ShayDee

You wouldn't happen to be from Virginia would you? Lol.

Wow.. that actually sounds beneficial. Wish we had that stuff around here.. but I consider myself truly lucky to have just found a counselor here in town that could do my evaluation. Otherwise I'd still be waiting until Febuary 27th to get it done at the hospital and no oneeee else around here does them.. not even in neighboring towns. It's crazy. But I'm definately gonna ask about support groups for after the surgery, I almost think it should be mandatory.

wow, 12 weeks of group support meetings? Geesh. I mean, it's probably a good thing but that would just frustrate me after all the stuff I've been through to get here. I think the 6 month weight documentation went by the slowest.

Congrats!! Did they give you like a meal plan before leaving the hospital? Like how many Protein shakes to drink or what kinds of shakes? I'm coming close to my surgery and still have tons of questions about the after care part.. as far as what to eat and not to eat and i know you can't eat solids for a while and all that..

from what I gathered at the seminar and my consult with the surgeon.. he doesn't require a pre-op... he said if your liver is too large then we'll opt to do the open surgery rather than the small incisions? Dunno if that sounds right.

at my seminar we did the weigh in, a one-on-one with the surgeon AND blood work all in one day.

Welp, I got that over with and I guess it went as to be expected. She says the surgeon/insurance company doesn't like for the patient to be actively depressed, which I am, so I'll have to continue with counseling in order to have my surgery - which is fine.. I think I need it. But seriously.. who would not be depressed if they were a few pizzas and a half gallon of ice cream away from 300 lbs?! c'mon now. Now.. the waiting game.. wait for the hospital to call or write and let me know when i'm having the surgery.. so anxious so anxious!!

Welp, I got that over with and I guess it went as to be expected. She says the surgeon/insurance company doesn't like for the patient to be actively depressed, which I am, so I'll have to continue with counseling in order to have my surgery - which is fine.. I think I need it. But seriously.. who would not be depressed if they were a few pizzas and a half gallon of ice cream away from 300 lbs?! c'mon now. Now.. the waiting game.. wait for the hospital to call or write and let me know when i'm having the surgery.. so anxious so anxious!!

well if she doesn't notice ( and i'm sure she will because grandma's are notorious for noticing weight gain/loss ) CONGRATUALTIONS ON YOUR SUCCESS!!

Oh how I love these things.. 4 years ago I lost 45 lbs in 4 months on them and then I got pregnant and yada yada.. of course they took it off the shelves because of ephedra in it and people being nuts and taking too many BUT I think if you use them as recommended they can do wonders for people such as myself with low energy and extremely slow metabolism. Low and behold I found some online and just *had* to have them.. so I bought 2 bottles and I've lost 5 lbs in 4 days after about 2 months of no loss at all. I'm sooo glad and I have so much more energy now. And better news on top of that.. my psych evaulation got bumped up from Feb. 27th till January 9th! WOOHOO! Hopefully that means I'll have my surgery by atleast March 2007 *crosses fingers* bad news: I've got strep throat and an ear infection in both ears :youcandothis:

Oh how I love these things.. 4 years ago I lost 45 lbs in 4 months on them and then I got pregnant and yada yada.. of course they took it off the shelves because of ephedra in it and people being nuts and taking too many BUT I think if you use them as recommended they can do wonders for people such as myself with low energy and extremely slow metabolism. Low and behold I found some online and just *had* to have them.. so I bought 2 bottles and I've lost 5 lbs in 4 days after about 2 months of no loss at all. I'm sooo glad and I have so much more energy now. And better news on top of that.. my psych evaulation got bumped up from Feb. 27th till January 9th! WOOHOO! Hopefully that means I'll have my surgery by atleast March 2007 *crosses fingers* bad news: I've got strep throat and an ear infection in both ears

You had to do 2 seminars? :-O

Well, the drive was the worst of it... had to get up at 4:30am and drive almost 3 hours to the hospital but once I was there it was smooth sailing. There were only 9 people in our group seminar, 2 ( including myself ) opting for the band, the others were in desperate need of gastric and I say that not out of meanness but I stronly believe the band if for people who can still exercise and do that by not causing more harm than good to their bodies. I met a lot of nice people and the nutritionist and surgeon were so kind and took all the time I need to answer questions and I got the green flag from Dr. Schrimer for my band YAYAYAY! Now.. the psych evaulation.. why is it so hard to find a doctor to perform these? I tried my damnedest to find one closer to home with a no-go so back to UVA I go but honestly, I don't mind because I'm willing to take all the steps I can to get this done. I set a personal goal of walking 3 times a week and cutting back on soda and junk and I desperately need a food processor.. I was told to go ahead and start my multivitamins and calcium celtrate and if at all possible, lose some weight but it's not mandatory but I think I'll give it a shot anyways.. Which brings me to this, does anyone out there have any preop tips? Such as diets, things you did to prepare your body for the big lifestyle change? Please let me know. P.S. I also mentioned this website to my surgeon and told him how much all of you lovely people had helped me research this option and I appreciate all of your feedback so much. THANK YOU!

Well, the drive was the worst of it... had to get up at 4:30am and drive almost 3 hours to the hospital but once I was there it was smooth sailing. There were only 9 people in our group seminar, 2 ( including myself ) opting for the band, the others were in desperate need of gastric and I say that not out of meanness but I stronly believe the band if for people who can still exercise and do that by not causing more harm than good to their bodies. I met a lot of nice people and the nutritionist and surgeon were so kind and took all the time I need to answer questions and I got the green flag from Dr. Schrimer for my band YAYAYAY! Now.. the psych evaulation.. why is it so hard to find a doctor to perform these? I tried my damnedest to find one closer to home with a no-go so back to UVA I go but honestly, I don't mind because I'm willing to take all the steps I can to get this done. I set a personal goal of walking 3 times a week and cutting back on soda and junk and I desperately need a food processor.. I was told to go ahead and start my multivitamins and calcium celtrate and if at all possible, lose some weight but it's not mandatory but I think I'll give it a shot anyways.. Which brings me to this, does anyone out there have any preop tips? Such as diets, things you did to prepare your body for the big lifestyle change? Please let me know. P.S. I also mentioned this website to my surgeon and told him how much all of you lovely people had helped me research this option and I appreciate all of your feedback so much. THANK YOU!

So.. it all started out as my boss and his wife being arrested for child abuse.. which I had nothing to do with ( abusing the children, I mean ) but I *did* help with the investigation as far as telling them everything I knew and had saw and even wore a recorder when I was talking to them to get them admitting things on tape. So, they were arrested and the same day we all lost our jobs ( as to be expected ) BUT, come to find out.. I tried to draw unemployment, and the employment commission wants me to drop out of school to draw a check every week because going to class 8 hours a week ( 2 days of class, 4 hours a class ) is making me unavailable for full time work ( bullshit ) so, I had to file an appeal and have to go to a hearing.. anyway after ALL of that... Come to find out, they reopened the daycare I was working at and decided NOT to hire me back. Why? Dunno. I've been there the longest. Maybe they know I snitched? Not sure. But they are guilty as all hell, I know that much and even if I was offered a position to come back, I wouldn't. But now, I'm left without a job, no money, bills coming in everyday and my financial aid check is going to be later this time than it is usually and I'm getting so depressed sitting at home everyday but I've no choice because for one, I don't have a daycare anymore, 2 - my daycare assitance from Social Services was cancelled, 3 - I'm lucky to have enough gas money to make it to school those 2 days a week. *sighs* It's getting difficult but somehow we're managing. I just hope my luck gets better soon.

So.. it all started out as my boss and his wife being arrested for child abuse.. which I had nothing to do with ( abusing the children, I mean ) but I *did* help with the investigation as far as telling them everything I knew and had saw and even wore a recorder when I was talking to them to get them admitting things on tape. So, they were arrested and the same day we all lost our jobs ( as to be expected ) BUT, come to find out.. I tried to draw unemployment, and the employment commission wants me to drop out of school to draw a check every week because going to class 8 hours a week ( 2 days of class, 4 hours a class ) is making me unavailable for full time work ( bullshit ) so, I had to file an appeal and have to go to a hearing.. anyway after ALL of that... Come to find out, they reopened the daycare I was working at and decided NOT to hire me back. Why? Dunno. I've been there the longest. Maybe they know I snitched? Not sure. But they are guilty as all hell, I know that much and even if I was offered a position to come back, I wouldn't. But now, I'm left without a job, no money, bills coming in everyday and my financial aid check is going to be later this time than it is usually and I'm getting so depressed sitting at home everyday but I've no choice because for one, I don't have a daycare anymore, 2 - my daycare assitance from Social Services was cancelled, 3 - I'm lucky to have enough gas money to make it to school those 2 days a week. *sighs* It's getting difficult but somehow we're managing. I just hope my luck gets better soon.

hi.. I have virginia medicaid and lets see... they told me I had to get a referral from my PCP so I went to do that.. and I had to do 3 months weight documentation to go with the other 3 months I'd already done.. finally got a preop date which is Dec. 14 and I'm waiting for my stack of paperwork the hospital is suppose to be sending me in the mail. So all in all, I guess it wasn't long... just the weight documentation took sooooo long.

Not that I recommend it to anyone.. So a week or two ago... I kept smelling a funky order in my home and I thought maybe a mouse had died in my sofa because it was coming from that area and after a thorough search under and around the couch I couldn't find anything. I told my bf to throw it away because well, mice creep me out and I certainly don't want a dead one in my couch. So he did... and maybe 2 hours after he got back from the dump... I noticed the smell was still here, got to looking and found out I had stupidly forgotten Water in my carpet shampooer and it became stagnent ( sp? ) and started to reek. GREAT! There goes my couch for nothing! ( it was old and worn out anyway ) Anyhoo... to my point.. Since the couch is where I'd always eat my meals and watch tv and snack all the time since it's gone and I don't like my bf recliner.. I don't sit and eat anymore.. lol I think I've lossed maybe 3 lbs since the couch has been gone and more to come --- if this makes sense or you can relate.. let me know so I don't feel so strange. lol

I need to start inforcing that rule here.

I tried Merida ( not banded ) and it didn't work for me. It gave me the jitters and stuff though.

I don't know if someone has already said this because I didn't read all the posts and I haven't even been banded yet but I've read and heard so much from this site and the wonderful people here... The band is just a tool and *you* have to change your lifestyle. You can't just have the surgery and wake up expecting to be skinny and your mind will only tell you to eat good foods. Like I said, I haven't even been banded but reading a lot of these threads I've changed my way of eating and the things I eat because I know when I have the surgery, in order for it to work and make a difference I have to put forth a lot of effort myself.

Hi, my pre-op date is scheduled for Dec 14th.. just wondering if you could give some examples of what you had to go through so I'd know what to expect.. lol Thanks

Well, figured out why I had the blahs... apperantly, I'm either coming down with a really bad cold or the flu.. I spent atleast 15 hours in bed yesterday with cold chills that hurt so bad.. it was like someone poking me with nails all over my body and then the fever kicked in and felt like i had 3rd degree sunburn. I haven't felt that sick since before Jared was born when I had the flu.. lol But, I feel better today but I can feel my chest starting to tighten and I know I'm gonna start coughing my head off any time now.

Well, figured out why I had the blahs... apperantly, I'm either coming down with a really bad cold or the flu.. I spent atleast 15 hours in bed yesterday with cold chills that hurt so bad.. it was like someone poking me with nails all over my body and then the fever kicked in and felt like i had 3rd degree sunburn. I haven't felt that sick since before Jared was born when I had the flu.. lol But, I feel better today but I can feel my chest starting to tighten and I know I'm gonna start coughing my head off any time now.

Thanks, Teresita..