Calling all October bandsters...

I just wanted to start a thread where everyone can post their surgery dates and we can compare notes.

I am scheduled for 10/18. I have ALL my pre-op stuff done as of last week. I start Protein shake diet on 10/4.

How is everyone else doing getting their pre-op stuff scheduled?

Goannabanda, Bandacat, Slim190 good luck today!!!

JWH, lainer good luck tomorrow!!

LET THE OCTOBERFEST BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!! I will be banned on October 19 and today I will start to prepare myself with all that I need for the lquid diet. I think I need to start the liquids on the 12th. Sign me up for group.

HI All

I am just wondering how you all feel about talking openly about the band to family and friends.

I am scheduled to be banded on 10/19. I have chosen to tell only three people that I am doing this, hubby and two friends.

I am keeping this hush for a couple of reasons. First, I feel like if I tell people I am having surgery they will expect me to lose 100 lbs in 6 months! This is so different than gastric bypass but most aren't familiar with "the band".

Also, I don't want to hear the crap about not doing it the right way or talking behind my back about how I have no control or commitment.

I don't want people to say "Oh, here she goes again, another diet, let's see how long this one lasts"

I think when (notice I said WHEN) I am successful I may chose to tell people but, for now, I want to take this journey with the people who understand.........YOU GUYS!!!

I am still trying to decide what to tell me 3 very young daughters (4,5 and 7 yrs old). If they know the truth, they will tell every soccer mom they know:help: I have to tell them something since I will spend the night in the hospital and be "out of commission" for a few.

I am interested in all of your thoughts on the matter.

Hey ThreeBeauties,

My husband thinks I'm crazy for telling everyone that I will have surgery 10/23, however I did that to give myself a "catch all" if you will. I wanted people to know about the surgery so I would follow through with it. Before I would diet, not tell anyone so if I didn't follow through no one knew that I failed. :faint:

This time I am telling everyone. The children know (11,9,9 and 5) the youngest doesn't understand but my older do. I explained that I wanted to ride a bike again and run with them. I would love to play soccer with my son, however keeping up with them is next to impossible. Next year I will be running, playing sports and riding roller coasters again, I'm so excited.

Other people - I told other people, co-workers, soccer mom's, church people and family. I want everyone to know that I have my mind set and I am going to do this no matter what other people think. I have explained to them that the weight will not fall off as if I was having Gastric Bypass, then they tell me they are glad to hear I chose the LapBand vs. Gastric. You may be surprised to other's reactions.

Everyone has been so supportive. I'm sure some people have their own thoughts about the surgery and talk about me, but I don't care anymore. I'm doing this for me and my family.

I hope I helped. :nervous This was how I chose to deal with it. Good Luck! Let me know how things are going for you.

I have been telling people about my surgery on a "need to know" basis. I work for 2 physicians, so of course, I had to tell them (they would have known anyway as they are my PCPs) and I have told my co-workers, family and closest friends. My DH, however, has been telling quite a few people. I never asked him not to tell anyone and I'm not ashamed of it, but I feel like some of the people he has told didn't "need to to know." He says that he is just so proud of me for taking this step that he has wanted to tell people. Sweet, in a way, but still....

One thing that has ticked me off is that when he told his boss that he would need to be off several days for my surgery, his boss, whose own wife had RNY (they ended up divorced, she left him for another man) told my DH "Well, I see a divorce coming your way." What an A**hole!

Shelleybeans, KayleesMom, Chrispygal CONGRATULATIONS! :clap2:

I am so thrilled and happy for you. I am so proud of how well you've done so far! EXCELLENT!! Your stories actually brought tears to my eyes. And they help me to be calm and stay excited. Thank you for sharing.

Tomorrow morning is my time to join the club. Since I'll be in Mexico, I am not sure when I'll be posting. However, I'm bringing my laptop and if there's wifi, I'll post ASAP! :bandit

Jess

________________________

weight at start: 250

weight at surgery:235 (unless I lose a pound overnight)

goal weight 125

band date: 10/06/06

Dr. Ortiz

Tijuana, Mx

THREEBEAUTIES:

I have told more people than I actually wanted to tell. I am not sharing with everyone. The people I have told are the ones who most share my life or those I usually share meals with because my eating has already changed and it will never go back to what it was (Thank God). I felt those people needed to know so that they wouldn't be waiting for my "diet" to end as it has so many times before in the past.

Eventually, probably everyone wil know. I'm not keeping it secret, I just don't want to have the "discussions" with everyone. It seems as if everyone has an opinion or a story to share. Foregoing that was the biggest motivation for generally keeping it to myself.

Jess

________________________

weight at start: 250

weight at surgery:235 (unless I lose a pound overnight)

goal weight 125

band date: 10/06/06

Dr. Ortiz

Tijuana, Mx

I am also an October Bandster. My surgery is scheduled for October 11 in Texarkana, Texas. I've not had a difficult time either with the 2 week liquid diet...I think because I know it is all going to be worth it LONG TERM! I can't wait to get involved on this site...I think it is great and I look forward to the advice and support !!

Like Neal, I need to know how to get a ticker going on my posts...any help will be greatly appreciated!

HAVE A HAPPY!

an A..HOLE indeed! Maybe her weight loss boosted her self esteem and she wasn't going to put up with his s*&t anymore! I digress

I am a pretty private person by nature anyway. Maybe I am a little ashamed that I couldn't lose weight the old fashioned way. I take that back, I've lost plenty of weight but it keeps finding me:)

I am sooo looking forward to my weight being on the back burner rather than the first thing I think about every time I get an invitation to an occassion or every time I walk in a room and look around to see if I am the fattest person there. I dread when my little girls want to make play dates, I always assume the childs mom is going to be pretty and thin.

I applaud you all for taking this step. It is because of you guys that I can talk openly about this. Thank you.

Threebeauties

Oh boy, glad there are so many october bandsters! Also hearing the madness of putting on more weight just before,, I'm not alone, I keep saying well it will be the last itme i will be eating it for awhile!

On Sunday my friends, son, dad and I are going to have a 'fond farewell to food and hello milkshake' at our indian restaurant. I intend to really enjoy it!

It is also a way to get my son more involved he is only 9 and he's terrified of losing me, the last time I went away without him was with my mum to Las Vegas. A few months after she passed away with the cancer, so I think he relates my going away with death. Now, I am trying to reassure him every which way I can. Wish I could take him to belgium with me but I can;t afford to bring another adult to look after him while I have the surgery, one of the downside of being a single mum and my strongest support no longer with us.

Anyway lets stay happy and positive, surgery day will really be the day to a new and better life!

Sx

JWH - Best of luck tomorrow!!! I am so thrilled for you and happy thoughts are coming your way!

I can't wait to hear back from you when you're "on the band wagon"

JWH, the best wishes are coming your way tomorrow. You will do fine. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Threebeauties, I chose to tell only a few people. I know that when I was doing WW, every time I would eat anything, I would get the "can you have that" questions. Or, "how much weight have you lost so far". So, you can imagine the questions with the banding. It gets a little old after awhile. I wanted to keep my life as normal as possible. I only told the people that I thought would truly care.

It's me again gang! Congrats again to Crispygal and shellybeans. For those who were asking, a hospital stay was never an option for me so I can't really comment on that. I have done pretty well here at home. Had a few ouchies but it has mainly been my port that's causing the pain. If we didn't have a port this would be a breeze. Don't like coughing either!! My main complaint is still...NO SLEEP!!! Whatever this stuff is they gave me, it keeps me awake. I can NOT sit still. Shoot, if I had been taking this all my life, I may not have needed the surgery! LOL I have been walking the floor like you wouldn't believe. I finally called the Doc and they told me I could take a "sleep aid"! Are Quaaludes still around??? Just joking :heh:, bad girl! I will blame it on the sleep deprivation.

threebeauties---I told EVERYONE I know. I even told people I didn't know! I told anyone who would listen, people at the check out counter, you name it---I told it. I am very excited as I am sure you are. I don't think there is a right or wrong amout of people to tell. We are all different and just have to do what feels right for us and our circumstances. Four of the people I work with came over today with a gift basket they put together for me. Since they know I can't eat the got me stuff like Cowboys T shirts , Oprah mag, puzzle books, etc. It was so cute.They are SO excited for me. Bless their hearts! So for me it has been a good thing to tell people.

Well, as you can tell, I have the jabbers again. That's it, they gave me chat meds!!! Weeeee! Have a good evening my little bandit buddies. It is so wonderful to be a part of this group...Love you...

Awww...kayleesmom, you are so sweet! I love this group too!

Good luck to everyone who posted that they are about to go, and my thoughts are with everyone who went today! I can't even keep up anymore, we do have a lot of people!

Oh, and welcome to everyone who just joined us!

threebeauties~

Oh girl...I started by just telling a few that are closest to me, but I have been thinking that I would be banded since August! It was dragging on for different reasons, first I didn't have a statement I needed from a dr. in Dallas so I had to make a trip there to get it, then I had to wait because they changed patient advocates on me at Southwest Bariatrics, etc...etc....anyway, so here I am! So...I had all of this time that went by that I told more and more people. I am glad that I did though, because I have SO much support! My friends, family and co-workers are all so happy for me. If poeple have said things to me that were negative I brushed it off, because I could care less. This is for me, and it's my journey, and I am 100% sure that I am doing the right thing for me! I have been happy to tell people about it because many people have questions that I think could help them if they or someone they know in the future decides to have the surgery too. I know that I was a sponge and soaked up every bit of advice and info I could get from people who had this done. As far as my kids go, the older one is 21, so she is okay with it and very supportive. The little one is 11, and he is a little worried, but I have explained to him the health problems I would face if I stayed overweight, and how much I want to have energy for him again, and I have told him that I will be fine many times to reassure him, so he is doing alright with it too.

Today we had a company picnic, and it was the first day of my pre-op diet! To tell y'all it was difficult would be a total understatement! I was wanting food a lot, but after I got through it and got through this day, day 1, I felt proud of myself! I will feel great when I get on the scale before the surgery and see a little weight lost too, so it's all good!

Not much longer ladies!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to check in and let you know that I am feeling great. I have been off pain medicine (even tylenol) for two days now. I still have some shoulder pain from the gas, and I am sore when I make sudden movements, but overall I am feeling great. If I could stomach the liquid tylenol I would probably take it because it would make me feel that much better. I may try and pick up some pills to crush in applesauce.

It has been an interesting week. I am hungry, yet I don't want to eat, yet I want to eat every thing I see on tv. lol. I had trouble yesterday getting down my liquids in the morning. I definitely had restriction. By the end of the day i loosened up a bit and did better. Today I am going to focus on getting in my Protein drinks because I haven't been too good with that. The good news - my scale says I am down 10lbs already. Don't I hope it's right! lol

I am thinking of all my fellow October Bandsters, and wish you all luck with your surgeries. Please post when you get home so we know how you're doing.

Oh, and threebeauties, I have only told my immediate family and my close friends as this is my support system. They have been great, and very supportive.

Good job with the liquid diet Moon Goddess. It is tough! These next few days will fly by for you, and you will soon be joining us in band land! Congrats!