twiggysmiff

This is one "problem" I had never thought about...I'll be interested in reading the responses...:cool:

No judging here! :regular_smile:

Oh boy! I had such moments of panic! I was so afraid that I was going to die either during surgery or the week after. I prayed so hard! I asked everybody else to pray for me too. Six months later my friends are still laughing. They said that I was really "freaking out". I wasn't aware I was acting that crazy. Just follow your doctor's directions. They specialize in doing surgery on obese people. You will be fine. I have to say that the scariest time is when they wheeled me into the operating room. I truly thought I was going to start screaming in terror. But the nurses were so kind. They deserve a special place in heaven for their kindess. They tried to reassure me. But by this time I was pretty close to a meltdown. So they asked me when I wanted to receive the medicine to knock me out ( that's not what they called it, but I cannot remember the name). The next thing I remember is another nurse asking me how much pain I was in. (None!) I survived ! The rest is history. I am six months out and have lost 60 pounds. You will do fine. Sometimes a little fear is healthy. It keeps us on our toes. The first 24 hours after surgery I had to walk a few times up and down the hallway. It is all a blur as I was so heavily drugged at the time. But they will tell you what to do for aftercare.

By the way, what do you teach? I am a full time substitute teacher. Anyway, good luck and let us know how you do.

Pam

I teach 4th grade in an elementary school in a nearby county. I am so fortunate to be in this school because my own principal had gastric bypass with the same doctors that I'm using and has been very supportive. All of my coworkers are very supportive of what I'm doing and that helps too. I love being there.

As for the happy medicine, I think you're talking about Verset. I plan on asking for that stuff as soon as I walk in the door! LOL I'm sure I'll be fine after its all over, but I may need to up my anti-anxiety meds! j/k

Tina

I am scheduled to have my band placed in 1 week. I have been and still am really excited about starting my new life and most especially seeing the results after using my new tool. However, now that I'm close enough to be counting down days, arranging for a substitute for my classroom, shopping for items I'll need pre and post surgery, I'm finding my nerves becoming more and more active. I have random moments of "what the hell am I about to do to myself" and have visions of getting the band and freaking out and wanting to claw it out. I really do know that I want this and I know I'm ready to do what it takes to work with the band. Anyone else go through this before their surgery? I guess I'm afraid that my history of panic attacks will rear its ugly head at the hospital before surgery. I'm worrying about little things, like will the IV or leg wraps for blood clots trigger my claustrophobia, etc. Am I normal or is this a bad omen?

I loved your post. It just sounded so warm and fun. I will be banded on 1/14 and I hope for the exact same outcome. I want to run and play with my 6 year old this spring and summer! This post gives me hope.

I've not been banded yet, but I must say, the best course of action is to ALWAYS follow your surgeon's rules. He has put you on these rules for a reason. If you don't, you may risk slippage or your band eroding. Maybe not now, but a while down the road. You are still healing and you need all of that time to be sure that everything is locked into place.

Good luck.

Man, you'd think there would be some stipulation that bariatric surgeons had to spend (x) amount of hours educating potential patients. The OP's doc hosed her.....and she still doesn't really know jack about the basics. I hope her surgeon has a date with karma very soon.

My doctor has been awesome with education. We had a seminar, an all day pre-op visit with nutrition education, psych screening, exercise education, surgery education. We had to watch an online video about it. We had ANOTHER pre-op visit with 2 more videos and a surgery education and a q and a with the surgeon. If anything, I feel OVER educated. I just can't beleive that this doctor would put her in this position! This is WAY TOO IMPORTANT to skimp on the details.

They just don't want you to get pregnant within the first year of having the band because of the healing process and the fact that you are losing a lot of weight and that's not the best environment for a pregnancy. My doctor has "strongly suggested" the use of some contraception during this time period, but you could always abstain....:thumbup:

The Wii and Wii Fit are AWESOME ways to exercise! It's a lot of fun too. I've used it several times and each time I'm out of breath and sweaty at the end...:thumbup:

My doctor has said no hormonal birth control methods for a month before and a month after because of the risk of blood clots. I haven't asked about anything else after that. I've been married for 8 1/2 years and never used anything and I only have 1 daughter that was conceived after endometriosis surgery, glucophage, and clomid. I'm not used to worrying about it....

Well, the main thing is that you are eating less, you're not hungry, and you are losing weight at a healthy pace. Some people feel restriction right away and don't need fills until they start losing weight. Regardless, be HONEST with your doctor. He is there to guide you through this and if tell them things that aren't true, you could set yourself up for problems. My doctor just said this to me on Tuesday. Some people will come in and say they are starving and get a fill even though their weight is dropping and then they have to come back to get it taken out again because it was too tight. It's better to be too loose than too tight if you're not in the "sweet spot". Good luck

I've not been banded yet, but from what my doctor's said, you probably won't feel any restriction until after you get your first fill. Any restriction you felt at the beginning was probably due to your stomach swelling, etc. Now that you're healing and the swelling is going down, you don't feel that restriction. Also, Soup runs through the band like a funnel, so you may not get as full feeling with that. Once you progress to solid foods, you should feel full longer and eat less (but not as little as you will after an adjustment). Some people feel restriction just with the band itself, but most don't.

When I told my doctor that I'd found this great online community, he rolled his eyes and told me not to believe everything I read. Yet it seems like 9/10 of what we learn is found out in this sort of manner. My doc has never told me MOST of what I know about the lapband.

It is possible that your doctor believes that if you handle solid food OK, then it is OK to eat it (I seriously hope not thought). But this really should have been made much more clear to you, its very poor service to not tell you WHY you have to undertake such a strict post op diet.

I would definitely bring this up with him.

My doctors have been VERY informative (almost to the point of redundancy) and very thorough in their explanations and telling us what to expect and why. They also gave us a huge packet of material (in a 2 inch binder) that detailed diets, time frame for post op diet, etc. In this packet was a sheet of support groups, both in person and online and I was thrilled to see that www.lapbandtalk.com was on the list! I definitely told them how great it was.

Well, here is my theory as to why different doctors do different post-op rules about eating. My doctor told me that they tend to place the band a bit higher than most, with a smaller pouch, and the band is at a slightly different angle than some doctors. They also take a bit of the stomach tissue and pull it over the band and stitch it in place. Once the stitches dissolve, the band is then covered in scar tissue and is locked in place. They have been practicing for SEVERAL years and they have a top notch program with a high level of success. I'm sure they have developed their post op plan based on what has been successful with THEIR surgical methods.

My theory is that perhaps each doctor has their own subtle differences about how they stitch the band in, the exact placement, the angle, etc and they have tweaked their diet regimen to work best with their own methods.

I plan on following my doctor's advice to the letter, regardless of whether or not they tell me why. I would not assume anything. I hired my doctor because I trust him to do what's best for me and I'm going to do what he says.

Thanks...I won't really have much of an opportunity to walk around at the hospital much, but it helps to know that it is manageable when I come home and get ready to walk around. I'm glad to hear that its not a big deal, but I have to say, I'm still a bit woozy at the thought....:thumbup: I also have to give myself shots in the stomach for 1 week after surgery to prevent blood clots. They require it if you have a BMI over 50 and I'm right at 50.0. He said that if I lose even 5-10 pounds before surgery, my BMI will drop and he won't make be do the injections. Talk about a motivator! :thumbup:

My doctors said that there is a relatively new technology that allows them to add heat and moisture to the gas before using it to inflate your stomach. Supposedly, this helps to minimize the pain caused from the gas after surgery because it doesn't irritate your insides as much. Anyone have their doctor use this technique and did it help? I'm worried about the gas pain because I had that when I had a C-section and I just remember the shoulder and back pain from the gas pain was worse than the incisions and Gas-X didn't touch it!

Thanks,

I went to my last pre-op visit with my surgeon and they told us they will put an On-Q Pain Buster in one of our incisions. It is a small catheter that hooks up to a ball that is filled with pain meds that is slowly released into your abdomen for a day or two after surgery. I don't mind this at all, but what is freaking me out is that once the ball is empty, I'm supposed to pull the catheter out myself! They tell me that its not painful and it just feels really weird coming out, but I want first hand information! Anyone had this device and is it as good/easy as they claim? My surgery date has been scheduled for 1/14 :thumbup:

I was just scheduled today for my banding surgery for Wednesday January 14 with Dr. Oldham from Bluegrass Bariatric Surgical Associates in Lexington Ky. :thumbup: I don't know what time I'm supposed to be there yet. They will call me with that information.

I am about to have surgery with this group through Central Baptist in Lexington. So far, everyone has been very helpful and they have been very thorough in their education and making sure that you are ready to do the surgery. I will be with them tomorrow for the last pre-op visit and will have my surgery date then. :smile: I'm excited.

My doctor has told me that as long as the work doesn't involve heavy lifting, we could have the surgery on a Wednesday and be back at work on a Monday. That would be 5 days off total. This is what I'm planning on doing.

Thanks for your replies but I must explain that I am abiding by the new rules as my 50 lbs loss would indicate. It does seem however that I am still on the diet that I have been for most of my life having to count the calories and leave the table unsatisfied

I was expecting the band to be helpful in allowing me to eat less food and this is not the case.

I was hoping that I would get a full feeling after just a sandwich but that is not happening. The larger than normal meal last weekend was not the norm but it did indicate to me that nothing had physically changed.

Today I almost choked on my first bite of a sandwich yet yesterday a huge meal went down with no restriction or discomfort. My fill is now at 6.2 and was at 6.5 when reflux and heart burn made it too painful to continue at that level.

It would seen that I am at the peak of fill level now.

From my understanding, you lost 50 pounds before the first fill while you were still on your liquid diet phase. You may have been following the rules then, but from what I can see, you aren't following the rules NOW. Eating 2 steaks would not be within the rules regardless of how often you do it, you said yourself in the first post that you are not eating slowly and you aren't chewing your food well. Then in another post, you said you find it difficult not to drink while you eat because of being dehydrated. This implies that you are drinking while you eat and you are not drinking throughout the day. Your exercise schedule is preventing you from eating on a good schedule like you should as well. If you are exercising on an empty stomach, you are scaring your body into thinking you are starving it. All it knows it that it is spending a bunch of calories and not getting any calories coming in, so it will hold onto as much as possible and drop your metabolism. You also admit that you are drinking carbonated beverages, which, for a lot of doctors, is a no-no. In your last post, you said that you had a signal from your body to stop eating the chicken and you ignored it and finished your meal. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but exactly what rule ARE you following?

The band will not do all the work for you. Exercise alone will not help you. Eating well alone will not help you. You must have a good balance for this to work. It really does not sound like you are using it as a tool in the way it was intended. You can't screw in a screw with the butt end of the screwdriver. You have to use it in the way it was intended for it to work.

I'm getting banded in January, but not sure of the exact date. I'll get scheduled on Tuesday. I'm going with Bluegrass Bariatric Surgeons in Lexington, KY.

I have my 2nd pre-op appointment on Tuesday and on that date, I'm supposed to get my surgery date. I've gotten all of my financial obligations out of the way. It looks like my surgery will be scheduled for January sometime. They want to rush me in before the end of December, but I don't want to do it until after New Year's. If I wait until January, I can enjoy an entire year of having my out of pocket costs maxed out on the insurance and can save a lot of money that way. :tounge_smile: Besides, it just feels right...a new year, a new band, a new me! I'm so excited (a little nervous too, but that's normal). I can't wait to get this going.

You still need to talk to your doctor. You may not have slipped NOW, but from what I understand the movements your stomach makes when digesting food can make the healing process less effective, resulting in a weak bind. Because of this weakness, you are much more likely to slip later. I may have not gotten the band yet, but I've been reading constantly for the past 6 months and this seems to be the more realistic part of the problem. You may also want to seek counseling to help you deal with your emotions now that you can't use food. Hope it all works out for you.

Thanks everyone! Last night, I found the Capital One Health Care site that provides loans for "cosmetic" surgeries and lap band was on their list. I applied last night and within 90 seconds, I was approved!!!! :huh2:

Guess I can continue on as scheduled for my surgery.

I found out today that I need to pay my surgeon $1500 before I have my surgery. $500 must be paid at my appt on Tuesday and the rest must be paid by 3 days before surgery. I'm planning on having surgery in January. This is the out of pocket costs and deductible and program fee that I'm required to pay after insurance kicks in their part.

I know there are companies out there that will provide financing for medical procedures, but I was wondering if anyone knows of a good reputable company that would give a loan to someone with not so great credit (I had a bankruptcy 7 years ago).

Thanks for your help.

Tina