I have just attended my first meeting. I'm already scheduled to meet with the dietician, therapist and doctor. I'm very nervous about the surgery and post op pain. It would be great to here from fellow CT pre/post banders. I will be having my surgery at St. Vincents in Bridgeport.

C'mon, CT let's not live up to our cruel and cold reputation and support on another. :help:

Ctmann

5' 11", 301lbs. BMI = 41

12/11/07 - Initial Meeting

12/18/07 - Therapist & Dietician

01/03/07 - Dr. Ehrlich Visit

Happy Easter Everyone

I was fine until dinner...ate some chopped turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing...not much but feel very guilty. It went down just fine and I am full but not sick. Now I'm scared I ruined it all...I don't think I was supposed to eat that stuff. :wub: what is wrong with me after all this!!!

sharon:):wub::crying::confused2::thumbup:

Hi Sharona:

Don't be too hard on yourself!! I haven't started the journey yet, but since you didn't get sick, you are probably ok. Focus forward and don't look back!!

I can't wait til I get banded and will be looking for support both now and after I am banded!!

Keep up the good work!!!

Thank you so much for the kind words. I do feel better about it today and ate much better. This is a little tougher now than I thought. Now that I am feeling better and not restricted I do feel a little hungry. I'm keeping quantities limited and better food choices. I am looking forward to the visit with Tishler on Friday.

thanks

sharon;)

Thank you so much for the kind words. I do feel better about it today and ate much better. This is a little tougher now than I thought. Now that I am feeling better and not restricted I do feel a little hungry. I'm keeping quantities limited and better food choices. I am looking forward to the visit with Tishler on Friday.

thanks

sharon;)

You can't beat yourself up about something you can't change, the key is not to let it get out of hand. You have a band, but it's not working to the full effect yet.

I just pretended I was on ANOTHER diet and counted my calories. I also convinced myself that if I ate the wrong food something bad would happen, so fear helped me a lot.

I also knew everyone that knew me, that didn't understand how the band works ( that it can take time) was expecting me to lose weight every month. I know I shouldn;t care about what other people think, but it helped me stay on track.

Sounds like you're back on plan.

Thank you and yes I'm realizing that the band is just "there". until I start getting fills nothing really has changed. I am doing much better and finding myself eating to be full and recognizing when I am full. I have my first appt with MD on Friday. Looking forward to the future, feeling better to start exercising and having the weather something other than "cold".....

sharon:)

Hi there, I have my pre-op appointment tomorrrow morning with Dr. Ehrlich's office. Can anyone out there tell me about how long it will be and what happens? Anything I need to know? Tips, tricks, words of wisdom? Thanks to all!!

Hi there, I have my pre-op appointment tomorrrow morning with Dr. Ehrlich's office. Can anyone out there tell me about how long it will be and what happens? Anything I need to know? Tips, tricks, words of wisdom? Thanks to all!!

I don;t remember how long I was there. I had a chest x-ray, bloodwork and an EKG. That's all I remember.

preop with PCP is bloodwork prior then EKG and paperwork that surgeon gave you for the PCP to fill out

If preop with surgeon it is nothing more than reviewing what will happen on the surgery date...takes about 45 min for each

sharon

goodluck

Hi everyone,

I'm from CT, too. :smile:

I had my initial consultation with Dr. Valin's office about 3 weeks ago. I have had my first appointments with the nutritionist and therapist, as well. I have my 2nd appointment with the nutritionist and therapist tomorrow.

The nutritionist has me on a pretty severe diet this week. It's been a struggle, but I have less than 24 hours more on it.

I haven't read anything here about experiences with Dr. Valin's office. Anyone have any comments?

-Theresa

Hi there!! Welcome!! I am also in the "waiting" phase. I have done all of the "busy" work and submitted it. I have a tentative date scheduled for 5/1 pending insurance approval. My doctor is Dr. Kurt Roberts from Yale New Haven Hospital....

Waiting is the HARDEST part!!!!!!!!! :teeth_smile:

Insurance approval went easy for me. I have BC/BS PPO as my husband is a retired state employee. My paperwork was submitted on 1/29 and I was approved on 2/3. Just stay on top of it with the insurance company.

The hard part is coming...the surgery is easy...the food choices aren't. Because your not filled not much changes after surgery. You are still faced with making choices from a differentfood group. I have given up bread completely. Now on mushies eating scrambled eggs and cottge cheese, chicken salad, tuna salad etc. Your nutritionist will help you with that. Need to get in 60 gm of Protein every day so the Protein drinks help. My hardest part is not drinking anything for an hour after eating. I have always drank a lot of fluids. So welcome to our great blog, we have wonderful support. Good luck and be sure to keep us posted with your progress as whatever your worried about someone can help you with. You are not alone and that's the greatest thing

sharon:)

I had my appt on Friday with the surgeon and he says I am right on target. Lost 8 lbs since the surgery and my first fill is in 3 weeks. I'm feeling better but still very tired. He and the pulmonologist said it will take longer to get back to normal. Having the weather improve will certainly help. Looking forward to walking in the sunny outdoors. And the fact I just got a bill for 815.00 for 200 gallons of oil!!!! I've now shut my furnace off. This is ridiculous. 175 a month for electricity and 800 for oil, there has to be a change somewhere....anyway I'm digressing....hope everyone is doing well

sharon:)

That's great progress Sharon!!

I just got insurance approval this morning!! I am having the surgery on May 1st. I am ecstatic!! It was submitted on Thursday and approved this morning...that is FAST!!!!

I now have a couple of pre-op appts. in April. My Dr. does't require pre-op liquid diet, but I am going to do Herbalife anyway. It won't hurt to start the process and shrink my liver a bit to make the surgeon's job easier.

I am going on vacation April 13 - 21st, so it will a challenge to do the Herbalife, but I am up for it!!!

Congratulations!!!

Happy Monday Everyone!

I have to remember to visit the CT local thread more often.

I had my 2nd visit with the nutritionist and the therapist on Saturday. I passed the psych eval and got the green light from the nutritionist. Next this is submittal to the insurance and I am concerned about how that'll work out. It's Empire BCBS. On April 23, I have to attend a class that the nutritionist & therapist give together on what to expect pre-op, at the time of surgery, and post-op. A surgery date isn't far off once I get the insurance approval. Woot!

My surgeon is Dr. Valin at St. Raphael's in New Haven. His office says he's done more of these surgeries than any other surgeon in the state, so I am very confident that things will be fine. I live in Waterbury, but decided it's worth the extra travel.

I guess that's my update for now!

Good luck everyone! :thumbup:

-Theresa