I can't wait to get the Lap-Band on Dec 13th! I had an awful day today that confirmed just how badly I want and NEED this surgery.

It started out with Black Friday shopping. I got halfway through the store and my back locked up so I had to have my husband go get me an electric riding cart. I stopped in the middle of the aisle and bent over to get something off the bottom shelf, and I lost control of the cart because my fat stomach pushed the lever to make it go forward and I didn't notice it. That made me go forward and I slammed into this old lady in front of me and knocked her down. It just so happens that she was bent over in front of me, picking something up. When my cart slammed into her rear end, she went flying onto the floor.:faint: Thank God she wasn't hurt but I was so embarrassed and humiliated, I just left the store without finishing up my shopping.

Then I went to the salon to have my hair cut and sat (or squeezed myself rather) in the chair to look at the style book and unfortunately, the chair had arms. (Arms on chairs are not a good thing for me at all.) Somehow, the area between the arm and the seat seemed to act as a suctioning device and all of the fat on my thighs got sucked into the sides of the chair. They called my name to get my haircut and when I went to get up, THE ENTIRE CHAIR CAME WITH ME!:embarassed: I sat back down with the chair attached to my *ss and figured I could inch myself out of the chair, since I had done it many times in the past in similar situations. But NO, NOT TODAY, not on my worst fat day ever! I was STUCK! And I mean stuck. I could not get out of the chair, the sides of my legs were in so much pain. To make a long story short, they had to get a screwdriver and TAKE THE SIDE OF THE CHAIR OFF for me to get out! Meanwhile, two little kids were watching, pointing, and laughing, as if it were some sort of a circus act.:angry Needless to say, I did not get my hair cut today.

To top my day off, I got home and took a nap because of all of the frustration. I must have had a bad dream because I woke up on the floor in front of the couch. THAT was just what I needed. I darn near rocked myself back to sleep trying to get up off the floor, which I finally accomplished with the help of my husband and sister.

I am SOOOOOO ready for this surgery. I just needed to vent for a minute, thanks for letting me. Hopefully, someday in the near future I will look back on this day and find humor in it, but for now, it is NOT cute!

Wow, so sorry that happened to you. You have a good attitude though and a sense of humor and that always helps.Soon you will be getting smaller and will not have such problems. Donna

Oh kiddo can I relate! I remember one of the most embarassing moments for me was a few years ago when I was at my top weight. My Mom, nephew and I went to a Houston event called the Ballooner Festival in the hot August. We had those cheapy folding chairs (the old kind with the fabirc type straps strung between the metal frame parts). We get in the middle of all the action, right at a crossroads for everyone going from here to there and decided to set up shop. We dropped our cooler and unfolded our chairs and sat down. And MY chair not only collapsed in a heap on the ground (with me on top), it literally disintegrated! And no, they weren't old chairs. It took the most supreme effort on my part not to burst into tears of embarassment. It was witnessed by no less than probably 100 people at the time. Even now I shudder....

missmonaaz..

I have to say I don't feel sorry for you. And before you start throwing things at the monitor... let me explain!! I feel joy for you because from now on, after your surgery, when you are feeling weak and tempted by food, you are going to be able to look back on that day and think..... NO WAY am I going back there. You have the perfect motivator. Saying that, I know where you are coming from.. we all do. We've all been there and had our worst moments. But you are in a great group here. We are people who were able to take control finally and get our act together and DO something to make our lives better, both physically and mentally.

CONGRATS to you for your worst day and CONGRATS to you for your best days yet to come!!

And THESE are the events that put concrete into our decisions to change our lives for the better.

cagstorm, i see y our blue go cowboys thingy, is that mcneese cowboys?

Dallas Cowboys... who are the McNeese Cowboys??? College???

The worst is behind you-100 pounds lighter now and I appreciate everyday based on my former bad experiences. If I hadn't had trouble fitting in a booth I would not be able to be grateful everytime I now sit in a booth and I fit!

Oh, my. I'm so sorry that you had to go through this awful day. And to have THAT many things happen to you all in one day. I doubt very much that you'll ever be able to look back on that and think it was funny. I'm finally to the point where I don't have to ask for a table in restaurants, I can sit in chairs with arms comfortably, and the last time I flew, I could breathe in the seat. And I still don't think any of the things that used to happen to me were ever funny. Going to a restaurant that had ONLY booths that were way too small, and having to sit there and have the table cut into me so bad that it was hard to breathe, much less eat....

This surgery is the very best thing that has ever happened in my life, and I hope that it blesses your life the way it's blessed mine.

Wow, you are a strong soul... Because you were able to live through your worst fat day ever, your strength is likely to make you thrive with the band. Good luck to you...

So, my worst fat day was June 25th, 2007 in Paris, France. I decided two years ago that being fat was not going to keep me and my family from seeing the world. During our second vacation to Europe I sat in a chair at a restaurant, and it did infact break and I fell on the ground. I had only been seated for a moment when I felt the legs pull apart. I tried desperately to get my legs under me before I went over, but to no avail. The chair was so tight, it was cupping my ass as I tried to fight my way out of it to get up. I cried when I got back to our hotel room. I can only imagine what everyone thought, it was probably hysterical to watch.

In one fell-swoop, I only affirmed the French's opinion of us as fat stupid American's... (Sorry if this posting offends any French people, but they were a little snotty over there...)

Darl'en... When you get banded I am going to help you. You live soooo close to me that we are going to have BubbleButt's boot camp every single weekend!! You are going to be soooo thin that next time you go to those places they won't even realize it is you so you don't need to worry about embarrassment!

You and I have talked on the phone and I know you well enough to know that you have the right attitude about banding and weight loss. You are going to do this! I'll bet you money that in 6 months you will have lost a HUGE amount of weight and none of those things will ever happen again.

When you are banded and have your attitude, as you lose pounds - those are pounds that will never ever come back again!

For anyone that hasn't realized it yet or read enough of Mona's posts, she is an absolute gem! I love talking to her on the phone because I'm laughing so hard my side hurts.

She's great, a true lady.

Miss Mona -- unfortunately, I'm going to recommend that you keep the memory of that awful experience fresh as long as you can.

~You're gonna need it if/when you're in pain post-surgery and start wondering if you made a huge mistake.

~You're gonna need it if/when you plateau before you've even had a fill.

~You're gonna need it if/when you "get stuck" or even PB in a resturant with friends.

There are more possibilities but you get the point. It doesn't seem fair -- that after all we've endured being fat AND what we've gone through to get the surgery -- it seems like we ought to breeze through with no problems and lose 20 lbs a month without trying! But -- like everything else worth having or worth doing -- it's a process. And some days you'll just tired of fighting it and think about giving up. But that's when you need to pull out this memory and give yourself a little head shake and snap your fingers and go, "OH, HELL NO!"

This company has the best long T's out there for us guys that have extra length to cover up back there! Here is a link. Duluth trading co.

Thanks for the recommend!! My oldest son is 6'4" but only has a 30 inch inseam -- finding shirts that are long enough has ALWAYS been a challenge!

Msmonaaz- Thank you so much for posting your bad day. For those of us who are still on our journey with ins., it reminds us to hang in there and why this is so important for us. For me, I have such up and down days of excitement and then downs because I am afraid I won't get approved, then fearful thoughts about being able to do everything right post-op, etc etc. Your story brought me back to my everyday reality of what life is like as a fat person in this world. And thanks to all the other comments regarding, booths vs. tables, airplane seats, chairs with arms, split clothing, getting out once your in, etc. etc. We get so busy with the process at the beginning. But I think is was important for me to re-focus on what brought me to this in the first place. It chases away all the doubts.

MOne, I am sorry to hear about your difficulty. I had a chair stick to my ass one time too. I got up and the entire thing came with me! I also leaned back on a kitchen chair one time and the entire chair broke. Talk about embarrassed. I am now down 100 lbs, 65 from lapband and I can tell you it is a wonderful experience to be able to fit in chairs and not wear a seat belt extension on an airplane. Good luck with your surgery. You will do great with the band. Julie

Wow, thanks everyone! You all have made me feel so much better. I start my 2-week pre-op diet on Wednesday, I tried to start early but unfortunately, that episode yesterday landed me smack dab in the middle of the fast-food drive-thru, or should I say SEVERAL fast-food drive-thrus. It's funny how things like that make you eat. I always said I was not an emotional eater, but I think I just proved myself wrong yesterday.

I completely forgot about another experience that would probably be in the close running with yesterday. I was on a Greyhound bus one time and squeezed myself into the bathroom. And when I say squeezed, I mean I had to squeeze myself into that bathroom in sections. NOT CUTE! Once I managed to get all my sections in, I went to get leave and I could not get out. I was stuck! The door on the bathroom opened IN. I was standing on the toilet seat trying to maneuver myself out of there but it was just not happening. The story ends with the bus having to be pulled over to the side of the road and the door being removed from the hinges.

Back then, I had an "I Don't Care What You Think About Me" attitude about myself. I made fun of myself before others had a chance to. When I finally got out, I announced quite loudly, "Well, I guess that'll teach me not to have that second piece of pie. Busdriver, can you stop at the store so I can pickup some DEPENDS? I won't be trying THAT again!" Of course, when I got home, I cried myself to sleep.

Thanks again for the great encouragement. I hope to be of the same support to each and every one of you.

Mone, you will see the fat melt off of you in due time. I am thrilled for you. It will change your life. Best of luck to you with your surgery and your preop diet. Julie