chilipepper

I am five months out and have been dealing with acute upper abdominal pain. I had to go to ER last week for the pain and I now have a diagnosis of gallstones. Sometime with gallstones, one of the stones can block the duct to the pancreas and it causes pancreatitis. Basically what the pancreas makes has no way to get out. Gallstones can also block the duct from the liver and cause jaundice and liver problems. So I would have your gallbladder checked with an ultrasound to make sure you don't have any gallstones. Now I wish my band dr had just taken out my gallbladder during the surgery because now I have to have another surgery. My poor stomach is going to have a lot of scars

Well yesterday I had my lapband surgery at 8:15am. Right after the surgery while I was in recovery I had quite a bit of pain. I was given Dilaudid and then a while later Lortab. I had pain mostly on my left side (my port is on my right). I went home at 11:30am. I had minimal pain until about 8pm. And then even with my walking I had lots of pain in my port area. Then at midnight the gas pain came on both shoulders! :cry I only have one heating pad so I had to alernate every half hour or so last night which caused me not to get much sleep. I just hope that the gas will go away quickly. Today I still have the bilateral shoulder and neck pain along with my port incision area. The shoulder pain feels like someone is stabbing me with a knife. I am taking my lortab and walking. The night time was the worst. The hiccups today are painful along with burping. I still feel like I have a sore throat from the intubation. Popsicles are a godsend. I got the sugar free fudge popsicles with only 40 calories each. So I sipped all day and only managed to drink 32 oz of Water, but I also had 8 oz of broth, and a Protein shake 11 oz which is mostly water. Thanks for all of your support. :ranger:

Here is my scar pic from today. I had surgery yesterday.

Well, tomorrow is my big day. I'm scheduled for 7:15am check in and 8:15am surgery which is good because then I can get home early and rest. DH took friday and saturday off work, so I'll be taking care of our son (2 yrs old) on sunday and monday I start school. I'm worried about the weighing in tomorrow because last week during my post op I had my TOM and was bloated and was back up to 260 on their scale but 256 on mine. So theirs adds 4-5 pounds. I'm down 12 on my scale, so about 7-8 down on their scale. Hopefully they won't turn me away. I wish my doc ordered magnesium citrate to cleanse the bowels before surgery, because that's a few pounds right there. Well I'll just keep praying.

Maybe try to put in on a toe with no nail polish and then try to put a sock on to keep it in place. Or just tape that pulse ox down really good onto a finger and put a sock on you hand. Make sure you have no nail polish on that finger/toe.

I just wanted to whine a little. :confused: Well I am doing my preop diet and my period decides to come right when I get the okay to start my preop diet again. Well I am the bottomless pit . I drink my shakes and within an hour I'm starving again. I'm usually this way with my TOM. So I'm trying very hard to stick to my diet but I had a salad and bread with dinner last night because I needed to fill the void. I'm just taking it hour by hour today, and am doing okay so far. Plus with my cramps I can't take any anti-inflammatories like advil or aleve. So all I am allowed to take is tylenol which does nothing for cramps. At least I will be done with cramps for my surgery. So, I'm a cranky, hungry, crampy, whiney woman right now. Thanks for letting me whine.

Well, I was originally scheduled to do my surgery on 9/10 but due to finances not being here on time, I had to reschedule for 9/19. So I am still a September Bandster, just doing it 9 days later. My doc told me to go off of my preop diet but to maintain my weight, and go back on it seven days prior to the surgery. He said if continued to do my preop like I was, then my liver wouldn't be in optimal condition. Hey, at least I can lay off the shakes for a little while. He also encouraged me to have my "last supper" eight days before the surgery. So off to Olive Garden I will go and have my parmesan chicken. Yum. When I went to the bank to get the money for the surgery, it was soooo nerve racking, sad, and exciting at the same time. Nerve racking :phanvan because never in my life have I had to get a cashiers check for that much money. Sad, :cry because for a few hours I actually had like 17,000 in the bank and in a matter of seconds, my balance was back down to triple digits. Excited because the money is for my life. :clap2:

Hi Darragha, I see that you're being banded on 9/19 at NWWLS. I'm being banded there and on the same day too! :whoo:I go in tomorrow for my preop at 10:30am, but I am going to go earlier to (gulp) give them my cashiers checks :faint:. I have Dr. Michaelson, he's great. Well good luck on your journey and maybe I'll see you on the 19th. I haven't gotten a time yet because they only give you the times 48 hours prior to surgery. Lisa :ranger:

Yeah, I was originally going to go with Dr. K but I couldn't get in until late October and with my being in school full time, I needed to get it done in sept or dec. I didn't want to wait that long, and put on more weight. I've been wanting this for years now and was ready in april of this year except for the financing. Being closer to home is nice too. When I tallied up my flight, hotel, and fills here locally, over time it would have added up to close to the same amount that I paid for. Plus, I really like this center. So, I am happy with my choice, I just wish lapband was covered by all insurances. It should be treated as an intervention for obesity. Well, insurances pay for chemo for cancer, and diabetes supplies and testing for diabetics, why not the lap band for the morbidly obese? Well, good luck on your surgery date. Let me know how your recovery goes.

I have my surgery scheduled for 9/10 and I'm doing the preop diet. Well has anyone had second thoughts about getting the band? I'm scared about the debt and the surgery not working. Sometimes I get to thinking that maybe I could still lose weight by other means, but I've been there done that and failed miserably. I feel like I have a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other one (like the cartoons) telling me "Do it, it will be worth it and you will be healthy" "No, don't do it. Do weight watchers because the band is too expensive". I've done so much research and I know in my heart of hearts that this is the tool that I need. I guess I'm just getting scared since the surgery is around the corner. Also, my husband needs the band too, but we can only have one of us do it right now. I feel selfish because he is on three blood pressure meds and I am only borderline diabetic but have a higher bmi. Am I being selfish for having it done first and not my husband. I never realized how much self-talk and guilt and nervousness was involved in having the band. :think

<p>Yup, my pre op diet consists of 4-5 EAS Advant Edge Carb Control Shakes (from walmart) with 17g of protein and a lean cuisine. Basically less than 800 calories per day. I'm on day three and soooo look forward to my lean cuisine every night. The shakes are only 110 calories, 3 g of fat, 4g carbs, and no sugar. I'm already tired of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, but I just drink them. Instead of taking it day by day, I'm taking in on shake by shake. As long as my liver shrinks that's the important thing. I'm glad I'm not limited to only two shakes a day because after about two hours I'm hungry again. I've been trying to drink water and crystal light in between to trick my tummy into thinking it's full. At the end of the day I put a little sticker star on my calendar because I've accomplished my 800 calories. Oh and my dreams aren't about the surgery, they're about my mom dying (how morbid is that, I love my Mom) and bad stuff like that. I guess dreaming about death is something coming to an end, a start to something new and fresh, rebirth, or a sense of worry will cease to exist. I had to look up the meanings because I was so upset about my dreams. Hopefully just about my anxiety over lapband.

Thank you Mary 2b150. We have the same goal weight. For my height my weight should be around 130. Um I would be skin and bones. So I am shooting for 150 which I was once as a teenager (17) and looked good at that weight, but arrived at that weight by starvation/anorexia.

Trying to test my new ticker.

Hi, I'm Lisa and I'm scheduled for 9/10 and I am soooo scared. I have been having weird and scary dreams. I guess it's my subconcious trying to work out my anxiety and fears. :phanvan

The cost for the lapband with nwwls in everett wa is 17000. This is the center that I want to go to. I've looked into Dr, K in Colorado and I've looked into Mexico. Yes, it's cheaper but all of the flying, hotel and not to mention paying for fills in addition to the surgery didn't appeal to me. Well, should I max out one credit card ($11,500) and then cash out a life insurance policy ($100,000 policy) that I have for cash value of a bit over $5000? Should I even cash out my life insurane or should I put the rest of the balance (from 11,500) on another credit card, and then try to do a balance transfer down the road. We don't qualify for financing because I'm in school and I don't work, so it would have to go through my DH's credit which isn't as good as mine (plus collections from 5-10 years ago). So what do you guys think? Can you tell I'm desperate for the lapband? :help:

Can anyone recommend a good but not too expensive hotel to stay at near Dr.Kirshenbaum's facilities? Did you all just take taxis everywhere or did you rent a car? My husband and I talked it over and we have decided to go with him. Initially I really wanted to go close to home here near Seattle but at 17K no matter how I looked at our finances we couldn't do it. I don't want to go to Mexico. I know many have gone but my gut doesn't feel right about going to Mexico. I'd rather stay in the states and Dr. K's price is great, plus from what I've read, he seems to be highly regarded. So more credit card debt it is for now. But it's for my health and I am borderline diabetic and don't want to get diabetes. So I'm calling tomorrow and hopefully I can get in soon. Wish me luck on my lapband journey. :confused:

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone has flown out of state to do their lapband surgery and gone alone to do the surgery? Do you have to have someone with you or can you do it alone? I was just curious.

I was wondering where in the US I can get the lapband for the lowest price. I know Dr. Kirshenbaum is one of them, but is there anyone else? I don't want to go to Mexico because it almost $1000 for a plane ticket and fills would add up doing here close to home $300 a pop. It's $17,000 where I live, but I can't afford it. I guess I'm going to have to try weight watchers once again. I'm pre-diabetic and don't want to get full blown diabetes. The longer I'm this heavy the closer I am to getting diabetes. I am desperate and getting the band is most likely at least two years away. I can't wait that long. DH and I both need it. We have tried everything under the sun...and well, you all know how the story goes with that. It works for a little while but the weight always comes back and then some. What irks me is that everyone says "Oh just eat right and exercise". Well if that were the case then I don't think that there would be an obesity epidemic. Sorry for the long post and my blubbering.

I am desperate to get the lapband. I am 260 lbs and 5'4" with a bmi of I think 45 with comorbidity factors. I have researched for a few years and this is what I know will help me in my battle of the bulge. I have tried everything out there to lose weight, and the weight always comes back or I don't even lose any weight. I am in school and my husband is the sole provider right now. We can't afford the band and our insurance has an exclusion. All we can afford is no more than $250 a month for payments and that's pushing it. My husband and I both want and need the band. How are we going to be able to get the band in order to get healthy? I'm tired of being fat and always being hungry no matter how much I eat. :cry

No, I can't do a home equity loan or refinance. We have an awesome interest rate and I don't want to take the chance of losing our house. We could only get financed for 10K even though the surgery is 17k each (me and my husband). I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.