Emily'sDad

I found others accounts of their surgery experiance to be very helpful, so I am going to do my best to recount the events of my surgery and the past few days. The morning of surgery 27 March I got up at 4am and had a friend pick me up to take me to the hospital. My wife had to stay home, we didn't want to wake out infant daughter up that early. I arrived at the hospital at 5am and checked in and was immediately taken to my room, where I was given a hospital gown to change in to. Since it was so early I hopped in to bed and proceeded to fall asleep for about 45 min until a couple nurses came in to get me prepped. After several questions, (why are you here? what is your name? ect..). Now the two nurses started my IV which for the first time in my life was difficult because my fat hands hide the veins, now I have a nice IV bruise on both hands. I also recieved a shot of something to "calm me down." I figure I was already fairly calm, I did fall asleep. Next I'm off to some sort of surgery holding area. Here I have several differant nurses, specialists, chaplain all come over and ask me the same questions. Ths holding area was interesting, full of pre surgery patients all for various reasons. I was in here for about a half hour, then it was time to go in to the surgery room. I roll in to the surgery room and am asked to scoot over to a differant bed. Then someone hooked up my IV. I was sort of hoping that I would be told when I was being put under. I thought it would be fun to see how long I could hold out. Unfortunately the last thing I remember is someone attaching my IV then wammo I'm in a recovery room and my wife is holding my hand. After surgery and recovery I was wheeled to my room. Now my recovery for the most part wasn't that bad. I didn't seem to be in much pain, only the port site hurt. The nurses had me up and walking around with in a few hours. I was terribly thirsty I think I must have had ten of those little ice chip cups. Ok I'm sorry I'm going to have to continue my tale a little later....I'm having so much gas pain I'm about to blow up...I'll tell you all about it next time.

I found others accounts of their surgery experiance to be very helpful, so I am going to do my best to recount the events of my surgery and the past few days. The morning of surgery 27 March I got up at 4am and had a friend pick me up to take me to the hospital. My wife had to stay home, we didn't want to wake out infant daughter up that early. I arrived at the hospital at 5am and checked in and was immediately taken to my room, where I was given a hospital gown to change in to. Since it was so early I hopped in to bed and proceeded to fall asleep for about 45 min until a couple nurses came in to get me prepped. After several questions, (why are you here? what is your name? ect..)

I found others accounts of their surgery experiance to be very helpful, so I am going to do my best to recount the events of my surgery and the past few days. The morning of surgery 27 March I got up at 4am and had a friend pick me up to take me to the hospital. My wife had to stay home, we didn't want to wake out infant daughter up that early. I arrived at the hospital at 5am and checked in and was immediately taken to my room, where I was given a hospital gown to change in to. Since it was so early I hopped in to bed and proceeded to fall asleep for about 45 min until a couple nurses came in to get me prepped. After several questions, (why are you here? what is your name? ect..). Now the two nurses started my IV which for the first time in my life was difficult because my fat hands hide the veins, now I have a nice IV bruise on both hands. I also recieved a shot of something to "calm me down." I figure I was already fairly calm, I did fall asleep. Next I'm off to some sort of surgery holding area. Here I have several differant nurses, specialists, chaplain all come over and ask me the same questions. Ths holding area was interesting, full of pre surgery patients all for various reasons. I was in here for about a half hour, then it was time to go in to the surgery room. I roll in to the surgery room and am asked to scoot over to a differant bed. Then someone hooked up my IV. I was sort of hoping that I would be told when I was being put under. I thought it would be fun to see how long I could hold out. Unfortunately the last thing I remember is someone attaching my IV then wammo I'm in a recovery room and my wife is holding my hand. After surgery and recovery I was wheeled to my room. Now my recovery for the most part wasn't that bad. I didn't seem to be in much pain, only the port site hurt. The nurses had me up and walking around with in a few hours. I was terribly thirsty I think I must have had ten of those little ice chip cups. Ok I'm sorry I'm going to have to continue my tale a little later....I'm having so much gas pain I'm about to blow up...I'll tell you all about it next time.

I found others accounts of their surgery experiance to be very helpful, so I am going to do my best to recount the events of my surgery and the past few days. The morning of surgery 27 March I got up at 4am and had a friend pick me up to take me to the hospital. My wife had to stay home, we didn't want to wake out infant daughter up that early. I arrived at the hospital at 5am and checked in and was immediately taken to my room, where I was given a hospital gown to change in to. Since it was so early I hopped in to bed and proceeded to fall asleep for about 45 min until a couple nurses came in to get me prepped. After several questions, (why are you here? what is your name? ect..)

I found others accounts of their surgery experiance to be very helpful, so I am going to do my best to recount the events of my surgery and the past few days. The morning of surgery 27 March I got up at 4am and had a friend pick me up to take me to the hospital. My wife had to stay home, we didn't want to wake out infant daughter up that early. I arrived at the hospital at 5am and checked in and was immediately taken to my room, where I was given a hospital gown to change in to. Since it was so early I hopped in to bed and proceeded to fall asleep for about 45 min until a couple nurses came in to get me prepped. After several questions, (why are you here? what is your name? ect..)

I found others accounts of their surgery experiance to be very helpful, so I am going to do my best to recount the events of my surgery and the past few days. The morning of surgery 27 March I got up at 4am and had a friend pick me up to take me to the hospital. My wife had to stay home, we didn't want to wake out infant daughter up that early. I arrived at the hospital at 5am and checked in and was immediately taken to my room, where I was given a hospital gown to change in to. Since it was so early I hopped in to bed and proceeded to fall asleep for about 45 min until a couple nurses came in to get me prepped. After several questions, (why are you here? what is your name? ect..)

Angelica, Thank you very much! I'll post my surgery experiance shortly. I appreciate your support.

Tomorrow is the big day. I'm so tired of the protein diet I'm actually very excited to have the surgery, because I know it means that some day i'll be able to have something more substancial than a protein drink. I had purchased Essence Vanilla protein mix and it was very tasty for a few days. Now everything smells like the proten shake and i feel like gagging when I drink it. Anyways I'll be able to move back to more normal food before long. My doctors instructions told me to take the magnesium citrate two days before surgery. Well this was a bit of a challenge because I have grad school untill 9pm. When I got home I decided to take the laxative, thinking that it would run its course in a few hours later. Yeah right!! Here I sit 12 hours later and I'm still making emergency trips to the bathroom. Note to anyone who reads this, block off a big chunk of time to deal with it. I basically spent my entire night on the pot feeling beat up. I can't wait to go home so I can take a nap! Tomorrow is the big day. I have to be there at 5am. A friend of mine is going to pick me up so that my 1year old daughter doesn't have to get up so early. I am told that my surgery should be about 830am. It kinda sucks that I have to wait 3.5 hours, I'm hoping that they will give me a bed so I can take a nap while I wait.

Tomorrow is the big day. I'm so tired of the protein diet I'm actually very excited to have the surgery, because I know it means that some day i'll be able to have something more substancial than a protein drink. I had purchased Essence Vanilla protein mix and it was very tasty for a few days. Now everything smells like the proten shake and i feel like gagging when I drink it. Anyways I'll be able to move back to more normal food before long. My doctors instructions told me to take the magnesium citrate two days before surgery. Well this was a bit of a challenge because I have grad school untill 9pm. When I got home I decided to take the laxative, thinking that it would run its course in a few hours later. Yeah right!! Here I sit 12 hours later and I'm still making emergency trips to the bathroom. Note to anyone who reads this, block off a big chunk of time to deal with it. I basically spent my entire night on the pot feeling beat up. I can't wait to go home so I can take a nap! Tomorrow is the big day. I have to be there at 5am. A friend of mine is going to pick me up so that my 1year old daughter doesn't have to get up so early. I am told that my surgery should be about 830am. It kinda sucks that I have to wait 3.5 hours, I'm hoping that they will give me a bed so I can take a nap while I wait.

Just wanted to say it is a pleasure reading your experiances thus far. My surgery is the 27th and I plan on going back to work Monday if at all possible.

Gina it depends a lot on your insurance. I'd recomend clicking on the advanced search link at the top right of the page and searching your insurance company. You can also view my blog, i've tried to detail my process thus far. Hope this helps, good luck. Brad

Proud-dad I figure us dads have to stick together. Congrats on your upcoming surgery. I recomend you spend some time in this forum, post as often as possible, don't be affraid to say what you really think. Most any question you could possible have can be found here.

I'm been on the pre op diet for three days now. I've lost 10 lbs already. The preop diet my surgeon prescribes is fairly extreme, judging by other diets by folks on here. All I get to have are protein drinks and two protein bars. That is it...oh and all the sugar free jello and crystal light I want. to be honest the drastic change in my food intake has left me feeling fairly weak and crummy. I've been battling urges to go get some "real" food. this morning I did cheat some and had some scrambled eggs. I felt light headed for a few hours after eating them, but now am feeling much better. Only one more week and it is surgery time!

I'm been on the pre op diet for three days now. I've lost 10 lbs already. The preop diet my surgeon prescribes is fairly extreme, judging by other diets by folks on here. All I get to have are protein drinks and two protein bars. That is it...oh and all the sugar free jello and crystal light I want. to be honest the drastic change in my food intake has left me feeling fairly weak and crummy. I've been battling urges to go get some "real" food. this morning I did cheat some and had some scrambled eggs. I felt light headed for a few hours after eating them, but now am feeling much better. Only one more week and it is surgery time!

I'm on day three of my pre-op diet and have been struggling already. Yesterday I had to go grocrery shopping and talked myself into and out of a hamburger about ten times. I told my wife that night that I am no longer going to the grocery store by myself. My nutritionist talked about avoiding, "food triggers." I guess the grocery store is one, because I used to go get a burger after grocery shopping in the past. I've been reading the various pre-op diets various folks are on and most of them seem much less restrictive than mine. All I get is four Protein drinks a day and two Protein Bars. Total calories per day is only 660. I did cheat a little this morning with two scrambled eggs, because I woke up feeling sick. I don't feel really torn up about it, but I am a little bummed, because I wanted to be able to say I passed the pre-op diet with no cheating. 10lbs lost in three days...that seems like a lot

My doctor has a very strict pre-op diet plan. I'm drinking Lemon Tea Nector, which isn't too bad at all. The only problem is that it is difficult to mix. I am using an electric baby formula mixer that works great (purchased in the baby section of wal-mart $4). All I'm allowed to eat is four 90 calories each Protein drinks, and two 150 calorie Protein Bars. Thats 660 calories per day!! YIKES that's it? I'm only on day three and having a rough time. I feel weak and generally crummy. In the past four days I have dropped 10lbs... I've noticed that other doctors pre-op diets aren't nearly as restrictive as mine, but am none the less going to be my best to stick with it.

That's right the family should suffer too!! haha Are you waiting for insurance to come through? If so, stick with it. They'll come around.

Hi Newbeginnings I am scheduled to be banded on the 27th of March..19 more days! I have a one year old daughter (who rocks) and am expecting an other kid in August (don't know the sex yet). From what I've seen on this website it seems like weight loss is highly variable between differant folks. In my case I have a pretty big frame which means I won't be able to lose as much, at least not easily. My surgeon thought 235 would be a good goal for me (186lb is my ideal weight by the books). I'm hoping to get a little below 235, but it won't be easy I am sure. The most important thing is how determined you are to stick with the guidlines that we have to follow as new bandsters. Like staying away from the cheater foods like shakes and juice. Best of luck to you, let me know how your surgery goes!?!

Getting my insurance to approve lapband turned out to be the easy part. Trying to coordinate the time off with my job is a pain in the rear. Since I haven't been at this job for a year (two months short). I don't qualify for the familily medical leave act, which would allow me to take a medical leave of absence. While I'll only be out of work for a week or so the small amount of sick leave I have accumulated won't cover it and my company requires me to be on paid vacation or leave of absence if I am gone. What I've had to do is move my surger date closer to the weekend so that I am only taking two days off then two days of weekend and back to work on money. I really hope that i am able to return to work after only 4 days!? New surgery date 27 March

Getting my insurance to approve lapband turned out to be the easy part. Trying to coordinate the time off with my job is a pain in the rear. Since I haven't been at this job for a year (two months short). I don't qualify for the familily medical leave act, which would allow me to take a medical leave of absence. While I'll only be out of work for a week or so the small amount of sick leave I have accumulated won't cover it and my company requires me to be on paid vacation or leave of absence if I am gone. What I've had to do is move my surger date closer to the weekend so that I am only taking two days off then two days of weekend and back to work on money. I really hope that i am able to return to work after only 4 days!? New surgery date 27 March

I can relate, I am wanting to get my fill of all the junk food I won't be able to eat post banding. I'm trying to limit myself to one nice meal this weekend, just haven't figured out what yet.

I'll trade you my Protein drink for your Protein Bar? I'm not looking forward to the diet, but it will be worth it! Can someone please pass the protein Kool-aid?! hehe

Good luck in your journey. It's exciting to imagine a smaller you isn't it? Have you looked at the before and after photo section? I find that particularly motivating!

Tantrica I can relate to how your PCM reacted. My PCM told me, "we all have to exercise regularly, this includes you." No kidding? I actually go to the gym 3 nights a week. I'd say that is pretty darn good in comparison to most folks.

Congrats...my surgery date is on the 25th of March! tricare doesn't look at BMI just your if your 100+ pounds over your ideal weight. You also have to have one weight related health issues. Unless of course you are 200% of your ideal body weight, then you are automatically elligible.