I am totally starting to draw a blank. I have my first meeting with my surgeon next week Monday. I wanted to be prepared with some questions I had, but my brain has totally frozen. Can you help me resurrect my brain with questions that I NEED to ask?

My first question was and would be soooooo how many surgeries have you performed. They mostly want to know what your concerns are more than anything. But definitely you need to know how many he has performed. My surgeon is 3000 plus and I would never reccommend a surgeon who hasnt done a lot of them. What are your risk of surgery? Another biggie you want to know. You will know what to ask him.

I am totally starting to draw a blank. I have my first meeting with my surgeon next week Monday. I wanted to be prepared with some questions I had, but my brain has totally frozen. Can you help me resurrect my brain with questions that I NEED to ask?

hi,

I have been banded since July and have lost about 100 lbs (50 pre op). I love my band!! I think the most important part of the surgery though is the aftercare....you need to understand what types of things are emergencies (vomiting, too tight, etc) and how to reach him. you need support groups, and nutritional counseling to understand how your new way of eating will be....this is not a "diet". you need to know their policies on fills and unfills (are they going to make you wait after initial healing times, etc???) probably most importantly, you need to understand the pre and post op diets, and you have to stick to it. there are reasons for it!!

you would typically go on a liquid diet pre op to shrink your liver to make surgery easier and safer. yeah , kind of important, dont cheat. post op, your body is healing....you need to let it rest so stick to your surgeons guidelines.......

and mostly you have to have realistic expectations and understand what the band is. It is only a tool...you still have to do the work here....I am at the gym for 2 hours a day most days...yeah, not the easy way out at all.....not trying to discourage you, but you need to understand what banded living really is....its a great tool, and it will work for you, but it aint always a bed of roses.....it is though, by far the safest option out there....

good luck!