Totallytater

At 5'-6", losing 50 pounds took me from a 26W to a 20W.

ShelbieCallie, Yes Carolina Girls are the Best in the World!!! I hope everything clears up for your son. I will pray for him tonight. Judy, wishing your husband lots of expelled gas. I know how he feels. LA, I'm so glad your mom is going to help with the money. One less thing to worry about.

Good luck frenchvanilla!!

You need to turn things around for you. When you are feeling better about yourself, everything else will be better. Do it for yourself and your wife and kids. Don't let work kill you. 9 or 9-1/2 hours a day is enough and spend that extra time on yourself. My self pay was just under $10,000 with only one trip to Colorado. Good luck to you.

God bless you! Tonight will be very rough, but tomorrow will be much better. Good luck

Yep, I was feeling good 5 days out. Now at 1 week and 2 days, I am feeling good and eating mushy foods without problems.

There are many insurance companies that will pay for gastric bypass but won't pay for lap band. My insurance company will not pay for any WLS, so I had to self pay. Many people on this board pay for their own surgeries out of pocket. Mine was just under $10,000 and I flew to Colorado to have it done.

I lost 50 pounds before my surgery by reducing carbs and going to Curves. But I plateaued months ago and couldn't lose anymore. I knew if I didn't make some other change I would start gaining the weight back and I was still so far from my goal as it was. So I decided to go for the Lap-Band. I think it will be the tool I need to help me along my way. I can handle the dieting, because I have done it since Jan 1, 2007, but I just needed something more. You may want to consider Curves to help you with the exercise portion. From the time you walk in the door till the time you walk out, it takes 35 minutes including stretching. You only have to go 3 times per week but you can go more. It worked really well for me and it is lightning fast.

I was banded on 12/11 so we are at about the same point. We need to get ready to fight the War and not just the battle. We can't obsess on the movements of the scale everyday. Let's try to eat healthy, like slim people, and get this weight off.

I am newly banded too so I can't share my favorite part yet (except that it doesn't hurt anymore). But I wanted to speak about the negative posts on here. These are legitimate people with serious problems that are posting about slippage, erosions, etc. But you have to understand that these complications have very low percentages of occurrences. But when people have problems, they are scared and they want to post a lot about it to get some support (and I will do the same thing if it ever happens to me I guess). There are tons of people that are having no problems and never ever visit this site. They are thin and out having a good time. They don't need our support anymore. They are out there living the good life. Hopefully we will be joining them soon.

Since I was banded a 1 week and 2 days ago I have been FREEZING!!! I do think it is because of the reduced calories. It is certainly something.

You will be fine in a surgical center. You are there just a few hours then you go home or to a hotel. I must say that I hurt like hell that night but it was because of gas, not surgical pain. I think I was better off suffering in a hotel room than in a hospital. The main thing you need is a recliner, and luckily my hotel had one. I slept if a recliner for several nights, then for 1/2 night for several nights and on the 7th night I could sleep in the bed. Yeah!

I think you will be fine going back on Monday, assuming you do mostly office work. My surgery was on Tuesday and I could've gone back on Saturday, had it been a workday.

Mine was in a surgery center. I was in and out in just a few hours. I was self pay and it was much cheaper this way.

Unjury has a yucky smell and aftertaste. It makes me want to throw up just smelling it and I certainly cannot drink it. If you are sensitive to food smells, Unjury is not for you.

Tied, Thanks for asking I'm feeling much better now. Mona, Glad to see you are feeling better too. Didn't it hurt more than you thought it would? Viri, Congrats on your decision. One great thing about going to CO is the great sightseeing you can do in the days before your surgery. I had a super time for a couple of days in the Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs/Pikes Peak area.

L.A. Hi. I can't answer you're questions very well since I was just banded but I will try. 1) What if I have an emergency? If it is a true medical emergency you will need to go to your local hospital. If it is an urgent situation I'm sure Dr. K would see you in Denver the next day. That is probably faster than you could even get in with another doctor. 2) Do you regret your decision to travel to your surgeon? If yes, why? No, I don't regret it yet, but I might later. I must admit that the night after surgery I was regretting it because I was not sure I could make it onto the plane the next day. But I did make it and I'm feeling pretty good now. 3) Were you able to line up aftercare in your hometown? OR Do you still travel to CO every time you need a fill? Right now I plan to travel to CO for about the first year or so. I joined the frequent flyer club of a discount airline and got their credit card. I charged the surgery onto the credit card and earned enough credits for a round trip flight just like that. I'm going to charge as much stuff as I can (including my property taxes if they allow it) to earn more miles. You might want to go to Fill Centers USA - Weight Loss Surgery - Bariatric Surgery - Gastric Bypass Surgery - Lap Band Surgery Information and Support to see if they're in your area. That is a reasonable fill option that will take other doctor's patients. I plan to use them when I stop going to CO. 4) How often have you had to travel back to CO since your surgery? I'm just one week out now. 5) Is there anything you wish you knew before the surgery that no one told you? I wish I had a better concept of how much pain I was going to be in so I could've delayed my flight back by a day.

Anyone heard from Mona? How's she doing?

Good news. Lane Bryant sells some cute costume jewelry and accessories. Just use the card to "splurge" on some accessory items you wouldn't normally buy for yourself

I have wondered many times the same thing. I have asked why the lord doesn't give us pets with a long life-span. My mother says it is because the lord doesn't want our pets to outlive us because they won't understand and there will be no one to care for them after you're gone. Maybe she's right. I have lost two of my very old doggie companions in the last 2 years, so I can feel your pain. I'm very sorry for you.

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Hey Kate. I'm in almost the same boat as you. I had my surgery on 12/11 also (self pay). I weighed 255 before preop diet and was down to 252 by the time I had surgery and am at 250 today. We're on our way now!

Thanks for the suggestions. I bought several containers of Unjury and I cannot stomach it. It has a gross smell and a taste that makes me want to throw it back up. I had to throw the opened cartons out. Anyway, I will try some of these other selections. The Carnation website lists the RTD Creamy Milk Chocolate as having 12g of protein with 150 calories. That is not too bad at all. I have tried the Slim Fast Low Carb and it is okay and the numbers are good on it too.

L.A., My advice to you would be to delay your trip back home until 2 days after surgery. My surgery was on Tuesday and I flew out on Wednesday. But I could've used another day in Aurora before flying out. But I survived the trip back because I was totally looped up on pain killers. Otherwise, I couldn't have done it that day.

Just wanted to let everyone know what almost happened to me. My doctor told me to do a low carb diet for 10 days prior to the surgery. My definition of low carb and his definition of low carb happened to be very different. I flew into to Denver to see him the day before my surgery. He asked me "did you have any bread, pasta, rice, etc in the last 10 days". I said yes, because I had eaten some of those things, but not much. I thought I was doing an overall, low carbohydrate diet. That is how I lost the 50 lbs before surgery, so I thought I knew what I was doing. Anyway, he really meant NO BREAD, NO PASTA, NO RICE, not just a reduced amount. Anyway, he suggested that I go back home and diet for 2 weeks and come back. But I didn't want to come back again for the surgery. I thought it would be alright so I went forward. He said if he got in there and the liver was too fatty, he would stop the surgery. I didn't want that because I was self-pay and would have to pay for thingd all over again. Luckily, since I had been dieting for 11 months, my liver was fine. But it might have turned out so much worse. So just heed your doctor's advice on the diet. DON'T CHEAT! DON'T CHEAT!