I am getting banded on St Patty's Day in central PA. I found this forum recently and I gotta tell you, great advice. Thank you all! Maybe some day I will be one of those "old timers" helping people benefit from my success. Trying to think proactively here, otherwise, I'll lose it. Having three small children under the age of 6, I have got to get organized and be prepared for Monday. Perhaps I should get "offline" and clean my messy house. :grouphug:

Congrats on getting a date :grouphug: I'm still waiting for mine. I am from Central/East PA, but I live in Virginia currently, because my husband is in the Navy. Where are you from? I used to live in Lancaster County

I live in Harrisburg. Very close to Lancaster. I have family in Virginia too, near the Navy Base in Portsmouth. Small world. Will you be getting your surgery anytime soon?

That's where I live now :grouphug: near Portsmouth (Hampton to be exact). It is a small world. I miss home so much!! I am in the process to get approved for surgery. So far, I have gone to a seminar, and I have my psych eval today. I am hoping to get a nutrition consult sometime next week (that's required by my insurance), then after I get that taken care of, my stuff should be submitted to my insurance and from what Ive been told/read my insurance only takes about 3 days to get approved so I should be getting a date then!! It feels like it's going to take FOREVER to get it done, but I'm just taking it one day at a time! How long did it take for you to get a date?

Hi Jessyca:

I am being banded the week after you. You should come and see the March, 2008 bandsters threads on the support groups. There are quite a few folks being banded on St. Patty's day.

I do have most of the stuff needed for when I get out of the hospital, but I am very excited and having a hard time sleeping. How about you?

Yes, I too am quite excited. Good luck with your surgery as well. I will check out the March bandsters thread. I do have a question, where do you get the ticker and the "Shrinking Shamrocks" logo? Just curious. I guess I just cut and paste, huh? Take care, Jessyca

Angie, it took me a few months. I went in Nov for my first month in my "3" month diet. I went back the beginning of Dec and then again in Jan. When I went on 1-4-08 they told me my insurance company no longer requires a 3 month diet or psych exam. So they submitted the paper work the following week. After that I did the blood work, etc. So from start to finish it has been 4 1/2 months. Not too bad considering some of the stories I have read about on the threads.

Hi Jessyca:

To get the shrinking shamrocks logo just right click on mine, then "copy" and paste in your signature. (Let me know if you don't know how to adjust your signature).

To get the ticker, click on mine, then follow the instructions and at the end cut/copy the gobblegook and paste it into your signature. Again, let me know if you need more information and I'll do step by step instructions

congrats and no drinking green beer for you!!!