I'm on my way to being banded in October, hopefully the 15th or 18th... Yahoo... Tough work, but well worth it.

Are you getting banded then too?? I would love to have friends to talk and share my experiences with, for Encourgament and Cheers for scale & NSV goals.

Went an picked up my last few things before surgery - found some great liquid protein shots with no sugar - those will come in handy. Explained the entire surgery to my husband in the care - I think he is in shock now...We'll see what happens. I have two goals. Vegas for new years (already have tickets) I hope to have lost at least 25 pounds by then (2mo po), and then Arizona in March to see his parents - hope to have lost at least 50 (5mo po). Gotta get some good goals ready - since I'm not treating myself with food anymore... That is going to be something to get used to....

Was out today and had a very busy day, my grandson's 2nd birthday, it was a long day, Now I'm very sore in my stomach area where my incisions are.

Well, 1 week and a day later and looks like Ive seen the end of the gas pains, Yay!! Only pain now is this burning I get in my chest almost like heartburn. Doc says its the hernia repair and it takes a little longer to heal. Otherwise feeling great and looking forward to moving to mushies!!!

Glad to hear everyone is coming along nicely with their surgeries...Keep up the good work fellow Bandsters!!!

Gee chinacat I was just about ready to ask how you felt being a week out, and what will your diet be like now? I know it's mushy food but what can't you wait to have?

good luck i'm keeping a eye on your progress your our leader being the first of the month. lol:cool2:

Hi Karen! I cannot wait to eat some scrambled eggs on Friday!! Sounds funny, but when I got my mushies list, that stuck in my mind! Im starting to get a little hungry for real food...tired of drinking and eating all meals with a spoon, lol.

Surgery date is almost here and I am feeling pretty anxious. I'm not worried about the eating changes, that part is already laid out for the next few weeks and I like having a plan. The part that is annoying is not knowing how I will feel afterward. How bad will the pain be? Will I be able to go anywhere or will I be laid out for a few days? I've never had surgery before of any kind and have never been anesthetized! Am I the only one obsessing over this?

I was banded Oct 8 2010. Very uneventful surgery. The only problems that I am having are gas pain and 2 of my incisions 1 at port site and 1 beside of it.Glad that I am it is over..Drinking ok, continuing to walk walk walk..dilaudid and gas-x are my 2 new best friends....lol

Well I am now one week away..October 18th is the day. Had all pre-op testing this week and the last thing for me is my internist to give final clearance. I have been stocking up on different protein drinks, baby food, gatorade with protein, gasx strips, pill crusher and on and on and on. I am truly not nervous about the surgery itself - more nervous about how I will feel after it is over. My Dr. just requires clear liquids 2 days prior to surgery - no 2 week thing however this week I plan to start the big cutdown of food intake. I seem to have fallen into that famous last supper syndrome. My nutritionist reminded me that we will be able to eat everything again - just in very small amounts.

Good luck everyone and lets all stick together to give support that we will all need!!

Well I am now one week away..October 18th is the day. Had all pre-op testing this week and the last thing for me is my internist to give final clearance. I have been stocking up on different protein drinks, baby food, gatorade with protein, gasx strips, pill crusher and on and on and on. I am truly not nervous about the surgery itself - more nervous about how I will feel after it is over. My Dr. just requires clear liquids 2 days prior to surgery - no 2 week thing however this week I plan to start the big cutdown of food intake. I seem to have fallen into that famous last supper syndrome. My nutritionist reminded me that we will be able to eat everything again - just in very small amounts.

Good luck everyone and lets all stick together to give support that we will all need!!

We're band sisters - I'm being banded the same day. I'm like you I'm on the big cut down this week. My husband keeps askiing me "so what will be your last meal" to bad for him it will probably be a protein shake... But I'm as anxious as ever to start out on this journey... I'll keep you in my prayers sunday night... Good luck...

Surgery date is almost here and I am feeling pretty anxious. I'm not worried about the eating changes, that part is already laid out for the next few weeks and I like having a plan. The part that is annoying is not knowing how I will feel afterward. How bad will the pain be? Will I be able to go anywhere or will I be laid out for a few days? I've never had surgery before of any kind and have never been anesthetized! Am I the only one obsessing over this?:puke:

Hi Elikis! Everyone seems to react a little differently pain wise after surgery. Its been a little over a week for me and it gets better everyday. The first couple are the hardest. Listen to what everyone tells you...walk and sip water, its the biggest help. And dont worry about being put to sleep, you won't even realize whats going on, next thing you know you'll be in recovery:thumbup:

Just realized you're going in tomorrow!! Best of luck to you!!!!!!

Hello Outrageous Octobers! I just want to stop by and say congrats to all the post ops out there this month and congrats to the pre ops too. Sadly I won't be able to get banded this month like orginally planned. My insurance pre approved me for it then sad they needed 5 years of a BMI over 40. I only have 3. :laugh: And its in the contract with my employer that all employees on the cheaper insurance has to have the 5 years. So it is kinda hard to appeal it. :thumbup: But... the more expensive insurance allows it with the only requirement being a BMI of over 40. So October is still going to be a good month for me because it is open enrollment for insurance. I will be changing my insurance to the expensive one this month and have my surgery in the first 2 weeks of January. So new year, new me:thumbup:. So I was dropping by to say Hi to everyone and good luck!

Nicole

Hello Outrageous Octobers! I just want to stop by and say congrats to all the post ops out there this month and congrats to the pre ops too. Sadly I won't be able to get banded this month like orginally planned. My insurance pre approved me for it then sad they needed 5 years of a BMI over 40. I only have 3. :smile2: And its in the contract with my employer that all employees on the cheaper insurance has to have the 5 years. So it is kinda hard to appeal it. :tt2: But... the more expensive insurance allows it with the only requirement being a BMI of over 40. So October is still going to be a good month for me because it is open enrollment for insurance. I will be changing my insurance to the expensive one this month and have my surgery in the first 2 weeks of January. So new year, new me:thumbup:. So I was dropping by to say Hi to everyone and good luck!

Nicole

How frustrating! Glad that you're going to be able to have it after all. Rules like that are crazy and don't make any sense. You would think that they would be happy that people want to be healthier instead of imposing a 5 year unhealthy rule. Sounds like you have a great attitude - hang in there!

I am so pleased with myself, I had my first week post-opt. appt. And I lost 17.5 lbs. since my first pre-opt appt. :smile2::thumbup::tt2: so happy. I am working on a schedule of meal times and walking time. :crying:

I am so pleased with myself, I had my first week post-opt. appt. And I lost 17.5 lbs. since my first pre-opt appt. :smile2::thumbup::tt2: so happy. I am working on a schedule of meal times and walking time. :frown:

Wow!! Good for you! So happy to hear of your good head start!:crying:

Hi Outrageous Octobers! I am officially a bandster now! So for all of you who haven't had their surgery day yet, here is my experience.

7am - Checked into the hospital and registered.

8:30am - Finally called in by the nurse to begin prep

8:30 - 10am - Prep consisted of - Urine test, body wash, blood thinner shot in lower belly, IV put in, anti-nausea medication introduced int IV, visited by surgeon to make sure I didnt have any further questions, visit by anesthesiologist to make sure I am not allergic to anesthesia, visited by OR nurse to introduce the next part of procedure and to wheel me into OR.

10am - transfered from mobil bed to surgical bed, asked to breathe the oxygen.......(thats all I remember there).

12pm - 12:30pm - awoke slowly - new nurse advised me that I had slept longer than the norm so they did not give me pain medication.

12:30 - was asked to drink a full cup of water 1oz at a time until completed and to blow in lil machine to excercise lungs before being able to go home.

2pm - still trying to finish the cup of water. Each sip was difficult to get down due to gas pain in chest. Had only drank half of the cup. The nurse decided to call my husband in the waiting room to tell him I was still working on it. As she was talking to him, I began to violently dry heave. (it was so loud and uncontrollable and embarassing). I hadn't taken any pain meds so that REALLY hurt my belly!! The nurse became quite flustered as if she didnt realize that would happen. Sure made my husband upset, since he could hear it and wasn't allowed to come see me. The nurse called the Dr. and asked if I should have an Xray, but he said that if I didn't actually throw up anything that it was going down so I was probably just being irritated by the gas. He said I could go home without finishing the water.

3pm - got home and tried to get comfortable while hubby went to the store to get liquid vicodin and gas-x strips.

Gas pains continued all night, but I was still able to get some rest.

By this morning the gas is better, but continues to come back each time I try to drink something.

Not sure if GasX is working or not, I don't feel anything happening, but who knows if it would be worse if I didnt take it. I haven't really been consistent in taking the vicodin, the incision pain is really not that bad.

Overall, the experience up to this point has not been nearly as scary as I thought. The absolute worst part was the dry-heaving and also having a headache throughout. I finally broke down today and broke up an imitrex and took it. It didnt seem to irritate anything any worse that regular water does! And if finally made my headache go away! Woohoo!!!

Hope that everyone is doing well, and thanks for all of the well wishes, I hope everyone keeps updating! :smile2: