YAY!!! :whoo:

The care rep called yesterday and I am approved for surgery with Dr. Mueller on January 28, 2008! Just made it into the group My preop liquids start on 1/14/08 and my preop class is on 1/23/08! Let's see how slow time passes:phanvan

Kalonda:omg:

Congrats Kawanabear!

Congrats Kawanabear!

Since my doc doesn't have a pre-op class, what actually goes on at the class? I'm guessing it's a review of how things are going to be starting from day 1 post-op on and the changes that are going to take place with eating and such. Is this at all what it is?

Here you are required to complete 2 classes one is 12 weeks and is about nutrition and fitness. We actually exercise during the class for 45 mins with a trainer and spend 45 mins with a dietician going over ways to change our diets and any questions we might have. The other class is called a behavior change and it is about WHY you eat. It is quite interesting and very emotional. It is really trying to get you to change your life by making small changes instead of all of a sudden having the band and not having your behavior modified! I found it VERY useful!

On a different note...I had my h&p today with my doc and the last thing I have to do is go to preadmit at the hospital! Coming up quick--less than 2 weeks!!!YAY!

The class that you have phowell sounds great. I would love to have that. I was required to meet with the nutritionist once to go over post-op diet for the first month or so and I'm supposed to go back to her 4 weeks post-op. I also had to go to the monthly support group meeting once. I liked it so much I went back a second time. I am going to try to go post-op. The reason I say "try" is that I am a full time college student and while I don't live terribly far from where the meetings take place, it's a bit of an inconvenience to have to do it. We'll see what happens.

Besides being far, another drawback is that the meeting is not exclusively for lapband patients, it's all of the doc's patients. It seems that either my doc does more gastric bypasses or that they are the ones that come to the meetings more. While we share some things with bypass patients, there are some very clear differences in the experience so I would have liked to see more lapband people at the meetings I went to.

Sorry, not understanding your abbreviation "h&p"? I'm going for pre-admission testing tomorrow(today) morning. I have my PCP medical clearance appointment later in the day also. Next week is my final consultation with my doc before surgery. Psych eval clearance is on it's way to the doc's office and that will be it! All I'll have to do then is show up the morning of surgery at the hospital. Good luck with the next 2 weeks. Hopefully they won't be too long!

H&P stands for history and physical. Just making sure everything is how it should be before surgery. No colds/infections. No chest pains or other complaints. No big deal! Good luck with all of your testing and your doc visit! It sure is exciting isn't it?!!?

:whoo:Congratulations everyone, you are all getting close.

It's getting close. Anyone nervous at all? :omg: I am. Still disappointed in myself that I have to resort to surgery, but glad I have the option. Had my final pre-op appointment yesterday. Love my surgeon-- she is awesome. Next up is my pre-op diet starting 12/28.

Medical Clearence appt. and pre-admin. testing went well. I was on a high yesterday and I'm psyched up for surgery!

It's getting close. Anyone nervous at all? :omg: I am. Still disappointed in myself that I have to resort to surgery, but glad I have the option. Had my final pre-op appointment yesterday. Love my surgeon-- she is awesome. Next up is my pre-op diet starting 12/28.

I'm not nervous right now, but it might settle in the night before I'm guessing. This will be my first time in the OR.

I'm not disappointed in myself and I don't think any of us should be. Society has made us to believe that you can be a normal weight as long as you have a "healthy diet and exercise". Guess what? My best friend eats and eats and eats and doesn't exercise and is still skinny as a stick. I can sit down and eat the same amount as some of my friends and I will gain weight and they won't. That's just how it is.

So much goes into what determines our weight like metabolism, heredity and our genetic makeup. I'm not excusing our bad eating habits and food choices, it's just not the end all be all of why we're so overweight. And it's not like we didn't try to lose weight, we all did.

As a personal example, I'm guessing you all noticed that I've lost a lot of weight pre-band. Yes, I'm on Atkins and it's working for me and I feel great. I could trick myself right now to think "hey, look how well I'm doing with my weight loss, I'm at the lowest I've ever been in my adult life, who needs a lapband!" But as soon as I get tired of it and I go back to eating carbs like a normal person, I will gain it all back and then some. The cravings will come back and up my weight will go again. I know that's going to happen, because it happened the last time I did it.

We deserve this! We deserve to have a healthy life and to not worry that our weight is going to kill us one day. No one should make us feel like we're taking the "easy way out". Surgery in itself is not an easy decision to make. The band isn't going to cure everything, it's going to help us. We're going to struggle with changing the way we view food and eating We're going to struggle with "that's what a normal portion of food is?" We're going to struggle realizing that we need to exercise becase it's healthy. I sure wouldn't call that the easy way out!

If this is what we need to do to get ourselves healthy, so be it. So kudos to everyone who decided to have this surgery to improve their lives for the better!

Okay, I've said my piece for the day.

Well, I took my friend Joe to work tonite, and we again had the weight loss surgery conversation. So Red, you said above what I said to him. Yes, I am losing weight on the liquid diet, but I can't do this for the rest of my life,and I would go right back to eating what I always did to get this fat in the first place. I had to remind him I had tried every diet over the past 20 years.

So getting approved and actually putting a date on the calendar, when I will take the first step to losing weight and being healty, puts it all into perspective. While I have to learn how to eat again, I know that I will never eat the quantity of food that I have eaten in the past. And that thought makes getting approved for surgery all that much sweeter.

I have had a couple of people tell me wls is the 'easy' way out. There is nothing easy about making a life long change that the band brings to our lives. It is a life long commitment and I dont think most look at it as a 'magic pill' but rather a tool to live a more healthy and satisfying life.

Are they kidding? This (WLS) has been a very difficult decision for me, as it is for most. I see it as a last resort, and wish I could have maintained any of the large losses I have had in the past.

I WISH it were the easy way out because I'd have been all over it long ago! Besides-- what if WLS was the easy way out? Would that somehow make it wrong? Do folks who say that just think we need to suffer a bit more? Hmmmm.....

I am schEduled with Dr. Mueller on Febryary 5, 2008!