CRTX

Hi, my name is Chris - I was just banded on Wed 1/23 by Dr. James Davidson in Dallas. I'm 44 and have been fighting my weight since college. it has been a slow upward spiral with lots of weight loss followed by even more weight gain. I finally decided to do something about it as I hit an all time high of 304 and a BMI of 40+. My insurance excludes bariatric surgery so I had to go the self-pay route, fortunately Dr. Davidson was running a $9500 special and I decided to go for it. I lost 18 pounds on the pre-op diet (but have my expectations set a lot lower for the next few weeks based on all the posts about stagnant weight during the post-surgery period). anyway, just wanted to say hello to everyone. I'm looking forward to the journey! Chris

Davidson was pretty agnostic about which procedure for me - definitely didn't push the bypass on me at all. after a discussion with me about my eating habits, he thought that the band was the way to go for me (I think he doesn't push the bypass unless you have more weight to lose).

had mine yesterday. today it feels like I tried to do 500 situps the main thing my doc told me was not to lift anything over 25 pounds for the first 4 weeks.

I'm going to try taking a claritin tonight for the first time. they are so small that I can't imagine it being a problem. Guess I'll find out soon.

I was told the same thing by my surgeon. Shrinking the liver is the goal of the pre-op diet. He told me that it depended on the BMI - with higher BMI's he will not do the surgery unless the prescribed weight loss goal has been met. With lower BMI's he still wants you to do the diet, but doesn't set a weight loss goal for you. makes sense if you think about it.

I started with a BMI of 40.2 (highest I've ever been). I definitely fit the scenario of "if you wait long enough, you'll get there". I was banded yesterday (1/23) and during the 2 week pre-op diet dropped 18 pounds to get to a BMI of 37.6 - I'd like to get to somewhere between a 26 and 27. I've taken the approach of telling only my wife and kids. I don't need anyone else to know because of the kinds of responses that everyone has written about. I guess my attitude is that I alone really know the struggles I've been through and I would rather not have to constanly explain, defend, etc my decision. It really isn't anyone else's business how I choose to deal with my obesity. My wife and kids have been very supportive and that is really all I need to get through this. Kind of funny but I'm not even telling my mother because she's the type who can't help but "share" good news with others. She once announced to everyone at a party that I had lost 35 pounds on a liquid diet! It was embarassing as hell!