sleepyjean

What is your time frame? I'm going to be banded by Dr. Khalili at Cedars-Sinai, but I'm still working my way through all the appointments I have to go through. I'm hoping for a date in the next 30 days or so. If you're going to be banded after me, I can let you know how it goes at Cedars.

I know I'm being incredibly judgemental about this, but WHY are you with that guy? I'm not saying that he has to believe the surgery is a great thing, but it sounds like he puts you down about your weight and your attempts to do something about it. If he's going to be in your life, you're going to need his support and it doesn't sound like he's giving it. The fact that you are thinking about doing LB without telling your fiance is a huge red flag. For one thing, he'll find out sooner or later and will his reaction be any better then? And for another, you deserve someone who is going to go to the hospital with you and hold your hand and tell you everything's going to be ok, not someone who is going to be negative and make you feel worse. A lot of people experience depression for a little while after getting banded, the last thing you need is someone close to you making you feel bad. I'm sure you're already hard enough on yourself. I know I'm making a big leap and you should ignore me if I'm completely off track. Maybe he'll change his mind afterward. Maybe he just jokes around that you complain too much, and he's just teasing. It doesn't seem that way from your message though. I can't help thinking that this is the one person who is supposed to love you best in the whole entire world. You shouldn't have to hide *anything* from him (except for birthday and xmas gifts!). WLS can make a make a good relationship stronger. It can also make a troubled relationship worse. In either case, I hope you have the surgery before you marry that guy. This is a major, life-changing event for you. Best to find out how he's going to handle that before you make a lifelong committment. Sorry, I didn't mean to lecture. It's just that I've known quite a few people who married the wrong person and paid for it later. (In most cases after they've had kids together.) Could be I'm projecting all that on you.

I'm curious to know what other people are doing. How often do you weigh yourself? Do you measure yourself? Do you go by the fit of your clothes? In the past, when I've lost weight, I've weighed myself on a weekly basis. I think when I get banded, I'm going to try to check my progress no more often than once a month - I'll weigh myself, take my measurements, and take a progress photo once a month. I'm hopeful it will help keep me from obessessing. All you bandsters, how are you keeping track?

I think it's all about perspective. We think that lady shouldn't complain about being a size ten. But somewhere out there, someone is reading this message board and saying we shouldn't complain about being a size 20 or 24 - because at least we can still buy clothes at Lane Bryant and don't have to special order, right? I believe that we are all fighting the same demons, whether we have 100 pounds to lose or 300 pounds to lose. And I think for someone who has been skinny her whole life, gaining 20 pounds must seem like the end of the world because that 20 pounds really makes a difference. That's a couple of sizes. Me? I gain 20 pounds, I'm still wearing the same clothes. Best not to compare. There is always someone who is better off than you are and someone who is worse off.

I'm not planning to tell anyone either. I can easily take a week off and no one will be the wiser. The problem is, all these pre-op evaluations mean lots of time off work. I saw my PCP yesterday. Now I have six more appointments to go through before the actual surgery: nutritionist, social worker, x-ray, ultrasound, pre-op physical, and meeting with the surgeon. I'm tempted to tell my boss what I'm up to so she won't think I'm sneaking off to job interviews or something, but I was really hoping to keep this to myself. How did you guys handle it?

Ana, did you plan to do it that way? If I can avoid it, I'd prefer not to take an entire week off. I don't know if I'm clueless, naive, or just plain vain, but I don't want people putting two and two together and figuring out I had surgery during that week off I took for "vacation"

I just bought Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding, which is really good. The author is a doctor and also a bandster. I highly recommend it! I also have Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies, which is interesting, and good if you're just starting to research WLS. It has a lot about GB as well as banding.

For some reason, I was thinking it was an older technology. I must've been thinking of something else.. Hm....

Wooohoooooo!!!!!!

I've heard this is for GBs as well - because their intestines are involved. Seems like it wouldn't hurt for bandsters though, since I hear some folks have a problem with constipation directly after the surgery. If you clean the works out beforehand, maybe you could avoid that.

I think there's a reason why most insurers don't cover the balloon anymore. Does your husband have some inside knowledge, or is he just thinking the balloon would be less invasive/harmful to you?

I'm not banded, but it seems like whether or not you're losing weight would be the best indication

I have to see a social worker for an eval in two weeks. Is there a point to this, or should I just accept that it's an hour of my life I'll never have back?

Is that stuff any better these days? I remember drinking it years and years ago and it never mixed in properly and was kind of lumpy and gunky

Well, it's not the ideal situation, but then again, how many of us have the ideal situation? I guess my advice would depend on a few things: 1. how are the other three banded patients doing? Would it be possible for you to speak with any of them? 2. Are you going to be in Saudi Arabia for a while, or are you there for a certain period of time? (I can't tell if you're a local or a military kid, or what your situation is) 3. How healthy/unhealthy are you? Do you have comorbidities? In other words, how risky is this surgery for you? 4. Are you absolutely positive that BOTH surgeons will be in the room during the procedure? You are perfectly within your rights to ask that, and to ask specifically for one of them to take the lead. 5. I'm not familiar with the laws in SA - what is your recourse if there are complications? Especially since he's "learning" on you. This is a toughie. On the one hand, it's a really big thing that you know the guy and feel comfortable with him. But on the other hand, he doesn't have a lot of experience and doesn't seem to know a lot (or be very interested in) the aftercare aspect. I guess my one piece of advice would be not to let your familiarity with the guy be reason not to do your due diligence as far as research. He may be the nicest guy on the planet, but that doesn't make him a good bariatric surgeon.

I don't know the context but that doesn't seem rude or offensive to me at all. Nobody loves unsolicited advice, but she's very polite and doesn't say anything mean or insulting. It seems like she's heard some bad things and is concerned, not like she's trying to frighten you out of some malicious intent. If somebody heard something negative about my surgeon, I wouldn't mind if they told me. In fact, I'd appreciate it, so I can ask the surgeon about it! I'd want to look into the issue and decide for myself if it's a concern for me. I like to think we have each other's back around here.

Wow, you are all a lot nicer (or at least less cynical) than I am. In my opinion, you have apologized 50 ways from Sunday, when you have nothing to apologize for and that has gained you nothing. I don't have children or in-laws, so I can't say that I've been there. That's reason enough to ignore what I'm about to say. But I want to pass along a piece of advice my mother gave me me 20 years ago: Don't let anyone treat you like crap, even if they are family. I am a bit surprised at all the comments about "depriving" your children of a grandmother. The fact that she's not seeing your children is HER choice, not yours. Forget whatever it is you believe she's saying or thinking about you and look at her actions. To be brutally honest, her actions tell me that hanging on to that grudge is more important to her than you or your husband, or your grandchildren. Maybe one day she will get over it and you two will mend fences and be closerthanthis. Hopefully, you will. But this is the way things are right now. You can't change her, so you have to decide how you will react in the future. Will you apologize and apologize and apologize, or will you say (very politely) "Thank you for sharing your concerns. I'm sorry you feel that way, but (insert husband's name) and I are making the best decisions for our family so hopefully you won't continue to upset yourself in the future." And then LEAVE the room? Which is the better example to set for your children? I know you don't want to rock the boat, but the truth is, she's already rocking it. She's treating you this way because you and your husband allow it. And it will continue. As you lose weight and grow more confident, she's going to like it less and less - and she's going to make sure you know it. I hope I don't seem overly harsh, I don't mean to sound that way. But you don't deserve the way she's treating you.

The doctor's office told me I have to have an "upper GI" and an abdominal ultrasound as part of my evaluation. I watch tv, so I have a vague idea of what these things are, but I've never been in a hospital or had anything like this done to me so I wanted to know more. I found these two pages that do a good job of explaining both procedures - how to prepare, what you be asked to do, what will it feel like, etc. I don't know how I'm supposed to get through the ultrasound. I'm wicked ticklish. Upper GI http://www.radiologyinfo.org/content/upper_gi.htm Ultrasound http://www.radiologyinfo.org/content/ultrasound-abdomen.htm Anyone know of any other routine-type tests people have had for the pre-band eval?

[hypocrisy] I guess the point I'm trying to make is yeah, you can lose the weight and you do have a better chance of keeping it off if you're banded, but the fact is, it's just not a healthy diet. [/hypocrisy] *eats a handful of M&Ms*

I thought the same thing when I saw the subject of this thread. This seems to me like a fad diet. It's something you do for a short time to get some weight off quick. It's not something you can maintain. And I don't know about you guys, but that's how I got into this boat in the first place. Diet after diet, each time thinking "ok, THIS one is going to work." I don't see how this cereal thing is any different from the Slim Fast "two shakes a day and a sensible dinner" plan. I find it interesting that the magazine is so careful to point out that those people lost weight without surgery (read: "the easy way") but sees nothing wrong with praising people who went with some ill-advised, unbalanced diet instead. Just my $0.02.

WOW! good luck

Did your insurance also pay for the other tests and office visits? I have to see my PCP and get a referral for an upper GI and endoscopy (I think that's what it was), and I have to meet with a dietician and a social worker before I can get in the door to talk to the surgeon. Are those things usually covered? LBS is clearly medically necessary, but I don't know if those other office visits are.

It's always interesting to me when I hear this. I've been called secretive in my life because I'm not an open book. One of my coworkers is the exact opposite. She'll tell anything to anybody. I'm talking chapter and verse. In the last twelve months, she's messed up her ankle, fell off a chair and aggravated an old knee injury, threw her back out, had to get braces because she was grinding her teeth, and also gets migraines on a regular basis and has to inject herself with medicine. Every time something happens to her, she tells the story in detail over and over and I wonder why she feels like she has to broadcast it. I'll be flat out honest, I don't care about her health issues. I really don't. And I would never ask her or anyone else to tell me the details of their medical issues. But I guess that just means there are two kinds of people in the world, right? Anyway, back to star jones...I saw her on Larry King last night. I knew she'd lost weight, but I thought she was still heavy. I didn't realize just how much she'd lost! She says she's a size 10 now. I'm not sure if I believe that, but she looks totally different. She won't say how she lost weight because she doesn't want people to follow her example. So what can we conclude other than A) she had WLS or :confused: did something really dangerous to herself? Her interview on the show saddened me. I was never a BBW, never large and in charge, cruvy and sassy. I know that I will never be happy so long as I am obese. But I liked to think that there were some women out there who are fine with themselves the way they are. She said she was one of those, but she was lying.

I've never heard of vitamin water used as a replacement for a daily multivitamin.

I haven't been banded yet but I planned all along to tell no one other than my one friend who lives 3000 miles away. But now I realize I'm going to have to wear one of those medical ID bracelets and I'm not going to be able to explain that away...