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One Week ago today I had my sleeve surgery. This past week has been not what I was prepared for or expected. I have felt practically "normal", with no bad effects at all. I was prepared to be laying on the sofa wrapped in quilts and being waited on by my hubby. But reality was from the day I came home. I never needed a nap, never needed waited on and never had a moment of nausea. Thank you God! I weighed myself and one week out I am down 8 pounds for a total of 62 pounds lost! Hope it continues.

so i just got of the phone with a coworker meeting was for work but as all-things go quickly led to the more personal area.. how are.. your having your surgery tomorrow etc etc. then she shared with me some tips on being successful while on the liquid diet.. she recently had her jaw reconstructed and knows all about having to eat all your meals through a straw.. she was don't be afraid to experiment. the strangest things can taste wonderful in a blender but to always start with only a small portion that way you don't end up wasting food. But the thing she shared with me that i found to be the most interesting. she told me to ask the anesthesiologist to give you a subliminal message as they put you to sleep. She said that during her first surgery for her jaw 13 mts ago she asked that he tell her she doesn't need to smoke and that she will recover quickly well and with limited pain..Her recovery she said was fast and she has not smoked since that day 13 mts ago so tomorrow if i'm not too embarrassed or don't forget because i'm freaking out .... i'm going to mine to tell me i will recover well with limited pain and that i will enjoy my new healthier life style....

I had my pre-surgical clearance appointment today. This is the final appointment with the surgeon where I asked questions and signed surgical consent forms. My patience is wearing thin with all these medical appointments. I know, I know, it is a journey and takes time, yadda, yadda, yadda. I just feel overly anxious and antsy. Especially all the sitting I've done in waiting rooms. My appointment time today was 3:25. I arrived at 3:15 in order to sign in and take care of my co-pay and all that. When did I see the surgeon? 4:30. I still do not have a surgery date as I have yet to receive an insurance approval. I was cleared on 8/27 medically but the office did not submit to Cigna until 9/12. If you were wondering, yes, I called Cigna today to see if they approved yet but my claim is still processing. The recurring theme here is my impatience I brought my ‘sleeve bible’ to the appointment. The 3 nutrition classes, 3 life-skills classes (courses specifically about the sleeve and how to eat), and 2 visits with the nutritionist were informative and produced a ton of paperwork and instruction packets. I appreciate all of the literature I have received and it helped to build my ‘bible.’ I had a few questions for the surgeon about the size of sleeve, blood thinners, medications, leak rate, opti-fast diet, etc. and they were all answered within 10 minutes. So 75 minutes of waiting for 10 minutes with the surgeon and a $50.00 copay. But at least I got my questions answered, right? The best part of my trip happened around 4:00. Just as I felt my blood pressure rising, 2 nuns walked in. You heard me. Nuns. Not just any nuns. Nuns who are getting bariatric surgery. I was really thankful for the laugh and the blatant message from above: Patience is a damned virtue.

Everything has been moving so fast that I thought I should take a moment out of my day to document how it is I got to where I am today. Let's go waaayyyyyy back..... I was 17 years old and started developing depression. I ballooned up to 206 lbs from 145 lbs. (I am 5:7") I was mortified to see the scale go over 200 lbs. I immediately started counting calories and riding my bike. in a matter of 8 months I dropped down to 156 lbs. I was delighted. (what I wouldn't give to weigh 206 today) For the next 10 or 11 years I hungout between 152 and 158. Partly because I was a "professional" dancer and the amount of exercise I got everyday was awesome. July of 1993 I found out I was pregnant. I had mixed emotions, but overal was happy. The day I found out I was pregnant I weighed myself. I was 158 lbs and in really good shape. I figured I had this pregnancy thing under control. Ha ha ha. I was contantly sick and tired. The only bad thing is I never threw up. So I ate and slept my way through my pregnancy and gained a whopping 100 lbs. This is where the struggle begins. For the last 19 years I have been all over the place on the scale. Anywhere from 172 to 301. About eight years ago I dieted and lost 90 pounds. I looked great. Did all the plastics and everything. But slowly over the years the weight has been piling on. My bipolar medication has not helped the situation out either. November 14, 2012 I was diagnosed with Celiac's Disease..... I immediately had to go gluten-free. You know what has gluten in it? EVERY FN Thing!!!! I though god has answered my prayers and has now made it impossible to eat crap food without getting extremely sick. Everyone said I would definitely be losing weight. Well I proved them wrong. In a matter of 8 months I lost 14 pounds. whoopie! So there is the history.... Fast Forward to now..... My beautiful younger sister came to see me in June of this year. She is 4 years younger than I am, 5'6" and 140. She looks amazing. She was here to have some plastic surgery with my plastic surgeon. This brought me back to thinking what could I have done? Well...... nothing. I need a whole body makeover. Light Bulb! I am sooooo looking into bariatric surgery. My sister was in full support and support excited for me. So at my sisters next appt with the plastic surgeon, I asked for a referral for a bariatric surgeon. The plastic surgeon is so nice, he texted Dr. Zare right then to let him know I was coming and take good care of me. I made my appt. with Dr. Zare for August 1st. He was great and very thorough. It took me two weeks to think about things, but on August 15th, I paid the $500 program fee and things really started to move then. the next few days I went to see the psychologist and the NUT; both of whom wrote me glowing recommendation. Two weeks later my case was submitted to insurance. Then the clock stopped moving for two weeks while I waited to hear from the insurance company. Finally the news came. I was approved. Called the office to schedule my surgery October 22, 2013 and it is on like donkey kong! My pre-op appt is Oct 4 with the surgeon. I am so ready for this. I can hardly stand it. To Tell Or NOT To Tell I started off not going to tell ANYONE! This was my own little personal journey. Then as I became more comfortable, I told my family, then I told my manager at work to get the time off, and then I told a couple of friends. AND THEN I told my immediate co-workers on my team. I am no longer ashamed of my decision, but I am also not going to scream it from the mountain top either. I will be honest when asked and tell people on a need to know basis. So far I have not had one person react negatively to my decision. I have had nothing but an outpouring of support. Well these are all my personal thoughts for now. If you got this far reading this... Thanks. I really did this for myself, but just in case anyone else finds interest in it, I posted it for the whole VST to see. Bye for now Bonnie

Hi Terry, Just got off the phone with my hubby a little while ago, and you know he said the same thing to me. "I miss eating". I can understand that, but in the same breath we are both grateful for the band restriction.

To all the “KNOW IT ALL” posters in Bandland! I posted this elsewhere today and I’m adding it to my blog because I just had to get this off my chest! Why is that some people feel they are experts at what is right for anyone but themselves? When "newbies" or even veterans for that matter ask questions in this forum, it's because we are looking for advice and support. We are not looking for the know it all clipped and often times judgmental comments that are thrown out to refute the actual helpful advice of other bandsters. These comments come in almost exact succession to the postings of certain people who are actually helpful in their comments and advice, and these judgmental postings are really starting to bug me. If you think this comment was about you, then it probably was and I hit my target audience. My advice to you is that perhaps you should take all that you know and apply it personally and then edit the content again before you hit post. Or I'm sure there will be more people who will start refuting your comments and judging you for your tone and countering you on your expertise. Last I checked you were not registered as a Lapband Surgeon, Doctor, PA, or spokesman. It's really all just your opinions that would be better served minus the judgmental tone. Thank you.

Yay! Tomorrow is the day. I am excited. Ofcouse I am going to have trouble sleeping like I always do when I am excited. Hopefully tomorrow isn't do bad. I am not concerned about the actual surgery its the after effects that I worry about. Thankfully my wonderful mom will be here to take care of me. :wub: