HappyMom

I had a similar pre-op diet. I was allowed 3 Bariatric Advantage Protein shakes and all the broth and sugar free Jello I wanted. Whoo-hoo! All I can tell you is that the first 4 days are going to be rough. After that your body (and head) will start to ease up on your stomach and it won't be so bad. The only thing that got me through this phase was seeing the pounds drop really quickly. Don't cheat........But if you do find yourself starting to cheat on your pre-op diet you should give your surgeon a call. Maybe they can work with you to incorporate some solids into your diet. I stuck to it, but another lady that was going through the surgery on the same day as me had trouble. She started to cheat, but chose the absolute WRONG things to cheat with. This is a time to pretty much eliminate carbs from your diet which will help shrink your liver for a more successful surgery. The surgeon postponed her surgery when she finally fessed up to what she ate pre-op. The second time around they allowed her to have some chicken breast (without anything on it or any sauce). She stuck to that and was successfully banded. Stick with it....post often for support....and find some new time consuming hobbies! Good luck and I hope that the next three weeks goes quickly for you!!

I too am a boredom eater. I do not yet have restriction (2nd fill tomorrow) and can eat pretty much anything and as much as I want. The only way that I am still losing weight is through determination and willpower. I am getting there, but this is still a learning process for me. I have been banded for 2.5 months and I still find myself grazing through the cupboards and fridge when I have nothing to do. I am not going to lie and tell you that the need to graze will instantly go away once you are banded. It is something that you have to work through....and it will be tough...I am still trying to get over it. Just being banded will not change this need to eat when bored. I am trying to fill my time with other things to take my mind off of that need to eat. As for the soda.....forget about it. You will have to give it up. I find that my new vice is iced tea. I REALLY want to drink soda, but I have not had one sip since surgery. My surgeon was adamant that his patients not drink any carbonation of any kind. It is hard to get over not being able to drink soda when I go out to eat. I don't have it in the house anymore so I am not tempted at home. I do remember how good that cold fizzy feeling was on my tongue. It is something that I haven't gotten over yet. Whoo...now I want a soda! You can do it if you just accept that you can't eat like you used to and be ready to make changes. My best advice is to attend support meetings, chat with others that have the band, and maybe seek counseling support if you are having a tough time of it. You will find that "mind" hunger is really daunting and will take some time to get over. I really wish you good luck! I have faith that all of us can be good band patients....that is if I can now get the thought of a soda out of my brain!

I have Anthem BCBS of California PPO and was approved within 6 working days. I was not required to have a monitored diet. I did have to submit that I had tried to lose weight....I submitted the last year of WW weight sheets as proof that I had tried. Good luck to you!

I am also 5'9" and my goal weight is 165. That weight would put me just under the 'healthy' BMI limit of 25. Ideally, I would like to weigh 150, but I am not sure if that is really realistic for me. My surgeon said that 165 is doable, but 150 might be something that I would REALLY have to work at getting to. I would just like to see the 100's again!

I have Anthem BCBS of California and I was approved in about 5 working days. The only thing that Anthem required of me was a psych consult, dietitian visit, and photo copies of my previous WW weight trackers (just to show that I have attempted in the past to lose weight). It was very easy and straight forward. Anthem was great to work with! Good luck to you!

I agree. You should insist on having your fills using the fluoroscope from now on. Damaging your tubing twice is really a sign that the new nurse is a bit incompetent when it comes to fills. I am so very sorry that this has happened to you. Using the fluoroscope, my doctor can see my port to make sure that it is still attached correctly. He can see the needle enter the port. He watches the liquid enter the band and expand it. He can see the stomach restrict due to the fill. It is just a much better way to go. With the imaging there isn't really a chance that he can miss and puncture the tubing. If this was me....I would make them pay for the port/tubing replacement. Once is an accident....but twice is incompetence! You take care and I hope that your surgery goes well.

I researched both options when looking into WLS. I personally felt more comfortable choosing the banding option because it was less invasive and had the possibility of being removed if my body couldn't tolerate it....not that I actually plan on having it removed, but it is nice to know that there is the possibility if medically necessary. I think that you may have to be a bit more disciplined to have the band rather than being sleeved. It takes a lot of will power....especially before you reach restriction....to achieve weight loss. Restriction will come with multiple fills over time. I can see how this could be frustrating to some people who are impatient to lose the weight immediately! With the sleeve you will experience more initial weight loss because you are essentially restricted from day one. My surgeon did say that over time (18+ months) there isn't much difference in weight loss between banding and sleeving. I am a pretty patient person so I can accept slower weight loss in the beginning of my journey if I can over time achieve the same results. I think that you need to really research both options and speak to your surgeon to see what s/he thinks is better for you. Either option requires surgery which isn't something to jump into without fully researching the procedures and risks. Ultimately, only you can decide which surgery is right for you. Both are good options for weight loss. It will just come down to which procedure do you feel the most comfortable with. I really wish you luck in your journey!

When I woke up from surgery the nurse told me that the doctor had to repair two hernias that he found while performing the banding procedure. I wasn't even aware that I had any hernias. I never had heartburn or any other pain associated with hernias. Either way, I am glad that they are repaired.....and I didn't have to have an additional surgery to fix them!

You should probably be o.k. being approved with your BMI and other ailments. I had a BMI below 40, but had high blood pressure and diabetes. I didn't have any issues at all being approved. My insurance company had a whole list of 'co-morbidities' that they would approve lower BMI's with. The bariatric doctors office is really good at wording insurance paperwork in such a way that the insurance company will approve it. They have to be good at it or they wouldn't have any business! Hang in there and I wish you the best of luck with the insurance approval. Please let us know how it all works out for you.

I have Anthem BCBS of California and I wasn't required to have a medically supervised diet. It was a breeze to get approval through them. Good luck to you!

I was able to drive two days after surgery. I was told that I could drive only after I had been off of the prescription meds for 12 hours. Good luck with your surgery!

I had my first fill on Tuesday. My instructions were for liquids Tuesday, purees Wednesday, mushies Thursday and then normal diet Friday. It was funny how hungry I was on Tuesday night. I knew that the liquids was for only one day, but heck I thought that I was going to not make it. I would have thought that my body would have gotten used to liquids by now!

Jessica - I do not really have a 'primary' doctor.....I rarely get sick so I have never seen the point in having a regular doctor. I see a endocrinologist who helps to control my diabetes and high blood pressure....and then of course an OB-GYN. I didn't need a referral to make an appointment and see Dr. Smith. I have PPO insurance so that wasn't required. I discussed my decision with the diabetes specialist and she was on board with me having surgery. I still have to monitor my blood sugars daily, but I am off of all medication. The surgery was a breeze for me. I have had two c-sections and the pain and recovery time is nothing compared to having a baby! I have four small incisions (1/2-inch) and one longer incision (1.5-inch) where they attached the port. They started the surgery at 10:15 am and I was walking out of the hospital two hours later at 12:15 pm. Like I said, it really wasn't too big of a deal for me. There was some pain and bloating, but nothing that a few days of rest didn't take care of. Actually, my husband had to go to work the next day and I took care of the two little guys (1 & 4), did laundry, and cooked without too many problems. The most painful thing for me is was the trapped gas. They inflate your stomach with a gas to lift the abdominal wall away from your organs. This gives them room to work in your belly. When they suture you up some of the gas is still trapped in your abdomen. For some reason this gas will cause your left shoulder to really hurt. Don't know why your left shoulder and not your right one....buy oh well. Most of the pain that I had was due to the gas and not the incisions. I slept in a recliner for the first 4 nights. The gas pain was worse for me at night and I couldn't bear the shoulder pain of lying down flat. When I was sitting I held a pillow to my belly to put pressure on the incisions...for some reason that felt good to me. For the first two days I used bags of ice on my belly and a heating pad on my back. I always swell after surgery and the ice helped keep the swelling down for me. The heating pad was my attempt to reduce the gas pains. I am not sure if it did anything, but I gave it a try. Please don't be scared by this. The pain wasn't really too bad. Take the pain meds and you will be fine. I will also note that two days after surgery I was at costco pushing a cart and three days after surgery I was in the back yard finishing building a play fort for the kids. Moving around really helped. I am doing well right now. I was back to walking an hour a day at about 1 week post-op. I just got the clearance form Dr. Smith to start lifting weights again. I do still have some tenderness at one small location on my belly, but that is due to the hernia that he discovered and repaired during the surgery. I can pretty much eat whatever I want right now. I just had my first fill on Tuesday and I can tell that I still don't have restriction yet. Before surgery I was concerned that I would never be able to eat all my favorites again.....but that really isn't the case. I haven't run across something that I can't have....as of yet....that may change when I get some restriction. It has been a weird experience being banded. You will have a two week liquid diet immediately before surgery. This was probably the hardest phase for me. I am had a hard time the first 3-4 days on that diet. I stuck with it and lost 19-lbs during that 14 day diet. Here is the after banding food schedule that Dr. Smith has us on: After surgery you will be on Clear Liquids for 2 days (water, tea, broth, juice, sugar free popsicles & jello) and then purees for 5 more days (protein shakes, tomato Soup, juice, applesauce, cream of wheat, etc). The puree stage will last until your first post-op appointment. Week 2 you will start eating mushies (mashed potatoes, ripe bananas, scrambled eggs and cereals). The 3rd week you can have cooked veggies, Pasta, eggs, chicken salad, and fruits. Week 4 you can pretty much eat whatever you want except he asks for no bread or oatmeal. You will get a fill at the end of your 4th week. It really hasn't been too hard. I guess that once I got over the initial ravenous-bite-the-head-off-of-anyone-who-dared-approach-me phase of the pre-op diet I have been pretty good. Your hunger will go away temporarily immediately after surgery due to the swelling in your belly. It is a nice phase...to bad that it doesn't last the rest of your life! It still hits me that I had weight loss surgery. I NEVER thought that I would ever do something that extreme......actually I never thought that I would ever get to a weight that I would consider having surgery in the first place! You take care and I hope that things go well at the seminar this weekend. Sorry for the long post but as you can tell I am really excited about the band. I am so happy that I did this for myself and would recommend the surgery to anyone who is struggling with their weight and ready to make a change. Have a great day! Melissa

Hello Jayala - I too live in Rio Rancho and was banded on 3/35 by Dr. Smith here in ABQ at the Lovelace hospital. I can't say enough good things about the bariatric staff at Lovelace. They will work hard to get the procedure approved by your insurance. The great thing about Dr. Smith is that he is also a banding patient. He received his band a few years ago and is doing great with it. He is also on the board at Allergan LapBand and is one of their training doctors. He does a great job. We are lucky to have him travel to NM to perform the surgery for us. I was considering going to Arizona or Texas since the surgery wasn't offered here before he came. I am different from you in that I haven't told anyone that I have had the surgery....except of course my husband. I wasn't quite sure what response I would get when I told people that I was having bariatric surgery. I am just not ready to deal with other peoples opinions right now. My husband's is the only one that matters to me at this point in my journey. I am jealous of you actually having the surgery at your age. I am 38 and wish that I had it done when my weight first started to get out of hand. I too was diagnosed with PCOS in my early 30's. We hadn't had kids yet and I was really nervous about the side effects of the disease. I had a horrible time conceiving (finally did at 33 and 36) and had all the complications of gestational diabetes and high blood pressure. I really wasn't overweight until after my first pregnancy when the PCOS really made it hard to lose the weight. The gestational diabetes turned into Type II and the high blood pressure didn't go away. Again, congrats to you for doing something about your weight now. The side effects of PCOS are harder to manage the older you get! I will be banded 4 weeks come tomorrow. I just had my first fill yesterday...kind of a weird experience seeing the needle entering your belly and watching the band inflate on the flouroscope. I haven't even experienced the full effect of the band yet, but I would make the decision to have the surgery again in a second. I can't tell you how much better I feel now that I have started to lose weight. I am off of all medications from my diabetes and blood pressure. I really think that I will have a longer and healthier life now. You take care and remember that the decision to have the band is yours alone. You have to be mentally and physically ready for the lifestyle change. Go the the seminar and try coming to the monthly support meetings at the hospital. They are held the second Monday of each month at 7 pm. They are run by Paula (head surgical nurse), Jaine (psych) and Laura (dietitian). It is a great way to chat with others in various stages of banding. Most of the people at the support meetings are pre-banded patients who are seeking information and support prior to their surgery. I know that it really helped me to attend a couple of meetings prior to my banding. It was kind of neat to be a banded person last month and have people actually asking me about the surgery! You take care and please message me if you have any questions about the staff at Lovelace, Dr. Smith or the surgery itself. I would love to hear from you! Melissa

I was banded the day after you on 3/25. I too have pains in my left side and I was worried that it was my port....since the long incision is on the left side just below the pain. I was worried that it was my port and that it had come lose or was rubbing against something. I had a fill yesterday and the doctor had me point to where exactly it hurt. He checked his chart and said that is where he found and fixed a hernia during the surgery. It was not my port...he checked under floro during the fill. He said that the hernia repair will be sore when I stretch the muscles. He didn't give me a time frame for when it will no longer bother me. I really hope that your pain is something simple like mine. Good luck tomorrow and let us know what it ends up being.

I lost absolutely nothing the first three weeks after surgery. I am currently on my fourth week now and I have dropped around 13-lbs in just the last week....and still dropping as of today. I am not sure if my body was in a bit of shock due to the surgery or if it was just time for me to release the weight. Needless to say I was really freaking out that I went through the surgery and was losing absolutely NOTHING afterward! You would think with limited calories and a heck of a lot of exercise you would lose something, right? This is plateau/dumping was common for me pre-surgery too. I would diet and exercise and not lose anything for a couple of weeks and then lose a good chunk in no time at all. I am o.k. with that trend if it continues! You are doing well and I hope that you have continued success!

Hello Trixie - I am Melissa from New Mexico. I was banded almost 4 weeks ago and just had my first fill today. I had some restriction just from surgery, but that wore off once my stomach healed. I am on liquids today but I am excited to see if this first fill has helped any. I am starting to get hungry and I have noticed that my portions have increased a bit over the last week. I hope that you have wonderful success and restriction with this last fill! I agree with you that the surgery is one of the best things that I did for myself!

Congrats on your fantastic weight loss! I really think that you look great! I am not sure when the mind actually catches up with the body. I am kind of on the other end. I really don't realize how big I am until I take a hard look at myself in photos. I see a shirt or pants and think that they are HUGE and must fit me....then I try them on and they are too tight (or can't even get them over the butt)! Maybe when I lose the weight I will have your situation, until then I am trying to get my body to match my mental picture of myself! You take care and keep up the fantastic work!

I have Anthem BCBS of California. We live in NM and I wasn't required to travel to have my surgery. I was able to have the surgery at the local hospital in Albuquerque. I agree with montynic that the different type of Anthem BCBS insurance makes a difference.....PPO vs HMO. With my insurance (PPO) I only had to pay 10% up to our family annual out of pocket maximum. There was no program fees or anything else collected up-front for the surgery. I would recommend speaking again with the insurance company and letting them know that the travel is too far for you and can they please change your surgery location to some facility closer. This may also get rid of the 'program fee' charged by the Center of Excellence (if you are a PPO and not HMO). Good luck to you. I really hope that this all works out well and you can stay closer to home!

I would recommend that you stick to the diet your dietitian has outlined for you. I agree to call him/her and tell them that you are having problems with what they are having you consume. Do not try to substitute other things on your own. The baked Beans and sandwiches contain A LOT of sugar carbs that are not recommended for a liver-shrink diet. My diet was 3 Protein shakes a day for two weeks. I am not going to lie to you...I was HUNGRY. Heck...I am still hungry at 4 weeks post-op! I had to get creative about finding things to take my mind off of food. That is hard for me to do since I am at home right now with two little boys (1 & 4) and a husband who need to eat 3 times a day. If I got too hungry I would drink flavored Water, chew gum, clean house (whoo my house was clean those two weeks!), take a walk with the boys, or call a friend. After a week I realized that most of my hunger could be attributed to "head" hunger and the feelings of being left out and deprived. I never ate with the kids and hubby. I would get on the computer and log onto this site during their meal times or drink a Protein shake while they were dining. I hate to scare you, but you have to realize that you need to replace your 'hunger' with other activities. You will more than likely be on a restrictive diet after the banding and be hungry then too. The danger of progressing too fast after banding is doing damage to the band and your stomach. It will get easier if you just say to yourself that this is what I have to do to be successful. Good luck to you and I hope that all goes well!

I had my surgery (with hernia repair) on a Thursday and went back to work on Monday. I didn't really have any issues other than shoulder & neck pain from the trapped internal gas. I drank lots of fluids and took Tylenol and Gas-X strips. If you have a sedentary job you should be o.k. Just take it easy and leave if you have to. Good luck to you!

Whoo...I agree with MrsCabes! I am almost 4 weeks out and the 5 incisions are healing nicely. Four of them are small (0.5-inch) and the port incision is about 1/5-inches in length. The incisions are really thin and are pink/red. I have had a breast reduction surgery and two c-sections. I know from experience (on me at least) that they will fade to skin tone within about 6 months. I also dream of a tummy tuck after I lose the weight.....I welcome would welcome that scar to get rid of my hanging belly!!!! Again, the scars don't bother me one bit. With time they will fade and I really wouldn't care if they didn't. I would trade 20 small scars on my tummy to get rid of the fat!

I am sorry that the insurance company isn't working with you on this. My 'efforts' to lose weight meant that I had to photocopy my WW meeting weight booklet (from 2007) and provide copies of my bank card statement for the WW online service (2009). I qualified for surgery with a lower BMI but I had two co-morbidities.....diabetes and high-blood pressure. Are you on any medication for diabetes or high-blood pressure? Since the pre-op diet I am now off of Metformin & Januvia (diabetes meds) and Benicar & Hydrochlorothyazide (HBP meds). The cost of these meds were almost $450/month for the insurance company. They will make back the cost of the surgery in less than 2 years time. Maybe you can use that as an argument.....if you are on meds. Do you know what 'subtantial efforts' means to you insurance company? Is it monitored weight loss from a dietitian or just participation in WW? Good luck to you. I hope that the talk that Dr. Smith had with the Lovelace insurance company makes a difference. You would think that since Lovelace hospital offers the surgery that their insurance company would actually be on board with the procedure! Crazy huh?

Hi Andrea - I would recommend Dr. Adam Smith in Fort Worth. He is a great surgeon who performed my banding last month. The fantastic and unique thing about Dr. Smith is that he is also a lap band patient. He was banded a few years ago and knows exactly how the patients feel since he is also going through the process. I am not familiar with the staff in Fort Worth since my surgery was not performed there. We are lucky here in New Mexico because now Dr. Smith travels to ABQ one week a month to perform surgery and fills. The staff here in NM is fantastic! I have heard that if you are self pay it costs around $9900 to be banded by Dr. Smith in Texas.....it is around $15K for the same surgery here in NM with Dr. Smith. I really wish you luck in your Quest to find a surgeon. You will really have to feel comfortable with your surgeon and the staff since this isn't a one time interaction. You will be seeing the surgeon that you choose pretty much for the rest of your journey since they will be performing your fills. Oooh.. here in NM he always performs fills using fluoroscopy....you will find this to be an advantage over not using that method. You will have to check about the fill method in Texas, but I think that it is the same. You take care and good luck to you!

The gas pains can be a real killer! They eventually do go away, but 3.5-weeks out I still have some occasional shoulder pain. I am glad that you are home and recovering. You take care and I hope that everything continues to go well!