Hi Folks,

Figured I would introduce myself. My name is Quinn and I am getting banded in Toronto on Feb. 11 at noon. I have spent countless hours on this and other websites researching the procedure and what to expect from life after the band.

Dr. Cobourn at the SWLC is doing my surgery and I have all of the confidence in the world in him as a surgeon.

I am a self pay, Type II diabetic, single dad, although I am not going to be single for long. The love of my life said yes and we are planning to get married in June.

At this point, re-inventing my golf swing minus belly is my biggest concern, although general anxiety has overwhelmed me the last few days. Not sleeping, bad headaches etc, but this will all pass soon.

Congrats to those of you who are at or near goal weight, and congrats to those of you who are just starting your new life as I am.

Wish me luck! Thank you everyone who has taken the time to submit threads, answer questions, and generally make this the best website for information from the banded.

Q

Glad to hear you're back in the saddle, Q. HOw are you taking care of the port site infection? Do you have someone near you who's looking after it?

And JRC - are lap bands popular in England? Did the NHS pay for your surgery?

these days are for the healing and getting used to everything before getting into new routine.

Your right there Mike, I do feel like someone has used me for a punch bag workout (the port area is the most uncomportable area) but im sleeping ok (on my side as well) which is great.

Fenton. Lap bands are getting more popular over here (more so with woman) but for me my blood pressure was getting so high I had to make some life changes, so here I am. The only way to get it free in England is if your dieabetic (im not) So I had to pay £7.500 which im going to be paying back for a long time.:tt2: Thanks again for your support, as time goes on I hope I can be helpfull to new banders.

JRC

Banded yesterday. No problems at all. I did have some gas rolling around in my chest, but I walked and walked and walked. Also took gasX so I don't know if it was the gasx or the walking. I was fee from that by late afternoon. Slept fine last night, did not hurt lying on either side. Like you all said, it feels like someone punched your stomach and it is tender, but very tolerable. I can feel my port right below the largest cut and it is bruised. I was on three weeks of pre-op diet, two of which were Optifast then I am using OPTIFAST for one more week. I lost 17lbs in those three weeks, but this morning, I was up 4lbs. That I don't understand because all I had was Water, juice, and tea. I start a mushy food selection next week. All in all, I was expecting it to be worse than this, but I am glad it is not.

Jim

Welcome back Jim. Glad to hear all is well. I know looking at the scale every day is frustrating, but trust you are/will be losing a lot in good time. Try to keep away from the scale. Both the gas pills and walking helped for the gas pain.

Q - how is that infection doing ?

Where did everybody go ? How is everybody doing ? I had my 2 week post surgery visit with the surgeon and nutritionist today and I'm happy to report everything is going great. Officially down 32 lb's ! Doctor is very happy and I'm feeling great. Played tennis last night and dr. reluctantly told me ok to go skiing saturday !! I promised "greens only". I also had my barium swallow this morning which was pretty cool (not to mention the very cute doctor who administered it). Get to see the band and all the Fluid draining through live. Nutritionist has me off mushies and now on soft foods. Felt really guilty eating 1/4 cup of chili for one meal and then 1/4 c. tuna and some cooked veggies for another, but really, is that so bad ??? I'll have a yogurt tonight and really am not hungry throughout the day. I am done with the high Protein Shakes, which I am happy about. I know weight loss will slow down now, but I get that. Only concern is, I do not feel real restriction, which I know is normal until the fills start.

So how's everybody else doing ??

Mike, great news! It sounds like an odd goal, but one of the reasons I want to lose weight is so I can try skiing or snowboarding. It's something I've always wanted to do, but have felt I was way too big for. Thanks for the inspiration.

And congrats on 32 gone...

Its always good to have goals to shoot for, no matter how small or silly they seem. I have heard great things about Fielding so sounds like you are in good hands. He also wrote a great peice that is available on his profile at the NYU site - have you seen it ? Another wek away for you - must be getting very anxious...

Well I heard from the Dr.'s office today they told me my surgery date will be April 14th can't wait, wish me luck. Sure seemed like it took a long time for the Insurance company to respond though. I'm Excited .

Congrats Slue on the date!

Congradulations Sluefoot. Wishing you all the best. If you have a good Dr. and you follow his instructions and diet plan, you will be fine. You should be excited, this is an exciting journey for all of us.

My doctor is in Jacksonville fl. Dr. Cywes, he's been doing alot of these surgerys everyone says he is one of the best so I'm going to fined out soon. April 14 can't wait hope it goes well. so say a Prayer for me and him.