Nessie

Let me add some thoughts to the good advice given above. You read it so often everywhere on the site, but it is so true, and I think bears repeating. We are all DIFFERENT! Let me list the ways: -Our pre-banding weights, heights, ages, health: different -Our pre-surgery diet requirements range from all liquid for 2 weeks, to "stop eating the night before at midnight"...different -Our actual surgeries: laporascopic or open? -Our bands: Realize or Lap? -Incisions: closed with glue, staples, or sutures? All different. -Surgery location: outpatient surgery center or hospital? -length of stay: half a day outpatient to 2-3 days hospital -post-op diet: 1 week liquid and 1 week mushies, 2 weeks mushies and solids...2 weeks liquid and 2 weeks mushies to transition to solids...so many combinations, all different. -Recovery: relatively painless with no problems to quite difficult and painful. -Weight Loss: Fast and furious to slow and steady...different! My point is, and I have to tell myself this daily, is that this forum is a GREAT resource for information and ideas, support and encouragement, but it cannot replace the information you receive from your doctor and nutrionist, as well as what you know about yourself, your body and your eating and exercise habits. I love coming on here, and most of the time I will peruse the boards until I find a topic that relates to me or piques my interest, and I do not even post. I read the posts, and then apply information that is useful and relevant to my own situation. What I have to remind myself to do, when reading about both the positive and negative aspects of the band, is to think about what I am actually doing with my band program/diet/exercise/body/sleep/life! If I get hung up on comparing myself to someone banded at about the same time as me, but yet has lost 15 more pounds than I have, then I am in trouble. What I try to do is look further at that person's info. Are they younger than I am? Are they male or female? Did they start with a higher BMI? Does some of their weight loss include pre-surgery weight loss? And so on and so on. I am the first to admit that I am not always sucessful at taking my own advice! A lifetime of comparing myself to others, and our natural tendency to seek reassurance in others with like situations is strong. Go back to your post-op instructions and make sure you are following them. If you need to, or to put your mind at ease, call your Dr.! That is why they are there, and that is why they get the big bucks; to answer your questions and help you! Hope I do not sound too preachy, because I fall off my own pedestal all the time. Good luck with the post-op, I will look forward to following your posts and your success. Nessie P.S. My weight loss includes 2 horrendous weeks of pre-op liquid diet!

bigbarry1...we share the date! Don't panic about the anesthesia. They will give you some form of what I like to call "happy medecine" before you even get to the anesthesia. You will be very nice and relaxed, and probably will not even remember the surgeon administering the anesthesia. The only thing I worry about with anesthesia is my big old mouth. I had to have surgery a few years ago, and I had my Mom with me for support. She said after the nurse gave me the relaxation meds, that I never stopped talking. Apparently I spilled my guts about the last time I had gone out with my girlfriends for a night of dancing, and did the surgeons know how to dance?! Hopefully I did not say anythingtoo inappropriate. If I did, my Mom has been kind and not told me, lol. Good luck on Monday! I will be looking to hear from you a few days after surgery.

ZiggyLove, you and I are peas in a pod...we are both getting banded on Monday, and we both have about 100 lbs to lose. Are you as anxious as I am about the surgery/Post-op?

kalio72, I have my surgery 2-09-09. We should look out for each other...Good luck with the pre-op diet. I am on the strict 2 week liquid pre-op. I have become used to the hunger part, but I am dying for something crunchy/textured!

I am 10 days from my surgery, and on my pre-op diet. My daughters, 2 preteens and one young teen, have already noticed Mommy is not eating ( I am on the liquid preop diet), and of course they are curious about what I am doing. They are regular girls, and completely inundated with the same media messages that we all see daily. They know about diets, they know how everyone treated Britney when she was a little curvy, and how she is "back on top" now that she is skinny again. They worry about what size jeans they are wearing, and if they look "fat" in their swimsuits. I have tried to always stress health over specific size or weight, but they hear what I say, and then of course, they see all the messages from everywhere around them. I understand that what I am doing is an important life change for me. I have considered this surgery very carefully and I am most looking forward to the improvements in my health and in what activities I will be able to join in on with my kids. That said, I also know that if I tell my daughters, two of whom have inherited my genetic shape and are already curvy-beautifully fit and healthy-but more Beyonce than model-thin, I run the risk of setting up and reinforcing all kind of body image issues and questions with them that they just do not need. I have struggled mightily, even when on one of my ridiculous diets, to stress to them that life is about healthy eating, not dieting and starving yourself, that some people are naturally skinny, others more rounded, all in an effort to try and avoid transferring my weight issues onto them. I feel that if I tell them I am getting banded in order to lose weight, that to them, I will look like a very big hypocrite! How have you all handled this? Thanks for the input.

Thanks so much for the kind words of support. I feel exactly the same about the activities. I can't wait to go riding again, to swim with speed, to play tennis! I used to love doing all these things. My weight has held me back from doing so many things that I have wanted to do. Often, instead of saying that I was unable to keep up, or felt uncomfortable participating, I would simply say "I don't feel like it", or "I am staying in tonight". I have earned a reputation as a bit of a hermit in my family from all the times I have stayed behind at home when they all go off to do something fun, but perhaps akward/uncomfortable for a morbidly obese person. It is so not who I really I am... I think my kids might get a bit of a shock when they see what a little social and active butterfly I can be! tee hee

Thanks for all of the thoughtful feedback to my question. I think I already knew I will need to be honest with them. I will continue to stress the health aspects of weight maintenance and good food choices, and I will also discuss the activity and energy level changes we can look forward to as I begin to lose weight. Last year we went to Universal Studios, and not only were the seats on some of the rides more challenging than they should have been, but I certainly did not have the energy I should have had walking around the Park. I think they will be excited to plan another trip to Orlando for the summer, with a smaller and more energetic Mom! I might make that our "family" reward...goodness, I might even be able to put on a modest little "Mom-suit" by then and actually get into the beautiful hotel pool, instead of sitting all hot and sweaty at the side! My poor girls probably do not even remember my ever swimming with them, it has been so long! Thanks again for all the great input.

I am scheduled for 2-09-09. How are you still eating delicious yummies like Captain Crunch?I just made my daughter her lunch for school and had to resist the PB and J as I put it in the bag... I started the pre-op diet yesterday. Anyhow, I am just down the road from you in Sarasota!

Okay...first post. I have come to the Feb. '09 bandsters to read up on what I can. My surgery is 2-09-09. I started my diet yesterday, which, if I follow the instructions, basically consists of Atkins shakes and nothing else. I have my psych on Friday, pre-op next week. I just finished reading the official lapband guide to surgery that my doctor gave me. I was not nervous before I read the guide, but now I am quite unsettled! I should not have read all the fine print...