SoCalAvsFan

Well its here. No more delaying it to another day. No matter pretending its still weeks away. Nope, in EXACTLY 13 hours from now, I will be having my body altered in a way that will forever change me. Sure its reversable, but after everything Ive gone through, really there is no turning back. The nerves are in Full force now.. I know its wrong, but I almost feel like my funeral is tomorrow. As you can see, surgerys are not my thing. I cant count how many times ive read the words 'As with any surgery Death Can Occur'. Sadly that is the hypochondriac in me. The normal thinking me would say that there is a million times higher chance that some idiot could plow into my car instead. Blah.. Had an intersting hiccup today. Less than 24 hours before surgery, I called a call stating that there was a problem with 1 of my blood tests I took over a month ago and that I needed to rush and have another one. (Something about the coagulation of my blood needing to be retested due to a problem with the tube) Thankfully the testing place is LITERALLY a 2 minute WALK from my apartment (Building next door) Highly convenient, considering I only had 1 hour to take it! In any event it is passed twelve therefor the no food, no drink rules are into play. And wouldnt you know it, im dying of thirst. How convenient. The surgery is at 130, arrival by 12. By my estimations that will mean I should be leaving by about 430, which - by adding thursday before easter holiday traffic + rush hour, means that my first 3 hours of my new life will be spent in traffic. Joy. April 21st. Sort of has a ring to it. Not like 4/20 tho... (Not that that applies to me but meh) Ive heard people refer to this day as there 'new birthday'. Everyone ive talked to about that either thinks that its a bit much, or is right on target. Not quite sure where I sit with the thought. That darn jingle seems to be stuck in my head.. 'Let your new life begin... call 1800 Get Thin', I suppose it is time for my new life to begin. I hope I am able to sleep tonight.. im very tired, but my nerves are shot.. it will be quite a battle to see if my nerves will keep me up. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I want to do my final pre-band weigh in, followed by 1 last set of pictures. I am sure I will look back on this and stare in awe over the transformation.. In any event, eyes are drooping.. going to post as many thoughts as I can as tomorrow progresses

Thanks for the well wishes.. i think i did pretty good

Well the nerves are in full force now. We are speeding along the freeway en route to my date with the band. Just got a call from my coordinator wishing me the best of luck Also was advised that my last minute blood test came back perfectly normal which is good. I had a rough night Tossed and turned had nightmares too. Not a fun way to start today. But it is what it is. Forgot to bring a heating pad which everyone suggested I should bring which sucks. Honestly though as long as I wake up I'd consider that a victory lol. In any event this is it. I'm gonna sign off for now. Next time I blog I will have joined the land of the bandsters. My new life is mere hours from beginning. For those reading, please send prayers and well wishes my way! I really appreciate it. I'll be back later!

Out of curiosity who was your doctor?

Go ahead and add me! Im on the 21st.. tomorrow! Yikes!!

Changinmylyfe - thanks for the comments.. ill def have to try the clams chowder thing, that sounds deliceous!.. as far as soda goes, were you told you could have some?? I have been told that under no circumstance am I allowed soda, due to it could cause severe problems. But ive read the boards and a few people claim that there docs have allowed it.. regardless we all know its better off not had, but i wonder what the official word is on that.. Brenda - Thanks for the comments, im glad to hear everything is going well! I am really looking forward to the extra energy myself! Im just so afraid of the vommiting.. soo not lookin forward to that! How have you done with that?

Today was another tough day.. woke up this morning, had absolutly ZERO energy.. literally took me a few hours simply just to roll out of bed.. was extremely tough.. Tried the ISOPure drink today, the taste was disgusting, however it absolutly filled me up which was a huge benefit.. Got to speak to my nut today, she advised I could have string cheese.. let me just say, eating that string cheese was like a party in my mouth, it was so tasty compared to what ive put in my body the last couple days.. Had a major migrane for a majority of the day, was able to identify the cause as being from the lack of caffeine.. i suppose when you go from drinking over a liter of soda a day to cold turkey, it has quite the effect on the body.. Had the isopure for breakfast, a couple string cheese for lunch, and a chocolate protein shake for dinner.. its 1130 now and my stomach is howling.. I know that everyone says things will get better.. I sure hope it does!

Wow.. it is absolutly shocking to think that in less than 1 week my life, and the way I function will change forever. I truly dont think it has hit me yet. And honestly that is probably for the best.. if i really processed what is about to happen I would probably be freaking out and not being able to focus. As far as food goes today.. stuck with the protein shake and string cheese for breakfast and lunch but for dinner, i sort of cheated.. had a little bit of pork and some salad.. i suppose i got my alotted protein and the salad was good. I feel like ive sort of fallen of the track, I really need to press hard with my excerise this weekend and really try to get my liver as slim as possible!

Hi berly - not til the 21st Hi sandysfab50 - Thanks so much for the comments.. im so afraid that I may have cheated too much.. ive had a bunch of string cheese and just a small pinch of thinly sliced turkey.. nothing too nuts but we will see..

*Side Note: I am stunned that i have over 450+ views! I hope that my words will help bring a little insight for people who are considering the lap band. I know that reading blogs absolutly helped me. Im not going to lie or sugar cote anything either, I want to let people know exactly how my experience goes! So again thanks again* Its 230am the morning before the surgery and I cant sleep. It truly is beginning to sink it that this will be that l will eat like a normal human being. Regardless of what the future holds for me, as far as food goes, nothing will ever be the same again. Its been awhile since I blogged so lets recap some important events. Pre Op appointment: So from reading around it sounded like the preop was a big ordeal. When I arrived I expected to get prescriptions, a full blow by blow of what was gonna happen on D- day, a Q and A, etc. What I got was very different. I arrived at the office and waited for about 5 min for me doc to call me into a room. When my fiance and I walked in, he advised that there was no need to sit down. He simply asked if anything had changed or happened with me since my last appointment. I said No. He asked if I had any questions. I asked 1, even though I knew the answer, just so that I could feel like something was accomplished. And that was it, he wished me well and said hed see me on thursday. The entire thing last less than 4 minutes. Now some people might see this as concerning. But me, being a hypochondriac actually got comfort from this. Dr. Gee (Which i would HIGHLY recommend for anyone looking for a surgeon) is an EXTREMELY confident guy. He obviously is well aware of what he is doing, and he describes it as if he was describing how to tie a shoe. He is very funny which is a huge plus. He literally told me that if I worked the night shift, the night of my surgery (I work for a call center from my house) that I could absolutly go back to work that night! Insane! (For what its worth I am still taking the 3 recommended days dammit lol) After the pre op appointment I was notified that they mistakenly forgot to give me a stress test. So they quickly scheduled me one for today. I really had no idea what the heck it was so I went to the appointment today clueless. Once I got in I was asked to take my shirt off and lay on a bed. I was hooked up to about 14 electrodes all over my chest. The doc basically advised that they were going to check the structure of my heart, as well as the valves to make sure there were no abnormalities or blockages. Once I was hooked up he did an ultrasound on my chest near my heart and took a bunch of pictures (Lots of breathe in - hold - breath outs) Afterwords I was put on a treadmill with a steep incline in an attempted to get my heart to a certain rate at which point I would have 1 minute to jump off and have him snap a few more comparison pix of my heart in action. We actually rehearsed it as literally there is only 1 minute to get from the treamill back onto the bed and in place in order to get an accurate read. Needless to say but it went fine. He had all my previous results and basically told me everything had come back great with the exception that i had a high liver enzyme count. Apparently this is very common with large people (also known as having a fatty liver), and was advised that it would be corrected by the surgery. So thats it. I made my first call to 1800 Get thin on Janurary 29th. 3 months and 20 days later I have done numerous testing, got a financial hardship waver, was approved for insurance coverage and now am just 1 single day away from the lap band - something I really didnt fathom would happen. I think to this point, It really never hit me on how big this is. Honestly I have had doubts in recent days. But one thing I keep reading is the struggles and heartache some people have who are not as lucky as me to get such a quick and easy pathway to the lap band. I should be greatful and chopping at the bit, considering there are thousands (maybe tens of thousands) who would give anything to be in my place. I actually forced myself to check out the surgery on youtube.. dont know if that was such a good idea (who knew fat was yellow?). It really was sort of incredible to watch the man work.. but boy o boy it looks so easy to just scrape an organ in there.. gotta keep positive thoughts though.. I am going to need to take a sleeping pill to get me to sleep tonight and tomorrow as the anxiety has me wired. Im going to post throughout the day leading up to my surgery, and will blog as soon as I get home, for all who would like to follow. Again thanks for reading and please comment before ya go! Good luck to all, no matter where you are in your path! -Chris

Today was a much better day.. the doctor gave me some pain medication yesterday which helped with the headaches.. Breakfast and lunch went great.. still am having trouble focusing though and its really making work tough. Tonight was a bit of a step back though as I cheated pretty bad for dinner but had already been give the ok to cheat tonight as I had a special event tonight that I had been looking forward to for awhile.. however I need to make sure I get right back on track starting tomorrow.. its insane to think my surgery date is one week from tomorrow.. god my heart is pounding just thinking about it.. Just gotta stay focused.. eyes on the prize...

Wow you sound exactly like me.. Im on a stict Protein shake diet with some very lean chicken for lunch every once and awhile.. im a heavy soda addict too.. Today was my first day on the diet ( I was told i could start 10 days before instead of the norm 2 weeks) and i have felt horrible all day.. my head has been pounding and my stomach is crying for it to be fed lol.. I couldnt focus on work at all.. just gotta keep up the montra of.. ittl get better.. ittle get better

Well seeing how informational reading other blogs are, I felt it was my duty to publish one in hopes that maybe somebody can gain insight or information from my lap band experience. Today I have marked as -9 as in 9 more days left before I am banded on April 21 and my new life begins! Started my preop diet today.. and it has been ROUGH. I had a protein shake for breakfast which wasnt bad, and had some lean chicken.. but the hunger is almost unbearable and its only the first day! Ive had a migrane as well as an empty stomach all day and its affecting my work.. Im going to try to do some excersing tonight.. also am going to do the ol' Pre Pictures that I will be able to look back on in the future!.. Also need to weigh myself so that I have my Official starting weight.. not looking forward to that.. Well this should be good for now.. I know that someday I will look back on this blog and be able to say, That was the day that my life started to change for the better. <Edit> Looks like my official starting weight is 326.6... brutal.. but hopefully starting tomorrow morning I will never see a number like that ever again.

Hey All, My name is Chris, and at 26 I believe that I am the youngest April Bandit thusfar. One of the biggest motivators for getting the lap band now is my wedding which is in November. I just keep thinkin about how amazing I am going to look for my amazing bride to be when that day arrives. I am a travel agent and I work from home. It was awesome to work from home to start, but it is amazing how much of a sabotage it can be in the weight department. Sooo easy to go run to the kitchen for chips, Cookies, crap etc. Plus having a desk job and being at home means some days my "exercise" consists of walking from my bed, to my chair, and back.. really sad stuff.. Another huge reason for the lap band is the fact that one of my passions in life is coaching youth soccer.. its horribly disappointing that I cant do any of the workout and routines during practice that I have my players do. Hopefully this will be a step in a much better direction.. My band date is April 21. It is incredible to think that for the longest time I truly thought the testing/insurance process would never end and that I wouldnt ever get a surgery date. Now that I have a date, its like I hit the breaks and now am sort of freaking out by how quickly its coming.. I am a hypochondriac, a couple years ago I was misdiagnosed with kidney cancer one morning while in a hospital bed. It was one of the most tramatic moments of my life. Although I was shown not to have cancer a few hours later, since then I have really freaked out irrationally to just about everything. Every pain I get, must be cancer.. every lump I feel, a tumor.. In all honesty one of the reasons my testing took so long was that I kept canceling it for fear that they were going to find cancer or some weird disease when they did the testing. Its a really crappy way to live, but hopefully getting healthier will help quell the fears! Best wishes!

Hey all, This is my first post! (Yay!) My band date is Apr 21. I went from feeling frustrated that it was taking so long to get here, to now feeling anxious/nervous about it! (anyone else have that same feeling?) Id love to stay in touch with any of you April'ers that want to go through the journey together!