Kristy29

Got my band today. Port area is slightly uncomfortable, but if I lay down on my back I don't feel it. But I am sitting up now as I can't stand to stay laying down all the time. It's only slightly more uncomfortable to be sitting. Lots of gas, but it's not painful yet, just uncomfortable. Been sipping water and iced tea all day, and I don't feel thirsty anymore like I did in the hospital. Been walking also, it does help the gas. I am staying at a hotel to be near the hospital for the night, and I have been walking in my night gown and hospital socks up and down the hallway, I am sure everyone thinks I'm nuts. The first time I still had my iv bandage and hospital bracelet on, but now I don't so who knows what they think, lol. I can't wait until Monday when I can have protein shakes and especially my vitamins. I got gummy ones and they taste like candy, and I can chew them too haha. It's the little things in life, really. Hope everyone else who got banded this week are doing ok.

Hi, my surgery is Thursday as well and I had my pre-op today. So nervous that sometimes I want to puke. Keeping busy this week though, tomorrow is dh's birthday so I am taking him for a couples massage in the morning, then working in the afternoon, then probably going out with him. Wednesday morning I am babysitting and then having a party for dh at night. So I don't have much time to think about it but when I do I am sooooooo nervous!

I am wondering what I should wear to the hospital, because I am wondering what would be most comfortable to wear home. I assume I don't want anything tight around the waist, so I was thinking of actually wearing a casual cotton dress.

I have already done my 3 month pre-op diet, plus an additional month because I hadn't lost my 5%. I did all my pre-op testing (cardiologist, egd, psych eval, etc) during the 3 months. I have everything I need, and met with my surgeon on Monday. That day he scheduled my surgery for August 26th, so a little over 2 weeks out. They also sent my paperwork into the insurance company that day, so I had my date before my approval. It makes sense to me, since they can easily cancel my surgery if I don't get approval, but this way I am already on the schedule when I do get approved. I am glad they do it this way, because I am going to Japan on October 25th, and I wanted my surgery to be as far away from that day as possible. This way it is exactly 2 months minus 1 day, so the timing is good.

I had an EGD, and I have never had any gastric problems. It is a standard procedure done on every patient with my surgeon. Zeniada, I would ask your surgeon about it, apparently the culture is pretty important to have before being banded. As for the op, I was so nervous too. Like you, I had never been put under for anything. It was so quick, though, and I felt fine after. Apparently the whole thing took less than 10 minutes. The worst part for me was after, because I had no memory of going to sleep. The last thing I remember was closing my eyes, but I was still awake. Then the nurse was shaking me awake. It was uneasy for me to have lost that block of time. But I left the office within 20 minutes of the procedure and it really was no big deal.

My first consult was 5/24 and my surgery date is 8/26.

Yes, that does make sense. I do think that is part of it for me, thanks. I really don't need people watching my every move and checking me out to see if I've lost anything and commenting on it. I think it will be a hard enough journey in my own head without other people joining in. He tried to tell me I should be proud that I am doing this to make my life better, but I told him I feel the opposite. I feel like I failed and that's why it's come to this. He totally didn't understand that. He is not ideal weight, but the most he's ever been overweight is by 30 lbs, and when he chooses to lose it, he can do it in a couple of months. So it's hard for him to understand. I wish he could just be inside my head so I didn't have to explain it to him.

Hey all. Just found out today that I am getting banded on August 26th. I am so so so so so nervous!! One question I have is about telling people. I don't want to tell my in-laws, and dh keeps asking why. I don't have a clear answer for him, I just know I don't want them knowing. I told him I don't want them telling the whole world, which I know his mother will do, so that's part of it. But can anyone else better verbalize for me why they don't want to tell people? I just can't seem to explain it to him so he understands, and I tried to tell him that I can't explain it and that he needs to just follow my wishes, but he seems to want more reasoning than that. And another problem is that he works with his brother and he needs to come up with an excuse as to why he is taking time off. He can't just say he is taking off and not give a reason, his brother will pry and then tell their mother who will call and nag us about it. What should he say??? He's a great liar, but we just can't come up with a logical explanation that won't elicit more questions.

Hey all, I just got my date today, and it is August 26th!! It's nice to be going through this with others! Is anyone else freaking out?? I almost feel like I want to throw up I am so nervous. I have never had surgery, never been in the hospital, never had a broken bone, nothing! My egd was the first time I ever had any anesthesia. I haven't even had gas at the dentist!! Ever since this afternoon I have this huge urge to call the whole thing off. But I know I need to do this. I have never been able to lose weight on my own, and without losing weight I won't ever be able to have children.

So many times in the past, I have tried to diet. I have always failed. I do everything I'm supposed to, follow all the rules, and nothing. Maybe I'll lose 5 lbs, I think once I lost 10. But that's it. Well, I got my pre-op bloodwork done, and when I went into my surgeon's office to meet with the nurse practitioner, she said my thyroid levels were off. So now I am wondering if my doctor ever checked them before. Every time I would go in to see him, I would get a lecture about losing weight. If he never checked my thyroid, and I have been suffering and struggling with my weight all this time, I will be pissed. If I could have been taking a pill that could have helped (I know fixing my hypothyroidism won't magically make me lose, but it will make me lose when I am trying). Every time I would go on a diet and nothing would happen, I would get so frustrated and quit. And then feel like a failure. And even my husband made me feel like a failure, because he would always say well you must be doing it wrong because you aren't losing. Even though he would be eating the same things and he would lose weight. All that suffering, and it could have been prevented with one blood test!!!!! :confused::cuss::cuss::cuss::thumbup::cuss::tt2::cuss::cuss:

Ok, I found it too! My husband went to a grocery store last night we rarely go to because it's further away, and they had 6 packs. He bought 2, even though they had more. I think I'll go back today and get some more!

I finally found some when I happened to stop in the Bronx on the way to Connecticut. It was really good!! I am sad it's being discontinued, and even sadder I only got to have it once.

So I am pre-op. My doctor and my insurance both require that I lose 5% of my weight before my surgery, which is 15 lbs. The first month I lost 4.5 lbs. Then when I went back last Thursday for my psych eval, I was only down another .5 lb. When I went on Monday for my final monthly appointment, I was back up almost to my starting weight, which means I gained 4.5 lbs in just 4 days. Now they can't submit to my insurance and I have to go back in another month. They gave me Phentermine to help, and I took it yesterday. I noticed that it did curb my hunger, until I had about a half hour left of work and I was suddenly starving. As if the pill had worn off and all my hunger came at me at once. But luckily I was able to deal with it and go home and eat dinner. Usually I am hungry all through work and end up snacking on bad food. The worst part about this is I wanted to be banded in August because I am going to Japan in October and I wanted to have significant time between the surgery and the trip. Now it looks like I will either have the surgery close to the trip, or I will have to wait until after. Which sucks because I work in retail and that means I will have to take off right at the busiest time. I am so mad at myself for failing. I hate that I have to lose this weight. I have never lost 15 lbs ever in my adult life, and that is why I am getting the band. I wish I could get the surgery without the weight loss, it would be so much easier.

Yes, that is the diet I am on. I do a Protein shake for Breakfast and lunch, with something to go with it (fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese, salad) and then a low carb meal for dinner. I also have a snack since my work hours force me to go about 7-8 hours between meals. I was doing good and that's how I lost the 5 lbs, but then I cheated a little and wham it all came back. I mean I was still eating good more than half the time, including Protein shakes at least once a day, but it didn't matter.

My office verified me while I was in the seminar. I would definitely call them.

Well, usually with insurance, your starting weight is what they use. So if you do go through with the weights, and then go back without them and weigh less, it won't matter. With my doctor, he requires a 5% weight loss or he won't do the surgery. I would talk to your surgeons office and see what they say before you lie to them. I don't know why it would be hard to go about proving your co-morbidities. You should have medical records that show you have whatever disease you have. My insurance requires a letter of medical necessity from my pcp, and in it he stated that he had been treating me for diabetes and he thought I would benefit from the surgery. So that right there proved my co-morbidity (even though my bmi is 50 so it wasn't even necessary). I think you are making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be.

My doctor recommends protein shakes, for all stages of weight loss up until goal. Right now I am pre-op, but in the early stages. I don't even have approval or a date scheduled yet. In order to lose the 5% of my weight required by my surgeon to have the surgery, I am supposed to drink 2 shakes per day as a meal replacement, and eat one healthy meal. I am also allowed to have a small piece of fruit, a yogurt or some salad with the shake to help me feel full. Post op will be the same diet once I move on from full liquids. I don't know why every doctor does things different, but this is what my doctor has told me is good. Do I agree with it? Not really. I would rather eat 3 healthy meals a day. My surgeon also requires my diet to be low carb, including no beans or nuts. Fruit and veggies are ok, but other than that it's all about the lean protein (chicken, turkey, tofu, fish, and shakes). I have asked multiple times why it has to be low carb, why no nuts, etc. Every time they say that they have found people have the most success when they follow that plan. I have been trying to lose weight my whole life, and it's never worked. I figure I might as well at least try it their way, because what I'm doing hasn't worked.

I had been looking forward to trying this since I saw him make it on the Apprentice. Unfortunately, I work at CVS and for some odd reason, we don't carry Snapple!! I never go anywhere else, but now that I've heard it's good, I'm going to have to make a point to find it somewhere!!

So I have been eating greek yogurt, but I have been buying the plain one to avoid all the sugar. Well I bought some DaVinci sugar free syrup, and I added it to my yogurt tonight and it was really good! I used the irish cream one, but I also bought watermelon and pumpkin pie. Tomorrow I am going to try and make a smoothie with the watermelon, since I am sooooo jealous that Dunkin Donuts just came out with a watermelon coolatta.

Abracadabra is right, I eat the greek yogurt for the extra protein, as recommended by my dietitian. And the flavored ones have twice as many carbs, so to find a way to flavor the plain one without adding any carbs is great.

Well, actually most protein powders have about 100-130 calories per scoop and 20ish grams of protein (at least the ones I've tried). So 2 scoops is still within that calorie range and then it has 24 grams of protein, which is a good amount.

That's encouraging. I also have Aetna, and since I am flying overseas in October I am hoping the process takes as little time as possible so I can have the most possible time between surgery and my trip.

Ok, I have a problem with a lot of what was in the article. First of all, with the lawyer, if her band was so tight that nothing was going down, she should have gone to a doctor or the er or something. Second, with the teenager with the perforated stomach, why is a teenager having the surgery to begin with? And with the last patient, why did she have the surgery if she only weighed 156 lbs? In that case, I think it is the doctor and the patients fault for going through with the surgery. Even if that was her weight 6 weeks out, she couldn't have possible been big enough to justify the surgery.

My sister had gastric bypass, and she actively gained weight in order to qualify. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Interesting thing though, when I went for my seminar the nurse actually talked about this. She said that if you are borderline, and then go on the pre-op diet, it won't matter because the insurance takes your weight from that day. Maybe call your insurance and tell them that you weighed this much at your appointment, and you want to lose a few lbs during the pre-op phase because you know it will make surgery easier on your body. My doc requires a 5% weight loss or he will not perform the surgery, so not losing is not an option.

I use Sparkpeople. It is connected to the website, and you can enter your food on your computer or your phone. There is also a huge community on Sparkpeople, with different Spark Teams. I am a member of the lap band spark teams. I like how I can enter my food from my phone, because when I am out I don't have to remember to do it when I get home. But then I like how I can use many more features on the website.