Within the last 2 weeks i've knocked out my psych, nutritionist, physical with PC (nice little surprise prostate check there) and lap band seminar. then on Thursday of last week - i got the call from my insurance with the APPROVAL. called my doc on Friday and scheduled a proceedure for 5/5/08. woo hoo!

totally stocked about this.

i wanted this procedure last year, but was denied by my previous insurance carrier. then, after getting an amazing job change offer and getting a new carrier, got approved.

little nervous about the amount of food that i'll have to eat and not feeling hungry. but time will tell i guess.

also, since i don't like to take any prescription medicine, i'm a little concerned with the pain and if an over the counter product will do the job.

again, time will tell.

nice to be on this forum....until next time....

Congrats! Mine went pretty quick too! I was banded on 4/21 and I am pain free. The second day is usually the toughest. If you have had surgery before, you know to keep moving. It will get the soreness out and relieve the gas buildup...and believe me...it will build up.

Hi and congrats about the new job and being able to get the band. My sincerest condolences on the surprise prostate exam, my dh is not fond of those either.

As far as pain medicine goes, I was sent home with a prescription for a liquid pain medicine, but I only took it the first night. After that, I took some adult liquid Tylenol before going to bed and that worked just fine for me.

everything happened pretty fast for me, too, at least there at the end. i got approved and my surgery was scheduled for less than 2 weeks later. it was either take that day or wait another couple of months because my doc was booked. the good thing about it was that i didn't really have time to get nervous. the day of the surgery i was completely calm, because it all seemed very unreal.

i'm not sure exactly why you are nervous about the amount of food you will be eating. is it the first couple weeks of liquids that worry you, or just the smaller portions allowed by the band in general? if it's the latter, then i can tell you that it does take a little getting used to eating less. i was getting some chili a couple of days ago, and i started to put a second ladle full in my bowl and had to stop myself. i knew that the first ladle would be plenty, but it was automatic to take more. you just have to relearn what your new portion size is. i know that "relearn" sounds intimidating, but the relearning is mostly so that you don't waste food by putting it on your plate and then not being able to eat it.

and your head might want to eat a little more, but your stomach won't (isn't this how it is before the band, too?). you'll be hungry, but you'll just fill up on a normal (ok, slightly smaller than normal) amount of food. nothing to fret about.

i didn't really like taking the prescription pain meds, either, but it was mostly that they made me sleepy when i had things i would rather be doing than sleeping. i was taking a liquid hydrocodone/tylenol mix. i needed it several times a day for the first couple of days, then mostly just at night or if the gas pains were really getting to me thru the end of the first week, then just at night to sleep comfortably for the next week. i stopped taking it during the day at all after the first week and switched to tylenol. after the end of the second week, i didn't even need tylenol day or night. if you take pain really well, and if your surgeon is good and doesn't do a number on you, you probably won't need much of the prescription meds. but the first few days you will probably need them, as they work much better than tylenol, and you will likely be uncomfortable without them.

good luck on your surgery!!

I went to a seminar about 2 weeks ago. I was finally called for a consultation but the doctor's hours are only on Monday and Tuesday mornings. I'm a teacher, so I'll end up taking the whole day off. My insurance wants 6 months of "documented attempt at weight loss" before they will approve. Did anyone run into this? I'll call to make my consultation apointment tomorrow. I just feel like I'm on the slow road. I would love to get banded this summer since I'm a teacher, but I fear I'll have to wait at least 6 months to document my weight loss. Did anybody else have to go through this?

everything happened rather quickly for me too. i had all my testing done within 2 weeks and i just had my surgery on 04/21/08. i've never had surgery before so i was really scared about the pain.

i felt okay the day of the surgery. i was getting 4mg of morphine every 2 hours (or as often as i needed). the pain wasn't bad as long as i wasn't moving. getting up and laying down hurt like a son of a gun.

i decided to spend the night in the hospital since i never had surgery before. later in the night they switched me from morphine to liquid lortab which was MUCH better.

i agree, day 2 after surgery is the worst in regards to the pain. i don't know if they numb the inside during surgery and it wears off or what but day 2 was bad.

right now i'm at day 6 and i'd have to say i'm 90% pain free and on day 4 was able to sleep on my stomach again.

like you, i'm still obsessing about food... even when i can't have it and i'm not even hungry. hopefully that will get easier!

I know what you mean! I submitted a questionaire to my insurance to see if I qualify and I got a letter back accepting me into the program within 5 days. I am ok with this. But my DH is thinking things need to slow down a bit . Congrats on your new begingings!!!