I am scheduled to have surgery on 4/21/08 and VCU Medical Center by Dr. John Kellam. I am excited and scared and anxious all at the same time. I have been overweight all my life but not extremely obese. I have now come to the stage in my life where I realize that all the dieting and exercising that I am doing are giving me some muscles but not helping me to lose weight. I think that as you get older, it becomes harder to lose weight. So I'm looking at this surgery as the way to reorder my way of thinking about food. My greatest fear now is that I'm not up to the challenge and my most immediate concern is the 2 week preop liquid diet. I have visions of starving and falling into a hypoglycemia coma. Then I laugh at myself for worrying so much because no fat person ever died from a low calorie diet - too many fat reserves in the body. I am 5'3" and currently weigh 220. Luckily for me, my insurance will pay everything but $35 copays for physicians and $100 copay for hospital admission. I'm looking forward to the changes this year will bring.

Hi

I'm also in Richmond. I'm being banded April 4 at St. Mary's by Dr. Brengman. I feel the same...anxious, scared, thrilled. I just have to believe that this is the right thing to do. I have been overweight for the last 30 years of my life and I'm ready to do what it takes to be healthy once and for all. Keep talking to people at this site. I've found so much inspiration and support here. I'd be happy to write or talk about my experience with you since I will be going through it a couple of weeks before you. Maybe that will help you be a little less anxious. Be strong!

Kim

I am from Va. also near Blacksburg. Home of Va Tech. I am due to be banded on March 10th and I am the same ,nervous and trying to get all the info I can. I am very excited as I have a lot of medical problems this may help with. My weight was 310 and I am now 286. Trying to loose some more before surgery. I am tired of spending most of my paycheck on medicine and food.

Hi and welcome. I think we all fear the pre-op diet. I found that after about the 3rd day, the hunger went away and things got much easier. You just have to keep reminding yourself why you are doing it and that your reward will be your band.

I would like some ideas of what a typical day of eating is for the first 2 weeks following surgery. Hour by hour of your experience with what you eat and how often. I am trying to do a list of things to purchase. I need step by step help to get started. My band date is 3 10 08 and I am a little confused. Any help would be appreciated:confused:

Hello bigbonedgal,

How long did it take from when you had your first appointment till you got your surgery with Dr. Kellum?

Do you know how many bands he has placed?

Success on you journey to good health.

Linda