LilMonkey

I ended up losing about 14 pounds. 10 pounds were during a few months of "practice" diet we had and the other 4 were from the liquid diet. I think an important aspect of the liquid diet is the lack of sugar and carbs. That's what my doc stressed anyhow.

I just wanted to let everyone know that even though I did not do a stellar job with my pre-op liquid diet, I did fine. My banding was yesterday and the surgeon said everything was perfect and it was a "textbook" case. He was very pleased that everything went so well. I cheated a few times on my liquid diet. The reason I felt the need to mention this is that I read this post the evening before my surgery and it scared the hell out of me. Seriously. I was so scared that this would happen to me and there was nothing I could do about it. So, while I do not advocate cheating (you really should follow your doctor's orders) I just wanted people to know that if they do slip, it isn't necessarily the end of the world. Everyone is different and has different cases.

Yes, those pills made me sick too. Yick! My surgery went really well and I'm feeling pretty good right now. I believe they saw something they didn't like on my husband's xrays, so cross your fingers for him. How did yours go? How you feeling, did you end up staying overnight? I did just because, though I'm sure I didn't need to. I'll be thinking happy thoughts your way. Best wishes while you heal.

HEy all, Just wanted to post real quick that the surgery went great for me. I ended up staying in the hospital last night to give my husband a break as he went in this morning for his band and because at the hospital I get morphine. The surgery itself took 50 minutes, and while it was quite painful when I first woke up, it's quite managable now. Think happy thoughts for my husband and me. Thanks guys!!

Heya SELaine, Just wanted to wish you luck and best wishes for tomorrow. I'm starting to feel pretty nervous about the whole thing. Anyways, good luck and I'll see you on the other side as an official bandster! Who knows, maybe I'll see you at the hospital. Hehe.

Hey all, I just wanted to wish this week's bandsters well. I will try to post as soon as I can to let everyone know how it went, but I may end up staying overnight. So, good luck and best wishes you guys!!

Oh, and I almost forgot. Congrats on doing so well with the liquid diet. It's incredibly difficult. You would think with two people going through the exact same thing at the same time, my husband and I would provide each other with strength. Honestly, though I think we make each other weak. Definitely something to work on as we continue our journey. Our liquid diet has been less than stellar as we've had a few slip ups. But we get right back on and so hopefully, we haven't done too much damage. :mad:

We did get the heparin injections as well. I've got no problems with needles or anything, but the thought of injecting myself is not a pleasant one. I think I'm going to have my husband do it. hehe! I talked with the check-in nurse, Edith yesterday and she said they generally set up all patients as overnight. That way if they want to stay it's already set up and ready to go and I can stay in my room as long as I want to for the day. But she also said if I feel good and want to go home, I can do that too. I may end up staying, just because it'll be easier on my husband for that first day. But we'll see. :mad: As for the band, Dr. Orris said it was more aggressive in terms of weight loss and a bit safer in terms of errosion. It seems all around like a good thing, so I'm excited to have the latest and greatest. Thanks Ewa! With my nerves, I'm taking all the good wishes I can get. :Banane43: I believe in another thread about possibly the new bands, someone said they were announcing them at a bariatics conference in June or July. But if I find out any information, I'll be sure to post it. I'm pretty curious myself :mad:

Welcome Christie! I've been heavy my entire life, and am at my heaviest too. So I know exactly how you feel. I think you'll find the people on these boards are really supportive and helpful. So welcome aboard! Glad you're here.

Hi Manatee, I'm on on day 10 and man does it suck! I think your burger question depends on the type of burger you want. If you mean fast food burgers, yeah those should probly be out for good. If you mean home cooked burgers, you can probly have those again. As for a burger during liquid. I think the best thing to do is always to follow the instructions your doctor gave you. So I would try to your best to avoid it.

Bumping because I don't have any good answers and I'm curious.

I'm very curious about the pill thing myself. Anyone? As for the ticker.. You should be able to copy the html they give on tickerfactory and paste it into your signature section of this site. To get there got to 'UserCP' at the top then 'Edit Signature' under 'Control Panel'. Once here you can paste the code into that box and click 'Save Signature'. You should then have a cool new ticker! If you have problems, you can pm me and I'll try to help futher. Hope that helps! Lol. Can you tell I did tech support for a long time?

Welcome lurker! Glad your surgery went well and you're feeling so good! My surgery is on monday, so for me that's a pretty comforting thing to hear. heh.

I feel exactly the same way. I'm really excited to be making this change in my life and hopeful for some real success. On the other hand, it's pretty scary. I think once I get past the actual surgery and begin workin' the band to it's fullest, I'll be all set. In other words, the surgery is the scary part for me! heh.

Soup?! I would love to have some yummy soup! My two week liquids consists of Protein shakes/broth/flavored water/SF-FF pudding and SF jello/popsicles. OMG I want to chew on something soo badly. The scale every morning does help to motivate, so I've been doing that. I've only got another 4 days or so left till surgery , so thats what I'm focusing on at the moment. Good luck to all going through this yucky liquid time too!

Welcome! The band can be removed if absolutely neccessary, but I think it's better to think of it as permanent. If you need the restriction removed for pregnancy or another medical reason, they can always take the saline fluids out of it. I'm not in Colorado, so I can't really recommend a local doctor there. But to get started, I would research the band and much as you can to see if it's what you're looking for. I'm just starting my band-aided journey, but from what I understand it still requires a lot of motivation and hard work to get the weight off. So the first thing I did was weigh whether or not I was ready to make that commitment.. For me, the band is the right choice and I feel confident that having this surgery is going to help me be able to do what needs to be done. Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

I just wanted to say, I know the feeling of having your posts ignored.. My first post ever didn't get much in the way of responses at first, so I kind of felt that way for a while. Eventually, I did get some responses so I think it just takes time. I think it took a lot of courage to say something and reach out to others for support. I'd like to think that you'd be remembered for that, which isn't a bad thing. As I said in your surgery date post, congrats on your date! I think the support is here in the boards, and hopefully from now on you'll begin to feel like you're on the receiving end of that.

Congrats on your date! I know when I got mine it felt like a big relief to finally be pushing towards a real date! My surgery is scheduled for May 21st, so we're not that far apart. Woo hoo!

Heya again.. For some reason, I didn't realize you'd responded.. I was coming in here to post an 'Are you doing alright?' when I saw you'd responded days ago. Eeek! I've been working primarily with Dr. Orris, but I believe the surgery is done by both Debarros and Orris. He mentioned we'd be getting the new bands too. What's up with that? I couldn't find any information about a new version of the band online, so I hope its as good as Dr. Orris made it sound. We ended up financing too. It was a hard decision for me to make, but my husband put it into perspective for me. Basically, we may be going into debt, but its for a damn good reason: our health and longevity. Can't beat that, right? As the time draws nearer, are you getting more and more excited or nervous? I think I'm getting more and more nervous. I'm still confident that I've made the right decision.. I think it's just fear of the unknown, you know.

When I went to my pre-op appointment a week or so ago, they let me know that my husband and I will be getting a new version of the band. This band will have the silicone ring all around the band. So basically the portion that did not "inflate" before is now the same as the rest of the band. My doctor said this led to a decreased chance of errosion and a "slightly more aggressive weight loss" due to increased tightening all around. I haven't been able to find ANY information about it online, so I'm really hoping he's right. If anyone does find any information online, I'd LOVE to see it. I think Alexandra is right though, if your band is working for you, who cares which you have.

Hi Byron, Welcome! I'm fairly new myself. My surgery is set for this monday, so I'm just absorbing all the good info and support that is aplenty on this board. Again, welcome and if you need anything, let us know!

Hey all, I'm a little late to the party, but my surgery is scheduled for the 21st! I didn't realize there were so many of us! Congrats and best wishes all around. :eek:

somethingelse, I actually haven't had my surgery yet, I'm going in next week. (woo!) So, normally I just troll the boards and don't say much since I don't have much expertise to offer. However, in this case, I really wanted to say something, because the feelings you are having are feelings I have been battling with for some time now. The reason I am having surgery is because I simply cannot live with another round of devistating failed attempts at weight loss. All of my family have been extremely supportive, with exception of my brother. My brother has presented the view that if all it does is restrict my food intake, I should be able to do that myself, so why don't I? Well, for the longest time, I found it difficult to provide a good arguement to that. But Jachut is absolutely right. You simply would not hesitate to have surgery to fix some other part of your body, and this is really no different. You are still going to be the one in control of your food intake, the band just helps you control it. For me, being in control of this part of my life is something I am very much looking forward to. I don't think that having this surgery is something to look upon with shame, I think it takes great courage to make this decision for yourself. If you feel like losing the weight is something you can do on your own, great! Because that means you'll be all that more sucessful with the support that comes with the band. Losing the weight after surgery is going to be a great battle, but one that you have much better odds of winning now that you've got the band on your side. At least that's how I look at it.

Wow, That's awesome! He definitely didn't mention anything like that for us. Wonder why, hmm.. That should make it a bit easier for you. Lucky, lucky. We're doing okay. It's definitely not the most pleasant thing in the world, but I'm just trying to stay focused on the surgery date as a positive. I could definitely use an apple and a smoke though. How's day 4 treating you? On a side note, did you end up self-paying or getting insurance to cover?

We had our pre-op last thursday. I thought you couldn't set a surgical date until you had that appt. neat! WEll good luck with your pre-op! Should be a breeze since you're already scheduled and what not. (Ours took forever) Mike is really awesome, isn't he?