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I promised myself, that when I hit a year, I'd post a "success" story. A year ago today, I lay in the "big" hospital bed at 274 pounds and completely miserable. The two days prior to surgery were the worst ever. I called my Dr's nurse the morning of surgery and told her "I think I need to cancel, I can't do this." She told me that she wasn't going to listen to me and that she expected to see me at the hospital in a few hours. I'm so glad I did. There are very very few things in my life that I'm more happy about than my decision to have Lapband surgery. I was 32 and miserable. Couldn't stand to look at myself, even more, couldn't stand to have my husband look at me. We got together when we were 17. I was fit then, always the bigger girl, but very active. Softball, cross country, track, etc. Almost immediately after HS, the weight just piled on. When we got married at 20, my wedding dress was a size 16. I hated my wedding photos, they are horrible. To this day, very few people have actually seen them. I still have them in proof form, in a box underneath my desk. I have no pictures of my wedding out on display. For that matter, I have very few pictures of myself in the last 14 years. We have two kids, two boys, who are very active. It was so hard to want to do anything with them. My husband, thank goodness, is one of those people who could eat the world and couldn't weigh more than 160 if he tried. So, while I always took the pictures or sat on the sidelines, they had the fun. I spent my 20's with no sexual drive whatsoever. I was disgusted with myself. If I couldn't even look at myself, how could my husband want to. It made him sad, he always said he didn't see me the way I did. I couldn't believe him. So, after three years of research, I initially tried to get the band in 2007. My insurance changed at year end and no longer covered it. So scratch that. In 2010, I went to my GP and he asked if I'd thought about it. Yeah yeah, I did, but insurance. He encouraged me to call and check again. Unbeknownst to me, they covered it again. I cried and cried and cried. That was in Feb 2010. I quickly researched the two Dr's that I had chosen and decided on one. Went to the seminar, got my 6 month supervised diet in, all the other pre-req's and next thing I knew, I'm laying in the hospital bed seriously thinking I shouldn't be doing this. Recovery was HARD, not hard hard, but not what I expected. The first week, I was sure that this was the worst decision I had ever made. Only a clinically insane person would put themselves through this, I was sure of it. However, things started getting better. I was losing weight and I was losing it quickly. When I was around 3 weeks post op, I started walking/running. Eventually, I was running a mile, then two, then three. I was actually able to RUN and ENJOY it!!! There have been some bumps along the way. Mainly mental. Around September, I was sure I was going insane. I was okay, but, it wasn't until then, that I actually realized my crutch, my addiction, was food. I was going through a "detox", lol. It made me for one very very grouchy and irritable woman. I believe, I finally hit onederland on December 8th. 75 pounds gone since July 29th, a little over 4 months. By the end of 2010, I was down 80-85 pounds. Now, today, I'm down 106 pounds. I still have 15-20 pounds until I reach goal but I'm happy. I'm so happy! I'm plateaued, but I'm happy. I run 5k's WITH my kids and husband now. I have energy. I'm the person, I think I always knew was inside of me. Make no bones about it, it is difficult. It is a huge mental mind screw. There are days I look in the mirror and I don't see me now. I see me as I was a year ago. It's hard. But there are days, I look in the mirror, with the biggest smile on my face and I see me as I am now. I've made it and I've done it. Hugs to everyone who does this journey. It's well worth it. I was going to post some pics from my gallery, but they were insanely too big. Here is the link. http://www.lapbandta.../7195-new-pics/

Hello out there! I have gained so much from my 42 pounds gone. I love my band. I've had 3 fills and have 8 cc in my 11cc realize band. I posted a list of NSV's in my hospitals fourm and wanted to share it with all of you, so here goes: I have lost two pants sizes and 1 shirt size. My skinny jeans are becoming my fat jeans. My double chin is now a chin and a neck.I can cross my legs.I can reach my shoes to tie them. I don't mind looking in the mirror, as much.People notice.My rings are too big.My lanyard hangs all the way to my belly button.My ankle has less and less pain everyday.My PCOS has resolved.The seatbelt in my car doesn't cut my neck.I have become an inspiration to others! Its amazing what you gain when you lose! Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear some of your lists!

I will say a prayer for you tonight and tomorrow. As far as the surgery that was o.k. it was the anthesia (spelling) that made me so sick. Blessings

I am an Atheist. I am used to being excluded. Look...we don't even have our own thread. What about people like me who don't get comfort through faith, but science and reason? Where is our support? The last thing we can ever do is turn on each other, regardless of faith or (in my case) lack of faith. So...Mormon, Catholic, Jew, Atheist....aren't we all in the same battle for our health? Let's stick together! I think that's something we can all agree on

Back up, remember we are here for support, to get and give. People make choices based on their life. Maybe cost drove her choice, no matter what it was she is now looking to us who struggle with the same issues she has now to help her work through it. Yes, there are some things she can try that might help her get on track. So many things can affect your weight loss. When the outside temps are high I don't want to eat, I feel tighter and last year had to get an unfill because I didn't understand it. If youy don't drink enough Water you don't loose. Research here might give her some of the tools she needs, I know it helps me.

I can tell you, having lost 15lb from my already thin (BMI 22 or so frame) it made a HUGE difference. I have loose skin now that I didnt have 15lb ago. I got bonier and flabbier and looked no better being thinner. I can see now that any further improvement to my body would have to come from plastic surgery. Do you really NEED to lose the 18lb (ie are you already a healthy BMI)? I can tell you, I have a flat (if flabby) tummy, but I sure wish I could put some fat on my chest, neck and face, sadly if I try it will just go straight on my bum! If you really need to lose the 18, then wait. Why would you go through PS, all that expense and healing, if you werent going to be sure you'd get the very best result possible?

I have not hit my goal just yet, I have a little more to go but I've lost about 95lbs and wanted to share my progress pics with you all!

If you look at the back of the card it says: "Notice to restaurants: Please allow this person to order smaller portions as the amount of food this person can eat has been greatly reduced." It's up to the restaurant but most places will let you order from the children's menu. My local Golden Corral charges me the 12 year old's price. Anyone who doesn't have one can get one here: Lapband ID card

My surgery date was May 1st. I had a 12:15 surgery time and was instructed to be at the hospital at 10:00. I checked in and proceeded to the ambulatory surgery center. Blood labs were drawn. I had an IV started and they started Lactated Ringers. They also had a 2 gram bag of ancef ready to be started as I started to surgery. I was given a shot of Lovenox in my arm to reduce the risk of blood clots. At 12:30, they took me to surgery. The anesthesiologist introduced himself and asked again if I had ever had any reactions in the past. They put me on the surgery table and applied a mask and told me to breathe deeply and count backwards from 10. I remember saying the number 8. LOL. At 2:15, a nurse asked me how I was feeling and told me she was giving me 4mg of Zofran (for nausea). She told me I was in recovery and the surgery went well. Everything was blurry. I asked if that was normal and she explained they used a gel in my eyes during the surgery. She gave me a moist rag and instructed me to blink and carefully wipe my eyes. In about 5 minutes I could see normal. I asked if I could try to sit up and eat some ice. She said I could try. No nausea and it felt very nice to have the ice. I asked how long I would be in recovery. It was 2:30 by now and I felt fine except when I initially sat up. I could feel some soreness and the "pulling" of the incision sites. I went to the post op area about 10 minutes later. By 15:30, I felt pretty clear and asked if I could use the restroom. They said I could but to sit on the side of the ned first. That went well. I asked if I could head home after that. Getting dressed was fairly easy. I brought sweats so I didn't have to bend much to slip my feet in and tug them gently up. I did ask my sister in law to assist with my socks. ( I forgot my sandals...bummer) For three days I was sore when getting up or down and there was pain if I bent forward over about 15 degrees. I took Mepergan Fortis (demerol and phenergan mixed, demerol for pain and phenergan for nausea). It as a gel cap and they went down easily; I was taking 1 every 6 to 12 hours the first 2 days. Then at night for two more days. By one week I felt pretty good without pain medicine except when bending over.

I had my surgery on May 23. It went fairly smooth. I had the heprin shot to the tummy I really didn't feel it. Rolled into the surgery at 9:30 and was rolling out at 10:30am. Was in the recovery for 1 hour then off to a room. I was lucky didn't get the sore throat I was expecting. Once in the room I was basically left alone. Slept off and on till about 3pm. Then had to ask for help to get up. Waited awhile before some one showed up. At 4pm finally got up and walked the halls. Felt sore and some discomfort but not terrible. Walked the halls three more times. Had very little Water because wasn't thristy but I knew I had to drink. Left the hospital at 7pm and was in my own bed by 8:30pm. I had the option of staying but was not really impressed with the nursing staff. Better treatment from my hubby. Today, still some discomfort walking around the house and out to the mail box. Took half a gas-X table because of some gas. Stopped it right away. Been drinking fluilds and trying to get the Protein in. Found a chocolate milk 1% with 17 grams of protein only 210 calories. Hopefully everyone has a sucessful surgery and recovery