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...

:clap2: Hello, I too am a believer and am trusting God that I'm doing the right thing. I was supposed to go for my surgery in January but it was postponed due to some more medical tests. I'm just waiting to get a colonoscopy on Feb. 19th then will get clearance from my doctor on the 23rd Feb and hopefully God willing I'll have my surgery scheduled for beginning of March. I should be eating less, but I feel like this is it for me so eat what I can while I can because once I have the surgery everything changes. But by reading everyone I see that I should start with a Protein drink now. Any thoughts on this, pls let me know.

Quote "Don't know if any of you are religious but if you are prayer can help"

AMEN to that. I am a firm believer in a higher power and the power of prayer. I think that giving our lives over to that higher power is going to be a crucial step in our success (those of us who believe). This is particularly true when we have eating disorders and are "addicts".

One of the ways that I try to deal with my stress and emotional eating is by trying to keep things in perspective and remembering that God has his hand on all aspects of my life. I have a sign on my printer that reads "I am too blessed too be stressed" the second part of that saying is "and I am too annointed to be disappointed" The Stress part is most relevant to me - I am a lawyer. Also my pastor says that sometimes we eat because we are trying to fill a hunger that only God can fill. I am working on this and trying to have more faith and to give things over to God. However, this is much easier to preach than it is to practice!

I would be interested in hearing what other peoples thoughts are on were God plays in on our issues.

I don't have my surgery date yet but I believe it will be the first week of March. I like you was worried about the liquid diet but I like your plan and have decided to do it with you. I've done all my testing and the reason I want to go thru this is because I suffer from severe sleep apnea and I hate sleeping with the cpap and mask plus I have diabetes II and I want to get off all meds. I'm alot older than most of your girls (61 yrs young) but I want to spend the rest of my life with quality and to be able to enjoy my grandchildren, increase my energy, walk without pain in my back and legs, just enjoy a healthy lifestyle. :clap2:

Hello all you March Bandsters!!!

My surgery date is March 15th. I have been researching the Lapband since this summer. I changed my mind quite a few times. I finally went to my first seminar in November, saw the surgeon in December, and now my date is almost here!!! I'm almost done with all my testing...I still have the Pulmonary Function Test and Sleep Apnea Test.

I have been really worrying myself about how I'm going to handle the pre-op liquid diet. I decided to work my way up to it. Starting Feb. 15th I will replace one meal with liquids and starting Feb. 22nd I will replace 2 meals with liquids and then March 1st I will start full liquids. Maybe if I ease my way into it, it won't be so bad...or will this just prolong the process and make it worse???

At present, I am 5'9", 275lbs, BMI 40, size 26. My Goal is to lose 100lbs and weigh around 175. Not sure what size I'll be at that weight maybe 14/16, but size 10/12 sounds better!

March is just around the corner, but now I won't feel so alone during the wait.

I like you was worried about the liquid diet but I like your plan and have decided to do it with you.

That sounds cool! We can encourage each other along the way. I'm just anxious and ready to start losing weight so that's why I'm starting early. I actually started today and drank a Slim Fast for Breakfast and had Soup for lunch. I'm going to wait a couple weeks before starting the Protein drinks...probably the third week in February. I don't want to wear those out before I actually need them.

Sounds like March will be your month!!!

Welcome Reesh!!!!!

I just got my approval letter in the mail yesterday and I faxed it over to my surgeons office...... now all that is left is for the person to SCHEDULE ME!

Congratulations Tracy!!! I hope you'll be getting a surgery date very soon!

Congratulations Tracy! How exciting!!

I hope I can get a date on Saturday, but I guess it will be up to the surgon. This is the hospital I'm going to see on Saturday. http://www.bmiweightloss.co.uk/

Sara x

Good Morning Marchies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am really hoping today is the day for my date.. I will then know what month I should REALLY be posting in... (I've been everywhere from Jan to March! ) At this point I'm just ready for my date to be set.

Sara: I hope you get your date on saturday.

Tammy: How are you doing today?

Reesh: Hope you get your date soon too.

Have a great day, and I'll check back later.

I think maybe I should join the March Bandsters. I had to reschedule all my appointments with the surgeon, dietitian, and psychiatrist due to bad weather, and they are all rescheduled for next week. Hopefully all will go well, my insurance will approve quickly, and I'll get scheduled. We've already contacted the insurance and it is a covered surgery with MO, and I already know my surgeon is in the network, my PCP has already written his letter, and I've met all the other requirements (that I know of) from my insurance company, so those hoops have already been jumped through.

I do have one concern. MO to my insurance company is a BMI of 40 or more. When I weighed at my PCP's office my BMI was 40.03 or something like that, which means if I lose a pound or two it would be under 40. When I weighed at home this morning I had lost 4 pounds. This is crazy, but I don't want to gain weight back to meet the requirement. But I guess I have to, at least until weigh-in at the surgeon's office, right?

At any rate, Lord willing, if everything goes well, I should get a surgery date in March. If that changes I'll let you all know.

Good morning Tracy! I'm doing great! There was a snowstorm here in Chicago last night, but I still made it to the group support meeting at the hospital. It was not fun trying to get there, but I made it!

It has to be very nerve-wrecking waiting for a date. I hope they call today!!!:gluck:

I do have one concern. MO to my insurance company is a BMI of 40 or more. When I weighed at my PCP's office my BMI was 40.03 or something like that, which means if I lose a pound or two it would be under 40. When I weighed at home this morning I had lost 4 pounds. This is crazy, but I don't want to gain weight back to meet the requirement. But I guess I have to, at least until weigh-in at the surgeon's office, right?

Welcome Clickersister!

Truth be told, I kept my weight on to stay in the BMI 40 range. By mistake I gained a few pounds and crept up to a BMI of 41. I am a chronic yo-yo dieter. Under normal circumstances I would have started my traditional New Year's Resolution and probably would have lost 20 lbs by now, but I purposely kept the weight on so they would have no reason to deny me. Now that I'm approved, I am getting serious about getting some of this weight off. So as long as it's only a few pounds, I would gain them back if it were me, or wear layers of clothes, drink a ton of Water or wear ankle weights before your weigh-in...LOL! Also, could it be possible that your scale at home is different from your Dr.'s scale or have they always been consistent? Let us know how everything goes!

I am scheduled for March 5. I'm 5'0" and my highest has been 206. I'm working on getting that down to 200 or below before the surgery.

I'm in illinois too (champaign) and I don't want to leave the house! Brr! But the weather is a good excuse to layer. If you want to add on pounds then you can always wear boots. I've noticed in the past that when I wear my hiking boots (they are lovely- lined with gortex, waterproof, I love these boots. But I can't find them! They are in the garage. In a box. Ugh) it instantly adds several pounds. Also, this time of year I am going to wear more. Its cold out. I don't have a car and the bus stops are just marked by little signs and my big heavy coat is still at the dry cleaners. So this means I layer like crazy. I'm even considering putting on leggings under my jeans or long underwear. (BTW the just ordered some leggings online that have a longer inseam in the hope that these actually go down to my ankles. Not easy to find tall plus size leggings). Just keep a layer or two on more than usual when you get on the scale.

Plus if you have health problems the BMI required drops down to 35! My BMI is 43 and looking to stay there, but because my blood pressure has been high, I have GERD and fibromyalgia I think that would qualify me. According to my last sleep study I don't seem to have CPAP but that doesn't mean my sleep doc won't want to put me on an Autopap or something. And then there is the narcolepsy which while not weight related does make it harder for me to lose weight. So I think even if I lost a ton on the liquid diet and so forth I would be ok to go and all that.

Welcome FurEllie and keep us posted on your weight loss efforts! I'm just getting started and it's harder than I thought it was gonna be. I'm still thinking about all the foods I have to give up.Hi Kyethra, I hope you're keeping warm! The boots wouldn't have worked for me because they made me remove my shoes every time they weighed me.

4 Weeks to go!!!

28 days!

Woo-Hoo!!!

4 Weeks to go!!!

28 days!

Woo-Hoo!!!

:clap2: :high5: :dance: I've been counting down for about 12 weeks now...LOL!