3musketeers

I am one month post op and was wondering if you can drink with a straw? In my stay at the hospital they said no straws but forgot to ask if this was just while recovering or forever?

I did not experience much of any kind of gas pains. I read on here to start walking ASAP and I did. I attributed to that. Banded: 8/25/11

I have an office job to. I was able to take 3 weeks off because my job let me. I could have returned after 1 week, but definitely not before then. Everybody is different and healing time will differ. I would say plan on taking 1 week. I was in pain the first 4 days.

I stayed overnight and I'm glad I did. I was in quite a bit of discomfort and all the dr's and nurses were really good. I was dreading the hospital stay but I'm glad I stayed. It won't be too bad. Good luck!

I do string cheese, a piece of lunch meat, a few almonds or sometimes a spoonful of Peanut Butter does the trick. I am right in your shoes. I have no restrictions at all and can eat carbs without a problem. Have not had my first fill yet. Hang in there!

Thank you all for replying. I've tried it and feel just a tiny bit of tummy ache. I have continued drinking from a straw and it's tolerable. I haven't had my first fill yet so this may change.

Thank you for your response. I haven't tried it yet but will do so and see what happens. Congratulations on your weight loss, that is great. I'm down 16 lbs with no fills yet. I"m feeling a bit down today because I have no restriction and can seem to eat anything. I feel like this was all a waste of time. I've been working my but off and feel like I could've done this without the surgery. I do have an appt Friday and I'm hoping to get a fill. But hey, as long as I'm not gaining, right? I know it's only the beginning. But you've done such a great job, keep up the good work.

I will be following this as I'm losing tons of hair. I'm 1 month post op and don't know what to do to stop the hair loss. Will be asking my dr on Friday.

I have BCBS of Illinois (***) my doctor gave me a surgery date of August 25th on July 15th, pending insurance approval. I received confirmation 1 week later that my surgery was approved. I hope you get an answer soon.

I'm scheduled to have surgery on the 25th. I have told only my husband, kids, and parents. A few close friends and my boss. My husband and kids are my biggest supporteres. Good luck on surgery!

My surgery date is August 25th (just received confirm 30 min ago my insurance approved) my liquid diet begins August 11th and I'm so happy but yet nervous. My doctor said I will be out of work 2-3 weeks. I was approved for 3 weeks at my job but the insurance lady at my doctor's office is giving me a hard time and said because of the type of work I do (administrative) I should only be out for 1 week. (My doctors office needs to sign off on the FML paperwork) She'll need to talk to my doctor about it and get back to me. I'm hoping for 3 weeks since it's approved and pay for by my job, but will take one if that's the final decison. Good luck to you and the rest who will be banded soon. We can do this Now if only I can figure out how to post a ticker. I'm kind of new to this site.

I did mine on Friday. Mine was basically just questions. How I came to this decision, my eating habits, how i feel now, my marriage, kids, etc. I think my consult lasted about 40 min. This was the last specialist I needed to see, hopefully I can get a schedule date at my next visit with the surgeon. Good luck on your journey!

I guess this just may be a vent more than anything. I'm very close to getting banded but very frustrated at the moment. I need to have appt with the phsyc and I'm all done with the specialist visits and can get a surgery date. I scheduled my first visit with the physc in May. She said she normally does 3 visits (which my referral only had 1 visit) so that set me back a few days while I got my new referral. I finally receive it after calling many times and leaving many voicemails to the insurance person at my doctors office. So I go to schedule my visit and for weeks they tell me that the doctors schedule isn't in. I call everyday for about 2 weeks, not kidding. Finally I get a call back from the physc. 2 days ago. The intern she wanted me to see finished his internship so he's gone, she's leaving the practice and so is her associate and will not finish seeing patients. Grrrr! So I call back the insurance lady at my doctors office so she can give me a new referral. She calls me back today and faxes the new referral to a different physc and tells me that I need to get moving on this and schedule ASAP becuase with my insurance, my 6 months are almost up and then I will have to start the process over. I just can't believe it!!! I've come so far and I would really hate to have to start all over over lack of communication. I have left the new physc a message today and hopefully she calls back soon. I will stay positive but really!!!!

Thanks for the input. That didn't sound right to me, but I sure will be asking at the next visit.

Thanks for responding, it give me a bit of relief. My surgeon is the one I've been seeing monthly for weigh-ins, at my next appointment I'll make sure to ask. Thanks again!

Welcome! I'm fairly new to. I'm from Chicago, I'm not in my 20's anymore but am 32. I'm getting so close and it's making me so nervous. I just have my physc appt to schedule (I'm waiting for the office to call back at the moment) and then I can finally schedule a date. I've been on this site for a few weeks and have found so much support and information. Good luck to you on your journey.

Hello, wanted to introduce myself. I'm new to this site and hopefully soon I will get my lap band done. I currently weigh about 255 and my goal is to lose 100 lbs. I also have Type II diabetes, hopefully with this surgery my diabetes will go into "remission" I'm excited and nervous, but am ready to take this step. My surgeon is Dr. Ryan Headley and having my surgery done at Macneal hospital. Anyone have their surgery done with Dr. Headley or Macneal? I would love to hear your story. I'm still in the process of getting all my requirements in. I need to see the phsycologist and I'm done meeting will all the doctors. Hopefully soon I can get a date. Any advice, stories, I'd love to hear from you. HOw did you do on the liquid diet? I'm trying to prepare myself, that's going to be rough.

I haven't had my surgery yet or even started the pre-op diet. But I'm very close, I'm hoping at my next appointment I can get a date. I was wondering how much time did you take off work after your surger? My doctor says 2-3 weeks if I can get time off, if I absolutely can't get time off he said he can do the surgery on a Thursday and I can go back on Monday. I do administrative work so no heavy lifting or anything of that type. We get 10 sick daysa year at work, which I have 7 remaining and I can probably take an extra week or two off. Thank you all for your responses. This give me an idea of how much time I should take off. I wish everyone luck.

I am fairly new to this site and was going through to see if anyone had their surgery done with Dr. Headley. I have not had my surgery done, but will be soon with Dr. Headley in MacNeal. Did you have yours done already?? I would love to hear your experience.

Thank you for you response, hopefully my recovery process is fast.

Thanks for the welcome. I orginally wanted to have my surgery at Day One. The office is 5 minutes away from where i work so it would have been great for my appointments without having to leave early but of that office wasn't covered under my insurance. Thanks for sharing and wishing you all the luck in the world.

thanks for your response. I'm still trying to figure this site out. I've read tons of post and it has given me lots of great information. Thanks for sharing, I feel I can relate to alot on the board here. I know it's going to be a tough road, I am more than ready. My two main concerns are "what if this doesn't work for me" and "keeping the weight off" Just so ready to start my new life. Thanks again!