Questions:

We both have our insurance approval's, how long can we/should we wait between doing our bands? Him first or me?? Should I wait 2 weeks? 1 week? 3 weeks? Is there pain? how much? please help here.

Bump.....................................

One woman in our April 07 Bandster group, Teachlady, is banded along with her husband and they are both doing AWESOME!! Look her up!

There are several couples on the board but I just can't recall their names. Sorry!

Hi Kittee...

DH and I were approved at different times. He had to wait for a pre-auth from the insurance. I got banded 4/10/07 and he was banded 5/22/07. We had originally planned to go in together, but I'm really glad it worked out the way it did. I don't think going in at the same time is a good idea. A week apart I think would be much better. That way the one who had it first will be just about back to normal when the other has theirs. I had NO problems whatsoever.. no gas pains, no pains at all except for a little pull at the port site incision. DH had bad gas pains, but walking and Gas X helped. Everyone is different and for that reason, I think a little space in between surgeries is helpful.

Any other questions.. just ask! I LOVE my band and he does too!!! We are two different people now, full of energy, much healthier and happier. We'd both do it again in a heartbeat.

My boyfriend isn't banded, and I've only been banded a week. I will say, though, that he is all over my instructions not to lift anything heavy. He keeps reminding me not to carry the grocery bags or move the suitcase from the bed to the floor because of my $10k stitches!

So I think maybe a month in between bandings might be ideal, especially in case one of you has more trouble than the other with the healing. You wouldn't believe the daily things I used to do that I haven't been for a week: changing cat litter, carrying a pot heavy with Water to the stove, carrying cans of Soup from the grocery to the car, emptying the trash can, etc.

I was banded on 1/31/07 and my wife on 2/22/07. I was first because in my business I need to be able to handle 50# bags (lots of them) starting in March. I wouldn't recommend both at the same time. A week or two between would be good. We were both self pay, so we'll be able to get a tax deduction.

BTW Teachlady, my wife is a teacher also!

Good luck!

Bruce

Bruce..

I am a RETIRED teacher!! Loved teaching.... LOVE retirement! DH is a retired minister who is serving a little church near our home. We travel a lot and having the lap band and losing the weight has made such a difference in our lives!

My insurance paid for everything for both of us, thank goodness.

Wow, Bruce.. just noticed your ticker. You've done awesome on the weight loss!! Bet you feel like a different person! How has your wife done???

DH and I were approved at different times. I was two months ahead of him. It would have been nice if we could have gone at the same time. The first week would have been a little tough, but being in different stages has been tough for us.

I was banded on 4/11/06 and my husband was banded 6/20/07 between the both of us our lose is around 175 pounds

My husband and I were 3 weeks apart. If you have kids, I think it would be good to wait at least 2 weeks because of the lifting restrictions. I don't know if it makes a difference who goes first. I wanted to because my husband is such a baby, I didn't want to get scared off, but he ended up going first because of work scheduling. All turned out fine though, he had so little pain, he had nothing to be a baby about! He was tiling the floor during his 3 weeks off.

He is down 92lbs since May 24th, but has all the issues that come with band. Doing it together makes that easier to understand, but still frustrating, because I don't have any issues and feel sorry for him.

Neither of us had very much pain. I didn't take any pain medicine when I got home. My husband took Tylenol maybe 4 times the first few days.

My wife and I were just approved and the dates are for 9/12/07 for her and then I go the next week on the 9/19/07 at 1 P.M. So I will take here to the doctor that day and then she will bring me home the next day. We have three kids and with work schedule/travel we felt that this was the best way to do it.

Chris

Pre-op

Dr. Minkin Des Pers Hosp.

St. Louis, Mo

250/

Teachlady-Thank you for the kind words. Yes, I feel awesome. Sometimes I can hardly believe that it's happening. My wife is also doing well. She's lost about 60 lbs. and is happy we went through with it.

She could have been a retired teacher too, but she wanted an indoor swimming pool. Sooo, she has to teach a little longer.

Bruce

Haha Bruce... I hear ya!! We had a buy out at our school.. never happened before and never will again so I took it and have used the money to travel. We've been to the Western Caribbean twice, Canada twice and Florida 3 times since I retired in 2004. We are headed to Alaska tomorrow on a cruise and then we head back to the Caribbean in Nov. Flying is so much more comfortable now and being able to wear a bathing suit without feeling like a beached whale is great too.

Continued lapband success to you and your wife!!

<TABLE class=formtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=margin></TD><TD class=field><INPUT type=hidden value="Things are going as well as can be so far since surgery. I went in on Wednesday about 11:00 A.M. and did all the pre-op paper work and blood work. I was taken to the surgery holding area about 12:15 and had more reviews and I kept a real postivie attitude. One of the questions was why are you doing this and I said that Iam doing this to make my life better for myself and the family. At about 1:30 P.M. I was taken into surgery and slide over on the table and they gave me some drugs and the next thing I know I was in recovery. About 2:30 P.M. About an hour later I was taken up to my room and then I was allowed to get up and take care of business. Then I was able to walk around. I know everybody is differant in how they handle pain etc. but I must admitthe only pain that I had an nothing work was the gas pains. That hurt most of the night but I ddi keep up walking etc. On Thursday went for the barrium swallow and got to see the band work and was able to start on liquids by 10 A.M. and was home by 4:00 P.M. on Thursday. I went to see the doctor on Friday because my incision (I have 6) the one by the belly button/now port was very red. He put me on some liquid antibotics. While there he said that it only took him 41 minutes to get the band on me. He said that there was a little fat but not much. The week before my wife had the band done. Since we were not sure if she had a cold or allergies we both did the lquid diet. The biggest mistake for me was going off of it and then restarting back again since Iam allways feeling hungery even though iam eating enough. Just something I will have to get used to over the next few weeks. Thanks again to everyone for all there help and advice. Chris Banded 9/19/07 St. Louis Pre/Surg/ 250/231/? " name=message> <TABLE class=wide cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=bottom>

Things are going as well as can be so far since surgery. I went in on Wednesday about 11:00 A.M. and did all the pre-op paper work and blood work. I was taken to the surgery holding area about 12:15 and had more reviews and I kept a real postivie attitude. One of the questions was why are you doing this and I said that Iam doing this to make my life better for myself and the family. At about 1:30 P.M. I was taken into surgery and slide over on the table and they gave me some drugs and the next thing I know I was in recovery. About 2:30 P.M. About an hour later I was taken up to my room and then I was allowed to get up and take care of business. Then I was able to walk around. I know everybody is differant in how they handle pain etc. but I must admitthe only pain that I had an nothing work was the gas pains. That hurt most of the night but I ddi keep up walking etc. On Thursday went for the barrium swallow and got to see the band work and was able to start on liquids by 10 A.M. and was home by 4:00 P.M. on Thursday. I went to see the doctor on Friday because my incision (I have 6) the one by the belly button/now port was very red. He put me on some liquid antibotics. While there he said that it only took him 41 minutes to get the band on me. He said that there was a little fat but not much. The week before my wife had the band done. Since we were not sure if she had a cold or allergies we both did the lquid diet. The biggest mistake for me was going off of it and then restarting back again since Iam allways feeling hungery even though iam eating enough. Just something I will have to get used to over the next few weeks.Thanks again to everyone for all there help and advice. My wife had here done on 9/12/07 and is doing fine.</PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>

Ji,

My husband and I were banded exactly one month apart. We each needed that time to take care of each other. Even thought there is no real pain ( at least for us)...it was nice having someone to fluff your pillows.

I went first. All I can say is I'm glad we BOTH decided to get this done.

We thougfht about it for months!

Good Luck to you!

-Shoregirl