busterfang

You know how they say it's always darkest before the dawn? The worst is over! Get your son to do all the bending (it will do him good!) and just focus on yourself and your recovery. I know for me it took about 5-6 days before I could easily lay on either side in bed and easily sit up if I had been laying down. Now 4 weeks out, all is good and I'm just watching that scale continue to go down! So, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! --Bridget

It could be your gall bladder. I've got a bum one (no stones, just nonfunctioning (only 7%)) and was told by my surgeon that one of two things will happen after the surgery -- 1) I will be eating less fat and not have any problems OR 2) I will re-introduce some fat to my diet when I go back on solid foods and it will flare up. He said he has found it to be about a 50-50 thing with his patients who know they have a bum gall bladder bedore surgery. So it might be worth checking out. --Bridget

The Boone Hospital price includes 3 fills. After that it is $75/visit. My surgeon told me that in his experience after doing tons of bandings, he has found that by the 3rd month you are usually set at the right amount to lose 1-2 lbs a week (if you following the eating guidelines). He feels that after you may only need an adjust every 6-12 months or so until you reach your goal weight. However since I haven't had my first fill yet, I can't tell you this from expereince. However one great thing about Dr. Pitt (one of the surgeons) is that he wears a lapband so it adds some credence to his comments! --Bridget

I have had my band for about a month. Since the surgery, I have had no problems. I have been able to go off 6 medications (for Diabetes, high blood pressure, and acid reflux)! I am not yet back on regular food (still on a soft, mushy diet) but have had no hunger. So here's my advice: -- A good Protein is essential for success, I think. -- Don't be afraid to quiz your doctor about any aspect of the procedure (before or after the surgery). --Don't bend over or lift things for 3-4 weeks (you don't want the port to break loose from where it's stitched to the abdominal wall and flip over). -- To follow the "don't bend over" advice, surround yourself with a good support system. Don't try to bend over and feed the dog, assign that job to a family member or a hire a neighbor kid to do it for you! -- If you live alone, start getting rid of all the junk food (this doesn't mean eat it all!). If you live with others, sign them up to be your allies not enablers. -- If you drink caffinated coffee or tea, switch to decaf now. -- If you drink soft drinks, start weaning yourself off of them now. And finally, realize that you are doing this for you! If you read something on this site that sounds negative, it is what someone else went through and very well may never apply to your situation. So use this site as enlightenment but don't think of anyone elses postings as a guarantee of how easy or difficult your experience will be. I can only speak for me -- I was estactic I did this. --Bridget

Hi Everyone. I was banded just about a month ago and the biggest thing I have learned from reading all the postings is to take everything with a grain of salt. Some people write about being hungry -- I have not been hungry at all. Some people write about post-op pain -- I had none at all (never needed a pain pill). Some write about the diet they were put on -- each doctor has his own guidelines. So bottomline, just because people may write about it, doesn't mean it will be true for you. Quickly my story - - I waited a year before I had the surgery and worked with my family doctor trying to lose weight on a very restrictive diet with minimal success. I was Diabetic, had high blood pressure, acid reflux (the fairly typical list of issues for obese folks)... My pre-op diet was 10 days before surgery. It was high quality liquid Protein 3X a day and all the sugar-free popcicles and Jello I wanted along with unlimited broth. I could also have up to 2 cups of orange juice a day. I was never hungry (good protein, i.e, 20 grams/serving with little or no carbs filled me up). But on Day 5 I started vomiting... Discovered that my blood sugar was too low (something I thought would never happen to me!). So I started drinking the 2 cups of OJ each day and was taken off of ALL my Diabetes medications (before surgery -- yippee!!). Day 6-8 I was fine. On Day 9 I only felt good laying down. I felt like I would pass out anytime I stood up - - I was so weak (not hunger weak) that I couldn't even take a shower. And I was freezing. On Day 10 I got to the hospital for surgery and told the nurse how I felt. Thank goodness for medical professionals. She threw a blood pressure cuff on me and alarms started going off and people all came running into my little room. My normally high blood pressure was 64/51!!! I guess you really are what you eat! I was afraid they would cancel my surgery, but they just pumped fluids into me. So for me, the surgery was a snap. All my drama was the 10 days before! Also when the surgeon actually started working on me he discovered a hiatal hernia that no one knew I had and repaired that. On the day of surgery I was pulled off of all my blood pressure medications and the meds I took for acid reflux. So by my first post-op day I was off of a total of 6 meds! Since then everything has been great! My only advice is to make sure you are on a good protein because it seems to make all the difference. I could not stand the chocolate flavored ones so I have been using either the chicken Soup (Unjury) or Isopure (a liquid from GNC, comes in flavors like grape, orange, mango, etc. - - only 1/2 bottle equals a meal). I have a friend who swears by the chocolate drinks and can tolerate the ISOPure but doesn't care for it too much. So if you can, try a bunch of them to see what you like the best. Good luck to you all. I think you will all be thrilled that you did this. For me it may be the best decision I've ever made. --Bridget

Hi Everyone, I noticed that in the January timeframe there were some postings about lapband in the Columbia area. I had mine done at Boone Hospital. There are two doctors who do it. Dr. Pitt (only does lapband) and Dr. Peters (does lapband and other abdominal surgeries). They both are members of the same practice. I had mine done by Dr. Peters (he's great!). Boone Hospital also has a monthly lapband support group and a monthly clothing exchange. The hospital webite gives you info on the informational seminars they offer on the procedure. One final note -- I was turned down by my insurnace so I did self-pay. The cost was $12,500. That includes the dietician, physical theraphist, psych exam, surgeon's fee, and all hospital related expenses. You have surgery in the morning and are home by late afternoon. --Bridget

Generally you need to be about 100 pounds overweight or be under 100 pounds overweight but have a pre-existing condition like Diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. before a doctor will consider you for this surgery. If your BMI is 32 you must be about about 40-50 pounds over a healthy (average) BMI number??????? It's totally about the BMI numbers, not how much you actually want to weigh. Medically, doctors are only concerned about getting you into the healthy (average) BMI range. That being said, if it ends up you do not get the surgery, you might try subsitituting one meal a day with Liquid Protein. A meal with about 20 grams of protein will totally satisfy you help you lose weight. I did that for 5 weeks before my surgery and lost close to 10 pounds. I ate a normal Breakfast and dinner, cut out ALL Snacks and drank the protein for lunch (I'm sure cutting out snacks helped!). But I found the protein satisfied me enough that I didn't even miss the snacks. A lot of stores (WalMart, grocery stores, etc. sell protein either in powder form that you mix with Water or skim milk or liquid form). The GNC stores carry Amplify and Isopure which are both great. Also some stores carry a brand called unjury (they also have a website). They are one of the few companies who make a chicken Soup. If you are able to qualify (medically) for the surgery, I totally recommend it - - it's changed my life and I have only been banded a month so far. But I have been able to stop all medications for Diabetes, high blood pressure, and acid reflux! If for some reason you cannot qualify, try the protein and see if that helps. Also, if you opt for the surgery, it is important that your husband supports you as your life and diet will change forever and you will need him to buy in to your new lifestyle and it's restrictions and rewards. I wish you loads of good luck! --Bridget

A good way to lose some weight before surgery is to drink liquid Protein for one meal a day. I know that many are instructed to drink Slim-Fast but I was told that it does not contain enough protein and you often end up hungry. I used a product called Isopure that is available from GNC (you can also it online at their website). One bottle is 40 grams of protein (2 meals). So what I would do is drink 1/2 bottle everyday for lunch. It cost $4.69/bottle in my area which sounds expensive until you realize that it really means that you are spending about $2.35/day for lunch (which is a lot cheaper than junk food). Also you can get a zero carb ISOPure which helps you even more! If you drink 1/2 bottle in place of one meal, you will never be hungry at all! Also, unjury (they also have a website) has a chicken broth powder you can get which is excellent. One serving (in place of a meal) has 21 grams of protein and 1 carb. It will also knock out your hunger. I highly recommend either of them. The other thing I did was stop eating after dinner. I never thought I was a much of a snacker until I actually decided to stop eating after I finished dinner. Then it hit me where all those empty calories were coming from! If you follow a plan something like this you shoud have no problem losing the weight you need to before surgery. --Bridget

So maybe we are twins, separated at birth (except that I'm 21 years older). Your story is my story too! I was terrified. The first thing I asked in the recovery room was if I was still alive... Through it all, I took one pain pill (the next day) only because it ached at the port when I tried to roll over. I had no gas pains to speak of. I got home from the hospital (same day), took a nap, and by 7:30 that evening I was up and feeling good. And to think all the energy I spent stressing out about this. --Bridget

I was banded on the 15th of April and have no hunger at all. My doctor has me drinking 2 half servings of Protein a day (one between breatfast and lunch and other between lunch and dinner). That seems to really help. Next week will be 4 weeks and I will get my first fill and cut out the protein. I have found that Isopure by GNC is perfect for me. It's $4.69 a bottle but one bottle last 2 days so it comes out to about $1.17 per snack. --Bridget

I had my lapband surgery done 3 weeks ago and I self-paid. I tried to use my insurance but they found a bunch of little reasons to turn me down and sent me a 2-page letter on how to resubmit. One of their reasons was that my doctor did not validate that I had been overweight for at least 5 years. (She has only been my doctor for 4 years, PLUS I have had the same insurance for 25 years so they should know how much a I weigh.) I didn't want to wait any longer so I paid for it myelf. Anyway, your question about the psych exam... Basically they just want to know that you understand that the lap-band is just a tool, that you still need to watch what you eat. They are interested in finding out if your know what triggers you to eat - - i.e. do you graze from dinner to bedtime, do you have to eat when you watch TV, are you addicted to ice cream, or potato chips? And what are you going to do to change that behavior since none of that behavior is due to hunger? All they are assessing is do you have the mindset and tools to be successful. In my exam there were questions about whether or not my family would be supportive or try to undermine me. Mine is supportive but if you do not have the support they help you understand that you will have to get it from somewhere else because this is life changing and you can not fight your way through it with a family that tries to make you fail. It's all the basic stuff you would expect them to ask. They are just trying to make sure that you are really aware how your life will need to change once you have the procedure. Good luck! I can honestly say that this was the best decision I ever made.

I looked up your question in my literature that I have been given pre and post surgery. It says that the carbonation can cause your pouch to bloat up and stretch out you new little stomach. Also too much bloating can cause band slippage - - but the real concern seems to be with carbonation bloating up your pouch.

It depends on who your doctor is. Each baratric group has their own guidelines. Mine was done in Missouri and the baratric group at the hospital I used had a rule (guideline) that you had to be under 60 with a BMI of less than 50. However, my BMI was over 50 and it was no big deal to them. There will be someone at the seminar who can help you -- just ask a lot of questions. Good Luck!

Oh my God, you sound just like me. I waited a year to have the surgery (it was done last week). I had never been in a hospital before, never been put under and was terrified. My sister who is a nurse would just look at me and shake her head... I don't even remember getting into the operating room. I was being wheeled into the OR and the next thing I knew a nurse was gently shaking me saying that it was all over and I was in recovery. The first words out of my mouth were, "Am I still alive?" That had all the recovery room nurses laughing as they assured me it was all over. Now if I had to have my gall bladder or appendix removed I would say, "no big deal." But two weeks ago - - no way! Honestly the worse part of the whole surgical process was waiting to have the surgery finally done. It will work out great for you! If you are anything like me when it's all over you will wonder why you ever were scared at all. GOOD LUCK! --Bridget

I had my surgery one week ago and my doctor told me it was fine to continue taking aspirin once a day as a preventative. My entire family was put on an aspirin regime about 3 years ago after my father had a stroke. My surgeon told me that a small 81mg aspirin will pass right through the stoma - no issue. So it sounds like every doctor has his/her own set of rules. I can't speak to your knee pain, but I have had unbearable lower back pain for about 10 years and had been told that eventually I would need to have a bunch of discs fused. My doctor put me on a presurgery diet 10 days before surgery and between that and the diet I have been on the last week (post surgery) I have dropped over 30 lbs. (that tells you how much Water I was retaining) and my back no longer hurts at all - - nothing, nada, no pain! So good luck! For me, this was the best decision I ever made! --Bridget