Through earlier conversations in a separate thread, it was suggested to have a specific thread for Spivak's patients to share experiences. Please feel free to join in.

Lynn, Terry and Deb hope to see your updates here.

Take care,

Kim

*To be banded Monday, February 5th

Enterprise, I went to the Saturday seminar on Dec. 31, were you at that meeting? I was encouraged by everyone at the seminar. Sorry to hear your friend was discouraged. My own sister tried to tell me horror stories about lap band surgery and she has not had the surgery herself. But my cousin had lap band surgery in November and she was an inspiration to me. The moral of this story for me is "expect individual results and experience." So far I have not had problems and am thrilled with my results so far. I would have this surgery again in a heartbeat!

Shine On - I would expect to be off a week. It is possible to go back earlier, but I wouldn't count on it. I was surprised at how swollen my belly was and for about a week I could not bend over or move around real well. I remember dropping a paper on the floor at work when I returned and had a heck of a time getting it picked up. Since I did not tell anyone at work about my surgery, this was a bit uncomfortable.

I went to Dr. Spivak's office for fill on Thursday. I asked about the second year of fills free if I met my goal. Since I didn't know what my expected goal was, they showed me the chart and my goal for 5'6" is 137 pounds. I saw that they have a chart for expected weight on Dr. Spivak's web page at bandmd.com

I hope to meet some of you at the support group meetings.

Terry

I have just a little more than a week before my surgery with Dr. Spivak. I took my mom to the seminar (she was the token unbanded skinny person in the room). My mom freaked out because there was so much that the lady couldn't eat. She imagined me on liquids for the rest of my life.

I am pretty nervous but I really liked Dr. Spivak. This past week I have been stocking my house with the things I will need after surgery and it is becoming more real.

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery and new life.

So far the only thing that I have not been able to tolerate is tamales. Well, I might not have chewed that bite really good. I find that if I chew my food really well I can eat most everything except for tamales.

Terry

I can not wait to be banded. My insurance denied me 2 weeks ago so now I am collecting alot of data and medical history. The only thing I do not have is a 6 month history of dieting. I am from Austin and willing drive to see Dr. Spivak. I just trust him.

I would drive a very long way to have Dr. Spivak as my surgeon.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. I think I will budget for a week off to be on the safe side!

Thanks all!

I would drive a very long way to have Dr. Spivak as my surgeon.

DITTO!! I think the world of him and have 1000% confidence. To me, that is the most important aspect of this whole thing. Frankly, i can't imagine going to Mexico for surgery, but I can certainly understand needing to save a few $$!!!

I told my daughter this morning about my upcoming surgery. She's 13. She was most concerned about the safety and she seemed very afraid. I think I calmed her nerves by explaiining that I wouldn't do this at all if I didn't think it was 100% safe and that I have the best surgeon in the country. She felt a lot better after that. Now.....if she can just keep her mouth shut about this!!! Anyone else have issues with telling their kids?

PS - I'm the third one scheduled for the 4th!! It's so cool to 'meet' you guys here! :eek:

I haven't told my kids. I have had two surgeries to remove adhesions from previous surgeries so I will probably tell them that I am having another one of those.

My kids would regale their entire class with my surgery. I have only told my husband, mom, and best friend. I don't want alot of people "watching" me to see how well I do.

Of course I haven't quite figured out how to hide the fact that I will be eating mushies for four weeks - guess I will have Soup when I have to eat with people that don't know.

I have two kids - a 13 year-old daughter and an 8 year-old son. I chose not to tell them because I didn't want them to worry and I also worried about the message it would send to my already very body-consious daughter. When I got home the day of my surgery, I just told her that I had to have some 'girl' stuff taken care of and she didn't ask any questions. I am not sure that my son even knew anything was different - he stays so busy just being a little boy. The only people who know are my husband and couple of very good friends. I figured this was going to be hard enough without other peoples expectations too.

Well, I was at the exact same seminar as that couple (last Saturday)! The girls that were giving their experiences were wonderful, but I was kinda freaked out about the foods she wasn't able to eat as well....no chicken breast :eek: , no eggs , no lettuce:eek:, no bread:eek: ???? That was her experience...and everyone is different. She also talked about trial and error and spending the whole first two months carrying around a barf bag! I can see how if you hadn't done more research, or had the advantage of a place like this forum, or wasn't prepared to make real changes to your eatiing habits that you could spin on your heels and walk right out of there! That guy was probably looking for a magic bullet.

I attended the seminar on Wednesday, January 10th, and, Ferdita (?) was wonderful. My friend's husband was really freaked out by the list of things those girls on Saturday said they couldn't eat. I think he got the impression that his whole world would be turned upside down and life would be miserable. I told my friend to have her husband call me, so we'll see if he pursues it or not. So far, there's nothing I haven't been able to eat. I don't have a very sensitive stomach, so I'm hoping that as long as I chew well and eat slowly I'll still be able to eat anything even after I find proper restriction.

I had surgery with Dr. Spivak on 12/04/06. I started at 205 and now weight 178. Please do not get too worried about the things you will no longer be able to eat. I loved bread before surgery and now I could care less if I never eat it again.

What a great thread! I am scheduled for surgery on April 4th and I am nervous but excited. I am doing surgery on a Wednesday and hoping to return to work (office job) on Monday. Does anyone think that is too ambitious of a plan?

I had surgery on a Wednesday and planned on going back the following Monday. I ended up taking Monday off, too, because I was still feeling so awful. I wish I had had surgery on a Monday and taken the whole week off. The first week back at work was hell and I have a desk job. Even at 6 and 1/2 weeks, I have a lot of discomfort from sitting all day -- the waistband of my pants irritates my large incision. Maybe that's just because I'm both short and short-waisted. Taller people probably aren't bothered by the waistband as much. I've noticed in the pics of the scar stages that everyone seems to have incisions much higher than mine.

If you can, you might want to schedule a couple more days off, just in case.

I had surgery with Dr. Spivak on 12/04/06. I started at 205 and now weight 178. Please do not get too worried about the things you will no longer be able to eat. I loved bread before surgery and now I could care less if I never eat it again.

I've notice since surgery that my "head hunger" is no where near as bad as it was on any of the zillion diets I tried in the past 25 years. My interest in food, as well as my obsessive-compulsive behavior regarding food, has drastically decreased. Is it like that for most bandsters? I wonder if it has anything to do with ghrelin production. (Ghrelin is a hormone produced by the stomach that stimulates hunger.) Maybe the band kind of shuts down the stomach and decreases the amount of ghrelin we produce. Without that ghrelin working on our brains, maybe we no longer suffer from horrible cravings and constant head hunger. Just a thought.

Any other bandsters notice this change?

I saw a reference in this thread somewhere that alluded to Dr. Spivak doing free fills for year 2 if we meet our goals. Is that true? Does anyone have the details. If it is true is the goal to hit losing 50% of excess body weight?

I am determined to beat that number but this would be another great incentive.

:myscared: :Banane32: :Banane32: I went to Dr Spivak's Seminar today and am sch'd for March 12th only 9 days to go! I am SOOOOO excited!!!!

:myscared: :Banane32: :Banane32: I went to Dr Spivak's Seminar today and am sch'd for March 12th only 9 days to go! I am SOOOOO excited!!!!

Oh, Amy! I'm so excited for you!!! I wish I was there with you but I can't leave work right now. Wow...I can't wait for April 4th.

You nervous..?...or OK? I don't think I'll be nervous...just anxious and ready!