Northwest_Nance

You are not a failure at all -- you are a fighter and you made the decision to have surgery, which is a huge step. The band doesn't work overnight and getting our heads on straight about the whole food issue takes a lot longer and really is, in fact, a lifelong project..... and we're all in the same boat! My doctor told me before surgery that he never wanted me to avoid coming in to see him because I was embarrassed about gaining weight. He said that is exactly when he wants to see me the most, so he can help me. I am sure your doctor feels the same way..... go get that fill and you will be back on the road to success!

That's wonderful! Congratulations!!! Happy Birthday to you! :thumbup:

Maybe it depends on whether you go to a weight loss clinic that only does weight loss surgery, or to a regular doctor or surgeon for whom weight loss surgery is just one part of their practice. In my case I went to a weight loss surgery center (Northwest Weight Loss Surgery) that has 3 doctors and all they do is lap bands. Most of their staff has the band too -- the nutritionist I meet with is banded, even the psychiatrist I met with was banded, and surgery is performed in the same building as their offices. So, setting up the pre-op appointments is just part of what they do for every patient every day, and they have it down to a science, so that is included in your "one price". On the other hand if it's a doctor's office where setting up all the pre-op stuff for weight loss patients is more than what they usually have to do for their other patients, I guess I could understand a fee for it, but it's not right to spring it on you when you've already started the process.

Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong forum but I can't find anywhere else more appropriate, nor do I see a way to contact the board administrator. For the last several days I've been having problems with the site -- I click on a link to a specific forum or a specific post, the page refreshes, and takes me right back where I was instead of taking me to the page I clicked the link for. This only started happening a few days ago. I've tried rebooting my computer, clearing my cookies & history, etc., but the problem persists. Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing it, and if anyone knows how to contact the board administrator to advise them of the issue? Thanks.

I followed all the rules exactly. I went through too much to get my band to risk it because I can't stick to the rules for a few weeks. Just because food goes down ok and we feel fine, doesn't mean we aren't risking the long term success of our band by breaking the rules. I don't see that anybody here was bitchy. People on this forum do tell the truth -- what good would it do if they all just told you what you want to hear? Why bother, then? But so far it seems to me most people do it in a very caring and supportive way. And when you make a post on a message board you need to be prepared to hear all kinds of comments and opinions.

That doesn't seem right if you were already in the process with them. My doctor didn't charge anything like that. I would think they're already being paid enough to do all of that as part of their other fees. Is it too late for you to find another doctor?

I think food is to be enjoyed! My problem is that I've been enjoying too much of it, for too many years, for all the wrong reasons. Now I'm learning that food is also about providing our body with the nutrition (fuel) it needs to let us feel good and function and hopefully live long lives. So just like I have to get up and go to work every morning in order to provide myself with the money (the fuel) to keep my lifestyle going, I have the weekends to have fun doing what I really like to do. I'm sort of thinking of food the same way. Most of the time I have to give it the nutritious healthy food it needs, in the right portions. But then there are the times to enjoy food for its own sake. Learning to do that in moderation is my goal! Enjoy that cupcake! (Well ok you already did, I hope.... enjoy the next one too, in its own good time!)

I wonder if maybe it depends on how big you are. I don't feel my port or notice it. Sometimes I have to look for it to remind myself it's there! When I went to my doctor's seminar before surgery, he had 5 successful patients there to tell their stories and answer our questions. I asked if I could feel their port site so two of them let us feel and it wasn't hard to find it or feel it at all! Maybe that's what I have to look forward to when my belly gets a little tighter.

Oh Grace, congratulations! You look wonderful! You've also done just about exactly what I want to do.... go from 255 to 130. What an inspiration you are!

This picture is uploaded from Photobucket (it is my niece, she was Clara in her dance company's performance of The Nutcracker this past Christmas - just grabbed the first available picture to try this out, cuz I've never posted pictures on this forum either. I opened up the picture in Photobucket, right clicked on it, copied the link ("properties"), then clicked on the little photo icon above when I was writing this entry, which opened up a little box where I pasted the photo properties into it. Or, you can enter it manually. Where you want the picture to appear in your post, type .

I was going to say pretty much the same thing that Sally said... Happy Independence Day! You're going to do great. Think about this, there are hundreds of lap band surgeries being performed every single day.... it's a huge day in your life and a bit of a scary experience for you but fortunately, for your doctor it's just another day at the office, doing what he (or she) does every day. You'll be in good hands. Best of luck!

I think you have to really want it badly, and you have to be ready for this journey. Nothing will keep you from eating around the band if that's what you want to do. Everyone keeps saying the band is just a tool, and that's the truth. I think it's a powerful tool, it can not only restrict how much we can eat at one time but it gives us a psychological boost as well.... which really helps us to find the inner strength and discipline to make healthy choices about what we eat (and don't eat). My attitude has changed towards food since I got my band, and I don't even have real restriction yet. So the band can help you a lot, but it can't do it all.

It's a pretty good dilemma to have, isn't i? I was banded on May 15th and although I've lost over 30 pounds it still isn't enough for people to really notice much in the way of weight loss, but my whole attitude is so much better.... people have been saying things like "You have a glow about you", "You are so lively these days", "You look great, you must be really taking good care of yourself", "You just seem like a new person". I smile and say "Thank you! I feel really good". (I used to spend a lot of time lying around on the beach in your town!)

I think a lot of people have cheated a little bit. I didn't -- my doctor has been known to cancel surgery if you didn't lose the weight he told us to lose. Also I was really afraid of not shrinking my liver enough and having them cancel surgery after they'd already gotten started. A little bit paranoid, maybe... anyway, just stick to it from this point forward and you'll be fine. It's a good test for how you're going to do after the band, too!

So, I've lost about 34 pounds since mid-March. Ten pounds lost while researching surgery just because I was so disgusted with myself (that weight fell off almost effortlessly, like the first few pounds usually do). Ten pounds lost on pre-op diet. And about 14 pounds lost since surgery on May 15th (most of that lost in the first few weeks of post-op diet). But the last couple of weeks, I've only lost a couple of pounds. And for about ten days now I've been fluctuating up and down by 3/4 of a pound. I am totally frustrated.... I am exercising, I haven't had a potato chip or any kind of snack in months, haven't eaten between meals; I'm counting calories, and getting my Protein in. I was doing 800-900 calories a day and I decided maybe the problem is, that wasn't enough calories. So I upped it to around 1100-1200 calories a day. Still no good results. I could see if I weighed a little less, weight will come off slower no matter what I do. But at 5'1" and 220 pounds, I shouldn't be struggling to lose weight when I think I'm doing all the right things. Over the last 20 years, I lost 100+ pounds three times. One of those times was on low carb. I'm thinking that just may be the route I have to go, and I'm going to give it a test run starting today. I do see there is a whole thread on here for people doing low carb. I just wondered what your experience has been.... has counting calories been enough for you (assuming you are getting in all your protein, of course)? Or have you had to go further than that and count carbs, or fat grams, or sodium?

Waiting is so hard. I think the doctor should have given you some idea what's going on. I always imagine the very worst and 99% of the time it turns out to be really not that big of a deal. Chances are good that because you are over 50 they just want to have the assurance of a heart doctor clearing you for surgery. But if they did find something they need to treat or fix, try to focus on being thankful they found it and will treat it..... everything will work out in time (I know, I know, that's the hard part!)

Congratulations on your surgery date! It's SO exciting and of course you are apprehensive.... I always think that anyone who isn't a bit nervous about the idea of surgery, hasn't really given enough thought to the process. Everyone is different but I'm 55 years old and the surgery was a breeze for me. I walked to the operating room and got up on the table myself, joked around with the nurse and anesthesiologist for a few minutes while they got things set up, I took a couple of breaths into the mask, and woke up in the recovery room. I do remember that I was surprised to feel a little bit of discomfort when I woke up... I guess I thought the pain meds they gave me during surgery would keep me from feeling any pain at least for a few hours. It wasn't really pain, it was more like I had bindings around my waist (which I did not). After about an hour I walked down the hall to a recliner where I sat for about another hour and then I walked out to the parking lot, got in the car (passenger seat!) and made the 25 minute ride home with no discomfort. I got home around 4:30 p.m. and I felt really good. I didn't even have anyone stay with me that night. I stayed up late and was full of energy (I think it was a reaction to some of the meds they gave me, maybe whatever they gave me to wake me up from anesthesia). I walked a lot, watched TV, and played on the computer. I would definitely recommend taking pain medication before you go to bed that night, even if you don't really think you need it. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling pretty uncomfortable, which could have been avoided if I'd taken the medication before I went to bed. Pain meds work best if you take them before the pain gets too bad. When I woke up in the morning I felt pretty good, just mildly uncomfortable. Around the middle of the day it all caught up with me and I felt very sleepy. I slept most of that afternoon, and all of that night. You will do great! Can't wait to read your surgery day story in a few weeks!

You guys are not alone. No wonder they call it bandster hell. I'm starting to get a little down and frustrated myself. My surgery was May 15th and I've had two fills. I have a little bit of restriction -- I can't eat a whole over-sized restaurant meal. But otherwise I have to rely on will power. The frustrating thing is that I've really been doing well, I plan my meals ahead of time and figure out my calories, Protein, etc. on The Daily Plate. I haven't had a snack or eaten between meals in months. And in the last 3-4 weeks I've lost around 3 pounds. I go for my third fill on Thursday. The thing is, though.... if I'm already "dieting" and the weight is coming off so slow, what good is restriction going to do me? I'm going to keep adjusting my diet.... more calories, less calories, lower the carbs a bit more.... in the long run it can't be all bad, I'm certainly eating a whole heck of a lot healthier than I have in years and sooner or later the weight has to come off. Right? I know that this, too, shall pass.... but yes it does get discouraging.

You made some really good points... I just wanted to point out that every doctor has his or her own post-fill instructions. My doctor has no requirement that we do liquids or mushies after a fill. He says it's ok if we want to do mushies the first day but he wants us on solid food by the next day. If we can't eat solid food by then, he wants to know it.

I had my surgery on Thursday and if I really had to, I could have gone back to work on Monday. I took the whole week off though (just because I could) and I'm so glad I did. I was getting tired easily, and I had days where my port was pretty tender if I leaned forward while I was sitting. Again... I could have dealt with it if I'd had to go back to work but it was a nice little luxury not having to deal with it.

Well, I hate to tell you, but unless you're one of the lucky ones who gets restriction on your first fill, it's going to take awhile. I was also banded on May 15th and I've had two fills so far. I have a total of 5 cc's in my 9 cc Realize band. I have minor restriction, that is, if I go out to eat and I'm served the usual huge over-sized restaurant portions you get when you go out, I can't finish my plate. For most meals though, I'm having to rely on willpower. I've been making healthy choices, watching my portion control, and I eat no between-meal Snacks. Nothing. And my weight loss has been very slow. In the last 4 weeks I've lost about 3 pounds and it's getting frustrating. Right now I'm in the process of re-evaluating what I'm eating.... my calorie count is good, and so is my Protein level, but maybe I need to cut down on carbs even more than I already have. I get my third fill this week and of course, I'm hoping that one will put me closer to real restriction. Although on the other hand, I'm already doing pretty well in the "diet" department so I'm beginning to wonder how much difference restriction is going to make.

I've heard of people having problems with shrimp, for some reason. I'm also hoping that's wrong, or that it doesn't happen to everyone, because I eat shrimp very often. So far since I got my band I haven't had a problem with them, but I don't have full restriction yet either.

My health insurance policy specifically excludes coverage for weight loss surgery. My employer did not purchase that coverage, so there is no way the insurance company can or will be persuaded to pay for surgery. I work for a fairly small company and in my employer's defense, at the time they negotiated the policy, there really wasn't anybody working for them who would be a candidate for weight loss surgery -- so why not save money on the premiums and pass that savings on to their employees? Their gain, my loss..... no pun intended!

Good luck! It's very exciting! I felt great the first day, had my surgery at 1:00 p.m., was home by 4:30. I stayed up that night until 11:00 p.m. walking, watching TV, playing on the computer. I should have taken pain meds before I went to bed though - I woke up in the middle of the night feeling really sore. Pain meds work best if you take them BEFORE the pain is bad. I was up early the next morning and not feeling too bad at all. But around the middle of the day it all caught up with me and I felt very sleepy. I slept a LOT for the rest of the day and the 2nd night. My surgery was on a Thursday. I woke up on Sunday and realized I felt absolutely wonderful. I think part of it was just relief from the stress of researching the surgery, making decisions, arranging financing, etc. etc. I could easily have traveled 4 days after surgery. I took more than a week off from work though and I'm glad I did. I found that I got tired pretty easily for a couple of weeks after surgery.

I was self pay too, and when I first started doing my research, I "knew" that I wanted bypass surgery; I thought of the lap band as the little step-sister of bypass. But the more research I did, the more I realized how serious bypass surgery is, and how much higher the risk of complications was. I began to fear bypass surgery. And being self pay, I knew that if there were complications, those would be self-pay too, and if worse came to worse, they could bankrupt me. So I began looking more and more seriously at lap band surgery. Eventually I wanted lap band surgery instead of bypass, even if I wasn't self pay. But. For weeks and weeks I was changing my mind every 30 minutes! I pretty much drove myself crazy. My brain was overloaded with research and I couldn't stop going back and forth between the two. Finally I came to the decision that lasted a lot longer than 30 minutes.... to go with lap band. Once I made the decision, I never looked back. That being said.... since I got the band on May 15th, and have been introduced to the world of bandster hell and going for fills and waiting to reach the "sweet spot", and seeing the weight drop slowly since surgery.... I've had a moment or two where I thought about the fact that with bypass surgery I wouldn't be going for fills and I would have lost a lot more weight by now. But, I still wouldn't go back in time and make a different choice. Lap band surgery was a simple surgery for me, with a quick recovery. In the long run I'll be glad I lost the weight slower -- I don't see myself able to afford plastic surgery to get rid of extra skin, so the slower I lose it, the healthier for me, and hopefully less sagging skin. In the end, I'm really happy with the path I chose. You shouldn't feel trapped into a procedure you're not 100% sure you want, just because you have a surgery date..... do more research and soul searching and decide what you really really want before you take the plunge!