I had my surgery on Feb. 8th 2012 and had a starting weight pre-surgery was 315 I lost down to (it was my doctors requirements that your lose between 10 - 15lbs before surgery) the day of surgery I weighted in at 299 and today I am down to 282. I had my surgery at Pikeville Hospital in Pikeville Ky and my doctor is Amy Johnson, and I could not be happier with the care I received from both. I have not had any complications, however I have followed the diet my doctor gave me. I am 32 years old and have been overweight for most of my life. My parents put me on my first diet when I was in the 3rd grade and I was up and down since then. But after I met my husband (and got comfortable in the relationship) my weight began to creep out of control, I told him he must have feed me to well (we would eat out alot). I was always able to starve myself and get my weight down to what I thougt was manageable, but July 2 years ago I had a complete hysterectomy and from then on I have not been able to lose. So after I tried to ride the swings at an amusement park and would not fit I decided it was time to do something. I have 2 girls ages 8 and 6 who keep me on my toes and I have always been active even as a large girl, but it was a real eye opener when that happened. So I am so excited to be on my journey!

How do you get the weight ticker?

When my wife went through orientation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, we were told by the head bariatric surgeon that Mayo Clinic performs hardly any lap bands any more because lap bands have so many more failures and issues and are much less effective than other types. As I recall, only about 16 out of the over 200 or 300 gastric surgeries performed at the Mayo Clinic in the prior year had been lap bands. We thought that was very meaningful data, especially coming from the Mayo Clinic.

I would encourage you to share with others the type of surgery you receive because others will expect to get the same results you get if they get a lap band -- which would be deceiving. Many people do not realize that the lap band is as problematic and ineffective (comparatively) as it is. I think you would be doing others a big favor by helping to educate them. Just a thought! 8>)