Hi everyone--I thought I'd listen to some advice from one of the other monthly groups and start one master thread in which we have an ongoing discussion/updates. I don't know about you all but I certainly spend most of my time on these boards on the pre-op forum and the general forum, not here. It would be nice to have just one thread to go to once in this forum.

We can maybe start out with introductions?

As for me, I'm going the "online privacy" route for now (paranoid that people I haven't told about this will somehow stumble across me on this site I guess, which is crazy, I know) but I can give you the big picture:

You can call me Penny, I'm 27, single and live in the Washington, DC area. I have a background in politics (which is why I live in DC) but now I'm a librarian which is much cooler and way more fun (trust me on that). Oh, and there's no "Marion the Librarian" thing with me either. One of the things I hear most frequently (besides the cliche "you have such a pretty face") is "but you don't LOOK like a librarian", which is another one of those bizarre backhanded compliments that you never really know how to take.

Personality wise, I'm kind of dorky, big into public radio and books and popular science. Oh, I'm also a little on the paranoid side (as you may be able to tell from earlier in this post). Beyond that I'm just kind of silly and friendly, VERY much so into traveling and I'm an aspiring "green" domestic diva (but that's not going so well).

Hi Penny

I live in Glastonbury, Somerset, England, and am a 'Locum Social worker', often with the elderly or hospitals and I am a 40 something who will not give in to the middle age spread thing going on!

Am also very into travelling, so if you fancy a trip to UK, or have thought about house swap holidays, I'm interested in any suggestions. Going to Thailand for New-year as next planned adventure- after the lap-band of corse..!anyway good to meet you and the very best of luck.

Mary x

Wow, I think I have been to Glastonbury! It has the ruins of the huge cathedral and the a "holy bush" right?

I'm in my mid thirties and live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We moved her last year after living on the West Coast for eight years (San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Vancouver BC...)

I don't work for money right now, I have a two-year old. Keeps me busy and I love my "job" (we are watching "Curious George" right now, what a life :thumbup: )

My surgery will be 25th of July and my doctor requires three weeks of Optifast. I started four days earlier with the shakes, since I planned a little camping trip for my husbands 40th birthday before I knew the surgery date and I am not 100% sure I can follow through with Optifast when we are away for three days. I will try.

Kat

no ones told me to 'optifast'... Just on low fat diet in run up to op next wednesday! also taking vitimin supps and trying to get a medication i'm on in liquid form which is proving harder than I thought!!

Nice to meet you! and good luck to you all

Penny, we are neighbors of sorts. I live in Northern VA. I raised two great kids, now adults, and for a while I fostered litters of kittens for a local rescue organization. But there is no longer room at the inn, as my personal population grew to ten cats. We are down to eight now, but enough is enough. There is no coincidence that I acquired more cats as my kids left home! My mom impulses have to be channeled somehow. :thumbup:

I have been overweight since my early teens and very overweight all of my adult life. And of course I have been trying all kinds of diets all my life. And gaining in between limited success. The best I ever did losing weight was 60 pounds with WW in 200-2001, but the program failed me at that point as I couldn't get below 270. I was doing so well that it was a huge disappointment to realize I wasn't going to make it after all. And I did try for months before giving up. I later tried Core, but was hungry about every hour. That was really irritating. :thumbup:

An online friend of mine revealed last year that she had been banded. This was the first I heard of the lap band, but I immediately knew it was right for me. My appetite is like a lion, and it doesn't turn off correctly. The band should be a godsend. I was with Kaiser Permanente at the time and managed to get my doctor to refer me for surgery. Then I met the dietician and found that they are extremely bypass oriented. Not good.

The dietician herself was condescending bordering on downright rude. She actually looked at me and said, "You know you'll have to eat less after surgery, don't you." (No, I'm so stupid I thought it would work like magic.) I looked her in the eye and replied, "I thought that was the idea!"

It turned out that Kaiser had just fired their previous bariatric surgeon for "a high rate of complications." I would have to travel into the District of Columbia for every doctor visit with their new bariatric surgeon. Not convenient. All of this led me to conclude that it would be in my best interest to switch to my husband's alternative health care choice, Aetna, at the start of this year.

So we did. We tried to attend a January seminar but couldn't find it in the vast Fairfax Hospital complex. No kidding. We succeeded in February, and the minute I saw Dr. Halmi, I knew I would be safe in his care. I started my 3 month intensive in early March, finished in early May, was approved in early June, and got my July 30 surgery date.

Next week I do all of the prerequisite testing, and meet with Dr. Halmi's dietecian. I have two weeks of Optifast to do preop. I'm dreading it. And that is my story!

Orea

Hi Everyone,

Penny this was a good idea, sure makes it easier. A little bit about me. I'm 56, married and mother to 4 children. I live in McKinney, TX. I have been over weight since my late 30's. I've tried every diet there is and could loose weight but just couldn't keep it off. I had Breast Cancer in March 2005. I had Bi-lateral masectomy Dec. 2005. I had surgery 5 different times in 2006 trying to get reconstructed. Had 2 surgeries in 2007 and still not reconstructed because of staff infections and loosing the implants. Last visit to my breast cancer surgeon we talked about trying for reconstruction again. I found a Doctor that will a different type of reconstruction but I must loose weight in order to have that surgery. My breast cancer surgeon and I decided that the Lap Band would be the perfect solution to me being miserable with myself being over weight and me hopefully getting reconstructed. I'm very excited about being banded and the beginning of a new me. I've been on my preop since last Monday and tomorrow I go for my lab work, upper GI and nutritionist visit. My surgery is July 11th and that is my story.

Waynette

Hello July! My name is Dawn (age 39) and I live in Southern California with my wonderful husband and three daughters ages 3, 6, and 11. I am a stay at home mom but used to be a Nurse Practitioner until a few years ago, when my youngest starts kindergarten then I will return to work a few days a week.

I was alway thin (stayed between 125 and 132) most of my adult life until my second child came along, now I am 222 lbs and I am disappointed in myself but I am about to change that. My surgery is scheduled for July 17th and I am very excited...not nervous at all. I guess when you hit rock bottom and come to accept that you are fat and need help then you grasp at one true hope and go with it. I know this is best for me and I cannot wait for the wild ride!

My inspiration is to eventually be able to...

1. Do my own French Pedicure again

2. Be able to shave "down there" without feeling like Helen Keller

3. To play competitive softball again and actually be able to hold my own

I hope you all become Losers...of many pound and we are all here together in this so be kind.

I'm from Fort Wayne, IN, am a SAHM of 2 boys ages 8 and 5, and have been married for almost 10 years. I was always overweight and larger than most of my peers while in school and gained steadily after getting married. I always told myself "I can lose the weight, I just need to do it before I turn 30, it will get much harder then." Well I am now 31 and as hard as I tried, I never lost much on my own. I am really excited about this opportunity I have been given and I plan to make the most of it!

I have a 1 week opti-fast diet and will be banded on July 14th! It is really great to meet all of you and I look forward to going on this journey together.

Dream it, believe it, work it, achieve it!

Please post about you surgery day! I love to read those!

Hello July! What a great thread. I can honestly say you guys have kept me so excited for this surgery. I go into lapses where I get really scared and ask myself...do I really need this? What am I DOING!? :confused2:

But then I read posts and comments on this site and I am not only reminded WHY I am doing this, but that I will be OK So THANK YOU!

I am 23, live in Portland OR, and ready to start my life again! I am 5'8'' weighing in at about 250 lbs (biggest I've ever been). I'm looking forward to a new beginning :biggrin2:

I've never had surgery before or anesthesia, so that is the only thing that still makes my stomach turn. So yes, please post all of your surgery stories when you can! I cant wait to hear about them!

Much love to you all :ohmy:

Great, I'm glad this thread is catching on! I'm getting myself in a real tizzy over this whole surgery thing. I've never had anesthesia before and am SO scared I'm going to be allergic to it. Part of me wants to ask if my mom can sit in there just to watch my vital signs just in case no one notices Have I mentioned I'm a bit of a control freak? Lol.

I'm also very worried about other surgical complications but I won't mention that here because I know I'm just being silly and there's no need to spread my anxiety around. But I would like to hear what you all think about complications and risk and all that...

Siouxie--it's funny you mention home exchange--I was just on a home exchange website the other day just to kind of see what's out there. Glastonbury is where that large music festival is, right?

Orea--yes we are practically neighbors! I'm going to Sibley even though it's a little farther for me, I just got a good feel from the place. I looked into GW but felt like cattle there whereas Sibley was a lot more personal attention. I'm a bit nervous because it's not as long-established as other programs in the area but I'm confident that Sibley is a great hospital that runs great programs and hires great surgeons. And other than that it was really just a "gut" feeling :ohmy:.

Yup- We Just had the Festival,190,000 people in a created city in a field up the road. You may have seen it on the news! It's a sort of a Hippyish Old market town- Pretty small, no chain stores or anything, although The town of 'Street' 4 miles up the road, is the home of 'Clarks shoes ' and has a small range of outlet shops, although we would be expensive by US standards. Very pretty part of the country though, the south west of England, country lanes and villages, good for Bristol and Bath (Cities) Bath has all the Roman bath remains... much better than the south east (London) and not too far from Stonehenge....M xxx (I've done 8 festivals.. but was in Ireland this years.. my son went and said it was a good one..)

Hi everyone - I am Amanda, I am a 35-year-old mother of two kids, a boy age 5 and a girl age 2. I'm married to the most supportive and loving man in the world, and once in a while (say, 40 hours a week or so) I work as a senior software engineer for a small company. I was 20-30 pounds overweight during adolescence, hit true obesity during college, and have fought it ever since. My weight loss story is probably familiar to most of you - lose half your excess weight, life intervenes and you lose your focus, and it all comes back plus ten percent. So I find myself roughly 110 pounds above where I should be.

I'm actually not that nervous about the procedure; I had two cesareans with my kids which really were not a big deal, and from which I recovered very quickly, and I had general anesthesia about 18 years ago to repair a badly broken bone. I'm more worried that I won't be able to keep to it - that's been my history before; I do very well on diets for a few months and then I gradually slack off until I'm right back where I started (plus a few extra). I'm very hopeful that I'll be able to find my "sweet spot" before I completely lose my momentum.

Good luck to all of you! BTW, Siouxsie, Clarks are almost the only shoes I wear, they are the BEST. :-)

Hi Amanada.. this is a good site isnt it..?

I've got three days to departure and 6 days to band.. exciting isnt it?

M xx

A huge hello to everyone! I am getting banded tomorrow in Mexico. I just can't wait. Not scared at all. Ready for all this madness of years of food having control of me to end and me able to enjoy my life. I married my sister's first boyfriend 10 years later after they had broken up and I ran into him on a street with my sister. That was it! I have 2 kids a seventeen year old girl who is a pain and a 12 year old boy who has been ill since he has been born. He has a skin disease, very bad asthma, growth problems and had many grand mal siezures when he was born. He is wonderful I love him. He goes to regular school and very smart, has lots of friends. We don't let his health hender him. Well I think after he was born the being able to control myself left me couldn't handle the stress and worry. Last fall he was hospitalized for close to 3 months with us being transferred to a hospital 12 hours away.

So here I am ready to get over this and start a different way of life. I own my own business I work at one location my husband the other. It is going very well. I love it, my favorite thing I have ever done in my 44 years of life. I could have been on TV and also was VIP at a fashion show but did not go cause of my weight. Plus I have missed some fabulous parites. Just too self consious of my weight.

I will let you know how every thing goes tomorrow. My husband and I are bringing the computer with us.

Sending all the well wishes to every one that is on this chat site! Talk to you tomorrow! :thumbup:

Joiful, the best of luck to you! I understand how the stress of parenting can sometimes take all of the energy you have and pack on the pounds. My kids are grown now, and doing well, so it's time to take care of me. (I wish I could have gotten the band 30 years ago! )

Let us know how it goes. We're thinking good thoughts for you.

Orea