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Hello - New Guy - hopeful New Bandster soon



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Hello Everyone,

I am Brian from Los Angeles, CA. I just turned 41 yesterday - yikes ! and I am currently in the process of getting the LAP-BAND® hopefully. I have had a general physical from my primary care doctor and had a lot of the necessary blood work done, I had the psych eval - passed ( it was pretty super easy - I seriously wonder who can fail - Jeffrey Dahlmer ??? ), have the chest X-rays 2 days ago, go to my GI Doctor today to hopefully be scoped next week and HOPEFULLY be banded on Sept. 8.

I only started this process about 2 weeks ago. UNFORTUNATELY although I have extremely great medical insurance they don't cover Bariatric surgery yet. So I will be self - Pay and as you can see self pay means I can have the surgery pretty fast.

I am about 5'7" and about 250 lbs. I am 39 BMI but I do have type 2 Diabetes and I am sick and tired of being overweight. It has had a dramatic effect on my life and self confidence and I am in desperate need of great change. I have accomplished many of my life goals in the last few years but I have yet to defeat my weight. And I know weight has had a bad and major effect on my self confidence and self image. I know I can do better and will do better.

Well this is just my short intro - hope it didn't make you run for the hills. : ) :biggrin:

-Brian

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Welcome Brian and congrats on choosing to get banded! It's awesome that you're pushing to beat another obstacle in life. You'll do great. :biggrin:

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Hi Brian and Welcome.... there is a thread just for September Bandster... there are two but the one that I belong is called Looking for September Bandster 2010 is the one with the most replies... We give each tips on Protein Drinks and help each other out.... But take a look and see if your interested... Good Luck :biggrin:

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Welcome & congrats on your upcoming Lap-Band. This is a great place for info and support. Wish you the best & please keep us posted on your journey. :biggrin:

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Wow some very fast and nice replies. Thanks Reverie, Mom and Isa Bella for the warm welcome.

I just came back from my surgeon's office... man the wait can be long ( he was late / at Cedar Senai ) !!! Anyway I feel much better and much more assured about the surgery. I am self pay and I only started on August 11 after going to a small seminar and now I am only 2 weeks away from surgery hopefully ( I still have to go my my GI Doctor this afternoon and get an appointment to get scoped before surgery ). Hopefully everything passes muster and I can get on with it.

Anyway I was feeling like I was caught in a whirlwind from a seminar to basically being almost operated on in a little over 2 weeks. After meeting with my surgeon I am very assured. He has done well over 1000 Lap Bands and does 10-15 a week. His Beverly Hills Office was nice too and the staff very helpful and answered many of my unanswered questions.

Well I am off to the GI Doctor now. I will be here often to see and write to many of you.

THANKS

-Brian :biggrin:

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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