This morning is the first day of my winter break! My body sooooooo wanted to sleep in, which I was able to do to a certain extent. But, I had to be at my medical office to do lab work by 8:30 this morning. The blood work is a bit annoying because I already had it done last month, but they wanted a pregnancy test too. AS IF!!! I also had to pee in a cup for some other tests. Then off I went to Sutter Roseville Hospital, a fair commute from Elk Grove. I had to attend the group support meeting, another prerequisite before I get to have thee consult with Dr. Waldrep. This was their first gastric band only support meeting. Until today, they had bypass and band patients in the same group, but the bandsters complained that many of the topics didn't apply to them so it they started this group today. There were a combination of pre and post-op patients--mostly post-op. There was one woman who'd lost 95 pounds since her surgery a year ago and one guy who'd lost 60 pounds since his surgery about 5 months ago. Pretty much everyone else was a struggling bandster, with not much weight loss. This was discouraging.

I was interested to learn that this practice (SALSA) is now seriously considering doing first fills one-week post-op! This was a new one on me. ALso, there are very few patients who have to do the pre-op diet, and the post-op diet has very few restrictions: clear fluids on day one, full fluids on day 2, pureed foods on day 3, mushies on day four, and regular food thereafter! I have read lots of blogs and forum postings and never heard of any clinic doing it like this.

I also talked to my mom, via Skype this evening as I do most evenings. SHe lives overseas, so it's a great way to talk and see each other in real time. I only told her this week that I am planning to get the Lap Band because I didn;t know how she'd react. I was pleasantly surprized to to see that she's very happy for me and all for it. I have her full support and that means a lot. :biggrin: