Janiece

Thanks guys!

How long was it before you guys started driving again? I work pretty far from my office, and I'm going to request that I be allowed to work remotely for a week or so after surgery, but I'm wondering if I should request more time? I'll ask my doc at the pre-op visit, but I just wanted to get some idea of what to expect in the meantime. Thanks!

I'm sorry, but yes I believe this will hold up your surgery. My sleep doctor said if a chose the treatment that I had to do another sleep study to learn how to use the cpap mask at least 2 weeks before the surgery so I could get used to how it worked. It might be best if you just go get copies and take them to your lapband office personally. All of these hoops we have to jump through can be really frustrating, but hang in there! Best of luck!

I'm getting banded on Jan 16th too! :tt1: I'll be getting it done by Dr Eric Pinnar at the Reston Hospital Center.

yes, the goo was horrible! I only slept 4 hours, but other than that, I made it!

In my post yesterday, I was more than a little upset that I had to do a sleep study. I did it last night, and it really wasn't all that bad. The only problem is I never sleep on my back and I was SO uncomfortable. Without meaning to, I kept rolling to my side (luckily not my stomach) in my sleep, and the sleep tech had to keep coming in and waking me up to roll me onto my back and reposition the sensors. I only slept about 4 hours the whole night. Oh, and the goo. There is SO much of that conducting goo in my hair! So don't plan to go to work right after a sleep study!! In the morning, the sleep doctor came in and we went through the responses. It took WAAAAY too long. I just wanted to know whether or not I was cleared for surgery. He went through the night in 5 minute increments which took forever. . . especially since most of it I was awake and there wasn't much to look at. Anyway, he said that I had very mild sleep apnea and that I could choose to have treatment or move forward without it. I asked him a bunch of questions b/c I didn't want brush this off. Suffocating during your sleep is serious!! Eventually we decided that since I don't sleep on my back and since I have a recliner I can use after surgery in case I can't lay on my side in bed, then it would be okay if I forgo treatment!!! :biggrin: I'm completely cleared for surgery now! I still have to get bloodwork done, but I have no reason to believe anything will be wrong. My date is set for January 16th at 11:30am!!! I thought I would be happier after getting my date. . .maybe I'm just sleep deprived. I think Jan 16th seems so far away that it doesn't seem real yet. Well, since I'm selfpay, I need to go narrow down my loan list and fill out an applications.

In my post yesterday, I was more than a little upset that I had to do a sleep study. I did it last night, and it really wasn't all that bad. The only problem is I never sleep on my back and I was SO uncomfortable. Without meaning to, I kept rolling to my side (luckily not my stomach) in my sleep, and the sleep tech had to keep coming in and waking me up to roll me onto my back and reposition the sensors. I only slept about 4 hours the whole night. Oh, and the goo. There is SO much of that conducting goo in my hair! So don't plan to go to work right after a sleep study!! In the morning, the sleep doctor came in and we went through the responses. It took WAAAAY too long. I just wanted to know whether or not I was cleared for surgery. He went through the night in 5 minute increments which took forever. . . especially since most of it I was awake and there wasn't much to look at. Anyway, he said that I had very mild sleep apnea and that I could choose to have treatment or move forward without it. I asked him a bunch of questions b/c I didn't want brush this off. Suffocating during your sleep is serious!! Eventually we decided that since I don't sleep on my back and since I have a recliner I can use after surgery in case I can't lay on my side in bed, then it would be okay if I forgo treatment!!! :thumbup: I'm completely cleared for surgery now! I still have to get bloodwork done, but I have no reason to believe anything will be wrong. My date is set for January 16th at 11:30am!!! I thought I would be happier after getting my date. . .maybe I'm just sleep deprived. I think Jan 16th seems so far away that it doesn't seem real yet. Well, since I'm selfpay, I need to go narrow down my loan list and fill out an applications.

So, on Friday I had the 3 hour psych exam, barium swallow and nutrition class. The worst part was the barium test, but it wasn't that bad. The two liquids I had to chug were pretty gross. I felt kinda nauseous afterwards since you're not allowed to eat breakfast before the exam. Yesterday, I had the psych consult, the physical activity eval and the sleep discussion. At the psych consult, she reviewed the results of the test, gave me a cool food journal, and we talked about my feelings about the surgery. She set my weightloss goal at 140lbs, so that means I should weight 154lbs. She also went over all the chemical changes that would be happening in my brain during the 2 weeks before and 4 weeks after surgery due to the liquid and mushy diet calorie restriction and my body detoxing off of carbs, sugar, etc. At the end, she said that I was approved for surgery and could go set my date. :thumbup:I was SO excited. I went back to the receptionist, and she reminded me that I had the sleep eval in 5 minutes. I decided to wait to set the date after that meeting. When I was in the sleep Dr's office, he looked down my throat, listened to me breathe, and showed a powerpoint on why sleep apnea is bad. Since I'm not tired during the day, I don't take naps, and I have no family history, I thought I was good to go. Well, the Dr said he wanted me to do a sleep study before he signed off on my surgery because I'm black and obese. According to him, black people have a higher risk and 90% of obese people have it. So basically, 9 out 10 people that walk in his door (b/c he works at the lapband office) he gets to charge for a sleep study. . . This seems like a conflict of interests to me, but I'm a little biased against him now.:confused: He explained that during the sleep study, I needed to sleep on my back b/c that's where sleep apnea mostly occurs. I told him that I never sleep on my back because my boobs would suffocate me, so why did I need to take the test to find a problem that won't occur if I don't sleep on my back? I was so upset!!!:thumbup: I was all ready to set my date, and now I have to wait to take a test that is basically a waste of money because it's testing something I don't do?? Oh, and the best part is he's not sure how much my copay will be until he submits it to my insurance company. So it can cost between $250 and $800 for this stupid test. I scheduled it for tonight because I want to get it over with so I can set my date. Hopefully, it'll go fine, but it creeps me out that people will be watching me while I sleep and I'll be forced to sleep on my back. I probably won't be able to sleep . . .then I'm not sure what he'll do. Well, I'm going to try to go calm down. There's no point in being angry, I just need to get it over with.

So, on Friday I had the 3 hour psych exam, barium swallow and nutrition class. The worst part was the barium test, but it wasn't that bad. The two liquids I had to chug were pretty gross. I felt kinda nauseous afterwards since you're not allowed to eat breakfast before the exam. Yesterday, I had the psych consult, the physical activity eval and the sleep discussion. At the psych consult, she reviewed the results of the test, gave me a cool food journal, and we talked about my feelings about the surgery. She set my weightloss goal at 140lbs, so that means I should weight 154lbs. She also went over all the chemical changes that would be happening in my brain during the 2 weeks before and 4 weeks after surgery due to the liquid and mushy diet calorie restriction and my body detoxing off of carbs, sugar, etc. At the end, she said that I was approved for surgery and could go set my date. :thumbup:I was SO excited. I went back to the receptionist, and she reminded me that I had the sleep eval in 5 minutes. I decided to wait to set the date after that meeting. When I was in the sleep Dr's office, he looked down my throat, listened to me breathe, and showed a powerpoint on why sleep apnea is bad. Since I'm not tired during the day, I don't take naps, and I have no family history, I thought I was good to go. Well, the Dr said he wanted me to do a sleep study before he signed off on my surgery because I'm black and obese. According to him, black people have a higher risk and 90% of obese people have it. So basically, 9 out 10 people that walk in his door (b/c he works at the lapband office) he gets to charge for a sleep study. . . This seems like a conflict of interests to me, but I'm a little biased against him now.:blushing: He explained that during the sleep study, I needed to sleep on my back b/c that's where sleep apnea mostly occurs. I told him that I never sleep on my back because my boobs would suffocate me, so why did I need to take the test to find a problem that won't occur if I don't sleep on my back? I was so upset!!!:thumbup: I was all ready to set my date, and now I have to wait to take a test that is basically a waste of money because it's testing something I don't do?? Oh, and the best part is he's not sure how much my copay will be until he submits it to my insurance company. So it can cost between $250 and $800 for this stupid test. I scheduled it for tonight because I want to get it over with so I can set my date. Hopefully, it'll go fine, but it creeps me out that people will be watching me while I sleep and I'll be forced to sleep on my back. I probably won't be able to sleep . . .then I'm not sure what he'll do. Well, I'm going to try to go calm down. There's no point in being angry, I just need to get it over with.

Actually that is another reason I didn't want to tell anyone. I know this isn't a diet, but in the back of my mind, I don't want to disappoint anyone if I fail at this like everything else. . .:cursing:

I saw someone else's thread about what excuse to tell coworkers. This post is related, but I'm looking more for reasons why I should or shouldn't tell people. I'm still undecided. I don't even have a date yet, but I'm hoping it'll be early to mid January. I understand that telling everyone will probably spawn some criticism and a lot of questions, but I really don't want to carry out an extended lie by faking a hernia or anything. I'm also hoping I can make them more sensitive to the plight of the chubbies. I don't want to feed into the stereotype of 'see, if all fat, lazy people just got of their butts, went on a diet and exercised, then they could all lose weight like Janiece!' I want them to know that diet and exercise weren't enough, and that I needed some help. I want them to go on the journey with me and see that the band is not the easy way out. . . I dunno, maybe I'm being to idealistic. But even if I don't change the world's perception of obesity, at least I won't have to hide in my cube during lunch and stress out all the time about someone figuring why I've developed a sudden ocd problem with cutting up my food. PLUS, I won't have to explain if I eat too fast and puke at a lunch meeting!! :cursing: So. . .any good or bad experience stories with telling coworkers or friends? Thanks,

Thank you all for your answers! I feel a little more prepared now that I have some "inside info".

For stat purposes: Current Weight - 292 Height - 5'6" Age - 24 So. . .I had my initial consultation today with Dr Eric Pinnar at Advanced Weight Loss Solutions in Reston, VA. :thumbup: I love the office staff, they're all friendly and 3 of them have been banded by Dr Pinnar, which is pretty cool. The banded staff members are open and honest about pain, complications, etc, and are very willing to answer any specific questions I have now or after I'm banded. It's one thing to have the doctor and staff tell you what you can expect. It's another to get advice from someone who actually experienced it!!! Now I have a pretty lengthy list of pre-op stuff I need to complete. My schedule so far is as follows: Dec 5th, 2008: - Barium Swallow - 3 hr paper psych test - Group Nutrition Class Dec 8th, 2008: - Psych Eval - Sleep discussion (hopefully I won't have to do the overnight sleep exam) - Physical Activity Evaluation TBD: - Individual Nutrition Class - Blood work and EKG Whew, I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do at work as to why I'm taking so much PTO. I'm not telling anyone I'm getting it done except my boyfriend and maybe my parents. . .partly because it's no one else's business, partly because I'm afraid I will fail at this too and don't want to have to explain to everyone why I'm still a lardo after getting surgery. :confused: I'm know I'm being a bit dramatic, but after trying and failing at a million different diets, its hard to wrap my mind around this being a permanent tool that will help me achieve my goals. Since I'm paying for the band with cash money, I'm hoping I can rush through all of the tests and get it done at the end of December or beginning of January. I work for the government, and everything is slow that time of year so I can justify working from home for a week or so until I feel up to commuting to DC. Alright, that's all for today.

For stat purposes: Current Weight - 292 Height - 5'6" Age - 24 So. . .I had my initial consultation today with Dr Eric Pinnar at Advanced Weight Loss Solutions in Reston, VA. :confused: I love the office staff, they're all friendly and 3 of them have been banded by Dr Pinnar, which is pretty cool. The banded staff members are open and honest about pain, complications, etc, and are very willing to answer any specific questions I have now or after I'm banded. It's one thing to have the doctor and staff tell you what you can expect. It's another to get advice from someone who actually experienced it!!! Now I have a pretty lengthy list of pre-op stuff I need to complete. My schedule so far is as follows: Dec 5th, 2008: - Barium Swallow - 3 hr paper psych test - Group Nutrition Class Dec 8th, 2008: - Psych Eval - Sleep discussion (hopefully I won't have to do the overnight sleep exam) - Physical Activity Evaluation TBD: - Individual Nutrition Class - Blood work and EKG Whew, I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do at work as to why I'm taking so much PTO. I'm not telling anyone I'm getting it done except my boyfriend and maybe my parents. . .partly because it's no one else's business, partly because I'm afraid I will fail at this too and don't want to have to explain to everyone why I'm still a lardo after getting surgery. :cool: I'm know I'm being a bit dramatic, but after trying and failing at a million different diets, its hard to wrap my mind around this being a permanent tool that will help me achieve my goals. Since I'm paying for the band with cash money, I'm hoping I can rush through all of the tests and get it done at the end of December or beginning of January. I work for the government, and everything is slow that time of year so I can justify working from home for a week or so until I feel up to commuting to DC. Alright, that's all for today.

Oh wow, you got yours yesterday?!?! Congrats!

At the seminar early this week, someone asked the same question. The doctor mentioned a study that had been conducted recently where they removed the bands of people who'd had them for at least 8 years to see how they were holding up. He said the bands were in pristine condition and looked the same as the day they were put in. He said he can't say that they'll last forever, but considering the materials the bands are made out of, and the study that showed they were still fine, they have no reason to believe the bands won't last forever. He said it's like any other permanent implant. Hope this helps. Good luck!

First off, I want to thank everyone for being so open and honest in the forums. I've been reading all morning, and I've learned so much! I even took a peek at some of the complication posts, but left before I scared myself silly! :thumbup: Now to my question: What do you wish you knew about the band and post-band life before you found out the hard way? I read a few posts where people couldn't lay flat in the bed for a few weeks, so I need to figure out a plan there. Some other people mentioned I should wear slip-on shoes to the hospital and stock up on broth and frozen juice bars in advance to make life easier. I'm sure there must be a million little tidbits that you've discovered along the way that would make the journey for us newbies that much easier. I realize I'm freaking out like months in advance (well, hopefully it won't be that long. I have to pay in cash money since I work for a small company, so I'm hoping to breeze through all the pre-op stuff pretty quickly) , but I think feeling more prepared will help me calm down. Thanks so much for your help!