Search the Community

Claramae, sorry to hear about you daughter. This is your time to recover from you surgery and concentrate on you but I know there is no way you/we can turn our back on our loved ones. My son is also a recovered alcoholic so please know that I can sympathize on how worried you are about your daughter. If there is anything I can do for you please feel free to write me. Congratulations on your weight loss of 14+ pounds. It is so exciting isn't it - every morning we wake up to a new and smaller and healthier body!!! I have to go to the doctor this afternoon for my 1 week check up. I am hoping he will move me up to pureed/mushy foods as the Protein shakes and Soups are getting very tedious and I have been only eating about 500 calories per day. Last night I was soooooooooooooo hungry for the first time. Claramae, please take care of yourself and hang in there - okay. I look forward to hearing more from you soon. shelli:girl_hug:

So I'm guilty of being worried if I can drink again after this surgery. I'm pretty much a social drinker but I am super social. I pretty much go out drinking with my friends every weekend being that I'm in my college/party part of life. I hate beer and I don't really like fruity cocktails I'm more of a straight liquor drinker like ciroc, grey goose, absolute, etc. And while on my pre surgery diet I would even chase with crystal light. I'm hoping I can continue drinking what I drink after, just much less lol. If you have any experience let me know!!!

So, I have to have the sit down chat with my dad soon. I'll have a date shortly and will need to tell him. I've posted this story before but real quick - I was supposed to have surgery five years ago, when I was 19. I was still on his insurance, and my mom and I thought it would be best to wait until everything was set and ready to go before we told him what was happening, that way we could answer all his questions and could give him a time and date that it was happening, ect. He operates best under those circumstances, but he flew off the handle, and canceled my surgery 48 hours before it was to happen. Needless to say, he probably won't be super thrilled about it this time around. However, a few things are different now: I no longer live at home, have my own insurance, and am financially independent from my dad. I do not want this to be the thing that completely dissolves my relationship with my dad, but would also not be able to go through with it without him having knowledge that it's happening. So please throw your positive stories my way!! I would like to be able to show him all of your successes, if we even get that far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and will do this with or without him in my corner, but having him there would be nice. Also, any advice on how to deal with a stubborn, recovering alcoholic (five years clean and sober, go dad!), I'll take that too! TIA!

Hi All, I am scheduled to have my operation in January and it has been a long journey! I have chosen to keep my surgery private from my family and "friends", with only my mum, aunt and best friend knowing. I feel my generation is really critical and judgemental, not to mention the way people change once you've changed for the better so, I feel this would certainly work best. I want advice on EVERYTHING! How have younger people coped post and pre-op? (Teens/Twenties - but we're all young so what the hell) Alcohol intake post-op? (We all deserve some fun!) Loose Skin (if you have or have not experienced any)? What you did to prevent this or what you recommend to avoid loose skin? How soon did you exercise? - I know it's recommended to do 30 mins. Walking post-op in the beginning, but how soon did you start resistance training? As I know this is best to stop excessive skin as well as Protein. What did you take to the hospital? I'm on the low cal pre-op diet for 2 weeks and start on the 30th - What did you do? Post-Op: what is recommended? food wise, mainly the first 2 weeks Please share your thoughts and experiences!

I'm not looking for any judgement so if you're going to leave a rude comment, kindly exit this post. I'm 18 years old and getting banded in a couple months. I don't drink that often but when i do go out with friends we usually drink straight vodka from shot glasses. On an average night i have 8-9 shots since i have a pretty high tolerance. How long after lap band can i drink and when i do drink, how should i go about it? Since i'm not telling anyone about my surgery i don't want it to be obvious.... Again please no judgment, my drinking habits are nothing compared to some people my age and i think it's a genuine concern on how i should handle this responsibly. Thank you! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

So sorry you're going through that, but I totally feel your pain! My particular surgery causes excess... ehm #2 issues and it's not fun. At all. I'll be minding my own business and then suddenly it's like: "RRUUUUNN!" or you have an accident. And I learned that anything with sucralose or sugar alcohols upset my stomach. Stevia is the only way to go for sweetners for me. I hope you can figure out what's causing your issue. I'd suggest maybe monitoring what you're eating and trying to pinpoint it. Hopefully that'll put an end to it.

Depending on your insurance coverage [which I assume she is a beneficiary on] she may have to go through a couple months of a physician supervised nutrition and exercise program, which may eat up a chunk of those 4 months. For healing time it can take 2-3 weeks. But as others have said it's a physical and emotional journey. See, I was fat in college [and I HATED IT]. Actually, I became huge in college. There are so many opportunities to eat all day long - it's a big part of the social atmosphere. Your daughter will need support to stick to her post-surgery diet, but it's not impossible to eat properly and still make friends [which she should be doing sleeve or no sleeve - 100 lbs overweight is morbidly obese and puts her at risk for major health problems, as I'm sure you are aware]. She will need to understand she cannot eat or drink what everyone else does. Alcohol especially needs to be restricted because after the sleeve a lot of people become intoxicated quickly. You don't want her to get into situations she can't control because of drinking - there are a lot of predators on college campuses. I may not have done well on the dating scene in college, though I had a few boyfriends, but I still had lots of great friends and I really wouldn't change my experiences. I grew a lot as a person because I learned a lot and experienced so many new and interesting things. It's a choice she needs to make as an informed young adult. Best of luck to you and your daughter!

I was denied due to recreational drinking and mmj being on my medical record. Has anyone had any success with appealing the process? I was never given an opportunity to appeal officially, either, so if anyone knows who I can call that’d be great. I’ve gained an additional 15 pounds since I was denied. My body is in an awful state. My mental health isn’t much better (the news was pretty devastating). I’ve got another appointment with my doctor in hopes that I can try to talk to her. All I received was a call from her nurse telling me I was denied entry to Options. They told me I have to wait a year for sobriety despite the fact that I am not a heavy drinker nor a heavy pot smoker. I would quit both alcohol and pot cold turkey if I had to - they have no real significance for me. At this rate I am considering paying entirely out of pocket. I’ve never been so disappointed with my insurance before. I am so miserable. Only 25 pounds off 300 lbs which is the heaviest I’ve ever been. I am so afraid.

@NewMe86: Not really, maybe more of a last drink or two or three... or every weekend until August, lol. I've been kind of saying good by to alcohol. It is kind of hard to be a college student and not drink, so I am kind of getting my last hoorah out of the way or at least until six months after surgery. I've been low carbing it since May, and I can say I think I am okay with food for now, but I am definitely coming to realize I am saying goodbye to a lifestyle now too. I definitely won't be the quintessential college student anymore.

WOW I got a huge lecture from my doctor about the brain damage alcohol can cause while your body is in the intense weight loss mode. I was told at an absolute minimum 6 months after surgery but they'd prefer at least 8. Wonder if my doctor is being over protective or if the other doctors aren't aware of the possible risks.

I also plan on not drinking until I hit goal. I am concerned about how the alcohol will affect me so I plan for that first drink to be around my family!

So, my girlfriends and I went out two weekends ago. It was spur of the moment and I didn't get all dolled up or put a lot of effort into looking good for the occasion. Needless to say, a little bit of liquid courage had me acting like the movie "I feel pretty". Literally, I talked to anyone who made eye contact with me or came within talking distance. I complimented people randomly and laughed with strangers. This is not something I would have done pre-weight loss. The next day, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. My friends made comments that they've never seen me like that. That my energy was infectious. That the men were attracted to this confidence (even though I'm very happily married). This is why I said earlier, that I have changed. Alcohol may have played a contributing factor into it, but I know that I wouldn't have acted this way prior to surgery.

lol! I haven't experienced it but I do have a friend who smells exactly like the alcohol she drinks when we go out and have a few drinks. It's hilarious.

Crod; A few things come to mind. First, congrats on your success. MANY Band Patients do not make it to those last 15. You have done very, very well. First, you said you exercise, but you did not specify what KIND of exercise you do. In a later post you agreed that you should start doing cardio. If you have not been doing much or any cardio up to this point, then you really have not been working out. Cardio is KEY to losing weight. You should spend most of the hour you dedicate to exercise on cardio, with your pulse in the correct range. That might be all you need to shed those pounds. Also, you said that you ate correctly %99 percent of the time, but you did not specify what exactly that means. To many people on this forum, "eating correctly" means having only ONE Snickers instead of 3. I have stated many times on this forum that it is the constant, small decisions we make in what we eat that will determine whether or not we are totally successful. I seem to continually get into arguments here with people on the subject of alcohol. I won't open that debate here, but in fact those couple of glasses of wine that many people have at dinner or bedtime might be inhibiting their weight loss. I saw a post recently where one member (LeighaMason, I believe) had difficulty losing her last 10 or 15 pounds. When she cut out her glass of wine, the weight came off. It is NOT always a matter of Calories in/calories burned…..different types of food have different effects on your METABOLISM. Alcohol is one of them. I am not suggesting that this is your problem, but I would encourage you to take a serious look at what you are consuming. Culturally, we are very conditioned to think that certain things are "good" for us, when in fact they are ONLY good for the people who SELL them. Milk, for instance, is one of those foods. We are the only creatures on earth who continue to consume milk after we have been weaned from our Mothers, and with all of the hormones and drugs that the dairy animals are given to promote growth (and profits), there is a good possibility the Milk we consume can be, in fact be having a detrimental effect on us. Most of the positive nutrients in Milk are destroyed during the homogenization process, so you're not getting much nutrition from your Milk, but you ARE getting some fat, calories, and other things that are NOT desirable. You can get all the Calcium you need from a small serving of vegetables. So, I would encourage to you take a close look at what you are eating. There might be some things that you can change that will make a difference. You have done very well, so you must be eating fairly well. I suspect, though, that adding in as much cardio as possible in the exercise program will be of great benefit, in a number of ways. Cardio is tough to get going on, but after you have done it for a while, you will begin to look forward to it. Best of luck; keep us posted! S.

Yes, I am a nurse, you guessed correctly. I did not know that statistics show nurses usually have an alcoholic parent...but it does not surprise me at all. I think a large majority of nurses have very codependent personalities. My family doctor and shrink both agree with this theory. Food for thought.

Well I've been looking at this surgery for several years. I wasn't always overweight. In fact, I was an athlete in high school and college. I also spent several years in the military. I started gaining weight in 1998. I would diet and exercise. Take the weight off for awhile and then gain it back, plus more. My Mother died from Diabetes in 2005, and she always warned me to watch my weight. I didn't listen. I got up to 400 lbs in 2008 and I was so depressed, disturbed, angry, and ashamed. I tried Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, Herbalife, South Beach Diet. Nothing worked. My blood pressure, cholesterol, and A1C were raising to dangerous levels and I had no way to stop it. So in 2010 I began going to seminars searching for a surgeon. It was hard for me to accept going this route. I felt like I was a " loser" because I couldn't discipline myself and control my appetite. It was hard to ask for help. But! I was an alcoholic and I went to detox and rehabilitation in 1993. I haven't had a drink or drug in 21 years. I believe that food can be a dangerous addiction and I needed help. So after having my insurance denied in 2012, I switched insurances in 2013. I had a surgical consult on April 22, 2014 and my weight was 466 lbs. My highest weight was 477 lbs in January 2013. I did the tests and followed my nutritional plan because my goal was to be under 400lbs by my surgery date. I had my surgery on November 4th, and on November 3rd I weighed 399 lbs. My last weigh in was last Wednesday and I was 378 lbs. I feel great!! I am so glad that I made this decision to change my lifestyle. I apologize for the length of this, but thank you for asking me because this was therapeutic for me to recall :-) :-). What's your story? Jeffrey (New Jeffrey).

Okay so backtracking momentarily on what potentially counts as “cheats” I’ve had a few pre-planned events PO (anniversary, vacation, holiday, wedding, family bday, family lake house weekend, big football games) On almost each of these occasions, I’ve indulged. What (to me anyway) is critically important is that it was PREPLANNED indulging. It wasn’t “accidental” it wasn’t “spur of the moment”. I knew ahead of time I was going to go off plan for a specified period of time and I enjoyed it and then immediately got back on plan because well.... I PLANNED it. To me, that’s the difference between whether we will run the program or the program will run us. As long as I’m going in the direction I need to go, I’m fine with it. This is the rest of my life and it will include feast/fast periods. I’m not ashamed to admit that I LOVE cocktails, beer, and wine and well over 3/4 of my indulgences have been alcohol-related. The last 3 weeks I’ve been completely on-point. I’ve been

Interesting, I was told 3 months for caffeine, 6 for alcohol. I for one will and can wait. I would not want to harm my sellf for anything on this planet. I have been obese for what feels like forever, 6 months alcohol free is nothing.

WOW! @ beachgurl84 u sound so disgruntled. My statement was to answer is that why doctor says do not drink. Not to u specifically. And we ALL POST what we think, knowing that none of us are medical professionals. I don't THINK docs are telling their patients not to drink due to brain damage issues. Of course alcohol and sooo many other drugs can cause these and many more sever issues. Do I think that why ur doc says x amount of time and others doc say 6 months, some say 3, some say 6 weeks. No I don't THINK so... But common sense says we should ALL follow our own doc orders... no one else. Hope you have calmed down. This forum is to help and everyone provides their opinion. It is NOT to be hostile towards one another since we are all in this together. Good luck to you.

I was recommended to wait until 6 months to drink alcohol so idk every surgeon is different but be cautious as alcohol causes ulcer in plp with a regular stomach let alone us with our tiny pouches

I don't remember the logic behind it. I just remember it was something about when your body is losing weight this rapidly the alcohol can cause neurological problems. Maybe that doesn't mean brain damage exactly but it's a heck of a lot easier to spell. I already gave up smoking to have my surgery, alcohol is a no brainer (lol) for me. It's just not worth it. I've heard a lot of people on this site talk about the alcohol setting them back on weight loss. To each his/her own i guess.

Joy, I am a heavy drinker, no not alcohol, Water with crystal light, and I drink constantly, wondering if I'm pre-diabetic. Anyhoo, I am struggling with not going to be able to drink once I'm banded, during meals, I know this is how to lose the weight and I can do it, I know I can and will, but I simply get thirsty while eating. A gastric bypass patient told me a trick: she takes a glass of ice and when she feels the urge to drink, she take a pc of ice and puts it in her mouth and gets her mouth wet and then takes it out. I think this may work for me. I can't wait till I'm banded and want so much for this to work and will work the program. Congrats on your weight loss.

Ofcourse it is not going to help! It's like saying, "here child your black you need to bleach your skin to be pretty" or "hey there sinora being mexican is worse than being american, just hate yourself for having an accent" I find all of this untasteful and alarming. I have 2 daughter's and by god if they put those things on us like cattle, those label's i'm going to washington with my fat ass and telling mr. big man that if he could be an alcoholic and addicted to cocaine and be our leader then why cant someone whom has issues be themselves. hell we KNOW what we are. we are not stupid and it is not like we are not trying!:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Tuesday, August 4, 2009 Dealing with Snack Foods Snack Foods. The perfect food for ADHD people. Grab and go. Don't have to cook, put together ingredients, shop for those ingredients, remember which ingredients to shop for. They're full of all the taste and flavor (mostly artificial) ADHD people crave. They provide the stimulation we seek when the TV shows don't cut it all by themselves (most don't). They also provide the majority of the salt, sugar, and fat that shoot up our blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure. Just thought of something slightly amusing--or maybe alarming. My name starts with ch and so do many of my favorite snacks: cheetos, chocolate, chips (taco, potato, pita). It is so much easier for me not to eat them now that they're not in my house and my husband's not eating them in front of me. He might have a secret stash hidden somewhere but I never see it and he never eats it in front of me. America's food industry, like the tobacco and alcohol industries, has a lot to answer for. All of them know they're dealing with addictive substances and do their best to make them even more addictive with chemically designed addictive additives in addition to those old standbyes--salt, carbs and fat. Oh, and let's not forget chocolate and caffeine being increased and put in all kinds of new products. Many are designed to appeal to children and teenagers. Did you know a lot of teenagers are now having lapbands? The obesity epidemic is out of control among our young people. I see the food parents put in their kids lunches or that kids pack for themselves. Some start hauling snacks out of their lunch bags and backpacks as soon as they arrive at school. Those with healthy snacks trade with those with all the unhealthy snacks. Schools are eliminating snacks from their cafeterias and vending machines, but the kids just carry them with them. I don't have an answer for this dilemma. I am nutritionally quite well-educated. Didn't stop me from eating snacks. The best advice I get on the topic is don't expose yourself to the snacks. Keep them out of the house. Ask people not to eat them in front of you. In situations where exposure is unavoidable, it might be better to eat just a little bit of those things that most appeal to you than to ruin your good time spending all your effort not eating those things. Fortunately, I've got the lapband to let me know when I've had enough. Especially if I start with higher protein items the band will help me limit the snacks. The key will be to get right back on the food protocol once the party's over. Right now, I don't have a lot of restriction and have slowed way down on weight loss. I have a family reunion this weekend. All my siblings and some nieces and nephews and their children (along with my own children and grandchildren) will be together. Food will be a big part of the reunion. So, for three days before the reunion I'm eating protein almost exclusively, a protein shake for breakfast, meat for lunch, and meat and a veggie for supper, with milk in my iced latte in-between meals. I noticed yesteday already that when I just eat meat without a lot of moistening agents, I can still feel some restriction in my band. I already lost 2 lbs. That puts me at 30 lbs total weight loss. When the weekend is over, I'll probably go back on high protein until I get my first fill on August 11. I'll probably be back on a liquid protein diet for a few days after that, so my stomach can heal. That should jumpstart the weight loss again. I hope the Dr. puts in enough fill to give me restriction. Otherwise I'll go back 2 or 3 weeks after to get another one. I have few clothes that fit me. I'm going through my closets trying to decide what's worth taking in, which of my "skinny" fat clothes fit me now, and what to give to Goodwill. I've started going to thrift stores, since I will not be at this weight for very long and don't want to spend money on clothes. I can't buy ahead because I don't know how fast the weight will come off. But these are good problems to have. I've dropped one cholesterol med and one blood pressure med. I'm seeing if I can do without my stomach med since I ran out of it and won't be seeing my regular doc for 2 more weeks. I get to see my relatives this weekend and I'm not going to worry about food! God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Well, I have had such a busy week this past week getting prepared for surgery. I'm mentally and physically exhausted, but excited about having everything out of the way. Now, I just have to continue my pre-op diet and make a few last preparations before my surgery on the 22nd. I thought it might be a good idea to post what I went through with pre-op appointments in case anyone out there is wondering about this aspect of things. I actually scheduled all of my own preop clearances. (The surgeon's office scheduled the preop appt I had with them and the hospital.) The surgeon's office has specific doctors they work with for the clearances and I went with those instead of trying to do something closer to home. I didn't want any delays with the results getting to my surgeon. This actually ended up being for the best because the surgeon's office and all of the doctors they use for clearances are tied into the hospital's computer network. They are all able to view most of the same info, reports, data, etc. about patients using the hospital's doctors. This should help prevent any delays if a piece of paper gets lost along the way. I actually had my first preop clearance last week, which was pulmonary. This appointment was quick and to the point and a total breeze. I guess that's because I don't have any pulmonary isses, but it felt somewhat like a waste of time. I wish I had scheduled this one on the same day as one of the other appointments and that would have been one less day of driving 45 minutes each way to the hospital offices. This past week, I had the Upper GI, cardiac clearance, phone intake with the hospital admissions department, pre-op appointment at the surgeon's office, and pre-op intake at the hospital. This was all done over 3 days. Wednesday morning I went in for my Upper GI. This required that I have nothing by mouth after midnight. I was allowed to take my meds that A.M. with a sip of water. As others have said, this test is not pleasant. It's not the one where they put you to sleep and put the camera down your throat. This is the one where you drink a ton of nasty stuff and roll around on a table like a beached whale while the GI doc looks at live action xrays of your stomach handling all the nasty stuff you drink. I got a quick look at my GI system in action at one point during the test. It was pretty cool to see the liquid running through my system on the screen as I drank, but I was too queasy to stare at it much. I managed to drink everything they threw at me, but I was SOOO sick to my stomach afterward. I had planned to run and eat immediately after, but I didn't feel like it. My stomach was full of chalky stuff! But, I decided that instead of walking around without any sustenance in my body, I would make myself eat something. I went and got a meat omelet from IHOP and immediately felt better. Lesson for me, go ahead and eat after the Upper GI even if you don't feel like it. The stuff seemed to move through my system fairly quickly after I ate. I learned a couple of days later that the results from this test were that I have significant GERD. Go figure. That explains all the recent burping - which I never did up until about 3 or 4 months ago. I did my phone intake with hospital admissions after the GI appointment. This was basic info gathering, a review of my current medications, and somewhat of a test of my understanding of what I was about to do to myself. Later that afternoon was my appointment for cardiac clearance. When I got to the back, I was given an EKG. Then, the cardiologist came in and reveiwed the EKG and my history information. He said that the EKG was normal and that I seemed to be in good health for my weight. He then said he wanted me to do the treadmill test. Now, I had thought this was automatically part of the cardiology clearance, but apparently it's not because they had not scheduled me for one. They couldn't fit me in that afternoon, so I had to come back the next day. GREAT! :cursing: But, I didn't balk because I am too determined to have this surgery to let an extra appointment get in the way. For the treadmill test the next day (which was Thursday), I had to have nothing to eat or drink - except small sips of water - 4 hours before the test. I was instructed to wear or bring something comfortable to wear during the test. Since I had to go in to work that morning, I took a gym bag with me. I changed in the private exam area and the tech swabbed off my chest area with alcohol and hooked me up to an EKG machine. I was allowed to keep on my bra, a hospital gown, and my bottoms and tennis shoes. She took my vitals and then had me get on the treadmill. I started off at a moderate paced walk and then the speed picked up. I never had to actually run but I did get sweaty and exhausted toward the end. The point was to assess how much exertion it took to increase my heart rate and how my body responded during the phase with a high heart rate. I was able to do this at a fast walk. I think the whole thing took about 30 minutes from the time I entered the room. The actual treadmill time was about 5 to 8 minutes. The next morning, Friday, I had my appointment with the surgeon. This went really well because my diligence with my preop diet paid off and I came in 1 pound under weight from my initial consultation.:thumbup1: Lord I was so worried about that because my weight had been up and down (mostly up) since that initial consult appointment and your surgery can be cancelled if you gain weight. I think I"m in the clear now because I don't expect to gain any weight on this low carb preop diet. I turned in all of my surgical clearance forms to the insurance coordinator and she put together the packet for me to take to my hospital appointment later that am. She had to get the GI clearance from the computer network through the hospital because they hadn't given me anything after my GI appointment like the other two had. I then spent some time with the nurse reviewing my preop and postop instructions and the progression of the diet. This was really interesting because my surgeon has changed his bariatric diet progression recently and it's much more liberal than it used to be. I plan to post it in another blog, but I'm thrilled to only have 2 days of clear liquids post op!! Yay!!! :thumbup: By day 7/8 postop, I'll be on pureed/soft foods. I'm really excited about that. After talking quite a while with the nurse (she also took some measurements for reference points), I got to meet with the doctor. I think I surprised him with my list of about 20 questions, but he took a seat and answered every one of them. I'm going to try to post that as a separate blog also for anyone who needs ideas of questions to ask. I thought of a couple more as we talked, so it was very informative. I'm very comfortable with getting the procedure done after our Q&A session. After that, I went over to the hospital and completed my preop admission. I met with the intake rep and handed over my ID and insurance card (for the umpteenth time) :scared0: and got a nice little armband for the remainder of my preop. Then, I went to the testing area to meet with the preop folks. First, I talked to the anesthesia nurse practitioner about my anesthesia history. Nothing significant there. Then, I met with the bariatric nurse specialist to review everything I would go through on the day of surgery, immediately post op, and long term post op issues. This aspect of the preop visit was unexpected and very helpful. I learned about the bariatric wing of the floor I would be on postop, some things to remember for the morning of testing (like to request an antinausea patch before surgery), got to review aspects of the diet progression, and got some tips and tricks for eating postop. The bariatric nurse specialist will be visiting me throughout my stay in the hospital and checking on me post op for quite awhile. It will be nice to have another point of contact when I have questions. The last leg of my hospital preop appointment was the general surgical nurse. She took some vitals and reviewed my chart and history briefly. She made sure that all clearances were in order and on file and made sure that my chart was complete. She then took a few vials of blood and took that hospital bracelet off my arm. I was so glad of that because I once had to wear that thing around for almost a week before a surgery because "that" hospital had to know that I was the same person who had given the blood during the preop - STUPID. The nurse reviewed the procedures for the morning of surgery with me and that was it. Anyway, I hope this "book" I just wrote about my preop tesitng helps someone get a better idea of what they might be in store for in the days before surgery. I'm sure it's done differently in many places, but I guess the overall point is the same - to make sure we're healthy and sane enough to go under the knife. If I had any advice, it would be to plan your appointments strategically and be clear about what's expected at each appointment. I'm not sure that I could have cut down on my driving any because there was so much to get done, but I might have been able to cut out at least one or two days of the back and forth with better planning. Now that I'm done with that, it's on to week 2 of my preop diet and just trying to keep my head on straight until surgery day. I'm still getting a case of the nerves here and there, but I'm going to see it through. :thumbup: