nkeg

Congratulations! :thumbup: I hope my advice helped! You will be fine! The care is great! You’ll be ‘out’ then awake in post-op before you know what happened. :blink:Plan on spending a day at least in the hospital before going home. Drink plenty of liquids and walk the halls as soon as you can. When you get home leave the bandages on, but you might want to have some good skin lotion to rub over the areas for a few weeks. They’ll itch too, so if it’s medicated the better. Let any scabbing (there won’t be much) fall off on its own and don’t scratch! (If you've ever had a tattoo, you'll know how to care for it.):shades_smile: For the first week eatdrinks lots of: liquids, Water and sugar-free jello! Be sure to do the Vitamins as prescribed too. Light broths are great, later on hard-boiled eggs sliced are a great Protein snack. (I put them in a slicer, salt and pepper and Taco Bell hot sauce! It saves me.) :thumbup: There are protein powders that you can mix with coffee, milk, instant Breakfast drinks, oatmeal, etc. Oatmeal is a great friend first thing in the morning. :blush:Don’t get the regular Protein Drinks at the store as they only have 4-9g of Protien. Go to Rite-Aid in the diet section and look for the ‘protein drinks and shakes’. They’re usually in the ‘muscle building group. They have protein in the 25 – 65g range! There is flavored protein water made by Stacker 2 that is around 25g per bottle. Hard to drink a whole one at a time, but you can put it over ice or blend it. => Be careful… they make a regular ‘diet’ water that has no protein in it! (It looks exactly the same but it has a yellow tape measure as part of the design. You don’t want that one!):teeth_smile: A single order of Pinto Beans and cheese from either Taco Bell or Del Taco is perfect too. I had my surgery on Valentine’s day and have lost 30lbs! About 6 shrimp at night is a great dinner. Chew and eat slow. There's lots out there to eat if you just take the time to read the labels.:crying: I walk several times a day and feel great! Keep at it and keep posting! I’m even finding stuff I could wear last year that is too big now! -N :thumbup:

:thumbup:I just had my LapBand done by Dr. Felix as his first Patient on Valentine's Day! (No Joke!) He and his team rate an A++!!! They (and Clovis Community Hospital) took care of me the best ever! Here are a few things to get the insurance company to approve you... 1. Have your Physican state in a letter that you need the surgery because it is 'Life Threating'. (If you have Apnea, have him state that too.) You can write the letter and have him sign it for submittal to your insurance. 2. IF your BMI is 'over 40' then you should be considered as 'severely obese'. (That should go in the letter too.) 3. You will probably have to prove or go thru a Physican approved 'diet' for 3 to 6 months with daily intakes of calories, etc. (I did mine in Excel.) It also goes into submittal. You'll have to jump thru some hoops and spend some time buliding your case to the insurance company. When you finally have all your documentation then submit it to your insurance with a copy of your medical records for review. The review takes awhile. My best advice is to contact your insurance provider or local rep, sit down with them to see what 'their' qualifications are for approval. I listed mine by bullet point. Once you have that, then you can attack them one at a time. Once they are all done, the insurance has to approve. It's also good to have a good general doctor that your are going to and work with him. The winning edge is to be 'Proactive'!!! Take control and go thru the requirements. You can ask about their BMI qualifications too. I'm still bruised and shaved, but I feel great!!! Lost weight already! Do the Vits and pills, Protiens, etc. Let me know how you do or if you need more suggestions. Going thru the Prelim stuff w/ Dr. Felix's staff in Fresno will help. They have great materials. Good luck with everything! -Nick You can reach me at: nkeg@mindspring.com