Midwest Carol

Love your ticker, Dawn. We do seem like turtles at times going toward that treasure. But they say "slow and easy wins the race" so we will win as long as we keep our eye on that treasure. It was so nice meeting you and Becky last night. Can't wait till next time.

It is 3/31 and I am now "5 days out" so I was drawn to your questions. I am having every problem you had, except I can lay on my right side. Hope you are doing well and healthy and trimmer.

Yes, but I had a hard time. Fenton told me that he had to start a new signature when he wanted to show his weight loss, and that is what I finally had to do also. Try clicking on my ticker, then try to copy the text in the box into your profile. Actually, my sixteen year old granddaughter had to do it for me. If it doesn't work, let me know and I will ask her how she did it.

Thanks for the ideas. I printed them out. Don't think I can have cottage cheese yet, but it sounds awfully good so i will check. After my experience with the shake last night, I'm sort of afraid of it. I may just bring a packet of my soup, or maybe I can have them put some soup in a blender for me. Guess I will be the only one who can actually have a drink.

I am going to try to make it on Tuesday. My daughter and her kids may ride along and go out to eat with some relatives in Bloomington while I go to Denny's. They love Avanti's gondolas. I'm really looking forward to getting some advice from people with a little more experience. Yesterday I was out for about six hours and thought I should get some protein in me before I went to bed. It was my first shake since surgery. Ugh. It did not set well. Luckily I had one anti-nausea pill left from surgery. Don't know if I just drank too much or too quickly, but it makes me a little nervous about trying another. Maybe one of you can help me order at Denny's. It will be my first time to eat out with the band.

I understand your pain. Just had surgery on March 26 about two hours from my home. After surgery I could not go at all. Called the doctor at midnight and he told me it was "urinary retention" from the anesthesia and to go into the emergency room for a straight cath. They took off 1200 c.c. and I felt so good. Now everything is fine.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Surgery went well, and the trip home was fine, but I did have a slight problem. I had urinary retention and ended up calling Dr. R. at midnight. We had to go to the hospital in Springfield for a straight cath that night. That solved the problem, but it was rough for awhile. Today my belly is really hard from the gas and I'm getting a bit of the back pain, but other than that I am great. Drinks and pills are going down fine. I'm still hoping to see everyone next week, but I'm going to have to feel a little better than this before I take off on that drive.

Thank you, Becky, for your prayers. It is 5 a.m. and we are heading off to Champaign. I'll let you know how it goes.

My surgery will be in Champaign. The reason is that since I am self-pay, I chose the Blis insurance coverage. This way, if anything goes wrong in the first eighteen months it will be covered. I was afraid that if something happened, my personal insurance would not cover it and I wouldn't be able to afford to have it taken care of. Apparently the Blis insurance coverage only works if you have the surgery at Carle.

Next week I may be able to answer some of your questions. I am having my surgery on Wednesday. It is definitely worth going to the informational meeting if you are at all interested. I went to the Illinois Bariatric Center Seminar held in Springfield. It only lasted 1 - 1 1/2 hours and gave us all kinds of information. There is no pressure whatsoever. There are so many nice people on this forum who are willing to answer our questions. There seems to be quite a few in the Peoria, Bloomington, Champaign and even a few in the Springfield area. In fact, next Tuesday at 6:30 a group is meeting at Denny's in Normal. If I am up to it, I plan to go. Check the Bloomington thread on this.

Springfield, Illinois

Hope your fill helps. I'm going to hope that I get the P.A. for mine. Planning to come to Bloomington on the 1st. In fact, I drove through Bloomington this week on my way to Chicago and saw the Denny's we are going to. I have one yellow t-shirt, and it will just have to do. Don't plan on buying any clothes right now. I should be able to shop in my closet for a few months.

Becky, Good luck with your fill. Let us know how it goes.

I hope I do as well as you. Becky lives outside of Morton, maybe we could all meet up sometime. She may be at the Bloomington dinner of April 1.

I meant to say I know where you workout. I often wondered what that was.

Congratulations Kristin. I can't believe you are doing so well without a fill. That would be great. I'm worried about the Bander Hell everyone talks about where they have the band but starve until they get their first fill. Today I started my two week pre-op diet! This is so exciting. Can't wait until surgery. I am going to try to meet up with the people in Bloomington on April 1 if I feel ok. I know exactly where you work. I have noticed that building when I have crossed the river. If there is anyone else in your area, maybe we could meet up in Peoria. I'm retired, so I could drive up for a lunch during the week.

My surgery date is also on March 26. Good luck to you! My daughter used to live in Columbus and they are huge Buckeye fans. My very favorite drink is the HMR 800 chocolate shake. I buy them online from Health Management Resources. I took all the information about them to my nutritionist and she said they were fine.

Oh my gosh Penny, what a great story. Thank you for sharing. I hope we all do so well!

I will only be out of surgery six days on April 1, but if I feel ok to drive that far I will come. Let me know when you decide on a place and time.

I didn't know that there was an upper BMI limit. Is that just a Health Alliance restriction. Dr. Hammer has a good reputation as a surgeon.

I'm just a little southwest of Springfield. I retired from the State five years ago. Dr. R. is also doing my surgery, but it is going to be in Champaign.

My surgery is scheduled for March 26. It is hard to think about anything else. Every free minute I have I am checking out lapbandtalk.com. Guess I should be out walking instead, but we are in the midst of another blizzard, so here I am. Good luck. Let's keep each other posted after surgery.

I'll be right behind you on March 26. I'm self-pay too, but it will be so worth it. Think of all the money we have spent on diet foods, programs that didn't work, hypnotists, whatever. This one is actually going to work for us!

My Thursdays are pretty busy in April, but the Tuesdays look good. After April I could keep either day open once we decide which week we are going to meet. I'm going to pass on March. It is already full and I will be on the pre-op diet and then having surgery on the 26th. Thank you for taking this on. Let's hope others can meet. I think Kristin 1031, Karri 68 and dawntunes may be interested. Right Ladies???

There is a really nice group of people from the Champaign area who meet monthly at Panera. I know it is a long way to go, but maybe we could try that sometime. You can meet up with them at the "USA Local Lap-Band Support", "Illinois", "Champaign IL Anyone" thread.