Hello, this is my first post. I have a date of April 11th. I am excited and scared. I will be traveling about 6 hours to have my procedure with Dr. Borland (Louisiana). I have struggled my entire life to have a healthy weight and to be happy with my image. It started when I was 18 and just graduated high school. I was 60 pounds overweight and was told about a Dr. That prescribed diet pills (phentetmine). I received the diet pills for years and lost the weight and felt wonderful! I incorporated exercise and had never felt better. Fast forward 20 years and it has been a yo yo of 50 pounds up 40 pounds down and even more throughout the birth of my 3 children. I have made the decision to schedule my surgery and saved the money as I will be cash pay. I am very excited, but scared. Could I really be headed towards my goal weight by my 40th birthday? (July). Have others started with 50 pounds to lose and been successful? Also, has anyone had the surgery a few hours from home where you stay in a hotel? What do you pack? Thank you in advance and I am excited to hear back from anyone!!

On 2/14/2017 at 0:51 PM, TXTiredofStruggle said:

Hello, this is my first post. I have a date of April 11th. I am excited and scared. I will be traveling about 6 hours to have my procedure with Dr. Borland (Louisiana). I have struggled my entire life to have a healthy weight and to be happy with my image. It started when I was 18 and just graduated high school. I was 60 pounds overweight and was told about a Dr. That prescribed diet pills (phentetmine). I received the diet pills for years and lost the weight and felt wonderful! I incorporated exercise and had never felt better. Fast forward 20 years and it has been a yo yo of 50 pounds up 40 pounds down and even more throughout the birth of my 3 children. I have made the decision to schedule my surgery and saved the money as I will be cash pay. I am very excited, but scared. Could I really be headed towards my goal weight by my 40th birthday? (July). Have others started with 50 pounds to lose and been successful? Also, has anyone had the surgery a few hours from home where you stay in a hotel? What do you pack? Thank you in advance and I am excited to hear back from anyone!!

Hi Texas,

I just returned yesterday from Mexico to PA so yes I traveled to get there AND I have a lower BMI--actually I was 188 at 5'7 so almost exactly where you are. So I can't talk about the "successful" part other than to say I am soooo excited to get there. I feel like I've started a whole new life. This is what I packed and it turned out great: toiletries, yoga style pants (loose around your tummy), a sweatshirt which came in handy because I was cold in the hospital, sports bra (no underwire because there is an incision up high), slip on shoes or slippers, tea bags that I liked (hotel usually provides but I liked the mint tea I was drinking pre-op), gas ex strips, chap stick, cash, a heating pad which came in handy, loose tops, and nice comfy pajamas. I was there from Thursday night until Monday (Friday morning I went to the hospital but was back at the hotel Saturday morning). I also took my kindle for something to do. I'll be anxious to hear how you do. Don't be scared--it's the best thing I've done for myself in 20 years (I'm 56)