KimDB

I agree with everyone else. I too was really apprehensive about general anesthesia, having never had it done before. However, 3 weeks ago I went in for another procedure that required general. I remember the mask on my face, and the next thing I knew I was in a completely different area of the hospital, sitting up. And I felt like a MILLION DOLLARS. As a mom, I never, ever get solid sleep, and I literally felt as if I had been to a spa. I had tons of energy only an hour or two after waking up. Quite remarkable, really. I am being banded Monday along with you, and I am looking forward to my next 'nap' !!! It was really quite great.

You should follow what your insurance company and surgery program ask of you. The big rule here is don't improvise your own programs. Back when I joined the forum in January, there was indeed one person who had posted that they had lost so much weight on their pre-op diet that their doctor no longer felt they needed the surgery. I have heard of others who have had to gain weight in order to have a BMI high enough to qualify them for the surgery. It was one of my first questions, what if I lose weight on the pre-op diet and don't qualify anymore? Their answer was that the Dr. and insurance go by your starting weight in order to qualify you for the surgical procedure, which should also apply to your insurance if you are using it. Insurance is so different across the board. Many (but definitely not all!) programs recommend a certain amount of pre-op weight loss to clear the belly of some fat before surgery, shrink the liver for a safer surgery, as well as accustom the patient to living an altered, controlled lifestyle. From my perspective, it can't hurt. I look at pre-op weight loss as weight that at least won't come back.

I will have to see how it works in my case, too. I have an overnight event 3 weeks after surgery (driving 200 miles) and then a week holiday approximately one month after surgery. I didn't want to put off my surgery because of these things. Would not matter anyway. There is almost no time I could have had the surgery where I would not have been traveling at least within a month. Life does not stop. But, it will make me extra vigilant in the early healing stages not to mess anything up for myself later! I will remind myself to slow down and ask for help when I need it.

My kids desperately wanted Chinese food over the weekend, but that is my weak spot. I can't have it anywhere in the house. I asked them pretty please, for me, to not have us bring it while I am on this pre-op diet, and they understood. I promised to get them pizza anytime - I can always resist that, by history I know if I eat one piece, I eat 5, so I never even start with the first piece. But no chinese! Egg rolls .... yum ... who knows when I will have those again, I'm sure they are not very band friendly, but oh well. I am with you two, I am next week!

My very first posts to this forum involved whether or not to tell people. Ultimately I found that I was more open to telling people as I myself became more comfortable and empowered by the process. I have worked hard to go to all the appointments, lose the pre-op weight and get my mind wrapped around what I am doing. As I became more secure with my decision, it didn't matter so much what other people thought. And, after all, it's not like it's not obvious I have had developed a long-term problem with food and control. You can't be fat behind closed doors, like other problems. Just a story. I reconnected on Facebook with an old classmate recently and told her I was having this surgery. She told me that she secretly had RNY surgery 7 years ago, that it was the best thing she had ever done for herself, but that only a few people knew. I was happy that my telling her about myself helped her to open up. Likewise I would hate to represent to someone else with a weight problem who the surgery could help, some lie that I had done it all by the force of will power.

Actually Betsy is right, I was not taking into account the protein/carb balance and the banana.

Wow, you look great! I also can't believe how much younger we all look without the weight. I am still on my pre-op diet and I am going down to the treadmill right now!

As the last-minute pre-op diets are intentionally meant to be short term fat-blasters before surgery, I think you are fine. I have been approved by my Dr. to be on a 500 calorie-per-day shake diet IF I come in for blood work every 2 weeks. But, if I add a 'sensible meal' to that 500 calories, I have not needed to come in for blood work. My surgery date got bumped so for about a month I was just maintaining the weight loss I needed to get a surgery date, but now I am on the 2 week pre-surgery weight loss diet and am eating shakes/protein. Every day into this (I am day 6 this morning) I find I am able to get by eating just a little less than the day before. Even on a day when I wondered if I was eating "too much" I still had a headache, so knew my body was detoxing from something that I didn't need.

My surgery date was moved to next week so I am on the "pre-op diet" ... my surgery program does not really 'require' a pre-op diet, just a certain amt of pre-op weight loss. I have already made that goal and am just doing my best to cleanse and blast off a few more pounds before surgery to make it safer. I am doing half shakes, half lean protein to blast off as much more fat as possible before the big day. It is not easy. However, although the surgeon has palpated my liver and said it appears I have "good belly room" for surgery, I am still liver paranoid! This is leftover from last year, when, at my all-time weight high (approx. 30lbs more than I weigh now), under an ultrasound I was Rxd with moderately fatty liver. What I find most disturbing about this thread is how many people who post about cheating, etc. don't have weight loss tickers indicating their band date and loss to date ... and some appear to have fallen off the planet. Were they banded???? On the other hand, the people who post about following their diet to a T seem to have lots of success stories in their profile signatures ...:biggrin:

I just got my date! May 8th!:thumbup:

I was nervous, too. I guess deep down we are all afraid that if someone were to get inside our heads, they will hear all our unspoken thoughts or something. Of course, if this were possible, there is not one of us who wouldn't look a little crazy. Not to fear. They will ask about diet history, how you became overweight, why you are looking at surgery, family history (ages of parents, siblings, their medical history), main stressors in your life, how you cope with them, etc. They might "flag" you for example if you tell them you once lost 100lbs eating nothing but grapefruit and walking 10 miles a day for 6 months, and then gained it all back the next 6 months. Or if you have any other extremes that jump out at them. I was asked to have an extra consult with an eating disorder specialist based on the fact that I admitted I was anorexic in high school over twenty years ago. I did it, and it wasn't a problem. Anorexic, obese .. they are both forms of disordered eating. Otherwise, if it makes you feel better, last week I went to a support group run by the same psychiatrist who did my original evaluation and I could swear he didn't seem to remember ever meeting me in the first place.

I have finally, FINALLY, also started to tell some select people again about the surgery, now that they have asked me if I am losing weight, etc., and have been surprised by their reactions! Some people I thought would be unsupportive have actually called me courageous! On the other hand, I also did tell my sister-in-law last week. I had been putting that one off for quite a while. She is always dieting off her extra thirty or so pounds with this fast or that gadget, but I think it has always comforted her that no matter what she weighs, I always weigh more. She's always all about what I am eating or not eating or why? am I not eating??? Her reaction was weird !!!! It was like I mentioned it, and then she turned on a dime and started immediately talking about something else! Like, 'I am having weight loss surgery' and she was like 'oh look, cows!' And then started babbling something about how she was at the car dealership with her Lexus and her boss gave her some assignment, blah blah blah. And not a word since! It's like radio silence! Wow, I expected lots of research on dead lap band patients and statistics, instead it's like I said something forbidden. Like if she ignores it, it won't be true. Like I said, weird !!! :tt1:

Me, too! I want a date. I was supposed to lose 18-20lbs, and as of my last nutritionist appointment I was down 16lbs, so I'm good there. Blood and EKG were good. I had my surgeon consult where they palpated my liver and that seemed good. I will have gone through all my classes by the end of next week. My insurance is supposed to be one of the 'good ones' ... just sitting around waiting like it's a call from my boyfriend or something! Oh well. The best things come to those who are patient, but it doesn't mean I can't kvetch a little here and there

I still don't have a date but for nearly 3 weeks I have been on a modified liquid diet. Shakes plus 1 "healthy" meal per day, which for me has been lean meat, greens, fruit. Sometimes I scatter the "meal" throughout the day. In that time I have lost another 11-12 lbs.

I know how you feel. I went to my first information session in early January and wanted the band as soon as possible. There was the mention of one popular insurance that mandated a 6 month pre-surgery participation in a healthy lifestyle program. At that point one person in the audience stood up and was literally outraged. 'You mean no matter what I do they will make me wait 6 months to get this?' The Doctor's response was, well, unless you pay for the surgery yourself, and even then, the hoops you go through - all the pre-op testing, dr. meetings, classes, time for pre-op weight loss if required, etc. - will still end up being over a period of several months, and that's if everything goes well. They were right. I was there in January wanting the band yesterday, and even now if all goes well (perfectly) it will end up being an April surgery earliest. Good news is I go weigh in tomorrow and I will have lost the required 1/2 of my pre-op weight loss requirement in order to get a surgery date. Cross your fingers for me. Also, took me some time to learn that one of the entire underpinning themes of this process is you don't hurtle towards a new lifestyle where the entire idea is to SLOW DOWN. They want to see you take the process seriously, so take a deep breath ... slow down ... you will get there.

Wishing you guys all luck ... expect you are nervous! I am seeing my Dr. on Monday the 22nd but just for my PA visit where hopefully they'll weigh me in and I'll get my surgery date. So excited for you !!!

Honestly, my biggest thought is that doctors don't like to have two surgeries close together because if something goes wrong with either one, it gets messy in terms of which procedure caused what problem. Otherwise, ordinary wisdom teeth extraction should be only a few days, and literally, the healing protocol for both procedures is similar anyway ... liquid food. You might also be on a few other pain meds for wisdom teeth where you wouldn't want to be going under general anesthesia for something else, and you definitely want to make sure you will not be experiencing complications from one procedure while still healing from something else. If everything goes well, I don't think that a few weeks between procedures would be completely out of line. I do also see the point in giving your body a break. I have to have something else taken care of, not a big deal in terms of my health, but it does require general anesthesia, and I'm putting it off until after a band date. This might take me into July to get that done, it appears, but I would rather get the band first.

This was one of the very first questions I asked as well when I started the process in January. I had no idea how common it was. I am 3 months into the process, looking for surgery next month if I can get them to schedule it for me (going in today for a required pre-op class and am finally down enough pre-op weight to get a date). I still find myself thinking about whether to say anything to people and so far still deciding no. Did tell some neighbors early on who were very negative. Told them I had decided against it and shut my mouth after that.

I totally thought about this. Of course we all do! I am ending my first week of what is supposed to be 6 weeks on the shakes - and I am only *mostly* on the shakes this one week. It's getting better. When I 'snap' and want something off the shakes, my choices are getting better. Last night I wanted chicken wings something awful. But instead had some crackers and some diet chicken salad. Today this morning I literally turned a blind eye to the leftover chicken wings and had an oat flax wrap with mustard, chicken breast slices and fat-free cheese. Around 200 calories. And had 3 of those before I was done with my 'binge' ... and have been on four shakes since then. Wow, though, of course everyone thinks about food. We all just try our best. And as of this morning, I'm down 8-9lbs since last Monday.

Ms. Chaval congratulations! You did it! I hope to follow you soon :thumbup:

This is a little funny. When I went in for my first weigh-in the nurse weighed me but then had me take off my shoes. I was like, why? This is the only weigh-in where I don't care if they are on, right? I was 3lbs lighter without them, but still calculated to a 40.1 BMI. Just made it.

Gingerjane, I agree with Arthemise. As soon as I read your post, I thought, do you work with my sister-in-law??? Of course you are in Ohio, so I joke ... but that is her MO. She has lots of opinions when it comes to things that make her uncomfortable. When we bought a house, she went online to check out our mortgage loan amount and made some comment on it; if you're going on vacation, she'll be happy to remind you of the crime there or how the weather isn't the best when you are going; if you hire a certain service she'll tell you she either didn't like them or didn't even consider hiring them after checking them out. You know what I'm talking about. She goes through life thinking she should be about 120lbs. She's not. Like Gingerjane's coworker, she watches everything that goes into her mouth and is happy to tell you that you can just eat X amount of goldfish for X amount of calories or that she's just burned off so many calories. I remember when she got the body bug and wore that thing around like a cyborg for 2 months until one day she went on a bumpy truck ride and realized the bug was banking calories at the same time. Anyway, I know for a fact she will be extremely upset if she hears about this. It is jealousy. Not because she is afraid that I will look better than she does, it's because she doesn't have access to the same help. If she could get a lap band, let me tell you, I know that she would. Fortunately, the same weight that all of us have struggled with is also the one thing that helps us have access to this tool. For the time being therefore I am just saying that I'm on the dr-supervised diet (which she has said doesn't work, the weight will usually come back on, of course). I know that were I to tell her about WLS, she would go into full-on panic mode to get me to back off. Even if she had to tell me about her best friend's friend who died during surgery. I haven't even told her about the shakes I am on with my liquid diet. She wanted to know the brand, so she could look them up. Nothing doing. Just said they were thru my Dr. and I couldn't pronounce the name. I totally made something up. R-Tropine? Retropine? Whatever came into my head. I am trying to have fun with this where I can.

Mine is also going to be around 6 weeks, 7 if you count this past week. I am on a shake/supplement program called HMR. It's out of Boston. Even though the website says you can order online, the links to order send you to different weight loss management programs. I went back thru my hospital to finally get it. The shakes come in vanilla, chocolate and chicken Soup and are 100 calories each. Putting some sugar free gelatin/pudding into the shakes gives them some extra flavor and thickens them. It's about as fun as any other shake / liquid diet program so I can't say it's a fiesta, but as with any other shake / liquid diet program, if you follow it, you will lose. And while as again with any other shake / liquid diet program, you can probably expect to put the weight back shortly after you stop, the goal here is just to get to a band-approvable weight. I'm down 8 more pounds since Monday (6 days ago) and have not been "perfect" this first week ... if I've had food cravings I've had a hard boiled egg or a few slices of turkey or ham, or a handful of strawberries. I still need to lose another 10lbs or so according to my program.

I just got slammed with the pre-op liquid diet. Although my primary care physician showed a 7 lb loss 6 weeks between visits, at my surgeon's today they recorded only 5 lbs between 7 weeks. So, I'm on the liquid diet between now and surgery. Good news is that they gave me a tentative surgery time frame now, if my blood work and everything pans out. That would be late April. But, I also have to drop some pounds. The diet they put me on has to be fed-ex delivered and won't get here until Wednesday AM. Just the thought of this transition had me eat something when I came home today at 1pm ... then work out, then work out, then eat some lettuce ... an egg. I don't know whether to say goodbye to food with a hurrah before Wednesday or to steel myself for it. I think I am steeling myself for it. I even went out to buy some menthol sugar-free cough drops just to suck and ruin my taste buds for anything good should the the threat pop up ... I know I'm not alone in this, anyway, so thank you everyone for this board :thumbup:

I am in the same position. They would like me to lose 20lbs pre-surgery. I actually did not realize how long it had been since I had tried to diet the "regular" way. A few years. I had actually *given up* so to speak after being so frustrated, losing, gaining, etc. I had finally decided to just "let it be what it is" ... try to eat well but eat what I wanted, just in smaller proportions. This actually worked *mostly* ... it kept me at a very stable weight range of 10lbs or so for 3 years. But, as we all know, the weight stays the same, but the age doesn't, and the health issues continue to deterioriate. It's been very hard for me to "diet" again and I have had to really work at it. I am very poor at weighing food and counting calories. I have managed to lose 7lbs in 6 weeks. I know I don't get a gold medal, but hey. I'm not going for one. If I were a gold medalist I wouldn't be where I am. Just some things that seem to be working for me now: 1. stopped buying bad things at the market. If they're not in the house, I don't eat them. In particular I keep out MY favorite things like bagels and cheese. 2. I make myself eat an apple whenever possible. This is hard because I'm not a big fruit person. 3. Keep the fridge stocked with lean ham, turkey, lettuce, chicken, hard boiled eggs and mustard (I like protein). Figure out what good foods YOU like and keep those around, make sure they are chilled and ready. 4. I keep some of those baby dum-dum lollipops around in my purse, the really tiny ones, for periods of oral fixation. I've also kept some weight watchers cheese sticks in my purse, but only a few. If there are 6 and I'm hungry in the car, I may eat all 6. I know, it's hard. Again, no expert here these days, my tummy is completely out of alignment with my head, but these things have helped a little to make my tummy - which does NOT want to diet - a little less restless.