Well... it's the night before I go into surgery and get "banded!" :clap2:

I've been on the "pre-op liquid diet" for 2 weeks, although i did cheat a few times. Nothing really major, just some popcorn one night, and on a couple of other nights a bit of protein like a bite of chicken or ground beef - really tried to stay away from fats knowing that the objective was to "de-fat" my liver before surgery.

My actual journey started last December when I went for a mini physical with my pcp. I had been thinking of the lap-band since November and had done some research on the net - so I mentioned it to my Doctor.

He said he thought it was a really good idea for me and recommended that I look into the NYU Dept. for Surgical Weight Loss. He had other patients that were doing very well on their program.

I went to their website: http://thinforlife.med.nyu.edu

and found that the first step was to attend an information seminar.

I went to the seminar expecting to see maybe 20 or 30 people and there were more like 250 people!!!! It was run by Dr. Fielding - the same Doctor on the NYU website videos that I thought were so informative and well done.

He was great - warm, smart, well spoken - and he himself had gotten banded 7 years ago. This was a real sign to me that if the Doctor had one himself - he was talking from real experience...and what could be better or more reliable than that?

The next step in the NYU program was to see their psychologist - Dr. Warren Huberman. I called for an appt the next morning and he called back with an opening that evening which I jumped at - I thought it would be months and months before I could see him with the holidays coming up.

He was terrific - I shared my history of yo-yo weight battles and other aspects of my life. He said he thought I was the prefect candidate for Lap-Band.

Next was a full physical from my pcp in January after the holidays. The next step was to make an appointment to meet with the NYU Nutritionist and had a couple of other physical checks with a great Medical technician in their office. This happened in February.

I have to say that everyone at the offices of Dr. Fielding (and his wife and partner Dr. Christine Ren) is terrific. Very warm and friendly.

My next stop on my journey was my appointment with Dr. Fielding himself in early March. This meeting went very well - he is as easy to talk with as I had imagined. I am very happy that he will be doing my surgery.

Then I really lucked out - there was an opening for surgery less than 3 weeks later - on March 26th. This meant I had to schedule my pre-admission testing and that my insurance had to clear.

I am very happy to say that both of these actually did take place without too much anxiety (although the insurance clearance came on Thursday - 4 days before surgery!)

- and so I find myself sitting here the night before I go to the hospital to get a Lap-Band placed inside me to help me finally get my physcial act together!!!

My next entry will be post-op... wish me Luck!!!

Yay Benbax! By now you should have crossed over to Bandland. Dying to know how it went. I'm sure it went well. Wishing you all the best way over here in Hollywierd, CA.