joe7777

i personally take benefiber...it mixes with everything without making it clumpy or adding a gross taste (i.e. metamucil)

i dont know about the hunger...i didnt start feeling hungry until at least day 5-6...until then gatorade was great for me.

Mine is a nickname from a friend who has passed away a few years ago. It is a mix from my real name Robin and the cartoon character hobgoblin. Also my year of birth number.

I will see you there. Yeah, i started slowly on solids a bit early too, its going down well. I am anxious for restriction.

One thing to think of, is the band helps change your relationship with food. I TOTALLY know where you're coming from. I too think it will be weird not eating socially...but now i'm accepting it. I am NOT at the stage where i am feeling it personally, but i've read tons of people who say that 1-2 years down the road or whatever, the cravings for whatever they used to eat is gone. Like for example mcdonalds, once you eat real food, get full easily, you realise what garbage it is. Im guilty here, so hopefully i will get the same results. But yeah,thats why i think the band is right for me, at least you can still eat regular food (and when you meet dr. Yau thats what he tells you to do). I dont see this as a replacement for willpower, but more as a tool that helps me feel full...something that i guess i either ate out of, or that i never had. The point is not to deprave yourself, but to enjoy food, in a much lower quantity which is sufficient nutritionnally.

Yeah miranda, i know what you mean. I pretty much didnt eat after day 2. Because thinking of yogurt and cottage cheese made me gag. I used to eat plenty of yogurt, but it seems because i was forced to eat it in the diet, now after a month i still don't want to think of eating it. I think the worst was those joke comments, oh since you are following this diet so well, you could do it without the band. But in reality, the ONLY reason i was so dedicated to the preop diet was because you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Usually i would give up because i wouldnt see any changes. But yeah, preop is the worst.

The bullet to me doesnt make much sense. I had Water only day 1. Day 2-4(or 5 or 6 or something), it was Clear liquids. I believe full liquids was only starting pretty much 1 week after surgery. Unless you are starting in toronto that long i dont think you need it. That is my opinion, unless you are bringing it for something else. One thing i would do is prepare for the person who is accompanying you to pickup your prescription. go to the drugstore before, so you know where it is...etc. Basically depending on your meds, they may cause nauseau, you may want to buy chewable gravol or liquid.

do they ever do it? what about endoscopy after a few years or whatever. I hear thats how many people catch erosion.

Oh, and if you are looking for things to do in toronto...don't worry. Theres thousands of things to occupy yourself with.

actual surgery is fairly short. 40 mins to an hour.

i REALLY hated taking demerol, i think its one of the reasons i took the least amount possible (i mostly used some day 1, day 2..after not too much). Also, i dont want to like pain pills...so im not going to use them for nothing. But yeah, the taste....jeez, if i had to make a recommendation to TLBC it would be to make the medication a liquid med. Some clinics prescribe liquid pain meds. Which makes sense cuz we cant swallow whole pills. Demerol crushed is the devil. i tried to drink it with flavored drinks...i believe mr yoda had a method that was better than what i did. Anyways, good luck taking ur pain meds. Keep us updated.

By the way i have the midband. Found out when i got out of surgery and got the ownership manual lol.

if you are getting banded at TLBC the dr chooses for you. Personally i like it that way (if you request a certain band they will give it to you). But i'd rather let someone who does this for a living and sees thousands of these choose it. They will choose the band that is physically a better match. They wait until you are open, so they can see the size of your stomach ( if you are big your stomach is not necessarily big). TLBC chooses from ALL bands, so i feel that is the best way to go.

lots of celebs with RNY...didnt know bout sharon and the band...i dont know of any others either.

Tell us about it when you're out!

Omg, tell me about it, after surgery and pre-op crap, i wasnt even thinking about food, i was just so anxious to drink something that had taste lol. First thing i had was a gatorade.

welcome, make sure to walk lots (well...a bit, it helps for gas pain). Good luck and speedy recovery

Hey susansilver dont be too upset (i know it sucks) but it happens, i believe i've been to the ER 2 times in my life and it ended up being constipation. as for benefibre, yeah its great doesnt taste like anything or change the consistancy of your drink. What i did was poured a couple teaspoons in a big juice container, so that way when i drink the juice there is already fibre in it. Not that it's hard to add it as you go, but...thats what i do.

Try to move lots after!! It seems easy to say before...but TRUST me after, you dont want to. When i went one lady who did it and worked there told me she had bad shoulder pains because of the gas, because she just wanted to pamper herself and not move etc....my mom was on my case every hour to walk around the room for 2 mins or whatever, i was so mad everytime she made me get up. But then i didnt really have pain...so i guess it might have helped. Also, DONT DRINK OR EAT prior....this may seem like the dumbest thing, im not proud either...but i drank water the morning of my surgery. Thankfully they asked me about it, i felt like an idiot, i had to wait a couple hours. I'm just so happy i actually got it done that day. But really....dont drink or eat, its dangerous because of the anesthetic.

I don't think they gave an official reason. If you are worried about TLBC service don't worry...you are not a patient of your doctor, you are a patient of the clinic.

I have 5, One is port, 2 are sides, and one is one inch above the belly button, then i have one that is TINY, so basically it looks like i have only 4. The small one i seriously think took like 2 stitches, its really small.

Has anyone else called TLBC and only get their voicemail, I HATE VOICEMAIL, I sent an email to maral, and the only response i get is that i sent it to the wrong person, she tells me to email someone else...i didnt pay 16000 to get the run around. I'm venting right now, but seriously...I even talked to the receptionist, told her, im calling and only getting voicemail, asked her if anyone is there, she says yeah, i say, transfer me to someone who is THERE, she does, guess what i get....voicemail. Like, do they concentrate only on the people in clinic and if the phone is ringing, sorry too bad for you, well...i cant travel 4 hours for every question. Really, i'm sure they're great but this is not starting off on the right foot.

Donna D, don't get discouraged, i havent lost really anything since surgery either. Just staying steady, but i dont care, i'm just enjoying food instead of liquids lol. Anyways, once we go for our fills, then it should do some good...hopefully i'm not one of those who needs 3-4 fills before i feel any restriction.

Yes, telling your parents is huge, i know it was for me. As for the age, i just figured, i've been trying to lose ever since i noticed i was getting fat, more seriously in the last 3-5 years, but nothing works...its food that has its hold on me. So anyways, yeah, i think if i didnt do this i'd end up REALLY huge. As for the weight to lose pre-op, depends, does your insurance require a medically supervised diet, does your clinic require a pre-op diet, are you self-pay...whatever. Anyways, the point of pre-op diets is to shrink your liver, the weight loss is a bonus, you will be eating very little sugars, mostly Protein. During this time, you may lose 20, you may lose 5 pounds, as long as your liver shrinks thats important, for the laparascopic surgery, to access your stomach the liver being shrunk helps a great deal. So anyways, once you set everything up and if you choose a clinic, they will likely have a pre-op diet. If it's insurance, then thats their decision. Good luck

Yah, jurema, i sent emails and such, i got a response, its all good...this thread was started at a time when i was VERY mad. Lol, i was just venting, but from some posts it appears it happens, of course they are busy, but i would think that there would be someone there to answer more often...i don't know. Either way, i am in NO WAY regretting my decision of choosing TLBC because of that...its pretty insignificant, but yeah, sometimes its the little things that are frustrating.