KristeyK

Yup...the clear stuff is. (And it is NAS-TY! lol.) If you can find it, try the Syntax powders. You have to mix them, but so far I like them all. (Admittedly haven't tried the fuzzy navel, as I don't like peach flavored stuff.)

I was wondering the same thing about juicing. Afraid to spend money on an appliance I may not use. LOL. As for Breville...obviously I don't have the juicer, but I have a few other of their appliances and they are AWESOME! They've been worth the extra $$$ so far. (And if you check HSN or QVC, you'll probably be able to get them on payments, and if you hate the appliance, they're good about returns.)

Are you an allergy sufferer at all? It sounds like maybe there's some drainage that is irritating your throat. It can also cause a pressure build up which can cause your ear to ache. I won't say that reflux won't cause it, but it's HIGHLY unlikely.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I remember that feeling the first time I dropped a lot of weight and could get on a Dash-8 without one of those danged things. I say keep it as a momento of how far you've come.

Believe it or not- you can EASILY feel your liver. I don't know why they say the preop diet is to shrink it though...all it does is shrink SOME of the fat AROUND your liver. (And note the emphasis on SOME. LOL) Keep on doing what you are doing. He's more than likely wanting to push you to continue being serious about this. DO NOT let it get you down or freak you out. He'll still get in there and perform the procedure. Heck, the VSG came about to be its own surgery because a bypass procedure could not be safely performed on the super morbidly obese patients, they couldn't be under anesthesia that long. They would make the stomach into a sleeve, and so many of them would be successful with just that portion of it, that they would cancel the other half of the surgery. Good luck to you!

Go Sexxy!!! I dearly want to be an NP, and with the new rules that means DNP. ACK! Maybe I'll change my mind and become a midwife, which is still a Master's. LOL.

Good luck to BigSexxy, MamaMcKinzie, heygirlfriendB, chelle622, rubyspring and newdaycomn! Today is the beginning of your new lives. Check in when you can and let us know how you're doing. YAY!

Good luck to brookb, MissBliss, Gaylebco, Heatherr, Lynn225, TipsyNoodle, texas123!!! Let us know how it goes!

I'm hoping this will bring some of you out of the woodwork! lol. I am planning on getting a band to sleeve revision done during my break in nursing school at the end of August. (I say hoping because I am waiting on insurance approval for now.) Who else is out there waiting for the BIG DAY in a couple months?

YAY!!! Good luck and let us know how it goes.

My info was submitted on a Tuesday, I gave it until the following week to start calling, and got my approval the first time I called. WOOHOO!

Unfortunately, there aren't any products that will take care of it. (Anything that says it does is selling false advertisement.) Stinks, doesn't it?

OMG! The two stomachs! I absolutely LOATHE that. As I type this, I am sitting here MISERABLE because I had two oz of chicken breast, it's stuck and hurting, but I am still STARVING!!!!!!!! I really feel like going and throwing it up just to get rid of the pain. (Going on three hours now without any relief.)

I got my band in May 2008, and my surgeon is planning on doing it all at the same time. (I say planning, because there COULD be issues that prevent that, but he said he hasn't encountered anything bad enough yet to keep him from doing that.)

I hope you get better answers than mine, but I am having surgery on a Wednesday, and I start back to school the following Tuesday. I'm a nursing student and my first day back has a rather long lab that morning, but it's not 8 or 12 hours of getting up and down, just four hours of standing and performing procedures on mannequins. (I won't be back to my clinicals until three weeks after my surgery- otherwise I would have put off surgery until our Christmas break.) I have seen where some people only take a week off, and others take off three weeks. It's my understanding that since we're getting a revision, we'll be a little more sore than others who get this, but I don't imagine it's much worse than when we got the band. (I'm hoping so at least!)

WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!! I see your big day is tomorrow. You must be getting excited!!! YAY!!!!

Appeal the decision. Make sure your surgeon sent in something written that states he believes you need the revision because of the band failure. I would also have your primary care Dr. write a letter and give that to your surgeon's office to submit with the appeal. YOU should also write a letter stating everything you've been through because of this. ANYTHING you have that documents your issues since having the band will only help your case. Hopefully someone else will be able to chime in with more advice. GOOD LUCK! I know how much that band sucks when it malfunctions. It's not an easy thing to have to live with.

I was going to say exactly what Wishes did for the most part. Even if you're financially able, the six month diet requirement isn't a bad thing. It'll help you out after surgery in that you'll already be "preprogrammed" for the lifestyle modifications this surgery requires. (This is coming from the queen of impatience! LOL) GOOD LUCK!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! That actually sounds like fun. (And it must be nice to live somewhere that affords you the ability to do that in the middle of summer. We'd just get cooked here in Tucson. LOL!)

I am still pre-op, but one thing I want to add to the list is this: Anxiety about this surgery is NORMAL. Make a list of what it is that makes you anxious about getting this done and TALK ABOUT IT! This is a HUGE life changing thing we're doing, and to let the anxiety control us before we even have the surgery is another step backwards we'll have to overcome, especially if it messes with any pre-op diet you have to follow. Some is healthy, but don't freak. (Frankly, I plan on remaining anxious about having to be so vigilant after surgery- it'll keep me motivated. ) Someone else mentioned support groups- excellent idea! I like it here a LOT- but there is something about having to go ATTEND a meeting that is much more motivating. It has prepared me quite a bit for what I am to expect in a little less than a month. YAY! So if you have one available, PLEASE go!

ITA! Kiss your surgeon and thank your mom for asking. I was dumb enough to not listen to my surgeon. Fast forward 3.5 years, and I am getting this stupid band OUT! WOOHOO!!!