KarynA

This is probably a reaaally dumb question (one I should know the answer to)... but WHY is it a bad idea to drink with meals? Does it make you feel sick? Does it wash the food down and defeat the purpose? Is it bad for the band?

Nervous excitement? Ya, I know just what you mean. There's a lot of support and information here... tons actually. I'm trying to take it all in. Yesterday, I read about three or four pages of surgery stories, just so that I could get a sense for what is likely to happen to me. I feel pretty good about that part of it now. Anyway, welcome! Is your surgery date the 8th (comment) or the 9th (signature)?

You know, it never even crossed my mind. I was thinking that I should probably suck it up and take a handful of 'before' pics prior to starting the pre-op diet, but I was dreading taking pictures of myself with clothes on! Nudes (or bathing suit) photos never entered my mind. But I do think it's a GREAT idea. What better way to see the difference?... and you'll never be this size again, so there's only one chance. I'll let you know if I work up the nerve.

*Please let me know if I inadvertently omitted someone... or if there's a new December Bandster to add. Week 1 Tuesday, December 1: Melinco (date tbd) Wednesday, December 2: garden-nut, yosemite Thursday, December 3: tbird1211, dmdsanchez, suzycooke, mommymya, sxygma130 Friday, December 4: kslessar, KarynA Week 2 Monday, December 7: lackey4, RadioGirl311, skinnybitch Tuesday, December 8 Wednesday, December 9: michelleintheoc Thursday, December 10: msjoachin1 Friday, December 11 Week 3 Monday, December 14: j-mae, Drasan (date tbd) Tuesday, December 15: voodoo, BigMomma Wednesday, December 16 Thursday, December 17: librarychick Friday, December 18: bren5500 Week 4 Monday, December 21: hunybear53 Tuesday, December 22: illuminationlady Wednesday, December 23 Thursday, December 24 Friday, December 25

I, for one, keeping coming to this site to see if anyone else is as freaked-out as me!

I had a similar thing happen when I got my first mammogram. They told me that a call-back and then a 6-mo. recheck was fairly common because they don't know what's normal and what's not the first time. Now they have a benchmark. Anyway, it IS scary.... definitely. But now you have something to look forward to! Make sure to share when you have a date set. I'm keeping a running log so that I remember to pray for (and send positive energy to) that person on the day of the surgery.

"I haven't seen 600 calories since infancy" - now THAT'S classic!.. Love it. Have a great day everyone!... it's getting closer and closer to December.

The Christmas gift to yourself makes complete and PERFECT SENSE to me. And congrats on the three pounds! What's that they say?... "the journey of a hundred pounds begins with a single pound" -?? Something like that anyway. :smile2: I spent my weekend picking-up random items that I've seem mentioned on the board... High Protein Boost was on sale at CVS, so I bought six six-packs. I bought mango-flavored liquid Vitamins (and Papaya enzymes) at Whole Foods... and looked for, but couldn't find Beneprotein. I have a food processor, a hand mixer and a blender... I don't need an emulsifier, do I? Geez, it it's almost like I'm pregnant and nesting!

You have my prayers. And don't worry, it'll be okay. I don't know about you, but it's stress and anxiety that make me want a cigarette more than anything else, so no worries. The medicine works. Just know that it does and let it. As far as when it'll work - everyone's different... different sizes, different habits, different triggers... so forgive yourself if, for example, on day 8 or 9 (when you're not supposed to smoke anymore), you feel like you have to have a drag. You'll notice that the cigerette tastes really bad and eventually that urgent feeling will go away. You can do it! I promise. I'm right behind you. Not counting a drag here and there, I've been a non-smoker since 9/12/09. And I just got my surgery date - it's 12/4. Yay!

THANK YOU. I thought the day would never come! And I had gotten the call right THEN. If I'm trippin' out about anything right now... it's tortillas. I can never have them again? Ever? Really? I'm hispanic. Its okay - I'll get over it. But I wonder if tabasco and salsa are okay....?....

Okay... I'm kind of chuckling over the "if you're in pretty good shape" comment... because... well... I'M NOT! I DO appreciate getting the benefit of the doubt though! Thank you for that. And honestly, now that you mention it... I recovered pretty quickly from gallbladder sugery last year. And this time, I'm keeping all my internal organs, right?! So it'll be good... ya, it'll be alright. I'll plan on going back the Wednesday after that Friday and if I need more time, I'll just take it. You're doing great, by the way!...

Rachel and kslessar, I just found out that I'm getting banded on 12/4 as well! I hope you'll both stay in touch... My husband knows, a friend of mine at work knows and I plan on telling my boss and sister - but I think that's it. We'll see. I think (or I hope anyway) that it might eventually become obvious.

Great information all around... thank you. It's amazing to me how the time-off afterwards varies from person to person (and how many people have hernias - I never realized). Desperate1, that was a combination of devoted, ambitious and... nuts to be catering a party just a few days later. It's good to know it can be done if necessary. But no. I have a (sedentary) desk job and I'll definitely be taking at least a FEW days. Since I work for a place that closes-up shop for two weeks at the end of the year, I won't be able to take too much time off before then. I guess I'll just have to wait till then to get my fill of trash t.v. .... and heal. Great advice! Omg. I have a date - I just got it. It's Friday, December 4th. (Breathe) Holy crap.

Good for you! You'll certainly get a lot of support HERE and hopefully your husband will come around. I'm sure he will. My husband loves me 'as is' too (God bless him - I don't know how I got so lucky) and only recently figured out just how important this lapband journey was to me. He really had no idea how often I thought about my weight and how many decisions were affected by my size... until I told him. Then one night, I was talking to him and leaning on our island (with my weight on my arms and elbows), and he said. "you do that a lot - are you okay?" and I said "ya, it's just hard to hold myself up sometimes". And then I saw the lightbulb go off. It's hard to be heavy... it's exhausting. He didn't know. Ever since then, he's been really supportive of the procedure....but he's scared too (being that its surgery and all). Maybe your husband is as well. Anyway - best of luck to you!

THANK YOU! I'm gonna copy and paste this into an email and send it to myslef. Lots of good information! You're awesome.

I'll be outpatient as well. I asked my surgeon how long the whole procedure would take and he said, "30 minutes". He also said that he once did in 27 minutes, but that it's usually more like 30 because he likes to take his time and do it right. Then I asked him how much time I needed to take off work. And he said "what time?... Iwe can schedule you for the surgery on a Friday and you can go back to work on Monday.... unless you want some time off and then I can write you a note." Does this sound about right to everyone.... or is my guy a little off?

Congratulations! That's awesome. I'm waiting for my date to be set and thinking that it'll be right about then as well.

I'm HOPING to be December, if not November bandster. I've been taking Chantix since September 12th and... miracle of miracles... it's working. I remember smoking that first week while taking it (because you can) and on the last day thinking that there is no way in heck I'm not going to want a cigarette tomorrow. And I did... but the urge goes away. It really isn't awful. I've actually given myself the 'okay' to have a cigarette a day (originally, I gave myself the okay to have two) and most days, I just don't want or need one... at all. I do feel a little bit depressed (side effect), but honestly, I think that has more to do with the not knowing when my surgery will be. Anyway, I just thought I'd share my experience. Good luck to you... on all fronts! :thumbup:

I don't know if you can take medication (?), but I recently quit smoking (9/12/09) using Chantix. I heard that some people become depressed on it, but it's really working for me and I was skeptical. Also, congrats on the surgery date. I don't know yet if I'll be a November or December bandster... fingers are crossed.