colesd1

Hello, I have been looking out here waiting for a fellow Minnesotan to post something, but I guess I'll do it first to see if there is anyone out there. I know you are out there, just like me, wanting to connect with someone a little closer to home. I'll be banded on Oct. 8th at HCMC by Dr. Lederer and I am really getting excited and nervous all at the same time. I start my 2 week liquid diet next Monday and I am terrified. I know I can do it, at least that is what I keep telling myself. I am so ready to lose this extra baggage I have been carrying around for all these years. I am 5'11 and 316lbs with a bmi of around 44. I'm ready to be healthy and be able to fit in that darn airplane seat comfortably (I fly alot). Anyway, I hope someone is out there.

Welcome. I wish you the best of luck on your WLS journey. It can be a roller coaster ride, but I think you will find it well worth it. Good luck.

I was banded October 8th and so far I have lost 40lbs. I have had two fills so far. I currently have 7cc's in my 11 cc band. I am currently eating about a cup and a half of food. So I could be doing better if I really buckled down. I lost 7lbs between thanksgiving and Christmas, so I stayed away from the treats pretty much. My biggest thing is exercising. I really need to get my butt in gear. I know that if I start moving, I will drop weight even faster. I have my next fill valentines day, and maybe that is when i will hit my sweet spot. Right now I can eat most anything, but will get stuck on bread and meat sometimes. But I have not pb'd yet.

Congratulations!! I bet you know faster than that. My doctor's office told me it could take 2 weeks to know if I was approved, but I found out in 3 days. How exciting.

This week is thanksgiving and if you are anything like me, you are planning your thanksgiving eating plans now. What you will eat, what you are willing to pass up. There are things I gotta have and there are things that are not worth filling up my little belly. How am I gonna get through this holiday of feast, with determination. I am determined not to be that person laying on the floor or sofa writhing in pain because they are too full. We all know that feeling and that was a feeling I would not wish on my worst enemy. In the past, I would have my elastic waist pants ready so that I did not even have to bother with unbuttoning them. What a shame!! Why do we focus so much on the food for thanksgiving and for our family Christmas and Easter too? Shouldn't it be about the family you have not seen or talked to in awhile? Shouldn't it be about supporting each other and being there for one another? Spending time with each other and laughing and being happy. Where did all that go? For me, thanksgiving became a monster of how much I can put on my plate, how fast I could eat it and get up and get seconds. Just typing this I am shaking my head. This year, I am going to focus on my family, spend time with my daughter, and not worry about who is going to get the last helping of dressing out the turkey. Cuz back in the day, I would have cursed you out and maybe fought you over that. Q. How have your holidays changed since WLS?

So I start my two week liquid diet on Monday the 24th. I am so scared. It only took 3 days for my insurance to approve my surgery and that was back in August. I set my surgery date for Oct. 8 thinking that is so far away. Well guess what people, it’s almost here. I stay up at night just thinking about the liquid diet and what I'm going to eat and what I'm going to miss. I have been having that last supper syndrome, but not too bad. I have only been focusing on my favorite foods and not stuffing myself. Like I had to have a cheeseburger and fries from my favorite restaurant yesterday and I will have to get in McDonalds fries and a vanilla shake. I'll have to get in buffalo wings and some Mexican food of course cuz that is like my favorite. I need some cold stone ice cream and the list goes on. But all before Monday!! I have been practicing chewing for days and not drinking liquids with my meals. Do you know how hard that is? But I'm lucky; I have two of my favorite cousins doing the liquid diet with me. One has already had bypass but the other is doing it just to support me. That is so sweet. We'll see how long she lasts. Anyhow, thanks for listening.

Hi All, I am having band anxiety like so many other newly banded folks. My problem is that I do not have a scale at home. I want to get one, I really really do; but I'm scared to become a slave to the scale. I want to know if I am actually shedding the pounds, but I don't want to be continuously weighing myself either. I just think of the pressure that I will feel to lose weight and how I will react if I don't see any progress. But I feel like I don't go to the doctor enough so that I can be weighed; I would like to be weighed once a week or once every other week. I know this is so stupid to even be bringing up. Does or did anyone else feel this way and what have you done to overcome it?

I agree with everyone. My daughter is 11 and wants high heel boots. She says all her friends have them and I just say well I bet they are glad I'm not their mother. My daughter is very developed and already 5'7 in the 5th grade and people think she is 15 or 16. I refuse to let her look any older than she already does. It is hard to find clothes for her. But she is now playing sports and her clothes are more of an athletic type now. Thank goodness. But for those of you who know mothers who dress their girls in those clothes made for street walkers, there is a book you can buy them and give it to them for Christmas. It is ...Stop dressing your six-year-old like a skank by Celia Rivenbark and you can find it I'm sure at most bookstores, but I saw it at Barnes and Noble. Makes a great stocking stuffer for the mom who gives a crap or thinks that is cute.

I was banded on the 8th and I get my first fill on Nov 13th. I'm on soft foods now but do get hungry like clock work every 4 hours. So I may need a fill. Not sure if I already have some in my band because I can not eat nearly as much as I use too. Just have to work on better food slections on the weekends when I am out and about.

I was talking to one of my co-workers about this and she reminded me that we have a campus clinic in our building and she thought they would probably let me weigh myself every so often. I had forgot all about it, so I'm glad I brought it up to her. So I can now weigh myself but not have to worry about becoming that slave. Thanks to everyone who responded, I almost bought a scale.

I reasearched at the same time I started the process. I started looking into the surgery back in January and was approved in August. But I didn't have the surgery until October. I am so happy I did it, I really didn't want gastric, mostly because I was afraid, but like you, when i saw the band, I was all for it. I have not had a fill yet, I go in for that on the 13th, but I'm a little nervous. I'm scared i will have problems keeping food down, and I don't want that to happen.

Hey Goodtimes, yes, I have lost 29lbs and I feel great. I am almost 4 weeks out now and the pounds have been just falling off. I'm sure it will slow down soon so I am just happy about what I have done so far. How are you dong? I know a couple of people who had gastric bypass and they had Dr. Ikramuddin, they loved him. What did you think of him and Abbott?

My doctor was Howard Lederer at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. He was absolutly great.

congratulations Mikey, I hope everything goes well for you.

Once I got to my actual hospital room, I was told that I could only have ice chips to suck on or hard candy. That was all I needed to hear. I had a family member go get me lemon heads to suck on, they were the best lemon heads I think I ever ate. My nose was not dry, but my mouth was like I had tried to drink desert sand.

I was banded on 10/8 but I have no problem getting fluid down. But please keep hydrated. I have been eating lots of sugar free popsicles, they have been a god send. My gas pain is going away thank goodness for that.

Hi All, I was banded on 10-8 and everything went well. I did very well on my pre-liquid diet. The doc said my liver had sharank alot, so he was very happy about that. I still have a little gas, but it is not as bad as I thought it would be, but I was up and walking a few hours after my surgery. Well ok, I was walking back and forth to the bathroom. They were keeping me very well hydrated which made me have to pee every couple of hours. I even got up and did a couple of errands today. My port site is very sore, but once they took the staples out of the other places, I felt much better. My doc also told me that I do not have to wait 6 weeks for a fill like they originally said, I will have my first fill in 4 weeks. WOW. I'm not hungry too much, so I'm just eating my jello and drinking diluted juice (half juice, half water). Yum! I'm only taking my pain meds about every 6 hours or so. So I'm doing alot better than I thought I was gonna do. I must say, I'm happy I did it. Wish I would have done this sooner.

Good luck to all your early October bandsters. My thoughts and prayers are will all of you.

Everyone is so positive, and that's a wonderful thing. I need positive to get me through this. I know some people my think I'm weak for worrying about this or having a hard time with this, but food has been my whole life for so long, it's hard to just go cold turkey. My diet now consists of total liquids. I can have 3 liquid meals per day, which mine will be slim fast or a cream soup make with skim milk of course. Any other time of the day, whatever I eat has to be 10 calories or less per serving. I do suffer from migrains and hunger is one of my triggers, go figure. But my doc said if I start to get really hungry and feel one coming, I am allowed to eat a boneless, skinless chicken breast.

Megmarie21 - I'm sure your appointment with the psych doctor will go fine. Good luck to you as you start your journey.

Well, I'm glad to know that you are out there. I hope this goes smoothly. i have all the support from my family and friends and now you all. I'm glad to know that Dr. Lederer is a good choice. I do have a question. Everyone here says to walk, walk, walk after surgery. How soon did you start walking? I'm a big baby and do not like pain. But I did have a baby without any drugs, it could'nt be worse than that right?

Hey all, This is Dawn, don't forget me. I have not posted too many things so my name is not out there as much. But I will be banded on Oct. 8. I start my liquid diet next Monday. I am getting very anxious about the whole thing. But I'm glad I have you all to help me through this.

CandyE, My health insurance required documentation of a 2 year weight history in order to be approved. I'm not sure if your insurance will go by what weight you are when you walk into the doctors office or if they will look at your past weight history. But I think if you have other health issues due to the weight, they will take that into consideration. Good luck

I had two appointments to complete mine. The first, which I just did in the reception area, was just taking the test which was like 525 questions about you and your thoughts. Making sure you are not suicidal or depressed, that took me about 3 hours. Then I came back to actually meet with the doctor and that was about a 45 minute appointment. She just went over the results of my test and asked me about the surgery, why I am making the decision to have it, do I understand the risks and the changes I will have to make. It was pretty painless so don't worry about it.

Thank you so much for the post and the words of encouragement. I wish I could have the surgery tomorrow. I just want to get it over with. But I will continue to be positive and work at changing some of my bad habits before the surgery.