jet9999

As title says am still very satisfied with how the surgery itself went in March 2009. This post is to update the aftercare which I find professional yet caring. Staff is wonderful... never have to wait long for my appointment. (If it's at 2:00, I'm in on the scales by 2:05 at the latest). For fills, this guy is good! It has never been painful for me; just a tiny prick then in and the fill starts. I've been able to carry on a conversation while it goes in. Still highly recommended. Julia PS: Oh, the weight is coming off at a rate both he and I are satisfied with right now.

Two kinds of the Special K I've tried... ones in the packets you add to Water and the newer ones that seemed to have just come out a few weeks ago. No issue with the packets as far as taste; tried them all; like the iced tea flavor the least but it will do in a pinch. And does seem to take the edge off the afternoon cravings. Just bought the bottled ones that I found next to the Atkins Advantage. These are the ones that have 15g Protein and 5g fiber. Have had one each of the vanilla and chocolate. Got to say I find them both quite tasty and the funny thing is that the chocolate flavored one really killed my "itch" for a piece of chocolate candy I've been fighting the last few weeks. They are now my drink of choice. Walgreen's here in Texas had a flyer that had a $2 off coupon, and got another two when I checked out at register. Think they are good value for the money. Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, worked for the Kellogg's company :thumbup:

Ditto to what TopTier wrote. Fixed during surgery, self-pay, no charge. My surgeon indicated that he often finds these undiagnosed until he goes in and he pretty much expects to "find and fix" while doing the surgery.

I had surgery by Dr. Finnell on March 23th. Prior to surgery had a number of meetings with him and felt that everthing was explained as to what to expect before and after quite well. He set my expectations realisticially and I consider myself lucky to have chosen him.

My brother called the first real burp he ever heard after I was banded my "frat-boy-beer-drinking-belch". (I guess he can say that since he was a frat boy I don't burp after eating; it's really after drinking anything... Water, Protein water, juice, coffee, tea, etc. (Haven't ever been a soda drinker so those aren't on the list). I was talking with a friend and I told her I was sometimes embarrassed when I did burp so loudly and really tried to disguise it. Her comment to me, which I had to laugh at, was "honey, I grew up with four brothers and we had belching contests. Be proud of the burp".

I'm scheduled to get my first fill tomorrow May 4th and am really glad I saw this thread. I was banded on March 23rd and have (knock on wood) absolutely no issues so far. Weight loss was minimal (11 lbs as of today) but I'm not dissapointed because it's 11 lbs that I'm not carrying around.:thumbdown: I think the hardest thing for me so far is to keep up with the exercise I need to do; really working on keeping my 6:15 til 7:00 schedule even if it's with a DVD if weather is poor. I'm so much looking forward to some the type I had week 3 after surgery; that might be the famous (or infamous) sweet spot that people talk about. I could eat about a cup of food at a time and feel great. My biggest problem is patience. Wishing you all the best

Welcome Doug! I'm not your in your neighborhood right now but will be in the future. Bought some land outside of the little town of Bunn on Lake Royale a year ago. I was banded on March 23rd so just a few weeks into program. Have a year of coverage with my physician here in Texas so not moving until that year is up. Wishing you the best in your journey. Jules

I was scheduled for outpatient since my surgery was at 7:00 a.m. However, doc found a large hiatal (sp?) hernia which had to be repaired plus my blood pressure wouldn't stabilize so I spent the night. Aside from nurses checking in on me every hour or so, it was the best rest I've gotten in months:smile2:. I could have gone home because the pain was absolutely minimal.

Mine is much the same as jennibells. I finished my first week on clear liquids only on Monday 3/30 so soft foods start this week and go for 3. Then on week 5 start seeing what I can work with. He encouraged me to start immediately adding soft cooked vegetables to my diet to help with BM's. Soft broccoli here I come! Salads are not on the list yet and I do sorely miss them. On a side note: I'm really not hungry so where I am must be the ah so elusive "sweet spot" that we will be aiming for when I get my first fill.

'cause that's the day I had my surgery too! Had my first follow up since surgery today. Doc said my incisions looked great and gave me the go ahead to go to the soft, moist food stage. Definitely ready for some variety in my menu. Had planned to be off work for 4 weeks but the way I'm feeling think it's going to be a lot quicker than that. So, hello Wendy and all the other March 20 something other bandsters!

My original "pass" from work was 3-4 weeks. My surgery was Monday March 23rd; today I feel absolutely fabulous! In fact, it's a little scary how good I feel. I see the doc on Monday 30th and could probably go back to work on Tuesday but I'm not. I figure I just paid the equivalent of a really nice used car for this surgery to help me kickstart my life so I'm just going to treat this as a vacation. I'm a purchasing agent; sit about 80% of the time. There are two flights of stairs in our building I'd have to hit at least 4-6 times a day. That might be a little much so just going to not push it.

It seems like the surgery of choice is GBP but I'm doing lap-band in March. Looking to see if anyone is near by or in Wichita Falls to commisserate with :crying:

Wow! 40 lbs is fabulous! I am so glad to find out someone else in Wichita Falls had this done. I was just banded on March 23rd by Dr. Finnell thru URHC Solutions. Feeling surprisingly well. What made you choose lap band over gastric bypass? It seems that everyone I was talking to had chosen the bypass but it just seemed so radical to me. Would love to hear more from how you have managed to work with the band and get the 40 lbs off. My starting weight was 223 and I'm 5'2. Once I hit under 200 I'm really going to focus on what I want my goal weight to be.

Wanted to add a thanks! (I really am not replying to my own post; just adding an addendum) The lists that many of the members have posted re: what is permitted on liquid then soft foods diet has really been helpful to me and I just wanted to thank you all. Heading to grocery store after church to continue stocking the pantry. My doc gave me a list that said Clear liquids one week, then on to very soft foods the next. It just gave ideas but you all gave me specifics that I hadn't thought of so much appreciated.

Scheduled for March 23rd; have to be at hospital @ 5:30 in the morning. And since I won't be having coffee that morning I will probably look and feel like I'm in the movie "Night of the Living Dead". Right now I seem to be on a stress-induced diet. Have been losing a couple of pounds a week since first of Feb. Absolutely not worried about the surgery but making sure that I have all my post-op foods lined up and in the cabinet where I don't have to stretch to reach them. Making sure someone is trained to cover my slot at work while I'm gone which means a lot of overtime to get my work done since I'll be training during regular hours. (In fact should probably be there this morning-Sat- but the spirit is just not moving me. Have three dogs; want to make sure that the folks I've lined up for first couple of days after do give them some quality time since "mom" plans to do absolutely nothing stressful for the first week. And for some reason really want my house to be spotless when I come home so am in the midst of a huge purge of excess paperwork, boxing nick-nacks & clothing I just don't wear for Goodwill and trying to get some painting done. Going to go and buy the softest pillowcases I can find as pre-surgery reward. Chewing the absolute hell out of nicotine gum; if Nicorette's (sp?) profits go up, it's me :laugh: Thanks to all for letting me ramble. And good luck to all the other March Lucky Losers! Julia

I am also self-pay; scheduled for March 23rd. Total 15K All fills and aftercare included. Hospital portion 10k Surgeon 5K As poster above said, I'm paying cash for the surgeon. Then financing balance. Since I'm quit smoking in preparation for surgery, I figured out what I don't spend on smoking monthly will more than cover the monthly payments. Heck with the food I'm not shoveling in I may actually come out ahead:rolleyes:

Joining in because I hope to have my surgery scheduled for March. Have a meeting with my surgeon the 23rd (this coming Monday). Requirements to get qualified included an EKG, stress test, sonogram, and seeing a psychologist. Passed all of the above. I want to be able to give my office at least 2, hopefully 3 weeks notice, so they can arrange coverage for my spot while I'm out. Speaking of out, since I am self pay, I am going to take as long as possible for recovery. Going to treat this as a very expensive vacation, even though it's not the Bahamas

Hello from south of you across the Red River. I am also just starting. Self pay because company sponsored insurance doesn't cover it. Hope to have it all together for surgery in mid-March

I am also doing self pay (some my cash the other financed through a medical financing company). My requirements are: Get an EKG (done) Do a stress test (this Monday 2/2) See a psychologist (make sure I'm as crazy as I think I am) :thumbup: Will do this sometime in mid-Feb What is still to be decided is whether I do an Optifast-type diet two weeks before surgery or do something along the lines of the SouthBeach diet. This will be discussed between me and doc and nutritionist late Feb. Planning for my surgery mid-March 2009. These are my doc's requirements; yours will tell you what he/she wants you to do. Good luck to you! Addendum: I've seen a lot of discussion about whether insurance companies cover WLS. After a lot of research I've determined that it's really not whether the insurance covers it but whether the company who has the insurance covers it. Our benefits handbook explicitly states no WLS surgery of any kind. Which is too bad because if I had done this last year when we were owned by another company my out of pocket would have been $1000, instead of the thousands it's going to be now. Just treating it like paying off a new car, except it's the bod that's going to be new (or would it be a "certified pre-owned)

..... so I've really given this a lot of thought. Greetings! Will be getting banded sometime in March; have had consultation with the surgeons (it will be a "tag team") so I'm figuring with four eyes and four hands it should go pretty well.:w00t: Have had weight issues since a hysterectomy in my early 30's. Been packing the pounds on, lose some, gain some more, the vicious cycle. Have some co-issues such as diabetes, HBP so do feel that I've made the right decision. Doc's require that I see a psychologist and have a cardiac evaluation prior to the surgery so both these are coming up. Have been reading the forum for about a month now and looking forward to learning, commisserating where needed and giving/providing support.

Hello again... Like you Macpa90 I am also self pay. The company I work for was acquired by another company in 2008 and I found out that if I had of made the decision earlier under our old insurance plan it would have been covered less a $1K deductible.:w00t: ARRRGH!!!! But can't look back on what might have been. I'm paying about half from my own pocket and half using a financing company. I figure that with the money I save not eating and not smoking (yep, that's a pre-req for the surgery) I can get it paid off pretty quickly. Definitely put a newer used car on hold. I'm not a big smoker but I sure do enjoy that first one in the morning with coffee. But as I understand it, coffee is also not recommended so..... Quit smoking on Jan 18th; still having withdrawals (Whine whine whine). Wanted to relay what I thought was an amusing conversation with my doctor during first consultation. Going over the process, what happens during surgery, saw a video, pre and post op pictures of patients (from the waist down so no faces were shown). I had list of questions and he was very good about answering them all in detail. As we were wrapping up the first visit, he said " do you have any questions about cosmetic surgery you might want to do later? Tummy tuck, facial work, breast reduction?" Well I don't know why but the breast reduction question just highly amused me. I never considered myself overly endowed in that area, even when slimmer. Though now the excess fat I have in my upper body now does make them look bigger than they really are. Without really thinking I said "honey, I'm not going to even think about my boobs right now; I'll just get a really good bra and stuff 'em in there!" His reply was "well, I really can't help you with bra shopping". I was, and still am, amused by his reply because everything else was so very, very serious.