Yes another newbie, and I haven't even been banded yet. My date is Sept 28 in Monterrey,MX with Dr. Miguel Zapata.

I have been reading and reading and reading until I am so confused I don't even know now if I want the surgery.

I had to take out a loan, which to me is worth it since my BC of TN abosoultely under no circumstances will pay for weight loss surgery. Now I'm reading all these posts of no weight loss, very slow weight loss, great weight loss and so on. I already have an appt 8 wks post op with Dr. Hugh Houston in Nashville for my first fill. He 'adopts' those who have their bands done in MX and I have heard nothing but great things about him. He too does the lap band surgery but for thousands more than what I'm paying.

I know I have sleep apnea, but have never had a sleep study done but I have informed the Dr. of this, he has not required a pre op diet for the surgery as most others do in the US. I'm just going back and forth here but as I said I'm so confused.

I have read on here the dangers of sleep apnea and anethesia, that freaks me out, my only fear is that I won't wake up but then again I won't know it anyway and it would be a pleasant way to leave this world I guess. I am having this surgery to aid me in losing 114lbs to my goal weight. If I'm not going to lose the weight what is the point of all the stress I have already put myself and my family through by going to Mexico, borrowing money, and then coming home to only problems and more stress.

Before I started reading so much about pre-op and post-op stuff I was heady with excitement for my new journey and not having to worry about the fire hazzard when wearing corduroy this winter, now I am totally depressed and just about ready to chuck it all and stay fat.

I don't expect it to be a breeze, I know I will have to do my part, but I didn't realize there were as many problems with this as I am finding out. Yes I want to lose the weight hopefully withing a year but if it takes a little longer I'm ok with that, but I'm reading on here people who have been through hell and back 2,3 and 4 years out and still not at goal, that just blows me away. Bless their hearts and they still keep at it. I guess I'm just not that patient.

I am having very serious doubts here and that bothers me too. I thought this was the solution for me, now I'm just freaked.

I know this may just be pre surgery jitters, and probably sounds whiny and selfish, and I don't expect anyone to sympathize I guess I just needed to vent and maybe just stop reading for a while. Brain overload, but if any one was to take pity I wouldn't throw rocks at ya!

docsdeb:faint:

Like life, the band is what you make of it. It is a TOOL and only a tool to help you achieve your goals. There are up and there are downs, but at the end of the day, once you have proper restriction and if you follow the rules you should loose weight. There is no exercise switch, you have to get up and move. There is nothing wiring your jaw shut (which is a feature I would love!!) so you still have to make smart choices about what you eat.

It is not magic, but if you are willing to commit to it vs going on with your life as it is now, where will you be in a year? 50 lbs less? 100 lbs less? vs. at your same weight or more?

If you need some re-assurance, this thread always works for me, I truly want to be able to post in there one day!. I know why I got the band, I couldn't take my life anymore, I could stand waking up in pain. I was self pay too and it was the best $16,000 I ever spent.

I am only recently banded, so I can't promise you that this will work... but for me, I made the decision to have surgery because no matter how hard I tried at losing weight on my own it just WASN'T WORKING, no matter what I did... I knew I had to try something drastically different if I ever wanted to feel good about myself in my own skin. NOT having the surgery meant I was giving up on myself.. having the surgery showed that I still had hope! Maybe this won't work, who knows, but I couldn't go on just doing the same thing time and again and hoping for a different result. If I hadn't gotten banded, I could gaurantee I would weight the same thing next August as I did this august... now that I'm banded I feel like I actually have a shot at this whole "thin and healthy" world that I've never been a part of before! I'm not aiming to be a bikini model or anything like that, I just want to be a healthy weight and be able to be more active.

And the "before and after" photo thread definitely filled me with optimism as well!

Goodluck in whatever you decide!

I cant comment on a lot of the questions you have since I am only 7 days post-op, but I too have ubstructive sleep apnea( quit breathing an average of 7 times during each of my sleep studies). That is what pushed me into having the band done. My anesthesiologist said it would be no problem, since they were aware of it prior to putting me under. I was in surgery over 4 hours and came thru fine. As far as weight loss, i'm at over 16 lbs in just 7 days . Good luck, keep us posted on yur progress.......Dave:bounce::bounce:

Hi Docsdeb, I am pretty much a newbie myself to the band-my surgery was 3 weeks tomorrow. Unlike you (and other smart people), I didn't start reading posts on this site until after I'd had the surgery (of course I did research on websites but just not on message boards). Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all because I didn't have the same opportunity as you to have all the pre-surgery doubts you are having, although I did have some, certainly!

Naturally some of the posts I have read have caused me concern but I think we have to remember that often we're reading posts from different people who have had different issues. One can only hope that all of the various problems don't happen to a single person. I'm fairly certain that there are many, many people who have no 'issues' at all (other than the expected 'breaking-in' period for the band and the learning curve about eating with it). As we all know, there are risks in life and we have to weigh them against each other. In my case it was, do I live in misery with my excess weight-constantly being tired and unmotivated to move or do anything much but go to work/come home/eat (lots of course)/sleep repeat. While I didn't have any serious health issues (amazingly), they were just around the corner. Comparing those things to something that had a comparable long term rate of success similar to the more invasive surgeries but far less percentage of serious complications and could be reversed in the worst case scenario, I chose the band. Time will tell whether it turns out to have been a great choice, but I'm hopeful.

Bottom line is you have to feel comfortable yourself with this choice or it will truly be nothing but a stressful weight (no pun intended) around your neck if you proceed. I wish you much luck in your deliberations!

p.s., I have sleep apnea and my clinic said that while complications with anesthesia are very rare, they did want me to stay overnight (at an extra cost, of course) so they could just make sure all was well.

I am eternally grateful for all of your insights. I have taken everything under consideration and I am going to proceed as planned.

I have decided after reading more on here that even though I have not been instructed to do so, I am going to start a liquid diet 2 wks prior to surgery to help shrink my liver. It can't hurt and can only help the surgeon. I have also read about the hair loss and even though I can't afford to lose any, everyone does say it grows back and it is temporary although very frightening! I do not look forward to that.

I will just have to be brave and soldier through whatever comes my way and just know in whom I believe in will be there every step of the way and whatever will be will be. I have tremendous faith in my savior!

Now if someone would just help guide me through puttong one of those cute little tickers on my posts I would be so happy. I have tried to do so in the past and have never been able to do it. I am not computer illiterate so I don't understand what my problem is?? I would love to dress up my posts as everyone else does so that I too can post my progress. Believe me, if this works and I do start dropping the the LB's, there will def. be lots of before and after pics. I will take the first pic at the hospital before surgery. It's 3 weeks and counting!

Thanks again

Docsdeb:whoo:

Yay! Glad to hear you are proceeding, I can't wait till we're all losing weight and posting our after photos on here!

To add a ticker, you can go to Trying To Conceive Ticker, select the "weight loss" tickers, and pick out your design and enter your info.. the last page has a bunch of different "codes" that you can put in your signature... go to the bottom where it says "ez-code", and copy that

Then, come back here, go to your userCP underneat that smiling lady on the top left corner at the top ^^^^^, and go to "edit signature", and paste your link, save... and voila! you should have a ticker.

Hope that helps!

I am so excited, the wife of one of the guys that my husband works for just called me because my husband told her husband we were going to Mexico to get banded. She is already is scheduled for Sept 26th in Georgia and had to refi their house to pay the 14,000.00 for it. She wanted to know where to go to read about where I was going so she could decide is she wanted to go there and have hers done too.

She said if she liked what she seen she would try and get hers scheduled the same day and even fly down with me and my husband.

How cool is that, to have somone from home get banded at the same time and a buddy to go through this with together. I'm less nervous already.

I worry about panic attacks, as I have suffered from them since I was in my twenties, sometimes I will just be sitting watching tv and I will feel like my throat is closing in. I have to do some serious debtalking to get it to go away and sometimes it doesn't all the way but I deal with it. I have read on all the lapband sites the dysphagia is a complication and I have thought, OMG if that happens to me I will surely panic to death. but I'm trying very hard to believe that it won't and keep positive. I hoping that I will be so focused on all the other stuff I need to do and keep up with that I won't have time to worry about it. Keep us pre-oppies in your prayers.

Hey Mary-2b150 thanks for helping me get my ticker,only how do you move it when you start losing, not that I need to now, just planning ahead as usual. I already have my first fill appt with a lapband surgeon in my area who 'adopts' those of us who get banded in Mexico. The girl there said she was so glad I called before getting banded and that they rarely ever see any complications from those who have. Good to know, made me feel better.

Rambling too much, later :whoo:

Docsdeb