Hello, all.

I am a new member of this forum, and it is just over 2 weeks until my banding procedure. I feel odd even writing this, because getting to this point has been quite a process - and part of me wonders if it will happen.

I have thought about pursuing surgery for a long time -- at least five years, I think -- and I have spent over 1.5 years trying to get to this point, given bumps in the road, largely from the insurance company perspective.

My surgery date is November 3 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston; my surgeon is Dr. Malcolm Robinson. I continue to struggle with trying to achieve pre-op weight loss and hope that my lack of progress in that regard will not prove another impediment to having surgery. The required pre-op nutrition classes have been helpful, and I feel well educated to be on this path.

I would be very interested from hearing from people who have been on similar paths, and am also interested in this issue: some people have said, flatly, that banding 'does not work.' I certainly hope that that is not an informed point of view. What can you tell me?

With best wishes to all for better health,

Deb WS

Welcome! You are getting very close to starting your new life!

When people say "banding doesn't work" they are mis- informed. Banding doesn't work for everyone. It works best for people who take in huge amounts of food at a time because they are really hungry. The band helps you to feel satisfied on very little. The ones it tends not to help are the ones who graze constantly out of "head hunger."

You will need to be mindful of what you eat with the band to be healthy. It's not all that easy and it may take many trips in to the doc for fills to reach the sweet spot, BUT it is the safest because it is reversible. Say we get cancer or some other horrible disease down the road? One trip to the doc for an unfill and it's like the band never happened. Not so with other wls. Those other surgeries rely on removal of areas of the gut that absorb calories AND vitamins and minerals. I could go on and on.

Good luck, you made the right choice!