GreenChrysalis

Hi everyone, just wanted to drop a quick note and say that I was banded on Thursday with no problems. I'm doing pretty well, even. :cheers2:

Banded on Thursday and doing well so far! Congrats to all!

Hi everybody! I've been home from Colorado since late Friday evening, but this is the first time I've really felt like sitting at the computer. I had a great experience in Colorado. We landed Wednesday morning and picked up our rental car. Then we drove around a bit and finally stopped at the Red Robin near Dr. K's office for lunch. Then I had my pre-op appointment with Dr. K and his student, Doug. I found out that Doug is from my area so we talked a lot about that. I didn't have many questions for Dr.K, I was just ready for it. He was as kind and easy to talk to as everyone says that he is. I also met Natalie, Mary and Robin and I made my first fill appointment, for March 18. Wednesday night we just hung out in our hotel room and ordered room service (yes, I still stayed on the pre-op diet). We got a nice surprise with several inches of snow Thursday morning. Luckily we were staying at the Holiday Inn Select right across the street from Parker Hospital so it took no time to get over there for my surgery. It all went pretty fast. I did get a little annoyed that the nurse tried the smaller bp cuff on me; my big arm always needs the bigger one to get an accurate reading. Otherwise, it looks like I have sky-high bp. Anyway, no big deal. I was glad that she numbed my hand a little before putting in the IV. I remember being in the OR with oxygen on but then that was it until I was suddenly looking around at the blurry world (obviously I had no contacts in or glasses). I got some pain meds in my IV and soon enough they were bringing my DH back. I had an orange popsicle. Dr K came by and told me that everything went great. Of course I had to ask about my liver and he said that it was fine. I did feel somewhat rushed out of recovery, though. Has anyone else had that experience at Crown Point? They were nice as could be but I had to ask for a few more minutes. It felt like they were putting on my clothes (they put on my socks, underwear, pants and shoes, my DH helped with my shirt) as fast as they could. I knew they were busy, but... Anyway, we'd already gotten my prescriptions filled of course so I just spent the rest of the day in bed. Mostly just sipped a little water and some diluted apple juice. I did keep taking the liquid Lortab every 4-6 hours and didn't have much pain at all. I think the gas settled in my neck and upper back because they were pretty stiff. Yesterday morning we checked out of the hotel and went to a mall to walk around. At the food court, DH got me some chicken soup and a slushee-type thing I had maybe 2-3 spoonfuls of the soup broth and a few spoonfuls of the slushee. Zero appetite, which i guess makes sense but it is weird to see me throwing away nearly full containers of food! No problems with our flight there or back. I upgraded from coach to business and it made a huge difference. On the way back the flight attendants were especially nice. Unfortunately, though, I started feeling a little nauseous about halfway home. Luckily I had the anti-nausea dissolving tablets and took care of it right away. I was also overdue for my next "hit" of Lortab so that might've contributed to feeling so gross. I was pretty wiped by the time we got home and the walk to the car seemed endless. I barely recall getting into bed Friday night. I've spent most of the past two days on the sofa but have made myself get up to walk periodically. I had some bad gas pains Saturday night but walking and Gas X relieved them. I still don't have an appetite really, but have been sipping on water, diluted juice, crystal light, broth. Tomorrow I'm going to try out some baby food, I think. So here I am in Bandlandia! Very happy to be on the other side and full of hope for the future. :cheers2: Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

What a great idea to have this thread here. I'm flying into Denver tomorrow for my pre-op and then I get my Valentine's Day present to myself the next day! There are so many of us Valentine's Day bandsters. Congratulations to everyone! I plan to go back to work on Monday (I'm only four months into my job so I don't have a lot of leave built up). I have a desk job so I think I'll be OK, but if I absolutely have to take Monday too, I could. But a few years ago I had a laparotomy to remove an ovarian cyst and I was down for the count for 10 weeks. This should be a walk in the park in comparison, right? Right? :mad: See all of you on the other side!

Well, tomorrow I fly into Denver. My pre-op is at 2 and then my surgery is Thursday at 1:30. I am so excited to get going. It seemed like it was just eons away and suddenly, it's here. I thought I might feel nervous or get cold feet but really I'm thinking, "let's get on with it already!" I have to thank all of you; of all of the various niche support threads happening here, I think this one has been the most interesting, funny and encouraging. I also should say that the person I complained about in my last post here, who tried to talk me out of the surgery? She apologized profusely for "projecting negative emotions" onto me, said that she was completely supportive and had no business butting into my decisions. So how's that for a turnaround? I didn't expect that at all and I'd gone on the defensive. Every once in a while, people can still surprise me! This will probably be my last post here until I get back home. OK, all...next time I talk to you, I'll be in Bandlandia. Wish me luck! :mad:

Hi all! I have three days left until my surgery...I can't believe it. The time has just flown by. The pre-op diet is going well, too. Even went through a drive-thru last night with DH and got a roast beef sandwich and salad. DH took the meat off the bun for me. Of course, I did face away from him while he was eating his fries. I also got a present this weekend, early Valentine's Day. I told DH that the surgery is more than enough present, but he won some money playing poker Saturday night so he bought me Guitar Hero III. It's a good distraction, that's for sure! What else...I joined what I thought would be another supportive group, for overeaters (not OA itself, though). Of course I mentioned my surgery. I did get some good comments, but of course the one that stuck with me was the one saying "don't do it": When we're babies, are we able to just get up and start walking after we're born? No, it takes time and many failures before we succeed. Stomach surgery is not going to disconnect the head hunger. And if therapy solved obesity, we'd all be thin. Our answer must come from our own knowledge, experience and prioritization. What if you had the surgery and were disabled for the rest of your life? In and out of ERs and hospitals, frail, miserable? Wouldn't you then wish you could undo it? Please don't take that chance. With knowledge and commitment you can get the weight off and stop binges naturally sans the risks of bariatric surgery. I basically said that I had a lifetime of failures behind me and obviously I need more tools to succeed. I acknowledged in my original post that surgery did not get rid of head hunger. And I definitely don't think that therapy "solves" obesity. But her comments about being disabled and the like tell me that she doesn't know anything about lapband surgery. I was kind of insulted, honestly. There I was looking for support, less than a week before surgery. I (naively, I now see) didn't expect anyone to attempt to talk me out of it. So I amended my original post to ask people to respect my decision and only provide support if they were willing. It's not a decision I came to lightly or quickly -- I've been thinking about this for going on three years now! I would never presume to say that lapband or any surgery is the right path for all obese people, but I know it's the right one for me. Ugh. Anyway, this just reminds me why I haven't shared my surgery with most people. I don't want anybody to try to talk me out of it. I'm not stupid or uninformed. I know that there are risks. I'm willing to take them. Period.

I know that I'm not the only Georgian getting banded out of state, but I've searched here and so far haven't found any recommendations for local fills/aftercare other than Fill Centers USA. I intend to return to my surgeon for at least the first two fills. But in the event that I need something like an emergency unfill, it would be nice to have a backup. I have seen such mixed reviews of Fill Centers USA, but obviously if I couldn't find anyone else that's where I would go. I have contacted Dr. Champion and Dr. Dennis Smith, and neither will see other surgeon's patients. Dr. Bryan Freeman in AL (supposed to be about 90 mins from Atlanta) will consider taking on other surgeon's patients depending on the case. I have called a few others but have not heard back from them yet. So if you were banded out of state, do you have a fill doctor in Georgia? If you were banded in Georgia, do you know if your surgeon will do fills/aftercare for bands that he did not place? Thanks!

I'm replying to myself here, but perhaps this information will help others like me. I just got an email from Brooke in Dr. Jaime Ponce's office. He charges $2500.00 for 4 visits or 1 year, which ever is sooner. Adjustments after 1 year or the 4th visit are $625.00. That seems pretty pricey to me, but since I haven't heard back from a lot of surgeons, I don't have a good point of reference right now. It's more expensive than Dr. Freeman, at least.

Hi Newme10, see the Ticker Tutorial

I figure that the threads on here are like channels on the TV -- if you don't like the show, change it. If the title of the thread isn't appealing to you, then you probably shouldn't click on it. This one cracks me up. I think we can all use some levity at times.

Well, unless your doctor is familiar with your employer's specific coverage, I wouldn't take his or her word for it. My GP said the same thing -- "oh, I believe UHC covers it" -- but didn't realize that my specific policy did not. I'd suggest contacting your insurance company directly as well as your HR rep and find out before you get too far into the process. It was disappointing to find out that my husband's employer excluded it, but I'm glad that I found out before I really got started.

I have to say that the worst ever was my cat Gus. He had gastrointestinal disorders and eventually had colon surgery. After the surgery, his gas was the worst I have ever smelled. He slept between me and DH, and I could see and feel his little gut rumble so that's when I knew one was coming...they were silent, of course. At first DH and I would argue over who had done it, but we learned to identify when it was the cat because they always smelled the same (which made sense, since he ate the same thing every day). My sweet boy went over the Rainbow Bridge last June at age 14, so I hope that he knew how much we loved him...more than enough to deal with his awful tummy problems. My DH does the silent-but-violent ones as well. I swear he likes to do them in bed before I get in (he's almost always in bed before me) and then wait for my reaction. He would disagree, but he always giggles when I get grossed out. Hey, that's why there's a can of air freshener on the nightstand, dammit!

Hey Brandy, Well, I was not up for knee replacements or anything like that, but I knew that big problems were in store for me. I was "pre-diabetic" at my last physical. My OB/GYN told me that I shouldn't even think about having children until I lose weight. I can't walk up a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing. I have a hard time getting off the sofa. I have no energy. My thighs rub together. I get chafing and sores between skin folds (fat rolls). My ankles swell when it's hot. I can't fit into some seats. My DH and I went to a baseball game last summer and although I managed to squeeze my big ass into the seat, I was miserably uncomfortable and had cramps in my thighs and legs the entire night after we got home. And so on. I was smart enough to know that it was going to get worse instead of better. I started looking at lapband two and a half years ago. I put on 40 pounds in those two years. It was HIGH TIME, you know what I'm saying? :biggrin:

I actually dry under my pannus (and, well, the whole inner thigh area too) with the hairdryer set on cool/low after drying my hair. I find it difficult sometimes to get it dry with enough under there with just a towel. And yes, the stick deodorant absolutely helps with the stinky -- which definitely happens. Especially in the summer.

Hey Dee, "Viridescence" basically means "greenish quality". Green is my absolute favorite color, and when I wanted to find an online ID that didn't consist of some variation of my real name, I had to get pretty creative. :biggrin: Thank you! I did go online and find out what kind of stuff would be at the buffet before I went. I was thinking of eating my lunch before and going, but I don't think I'm strong enough to be the only person not eating. Not yet, anyway. It didn't help that the person I walked to and from with took a handful of cookies "for the road," but I just looked the other way. Yep, I'm a Valentine's Day bandster. I am so freaking excited. Congrats on being over a week out! Seriously, it just annoys me to no end that parents can be like that. Probably because my own parents are less than educated about healthy eating and weren't the slightest bit supportive or understanding of my own weight struggles. But hey, I'm an adult now and I'm taking charge of my own health. And I'll try my damndest not to repeat those mistakes when I have kids, because I've been there. We'll see...:smile:

Hey Marcy, I watched that show too (it was "My Shocking Story: Too Young to be So Fat" or something along those lines). The mother of that 13-year-old girl infuriated me. When she made steak and salad, the daughter kept saying that the salad was "gross" and gagged on eating a tomato. And they showed her mother in the car saying, "It isn't my fault...it just is what it is." Really? You obviously never taught her to eat healthy. Why would you think that it was a good idea to take your obese daughter to Vegas on vacation and hit up the buffets? And I never would've thought of lipo as a weight-loss surgery. They made no mention of whether she had tried medically supervised diets or any other kind of help. The child just said "diets don't work for me." I'm sure they don't, if you can't manage to eat fresh vegetables. The other two profiles were much better -- two teenage boys who were attending a residential school for obese kids called the Academy of the Sierras. I had no idea that such a thing existed, but it looked great. They were taught how to eat properly and exercise as well as getting in their curriculum. OK, there's my rant. :tt1: In other news, I'm on day three of the pre-op diet and it's going pretty well. I stressed out yesterday because I had a lunch meeting, but I just got a salad (with lettuce, cucumber, olives, eggs, cheese, vinegar & oil). It was at an AYC buffet so there were so many yummy-looking things that I had to avoid. But I did it. I can do this! :confused:

Hey Bridgette, I do know what you mean. You're an adult, and you shouldn't have to justify your decision to take charge of your health. Is there any way that you can say, "I know that you don't agree with this, but this is what I believe I need to do to become healthy and I'd appreciate your support instead of your judgment"? If they think that having the surgery is "giving in" or a "quick fix," you could suggest that they educate themselves about it. Of course, I should take my own advice, as I have no intentions of telling my parents and have never mentioned having lapband or any other WLS to them. They have made it perfectly clear from comments made about others that any kind of WLS is a cop out. They have not been supportive through any of my attempts to lose weight. So I feel that it's reasonable to expect that they wouldn't support this, either. I may regret not telling them, but right now I'm OK with that decision. You have to do what is right for you. Your parents aren't the ones carrying around that extra weight. You are.

I feel rude saying this stuff but I want to get it out too. Bear with me, it's going to be long! I did Weight Watchers (henceforth abbreviated to WW) three separate times, all online. The most I lost was probably 25 pounds. I freaking hated it. I became obsessed with points. I couldn't eat anything without worrying about how many points were in it and accurately figuring out the portion size. It did force me to learn proper portion sizes (not that I stuck with them, but at least I now know that I'm eating 2.5 portions of rice instead of thinking I'm only eating one). But overall I really disliked the program, especially the platitudes and common sense advice dispensed as if it were some kind of special revelation. I know someone who has done WW off and on for 15 years now or more. She has all of the books and point counters and whatever else from every incarnation of the program. I believe that she has lost a lot of weight on it in the past. She falls off the wagon, gains the weight back and eventually goes back to it. When I visited her recently she was on the wagon. We ate out a lot. I watched how she grossly underestimated portions (saying "that looks like about half a cup" when it was more than a cup). Instead of doing the work to figure out how many points something actually was, she just guessed. That's part of what I hated about WW. There are lots of sites with points listings from restaurants, but inevitably I'd eat somewhere that wasn't listed. So I'd have to try to get the nutrition facts and/or ingredient list from the place to get an accurate points count. I'm sure I was terribly off most of the time. But I don't think my friend bothered with that stuff. She'd just say, "Oh, I think it's probably about 14 points." Really, it was probably more like 25 points, but then that wouldn't leave you many for the rest of the day and that's just not something that anyone even wants to consider. Maybe she also knew deep down that it was probably more than 14 points but told herself that it wasn't. I have gently mentioned to her that maybe WW isn't the way to go for her. But she insists that it DOES work. OK, maybe so. But maybe it doesn't work for her. It's like she can't consider trying anything else. What I want to say is that if it really did work, then she wouldn't have gained the weight back. I am not allowed to say anything potentially negative about WW. So there's that. And it kind of pains me, because I know that she has health problems and I know that she probably needs to do something more drastic than just count points. Yes, she knows I am getting banded (one of the few people who do) and no, I have not tried to convince her that she should do it also. I have another acquaintance that I stopped talking to her about two years ago for the most part. At the time, she had lost a decent amount of weight and was pretty proud, rightfully so, of her loss (another WW disciple). But then she was badmouthing an acquaintance of hers for "letting herself go" after getting married -- essentially getting fat and not trying to continue looking good for her husband. OK, so you lost weight and suddenly you get to judge people for being overweight? I wasn't aware that was how it happened. You'd think that you would have sympathy since you'd been there. It annoyed me so much that I didn't want to talk to her anymore. Here's the part where I feel schadenfreude. I recently stumbled upon her blog in which she talked about how much weight she'd gained and she now has a BMI of almost 40. Wow, she really let herself go, didn't she? Yes, I know that's cruel, but honestly...I can't help it. She looked down her nose at other fat people when she'd lost some weight and now she's fat again. And she's back on the WW wagon of course! OK, I should say now that I suppose WW must work for somebody. And it does have some redeeming qualities. But the statistics about dieting and keeping weight off long term aren't good. So I'd wager that WW is making its money off the same group of people who keep coming back, hoping that it'll work this time. Maybe THIS time. How many times have all of us said that, come to think of it? It's a tool that I know doesn't work for me. I hope the band will. But I also hope that people who'd rather count points forever will understand why some of us would rather get banded or do something different. It's a personal choice and it's all about what you can live with. People can eat around their band and regain their weight. If you want to sabotage anything, you can. I realize this. But since most of my experience has been with WW, that's what I chose to rant about.

Hey there. I have UHC also, with a WLS exclusion policy. This is a decision made by my husband's employer. I could have tried to lobby with them to get them to change, but I didn't really want to wait to see if that happened. So I am self-pay. From what I understand, it's difficult get the surgery approved when there's an exclusion (as opposed to appealing when you have been denied). But perhaps someone who has been there will tell you differently. I see a lot of people reference ObesityLaw.com so perhaps they could assist you too.

This post is really awesome, and a great thing for me to read on the first day of my low-carb pre-op diet.

This hasn't happened to me (because I'm not telling anybody!), but I can see how it could. I think it just illustrates that we can be unhappy with our bodies at any size; I have had friends who are what I'd consider a "normal" weight but obsess about their bodies more than I do. But this is why I am in therapy, because I need to work on my body image as well as why I overeat in the first place. Hopefully the band will help me to get healthy physically, but it won't do anything for the craziness in my head.

Hey thinkthin, first off, I am so sorry that you have had to deal with this. There are lots of people on here who have appealed and won with their insurance companies; search yours and see what you find. You might also check out ObesityLaw.com -- they help people with appeals to their insurance company. Make sure you have all of the requirements of your insurance company and meet them to the best of your ability so you're armed to the teeth. I think when your BMI is only 0.4 less than the minimum then it's worth fighting for. There are a lot of people here who have been through this and I know that you can find the information that you need. I wish I could help, but my insurance co. excludes all WLS, period, so I was self-pay, all the way. The lady you spoke with was wrong, by the way. There are many surgeons who will perform lapband surgery on patients with BMIs under 40 if they are self-pay, if that is the route that you end up needing to take. Don't give up yet!

Me too, but damn girl, look at your results! Surely that was worth it. :biggrin2:

I thought that PB stood for pukey butt.

L.A., I am so sorry about your tax woes -- we had the same thing. Sucks. I hope someone can take your Bodybugg off your hands and help out a bit. I agree with you about Dr. K's profile on OH. In fact, we should see if we can lobby to get Dr. K to register with them so there's more information on him. But the testimonials are a good start; I also was concerned when I didn't see much on him there. Congrats linzchavez, I look forward to hearing how you do. :eek: Day one of my pre-op diet today. I had an omelet for breakfast and it was very filling...so far, so good. Fish and salad for lunch, chicken and probably broccoli and more salad for dinner. My DH went to the grocery store for me yesterday and he put all of his treats downstairs in the closet where he stores his comic books & other stuff. Out of sight, out of mind, right?