goodlife

I personally don't think the LapBand is a good choice. Of course everybody has differing opinions. There are way too many problems associated with it with a very high rate of having to have a repeat surgery to either fix it or remove it for me to be comfortable with it. The having to go back and have fills and unfills is just absolutely not for me. When I started researching my options, I knew the sleeve was the perfect option for me. My insurance policy does not pay for WLS ever so I'm self paying and I got my clearance from my PCP today so I'm just waiting for a date. Should be sleeved in a couple of weeks!

Holy crap! (no pun intended) 20 gallons?? ok..that does NOT sound relaxing or pleasant at all. I don't know that I buy that whole "old matter stuck in there". But hey....if you decide to do it, you can let us know how it all comes out. (pun intended!) LOL!

How is that any different from an enema?

Congratulations!! Best of luck to you!

Jeanine, Did you get my private message response to you??

Sorry to butt in on this thread, but Jeanine, did you get my private message response to you?

He's in Covington.

Hi there...in which direction do you live 45 minutes outside of BR? I'm in Mandeville and Dr. French will be my surgeon. I'm cash pay also as any type of WLS is an exclusion on my policy and his "low risk" cash price is $13,600.

Yay it's there now! You did it! lol

He's annoying the ever living crap out of me. I first started thinking about the band about 5 yrs or so ago and decided that wasn't for me. He was all for it at the time but when I dropped it so did he. Since then my back issues have gotten much worse...so much so that I've become pretty much sedentary and spent a good 1/4 to 1/3 of last year completely immobile due to pain. I'm not a pain pill kind of person so I suffered through it and did what I could. Saw my chiropractor twice a day when it was really bad, took muscle relaxers and stuff for the spasms during the worst of it. But it's really made me realize how my quality of life has gone downhill...not to mention I packed on a bunch more weight. I've developed sleep apnea in the last year and I also have super high cholesterol. My ankles and feet have started swelling with some regularity. I've struggled with my weight my entire adult life although I wasn't always obese. Back in 97 I started taking diet pills and lost 65 lbs but as soon as I stopped taking them, I started gaining the weight back and eventually gained it all back plus some. A few months ago I started researching WLS again and knew the sleeve was just the tool that I needed. I want my life back! I hate that there are so many things I can't do now. I'm 39 yrs old and I have a son who is almost 21 and is college and I have a 15 yr old daughter. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching my family have fun. When I told my husband I wanted to do this he said..go for it. I told him our insurance would not cover it. He said he thought it was important enough that we would just pay for it ourselves. He said all the right things about how he wants me to be healthy, how he wants me to live a long time...blah blah blah. So I move forward with it. I did my research, I talked to people. I have the support and unconditional love of my parents, my family, my boss, my employees, and my best friends. I picked my surgeon and attended a seminar. I've always been very healthy so I didn't even have a PCP. Well I found one and made an appointment and had a checkup. Also found a gyno and had that checkup too as I hadn't had one in several years. My PCP ordered a sleep study which was perfect because my surgeon wanted me to have one anyway. My PCP is very supportive of the surgery and feels like all the other issues i have will be resolved with weight loss. I met with my surgeon last week and he feels I am the perfect candidate for the surgery. I run a company that sells blood tests directly to the consumer at greatly discounted prices so I routinely have labs done. I had an idea of what he'd want and what my PCP would want to see so I had some things run and was able to bring them in to both of them. Each of them ordered a few more tests and I've had them done as well. My surgeon said I'm looking at 2-3 weeks before surgery. Hoping to get my exact date this week. I've started the pre-op diet and am doing well. In the two weeks before meeting with my surgeon and having found these boards and OH I started changing my diet in preparation for my new life post-op. I've cut out sugar and took up Water. Started concentrating on Protein and cut out carbs. As of last wednesday I'd lost 11 lbs. just making those changes. So it all sounds great right? Everything is moving right along..a lot quicker than I expected. So what's the problem? My husband is a JERK, that's what! Now I know he loves me and I know that he doesn't MEAN to be a total ass, but he is and it makes me damned mad and frustrated. I've tried to educate him about the surgery and what it will be life after surgery..yet he continues to make erroneous comments out of ignorance. He's bee making comments like...well you know if you'd just put some effort into it and get off your butt and exercise you could probably do this without surgery...or I could tell how you to lose weight but you don't want to hear it. Or just tonight I was showing him how long my fingernails are getting (I'm a nail biter but recently stopped chewing on them) because I started taking Vitamins and he said...yeah you're finally doing things to get healthy...that's great. Now if you'd just quit smoking and get off your butt and exercise then I'd know you were really serious about this. Or when he opened the pizza box tonight and started making comments about how good it was and didn't I want any when he knows full well I can't have that and how oh well I did this to myself but look at him..he can have it because he goes to the gym and exercises. Yeah, I wanted to punch his lights out and I've never hit anyone in my life! I feel like he's testing me or something. I told him..hey what happened here? I thought you were all for this? I thought you were supportive of me having this surgery. He said..what I said was that I wasn't against it but I'm just leary of it...I don't know if you can do it. I know how you are...always wanting to take the easy way out...blah blah blah. I'm trying really hard to stay focused, maintain a positive attitude because I know I'm doing what's right for me. I want my life back and I'm willing to do what it takes to get it...in spite of him and his nasty comments. I know that part of his negativity is coming from fear...fear that something will happen to me during surgery. I can understand that fear, I have some of that myself. I've never had surgery before except c-sections to have my kids. I've never been under general anesthesia before and that's kinda scary. I read the story of the woman who died two days post-op from blood clots. I get that this is a really big step. I also get that without it the chances of me having a heart attack or becoming practically cripple due to my back problems are very high. I think this is much safer than having to have open heart surgery. Whew...the title of this section is "Tell Your Story"...so I did just that. If you've gotten this far in my little book...thanks for reading my vent. I feel much better now! Now...onward to a better and healthier life! Screw him. lol

The picture isn't showing for me...

the dreaded red X!

ok this might be a silly question...but did your surgeon give you specific guidelines to follow pre-op and you just decided on your own you could handle it?

Maybe try sitting down to eat in a different spot than your normal place. Bring your food to the table or wherever and don't bring a drink. After you eat, get up and then get your drink or wait until however long you're supposed to wait after eating before putting your drink nearby you again and then resume your sipping.

Thank you all for your replies. I've taken to calling my husband Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. I wish I could explain to him why it's not as simple as "well if you'd just go on a diet and start exercising you could lose the weight". He doesn't understand and frankly I've given up trying to explain it to him.

Congrats! I can't wait to be on that side!

Good Luck and congratulations!

UGH I have a headache right now from hell. They did tell me I cannot have any anti-inflammatories..so no advil or anything like that, only Tylenol.

integrity of the site? What do you mean?

Hi everybody. I'm new here. I've been reading and absorbing as much information as possible. What do they differently during surgery if you have sleep apnea vs. if you don't? I'm pretty sure I have sleep apnea...I think I've probably had it for a couple of years now although I've never had a sleep study done..at least not yet. I'm sure my surgeon will require me to have one. I was just wondering what difference it makes to have the definitive proof.

What complications do you think there would be with a sleeve surgery that wouldn't be possible with a band surgery?

I think you should do it...I'm surprised you don't have any other health problems. You are VERY lucky but I have to say it's probably only a matter of time that your weight will start to affect your health. It started affecting mine a couple of years ago and that is what led me to this decision. But...having said that..only you can make the decision. I look at is investing in your health and your future. Perhaps you can look into a surgeon who doesn't charge as much? My surgery will cost me approximately $13,600.

How much weight do you have to lose? Do you have any health problems either related or unrelated? WHY did you choose to have surgery in the first place?

Tiff, does Biotin require a prescription or is it over the counter?

windsor...what is the fat and carb count in that shake?