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Thanks! Well again to my surprise I already have my orientation scheduled for Feb 26th.....Got that letter last week.....And today I got a letter in the mail that ordered me to go get a whole bunch of Labs done (bloodwork) and one to give my PC doctor to have an EKG and Chest X-ray done. I just got a whole bunch of labs done a few weeks ago, so I am not looking forward to giving up more blood (have bad anxiety when it comes to blood draws). I am sure I will have tons of questions soon....:tt1:

I also had a hernia repaired and you sound just like I did 4 weeks ago! My bloated feeling went away around day 5 and my hunger slowly returned then. My doc okayed a stool softner daily and Miralax if needed, but I would get the go ahead from your doc or nutritionist to be on the safe side...like catfish said you do not want to be backed up! Congratulations on your surgery and every day you will feel more and more normal I promise!

Never happened for me. I was starving 3 weeks out. I could eat all I wanted but fortunately the band reigned me in. tmf

Greetings Everyone, Im at my wits end!!!! I feel horrible my nose keeps running and my head feels like it's about to explode. Im scared to take anything and my doctor's office is closed, any suggestions on what I can take that won't hurt me, Im 3 weeks post op?????please help

Hi everybody, I've been lurking on the boards for so long that I felt it was time to come out of hiding and say how much inspiration you've all given to me without knowing it. You are a great source of information, comfort, and camaraderie -- it feels wonderful to know that I'm not alone. My real name is Michele. I'm originally from St. Louis, MO but I've been living in the Houston area (The Woodlands to be more exact) for 14 years. I'm 49 years old and I have a host of problems that I hope are going to be greatly improved by the surgery -- diabetes, high blood pressure, low thyroid, high cholesterol. Diabetes is the main one. My mom was about 100 lbs. overweight and died when she was 62 from the complications of diabetes. It's taken several of my friends too, and I just don't want to go out that way if I can help it. It's funny, I'm a conservative Republican but I tell everyone "Thank you President Obama!" If it weren't for Obamacare I don't know where I'd be. Because of the PCIP program which is part of the Affordable Care Act, I am able to get insurance and I couldn't afford it previously. I was turned down for other insurance and the Texas Risk Pool insurance was twice as expensive as what I pay for deductibles now. Anyway, my insurance covers bariatric surgery. I had to be on medically supervised weight loss for 6 months, then they approved me. Because of previous surgery I had on my ears this year, I've already met my out of pocket maximum so this surgery is free for me. I have been truly blessed. This past year has been an epic saga trying to get to this point. After doing everything I needed to do for six months and gaining approval for the surgery on the first try, I found out my surgeon was out of network because the medical group he was a part of fell apart and he joined with a new group and my insurance couldn't find him on their network anymore. Finally my insurance suggested that I find a different surgeon so I looked around and found one who has a lot of good reviews online -- and this is going to be my hero - Dr. Dexter Turnquest. My surgery is scheduled for Monday the 19th at 1:00 pm. I'm so excited that it's finally happening yet I'm feeling more nervous and I have more trepidation than I thought I would. My surgeon allows only Clear Liquids for the first week (yep the week of thanksgiving - maybe i can find some turkey broth). Then after that I go on the soft diet. He said he wants his patients eating their Protein, not drinking Liquid Protein, so I'm glad I won't have to be on the Protein Shakes -- I'm sorry, they're mostly awful. I worry what it's going to be like to be at home and not chowing down. I wonder what it's going to be like not to eat certain things, not to eat as much as I used to eat. I wonder if I'll get really depressed because that's been my coping source all these years. But I know that God is on my side and He has brought me to this and He'll help me get through it. But I can't help wondering and worrying a little if it's going to be really hard. Can anyone recommend things I should have on hand for that first week when I'm home that I would regret if I didn't get? My friend is going to spend the night with me the night I come home (which will be Tuesday afteroon) but after that I'm mostly going to be on my own sitting in my little apartment. Please let me know if there were things, medicines, food items, that you were really glad you had around. Anyone else live in The Woodlands area? I would love to go to a support group and make some new friends. I think it would help me get out of myself and help me take the focus off ME. There's so much more I could say so I'll just leave it at that for right now -- thanks again to all of you for being here!

Hi all Ok so I'm kinda new to this forum and new to using forums in general so be nice lol. I was approved for lap RNY a few weeks ago (took long enough lol) and for some reason I have a distinct lack of excitement. Is this normal? I guess I still believe it's not going to happen. My family keeps trying to reassure me, but for some reason its still not sinking in. It's strange, I even have a date and everything (June 18th, 2013). Maybe I'll be more excited when the date gets closer... Despite this, I was worried about some things. The number one that scares me about this surgery is being left with great billowing folds of skin afterwards. I saw pics on google and now I'm terrified lol... Will this happen to me? I am pretty young (turned 18 last December). Any help is appreciated <3

I didn't have the hernia, but I dont think abnormal to have a dry/scratchy throat. You may still have some bloating from the gas they used in your surgery. Most folks would suggest to take gas x type aids. Try and walk as much as you can tolerate. My dr had me on Clear liquids for a week after surgery so not eating was fine, per my instructions. Finally, I'd suggest to confirm with your Dr and take a stool softner every day or as recommended by your medical professional. You do NOT want to be backed up.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone here was working as a stay at home medical coder? I'm currently a SAHM but we really need extra income. I've found a reasonable program that is online only and has a duration of about 8 weeks and then you are certified and can work at home or at a facility. I was wondering if anyone could provide me with any additional information on this career path at all. Thanks!

I was never hungry but got all my protein in the first 3 weeks. As others have said... consider this your honeymoon. It will not last forever!

I was banded 3/21 and have been doing really well. Went back to work Monday and mostly feel good. I have no appetite though. I have to force myself to drink even a little broth. I'm drinking Water. I know I'm healing and that is part of the process, but its been almost a week since surgery and I can't say I've eaten much. I'm functioning ok except I'm pretty much physically drained by 6 or so in the evening. That is getting up at 4:45am for work. My post op appt is next week, but I was curious if anyone else experienced very little consumption during the first week or two? My husband says he's amazed I'm still walking with as little as I've had to eat this week. Guess this is the new normal?!?!? Thanks!

I've just finished taking my three pre photo ops....you know front and two sides. I am so excited this day has come. I am well on my way to a new me. At home scale reads 338.8. Hopefully or maybe not the hospital scale says the same. See you all on the losers bench.

Well, i just went out to lunch with friends. I ordered a shrimp special with rice. There were 26 shrimp in the meal; I ate 9, which is more than I can usually handle (they were small, not big prawns.) I ate one bite of rice. Pre band I would have finished the meal easily. My sister in law (congenitally skinny) cleaned her plate. I can eat steak, but it is so much work to chew it that I usually give up after a few bites. I went to a buffet the other night. I filled my plate with about 1/4 of what everyone else had, and ate maybe 2/3 of what I took. I couldn't eat any more. If I wanted to make poor food choices, my band would let me drink milk shakes and eat ice cream, so I don't keep those foods in the house. I do have them occasionally for treats when we go out, but I don't keep a half gallon or two in the freezer like we used to. What it comes down to, is the band stops us from pigging out and eating large quantities at one sitting. In fact, after nine months with the band, I am absolutely appalled at the amount of food other people eat. It doesn't make us eat right, but it makes us realize that we are eating such small portions that we need to pick good nutritious foods to keep ourselves healthy. It doesn't stop us from deliberately thwarting it with foods that will slide past the band. For me, that means I have to keep all temptation foods out of the house. No bread (can't eat it anyway) no Cookies (I would eat them all in one sitting) no ice cream (ditto). I was fat for 48 of my 54 years, but as of last week I am officially no longer overweight (BMI under 25). I never thought my portions were that large before, but I was WRONG. So the band won't do everything for you, but will give you that added push to eat less, and it may inspire you to eat better. I had been on many diets and even lost significant amounts on some of them, but never could keep it off. Now, I think, I will.

When you do slip up, you dont tend to slip up so badly and its easier to get back on track. You do still tend to drift off your plan, like you would before, I still can only keep up ANY sort of intense diet for a week or two before I start to drift, but portion sizes remain constant and physically a lot of the really bad foods (like McDonalds, KFC, pizza) are just so darn hard to eat, I just dont eat those anymore, ever really. So you dont get weight regain and you can get going again. You dont get hungry, so even if food choices are not absolutely optimum, you're not eating a lot. But mainly I like to eat and I like a wide variety so I exercise a lot. The band hasnt made me take up running, that was all me. Now I run an hour four or five days a week and the way its changed my body (I havent just lost weight, I've really changed) I'm confident that as long as running is part of my life, I wont battle my weight again. With the guiding hand of my trusty band of course!

I take calcium + d 600/400mg twice a day, and Vitamin d 50,000 units once a week because I'm severely deficient They are not expensive to buy out of pocket if ur insurance won't cover. I would get it filled if I was you.

It's probably right. At one time I was Vit D deficient and they gave me a massive dose at the doctor's office and then I had to take a huge dose either every couple of days or once a week. I can't remember. Since the surgery I have been taking liquid Vit D/Calcium B12 and a joint supplement plus my chewable bariatric daily vitamin.

I was there last week and everything went fine. Very nice facility- I am doing great!

It is kind of a long story. Shortened version is I was contemplating having my band removed due to complications. I kind of freaked out at the thought of actually losing my band so I recommitted HARD CORE. I have PCOS, so sugar and carbs are a HUGE no no. So I radicaly changed my diet... and started following the band rules best I could with a wonky band. (I just had surgery last week to repair a hiatal hernia and reposition it). I measure measure measure. I stop when my portion is done. I cut out carbs and sugar as best I could. I eat real food, and stay away from processed as much as possible. I went back to a Protein shakes for Breakfast. I started swimming for exercise since a foot injury restricted my options. Typical day: Breakfast: Either Protein Drink, or Chobani yogurt w/Kashi Go Lean Crunch mixed in. Lunch: Left overs usually from dinner. Taco salad is my favorite lunch. (chopped spinach, seasoned ground turkey, mango salsa, cheese) Dinner: 4 oz of protein (Salmon & scallops are favorites) with 1/2 cup green veggies. Asparagus is my favorite. I try and avoid snacking... but if i do get a little hunger I snack on string cheese, or a skinned apple with Peanut Butter, or a few almonds or pistachios. I have been on liquids for almost 2 weeks since I just had surgery last week... so that has helped too. My best advice is really stick to the rules! It is hard. Head hunger is a nasty nasty b***h. I hate her. I fight head hunger A LOT. I just keep living day by day and hoping that if I can string enough good days together I will get there. My journey has been long with a lot of ups and downs. I am looking forward to getting fills and restriction back. I can get my first fill in 3 more weeks. I hope I can keep losing during this restriction free time.

Time to start this journey [03 Sep 2006|10:57am] [music | The first time ever I saw your face [03 Sep 2006|10:57am When did it hit me? When Chris said, "think of all the things you would have done in Alaska had you not had a mobility issue"(?) Probably. It all seem to come to synchronicity (great album BTW). Half day at school, I needed to renew my prescriptions and see the doctor about that darn rash. I went to my dentist after school let out and had that off bite drilled down since it hadn't really felt right since doing the new filling. It took but a brief five minutes and I found myself back out in my car and heading towards Main Street. Left. I think I'll get those prescriptions in person rather than waiting for the pharmacy to call them in. Five blocks away and I was parking right next to the front door. How often does that happen? I walked up to the window and signed in and sat down. "Mrs. Reeves did you have an appointment?", a new receptionist peered out from the glass partition, "No I just happened to be in New Port Richey for a dentist appointment and need to have a rash looked at" (TMI I though to myself, too much information) but it seemed to appease her and I waited. Less than ten minutes and I was walking down the hallway past the examination rooms, going, going, to the last room which I know to be my doctor's preferred examination room. Wednesday, he's not there on Wednesdays, it's his day off. "What are you here for today?". I like the older staff. I know them, they take their time and I can ask about the issue "downunda" without feeling like the PHCC grad staff is "sewgrossing" about it at lunch. I tell her all of the truth, that I have a rash down there and that I have another rash on my arm. My back is killing me ( couldn't be that extra 200 pounds could it..answer your own question Patty, YES!) The list is long. She smiles, she comforts me and takes my blood pressure. She leaves. I'm waiting for the nurse practioner to come in but I hear my doctor's familiar pitch and tone. It's Wednesday, he isn't here on Wednesdays. The door opens and my nurse has returned, "Is Dr. Sichelman here?" "yes" "he isn't here on Wednesdays it's his day off" I tell her, "Dr. Galadi is on vacation so he is covering" she tells me. (how often does that happen?) This is going to be a day for unexpected things. My doctor comes in, I show him my rash on my arm, it's not really anything what else? There is the lump on my stomach in the mass of large fat on my belly I feel a pea like object, he feels it, it's nothing. He notices the rash below my stomach. I've been treating it with ointment for how long? (should I tell him years? Should I tell him two baths a day?) "it's been there awhile" I managed. He pulls at my underpants and notices another flush of skin below that. I admitted sex hadn't been what it use to be and he tells me to go to my OBGYN, "we really don't deal with that". Before I know it the conversation has turned with the problem at the moment and he begins examining me. This is a man of medicine, a healer at heart and I never appreciate him more than this moment. I have a staph infection and then a yeast infection. Before I leave there I will end up have a stack of nine separate prescriptions. I cover myself back up and sit down on the bench. He sits down at the other end and the nurse is stationed with my chart and a pen at the desk. The greater question, the greater issue, my weight. "So when are we going to get this weight off?" It's a question, a subject that he and I have talked about for years. My doctor of 16 years. Through the phase of Phen-Fen, Meridian, Redux, 1200 calories, 1800 calories, over the counter products into last year and the diagnosis of Type I Diabetes, rehabilitation to begin some type of activity until now. It's serious. My back is giving under the pressure, I take Lasix for water retention, blood pressure medication and he switches me today to two types of medication. "I know Doctor. I don't know what to do. I've tried, I've tried for years." This is a moment of honesty, the reality that my life is on the line. He tells me I'm looking at ten years. (ten years until my body breaks a blood vessel in my brain, tens years until my heart faults, ten years of semi goodness left in my body) He goes on to tell me about another patient. "He had the same problem as you. He had the gastric surgery, came in a few months back and I hardly recognized him." *A year ago I couldn't have, wouldn't have entertained this procedure* I can do this on my own I said. But a year later and an increase in 25 pounds told me that there comes a time when one has to admit they are in over their head. I was in over my head and I knew it. "Where did he go?" I was ready. I'll take some fries with that bypass [05 Sep 2006|11:59am] I refused to go to Community Hospital. Some how my brain is in 1983 with my first pregnancy and the halting news of things that had happened in this antiquated facility. But that was then, this is now. Reconstruction, new specialists are the norm for hospitals. This one has taken on the issue of obesity with a center for Weight Loss Surgery. I called three gastric doctors before realizing that there was going to be more than just a surgery. I went online and found the center's information site and read. I read for perhaps an hour. There was gastric bypass surgery, there was another type of surgery that was invasive. There was also the type of incision. I was quickly opting for laproscopic surgery. Small incision, scope to aid the doctor to see what was inside. Less invasive, quicker recovery(...I'll take some fries with that). I phoned the center and the voice on the other end was a rich accent (Jamaica?) and gentle. She asked all the questions I anticipated. I'd been down this road with my children and their pediatric disorders. Who? What? What kind of insurance? The quicker route would be to have my doctor's office call this center because everything is a referral. Making a decision to have a procedure like this is the first step the second, step is the business of it. Is it covered by insurance? The following Monday was a holiday and as it just happened to be, she was having a seminar with a few other patients. I would attend. That weekend went fast and Monday morning I was on my way down to New Port Richey, to the hospital, to the empty parking lot (holiday) to the office of Ivy. The first thing I did was sit down OF COURSE that is what fat people do when they first enter a room! (note to self: send that joke to Louis). We made our way across the hall to the meeting room. There is something about conference rooms that put me at ease. I expect a lecture, a Power Point because the screen is down and soon we are joined by a couple. Later I would exchange email addresses with "Patti" who happened to have a favorite color too...PURPLE! She saw my "Pattypreferspurple" email address on the sign up sheet and we clicked from that moment on. She had come with her husband. Then there was Gerry. I looked at them and we all seemed to have this spiritual connection. I was past being shy about my obesity, I'm big and I know it. After a few hours I was hungry and my sugar was getting low. I asked Ivy for a banana or something to raise my sugar, FOOD? She called down to the cafeteria and ordered up a few breakfast items and coffee. What do fat people love to do when they come together? ORDER IN! What did I care that there were pastries on the tray, I was here for a procedure that wouldn't allow me to eat more than 1 oz. of food, " A shot glass" as I put it. We laughed, ate, drank and got down to the business of filling out paperwork, copying identification cards and preparing ourselves for the business of weight loss. and it occurred to me. These people were smart, well articulated and with the collective as a group, we were already breaking down the percentages of the data on the Power Point and realizing that a large % of the group did not return post the procedure in the study group. So I admit that I too have the misperception that fat people are stupid, food numbed individuals who wile the hours away in front of a television doing everything but being nutritiously sound in mind and spirit. I'm beginning to learn a lot of WRONG things that like the rest of the world, I believe to be true.

Getting really excited! My last doc visit of six is this Aug 12! Got my X-ray done today. Will get blood test on Monday, then Nut visit on Tuesday. Finally my last doc visit before they send in paper work to get approved with insurance! Feeling very anxious with the insurance part... I hope it goes smoothly with them! Hoping to get it done first week of October. I have GEHA as my insurance...has anyone in this forum go through them and did they give you any trouble?

I don't have to lose 10% - I just have to fulfill the requirements of the program above by meeting multiple times over the 90 days with a psychologist for behavior mod, a NUT to learn how to eat better, and a personal trainer (certified) to increase pulmonary function and learn how to exercise for optimum post-surgery outcomes. And I have to see my surgeon 1x a month to oversee all of the areas and document them thoroughly (they all have forms to fill out and submit to him). I don't have to lose 10% though. I'm sure every plan is different though. Mine is just the basically outline on Aetna's website without anything additional. And my surgeon doesn't require anything beyond what insurance does. Thanks for all the responses - I was just hoping for some clarification prior to meeting with my surgeon's coordinator in a couple of weeks, but they felt sorry for me after I pestered them with calls and explained on the phone so I could start with the NUT, psych and PT now.

Oh gee thanks! That settles alot! I just see alot of people taking three weeks off and such. My bf takes alot of the same classes so he will help alot..i hope everything goes well.

I got my first fill yesterday. That is only 2 1/2 weeks post-op. It took 3 sticks for my doctor to get it in the port. I think he would have had me wait until the next visit after poking me for the 2nd time, but I told him it was OK to do it again. I was ready to get this going. Afterward, I swigged a drink of water not even thinking to take sips. It felt like a golf ball was in my esophagus. I burped a lot also. It was slow going down, but did go down. It is now 24 hours later, and things are going down easier. I do have restriction and don't think I would want to try anything but liquids right now. I know that will change as I lose.

My exercise coach recommended that I see the therapist at the Baratric Center, where they have the 'team' for the patients. I had a lot of 'head-heart hunger,' too. It's almost at if I feel that I don't deserve to be thin. It's a struggle, but it so nice to have even the 40 lbs. gone. One pound a week. We can do that. We must do that. My doctor told me that they don't have patients over 60 that are as heavy as me, because they don't live being this heavy to over 60. So, I'm doing my best, could be better, but with the right therapy, motivation, exercise, support and a lot of prayer, I believe I can do this! And I'll pray for you that you will, too!