I wanted to start a thread for those of us who are waiting "with bated breath" for our surgeries in March.

I am supposed to start Optifast on February 26th. I am currently waiting for the shipment, including my surgical package to be delivered. Once I get my package I am supposed to call the clinic.

Ever since committing to this surgery (which I am paying for myself via a personal loan) I have been obsessed with reading everything I can about it and about people who have had it. I am still kind of hoping for some kind of "divine word" about whether or not it is the right thing for me to do.

I am "only" 75 lbs over my ideal weight but am type II diabetic. I am trying to figure out if my reason for doing this is my health or my vanity or a combination of both. The diabetes needs to be gone (when I am 20 lbs lighter it is gone) but I am sure looking forward to losing the weight and actually keeping it off for more than 20 minutes...

Ok so now that it is saturday night and my banding is on Monday 3/5, I am starting to get really scared. Went off the liquids tonight to have a diet coke and a slice of pizza...want chinese food tomorrow..i know I am bad but..i just feel like I have to enjoy these foods one last time. Other than that I have been amazingly compliant on this liquid diet. I have never been able to keep on a diet...hence my weight problem. I know I have to work with my band and I will..but for now it is hard.

Mags

I had surgey on 3/1 and my band must be WIDE OPEN, I feel no restriction at all.

Had blended up ciopino for dinner tonight, also trying to increase the Fluid intake.

I am using bariatrix shakes for 2 Meal Replacements per day and then a warm blended up dinner at night.

Walked 2 miles today.

:welcomeB: BandSTAR and Theresa Ann!!!!!! Good Luck to both of you!!!

Thank You Tammy, it's so close now.

Thank you Tammy!

BandSTAR March 5th

Welcome to all the new March Bandsters!!!!!!

And to those bandsters who already are banded, thank you so much for posting your experiences. It really helps to have an idea of what to expect! :myscared:

Hello all, Well Im sitting here reading all the newly banded info and man i cant wait. 19 more days to go and time is going sooooo slllooooowwww for me. I also keep thinking I got to eat this and I got to eat that before I cant. I am going to start my pre op diet on 3/12 So only one more week for bad foods (pastries):hungry: . So all you new bandies please please share some more. I am really concerned about the gas, so please share that with me.

Ok so now that it is saturday night and my banding is on Monday 3/5, I am starting to get really scared. Went off the liquids tonight to have a diet coke and a slice of pizza...want chinese food tomorrow..i know I am bad but..i just feel like I have to enjoy these foods one last time. Other than that I have been amazingly compliant on this liquid diet. I have never been able to keep on a diet...hence my weight problem. I know I have to work with my band and I will..but for now it is hard.

Mags

Me too!!! I had a piece of cake (my daughters birthday) and some tempura (sp) fish tacos. Not much but after being so good on the diet now I feel guilty and sick!!!! Hang in there Mags we will make it!!!!

Glo

Hey TracyinKS--I wanna play! Put me down for March 29 ath 7:30 am. I love reading your posts and look forward to getting to know you as we do this together. :clap2:

So if you guys wanna know the down and dirty about this surgery.

I was banded at 630pm on Thurs and I could have gone back to work on Friday,the only thing that hurts is the pressure and the lump (per se') the port causes. As a matter of fact I did go shopping all day when released from surgery ctr on fri am. The very best thing you can do is walk walk walk, you might get stiff but sit down for 5-10 minutes have a drink and get up and go again. I went to work Sat am and I could not lift anything heavier than my fork (ha ha) I took 2 doses of pain meds~just to manage pain~ I get grumpy when I don't feel good, but I was moving. I did get a little gas pain on Sat which lasted about 15 min. but that was it.

My port buldges and I was concerned but apparently so does other peoples until the swelling goes down and that is what is causing the pressure. It is right under where my bra sits just below my left breast. If my breasts were not so big I don't think my port would hurt as much. I am apple style body so I carry all my weight from hips to shoulders. I guess if I DID NOT HAVE to be a work I would not have been there but I would have been doing something else. I walked my dogs 2 miles once I got home from work and once I took off my bra pain disappeared.

I ate some cottage cheese as a snack because I was hungry and did not chew really really well and felt my band resisting, so the next bite got mushed up more in my mouth before swallowing.

I gained 5# from surgery but have pee'd more in the last 2 hours than I have in the last 2 days, I think the scale will be different tomarrow~it better be. And I finally went #2 tonight.

I had to get creative on a way to get myself out of bed for the last 2 days, and just manuevered until I figured a way without my port tugging at my chest too much.

I just scheduled a vacation to san diego zoo and sea world on 3/13, which involves alot of walking so obviously I am not hurting too bad.

I am happy I did it and am looking forward to being healthy again.

I have eaten less in the last 2 days than during the liquid phase for prep surgery and during the liquid phase I was starving and now I am not feeling starving~if I get hungry I just mush something up and eat, but it is not as often as you would think.

I am drinking 2 shakes per day and 2 Snacks and 1 mushed up meal.

If you have ANY questions at all I will answer as clearly and forthwith as you can stand.

well today I also managed to stay on my liquid diet. But I know that before the surgery I need to eat at least two things: a sub sandwhich (I'm thinking tuna with cheese and avacado and I want it toasted) and snickers cruncher bar. And the reason for this is because I have been craving these for a while. Now I know that most people say when you get a craving for something you should just wait for it to pass. Mine don't pass. Seriously. They just get worse. If I don't have the food I want I start dreaming about it. Then I start thinking about it more and more and I just want more of it and then its fine after I get it and eat it. At least unless I get a craving again. I don't know where the waiting for it to pass comes from. I think that must not be a true craving. Now I can eat just a small sub- not a foot long or anything. I am trying to be good here and it is getting easier, but it will really drive me crazy if I don't get those things and I'll eat other things that I don't really want because they are closer to those things, but I will still want to those things.

Its getting easier with the liquid diet at least. I have been increasing the amount of unjury and not the amount of milk- just adding another scoop so its thicker and I get more protein. I also add benefiber because I normally take fiber capsules but I ran out and I figured on doing the benefiber for after surgery so I might as well do it now. Today I was trying to instruct my husband how to make a protein shake when I was rushed. I told him he had to use to the handblender. And he didn't. So I made him swear he would next time because otherwise it doesn't mix as well, etc. and that he can't use too much milk and I need a straw, etc. And I made sure to thank him. And I also added the unflavored unjury to my soup. I've always done better when I get supper high amounts of protein with hunger-- like over 100 grams in a day-- so I just have to remember that and stick to it.

Its funny how easy it can be to forget stuff that works, I think.

Hello all, Well Im sitting here reading all the newly banded info and man i cant wait. 19 more days to go and time is going sooooo slllooooowwww for me. I also keep thinking I got to eat this and I got to eat that before I cant. I am going to start my pre op diet on 3/12 So only one more week for bad foods (pastries):hungry: . So all you new bandies please please share some more. I am really concerned about the gas, so please share that with me.

Hey! It's been almost 2 days since I was banded now. I didn't have too much of a gas problem. Yesterday I did use my heating pad on my shoulders for maybe an hour. It really didn't HURT hurt either it was just kinda a really annoying feeling in my shoulders, but the heating pad helped a lot. Besides that I just get up a lot while I'm at home so I've been getting rid of the gas pretty easily with no problems. My incisions hurt more than the gas and they aren't that bad, only if I have been sitting a little too long I'll get up and my tumy will feel stiff so I walk a little bent over. I just got out of bed a few mins ago though and they hardly hurt after sleeping about 5 hours. I've been drinking water CONSTANTLY, so I don't know if that has made a difference, but I know it doesn't hurt!Everyone has a different experience with the pain, and I know it's hard but try not to worry about it until you're there. (I personally was freaking out over it...hahaha) Oh, if it helps to compare...I had my wisdom teeth out two weeks ago and it was WAY more pain than this surgery...and I didn't have them cut out, only pulled! :myscared:

Well, it is done..Today, I made the entire payment for my new friend, including two years of aftercare...dietician, psychologist etc. I only have to pay for fills, which are 50 euros. I am being banded by Dr. LaFullarde in Geel, Belgium. So far, I haven't found any English or Americans who have used him, but I think he might only speak Dutch...Not a problem, as I speak Dutch myself. :-) A perk of having a Dutch husband. Geel is just outside Antwerp, and Dr. LaFullarde has an excellent reputation on the Dutch Lapband boards. He is part of the Medico Legal Committe in the The Belgian Group for Endoscopic Surgery is now the official "surgical endoscopy" branch of the Belgian Royal Society of Surgery, together with Dr. Dillemans. So, I guess I shouldn't worry. My surgery is 5,850 euros, including the aftercare, so it was the best deal I found. I am just trying hard not to think about having someone cut into me. I am almost 40, and have never been inside an operating room, or had a visit to a hospital for longer than a few hours. Terrifying for me, let me tell you!!! I am trying to focus on reading everyone's success stories and making sure I carry everything with me that I will need to make the journey home comfy. We are staying in a 5 star hotel the night before surgery, and my husband will stay there while I am in the hospital overnight. I wanted us to have a nice couple of days. We are even taking our two Boxers, so I can have them there to keep me focused on something other than surgery. I figure they will keep me calmer both before and after surgery.

So, I have the following...please tell me if I am missing anything...

Cold pack

heating pad

dissolvable aspirin

dissolvable vitamins

mint tea bags (for upset tummy)

individual packets of mix for broth

nice squishy feather pillow for the trip home

comfy pants, no waistband

loose shirt so I can go braless

flat slides so I dont have to bend to put on shoes

socks

blanket for the car

chewable pepto bismal

Ho hum...count down to March 14th......Any words of encouragement out there? I am starting to fear I will do this and still be fat forever......

Charlotte

Well, it is done..Today, I made the entire payment for my new friend, including two years of aftercare...dietician, psychologist etc. I only have to pay for fills, which are 50 euros. I am being banded by Dr. LaFullarde in Geel, Belgium. So far, I haven't found any English or Americans who have used him, but I think he might only speak Dutch...Not a problem, as I spek Dutch myself. :-) A perk of having a Dutch husband. Gell is just outside Antwerp, and Dr. LaFullarde has an excellent reputation on the Dutch Lapband boards. He is part of the Meico Legal Committe in the The Belgian Group for Endoscopic Surgery is now the official "surgical endoscopy" branch of the Belgian Royal Society of Surgery, together with Dr. Dillemans. So, I guess I shouldn't worry. My surgery is 5,850 euros, including the aftercare, so it was the best deal I found. I am just trying har dnot to think about having someone cut into me. I am almost 40, and have never been inside an operating room, or had a visit to a hospital for longer thana few hours. Terrifying for me, let me tell you!!! I am trying to focus on reading everyone's success stories and making sure I carry everything with me that I will need to make the journey home comfy. We are staying in a 5 star hotel the night before surgery, and my husband will stay there while I am in the hospital overnight. I wanted us to have a nice couple of days. We are even taking our two Boxers, so I can have them there to keep mr focused on something other than surgery. I figure they will keep me calmer both before and after surgery.

So, I have the following...please tellme if I am missing anything...

Cold pack

heating pad

dissolvable aspirin

dissolvable vitamins

mint tea bags (for upset tummy)

individual packets of mix for broth

nice squishy feather pillow for the trip home

comfy pants, no waistband

loose shirt so I can go braless

flat slides so I dont have to bend to put on shoes

socks

blanket for the car

chewable peptobismal

Ho hum...count down to March 14th......Any words of encouragement out there? I am starting to fear I will do this and still be fat forever......

Charlotte

Sounds lie a good list, I also bought a pill crusher for some things I was already taking, I bought special k protein water and LOTS of Propel fitness water, yummm. I have a hot/cold pack, haven't had to use the cold though, only the heat. My water bottles have a sippy lid and they are PERFECT so that I don't drink too fast. A thermometer if you don't have one. I've been using baby spoons to eat my jello to learn to take those small bites. I'd say that's all I've really used so far. :myscared:

Sounds lie a good list, I also bought a pill crusher for some things I was already taking, I bought special k protein water and LOTS of Propel fitness water, yummm. I have a hot/cold pack, haven't had to use the cold though, only the heat. My water bottles have a sippy lid and they are PERFECT so that I don't drink too fast. A thermometer if you don't have one. I've been using baby spoons to eat my jello to learn to take those small bites. I'd say that's all I've really used so far. :Banane32:

Lucky ducks you guys are! We don't have Propel or Special K protein water.. We have to make do wiht th ebasis. We don't even have the great array of soups that the US has.The problem with living in a country with a population only twice that of NYC!! (16 million) We have to make do. So, when you guys are on liquid diets and feeling bad, think of me..I have about a third of the stuff available to me, that you have. :myscared: lol

Great idea about the sippy cup!! How much pain did ou have following surgery?? On a scale of 1-10? My US doctor sent me a prescritopn for pain medicine, but I can't get it filled here because i has codeine in it. GRRR!

tammyj,

Please add me to the list, I am scheduled to be banded 3/21 at 1 pm in

Atlantic City, New Jersey. Good luck to the six who will be banded on

Monday 3/5. Sharon I feel for ya, I am certainly not looking forward

starting mine.:Banane32: I read on another thread to put up post it notes and

tear one down, rip it up, stomp on it whatever it takes just to help you get thru the pre-op diet days.:myscared:

:welcome2: Famos!!!! I will add you to our list. Good Luck!!!