MelHeath

Today is my surgery day! I am due in at 11:30 for all the poking and prodding! I should be in the surgery room at 12:30 and out by 1:15 if I go by the time schedule my doctor has told me. Hurray! I have my bag packed as I am required to stay overnight. All is left is to gas up the car, drop the prescriptions off, take my son to the sitter and we are on the way. I am still wowed about this as I never thought this day would arrive and here it is. So thank you all for the support and information. I will post afterwards!

Hurray!! Take it easy!

Hi! I am having my surgery on the same day. I am so excited about having this surgery. I am on day 8 of my liquid diet. Amazingly enough I don't even think about food. LOL

Double Thumbs Up for you, Electra!!! I am so excited for you. It takes great courage to make this step and see them through. Anyone who says we are cheating or taking the easy way out obviously has not been through a liquid diet or has fought the battle with obesity. I had to do the psych evalu as well, which was not as painful as I thought it would be. I an a pretty happy person, so much in fact the doctor ask me if this was my "normal" attitude. LOL The gillzon question survery was asking the same question over and over and asking questions about flying. Heheh! I had to meet with the nutritionist avd after the surgery I have to take a class with her on the 30th before they release me to eat "real" food, which I believe is the baby food stage. I am so looking forward to that. I do have another fiend who has Tricare and she was approved rather quickly, a few days i believe. She kvew before the doctors. She is having the surgery just a few days behind me. Good Luck and I am sending tons of POSITIVE thoughts your way! PS Thanks for the add!!

Hey Squeaks, I haven't had my surgery yet but if you need to chat or just moan in pain or share growling tummy noises then do so. I have found these support groups to be better than the ones around me. Plus they are great in finding information and more importantly, COMFORT. It is hard to talk to people who have no clue what you are going through. So share...

Hi, Congrats on getting this far. My surgery date is the 13th of this month. My family thought I was crazy to do it before the holidays but I figure it is a reason to be thankful for plus a Christmas gift too. I can honestly say I do believe this year I won't be gaining weight through the holidays.

Thanks so much for the pillow idea. i had to do this after my c-section but never thought about this surgery. Thanks for the encouraging words. Go you!! You sound like you are doing GREAT!! :scared2:

Hi Mell, My name is Mel too! I turned 28 this year and I understand you completely. I am too that woman that everyone says she has a pretty face, smile but never the whole package. I live in Georgia and the weather is meant for shorts, tanks, and swimwear. I finally have reached the point where I wear it anyway. LOL I would tell you to do some soul searching. Decide what is best for you and you alone. Surgery is a huge step and there is a lot of factors out there. One huge reason I went with the lap band is because I want more children and GB scares me. My babies come first and I would hate to do anything to my body that would has negative outcomes. There are several other reasons but I went with my gut (no pun intended) on my choice. Do the Same!! If you ever want to chat, just message me. I am online everyday due to school.

Hi Mel, My insurance does cover my surgery and it did cover my psych evalu or as much as it will with my 90/10 rate so it only cost me 35 dollars. Once I started this part of the pre-op, it went really fast. My liquid diet was bad the first 4 days but all is good now. I think it will help prepare me for the Stage one portion of my new diet. Good Luck!!

Hey Y'all, I actually started practicing this when I discovered that this was part of being WLS patient. I have been been eating like a WLS patient for a few months with little bites, no drinking and chewing well. My surgery is in 10 days and I hope all of this practice helps me. :thumbup:

Hey y'all, I am a transplant Southern Belle that fell in love with all Southern food. I came here to the South when I was 10 and by the time I was 11 I was quite the round one with few friends. My parents divorced, my mother remarried, sexual abuse occured but I didn't mind because my friend was always there for me, whether it be deep fried, slather, and dripping in a creamy sauce. My friend pushed all the "bad" things away and in my bubble I had the perfect life. This behavior continued until I hit high school but by then it was too late. I was no longer the cute "chubby" girl but the fattest girl, I beter make that, the fattest person in the high school. Fast forward three years, I realize I am FAT! My body could no longer keep up with my heart. I had become a spectator in my own life. That was a hard pill to swallow but I knew it was time to say good bye to my friend and see what I could do to be healthier. I soon discovered I was a emotional eater, which is a good thing as my celebrates and grieves with food but this behavior has taken a toll on me. I would begin traveling my yo-yo dieting path and for some unknown reason, I stayed on this path for 3 more years. At this time, I started dating my very best friend, soon-to-be husband. He loved me no matter how big I was or am. So I let myself go, telling myself why fight this battle over and over when I got a man :thumbup: so I cooked and baked my way to a very tight size 30 then we got pregnant after being told there are no babies in my future. Wow!! I can't even tell y'all the joy in discovering I was pregnant. My OB doctor was very serious with me and let me know i would have a difficult pregnancy because I am "morbidly obese". I remember laughing at that term, telling the doctor I am just fat. I got a quick and fast education on just what morbidly obese women can look forward to during pregnancy. Thank God, they never happened, in fact I didn't gain a pound until I was 7 1/2 month along then I ballooned to my highest weight ever, 397 pounds. Talk about my jaw hitting the floor! So after a c-section, I had a beautiful red-headed baby boy weighing in at 10.8 pounds. We were both healthy but God, I was huge. Afterwards, between breastfeeding and walking I lost all the baby weight, yeah for me but the scales still trembled at the sight of me. I was a "slim" 387. I have never looked as much as I weigh. I would tell myself that was great because then I "really" wasn't as fast as i thought I "might" be. Joke on me! I soon discovered I could not participate in my son's life like I would because of my weight. I could not bath him in the tub because my knees hurt, I could only play on the floor for a bit because the process of getting down and back up again was horrid, and rockivg my baby was a joke cause there was no room on my lap for him. So I thought about what I could do to get smaller and healthier. I thought about the surgery my mother had several years ago, gastric bypass but I had seen the nasty complications from that surgery and what it did to her ( that story is another story) so I wasn't abroad for that one. I went to a infomation meeting, saw my options and contacted my insurance company and soon was hit with the knowledge that nope WLS was not covered. Well, fudge popsicles! With the support of my husband, I started cooking healthier and taking what I have learned and eating small bites, chewing a gallizon times, drink more but never at meal time, Protein first, veggies second, carbs last and I lost some weight by nothing worth mentioning. In October of 2008, we found out that WLS WOULD be covered. Hurray! Imagine Fat Girl Dance Here!! So I went back to the support meetings, got glasses and an IUD, I set up a monthly visit with my primary doctor and keep my fingers crossed. In October of this year, I had completed all the requirements for surgery, off the information went to the insurance company... would they approve it!, would I finally get the tool I so desperatly needed? They did approve only one day later. So on november 30th, I started my 2-week liquid diet but something was missing. I struggled with the diet, was amazed that everyone was so excited for me. ( I have a support team that simply ROCKS!!) so what was wrong? Yesterday, it became REAL for me. I sat at the hospital and signed tons of paperwork but it wasn't until they took my blood it was real. With one little prick, the floodgates of emotion opened and overwhelmed me. I am getting the surgery, I have dreamed about. It is completely covered by my insurance and in 12 days I will be sitting in the hospital with 5 little wounds and a whole new LIFE in front of me. I will begin a new BATTLE in 12 days but the reward of this upcoming fight is so worth it to me. Wow, I didn't mean to blather on but I guess it was all bottled up. Thank you for spevding the time to read this and get to know me a bit.

I am so excited for you. It can come off as a very long process but then you are surprised how fast it happens. I started in February 2009 and now I am counting down just a 10 more days. I plan to share all my trials and victories so maybe I can help you out or until you get banded then we can help each other. Go Team Band!! :thumbup:

Hi, I ran into one of your posts as I skim around the forums and was amazing by your courage. I am scheduled for the lapband on 13th of this month. I am a firm believer of the lap band and believe I can lose the 160 pounds the doctor tells me I need to lose to be "healthy" even though there are some who would tell me that I would be better off with GB. Wrapping this up, you can chat with me any time as I can honestly say I have experienced all of your questions. I am sure you have chosen the best surgery for yourself an that is what counts at the end of the day.