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So very glad to hear it all went so well. Post updates when you can! Take care!!

WOW! What great advice. I'm going to have to try that. I'm like you and LOVE food. I have problems with portion sizes (eating too much) and that's a great idea. I'm definitely going to have to try that. Thanks for posting! The shake sounds great! Question on the Protein. Is it something you can add to Soups or whatever or is it one you have to add to milk and drink as a shake? I'm looking for one that I can add to anything to get extra protein. Thanks. Baby spoon and fork are great ideas too. Someone once said that chopsticks will slow you down as well. I can use chopsticks pretty well so don't know if that would help me or not but could be helpful to someone.

Husbands can be so insensitive sometimes! You need to tell him. Unfortunately DH wouldn't laugh but would ask me if I wanted the ambulance with me just in case! Or he could follow me in the engine! (He's a fire captain.) And he is right, right now, no way could I do that! BUT you have a goal, it's attainable and you are now REALLY motivated (not that you weren't before but more so now!). Chalk it up to the fact that he opened his mouth and Stupid came out and then make him eat his words in November! Of course, now that you shared, you have to keep us up to date on how it's going and let us know what happens at the 5k in November!! :thumbup: Take care and definitely talk to him once you've calmed down a little.

Welcome!! Not really close to you but wanted to say HI! This is a great site. Even if you don't find anyone close by there is tons of support on here. I'm not banded yet but hope to have an August surgery date. Take care!!

That's wonderful! See, that's the kind of thing I'm hoping for with my band. I was telling DH yesterday that I'm so afraid of failing yet again. And this is so major to be having surgery. He said he was going to bug me and I couldn't get mad at him. I said okay. He also said, "you don't want to end up like Bill do you?" Answer, NO!!! Bill is my sister's husband and he had bypass and gained all of his weight back. My mom and sister did great with the bypass but he expected the surgery to do all the work, he didn't change his attitude about food or what he eats. I don't want to be like that. Thanks for sharing your story. It helps. A lot.

SG, they're doing it down here in Fresno! I was shocked when they called me. They wanted to do it the 28th but I couldn't manage it that fast. It's good that I couldn't schedule it b/c I now have bronchitis and would have had to cancel it! I don't have a date yet b/c she didn't have the August schedule when I talked to her last Thursday. They were just trying to fill up the surgery times for the 28th and 29th. She said she'd call me when she got the August schedule but I'll call her every couple of day to see. I don't want to get passed over accidentally! I think you'll like Peggy. She's our instructor. So, let's see... you'll have seminar tonight, then 2 weeks of Wed nights to catch up with the class then the following Thurs, you'll start class! That'll be the night that my seminar group graduates from class! I'll definitely let everyone know when I get a surgery date! There will be parts that go really fast and other times like nothing is happening except class. It's going to make you crazy if you let it. Just be patient and keep in contact with everyone. Take care!

I don't like the "mine is better than yours" attitude either. My mom and sis both had RNY and they're doing great! I also know a couple of people who have failed on RNY. I chose the band b/c I didn't feel RNY was right for me. My mom is very supportive and backs me 100% (sis doesn't know yet). She felt the band wasn't right for her and was more comfortable with RNY. I say to each his/her own. You need to do the research and decide what's best for you. My mom has said that she would never tell someone they should have RNY. She would answer their questions as to her experience but that would be it. I think that's a good attitude.

I'm wishing that I'd seen this post about 30 minutes ago. It might have prevented me from going to the kitchen... again! I found out Thursday that my surgery could be as early as next month when I thought it wasn't going to be til this winter sometime. Sooo, I just realized tonight, after I'd finished my snack, that I was doing exactly what I didn't want to do. Meaning I think I'm hungry, (not really) and I'm eating everything I can get my hands on. I just told DH yesterday that I don't want to do the last meal syndrome or say forget and end up gaining weight. I want to keep losing up til surgery. Ain't gonna happen at this rate. The surgeon was fine knowing I'd only lost a little more than 5% (class requires 10%). I don't want to go in there having gained any weight. I've got to knuckle down and get serious and pay attention to what the heck I'm doing!! Thanks for posting this and for all of the responses. I KNOW it's not last meal or f' it time but I've got to keep that in my head. I'm so much closer to my goal now that I thought I would be, I don't want to sabotage myself.. again.

I'm in denial. I'm not a scale addict. :biggrin2: I do weigh almost every AM I have to walk right by it after leaving the toilet so I jump on and see what it says. I also will jump on periodically through-out the day if I think about it. Not too often I do that though. I will sometimes weigh before bed too. Thursdays seem to be the bad day as far as jumping on the scale every time I visit the BR. I have my class that night (Insurance) and we WI before class so I'm constantly playing with the scale that day to gauge how I might do for my "official" weekly WI. That's the only one that counts right now. The class ends the middle of next month and I might be having surgery that month too so I don't see an end to the obsession just yet! I don't get too wound up in what it says though since the scale is going to vary greatly throughout the day. The only time it matters is really Thursday evening for class and the AM when I'm done with the class.

She's a saboteur. She doesn't know what to do unless people are eating. And she doesn't understand or can't see that your walking every day is a good thing for you. If it's possible, it's time to go home, your home. You've been there, I'm assuming, since surgery. It's been almost a month. Time to go. Good for you for sticking up for yourself. That's so hard to do with parents. At least for most people. I'm glad you said something. She THINKS you're miserable b/c you aren't (can't, in her eyes) eat(ing) the way she thinks you should. Unfortunately, I don't think she's going to change. She's going to attribute your outburst to the fact that you had surgery and are grumpy b/c you can't eat what she cooks for you. Congratulations on having a plan for yourself and doing what you need to do for yourself. Take care and best wishes.

So today DH and I decide to head to Fresno (nearest big city, 1hr away) to run a couple of errands. He wants to go to costco. We don't have a list or really need anything but I like Costco, so we go. He bought me an iPod Touch for my b-day next week! I've been wanting one but haven't wanted to spend the money! I'll be 40 next Saturday (26th) and he wanted to do this for me! So it's been a good end of the week. First finding out that I get to have surgery about 4-6 months sooner than I thought and then to get this great b-day present from my DH! AND those are on top of DH coming home after being on duty for the last month (he's a fireman)! Anyway, just wanted to share!

I picked this book up today at Barnes and Noble. Looking forward to reading it.

Interesting development for me today. Some of you know that I'm going through Kaiser and that the nearest hospital to me is finally getting lapband. They told me, not even a month ago, that they hoped to be up and running by the end of the year. I had it in my head that sometime this winter, I would be banded. The new surgeon is also doing laporiscopic (sp?) bypass and started that last month. Okay, so this AM I get a message from the surgery department to call them back ASAP. Call them to find out that the new surgeon read through my file. Likes what he sees, thinks I'd be a great candidate for LB and wants me in to surgery on JULY 28TH OR 29TH!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!! Well, guess what? I can't do it that week. DH just got home today after more than 3 weeks gone. He's on vacation and goes back to work on the 28th. He's a fireman and things in the state right now are bad and he can't take anymore time off. Days off have been canceled and if he didn't have vacation, he still wouldn't be home. We have a 2 year old and I have no family near-by to help and our friends can't take time off that fast. My mom can come down and but not in a week! Soooo they are going to call me as soon as they get the schedule for August. I'll call them at the beginning and end of each week til they get the schedule and put me on it! So at this point, I'm all of a sudden at surgery time, sort of. Looks like I'm going to have it about 4-6 months sooner than I expected but I don't have a date yet! I got off the phone and started crying. Partly for the missed opportunity of being able to have surgery 2 days after I turn 40 but mostly b/c all of sudden it's a reality! I knew I was approved but now it seems so real. I'm excited and scared to pieces all at the same time! I haven't lost my 10% but the surgeon was happy with the 5+% that I've lost so far and I'll continue to work on that to get closer to the 10%. I also have some letters and lists to write in case something happens. Anyway, this all happened this AM and I've been running around all day for other stuff so this is the first chance I've had to share. I will post when I have a surgery date. Looks like it'll be a Monday and sometime in August. Well, that's it for now.

Near Yosemite here. Not banded yet but close.

WooHoo! Wonderful news!!

OH that sounds good! Thanks for sharing!

I sooo admire you military families and totally don't equate what I go through to what y'all deal with. I look up to all of you! It would be hard to do this for 6 months, or years on end. We only have to deal with this during the summer. Eventually it'll rain and he'll get to come home. Or he'll have scheduled a vacation and get to be home for a week before heading back out. It definitely gets hard day in and day out. You get mired in the day to day and it's hard to see the end of it. She's really starting to talk now. She's always been vocal and had her own language but now she's really starting to use our english!! I'm having to try to remember to tell him what words she's saying now. Some of them are pretty hard to understand! If she'll say them, I have her repeat them to him directly so he can hear what it sounds like. She uses her own sign language too so sometimes it's a partial word and a sign to get her request or meaning across. He comes home Thursday and I leave a few hours later for a doctor's appt and class that night so he's on his own right away! I can't wait! Well, I don't really want to go to the GYN b/c he's going to hurt me (I need some tests done) and I'll miss DD and DH while I'm gone, esp since DH would've just gotten home but you get the idea! Anyway. God's Blessings to all of you!

Get him in to see his PCP. Write down everything you can think of that has changed, personality, eating habits (besides surgery), sleep, moods, anything you can think of, including the list you just gave us. It sounds like he might be depressed. My DH went through this after some really horrible stuff happened to us and he saw a psych and got some meds and he's doing great now. Off the meds and hasn't seen the psych in awhile. After a major thing like this with all the emotion, changes, head stuff BEFORE and AFTER surgery, can send people into a depression. Wouldn't hurt to get him checked out. It could be physical too but sounds more like the other just based on my experience. Nothing to be ashamed of that's for sure. It'd be a shame if he didn't get help, if that's the problem. If anything, it clues in his PCP as to something going on with him. Oh, and GO WITH HIM AND SPEAK UP! He'll blow it off and not tell him everything. If it was nothing but a sleep issue (which could cause all the rest) then I'd recommend Melatonin. It's a natural substance that helps with sleep. Start with one and see how that does. Doesn't make you groggy the next day like some of the other stuff. Works great. You have to take it early enough in the evening though for it to kick in and give you enough sleep. Best wishes to the 2 of you.

Hey SNT! How's the trip? Flight go okay? You need to just keep ignoring him. You said yourself he's a dingbat. Besides with all this back and forth on his end, you don't want to get involved with a co-worker. Not usually a good idea. Just keep reminding yourself your better than all if his drama. Hang in there! Talk to you later!

Are you north of Sac then? Must be close to Paradise if you're seeing lots of engines. You don't have to be specific. Looks like they're finally getting a handle on the Big Sur fire. Things have gotten quiet with that one. Our area is sending out another strike team today. I think they're headed up to Concow. Not sure though, Dh didn't know, or at least hadn't heard yet where they were headed. Insurance can be a pain in the butt. Nice when you need it though. We've gone lots of times with no insurance. Now that we have a DD it's nice to not have to worry about it. I love this site. I'm addicted. It's pitiful but I've learned so much from being here. It's helped a lot in my journey. Later!

Welcome! I'm a couple hours north of you. Not close enough to hang with. Congrats on starting your journey! Best wishes!

Welcome! It's been pretty bad hasn't it? The smoke, I mean! What insurance were you going to go through? I don't think it's a problem going out of country for surgery as long as you do your research. There are some really good threads on how to pick surgeons in Mexico and what to look for. Just do a search to find them. Best wishes on your journey!!

Hi! I'm going through the Kaiser-Fresno program. They'll be starting their surgeries for lap band sometime this winter (they're hoping before the end of the year). I decided to stay with Fresno b/c of the travel issues. The bay area is 3+ hours away and I have a 2 year old DD and firefighter DH so childcare is an issue for us. And this time of year, we never know if he's coming home or not (the last 3 weeks it's been NOT!). I've been hearing wait times for surgeries of 6-8 months once you get hooked up with the facility (bay area) so I figured I'd just wait for Fresno to get up and running. It's exciting and nerve-wracking, isn't it?

Oh Hootie! That's wonderful news!! Praise GOD!! Thanks for the updates!

I know that Fresno does theirs once a month. So I would think Richmond is the same. I'm not sure though. Best bet would be to call Richmond's bariatric dept and find out for sure. Best wishes!