Julie, I am in the same situation. I was banded on the 7th also and i only told my husband and the two girls that I have lunch with every day. They have all been told not to say a thing. I did not even tell my mom ( she came by on Thursday and noticed I was not dong well, I told her I had Hernia surgery, which is somewhat true, cause they did a hernia repair also. As soon as she got home she called my aunts and told them, hence the reason I did not tell her the truth, she can not keep secrets from my aunts which then tell my cousins and so on.....I have not been eating much for a couple months before surgery and following the rules for after surgery, so that when I go somewhere with her now she will not notice a difference. If you need someone to talk with you, I am here. We will be on the same schedule. I can say that i still have the shoulder pain and the gas pain. i will say just do what you feel comfortable with, if that is keeping it from your family than so be it...it is your decision and you have to deal with the outcome, no one else can...if you need someone to talk with I am here, I live in california, so I am 3 hours different but am home for 6 weeks so will be around at different hours.