Metime

I am getting a d@#& cold. My throat is scratchy, nose is sniffly, sneezing and a general feeling of unwell. Do you think they will cancel my surgery if I tell them? Does having a cold cause difficulties during surgery? I just don't know what to do. I don't want to risk anything, but I DON'T WANT TO CANCEL SURGERY! Whine! Any advise??

Well I confessed to my surgeon and he said "NO WORRIES! Eat what you want to feel better and call me on Monday and let me know how you are". I am glad I confessed. So, I'm going home early to bed, drink plenty of fluids (as if I haven't on this 10 day liquid diet!!) and add OJ and chicken Soup to my regimine. Will be dilligent about my milti Vitamins since both the Nut and the Surgeon specifically mentioned them in their email. Here's to getting well soon!!

Holey Moley that is alot of things to do!! I didn't have to do anything other than all the doc visits. I don't understand the need for "2 yr weight history that detailed 40+ bmi, documented weight loss attempts, documented physical activity and food journaling" Why can't we just send them pictures of ourself overweight 2 years ago and todayk still overweight. Do they ask pregnant women to prove that they are ready to have a kid? psych visits, can you take care of your baby visits, 2 year proof that you are "fit" to be a mommy? I'm so glad my insurance doesn't make me do this, but I just don't see the reason for other insurance companies to demand it!! Ok, stepping off my soap box now.

I have been on the Pre Op diet for 6 days now. Oddly enough it has not been nearly as hard as I expected it to be. I am pretty much reduced to broth (chicken, beef and veggie), cottage cheese, yogurt, sugar free jello, suger free popsicles and water water and more watter. I will have the occassional coffee or tea as well. I bought crystal light, but havn't really used it. I have found that I hate hate the protein drinks but can guzzle them down to stop the monster in my stomach from embarrassing me with the noise. All in all, I know exactly when 4 hours have passed as the rumbling starts. I eat my yogurt with a protein shake and jello or broth and the growls stop for the next 4 hour stretch. Unfortunately the only thing that stops the growls is the protein. So eating a jello doesn't help if I'm hungry. Lots of tempting foods around, but none have tempted me to eat. My cheating..... I haven't really cheated. There have been some accidents that I have to confess to, as they could be "cheating". I was making a plate for my 2 year old, cutting his spaghetti and meat balls. I got sauce on my fingers and licked them!!! Oh wow, yummy. But moved on and did not eat (or lick) anything else. The other time was more greivous. I was standing at my son's wrestling meet and talking to my friends. Hands in my coat pocket, I found a mint. Without even thinking of it, it was opened and in my mouth. I didn't even realize what I did until I was walking to my car and tasted mint on my tongue. OMG! I completely stopped in my tracks (in the middle of the road no less!) and berated myself. That is it. The only two times that can be construed as cheating. I'm so surprised at myself. I thought I would be nibbling. My husband, dear heart that he is, was worried about eating in front of me. I told him not to worry because surprisingly I had not been tempted. I did not have to mentally battle myself to walk away, I just walked away. That is NOT something I ever thought I could do. Ever. Weigh In: Starting weight: 255.5 Day 6: 247.5 8 pounds gone!! I have a cold today. I'm terrifed that my surgery is going to be cancelled. I don't know if I should call the doctors office or not. I think I am going to wait until Monday (surgery is Tuesday) and if I am still feeling badly I'll confess to the surgeon at that time. Hopefully it will be gone! More to come...

I think I'll wait until this weekend has gone by and kick this cold with rest and plenty of fluids! By Monday if I'm still feeling icky, I'll confess my cold. Thanks!

Day 5 done of pre op diet. Some hours are better than others. Had my pre testing done (what a pain, wait for an hour for 10 minutes of questions and a 5 min ekg) then met with my surgeon who gave me some more reading material and we talked about the surgery. Tuesday next week. 1:30. Getting nervous and excited.

http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-eating/lap-band-not-restriction/lap-band-and-restriction.html This is a great article. It really explains the band and tells you why it works the way it does. So, please read and hopefully it will be useful for you.

Mine was submitted the day that I had my last appointment. However the phych doc was in the same office. I think the insurance wants it done. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be the same day. However the approval (for me) took about a week. good luck!

I am on day 4 and I find protein shakes gross. However, they stop the hunger so I guzzle them down and then eat something just after. I love my cottage cheese and yogurt and would probably be suffering more if I couldn't have those. The Carnation Instant Breakfast (sugar free, blue box) is very good, like chocolate milk, but doesn't control the hunger as long as the protein shakes do. So when the hunger gets bad and I'm tempted to cheat (I haven't yet!!) then I guzzle down one of those awful protein shakes and wait for 20 min. So far this is working well for me as I haven't even really been tempted by the food. It's not nearly as hard as I was expecting it to be.

Well I'm on Day 3 and despite all my nervousness its not as bad as I expected. I thought I'd be sitting on my hands to prevent the dip into the potato chip bag or steering myself away from the pantry for something to chew on. It's not been bad at all. I do get hungry (real hunger) at about 3 hour intervals, but I have my "meals" spaced out so they will pick up one of those hunger times. I did notice that the more Protein the better the hunger was controlled. I am getting a few headaches, but I think that is dehydration. I'm not in the habit of drinking constantly. I usually chug with meals. I have had to deal with head hunger. Yesterday during the football game when the Snacks come out (chips and salsa, pringles, subs, pizza) I had to walk away. I went and grabbed my cup of Water and downed the whole thing. Its nice to know that I can do this. No cheating at all so far and I'm damn proud of that! I did get a bit weepy and cranky yesterday, but just took a walk and got it out of my system. Reminded my self that this time its for me and I want this. I just picture my shrinking liver and I'm all set. Each time I run to the bathroom (and its alot!) I say "there goes more liver shrinking!!". Hehe. So far, since my first weigh in (which was the end of my first pre op diet day) I have lost 4.5 pounds!!! Wow! Think I was about 260 a week ago.... Starting weight 255.5 Day 3 pre op diet - 251.0 Now I KNOW I can do this.

I'm actually the 25th, so one day earlier. I still have a loooong way to go, but 2 down only 8 to go! Thanks!

Does the liquid stuff taste nasty? I hate the smell of vitamins and have trouble taking them. The liquid stuff seems like it would be hard to swallow. Can you mix it in something? I dont' know what... I take the chewable gummy vitamins and the chocolate calcium right now, but would not mind adding a B12 for the energy!

I've been thinking of weight loss surgery for years. No one knows I've been thinking of it. I am just so tired of lauging at hearing little ones say "your fat!" or not being able to cross my legs, or being afraid to sit between two people on the train for fear of squashing them! But mostly I am afraid that I won't be able to keep up with my 2 year old boy. My feet ache, my knees ache, my breathing is labored when I run up the stairs. I find it hard to sit on the floor and play with him. I find it hard to get up after sitting on the floor to play with him. I also have 2 teenagers. It's always been my fear that they would be embarrassed of me. They might be. I don't ask. They don't tell. But I wonder. My husband is my rock. I love him like no other. But he's never been able to carry me over the threshold. He told me once that it was a dream of his to be able to carry me. Boy did those words hurt me. As romantic as they were and has sweet as he is to say he wants to carry me, it hurts that at 260 pounds, that is not a reality. So I did it. I started looking sites like Lap Band Talk and found my home. I knew this was right for me, especially after reading about other WLS. Non invasive (5 incision with laproscopic surgery, I can do that) and reversable if for some reason it was not for me. I looked in secret. I closed the window or hid it if someone came in the room. I was terrified to tell my husband. He's thin. He probably carries at most 20 pounds more than he should. He was an avid body builder in his early days so those 20 pounds sit on his mind very heavily. But he knows he can work out and change his diet for a few months and drop them. He puts a goal, I'm going to start losing for summer. And he does. I do with him, but of course I can lose 100+ by summer. So when he's done dieting, he wants to go out to eat, go to this restarurant, try that one etc. He's been deprving and made his goal so can reward him self. But there I am, smiling at him, and on the inside crying. I didn't meet my goal. I didn't lose my 100+. But I can't deprive for the 2 + years it would take me to lose what I want. So I want to look at a way that I can eat less and not 'diet' for the rest of my life. But how do I tell him this?! So I did it. I dropped the idea in his lap. In the dark. In bed so he couldn't see my face as I turned beet red from holding my breath. The expected questions came, why can't you do this yourself. Why can't you just diet and work out? So I responded, with all the research and stuff in my head "you're right, I should start working out". What? That is not what I was supposed to respond with. /sigh Another month goes by and I drop it into the conversation again. I think now he knows this is what I want even if I'm too nervous to actually say it. He says he'll support my decision! Yay! Quickly before I could change my mind I booked an appointment at the Doctor's office for a seminar. Asked him to come. He said yes! I find out later he said yes because he doesn't want me to get surgery and thinks there might be something in the seminar he can use to talk me out of it. Turns out it does relieve his mind about it a bit. Not completely though. Mostly he's worried that I'll die from the surgery. He loves me and doesn't want to lose me. Ahhh! Things happen pretty quickly after that. I make appointments. Turns out I have the "Cadillac" of insurance which makes things faster. BCBS of MA. Cool. Went to my Seminar on Sept. 28th, saw my regular doctor for labs a couple days later. Consult appointment with LBS Doctor on Oct. 29th, had to make an out of town trip in November, Sleep study Dec. 5th, Dec 22nd had appt with Nutritionist, Jan 6th had an appointment with the psychologist, Pre Op diet starts Jan. 15th, Pre Op testing Jan. 19th and Surgery on Jan 25! Four months start to finish. Only took that long due to my business trip, the holidays and surgery my husband had in middle of all that. It is now Jan 14th. I am nearly to my surgery date. Will write more about each appointment as time allows.

I was nervous about telling my family as well. I had to tell my husband as surgery is not something I felt comfortable keeping from him, no matter how non invasive this surgery is. I was fine not telling anyone else, but my husband was not able to keep the secret, or rather he did not think it was something that needed to be kept secret. I did not get the judgement that I thought I would. They all know me well enough to know I did my research. I think as long as you are confident you are makng the right decision, then no one can talk you out of it. I did get some uncomfortable responses (why would you want surgery? Isn't that a bit extreme? - No not really, just another tool like weight watchers, or slim fast or a diet pill. Just safer and something I feel I can maintain long term) So tell who you are comfortable telling. But be ready for the negativity. NOTE: My hubby was not for it at all, until I took him to an appoitnment so he could feel comfortable with the process. Now he is comfortable, not happy to have me "under the knife" but will be happier when the surgery part is done. Its the only part he's worried about really.

When you add a person to your insurance you have to do that during Open Enrollment. Likely what your mom is telling you is that Open Enrollment is closed, it is typicaly a very short window for this type of thing. YOu can make life change additions, like when you have a baby, get married. I don't think that you being added would fall under that rule. You should ask your mother when their Open Enrollment period is then us the time between now and then to show her that this is a good option for you. At a BMI of 52, what exactly does "try everything else..." entail is a question you should ask your mother. Good luck.

Everything I read on this site and others indicates you may be too tight. I'm surprised your sugeon has not said that and had you come in for an unfil. Good luck.

Good luck Rachel! It will happen. It took about a week for me to find out, however I called my dr office. I think they assumed I knew all was approved. So call if you get too anxious!

More protein. Add more broths to your "diet" that should help. But I haven't started yet, so I could be wrong. This too shall pass! Hang in there and I will join you tomorrow and you can tell me how it will pass and I'll get through. hehe

Although with my insurance I wasn't terribly concerned, it is absolutely great to finally hear I have been approved and the surgery date of Jan 25 is a go! So excited and yet so darn anxious all the same. Now just have to get past my 10 day liquid pre op diet then I can tackle the next hurdle! For the first fime in...forever...I'm looking forward to my next weight loss journey. I have read so much and I really think this is the place for me to be. The right time, the right place. Here we go!

Nice pics Catherine! I'm afraid to take the before pics. I don't want to see them. Measurements the same thing. I guess I'll do it anyway, and then hide them until I'm looking as good as you!

I was told chewable vitamins, and viactiv for the calcium (I got milk chocolate...its ok, but very sweet). Dont take the vit with the calcium as the vitamin prevents the absorbtion of the calcium. I wasn't told about the others you are taking.

I only get like 1-3 shakes (meal replacements) per day. The rest of my "meals" are like cottage cheese (fat free), ricotta cheese (fat free), yogurt (plain would not be sweet, if you wanted to try that - fat free) for my dairy, then its broth, chicnen, beef, vegetable whatever you like. I asked about the sodium, the Nut said not to worry as I wouldn't be getting sodium anywhere else so I'd be fine. I don't know if that helps or not! Nicole

I'm havign 5, and did not know about single until I read here. I did hear some people are upset at the size of the incision for a single and its onthe belly button. I don't really care as long as the lap band is in and I am not completely open! Start my pre op tomorrow for my surgery on teh 25th. So nervous! I have a big weekend and will have to schlep my chicken broth and water around. Oh boy.

Thanks everyone! Even though the docs office felt it was a forgone conclusion, I was still a little nervous it wouldn't happen. Now I get the pleasure of 2 more days of "obese food" then on to my new food life, starting with 10 days of liquids~ Yay! Ok, not yay, but the approval part is still yay!

Good luck!