I have to let you know after visiting this forum for almost a year now that I am the exception to the rule because I have not had an easy time of this whole thing.

After all the waiting for my insurance and the phycological evaluation, and the nutritionist evaluation that took 3 weeks and the exersize trainer I had to pay for out of pocket(400 dollars), it took me 11 months before my surgery.

I almost didn't get the band near the end because I suffer with severe migraines and I was so worried about the vomiting I do when I get a migraine that it might make the band slip or something but I worked it out with my physician and with the positive encouragement from this forum and other migraine sufferes.

So all was a go, surgery set for December 21st and all worked out with my job. At the last week I got a call from the surgeon's offfice and they had to change the band date on me and scheduled me in for a week ahead, it caused so many problems with my job it's not even funny, but all was a go.

Surgery was at 6 am and I live 1 hour from hospital, and I was late about 20 minutes late and the nurse who was assigned to me was upset at my tardiness. She was rude to me and I was a nervous wreck and this didn't help at all. Then she put the iv drip in my hand and couldn't find a vein and then started moving the needle inside my hand trying to locate a vain. She finally pulled it out when I screamed bloody murder ( I've had a bruise on my hand for 3 weeks now)! She finally found a vein in my other arm. When surgery was over I woke up in severe Pain. I had morphine and Vicodin the whole day and went home later in the evening and basically was in pain for 2 weeks.

Another thing, they didn't use tape on my insitions they stitched me up and the scares are so ugly it's awful.

It's been 3 weeks today and I'm finally feeling well enough to go back to work. I have lost weight, about 17 pounds but it's been hell for me, not worth it so far, i have to admit.

I hope to post more possitive experiences in the future but for now I am being honest with my experience.

Tootarts :cry

Awwww, sorry to hear you had such a rough time of it. Things will get better now that you are on the recovery side. I will be interested in hearing how you feel about it in a few months. Good Luck!

Thanks for being honest. It's not always roses, huh? Hang in there. You will feel so much better and down the road, I'm betting it will be worth it! Congrats and welcome to bandland!

I promise that it gets better. It took me seven months to get my insurance to agree to pay, complete with 6 months diet and exercise program. My surgery experience was ok, but postop was hell for me as well. The port dug into me and hurt for days. My job was nasty about me being out for 4 days. The good news is that now, 12 weeks out, everything is fine. Pain is gone, you can't feel my port even if hunting it, and vitamin E oil has worked wonders on my scars. Keep your chin up, it does get better.