susidivah

Oh my gosh Elizabeth, me and my coworkers talk about the drink sizes at fast food places all the time! It has gotten insane!!! And amen to portion distortion... as you probably know many other countries do NOT have this issue (nor the obesity issues either), but I am not going to go there... In response to the OP, I too have gotten some smaller plates and utensils. I asked for some 4oz ramekin bowls for Christmas to make lil quiches and such. Using the smaller dinnerware was one of the first things my mom suggested for she did it when she had RNY in the early 1980's. She still uses salad plates much of the time for her meals.

Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays to each of you! My name is Susan, I'm 41 years old, single with no children. I live in the South Suburbs of Chicago. This journey for me has been a long, but enlightening one. I've been heavy pretty much all my life, with my highest weight coming about 2 years ago after thyroid issues leading to thyroidectomy, discovering thyroid cancer, and being hypothyroid for several months while have treatment. Also going on anti depressant meds didn't help Anyway, bariatric surgery is not new to me as my mom had RNY bypass back in the early 1980's. She has been successful at keeping about 2/3 of the weight off, but has had anemia and B-12 deficiency since the surgery. I'm not sure how I started reading up on LapBand, for a long time I was kinda anti-gastric bypass. But I researched starting in Sept 2009 and attended my first seminar in Nov 2009. After all the requirements hoops and such I was approved and set for November 8th. I think some of you have heard this in the post op thread but technically I "had" the surgery, minus the band There was a little complication not related to the actual banding and my wonderful surgeon decided to hold off for a few weeks to make sure no infection came up. Sooooo I have been thru the gas pain, abdominal pain, etc, but got to go back on solids for 2 weeks and just have to do 3 days liquid now before Monday So round two the 29th... I am very anxious to get started with getting healthier. I have a few comorbidities such as hypertension and prediabetes that I trust will get better by losing weight. Also there are so many things I want to still do while I'm "young" lol most of them involve being ACTIVE. But in my head and what my body can do now and two different things. I thank God often for this gift and opportunity. Best wishes to you all and I appreciate your posts and updates! I think that support by others who are going thru it is important for all of us!!! God bless and see you around!

Hello, I too am being banded on the 29th It has been a year of diet, nutrition consults, pre op tests, PCP appts, etc and I feel I am REALLY ready for this! Pre op liquid diet has been the toughest part and I'm trying to give myself credit that I've been able to do it! I wish everyone best of luck and prayers come Monday... soon we shall be official bandsters too!!! Susan

Hey there, I'm a Chicago South Suburban gal :thumbup: I will be banded on November 29th at Rush Univ Med Center. Dr. Myers is my surgeon. The journey has been about a year so far and have learned so much and am ready for this! Good luck to you! Susan

Well guys, I'm almost ready to go catch the train to go downtown to the hotel in the medical district I'm staying tonight! :smile2: 5:15am call time tomorrow for surgery, surgery is at 7:15am! I have a feeling I will be a morning person tomorrow (I usually ain't!) Thank you all for sharing your experiences both pre op and post op... they have really helped me to prepare for this and after a year of learning and hoop jumping, I am confident I'm ready to do this! Will post back here and on the POST op Nov thread either tomorrow nite or Tuesday! Continued prayers are with you all also! Susan

I have BC/BS HMO Blue Advantage, and the actual approval for the surgery after everything was submitted took less than 24 hrs :eek: I was told by my surgeon my medical group turned it around pretty quickly if they had everything. The slow part in my whole experience with this was my PCP office... since everything had to go thru them, being HMO, I trusted they'd do it TIMELY. Didn't happen unfortunately but hey, it's done and they will have a nice complaint letter coming to them after I am healed and feel up to writing that...

Hey Cheryl, my banding buddy... we almost there girl!!! :eek: And happy birthday to you, what a wonderful gift you are giving yourself this year! :thumbup: The Magic Bullet is the bomb! I've had mine since a previous diet several years ago (involving shakes of course!). But you can do a whole lot with it, puree, blend, etc. What a nice gift from your co-workers! To all... I'm enjoying reading everyone's pre op experiences, surgery experiences, and the early post op ones... good to know I'm not the only one going thru some of the feelings and such about it all! Continued thoughts and prayers are with you all! :tt2: Susan

Yay John!!! Congrats to you and so glad to hear it's not too bad for you! Knew you would do well tho... keep us posted and in a week, I too shall be posting!

Yay, Novembers almost here!!! Best wishes and prayers to all!!! Will be thinking of you November 1st-ers tomorrow :wink2: Mine is one week from tomorrow... and this liquid diet thingy is getting easier! :smile2:

Bella, that is awesome!!! And your surgery date is awesome too... it's my niece's 9th birthday :sneaky: Mine is the 8th and I'm on day 3 of liquid diet... so far not toooooo bad :w00t: Good luck to you on your journey!!! Prayers going out to all the November bandsters in prep for our "big" days!!! Look forward to hearing your progress... feel free to pm me if you need a buddy too :drool: Susan

OMG do you want the long or short list :blushing: So glad you started this thread ape... for since the beginning of my journey about a year (darn HMO and their hoops) I have been making a list of things I am looking forward to doing again, or trying, upon weight loss :smile2: I've kept it to myself, but here are the biggies for me... 1. Getting off my medications- all or most of all 7 of them 2. Taking up dancing again- ballroom, salsa, and jazz 3. Getting into the Couch to 5k program and training/runnning a 5k (shhhh don't tell my dad, he's a former marathoner!) 4. Not having to worry that an outfit or artice of clothing I'd like to buy isn't in my size 5. Having my 8 year old niece be able to wrap her arms around me when she hugs me... my sis and fam are missionairies to Taiwan and will be back on furlough in 2012. Last year, my niece Carmen made mention of the hug and encouraged me to exercise :wub: I wish all of you the best in your journeys and thanks for sharing for I know it helps me a lot!!! God bless

Hang in there John! And keep posting... it will help you as well as others :smile2: Me for one as I just started my pre-op diet today (getting banded on Nov 8th) :blushing: I can't even imagine day 9!!! Good luck and God bless! S

I usually mix mine with skim milk or almond milk as I'm not a fan of vanilla with Water either... Some things I've added: fruit (mostly blueberries and strawberries), pumpkin spice with a lil splenda, Peanut Butter, SF Divinci syrups (I have irish creme, hazelnut, caramel, and raspberry), SF general foods coffee... :blushing:

Hi Stephens, and welcome! :smile2: You will find a lot of great information and support here! I too am from Illinois and finally coming up to the "big day" (November 8th)... my insurance required a 6 mo medically supervised diet, and since it was HMO had to go thru the hoops and red tape with the PCP as well. I've learned so much tho and feel much more prepared! There are other Illinoisans on here whom I'm sure will pop up! May I ask whereabouts are you in Illinois? I'm in the Chicago burbs and will be banded at Rush University Medical Center. Best of luck to you and please holler on the boards or in pm if you need anything! :blushing: God bless, Susan

Praying for you JB! He's got you in His Hands :w00t: It will be over before you know it and like the others said you will wonder why you were so anxious and worried! Now mind you, I have not had the surgery yet (Nov 8th is my date) and I know I'll be a lil anxious at least! But, I too have had other surgeries including a thyroidectomy and neck dissection for lymph nodes... and gallbladder which the bariatric surgeon said is actually very similar to this laproscopically. Sooooo, sorry couldn't spared you my complete medical history but in a nutshell, take a deep breath and think of all that lies ahead on the journey! Looking forward to your next post... God bless! Susan

I use three things... blender ball bottle (with the whisk ball thingy), regular blender, and magic bullet. I've had the blender and magic bullet for a few years now and my sister bought me the bb bottle. Honestly I like all three. It seems the magic bullet and regular blender give it more of a frothy shake texture, where the bottle is more of a drink mix. I use a variety of protein powders and usually mix them with skim milk or almond milk.

Welcome to all newbies to the November thread! :smile: BacktoBest- feel free to send me a private message if you'd like and we could buddy up :hurray: And congrats also on your little one! Wow, some of you are gonna be doing 3 wks pre op diet? I start my 2 wk pre op on the 25th and already trying to get all the "junk" and off limits stuff outta my place to avoid temptation! Mine is a full liquid diet and I think I'm more nervous about it than the actual surgery :w00t: For those of you wondering about medications... my surgeon told me that if it is the size of an M and M or smaller you shouldn't have to crush it or get liquid form. But I'd do what is comfortable for you. I'm gonna still talk to my pharmacist about some of my pills... Has anyone looked into any chewable vitamins to take post op? I even have Flintstones on my list :grouphug:

Hey fearless, welcome... my date is Nov 8th as well! :puke: And I feel much the same as you a lil scared but also to the point of being scared not to try something different to help with my obesity! Hello to everyone else also It's so exciting to see more and more add to this thread everyday! Our time is coming ladies and gents!!!!:crying:

My "to-go" date as of now is November 8th. I attended my first seminar around November 15th of last year. Because of my HMO and medical group I was required to do a 6 month medically supervised diet (December thru May) then there was some delay from my PCP office (surprise surprise) on referrals and such. Just finished all my pre tests about 2 weeks ago and see the PCP tomorrow for my medical clearance. The final surgeon appt (next week), final insurance approval and 2 week pre op diet will put me there! :thumbup: Finally...

Hi all! I just got my tentative surgery date today, November 8th! :smile2: It will be almost a week short of a year since beginning the journey with my first seminar... with my 6 mo medically supervised diet and all the hoops from my HMO, etc, it's finally hitting me that it is really almost HERE :mad: But I am thrilled and so glad to have this site and forums to learn and meet others going thru the same! Good luck to you all and hit me up if you want to be LB buddies! God bless, Susan

Hi Swiss et al! I too am from the Chicago area, southwest suburbs to be exact! :scared2: I too am pre-op now going thru all the tests and such before finalizing with the insurance and setting a date (HOPING for end of Sept/early Oct)... I too have to do a 14 day liquid diet and feel you there Swiss! My surgeon says it's a lot easier after the first 3-4 days. As for advice, well this site is AMAZING... I have probably learned more from here than from my 6 mo medically supervised diet, docs and handouts combined. It is a good place to get info and to bring anything to your bariatric team if you have questions about how they practice. Best of luck to you and I'm here for support if you need anything! :confused: Susan

Hey moonbeam, I've been browsing the forums tonight and saw your post. I'm sorry to hear you have to go through surgery and treatment again. I too have had thyca, found AFTER a total thyroidectomy two years ago, but fortunately did not affect the lymph nodes and every scan I've had since has been clear. I had met a couple of people in a support group I used to attend that had to have the neck dissection to remove lymph nodes after the cancer came back (I think in both cases it was like after 10 years or more?) Sorry I don't know too much about the side effects, etc, other than they both had RAI again afterwards. You will be in my prayers, moon, and please send me a message if you ever want to talk or anything Also, you have done something for me.... I am at the beginning of my journey- i.e. insurance "hoops" to get approved for surgery- and was concerned about the whole thyroid and Synthroid thing and how it affects the effectiveness of the band. Your success has encouraged me, and btw congrats on getting to your goal! God bless, Susan

Hello friends, Well, I've been around LBT for some time now, mostly as a lurker but have posted a couple times and messaged back and forth with a few peeps. But here's my "formal" intro now that the ball is moving a lil faster with my journey :ohmy: I began in December 2009 with the "mandatory" 6 month supervised diet (per my HMO). Once a month class with the dietitian and I'll tell you, it was probably one of the best things I could have done. Learned a whole lot about the stages of the LapBand diet, nutrition requirements, etc. So got a good start with 5% down in 5 months. Then there was a delay with the paperwork going in for approval for the surgeon consult cuz my PCP wanted to see me first but this wasn't communicated to me :mad: Long story short, I saw her 2 weeks ago, it was submitted to the medical group and approved and I see the surgeon for the consult on August 18th :present: I've been "up and down" with keeping up my diet and exercise I think partly due to losing some motivation due to that delay. So I shall be back here to encourage others, seek encouragement, and continue to learn! I truly feel this tool is what I need to get me and keep me healthy in the long run! God bless you all in your journeys and thanks for listening (((hugs))) Susan

Hi Kristin! I too am a lil older than you (40), but am also with BCBSIL... am in my 2nd month of 6 month required supervised diet, so still pretty new to all this! I am also in the South Suburbs, and if all is approved will be having my surgery performed at Rush. I mostly have been lurking here since joining but had to post to your thread since you are so close! Best of luck to you in your continued journey, and this is a great site for information and support :smile2: Holler too if you need anything... God bless! Susan