I just recently decided to go in for a consult for the lap band after my child made an innocent remark about my weight. I have had my upper GI and abdominal ultrasound,nutritional and social worker assessment. Is there anybody who is familiar with this location and there process? I was also wondering how life after the band is?

I am...had band done by cedars on may 28th 2008. only had 1 adjustment before i lost my insurance....now looking for cheap dr to do adjustment cause cedars raised their CASH price. its a long pre-op process but worth it. they are one of the best.

I had my surgery with Dr. Khalili on May 29th. I have had my 2nd fill and will have my 3rd fill on Oct. 22. I am down 42 lbs.

Before surgery, the process took about 5 months before my surgery date was selected. I had to fast the day before surgery and had to take a fleet to clean out my system the day before as well. Other than that, no preop diet. I was on a clear liquid diet for a week after surgery and on a liquid diet for another 2 weeks (a total of 3 weeks of detox). Your going to lose somewhere around 15 to 20 pounds during this time. Once you start on mushies in the 4th week, your weight might fluctuate a bit. Before your first fill, you will fill like you can still eat anything and the weight will not come off right away. You can expect the weight to start coming off regularly around the 3rd to 5th fill. I have lost around 42 pounds without much effort although I think you get better results if you excersize a bit. With each fill, you will be able to eat less and less.

It is a long way to drive from Cedar to home but all in all, the surgery was very successful and everything went on without a hitch (except for the anesthesia made me sick). I had a nice private room that over looked the hills. The staff is really great and attentive. After the surgery and the anesthesia wore off, we were all walking the halls without problems. I met up with people I have come to know through the classes and pre op requiremnents. It was nice to catch up with them.

They put these leggings on you while you are in bed to prevent bloodclots while you are there and everytime you have to get up to go to the restroom, you have to take all this stuff off or an alert goes off. Oh, and be aware of the shots they give you every 4 hours or so. They hurt if the nurse pushes them in to fast. You will get one of these shots in the stomach right before surgery, that will be the most painful. Other than that, they keep you pretty dosed up with pain killer so you don't really feel much pain.

I was in the hospital overnight and went home the next day. I had no problem on the 2 hour trip home or the stairs up to my condo and the other set up to my bedroom. I was down stairs visiting with the neighbor upon arriving home. I only took the pain meds for about two to three days and was fine without them from then on. One week after surgery, you will go back to the doctor and get the sterile strips taken off (Dr. Khalili does not use staples so the scars are not as big). I return every 6 to 7 weeks for a fill.

The reason that I don't look around for another fill office closer to home is that Dr. Nissi (he does the fills at Cedar) used the xray and barrium swollow to do the fills so he knows how much to put in. I got 2.5 ccs at my first fill (6 weeks after surgery) and 2.5 ccs on the second fill ( 6 weeks after first fill). I can see how the band is placed and how everything looks by looking at the xray machine while doing the barium swollow. I have a neighbor who's doctor doesn't use the xray to do fills and she has been throwing up since she has had the surgery. She still cannot get her first fill yet until she can keep something down.

Cedars is one of the best places to get this done. I hope this helped alittle in what to expect. Good luck with your surgery. It is absolutely AMAZING to see the pounds fall off when they weight you each visit!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbup:

BTW, I have a PPO and my share of the fills cost $70.00. When I had an HMO, I didn't pay a penny!