msjessy

I'm getting nervous too. This will be my first surgery as well. I'm more nervous now than I was getting ready to deliver my baby girl. I've read some of the surgery-day threads on here, and while the provide a good picture of what I can expect, my heart is racing as I read them!! I'm nervous about the anesthesia, a possible cathetar, the pain, how helpful/nice the nursing staff will be.....everything!!! The only thing I have 100% faith in is my surgeon. I was really calm and at peace with my decision and the steps I have taken and will take, but now this is on my mind 24-7. Aaahh!:wink_smile: Anyway I have been, and plan on continuing, exercising up until my surgery. That, with my new eating habits, have helped me to lose weight before my surgery, which can only help the outcome and recovery time. I'll just be staying away from anything targeting stomach muscles till then......:thumbup: Good Luck!~

Since I have been overweight/obese throughout my entire child and adult life I don't really have anything to go by to set a goal. Right now I know I want to be under 200 pounds. Once I reach that I just want my healthy eating habits and my body to direct it to where it would like to be. I don't want to force my body to a weight that I would have trouble maintaining. According to the BMI scale 145 is on the high end of normal for me, but from where I'm standing now that feels like a long-shot. So for now, my mini goal is 195; anything less than that would just be icing on the cake. My ultimate goal (NSV) is to have a healthy heart, body and mind, and I want to instill those good habits in my young daughter.

OMG. Reading these posts it just clicked to me that it is finally August. Then my heart jumped. That makes this surgery even more real to me. Before it was 6 weeks away, now its 3!!! My liquid diet starts in 2 weeks.

I completely agree with what you said. I also don't understand when people freak out over gaining a pound or two in a few days. There are SO many things that can contribute to a small weight gain like that......water weight, time of the month, did you just eat, have you pooped.....that it seems so trivial to me to get worked up over 1 or 2 pounds. I think these people need to step off the scale and bring it out only weekly or monthly. Now if you gained 5+ pounds in a few days, then that's something to pay attention to and make changes for.

Yes, Good Luck to ALL!! I hope you all have a great surgery and healthy speedy recoveries. Be sure to post about it when you can! I know I'd love to hear from you all!

My Full-Liquid diet doesn't start until the 14th. But right now, I hope I don't have the last-supper syndrome. I think it would be too much of a shock for me to go from a huge meal to just liquids overnight. I would probably cheat on the pre-op diet every chance I got if I go this route. So nope; not if I can help it, not for me. So far I've been watching what I eat, CHEWING, eating in moderation, going to the gym *almost* every other day for about a month now. I"ve lost 17 pounds and I intend to keep them off for the surgery. Good Luck to all!

I'm not sure about your state, as I live in NY. I am not using STD for my surgery, but did have to use it for my pregnancy. I believe that they make you use any leftover vacation time that you have before STD would kick in, and at my job it didn't start until the 6th day you have been out. And I'm not sure about elective surgery, as for Maternity it was 6-8 weeks, depending on what sort of delivery you had. I don't know how they would determine how much time you could take off. I guess it would be up to your surgeon. You also don't get a whole paycheck, at least I didn't. And mine was taxed, because I chose to have it that way. FMLA in NY is only available if you've been with your employer for 1 year + 1 day. If I may ask, is your job strenuous that you plan on taking more than 1-2 weeks off? My job is home-based, so I only plan on taking 2 days off. With the weekend it would be 4 days before going back to work. I did let my job know that I am having surgery in case I'm not up working the following Mon/Tue. Good Luck!

My name is Jessenia. I am 25 years old, and am the mother to a 1.5 year old girl. My DH and I have been together for 7 years now. He's loved me from day one (which was about 70 pounds ago) and I'm glad he found me -- because I was not looking for love when he came in my life. I work in Customer Service, but work from home. Dull, but it gets the billed paid. I'm looking forward to going to the gym with DH and one day hiking/running with him too. I'm also excited about going on more outings with him and DD. I'm especially looking forward to playing with my daughter and one day tiring HER out, lol!!! I've been heavy my entire life (and no, I'm not just saying that!) so I don't know what its like to be "normal" or "skinny". This is probably one of the harder things to get my head around while on this journey. I'm definitely embarking on new territory here. Oh, and this is the first time that I'm looking forward to starting a diet (pre-op diet). Good Luck to All.

Mine was the day that I took my one year old daughter to an indoor playground. She was considerably younger than the other kids there so I had to stay close because they were ready to knock her over. Well I had to be on the ground with her to play with her and keep her safe. Everytime I got up I had to do a mad-dash to pull my shirt down, or my pants up, and make sure that no one saw a 'roll', besides the fact that it wasn't so easy to keep getting up and down with her. Doing that had me out of breath. I was so uncomfortable and miserable, and I should have been happy and joyed to play with my daughter. That night I started researching and found this forum. Next day I made my appointment for the seminar. Good Luck to you.

Hi Elisa. My surgery is on August 21. I'm just counting down the days right now. Good luck to you.

I am 25 and I have about 80-100 pounds I'd like to lose. While I may be the only one who says this, I do not regret waiting to have this surgery. I learned about this surgery a few years ago, and though it peaked my interest I was not at a point in my life to undergo such a huge lifestyle change. I was away in college, went to school all day and worked all night, didn't know how to cook so I lived off junk food. My parents were going thru some major changes in their relationship, and I had a lot of personal stresses on me. Now I am in a much better (and stable) place where I know that I can, and will, do this. For me it was about timing and not so much about what I weighed. I would not have been successful if I did this when I first wanted to.

First off, Congratulations! Second, I doubt that your OB will be mad if you gained a few pounds. Some lose a few pounds due to morning sickness while others gain weight the moment they pee on the stick; its all okay. As hard as it may be, you will have to temporarily stop the "diet-mindedness" and think of it as eating healthy. You can still give in to your cravings, just do it in a healthy way. I would probably get rid of the scale too, if the few pounds is causing you to want to go into diet mode. I have a sweet tooth and I was fortunate to go thru my first 2 trimesters during Spring/Summer so I was able to curb my sweet tooth with lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. Watermelon became my go-to food during this time. Enjoy the time you are pregnant. It truly is a blessing. Bond with your baby, not the scale.

I know for myself, I barely spent time on the Internet until I found this website. Now I'm on here daily for a few hours. Lapbandtalk is amazing.

Wow, you are a true inspiration and a great success. Congratulations Becky!

I've had my surgery date of August 21st for a while (3 weeks now) but have been waiting to add my name to the list, pending Insurance approval. I got my letter in the mail today!! So I'd like to be added: msjessy Long Island, NY August 21 SO EXCITED!

From Seminar to Surgery Date will be 4 months: beginning of May to end of August. It could have been just 3 months, but I had a few scheduling conflicts that resulted in pushing the surgery date. There are so many factors that go into it, including whether or not you have to do a 6 month diet, how much flexibility/time you have to do the pre-requisite appts, and how busy the surgeon's office/staff is. Just be sure to choose a surgeon, AND staff, that you are comfortable with. So many people just advise to be comfortable with the surgeon, but that's only part of it. You will have MUCH more interaction with the staff and if they are rude or not returning phone calls you'll have to re-evaluate whether or not you want to continue with them. You and the office will have a lasting relationship. It isn't just over once you have the surgery. Good Luck on your journey!!!

You know what? It must have been my hormones ranting and raving because.... I"M APPROVED!!! AAHHH! I can't believe it! I got the letter in the mail today. I am SO FREAKING EXCITED!!! I've never been this excited to start a diet in my life! August 21...HERE I COME! Thanks to you all, especially ajoneen, for all of your support, hand-holding and consoling. You have truly gotten me thru this, and me and my lapband will get me thru the rest.

So I called Dr. Geiss' office a few weeks ago and they informed me that they had received all of the paperwork/info completing all of their requisites. The staff promptly sets up my surgery date and said she would mail me some paperwork that had dates, that I needed to fill out. Let me just say that I have had several problems with my Insurance paying for my (and my daughter's) doctor's visits/procedures (even though they are all covered). I have a liason that my company uses in case we have trouble with the insurance paying for covered benefits and have had to call upon his services 3 times in the past 6 months of having this Insurance (Amerihealth/Multiplan). Now I received my surgery date three weeks ago (for Aug21), and I have been checking on the Insurance website almost daily for any record of even a pre-authorization filed. There is none. I then called Dr. Geiss' office to see what was going on, and the staff said to me, "Oh its too early for us to file your paperwork thru insurance. Your surgery is more than a month away." WHAT!! WTF!! I have been on pins and needles since they gave me a date and they haven't even filed!?!!? What happens if the insurance stalls for the 30 or so days before approving? What if they deny and want additional paperwork? Am I supposed to scramble last minute for stuff before my surgery?!! What if I need the assistance of my liason and he goes on vacation (it is the summertime you know!) and I can't get in touch with him. I have to put in PTO time at my job and I don't even want to do that yet until I get approved and its a go ahead for the surgery. UGH. I swear, I think this is going to give me an ulcer. **And yes, I know I am ranting, but this situation is just stomach-turning.

Hey, does anyone recall how long the pre-surgical testing at the hospital took? Mine is scheduled for 8am, but I have to work from 3-7 that afternoon and it is really important that I am not late as I'm the only one covering the phones at that time. So how long did it take and what did it consist of? Thanks in advance. You all are a GODsend!!!

She can certainly have children after the Band!! After losing weight she will be in better health and it may even help her chances of conceiving (if she's currently having problems). Most surgeons want you to wait to have children after being banded. My surgeon said at least a year, my insurance recommends 2 years. But I've heard where women become pregnant 6 months after getting banded. You can also go to the Pregnant And Banded board here for more support/answers. And as much as you may want this for her, she has to want it MORE for herself. If she's not ready to make those lifestyle changes now she's better waiting until she is. Sounds like she's got a great support team though! Good Luck!

Woo-Hoo!! Thats a good looking bean you got there! Congratulations!!!!!

Hi fat_in_NJ. I just wanted to see how things are coming along for you? I also have Amerihealth, but live in NY (Long Island) and wanted to get someone else's take on how things are with this insurance. I went thru all of my pre-testing for the surgeon's office, which included all of the things the Insurance asks for. My BMI is 47 and I do not have any co-morbities. Are you approved? Did it take long for you to get approval?

First off, your sister is very lucky to have you as her support team. I am going thru Dr. Geiss' office and while they have their own 'preferred' psychologists that they'd like for you to go thru you can go to any in-network psych if you choose to. I paid $250 for the 1-hr appt. We dabbled in my personal history, what kind of support system I have, what do I expect from the surgery, and what my current eating habits are, and if I'd had any eating disorders in the past. They just want to make sure that you are in the right mind-set and don't have unrealistic expectations of what this surgery will do. If you'd like the name/number of the 2 psychs on Dr. Geiss' list you can PM me and I'll provide them to you. Good Luck to your Sister.

I call my Surgeon's office at least once each week, mostly to see what clearances they have received, and which offices I have to harass to send them in. My surgeon won't submit my file to insurance until he has received all of the results from the various tests I need to have done, so I've been 'guiding' (read pushing) the offices along to send the clearances in. I'm done with all of the testing, and I know that waiting to hear back from the Insurance will be an intense time, so I'm doing all that I can now before its just a waiting game. The office staff is extremely nice and helpful, so although I feel like I'm bothering them I know that they realize that we are just excited to have a new outlook on life, and for most of us, to just start living. Good Luck to All.

Congratulations!