I am in Jax Fla and have gone through a little set back - I was over 240 last Sep 17th and I am at 187 - should be to my goal of 150 already but I got steph infection in my port and it was removed so I just got it back in and hopefully I will be back on the weight loss roll like I was before - I work in a hospital every day - we do so many of the lap bands and I never see problems - go for it and love the feeling of seeing the scale go down. I am praying for your fears. Good luck and do it for yourself and no one else. linda (mimiinjax)