AbbieRoad

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I've decided against lapband since I commented on here, I'm going to get the gastric sleeve instead so I've been all over the verticalsleevetalk.com website! (same as this one, but for the sleeve!) but since I saw your comment about South Jersey - I figured I'd reply! I'm living in South Jersey (Medford to be specific) it's wonderful. My doc is Dr. Wasser. He's got offices in Lumberton (which is where I go!) and Willingboro. He does all bariatric surgeries including lap band and he's great. I just got my approval on Thursday so I'm not sure when my surgery is, soon though! If you do see him, I'd suggest going to his Lumberton Location, Willingboro can get a little dicey heheh. I hear they're opening a big giant office in Mt. Laurel soon too so that's cool! They're all through Virtua which is a great hospital system! Feel free to message back if you have any questions!

Thanks all. I am so indecisive. If I could do it in September, I'd start my 2 week liquid diet tomorrow if I could! But October is such a busy month for me, and it's a fun month, with lots of activities and plans already that I don't want to miss out on. On the other hand? If I do it in early October, I'll be thinner for Thanksgiving & Christmas which is awesome. How soon after your surgeries did you go out and be "normal" with people? How did you (if you did) keep people from knowing?

Thanks for your input! I really don't want it to be obvious that I'm not drinking/eating because I can't think of a good reason as to why I wouldn't be. I really don't want them to know about the surgery ya know? Word travels fast lol, the whole world would know. I just wanna get this done already! But on the other hand, I don't wanna be under a ton of stress while trying to heal and adjust. November would be easier, but do I want to wait that long? Ahh my mind is racing! I kinda thought I wouldn't even be approved yet since I only had an 18month weight history not a full 2 years!

After a long journey of deciding between lap band, or sleeve, jumping through all Aetna's hoops, losing weight, getting pregnant, gaining weight, losing the baby - it's been an emotional journey. I've been accepted for the surgery. Now I'm half excited, half freaked out! My surgeon is scheduling for October. I have 2 major events in October that I really don't want to miss, one is a high school reunion of sorts, we do it every year, on the 28th. The other is a giant halloween festival that I am committed to, involved in running and planning on the 13th. They can schedule my surgury as early as the 9th of October. Do you think I'll be able to move, hustle, and run this festival on the 13th? I can avoid lifting things but I'll be on my feet for a good portion of the day. For the reunion - What will life be like 2.5 weeks after surgery? Will I be able to hide that I had the surgery from everyone or will it be blatantly obvious? I really don't want the world knowing about this, just my hubby & mom really. The girls at the reunion will be doing a lot of drinking, like we always do. I know I won't be able to do that! Half of me says just do it, and deal with the concequences. The other half says wait til November so I don't have to stress about all this! Input? Abbie

Wow, so I was on this whole "should I or shouldn't I" trip. Last year I sucked it up and made an appointment to be seen about the lap band. The doc gave me a laundry list of things to do, it took me nearly 9 months to complete them all (as I was dragging my feet!) and then, miraculously I got pregnant, which, was the whole reason I wanted to loose weight - so I'd be more fertile after trying with no luck for 4 years. Unfortunately 3 months into my pregnancy I had a miscarriage. Devistating as it was, it's motivation for me to push forward with a weight loss surgery. Revisiting the idea of wls, I decided the sleeve sounds like it's better for me. A new doctor for the sleeve as the old one only did lap band. He says he can use everything I did for the band prep, all he needs is my weight history and he'll submit it to my insurance company. This is all moving sooooo fast. I'm petrified! On one hand I'm ready, on the other hand, I am just plain terrified. My doc is readying my weight history so I can pick it up tomorrow & take it to the sleeve doc. I could be approved, and scheduling my surgery within the week. Completeing the 2 week liquid diet prior to the surgery - that still has all this possibly happening in a month! I'm scared! Excited, but scared.

I haven't had my surgery yet but I threw my back out last year, and a chiro taught me some back stretches to do that really help, and he got me re-adjusted. When it hurts - make sure you ice it, DO NOT USE HEAT! Heat will draw all teh blood to the area and it will feel even worse. Ice is the way to go. Remember RICE! Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation (not sure how you'd elevate your back though!)

Initially I was only going to tell my hubby, and my sister. But I've decided to tell my parents too. Basically immediate family only. I feel like it would be hurtful if/when they eventually find out - to know that I went through a major surgery and kept it from them. I don't have a surgery date yet. I have just recently decided to do the sleeve rather than the lap band, I feel like the sleeve is a harder thing to keep secret than the band since the weight will probably come off faster.

Ok that makes sense, good - I like that answer! Thanks!

I've recently begun changing my mind after being dead set on the Lap Band for the last 2 years. I'm doing some final research and the more I see band to sleeve revisions, the more I am changing my mind. If I go with the sleeve, will I have to drink Protein drinks for the rest of my life? What is a day in the life of someone who's been sleeved say, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years - what's it like for you once you've met your weight loss goal?

Hey All - I'm kinda in the same boat. Have been dead set on the band all along and now I'm close to having completed all the hoops I needed to jump through for the insurance company, I'm starting to change my mind and considering the sleeve even more. What made you change your mind? I wish I could find a doc that performed both the lap band and the sleeve - who could give me a good honest suggestion. Seems around me I'm only finding docs who do one or the other! Obviously a lap band doc will urge lap band, warn me off the sleeve. And a sleeve doc will do the opposite! Ah! What made you change your mind?

See I've been looking for a doc that does sleeve AND band, but can really only find ones that do one or the other (or combinations there of, but not the 2 that I'm looking for.) I've spoken to a band doc, I've spoken to a sleeve doc. They both suggest their relative surgeries and assure me child bearing afterwards will have no consequence as long as I wait the suggested amount of time after surgery. I wonder if I have too much to loose for the band. I am 350, my ideal weight is 180 according to my height (6' tall) 170lbs is a TON to lose. The fact that in the sleeve communities there are whole forums of people who had the band for 2 & 3 years and then went for the sleeve - that scares me. I want one surgery, and that's it!

Thanks all. From what I'm reading it seems like there are an awful lot of people I'm finding who had the band and ended up having the sleeve surgery or another gastric surgery. That scares me, I want it to be done, so I can focus on my health, and not worry about future surgeries. I like the outlook you shared Kiwi. I'm 30, I know more things will come out. I'm terrified to change my body forever. What happens if I'm 60 and there's an issue, I can always have the band removed, I can't have my stomach put back on. Then again, will the band last until I'm 60? Will it need to be replaced, will it erode, or slip in the next 30 years? I feel like I need a crystal ball to make this decision!

oh I know it's mostly banders. I'm looking for band experience with pregnancy. I went to obesityhelp.com and read - it seems like the anti LB page. It kinda scared me. I'm sure people here considered the other options of wls before choosing the band.

Last year around this time I started seriously considering lap band. Jumped through all the hoops, all that was left was a barium swallow, which I needed to be below 350 for, and get down to 343lbs. (I'm 6' tall and 350lbs now)I was scared to do it, and dragging my feet a bit.. Then I got pregnant. After almost 4 years of trying, I got pregnant naturally. We were thrilled! At about 2.5 months, just this past week, I miscarried. I am devistated, and I have no answers as to why it happened, they say 1 in 4 end that way, so I am blaming my weight. So, taking my mind off my loss and my sadness I am focusing on getting banded, and taking off weight. The good thing that came from this, is had to be put under general anestesia for a d&e after my miscarriage, and I handled the anestasia just fine. I was really nervous about that with the band. Some girls in my plus size & pregnant group I was in mentioned they had lots of issues with their bands while pregnant, and if they hadto do it again they would get the sleeve. I was always scared of the permenance of the sleeve. What do you all think? Has anyone been pregnant with the band? Does it get in the way when the baby is closer to full term? What happens if you vomit a lot during pregnancy? Could the band slip? What happens if it slips during pregnancy? Abbie

Ugh. So I've been thinking about lap band for years. Last May I decided I wanted to actually look into it and see what I needed to do. The doc gave me a whole bunch of things to do before I could qualify with him for surgery. Loose 15lbs, (I was at 360, 6' tall) which, I've lost 10, then gained it back and now I'm at 360 again. Heart clearance, sleep apnea tests, sleep studies, nutrition counceling, psych test, plus assembling lots of info. I've done everything except loosing 15lbs and the barium swallow. I can't schedule that because I need to be 330lbs to get the barium swallow. I feel like every time I make a move, there's another road block. I commit to go bike riding to get active and loose weight - I get a flat tire. I suck it up, do it again. Get another flat tire. Now I finally schedule the barium swallow and I find out I need to loose 30lbs before I can even do that. I'm starting to get super defeated here. I'm dragging my feet as it is because the idea of the surgery scares the heck out of me. It's just so frustrating though. I haven't been 330 in about 5 years. I feel like if I could diet down adn loose 30lbs, I would have done it already. I did it once, about 10 years ago. I went from like 310 to 260 but I didn't have a child, I had a lot more cash flow for healthy eating and I was way more active. It slowly crept up, then I got pregnant, then my son had some medical issues - that's when the stress eatting really kicked up into high gear. The doc wont' do the surgery if you weigh more than 350lbs. Which doesn't really make sense either, since I know other people who weighed more than that who've gotten the surgery - just from a diff doc. This is the only one in my area though, so, I'm kinda stuck! I'm not sure what I'm looking for here. Just a bit of a rant. I'm not telling anyone except my hubby about the surgery so I don't have anybody to rant to really. I'm just feeling emotional too because I turned 30 this week and this is not what I wanted to look like on my 30th birthday.

thanks- I plugged my info in (6' tall, 29 year old female) and got: 2247.1 to reach my goal weight without exercise. I guess by being banded and making my caloric intake 1200 calories I'd just loose weight faster. Which, I guess is the point lol. That and keeping to the 2247 calories When I add exercise, which, admittedly I don't do every day, it should go faster. Apparently, just existing each day I burn 3,357 calories. Any exercise I do is extra. I'm sure i'm sounding pretty dense. I know the basics, reduce calories increase exercise. I'm just trying to figure out, since the lap band tricks your mind into being full on less, does it also trick the body into needing less? Like a mental thing maybe?

Didn't realize it was a big subject! I don't know, I'm not worried I'll wither away and die...just that I won't loose weight. Something about the numbers just isn't adding up for me. I love fruits and veggies so I'm not worried about getting Vitamins and such. I'm just thinking, if I eat even 1200 calories, exercise away 500-600 calories (which at 350lbs, isn't hard in an hour of bike riding) that's leaving me at 600-700 calories. Is that typical for banders? Is it alright to do that? I'm a long way off from having that "problem" still in my 3 month supervised diet but still, just something I'm wondering about.

I'm in southern NJ - Medford, to be exact. I'm in the process (long process, thank you Aetna!) of getting the band with Dr. Goldstein. Anybody else use him?

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's done crash diets before. Restrict down to 1500 calories or less, exercise to burn off 500-600 calories, and repeat as long as I can stand it. I'd loose weight in the beginning, but it would stop. When the weight would stop coming off, i'd stop dieting. I'm a very result oriented type of girl..and we all know diets don't last forever anyway. I'd always heard that when you stop loosing weight that's because your body isn't getting enough calories and it's going into "starvation mode" or, "famine mode" (like my Irish ancestors would say) basically your body believes food is scarce, so it slows the metabolism and begins trying to save any of the fat you have stored. How is this avoided with lap band? Is there some kind of loop hole since I won't *feel* hungry? Does your body eventually figure out that you're not starving?

Ahh I'm in South Jersey, good luck to you though!

Didn't know that helped....my hubby and I have been trying for almost three years. Hadn't even brought it up to the lap band doc. We have one child already, he's five. I have aetna too and am concerned about lack of weight records, but my doc said even gym or personal records will help... Worth a shot.

My doc says only one day of liquids pre op...said liquids will make your body too weak and he wants you to be strong to be able to heal up. I asked him about liver shrinkage and he said it's barely negligable, a centimetre at most and he would rather not make you miserable and weak! Makes sense to me!