less than in the US. It still was cheaper when you included 2 plane tickets. So, I had the $3600 and I had to come up with the rest. So, I decided to use credit cards to pay for the rest. I was glad that this was an option. Things changed drastically when I got my paper work from Citerra regarding my loan. First off, I noticed that it said $5000 in the section that said "amount financed". Thinking this was a mistake, I called citerra and I was informed that it wasn't a mistake that I was financing $5000. I said "no, you said $3600" Well, at that point, I was missing one very important paper and that was the one that broke down the loan into where the money went. Well, $1400 was going to the bank and citerra, which infuriated me. The women kept telling me that my credit was bad and that this was the only bank that would deal with me. Well, I knew for a fact that my credit was not as bad as she was letting on. I had high debt to income ration, but I took care of this by closing accounts that had zero balances and also paying off as much credit card debt as possible. Needless to say, I was not payin $1400 in fees if I could help it and so I decided to call Citifinancial and I was approved in 60 seconds (no lie) for $5000. I ask if there was any fees and she said "no". So, I told her what Citerra had tried to charge me and she couldn't believe they would do that. She told me that my credit was not bad and my score was close to 700. So, I hope that if other people read this that they watch out using Citerra. I am not saying that they do this all the time, but they tried doing it to me. Needless to say, I was able to get the money elsewhere. So, now I am set. I am scheduled for September 14th. This is my day, I am not scared right now, but I am sure I will get nervous as the time comes closer. 28 days and counting!! BTW, I would like to know if anybody else had problems with Citerra.

I made the decision to have lap-banding done. I had looked into this over the years, but I did not qualify for the procedure due to the insurance companies guidelines. This is kind of like discrimination in a sense. Basically, I was not "fat enough" to be considered. My BMI is 35. Yes, that is on the low end, but if I continue at the rate I am going, I will be morbidly obese in a couple years. So, after losing 30 pounds on Jenny Craig and then gaining about 18 of that back, I decided to start looking for new ways to get the weight off. That is when I came across the lap-band again. Now, I knew from previous inquires that I did not qualify for this and I was almost ready to do a new search when something caught my eye about affordable lap-banding. Well, I looked and it was an ad for belitewieght.com and it was offering lap-banding for $11,800 in Detroit. Well, I had heard that lap-banding was expensive and I didn't think that $11,800 was all that bad, so I was curious and I filled out the information form and received an e-mail back almost immediately. It went over the details of the procedure and what was included and as I read on I kept thinking.....but how high does your BMI have to be???? Because when I had initially looked at the site, the qualifications for the surgery were not discussed, at least about the BMI. That was another reason I decided to get some info. Then, towards the end it said BMI's of 30 and above qualify. That made me speechless (not for long though). I have been looking at this procedure on and off since it was approved and I have never seen anybody offering it to individuals with lower BMI's. I was even shocked that BMI's of 30 were being considered. So, this really got me excited about the prospect and so I started reading the forums and getting as much information as possible and I also started on my financing. Now that was difficult in itself. $11,800 is a lot of money to borrow unsecured. When I got word back about financing, they said (citera) could finance me for $3600. That is a far cry from the $11,800 that I needed. Coming up with the additional money seemed hopeless. The lady from beliteweight.com suggested Mexico, but at that point, I was not even remotely interested in Mexico. In my mind, Mexico was not even an option for me....but that changed. While I was looking on the forum, I decided to check out the doctor and hosptial section that had discussions on different doctors, their experiences and opinions. The more I read, the more I realized that there was a LOT of people who had went to Mexico and there dis not seem to be any regrets or problems. So, now the prospect of surgery in Mexico was starting to sound good. Although, beliteweight.com is who I started out with, that is not who I went with. After searching high and low, I decided on a doctor I was going to contact. His name was Dr. Franscico Gonzalez and he was in Tijuana. That is actually where a majority of the doctors are. So, after reading all I could about him and not finding any bad comments, I called the office. I was shocked to actually get to talk to a doctor. I assumed that, like in the US, that a nurse or office assistant would answer my questions, but this was not the case. Dr. Valenzuela, the clinical manager, took my call and he spent over 30 minutes on the phone with me. He answered my questions and also ask me questions about my weight and how long I have been overweight. He told me that I qualified for the procedure. I discussed the fills that needed to be done. This was a concern of mine. Hopping on a plane to fly cross country for fills was not realistic nor cost wise. It would cost me more to fly to Mexico than it would to go to a fill doctor and pay to have it done close to home. So, with that in mind, Dr. Valenzuela started searching for a fill doctor for me to go to. He did not tell me "you must find a doctor" he said "I will find you a doctor" and he was true to his word - he did. The coolest thing about the whole thing was that the procedure was $4550 less than in the US. It still was cheaper when you included 2 plane tickets. So, I had the $3600 and I had to come up with the rest. So, I decided to use credit cards to pay for the rest. I was glad that this was an option. Things changed drastically when I got my paper work from Citerra regarding my loan. First off, I noticed that it said $5000 in the section that said "amount financed". Thinking this was a mistake, I called citerra and I was informed that it wasn't a mistake that I was financing $5000. I said "no, you said $3600" Well, at that point, I was missing one very important paper and that was the one that broke down the loan into where the money went. Well, $1400 was going to the bank and citerra, which infuriated me. The women kept telling me that my credit was bad and that this was the only bank that would deal with me. Well, I knew for a fact that my credit was not as bad as she was letting on. I had high debt to income ration, but I took care of this by closing accounts that had zero balances and also paying off as much credit card debt as possible. Needless to say, I was not payin $1400 in fees if I could help it and so I decided to call Citifinancial and I was approved in 60 seconds (no lie) for $5000. I ask if there was any fees and she said "no". So, I told her what Citerra had tried to charge me and she couldn't believe they would do that. She told me that my credit was not bad and my score was close to 700. So, I hope that if other people read this that they watch out using Citerra. I am not saying that they do this all the time, but they tried doing it to me. Needless to say, I was able to get the money elsewhere. So, now I am set. I am scheduled for September 14th. This is my day, I am not scared right now, but I am sure I will get nervous as the time comes closer. 28 days and counting!! BTW, I would like to know if anybody else had problems with Citerra.

Annie- I found the list - I did a search for it and found it right away. I am going to today to pick up a few things so I don't have to rush around right before I leave to get the stuff. I want to find a loose fitting dress to wear home. I have a long flight, so I don't want anything cutting into my waist. Thank you!

B A Loser- Good luck and remember to post and let us know EVERYTHING!....I will be on the plane one month from today...YIPEEE!!! I hope all goes well and you have a speedy recovery. I too would like to know what to take along to Mexico. I am trying to find something to wear home that will not be restrictive.

Hi Sleepbudman, $7250. That does not include your airfare (if needed) or the hotel. He does have a website at Lap Band Surgery, more than 2,500 successful procedures.. Hope that helps

Has any of you guys heard of extrapounds.com? It is a really cool site that you can sign up for and track your weigt loss progress and you can blog. You can keep in touch with friends that are on the same site and discuss your challenges and progress. I think we should start our own pages and chat back and forth. I guess it is kind of like my space, but it is for people who are trying to lose weight. I thought this would be a nice way to track your progress and also chat with other banders. Is anybody interested? I am going to set up a page. Its free and you can't beat that. So, if you guys are interested, go to extrapounds.com and sign up and create your webpage and we can start blogging with one another about up coming surgery and life with the band. I hope someone will join me....PLEEEEESE :biggrin1:

Chubbyone - I also have a lower BMI, I weigh around 205 and I am 5'5". I have not told very many people that I am doing this because of the judgment that comes with it. I have lost and gained more times than I can count and I am just tired of the roller coaster ride. I had checked on this surgery previously and it seemed like no doctor would do the surgery if you had a lower BMI, so when I saw that more and more doctors were starting to do it.....I made my mind up that it didn't matter how far I had to travel, I was having this done. I do not like going out in public, I don't like socializing and that is not me....I was so outgoing before I had my kids and I was the life of the party, but after gaining a significant amount of weight, I became more and more depressed and for the past 12 years my children have had to suffer because I am fat! Well, no more, I am doing this not only for myself, but for them as well. I want to be a better person, I want to be a better mother and I don't want my kids to be embarrassed when we go out in public. I want them to be proud to say "that's my mom" It is awful to think that I have spent the past 12 years dieting and never accomplishing anything. I know that that it is important to have support, but your friends need to support you in your decision. It is a decision that only YOU can make. Maybe they should walk in your shoes and they would have a different tune. Being overweight is not fun, especially if you had been thinner at one time. I actually think it is harder to deal with being overweight when you go from being a normal size to being obese. This website if full of people that have the same problem and we are all here for one another and even though your friends may not be on board with you, just know that we are here for you. So anytime you need to talk, just get online. You can e-mail me anytime. I would love to have somebody to walk down this road with. It is going to be the beginning of a new life and a new outlook. Take care.

Hi All- My surgery is scheduled for September 14th :whoo:Can't wait! Good luck to all :clap2:

Thank you B A Loser! I am very excited and I can't wait to have this done. As far as fills go, I probably won't be going back to Mexico.....I live on the east coast, so unless they are having flights for a super low price, it wouldn't benefit me to go all the way back down there. Good luck next week and please keep us posted on your progress.

I have finally got my date! :whoo: September 14th is when I am scheduled to be banded. Is there anybody else going to Dr. Gonzalez on that day? I finally got all my ducks in a row. I am hoping that this will be the beginning of new life for me. Thanks to all who have given advice and their opinions regarding Dr. Gonzalez. It has taken the frustration out of trying to find the "right one" and Dr. Valenzuela tipped the scales for me with his patience and kindness. Dr. Gonzalez should be happy to have him on his team. I would love to hear from others who might be going down around this time. I have to be there on the 13th and then I will have the surgery on the 14th. Good luck to all.

Hi Chelsea, Dr. Valenzuela sent me an e-mail on Saturday...WOW....I was surprised. he must never sleep. He told me that he found another doctor that he wants to check with to do my fills and he would let me know on Monday. I just cannot get over how good he is with keeping me posted and up-to-date on what is going on. I have heard good things about their postop care and follow-up as well. Good luck with your preop diet. Just remember....it will be well worth it.