rockstar

I'll throw in my two cents, even though I haven't been banded and pretty much right where you are. On the smoking issue - I just recently quit on Feb. 2 of this year. I had smoked 2 - 2.5 packs a day for the last 10 years. I started when I was 15-years-old and smoked like a chimney. I used Chantix to quit, the prescription med. I can honestly say it works. Really, really works. My insurance didn't cover it so I had to pay $350 for a 4 month supply but that's not really that bad considering packs are... what? $4-5 now? $350 is nothing. So really think about it. If you have any questions about it, feel free to PM me and I'll try and help ya out as best as I can. I just love the fact that I quit smoking... it's a huge deal! So I tend to soapbox about it. Now if I could just lose weight, life would be great. ;]

Congrats, Ginger. I was in the same boat you are in. I started the WLS process in early 09 and thought, "I'll give myself 9 months to do it myself." Worked my butt off, ate right, weighed my food... and I ended up weighing 15lbs less. In 9 months! I was doing something wrong... lol. Anyway, congrats on your decision. I'm currently awaiting to hear from my surgeon for my date! Anxiously waiting!!

I'm no expert, so this is just what I an assume from my experiences - when I was weighed at my consult, this is what was submitted to my insurance company. So, if you have a BMI now of 31 and are approved but you lose weight before your consult and maybe drop to 29.9, you may no longer be eligible. But I'm not sure. Your past weights may be enough. My advice would be to not lose any weight before you are officially weighed in.

Congrats! I'm jealous!

I haven't told many people outside of my husband and my parents ... but I don't see why anyone would disapprove of your decision to improve your health. I know some DO disapprove but I don't see how it's any different than saying, "Hey Sally. Can't go out to the buffet for lunch anymore - I'm on the South Beach diet" or whatever. I don't know. I guess it's just something I couldn't grasp someone not accepting... So after that rant, I say that if you feel comfortable enough with the guy to wanna share this personal information, tell him. If he reacts poorly, he's ridiculous and just doesn't understand. (In my opinion!) And congrats to you.

Hi and welcome Tanya! That's an amazing loss all ready! I'm quite jealous! I've still got my fingers and toes crossed for my surgery date. I can't get here soon enough!!

The two seminars I went to (by the same surgeon - 1 year apart) were about 2 hours of him talking about the procedures he did in depth. He talked about what the Lap Band was, where it was placed, how it was placed, what happened when it was placed, how the surgery works, the before care, the during care, the after care, what a fill was, how it worked, why it worked, how you got a fill, long term care, weight loss stats, how to fail it, how to succeed with it, and so on. Pretty much it's all the information you can find yourself online or by asking the members of the forum... but, I dunno... just hearing my surgeon talk about it kind of comforted me. Like he knew what he was doing! After all that he had some previous patients come up and chat about their experiences and such. I'm pretty sure you're required to go to the seminar but it really is a good choice to go. A lot of information is given and you can chat with the surgeon or ask any question you may have. So come prepared!

Congrats! My surgeon has penned Oct. 11th for me but it's still pending so good luck to your head start! :cursing:

I don't have the option ... mine requires a one night stay. But I would much rather go home if I had the choice.

My surgeon also requires the nutrition meeting, psych eval, and informational seminar... but my insurance required a 6 month supervised diet with a BMI of 40. So a lot of factors contribute to what you'll have to do.

Congrats on the smooth sail! I'm a year into the process and I envy you. :thumbup:

My surgeon had mentioned taking 3-5 weeks off for people with very demanding jobs, such as construction. You don't work construction but I would imagine you'd want to take 2 weeks off to ensure that the port has proper healing so you don't pop a suture or rip something. Of course, all surgeons are different and recommend different things so perhaps you could ask him/her what they recommend in your situation?

Hey and welcome! I'm new too. I'm to the point where it's all up to my insurance and for my surgeon to set a date!

Good luck to you!

Mine was very, very simple. Took about half an hour... she was also the dietitian, so these questions might differ. Basically she wanted to know how long I had prepared for the surgery, what I knew about the surgery, what I knew I had to change once I had the surgery, my family's and my own medical history, my family's and my own mental health history. Stuff like that. My husband, on the other hand, went to a different psychologist last year for his bypass eval and he had to take that 300+ question personality test. So I'm crossing my fingers you get an easy eval.

Well, do you have any co-morbidities? Have you gotten a physical from your regular doctor or had any blood work done lately?

Hey guys and gals on the forums! I'm over a year into my LAP-BAND® process and it's almost to an end, thank goodness! My surgeon is thinking my date will be around October 11th of this year due to my traveling plans at the end of this month. I'm so excited it's almost here! I'm getting slightly impatient the closer and closer it gets but I'm also a little scared about the surgery itself. But who isn't, right? I hope to see more of you all down the road! I'm off to read some more of the addicting blogs I've found. :thumbup: :biggrin:

Thanks for the welcome wagon guys! I guess I meant I was scared of going under anesthesia. The only other time I was under, I was an infant and didn't respond well to it... so here's hoping!!

I'm glad to see you are doing so well post surgery. Gives all us pre ops a ray of sunshine!