sushiqwn

Hi Everyone! I got banded yesterday and am doing great. I did some burping/puking at the hospital when I got up, so I think that helped tremendously with the gas pains. They didn't want me to go home yesterday, but I talked them into it anyways. I've not had trouble swallowing pills, took Ibuprofen last night and today, don't like pain meds, and haven't had a problem getting them down. I'm also not having trouble if I forget and drink regular instead of sipping. I went onto the www.lapbandlifestyle.com website and they recommended a cookbook titled "Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery" by Patt Levine. It is a paperback book and has recipes based on what stage you are pre/post op and supposedly these are recipes that the whole family can enjoy. You can get it from any bookstore apparently. Just thought I'd share. Good luck to everyone that has been or is going to be banded. It's not as bad as you might think, hopefully!

I think that the decision to have any kind of non-lifethreatening surgery is a very personal choice, the same as religion or politics. It is no one's business what we do with our bodies but our own. And anyone who thinks this is the easy way out needs to be given a course in just exactly how our lives change. It is only a tool to help us reach the goal of a healthier life and hopefully smaller body, we still have to do the work. If we are comfortable talking to people about it, great. If we are not comfortable then that is okay too. And when anyone questions what we are having done, we don't need to lie, there are several things we can say... the old adage about curiosity killing the cat, and I sure wouldn't want that to happen to such a nice person as you!, or There is a relatively new law called the HIPPA act which prevents me from divulging any patient's medical information, including my own, can you believe that! What is the government going to come up with next!

Hi Nikki, Where can you get Isopure from? Is that like a GNC or WalMart thing? The muscle milk does have 360 cals when mixed w/water but it tastes a whole lot better than Slimfast or the Protein shake powder from Wallie World. It is also loaded with tons of vitamins.

Hi All, DH had his band today and is doing well. I brought him home a couple of hours ago. He has some soreness and a bit of gas pains that come and go but for the most part is feeling okay. He told me that it was not as bad as he had prepared himself for it to be. We hope that everyone else is doing well also.

Good Luck to Tammy and all the others going tomorrow. I will be there with my DH at 6:30 in the am. Oh my but I would rather sleep! However, I am very excited for him to have this done and then my turn will be here before I know it. He has already lost 30 pounds because he has totally adopted a new way of eating and is being very supportive of my pitiful 5 pound loss. (But 12 1/2 inches too!) Could somone please tell me what "PB" is? I keep coming up with a variety of options, and some of them aren't so nice!

Palmetto Baptist in Columbia will be starting the bands later this month and Lexington Medical Center themselves are going to start doing it as well. Riverside Surgical operates out of LMC, but the hospital apparently is going to start their own bariatric program. So as far as your fills go, I would check with Palmetto first about the cost, since they are about to be operational (they have been doing bypass for years) and then LMC can be another alternative later down the line. I don't see why it should cost more just because you went to Mexico. What is the difference other than that they have been doing it longer than the people here in the states.

You most likely would lose more weight in the beginning, but after 2-5 years band patients have the same amount of weight loss as bypass patients. It has been proven by their studies. You need to do what you feel most comfortable with, not what he thinks you will do it faster with. My mom is having bypass next month, and it scares me to death for her. Mainly because she is not a compliant patient and I'm afraid that she will hurt herself by not following the rules. But her insurance won't pay for banding, but will for bypass, go figure. Best of luck in whichever you decide to do, but remember that it is your body and your choice, no one elses!

Hi All, My husband and I both are getting banded this month. He is scheduled for the 15th and I am scheduled for the 27th. This is an incredible forum that everyone provides so much support and information. As far as the pre-op diet the practice we are using has 3 docs and one of their wives (also a doc) has started her own side business of dietary products, shakes, protein bars, soups etc. So of course they are totally pushing do all of your pre/post op diet through us. We will make it so easy for you by selling you everything you need. They only problem is it is quite pricey. So far we have been doing a high protein diet for a couple of weeks, cut out starches, sugars, caffeine, carbonation and we have found it to be so much better than the liquid stuff. We are losing weight and hubby already went for pre-op and his protein levels were great. He had filters placed yesterday and all of the hospital staff kept asking us (in veiled ways), how do you guys qualify? You don't look like you need it. I told them I just hide it well. We are/were both 100 pounds overweight, and of course he has already lost close to 30#, me not so much. Good luck to everyone and thank you all so much again for the support and information that you all share.

If you don't have anyone to swap with look for consignment stores in your area. That way maybe you can make a little bit of money off of your old clothes to help offset the cost of new ones. I'm lucky in my area (Lexington, SC), because we actually have a Plus size consignment store that I am hoping to take lots of clothes to once I get banded and start losing.