Sandy63

Hey all, I was banded on Tuesday, Dec 4th. Sorry it's taken so long to get my post on here. I've been really busy trying to get caught up on my school work. Surgery went really well. Arrived at 8:00 am for 9:30 surgery. Called me back around 8:10. Got in my gown and in the bed. IV's hooked up, waiting on the doctor to come see me before surgery. I was the 2nd one of the day. Doctor came spoke a few words asked if I had any questions..nope I was fine...hubby had questions. Just a couple minutes later the nurse was coming in to put something in my IV to relax me. Then here they come to take me to the operating room. I remember sliding onto the operating table and having them put warm blankets over my arms and chest. The anesthesiologist came in and put the mask over my face. Next thing I know, I am in recovery. She said something about my blood pressure being too high. She hooked up my cpap and put it on me. Blood pressure went down. Surgery took a little longer than expected due to a hiatial hernia repair. I was back in my post-op room at 12:30. Around 2:00 Doc came in to check on me. He brought me the cutest stuffed teddy bear! I told him I was doing fine. He said he would be back around later. Around 3:45 they took me for my x-ray. The stuff that I had to drink was terrible and it made me sick. X-ray was okay. I got back in bed and the nurse put something in my IV to help with the nausea. I dozed on and off for the next hour or so. The nurse came back in and said the doctor had looked at the x-ray and said I could have something to drink. She brought me some lemon-aid crystal light. God that was soooo good. Doc came back in to check on me to see if the liquid was staying down. Asked if there were anymore questions. I said no. He said ok then you're ready to go. I'll see you in one week for your post-op. I got dressed and we left the hospital at 5:45. On the way home, hubby stopped by his sister's restaurant to pick up dinner for him and the boys. The smell of the food made me so sick. When we pulled in Eckerd's to leave the prescription for pain, I threw up all over the sidewalk. About a half cup of crystal light. By the time we got home I was fine. After my tummy settled I had some sugar free Jello. It stayed down fine. I started having a little pain around 11:00 pm. He prescribed liquid lortab. I had to sleep on my back, but I did manage to get a few good hours in. Wednesday I was really sore. My mom came down and stayed with me. I had a sugar-free popscicle for Breakfast, 1/2 cup of chicken broth at lunch and another 1/2 cup of broth for dinner. Thursday was better. I managed to get to the kitchen and fix me a Protein shake at 6:30am. Didn't get hungry again until around 4:00, ate cottage cheese at this time. For dinner I had tomato Soup. Friday has been really good. I managed to sleep on my side last night! The pain hasn't been bad at all. I haven't taken any pain meds since Thursday morning. I've been really busy today..I took my test that was due before midnight and made a 92. One more essay to write and the quarter is finished! Today's meals consisted of cream of wheat, cottage cheese and a Protein Shake. Pain is almost gone. Just a little in my lower right side. I can't see my incisions, he has gauze over them. The gauze strips are so small. I have just a small amount of blood on three of them. My bruising is very minimal. Just a small amount around two incision sites. I am laying on my tummy across the bed writing this post! Overall, I think I am doing really well. I am very pleased with my experience so far. I was 314 just before surgery. This morning I was 308! Sorry this post is so long....I am pretty good at giving details!! Good luck to the rest of you!

Made me sick as a dog! I didn't think I would make it back to my bed. They had to give me a shot in my IV for the nausea.

I got the new model. Dr. Richard showed it to me at my pre-op visit. Surgery was yesterday. Everything went very well.

Hey all... Surgery went really well. Arrived at the hospital at 8 am. Surgery at 9:30. Left the hospital at 6:45 yesterday evening. Had a rough ride home. Hubby stopped and bought hamburgers for the boys and the smell made me so sick...had to pull over and let my crystal light come up....last night went pretty good. Had to sleep on my back. Some pain this morning but tolerable. Good luck to all those having their surgery this week.

I have been lurking and posting on this site for a few months now. I have yet to introduce myself as a newbie. My name is Sandy and I live in the beautiful north Georgia town of Dahlonega. It's about 75 miles northeast of Atlanta. My surgery date is 12/4. I will be banded by Dr. Richard with Obesity Solutions. Surgery will be at the Lanier Park campus of Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, GA. I have been on my liquid diet for two weeks now. Since August 4th, I have dropped 24 lbs.! I'm excited and nervous at the same time! Any words of wisdom from you veteran bandsters will be welcomed. I really enjoy reading the posts and have learned a lot while on this site. I especially like some of the threads in the R&R forum. You gals and guys can get a little rowdy sometimes!

I had to have both bottom teeth removed. I did not have any on the top, Lucky me! I had mime removed in my late 30's. Both of them had huge roots which had grown around the jaw bone. An oral surgeon had to remove them. I had them done about 6 months apart. Due to the roots being so large and partly grown through the bone, the doctor had no choice but cut some nerves. :omg: This has been about 7-8 years ago and I am still numb on my chin, bottom lip and inside around my bottom teeth. I have just learned to live with knowing that I will never have feeling in those areas again. Makes it really hard to drink from a glass. I can't feel the glass against my lip. Straws work really well, but I'm going to have to give those up starting on 12/4/07...my band date. Pain meds, ice packs and following doctors orders for keeping the area clean was a big help in recovery....Good luck.

Hello Everyone, I am 43, soon to be 44 on Dec. 13th. I am married with two boys ages 20 and 15. I am a supervisor at Mohawk Industries in Dahlonega, GA. I am also a part-time college student. I am working on the LAST quarter I have to take to get my associates degree in supervisory management. I raise shihtzu's as a hobby and have 5 of these sweet little babies! We also have a pitbull (who is the biggest baby you would ever meet) and 1 cat. My surgery date is Tuesday, December 4th. I'll be banded by Dr. Richard at the Lanier Park campus of Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, GA. Good luck to everyone!!

Hi WASa, I have 5 of these little adorable creatures. Each has their own personality. Mr. Miagi was my first one...he passed over the rainbow bridge on Sept. 7th, 2007. I now have: Jasmine, Brandy, Todd, Jellybean and my newest baby..PJ. I raise them as a hobby and pass the love on to others.

I am December 4th.

Surgery date approved!!! December 4th at the Lanier Park Campus of Northeast Georgia Medical Center.:whoo:

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at my mom's today. We do Thanksgiving Day with my husband's family. Today was my last day of food...I start my liquid diet tomorrow. Surgery is December 4th. I have been dieting since starting my lapband journey and I have dropped 19 lbs so far. I enjoyed dinner today but I did overeat and now I feel miserable!

My official date is December 4th....add me to your list of Merry Losers!

Hey Georgia Girl..<p>I bought this same scale! I have programmed my two boys, my hubby and myself in it.</p>

Insurance has paid everything related to my lapband journey at 100%. Dr. Richard's office called me on 11/06 to tell me that insurance has confirmed 100% on the surgery. I had foot surgery earlier this year and met my deductible of $300 and my out of pocket of $2500. I work for Mohawk Industries which is self-insured. Pre-op on 11/28 Surgery on 12/4

Hi Everyone, I finally got my pre-op and surgery date! Pre-op is Nov. 28th and surgery is on Dec. 4th. I will be banded by Dr. Richard at Lanier Park Hospital in Gainesville, GA. I am so excited!! I have been reading the posts on this site and would like to say that the amount of support that you have for each other is amazing. I have tried to get as much information as possible on what I will be going through. I do realize that I can't base my experience on anyone else's because we all are unique individuals. It just helps me to know what some of you have experienced so that I won't totally freak out if it were to happen to me! Any advice you have for a new bandster will be greatly welcomed!! :whoo:

I was born and raised in the beautiful North Georgia town of Dahlonega, pronounced Da-lon-a-ga. It's about 75 miles NE of Atlanta, GA. Nice to meet ya'll.

Anyalee, Congratulations on your surgery date, that's my birthday! I also am on the CPAP. My doctor prescribed ambien to help me adjust to sleeping with the mask. Ten minutes after taking the ambien I don't even know I have the mask on my face! GOOD stuff! Maybe your doctor can give you a prescription just to help you adjust to the CPAP.

My name is Sandra, everyone calls me Sandy. I was born in '63, so there, Sandy63. I live in Georgia and am a Georgia Bulldog fan! Not yet banded but have been through much of the process...psychologist, sleep studies, upper GI...waiting on meeting with the dietician. I've lost 15 lbs. so far on my own....I'm on my way!!!:clap2:

I went back and took the evaluation over. The results were the same, just like I told the psychologist they would be. He told me that he didn't think I would be successful in my weightloss, and that he thought it would be harder on me than I was expecting it to be. What an educated jerk! All I can do is prove him wrong!!

My journey all started with my cousin wanting to go to an information class. She was considering the Lapband surgery. I was only along for support. I had a cousin who had gastric bypass surgery several years back and she did not do well at all. For this reason, my husband was dead set against me having any kind of weightloss surgery, even though my body seemed to stay in constant pain. Joint pain, lower back pain, foot pain, hip pain, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. When my primary care physican mentioned weightloss surgery to my huband he went bezerk! After going to the information class, I found myself looking up all this information about the band. It took a lot of talking about it with my husband but I finally convinced him. My oldest son jokes with me about having a "zip tie" put around my stomach. My youngest son has been really supportive. All my extended family and in-laws know about my decision, as does my boss and my work family. They are all very supportive of my decision. I know I will have a lot of support if I feel that I am failing with my weight loss. I have already had an EGD earlier this year because of a hiatial hernia. I have had the sleep study and the psychological evaluation. The psychologist recommened that I have a physical therapist supervised exercise program before surgery. Simply because larger people are at risk for injury when starting an exercise program. All I am waiting on now is the dietician. My surgeon said I should have my surgery by mid November or early December. Good thing...all deductibles and co-pays have been met for the year because of foot surgery...insurance is paying 100%!:biggrin1:

I was scheduled to have mine on 10/04, due to a cancellation I was bumped up to 10/01. Wasn't too bad, just lots of wires. Didn't care much for the blue goo that they put on your scalp to attach the leads! Washed out pretty easy with a washcloth and hot water. The technician said I did really well, he didn't notice anything really serious. In at 9:00pm out at 6:20am.

On that previous post about the Epson salt...that should have been Epsom salt...sorry, the fingers want to type the wrong keys late at night!!

A mom to 2 boys ages 20 and 15, a part-time student, 1 quarter away from having my associates degree in supervisory management, a housewife and a full time supervisor over the cabling/heatset departments on 2nd shift, 4pm-12am, at Mohawk Industries, Pine Tree Plant in Dahlonega, GA. For those of you that don't know...Mohawk is one of the leaders in the flooring industry. I also breed Shih-tzu's as a hobby.

Try an Epson salt soak. Run bath water as hot as you can stand it. Add Epson salt, get in the tub and take a nice long soak. Works wonders for getting the soreness out. Good luck!:confused:

I went on 9/24 to take mine. I spent 3 hours answering mostly true/false questions. I also had to take an I.Q. test. On 9/25, I had to make the drive back to the doctor's office the next morning to get the results. He told me that I passed the I.Q. in the 85 percentile. However, I didn't pass the psychological part. He said some people will come in and take the evaluation and make their life sound so depressing and bad. Then there are others who come in and unconciouslly answer in ways that make them sound fine and seem like there is nothing wrong with them. I fell into this group of people. He told me, and this is the very words he used, "according to the results of your evaluation, your scores are invalid, simply because you seem too good to be true." I could have fallen out of my chair. I just looked at him in disbelief. He said I would have to come back on 10/1 and take the evaluation over. I told him that if I come back and take the test over he will get the same results if I answer the questions honestly like I did the first time. He told me I would not get the same results. The questions were to be answered with how you have felt in the past two weeks including the day of the evaluation. I was asked if I had thought about suicide, if I was happy, if my relationship with my spouse was good, if I lost my temper easily, if I was hotheaded, if I kept my anger inside, if I had ever been abused, if I loved my father/mother etc. I answered everything honestly and still failed! The impression that I got from the psychologist was that he wanted to hear me say how depressed I was and how I thought I had no reason to live because of my weight. I am happy with who I am as a person, I have a healty relationship with my husband, I love my parents dearly. I do lose my temper, but I 'm not a hothead. I can control my anger. I don't tend to overeat, it's just that I was raised in a family where you cleaned your plate before leaving the table. I have also inherited the "love to eat and socialize while doing so gene." We have get togethers at my parents house every other Sunday. I have gained over 45 pounds just because of some stupid steriod shots in my shoulder. I also have joint pain and sciatica and am recovering from foot surgery, so I haven't been very mobile over the past few months. I know I packed on around 20 pounds due to that. Why do people automatically assume that because you are heavy that you would take your life? I love my life, I just want some of this weight off so I can be healthy and do more things with my family. I am the mother to a 20 and a 15 year old. I would like to live long enough to see my kids married and raising families of their own.