redmom

Tracy, If I can ask, how big are your kids? I too have a couple of rug rats and I don't know how long I can go without picking up my 18 mo.old. She's somewhere between 25 and 30 lbs. She's in daycare during my working hours, but I cant' go the 6 weeks the doctor says I have to wait to pick up over 20 lbs.

I'd give you the same advise I'd give one of my girlfriends. Open credit cards in your name alone and close shared accounts, to keep her from running up the debt and leaving you with it. As much as possible, separate your finances. Open you own checking account and have your payched deposited there. You can then transfer as much or as little as you like into the joint account. If you have any financial documents that you need to protect, put them into a safe deposit box.

Good Luck to you! Its not that bad. It only hurts a bit when you sit up to get out of bed. The nurses will take care of you at the hospital, manage your pain meds and you'll get a prescription to take home. Hey, this isn't rocket science you know. You will start to eat better, exercise more and have a fantastic new lifestyle for 2009. Try and visualize yourself doing something you never imagined you could do, like hiking a (small) mountain, running a 5k or buying a fabulous outfit in smaller size, whatever it takes. You will have moments when you fall off the lap band wagon, but then you get back on. And the band is there to make sure you don't fall too far off. I really believe the difference is going to be exercise. Commit to that and you can't fail!

Hello everyone. I had to stay overnight in the hospital, due to insurance. Came home yesterday and seem to be okay. I took out the c-ball thingy that was attached to my stomach area this morning. It was supposed to administer localized anisthesia (sp?). But I have to vent. On Saturday morning when my surgeon was visiting his patients, I was in the bathroom. I called out to him, said I would be out in second. He said no worries, he'd be back in a minute. So I waited, and waited. About an hour later a nurse came in to the room and I asked about the surgeon. She said he was gone. I explained that I did have some questions and concerns, as I was told after surgery that he had to repair a hernia. That was the first and only time I heard that I even had a hernia. So the nuse paged the surgeon, who responded that he was in surgery at another hospital. At 11 am on a Saturday morning. Hmmm. Right. I want to raise *ell, but I have to keep seeing this doctor for fills and whatever else arises, but I haven't exactly been feeling the love.

Wow! Me too! I got home from the hospital yesterday and got on the scale. I had lost 10 lbs during the pre-op diet, but gained it all back. I'm assuming its due to all the IV fluids they had me hooked up to. I'm living on protein shakes and broth today. I tried some protein powder in my coffee this am. I had a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, about a month ago, where they added the protein powder and I couldn't taste any difference..Well my at home experiment didn't go so well. I had coffee, skim milk and sugar free Torani hazelnut syrup with the protein powder. It didn't taste good. Maybe I should have used a blender.

6 a.m. they don't make it easy do they?I guess I'll survive getting up at 5 a.m. ( or probably closer to 5:30). I'll drive myself to the hospital so DH can get the kids off to school. Then he'll go to work and visit me in the afternoon. So, here I go!!

Umm, if its anything like my meeting, don't get worked up about it. I met with the P.A. for about 15 minutes going over my medical history and then the surgeon came in and said hello, looked at my file and asked if I had any questions. I didn't have many, since I had done lots of research about him and on this site. So, maybe I met with him for 10 minutes. When I first got to the office I was weighed and they took my blood pressure. Thats it. Much ado about nothing there.

THANK YOUI thought this topic would be off limits here, but yes, I will make Christmas cookies with my kids. Its always been part of our pre-Christmas routine and I refuse to let my being banded interfere with that. That was the whole point to being banded for me, as opposed to bypass. Every thing in moderation, I'm still learning. But Christmas without a kitchen trashed by red and green sprinkles? What would we leave for Santa to eat? (the reindeer get carrots, not Santa). Anyway, I'm relieved that I'm not the only one planning on making cookies. I just have to learn that one normal sized cookie is right for me, not a half dozen after the kids are asleep.And I still have my illusions that someday I'll be able to make the beautifully decorated cookies like in the magazines.

I've got to say that people really are treated differently based on their size. Like someone said earlier, when you are large, people tend to look right through you. I don't get negative comments or any overt nastiness, but your are simply overlooked. When I was thinner (and younger) that really didn't happen. You do get better service and people smile more. But no, I'm not mad about it. I think we all carry around our own prejudices, and hopefully while I've been obese, I may have Enlightened a few people out there.

I'm in Richmond, so it's St. Mary's for me. How can they just eliminate the program like that? Why didn't they just say no more patients as of a particular date? That doesn't make sense to me. Good luck to you!! My co-workers have begun to notice I'm losing weight on this pre-op diet. Part of me wants to believe I could keep this up on my own and lose the weight. Thats the delusional part of me. The sane part knows that it wouldn't work long term.

Okay, ready or not here I come. Getting banded in Va. on the 12th. Pre-op diet is great during the day, tougher at night. It has been wonderful reading about everyone who was banded last week. Thanks for posting. I have been lurking for a while and have decided there is one big difference between those who succeed with the band and those that struggle. EXERCISE. I don't think I can rely on the band alone for weight loss. I have to exercise and use the band to learn how to eat like a normal person again. So nothing like getting banded in the dark of winter to test your dedication to working out. Here's to the second wave going forth!

December 12th here. Just hanging out with you guys who are close to my date. I have to admit to feeling a bit weird about all of this. I know its necessary, for myself and for my children. But do I want to do this? Not particularly. I've gotten the self denial down pretty good, about how overweight I really am . At least until I look at the photos from our vacation. Its sort of a right brain, left brain thing going on. Yes, I'm doing the surgery. Yes, I'm following the pre-op diet, yes I will exercise more. But no, I'm not particularly happy about it. Maybe I'm just like the old ladies who sit around and complain.