I have been thinking about doing the surgery, but I am scared half to death!!!! I know I need it! I have two young children that need me. And I need to be healthy. I have a hard time keeping up with them. I get out of breath so quickly. I guess I am just wondering will the lap band be noticable? I heard that you can see a bluge under your skin?? I want to feel atractive!:huh2:

MTVLMOM - It's absolutely normal to be nervous about the surgery. ANY surgery is scarey stuff and you really do have to think about the entire package when having it. But...I can tell you it's the best decision I ever made for myself. We mom's don't always do things for ourselves...instead we do it for our families but, you know what...you need to do this for YOU. Reason being....lapband is just a tool...you'll still need to work at it, make good food choices and yeap that swear word...exercise in order to lose the weight. Sure some will come off at the beginning no problem but, it slows down and we need to adjust our movement to get the weight to move downscale again. I was nervous too...but even more nervous that I wouldn't be here for my son or if I were...I wouldn't be able to function without pain and/or being more sick etc. The nervousness doesn't really stop about the surgery until after the surgery is done...then you know what? WE end up nervous about other things...will this work, did I screw it up, am I eating right....I can only tell you to take one day at a time and it gets easier I can remember two days before my surgery crying my eyes out because I was scared not only of the surgery but, whether or not this would be the answer for me and the biggest thing that got me upset was.....WHY THE HECK DO I HAVE TO DO THIS TO MYSELF IN ORDER TO LOSE WEIGHT? Well......then I came to the realization that I needed help...I needed a tool to keep me on track and THIS was it for me. I'd do good dieting for the first few weeks...then hit a plateau..diet a bit more than blow it because the scale didn't move. THIS tool keep you going because you can't quit (well yea technically you can drink ice cream shakes, eat chips etc if you really think about it but, even then you can't eat as much as you used to prior to banding)..it keeps you on track long enough to kick up the eating right again. I too used to be so out of breath having to take a flight of stairs or walk any distance to my car or store etc...but, that's so much better now Clothes fit better, I have more choices in those too. You can do this! You can definately do this for YOU and for your kids! The best way to get over the nervousness is to ask all the questions that come to you....doesn't matter what it is....nothing is silly or stupid when it comes to Your Health and Your Life so ask away. i wish you the best on your band journey. Goodluck and best wishes!

Oh and I suppose for some the port can be seen...but that's not the case for me. It's under my skin and yeap I still have some padding so it's not noticable. And think....just how attractive you will feel when you shed the pounds you want to shed