riley4183

Woo-hoo January 13th!! It's your lucky day for sure! And the 14 day is hardest for the for 4 days, so you are SO CLOSE to there! My liver was flat like a pancake at surgery - so thin that my surgeon took a pic when he slid the band behind it, and you can see the band right through my skinny little liver! It really works :-) And yes I have pictures of my actual band, LOL

Thanks for the compliments! It's been a great journey. Keep in touch!

Yes, my wonderful surgeon likes to "sneak up" on restriction so I got a lot of little fills. He thinks 1 more tiny one when I get to goal and that maybe I will need another a year after that, but otherwise I'm done! The good part is that I've never been too tight & never really had issues. I am proud, thanks! :-)

Sweet! Maybe I'll see you at a race one of these days!

Hey Scott that sign in your avatar - are you at a race rootin' for my man Tony Stewart?? Huge NASCAR fan here :-)

Yeah 96 lbs. already, I only had surgery 5 months ago - it's crazy! I lost 43 before surgery, 53 after so far . . . 10 lbs. a month, it has slowed down now to 2 lbs. a week. I think it will probably take me another 6 months to get to my goal weight, and that's OK. I love my band!!!

JoJo, how are you feeling hunny? I trust everything went great in surgery and you're just real busy being up and walk-walk-walking?

Hey there! I don't blame you for missing Southern Illinois - truly a beautiful place! But believe it or not, I miss Anchorage!!! I grew up there and have SUCH wonderful memories . . .I hope you will too after you leave!

God bless your husband - and you! for the sacrifices you make for us every day!!

OMG Candra, you are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! Goodness girl, you and Nicole & Tina & Chris & Reg . . .all you young women are gonna be SMOKIN!!!! Hot. Actually you are right now, but you will believe it then!!!

Now go out & get those hills!!

:-) Riley

When you say you "feel funny" does that mean that you are scared crapless and having second thoughts? Because YES that is totally normal! I freaked out when I got my surgery date - was scared that I wouold back out - but have a huge circle oif kaiser surgery friends who got me through it! I was only the 2nd one in my group to go thru surgery, and the 1st to have lap band, so i was petrified. But now I am SO SO GLAD that I went through with all of it! I feel great.

I do not know if you will get your surgery date on the 30th or not, if you have lost enough weight they will schedule you for surgery & put you on a diet to shrink your liver, if you have not lost weight you will not get a date. I would say lose as much as you can! The meal replacement diet is sugar-free carnation instant breakfast to replace 2 meals, and 1 sensible meal with protein no carbs - like salad with chicken. It is HARD but you can lose a lot of weight in just a week or two.

I hope that helps!

:-) Riley

Oh that is horrible that you don't know anyone! I am so very fortunate, with 3 support groups . . I know a ton of people who have had surgery! It rea;;y really helps. well stick with us on here, we will be your lap-band family! We have other SSFers on our Richmond forum :-)

Be totally honest with the psychologist - your fears, issues, problems, history. They are NOT there to kick you out of the program, they are there to make sure that all of your issues (and we ALL have issues!) are being dealt with. Surgery changes your hormones, which affects mood & meds, and it can be really bad news after surgery if you are not ready for it mentally & emotionally. For sure he or she will want you to be in a support group, it is the best indicator of success. They will ask about your past weight loss efforts, how you plan on handling head hunger, what your goals are (besides just to lose weight), how you feel about excercise, etc. It is not scary once you get in there!

Good morning! Yes every kaiser program is different, but about 1/2 of my support group went through Richmond and the other 1/2 went through South San Francisco. You have to get to your surgery weight "range" before they will schedule you a surgery date. Once you do that, SSF moves FAST!! Have you met with the surgeon yet?