Hello everyone, here's where my story begins.... 1994 is when my weight started becoming a problem for me. I already had both of my children, one in 1990 and the other in 1991. I was about 189lbs after I had my second son and things were pretty much stable at that weight for me. I wanted to lose weight but it didn't become a serious problem until about three years later. I put on about 30lbs from 1991-1994, and it just continued to increase from there. Of course I decided to begin taking weight lost pills (phentramine/and the other phen). I both pills for about two months and quickly lost 50lbs. I thought the battle was over at that point until I gained the weight back about 6 months later (as I stopped taking the pills). I tried some of my own remedies like exercise and all types of diets. I walked and did lots of activities with my children but the weight just wouldn't go anywhere. Looking back at my weight lost journey there were a total of 11 years that I have been trying to lose weight with all types of attempts. I've taken so many diet pills and shakes that I can't even count. My husband and I attended a seminar for day one surgery in Chicago Illinois in March of 2008. In April of 2008 @ 232lbs, I decided to start working on a supervised diet plan with my doctor, I told her that I wanted to attempt a lap band procedure and she let me know that most insurance companies require that you have at least a 6 month history of a medically supervised diet. In addition to that my doctor had just started seeing a patient of hers that had the procedure done, she called her and let me speak to her to see how she felt about the surgery. I decided to go with the same doctor (Dr. Klem out of Central Dupage Hospital, in Winfield IL.) that she has since here experience was so positive.

So the 6 month program began. That included Phentramine, water pill and a 1200 calorie diet plan. I lost about 10-15lbs over the 6 month time frame, which wasn't very sugnificant to me. Once I stopped taking the pills I was right back at square one.... back to 230. In September of 08' I began seeing Dr. Klem, he has been performing this type of surgery for the last 17 years, he gave me all of the pro's and con's of the procedure and told me I was a candidate for either surgery, the bypass or the lap band. My husband and I decided that the lapband was the best choice for me since I didn't have any pre-morbid conditions. The process began the next week after being catagorized as morbidly obese. By the way when I started seeing Dr. Klem I was up to 242lbs, this was barely enough to be considered for insurance (why I'm not sure...). By the time my scheduled appointment for nutritionist came I was a all time high of 247.6lbs. That was a depressing time for me, I cried when I left the office and spoke with my husband about the weight gain that I was experiencing. We decided the I should try Weight Watchers to try and work on the problem immididately, as I had developed high blood pressure by this time and my doctor decided to put me on blood preasure medicine. I began Weight Watchers which I started doing very well with and dropped about 15lbs. Unfortunately I put the procedure off because I thought maybe this would be the fix that I was truly looking for. That did not last for more than a couple of months because of the high amount of sodium that was in so many of the meals. By now it's December and I'm right back in the same visocus circle that I've been in and now my weight has really gotten out of hand. by January I was a whopping 252lbs and had a very low self esteme. I didn't want to go to any social settings and couldn't fit any of my clothes. I was up to a size 18/20...I'd never wore this size clothes even when I was 9mo pregnant with either of my children. Life seemed very glomy for me. In January I decided to get back to business with Dr. Klems office and get the show on the road. As most of you know this can be a very long process because of all of the steps you have to take to be qualified for surgery. By March of this year I was finally finished with all of the steps that I needed (so I thought). My Information was submitted to my insurance company and I thought it was complete but of course my insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois denied my case. They claimed that I didn't have enough previous documented diet attempts for at least 5 years. When I submitted 7 years straight of failed diet attempts with one diet (Dr. Greenspon) doctor. My case was taken on by the Attorney that handles lap band denied cases, which took almost two months to get resolved. Finally got approved (this was a very stressful time needless to say).:tongue_smilie:As I was waiting for the approval I decided to try another dietary option, Weight Watchers (This was so costly, but my husband wanted to make sure I tried absolutly everything.....) by June of 09, I was finally approved... Now to set the date...July was full for my doctor so I opted to take August 12th. I'm now scheduled....:thumbup:...

Kept doing Weight Watchers for a minute until I ran out of thier food and I'm now at 239.5. My liquid diet starts July 29th, which does consist of some food. I am to have a protein shake for breakfast, a morning snack (which will be a fat free yogart without fruit), Protein shake for lunch, mid lunch snack (which will be sugar free jello), and then a dinner (I've opted to use a Smart One's meal which is approved by my nutrutionist as long as it has meat in it.) and I can have up to two sugar free popcicles or fudgecicles. This doesn't seem like a liquid diet but the doctor knows best and it's ment to be 1000 calories. My nutritionist said it was good that I've been on the Weight Watchers diet because it's comparable to what I will be doing except it's 200 calories less. I will continue to post after my procedure but I can say that I'm happy that it's all most time for me to get this part over with....It's been a long time coming.

Start Weight: 252lbs

Pre Op Weight: 239lbs

Pre Surgery Weight: ???

Goal Weight: 145

So it has been more than 6 months...are you banded? How is it going? I'd love to know more..inquiring minds you know. Good luck with your journey.

I added some more....I get banded on August 12th. I can't wait..... and I wish you well too....

Sounds like you're ready. Best of luck to you and congratulations for sticking with it.

Three days post op...It's funny how fast you heal after this procedure. Banded on Wednesday 12th of August, arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am. Was very excited and a little bit nervous but okay for the most part. I had my husband right beside me all of the way and that was comforting. I got called to the back to get prepped for surgery as soon as I checked in. The 1st think that I did was weighed in and was then given a gown and asked to undress. My husband helped me tie up the operating robe and then I was asked a series of questions by my nurse and given a blood thinner shot in my stomach. After that my husband and I just watched the flat screen tv for a while then the anesthesiologist came in and introduced himself and asked me what I was getting done and who was my doctor. He then proceeded to tell me what he was going to do, and I asked him if he was going to take care of me and he said yes, that is the plan. He left and then came back in and told me he was going to put something in my IV that would relax me. That was the last thing that I remember. After that I was waking up in the recovery room at about 10 am. The nurse asked me what my pain level was on a scale of 1-10 and of course I said it was a 10 and I was given doladin for the pain. About 30 min later the pain was a little bit better but I was still given more pain medicine to make sure I was comfortable. By 11:00 am I was taken back to my room where I met back up with my husband. I was so happy to see him that I almost cried. I had to be given a shot of anti nausea medicine as I almost threw up for no reason at all. I tried to drink a little bit of water and had to be give anti nausea medicine again so that I wouldn't throw up. I was still in a lot of pain so I was given more pain medicine. Then it was time for me to go to the x ray room to check and make sure i could actually digest liquid. I had to drink this clear solution just a few sips and then the barium. I kept both down and that let them know that I was good to go home. I still had to show that I could keep some water down so I had to sip on that when I returned back to the room. I did that and was released at about 1:30. My husband took me home and all I wanted to do was lay down. This was a very painful process. I was in so much pain my husband went and got my pain medicine perscription filled and then I just sat on the couch for most of the day just sitting there in pain. Then the gas pain started....I tried to walk around the house as much as I could tolerate the pain but it wasn't enough for the gas pain to move very much. Day one was a mess if you ask me...I couldn't sleep in my bed and had to get back on the couch which I slept sitting up because that was most comfortable for me. Day two was a little bit better as it related to the insision pain, but the gas pain was worst. I walked around a lot more on day two but still sat around for most of the day. Today is day 3 and I can finally go outside and enjoy some day light and warm sun on my skin. How wonderful. The gas pain is a lot better but still present in my left sholder and in my stomach. I will do a lot more walking today so I expect for the gas to move a lot more. I wil post some pictures of before and now soon.