Hi my name is Karen. I have been wanting lap band surgery for a very long long time. My insurance will not cover it, so finally my mother said she would help me if she really felt the surgery made me happy.

Well ofcourse I said do this thing. Now everything is coming into play so quickly I am starting to get 2nd thoughts. Do i really want this, how painful is it, how long am I going to be out of work, etc. Also quitting smoking a month before surgery.

I go for my 1st visit w/ the doctor on July 29th and after that as long as things go right I can have surgery as quick as Aug 14th. Does anyone have any advise or thoughts for me? I could really use it!!

Hi Karen!

My advice to you is to do your research if you haven't already. There are a lot of different kinds of weight loss surgery and a lot of different complications each can have. Make sure you know what the risks are, know what potential problems you can have, and make sure that you're comfortable with the decision. Read the boards here and find blogs of people who have had the surgery!

The whole process went by really quickly for me. I went to a seminar, had an actual appointment at the office two days later, and scheduled the surgery at that appointment for four weeks after that! I was a little dazed through the whole thing, really. I'd researched for a few years and then when I finally made a move it was seemingly lightning fast.

Best of luck to you!!

Hey! I also had to pay cash for surgery. My insurance covered it, but my indiv. plan through my company didnt. So I took cout a loan for it! I am so glad I did it. I am only 2.5 weeks post-op. Im not going to lie and say its not painful, cause its major surgery. I was in the hospital overnight. The most painful part was just not being able to use your stomach muscles and man I never realized just how much you use them. After about 4 days I was up walking on the treadmill (slowly). It took a good week for me to feel back to normal. Still had sensitivity in the incision sites, but now at 2.5 weeks post-op Im totally back to my old self. It was a quick recovery and overall not as painful as I thought. The worst part as many will agree is the gas pains. If you can deal with that, you're golden. Good luck!