angyl2314

I waited until the first possible day following the holidays...Jan 3rd. I am excited!

Hmmm...still no January people?

As my surgery date gets closer, I start thinking more about whether or not I should do this. I finally got my answer last night when I was going through old pictures. I was fat in each and every single picture, no matter when it was taken. Enough is enough...I am done with that. Ready to move on. 23 more days. Thank God for the holidays...hopefully time will pass quickly.

She was scheduled for surgery on the 5th, I think. Havent seen her around. Anyone talk to her? Would like to know how she's doing.

Ok, that's swell. Thanks for the extremely useful (lol?) words of advice.

Thank you for your support. Another question, has anyone done background checks on their doctor, like license certification, complaints, malpractice suits, or anything else? Luckily enough, I haven't found anything bad on my doctor, but I am still looking.

Wow, some days I am excited about the surgery, and then the next day I get scared for some reason or other. The newest drama in my saga is that I am obsessing over my surgeon having only performed less than 10 lapband procedures (but over 700 lap bypass surgeries). The doctor from their organization who used to perform the band surgery died this summer in a plane crash, so he has taken over. Words of support please? =(

You're a day late..thanks though!

Does anyone know how long the surgery is? I've been told like 3 different answers. I went to my patient education group last night and am now miserable. The woman had the vertical band, and seemed limited on her knowledge of the lapband. Needless to say, she freaked my mom out all over again. It was swell.

With my mother who is now out of her mind about this surgery. I am scheduled for Jan 3rd. Her questions. which I cannot answer, but maybe some of you can help me with are: what are the possible long term effects of having a silicone band inside our bodies for such a long period of time (she still remembers INITIAL myths re: breast implants and cancer), how will I feel going out to dinner with people and not being able to eat like a "normal" person, how will others look at me if they know I have undergone this surgery. My intention is to use the band in its intention, as a tool to lose my desired amount of weight, and then have it removed and continuing behavior mod. programs like WW and exercise. I have maintained a significant weight loss of over 3.5 years, but just stopped losing weight. I am confident that with my discipline and proper supports I can maintain this weight loss too. Her questions are valid though, and things that I really did not think about up to this point. Anybody have any insight for me?

Of course I did not really think that's what you meant, but thank you for insulting my intelligence. I hope your cyber threat is not only directed at me. That sure would hurt my feelings =(

She didn't lose her band, she knows exactly where it is...in a bag in her house, just like she mentioned in an ealier post.

I'm so sad that you cannot tell I am complete messing with you. I guess your screenname should be taken a bit more literally. I suppose that's my fault.

Gosh, I sure hope so! I am overweight, but my weight is not out of my means to control. I've reached a point where I have become frustrated with my efforts and am interested in trying something else. I can maintain weight loss, as evidenced over the last 4 years following a 55 lb loss. I am looking for something to jump start the weight loss and I'll take over from there. I have about 80 lbs to lose, which I do not consider to be extremely significant. I am have no health concerns related to my weight, nor have I ever. I am not doing this to "stop dying", I am doing this more for the sake of vanity. Can the band do that for me? With my behavior, eating patters, support group and dedication, I do not doubt for one second that this is the correct option for me. Perhaps your reasons for banding are/were different than mine. You said you had a BMI over 50. I suppose in your situation, it was less elective than it is in mine. Does it make me ignorant because I have not extensively researched the possibility of band related esophagul damage, or because I would rather focus on the pros than the cons? Hmmm, which one of us has their band in a plastic bag somewhere in their home? What happened? Someone forgot to wikipedia the risks of surgery before embarking, huh? Sucks.

A friend of mine who knows that I have been obsessing about this anesthesia thing researched for me and compiled the following information. It's lengthy but to the point...hope it helps: Side Effects and Risk Factors: major side effects and complications from anesthesia are uncommon For healthy patients, anesthesia is so safe that it is difficult to measure the degree of risk any more. People with serious heart, lung or other disease, obviously, have an increased risk the risks associated with anesthesia and surgery increase in older people Overall, the mortality rate for general anaesthesia is about five deaths per million anaesthetic administrations Certain medical conditions, such as heart, circulation, or nervous system problems, increase your risk of complications from anesthesia Serious side effects of general anesthesia are uncommon, especially in people who are otherwise healthy most side effects of general anesthesia are minor and can be easily managed <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> </o:p> What happens during General Anesthesia: General anesthesia is given into a vein (intravenously) or is inhaled. It affects the brain as well as the entire body. You are completely unaware and do not feel pain during the surgery. In addition, general anesthesia often causes forgetfulness (amnesia) right after surgery (postoperative period) Inhaled gases are administered to patients who receive general anesthesia with "oxygen" being the most important gas The three main phases of anesthesia are induction, maintenance, and emergence General anesthesia is often induced with intravenous anesthetics, but inhalation anesthetics also may be used Because they enter directly into the bloodstream, intravenous anesthetics usually cause unconsciousness in less than 1 minute During maintenance, the anesthesia specialist maintains a balance of medications while carefully monitoring your breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and other vital functions For general anesthesia, once you are unconscious, anesthesia may be maintained with an inhalation anesthetic alone, with intravenous anesthetics, or most commonly with a combination of the two It also is common during general anesthesia for you to be given other medications intravenously to maintain stable vital functions and to help prevent or decrease pain or nausea after the procedure How quickly you emerge from anesthesia depends on the anesthetics and other medications used and on your response to the medications. Emergence from general anesthesia begins when the intravenous or inhalation anesthetic is stopped You will be closely monitored during emergence to make sure that you are breathing well on your own; your heartbeat, blood pressure, and other vital functions remain at normal levels; and your muscle control has returned Emergence does not mean you will have completely recovered from all the effects of anesthesia. Some effects may persist for many hours after anesthesia has ended; for example, you may have some numbness or reduced sensation However, if you experience numbness or reduced sensation that persists longer than expected, you should contact your anesthesia specialist <o:p> </o:p> Monitoring Agents During the Procedure: <o:p> </o:p> An ECG (electrocardiogram) monitor Three sticky pads on your chest connect to a monitor which shows the electrical activity of your heart on a TV screen. This shows how fast your heart is beating, and allows the anesthetist to pick up problems such as an irregular heartbeat or signs that the heart is not getting enough oxygen. A BP (Blood Pressure) cuff This cuff goes round your upper arm. From time to time it will squeeze your arm tight, to find out the pressure of the blood in your arteries. It is important that this is neither too high or too low. An automatic blood pressure machine usually shows four numbers, the high, average, and low pressures with each heartbeat, and the heart rate. A pulse oximeter This is a device which goes on a fingertip or earlobe, and measures the amount of oxygen in your blood. It works by detecting a slight change in the blood color from the usual bright pink to blue as the blood oxygen level decreases, long before this change is visible to the naked eye. A temperature monitor This is an electrical thermometer which checks that you are neither too hot nor too cold. A carbon dioxide monitor This measures the amount of carbon dioxide in your breath, which shows that you are breathing adequately. It is connected to the breathing tubes coming from the anesthetic machine. In addition to all these mechanical monitors, and the alarm systems built into the anesthetic machine, the anesthetist remains with the patient from the time the patient goes to sleep until he or she is safe and stable in the recovery room.

What is DS anyway? (I guess they taught that the same day as reading comprehension)

Not only are you angry, bitter and simple-minded, but you're presumptuous as well. I say I work with children, you assume I am a day care worker. Cute. Sorry you were unable to have success with something that has helped thousands. I've introduced you to my friend Karma already, haven't I? =(

Are you 7 years old? "where were you on reading comprehension day?" I think we got a "buh bye" in a former post. Shall we be expecting a cool "I know you are but what am I" sometime today? I sure hope so. I work with kids. Maybe I can get one of the 3rd graders up here during lunch to give me some witty retorts so I can be on your level of argument. Anyway, was I correct about you being self pay? If so, I can understand why you're so bitter; wasting all the money because you can't make a tool work for you. Nice!

In my life I have done hundreds of things I regret, and the biggest of which was allowing myself to become overweight. I have, whole-heartedly, tried several things to help manage my weight, some have worked, some haven't. I have made the conscious AND EDUCATED choice to pursue the lap-band. There are risks, there are complications, there are possible side-effects. There are risks and complications in driving a car, smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, eatting fatty foods, flying in an airplane, cliff diving, having sex, staying up all night...and the list goes on. All of those behaviors, I have at some time in my life, engaged in. The dangers of pretty much all of those behaviors I had also been educated in, however I STILL chose to do them. The simple fact is, they were MY choices, as this is MY choice, and OUR CHOICE. I highly doubt that the negative rantings of an online avenger are going to persuade convince people that they are wrong with THEIR choice for THEIR lives. I am sure if any of us was either motivated enough or cared enough to research the happy vs. unhappy band patients, the results would be more favorable for those who do not regret their choice. But that's a moot point. It's evident that you just like to type to feel important. I see more people speaking against you than in support of you. You're like that ominous cloud over the Macy parade; a cyber terrorist in direct opposition of anything lap-band. I guess all the people who have had great success over substantial lengths of time are all lying. Hopefully they stumble upon this message board so they too can see the light!

Thanks for once again inundating us with another lengthy diatribe of you on your soap box. So happy you have taken the role of the omnipotent cyber prophet spewing the evils of the band to educate those who have come after you. What would this world be without you and your opinions? I, for one, am go grateful for all that you have posted...last question...if I were to toss a stick, would you run and fetch it? Putting you on ignore would be the easiest, yet least fulfilling thing to do. This is much more entertaining.

I just googled anesthesia and found a lot of FAQ sites. As I explained, I was just really confused on what its function was, so it was my own ignorance that was scaring me. I have been verbally expressing my fears, instead of bottling them up, which is helping a little.

Apparently I'm just a little retarded. I had a completely incorrect understanding of what anesthesia actually did. It doesn't help that when I called to register with the anesthesiologist, I was casually expressing my concern to the guy who was taking my information. When I told him I was kind of scared of the anesthesia, he said, quite confidently..."yea". Ok, that was not the response I was looking for from the closest person to an expert I have so far encountered on my journey. Anyway, I watched the lamest, yet highly informative, educational video about going under today. I was so absolutely wrong with what I thought. Even my mother, who is a grand master of pessimism, reassured me today. I just wanted to share. On a sidenote, I have Oxford Freedom Plan and they approved me with no problems at all. I am quite impressed.

I find it remarkable that you manage to post 20 or so replies in one day around the fabulous sex life you made referrence to in an earlier message. I am uncertain about your motivation. From what I can understand...you had the band, which for some reason, did not work for you. Therefore, it was removed. You had another surgical procedure that I am not familiar with, and have lost 112 lbs. (Congrats! That's an amazing success. And now you sit on a messageboard tread repeatedly spewing cyber negativity about the only common denominator we all have: the band. I think I can speak for everyone in saying, YES, we understand that you were unhappy with the band, and us "newbies" should go further back in our research while considering our decision to be banded. You've spoken your mind, and spoken it some more, and a little more, and even more. I am just trying to find out when you will finally be satisfied enough to just give up. You are like the www dot version of an anti lap band crusader. Are you fully equipped with cape and fanny pack too? Your insight was appreciated...THE FIRST TIME, now you're just being obnoxious, repetitive and just plain annoying. The only satisfaction out of all of this is I THINK you said that you were self pay (although I might be wrong. I lose detail while skimming your bulls**t). Man, I get mad when I spend $4 on a cup of Starbucks I haven't necessarily enjoyed. I can only imagine how pissed off you were spending all that money to be miserable, eventhough I am not sure the band in the only thing that could make YOU miserable. Anyway, God bless Karma.

I'm counting down the days to my surgery, 35 to be exact, and just recently started to get scared of surgery. Well, ot the surger exactly, but I am absolutely petrified of anesthesia. I had a nightmare that woke me up at 5:15 this morning. It was so real. I was being put under, I even felt the warmt of the anesthesia in the IV and this weird din came over me. I need to work through this or I am going to drive myself crazy. I can't even go to the support groups before the procedure because I have a conflict with school. Is anyone else experiencing this, or does anyone have any words of advice or optimism? I think it would really help.

I am having my surgery on January 3rd. I date a lot, but don't want to settle down with anyone, especially right now, because I am not entirely happy with myself (hence the surgery), and I don't want to "rush" into something just because I am lonely/looking for a relationship/should be in a relationship/etc. It's weird though, the guys that I do hang out with tell me I don't need the surgery, which makes me wonder...are these those "chubby chasers" we always hear about? lol And uh, do I REALLY want to be the girlfriend of one? Yawn.