lisah25

My doctor wants me to lose 10-15 pounds. It's not a test(his words) but rather it helps shrink your liver. Which makes the surgery go easier and better. They understand that we can't lose weight long-term on our own, or we wouldn't be talking to them. From what I've been reading, surgeons vary widely in what they require. If I don't lose enough on my own, two weeks before surgery I'll go on a liquid optifast-type diet. How much you'll be asked to lose seems to vary a lot too.

I'd be concerned if you weren't nervous, it's a huge decision. My best advice it take your time and research. Read here, it's a great source of info, and other places on the internet. Go to a seminar if there is one close to you. Look for surgeons in your area, many offer free seminars.

Welcome to the August crew!! :welcomeB: (having fun with smilies today!)

The problem for me is that when I drink, I want to eat. I nibble and snack and since food and alcohol so often go together, I'm learning to be careful now.

:whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo::whoo: Happy dance!!! I've had the same fear. That I'll show up and for whatever reason they won't be able to do the surgery.

My hubby does have ideas about how things should be, fortunatly we have pretty much the same taste. He's really good at arranging furniture in a room. But somehow, I'm still the one who sees that it does get dirty and need dusting!

Woo-hoo - it's finally August. :clap2: And pretty much everyone in the crew will go before me, so I hope to get lots of good advice. I'm just happy my little count-down ticker is under a month as of today. :faint: Good luck to us all.

I'm sorry you had to go through that, and happy you found someone else! I am aware the men cheat, like I said my dad did, an uncle did, a friend's hubby did and I had an ex-boyfriend cheat on me. Not saying I can't be fooled, but I guess I decided that unless/until DH gave me any cause to doubt, I would trust him. I don't want to live worried about it. Dropping by work actually sounds like fun, but his office is too far from mine, and we work about the same hours, he's usually home right before me. I have called him at work now and then when I needed his input on somthing, and he's always there.

Mine is home the same day. I'm self-pay, so I'm happy about that. Also, I really think I'll be more comfortable at home, hubby will be home with me for 5 days so I'll have someone to be sure I'm OK. My surgeon does do some as overnight stays, depends on your health and insurance requirments.

It is very beautiful! And who needs a lamp when you have a nightstand-cat!?

Hi Jodie, “Im going to crack down harder tomorrow” “I may start keeping an online eating journal so that I will have to post and will have to do right so I can post and not be embarassed.” “Im working on the Water situation now Im up to about 3 glass which is about half of what I should be drinking, but its an improvement from none.” I’m really glad you had the blood work done and it came back normal. That’s a good start! It does sound like you are dealing with a lot right now. It sounds like you are moving to go to school? If so, most campuses have a student health center that will treat students for free or on a sliding scale, at least they did when I was in college in the 80’s. Check into that. You know that you can’t depend on your mom, so you’ll have to keep thinking about how to take care of yourself. Hard lesson. I included the quotes from your first post above that I did because they kind of jumped out at me. You’ve said that you are doing all you are supposed to, but those statements might give you an idea of what else to look at. Just a thought, not trying to be mean or anything.

From a pre-band newbie THANKS! to all you more expererienced bandsters that help us through!!!

Very nicely written post. I can relate to so much of what you said. My husband was banded two years ago, he too chose it as self-pay rather then do the bypass our insurance would cover. I was terrified. I worried about him surviving the operation. I worried about him not losing weight and getting very depressed because he saw this as his last chance. I worried that he would lose weight and find someone prettier. Did I mention that I worried?! Well, he survived. He's healthier now then he's been in years. He's lost about 90 pounds, he's kind of taking his time with it. He looks good. I started to wonder if maybe there was something to this banding. So, I did more research. Ran some numbers, since I'm self-pay also. Made an appointment with his surgeon and said "OK, now I really have some questions". Got it all set up, got my date. Was told to lose 10-15 pounds and promptly gained 7! So now, I'm kind of in limbo. I had to wait until the end of August because of work deadlines. Giving me lots of time to think about how much this is going to cost, how much more in debt we will be. About how it will feel to have a device in me that has a say in what and how much I eat. How I'll feel if I can't, for whatever reason I think there might be, lose weight with this. I have a tendency to think things to death and over-analyze. To question my decisions. But I do feel this is a good choice for me. I've struggled with my weight since high school. I'll lose some, then slip up and gain it all back. I'm quite frankly tired of it. Of working so hard with nothing to show. I do realize that there is work ahead of me, but I feel like I'll have my little buddy to help. Hum, I think I need to come up with a name for my band... I agree, this is a journey and will be interesting. I have my op-day outfit picked out (A muu-muu from a recent trip to Hawaii), my shopping list written and my time of from work all figured out. Yay for us!

I agree. No matter what my size, I could find someone willing to sleep with me. Maybe not build a relationship, but for a night of fun there is always someone willing. I've also seen situations where the mistress isn't nearly as attractive as the wife being cheated on.

I read it, and it does cover both. Which would be helpful maybe if I were still in decision mode, but I had already decided on the band, so much of it just didn't apply. What did wasn't anything new to me.

Bingo. I would still know.

YAY Lenner!! I've been reading about your stuggles, and I'm really happy to read this!

Yep. I got my first one about a year ago at 42. My cousin got them in her 20's, hasn't had one for over 10 years now.

Sounds like mine. I don't get sick to my stomach very often with them either, including the sound and moveing around. I also get sensative to light. One thing my Dr said is that a headache that doesn't respond at all to things like Tylenol or Advil is very likely a migraine.

Shoot - I get a "video not available" error. My mom did see it, and in describing it to me she cracked me up. She said something like "They got it all wrong. They said 40% of people have complications, and that's just not true for the band". The only person she knows who is banded is DH, and me soon. And when he was banded 2 years ago, she wasn't very supportive of it, she thought it was too dangerous. So she has been paying attention!

Not that program, but as part of my pre-surgery prep I'm working on my habit if eating very quickly and not chewing. It struck me after a day or two of doing so that I was enjoying my food more, and being satisfied with less. Because I was taking the time to be aware of it and really tasting it. So it would make sense that doing so with quality food would be good.

LOL-I can understand that. There is a big part of me that's looking forward to a week of, with pain meds no less! Where I don't have to take care of everyone else, just me. I have some good books and movie set aside for then.

Very good, detailed account! Thanks for sharing that with us. Gee, so much to look forward to.

Woo-hoo, that is cool! I lost about 10 in two weeks, and started thinking maybe I could do it without the band. Then I hit 3 day stall and began to doubt that I could even with the band. Gee, mood swings anyone!? :tea:

I thought a bit about going to Mexico, and chose not to. For me, it was a combination of living in the Northern US, near Seattle. So it was a bit of a trip there and back, but more important I didn't like the idea of being that far from my surgeon. I wanted to be close to the practice for follow-up care and support, and the one I chose for a lot of reasons is about a 15 min drive from my house. I can go to the monthly support groups, my fills for a year are covered with the inital fee, and I can call or stop in with questions. Yes, I probably could have arranged that even if I got the surgery in Mexico, but this just feels better to me.