coolcrystal

Wellll, I'm banded... how about everybody else???? I'll write my full story out tomorrow or wednesday when i have more energy but right now my tummy is swelled, mishapen, bloated and it hurts to really walk around, but i'm doing it. i've been belching a lot, maybe from the gasx i took to get rid of gas. i didn't think i would be able to burp or anything.

Dang, I wish I would have gotten into this conversation sooner... I'm getting banded in what, 9 hours and I'm totally freaked out right now.. UGGGG. And Gibson, I followed the South Beach diet to a T and lost like 9 pounds until Thursday.. I then broke down and had half a baby ruth candy bar!! No carbs, but PLENTY of sugars.. SO, I hope my liver isn't too messed up either. I'm hoping that ten days of no sugars or carbs and following the diet strictly was enough to shrink my liver up good. Good luck to everybody.. We should try to report back here tomorrow sometime if we have enough energy and share our stories.. C :thumbdown: NERVOUS

My surgery is in two days and I"m feeling pretty good about it. My pregnant and banded friend Dawn even sent me flowers with a wonderful message on it telling me good luck. All of my family and friends have been pretty supportive, so a few are scared I'm going to die (they keep thinking about the bypass horror stories) and so forth, but other than that, they have been great. I have been very impressed with this south beach diet my doc put me on. My husband wanted to do it with me and my sister got interested in it too and she has already lost 4 pounds in a few days and I've lost like 9 pounds since last saturday.. and my hubby has lost the same. I feel good.. and lighter and happier already. I'm ready to do this!

Good luck everybody!!! Also, I talked with Aetna for a while today and I remember somebody in the past mentioning them not covering the anestesiologist (sp) bill and that it was sent to them with fears they were stuck paying for the bill, but she said, "obviously you need to be put under to have this surgery so of course we pay for that too".. but she said the problem is that most lap band doctors don't share our insurance information with the anestesiologist doctor so they just send us the bill because they don't have a place to send it to. She said in that instance it's best to find out who will be putting you under and giving them your insurance information OR after you get the bill to call them and tell them to send the bill to Aetna.

When I met my hubby he was 165 and didn't snore. Then he gained weight and when he got to about 215 he started snoring BADDDDDDDD.. He got up to 255 and is now down to 238 (doing this south beach diet with me). I guess I'll find out if it will go away when he gets back down to the low 200's. But, I'm definitely thinking it's possible.

Thank you so much! no, Karl is not banded, but the group of friends I have are mostly obese people, so a lot of us have had WLS of some kind or are thinking about it. I keep telling people that this isn't like the bypass and that I would be happy with 4-5 pound a month weight loss. But, on me, it will be hard to really see a difference until I get down like 35 pounds or so.. I just hope nobody starts asking why it doesn't look to be working or something. Thanks Valvinnek!! I've been really happy on the South Beach diet and finding cool recipes. Last night I made the best spinach egg quiche my husband has ever tried apparently and there are so many other meals.. it's pretty amazing! That's so cool we have our banding dates to be the same. I'll have to look at your ticker to see what you are starting with.. (weight wise).

Yes it does work. My doctor put me on the phase one of south beach diet for my pre-op which is basically like the atkins diet.. no breads, pastas, low sugar, etc... I've been eating chicken, salads, green beans, string cheese, pistachios, stuff like that and I've lost 6 pounds since saturday. But, I use to eat A LOT of carbs and I mean A LOT.

Thanks Juli! Actually, I'm on day 4 of the South Beach diet and as of first thing this morning I've lost 5 pounds! It's actually not as hard as I thought it would be. And I feel wonderful! The first two days was very hard and I cheated and ate ONE grape, but so far, so good.. I've been eating grilled chicken, spring lettuce salads, green Beans, string cheese, sugar free Jello, pistachios, eggs, turkey bacon and more. It's pretty amazing! And I have so much energy... Everybody has always been pretty supportive on this forum and I'm very thankful for that. You all have helped me to believe in myself and told me I could do it, and so far I am.. since I have been doing good on this diet, I know I can do good on the lap band.. I just needed that extra push is all. Nicenurse - I beg you to rethink the bypass. Two dear friends of mine both had the bypass and one is back up to 350 and the other is about 230 and they both are stuck with 'dumping" issues for the rest of their life and still obese. Even the worse possible thing that could happen with the band is better than the stuff they are having to still deal with right now... the dumping is only a little of it... and if you are curious what dumping is, as my friend explained it to me last week, she said that even if she jsut has a little piece of cake, she has to run to the tiolet and has the runs really quick.. like the sugar just goes right through her..

Best of luck sweetie!!!

Nobody has posted in here for a while, but just wanted to say that my doc required phase 1 of the south beach diet to help prepare me for surgery and shrink my liver and I've already lost 5 pounds since Saturday. AND, I feel fricking fantastic. I was a HUGE breaditarian... I've only gone two days in my life without carbs and I was miserable, but this time, I was able to do it.. I've been eating: chicken, salads, green beans, string cheese, tuna, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, peanuts, pistachios and much more... it's been wonderful. I have more energy than I ever have.. I litterally reconstructed my closet and was on my feet all day yesterday from 7am till midnight and was fine.. I couldn't believe it. I hope my liver looks good next week when the doc goes in.... and I will continue with this diet. OH, not only that, my two skin conditions are oddly clearing up. I've always thought I had an allergic reaction to sugar cane sugar... and my face is clearing up and oddly my psoriasis is too...

Congrats for your approval!!! I think they are getting better at approving this stuff... It's weird though... they "re-review" your case every two weeks.. I forget what the letter states, but it says something like, "your case will be under review again on _______ date". Mine goes under review again the day after my surgery, so I'd get the soonest date you can now and already start cutting out carbs, sugars and fruits...

I'm curious, did any of the folks who received the realize band actually see it inflated and filled before it was put in you? was it triangle shaped? Somebody posted a cartoon video of it being installed, but not inflated.. I have a great doctor in Dallas that is with true results and he refuses to use the realize band.. he doesn't say why or diss the band in any way, but I got rather upset two weeks ago when I begged for a realize band and he said he'd be putting the newer AP band in me... after reading what redstar wrote, maybe I should just trust my doctor... Many are lashing at redstar, because obviously you don't want to believe any of what he is saying, especially if you have the realize band.. I wouldn't either.. But, it is your body and if the realize band works for you, that's awesome.. I'm just curious if it is a triangle or not.. they don't have it on their website.. have any of you seen it inflated? when i see my doctor they always have an AP band laying around for you to play with and inflate..

Cool, we have the same banding date! I'm struggling too, but my doc put me on the SB diet. I start tomorrow.. he wants us to do it 7-10 days before the surgery, which gives me 9 days. I'm already mourning the stuff I won't be able to have, but I'll be okay. I'll most likely eat a lot of eggs, grilled chicken and veggies.. and almonds.. Just cutting carbs out will do the same things as the liquid diet.

Yes! Even though I knew my insurance approved this surgery and that my employer supported it 100%, and my friends would say "oh, you'll get approved" I always stayed pessimistic.. and oddly, staying that way is what got me through it.. I just kept telling myself "never count your chickens till they hatch"... I wouldn't allow myself to believe I would get approved until the day I heard "you're approved" and even now.. 10 days away from surgery, I still think "I could get fired" or "insurance might change their mind".. and when I'm about to have surgery on the gurney, I'll probalby say "well, the doctor will go in and my liver won't be good enough and he'll shut me up and cancel the surgery"... Sometimes my negative attitude helps me to not get my hopes up..... I'm a paranoid creature... I can't help it. LOL. I never expect anything until it happens... But, one thing that got me through it was the fact that I did meet all the requirements.. and then some.. so I kept saying, "well, if I'm not approved, I'll just fight it". Good luck!! And remember, don't worry about things you can't change.

I thought that part was hilarious... I don't like Mark at all, I think he's a total jerk, but when he said that to her.. I died laughing, because she was getting all dramatic and shouting like, "he's about to fall.. he's about to fall" but he wasn't and he was like, "this isn't a soap opera calm down!".. HA HA. I bet everybody kisses her butt.. I cried when Trent left.. I mean, big time.. was bawling like a baby. I hope black wins!! it was so funny they won by one pound this week. LOL.

As my banding day approaches I wonder: 1. Will I lose hair or will I not lose hair 2. Will I be one of those that can still eat rice (aka sushi) or not 3. Will I PB and slime all the time, or not 4. Will I be succesful with this band, or get it removed in a year if it just doesn't work for me 5. Will I be one of those that can eat lettuce or one that can't 6. Will I have to cut chicken completely out of my diet like some do, or can I still eat my favorite meat 7. Will my scars keloid like some do, or heal up nicely 8. Will I have this huge panus hanging down to my knee caps, or will I be one of the lucky few who has elastic skin. 9. Will my port area get infected like some, or heal up nicely? 10. Will I be able to sleep on my tummy if I want to, or will the port drive me nuts. 11. Will I get worse acid reflux than I already have now? 12. Will I lose my boobs??? ugggg And the questions go on. All of these questions come to mind and it's so scary.... It's like we are playing black jack or some other weird dice game and nobody is guaranteed anything... and it's all just a big mystery until you are done and go through it.. I hate mystery's... I hate not knowing... Everybody is different and there is no telling until we actually go through with it.. The not knowing is steadily making me go crazy...

Valvinekk - No, I won't be staying overnight. My surgery is at 8am and then they are kicking me out. LOL. KJeter - I have some packs of the unjury that my dietician gave me to try. She also suggested Low Carb slimfast and I bought some cans of those and they have 20grams of Protein per shake and hardly any carbs.. So, I'll be drinking some of those. Also, I love the Isopure Clear you get at GNC. there is this apple melon that is SO yummy. It tastes like a jolly rancher! the whole bottle is 40g of protein and you split it for two meals.. Dancing Belly - I've seen it at Wal Mart, but my Flinstones Complete also has it in there Vitamins as well and my hair has grown about 4 inches or more since I started taking these about 2 months ago. And, my hair never grows... Vessa - my banded friend makes this really good meal with shredded chicken in FF cream of mushroom Soup and she mashes up a potatoe and poors it over the top.. She can only eat like half, but it's really yummy. I'm sure I'll get sick of tuna too. UGG. From what I hear about the hair loss, is, it doesn't start until after the 4th month.. if you can make it past that month without hairloss, your good. lol.

I'm curious, what exactly is gassitis and how did they find out about it???

Weird, I didn't get my psych evaluation back.. they just said that I was able to get the surgery.. i wonder if I should demand them to send me the results or something...

I'm so glad!! Did she at least apologize for what she did? is there an extra scar there from that first mix up? I'm glad you are doing okay sugar!!

Well, if you have to get insurance approval, depending on what their requirements are, it could be 3-6 months, but after I got my approval from them I was able to get a banding date for 26 days later and could have actually done it sooner, but was going to be out of town... My friend has United and they approved her really fast and for her it was all done in like 3 weeks... I do know that self-pay is a lot faster.

Not sure if this list will help or not, but here is the post diet that my doctor gave me: Days 1-2: Clear Liquids (at least 32-64 oz per day) sip, sip, sip, small amounts at a time. (e.g. broth, apple juice, tea, popsicles, propel, Isopure CLEAR, etc) Days 3-4: May add Protein Drinks (40-70 grams per day) - at least 1-2 per day in divided portions. Remember: only small amounts.. go slowly. Should take 30 minutes to drink 6 oz. When you feel full, stop. Begin chewable vitamins and Calcium. Days 5-6: May add V-9 juice, tomato juice, thin cream Soups and applesauce. Day 7: May add low fat yogurt and low fat pudding Days 8-9: May start full liquid diet. May add thinned out oatmeal, cream of wheat, baby food. Day 10: may add thinned out mashed potatoes, cottage cheese Days 11-12: continue low fat and sugar free full liquid diet, continue Protein supplements, may add bananas/strawberries - well chewed Days 13-14: slowly add soft boiled or scrambled eggs, baked potatoe and canned fruits "lite" variety From there you can start to eat more solid foods and figure out what you can and can't eat. He also said that some people reach day 13 diet on day 9 or 10, that everybody is different.

Any updates Beach Bum?? I'm sure this was very scary for you... :smile:

Woohoooo!!! gratz! I hope mine goes this smoothly.... :smile:

I"m not banded yet and I get this really bad about three times a year and it lasts 2-3 days. I found that Phazyme works better for me than gasx though. I soak in the tub to relieve the pain. The pain is so bad that you can barely walk... the first attack I ever had was about 6 years ago at work... I could barely drive and was balling my eyes out.. my mom told me it was a severe case of gas.... I had never felt that before.. But, I can always tell when it's coming on... good luck getting rid of it (if that's what it is).. :smile: