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Well, my doctor suggests a week off, but I had my surgery on a Thursday, and was back to work the next Monday. I was still pretty sore, but I did not have a choice. I was okay as long as I was sitting, but getting up and down from my desk was what bothered me. But I think it helped in the long run--I think being as active as possible as soon as possible helps--especially with the gas pains!

I did my surgery over Christmas break and after two weeks when I finally went back to work (I'm a teacher) I still felt a bit weak and dizzy. Loose clothing helped a lot. After about 2 days at work, I was fine!

My doctor suggests 3-4 weeks off. I put in for that time off from work. During my f/u appointment, if i'm doing okay... I can go back. I really don't mind the time off because i'll be over my liquids stage and it'll be easier to adapt.

Just need to give myself a little boost here. I know you all will understand. First, let me say that I hate exercise. I will find ANY excuse, even scrubbing a toilet, to not exercies. See, I used to be a competitive powerlifter and my demon-coach made me work out 4-5 hours a day 6 days a week and since I gave that up, I can't stand it. WELL, after my pre-op class, I was determined to try. I can hardly do anything because I get out of breath and my knees and feet hurt but I am doing it!! I did 10 minutes on the treadmill followed immediately by 10 minutes on the bike. And not only did I do it once, I have done it daily for 3 days now. I just feel so good and for those of you who have read my other threads about my husband, you will understand my need for validation that I am doing something good!! thanks for listening!!:thumbup::ohmy::thumbup::smile2:

Hi Everyone, I am 16 weeks pregnant and starting to definitely show. I was wondering if the port is going to show when I really start to protrude. I can and always have been able to feel my port easily under the skin but now I really wonder what the port will look like with a big pregnant belly. What did your pregnant belly and port look like? Did you have any issues or do you have any recommendations for a fellow pregnant bander? I would love to hear all!!! Thanks!

Hey everyone! Im Ashley and I was sleeves 2/3/14 so im 5 1/2 weeks post op.

yay i finally found the preggy section. Im currently around 20 weeks pregnant with my 2nd girl. 1st pregnancy with the Lap band. I am wondering how things are going to go when the baby gets bigger, im having a real fear that my ports going tro be ripped out by the baby or something.??? Since being preg i havnt seen my band dr at all... tut tut because i really did not want him taking all my fills out. i have 5 mls in there atm and i feel i am eating like a horse atm maybe ive stretched it :S... im watching the numbers on the scale go up and even tho i know im preg it still dissapoints me. I just weighjed myself this morning and im 98kgs im like omg its heading towards 100. with my 1st pregnancy i put on wayyyy to much weight and im just so scared of doing that again.

Hey all I am so exited to transition to the next phase how ever my menu is limited with ideas please share your favorites. Thanks you I don't regret any decision in my life because at the end I will make it work

it sounds like you are being banded in a really great place if they are going to that extent to do all the pre op testing first. So, I think you will be in good hands. I have my surgery on August 5th, and it can't happen fast enough for me. The liquid diet IS hard for the first 4 days or so. You WILL be hungry and maybe a bit miserable. But, if you weigh yourself often, you should notice some results on the scale, which will be an incentive. And after day 4 your tummy will just stop asking you for food. I was starving to begin with, and now that I'm at the end of the two weeks, I'm having trouble getting down three shakes a day. About your Mom....maybe you could show her some studies on obesity, or better yet, show her the documentary about it on PBS. I think maybe she just needs some more information. It's natural for people to think that you can do this by yourself, and that surgery is too drastic, but that fact is, most people can't do it by themselves. If you go to www.pbs.org and type in "obesity" you'll probably find the documentary. Take care, and I hope all goes well!

So did the pulminology test Tuesday. Was supposed to meet with NUT today so the insurance could be submitted next week. Well I guess there was an error on my pulminology results and they need to retest. So hope I can get that done soon. I had set up my NUT appointment a few weeks ago and I was told it was today at 11:30. I showed up at 11:20 and the receptionist told me I didn't have an appointment set up for today. She said they scheduled me for September 28th. What??? So the receptionist squeezed me in in Tuesday. I just want these tests done already! :-( Little things that have been so aggravating.

I have finished with all the required groups. I was there for the Physician group. I agree that Carmen is awesome. My next appt is Friday. I go to purchase the Opti Fast then and start the 4 week diet the following Monday. Then I have the weekly groups for it on Thursday mornings. I hope you can get a surgery the beginning of December. I got my approval at the beginning of September and her first available day for surgery was Nov 7. I was hoping for a October date but they seem to be very busy this time of year. Good luck I will try and go on Tuesday and we can meet! Is it the morning or evening group?

It's pretty sad....this country that we live in can't/won't give us the medical attention we need... Thanks everyone for sharing your reason's with me....our insurance does cover the sleeve....but time will tell what kind of answer we get from them once St. Joe's files the paper work....I had several pre-op tests this past Monday and it should take about a week for the results...as soon as the office receives them, they will file with the Insurance Co.

Good Luck I'll be there next week and can't wait

Its an "adjustment period"!!! (I hate the word "stall"!) Your body is resting, getting ready for another loss phase....so just hang in there!!! Before you know it, you'll be kissing 200 GOODBYE!!!

i'm actually cleared for roughage at 7 weeks, which will be the last thing i'm cleared for. but i would still check with your NUT first!

SO After going to a few different doctors and seeing an endocrinologist and explaining my symptoms a few weeks ago my endocrinologist thought i must have low blood sugar, he gave me a blood sugar tester and asked me to moniter it and if i got the dizzy fainting spells to test it out right away. I was testing my blood sugar normally and found that I was always testing normal... I then had an appointment with my surgeon, explained all the concerns and he just looked at me like i was a hypocondriac i told him the endocrinologist was running lots of blood tests on me that i was awaiting the results of and that my bloodsugar so far was coming up normal all the time, he literally listened to me talk and then told me i was a normal healthy person and that if I REAAALY wanted too i could go get a ct scan to see everything going on if i really felt concerned but that he dosnt think i need too (im a cash pay) anyway i left his office and went home, a few days later i had another episode of nausea passing out ect.i had someone with me this time and he rushed me to the hospitol (i passed out in the car) woke up and debated going in, i walked around a little and started to feel better, i decided not to go in...then i went back to my endocrinologist this time i saw a different doctor (former er doc) and explained to him my symptoms that it happend again and that wen i tested my bloodsugar in the middle of all this it was normal. He consulted the other endo i had seen previously and they both came in to talk with me. They were fairly confident that during my surgery my surgeon damaged my vagus nerve. they seemed very concerned but at the same time there was really nothing they could do for me (they deal with blood disordered and all my blood work came out perfect) they told me that it is a huge concern but something that really dosnt have a fix and its something im going to have to learn to deal with for the rest of my life... i dont know where to go from here... the vagus nerve runs through your entire body...what does this mean? i guess i was so shocked at the diagnosis i didnt even ask all the questions i wanted too... what does this mean for me in the future when i want to have children? they seemed shocked that i saw my surgeon a few weeks ago and i explained my symptoms to him and he didnt say anything (almost like it was so obvious what was wrong with me that any experienced surgeon would KNOW what was going on and advise me of what could have happend) i feel so wronged like my surgeon was keeping this from me because he was scared of how my mother (who was with me at the appointment) would act.... i dont even know how seriouse this could be....this nerve runs through the whole body are there any people out there with maybe some knowledge on this subject that could shed some light?

I did the post-op diet for 3 weeks -- my liver looked GREAT! Do whatever you can do, it's not going to hurt anything as long as you do the pre-op diet.

That's what I did. I went to all my favorite restaurants and don't regret it. I would try to cut down on sugars a little in the last few days so that it will be a little less hard on the withdrawls. Good luck and enjoy your last week.

Wow Mac that's great ... my whole life has been a diet - down 20, up 12, down 15, up 10 ... I would have done the pre-op diet longer but once I decided on Dr. Aceves, it was only weeks before my surgery.

I'm curious as well. I have an appointment with my GH doctor on the 14th for my referral. I've heard that it could take upwards of two years to get the procedure done though. I'm hoping that is NOT the case. So hopefully I'll have some more answers in a couple weeks, but until then.....I worry!!

Our "Team of Experts" here in Portsmouth, NH requires .... Initial group seminar. Fill in paper work. Meet with RN a few weeks later and she tells you to loose 10% of body weight. Diet ...Meet with RN again, go see Shrink one on one and then once a week for 5 weeks with a small group. Meet the nutritionist twice, go to physical therapy twice. THEN .... if you have met all the requirements you finally get to see the surgeon. Go for an upper GI testing, EKG, chest x-ray and tons of blood work (that is where I am). Then it gets insurance approval, meet with surgeon again and get surgery date. I bet in a few years this procedure will be so common that all these hoops you have to jump through will be cut in half ... or they will come up with a magic pill that does what the lap band does now. This is the second time doing this. Last time I was just not committed enough and didn't know what I was getting myself into with all these appointments. How can people with a full time job / family get all this done? It's like another part time job. This takes many months depending how long it takes to loose the weight and when you can fit all these appointments in. I started again in March 2009. Surgery will probably be sometime in July. I'm one of the "quick" ones cause I worked my ass off to loose weight and wasn't made to take the 5 week course again.

it must be very hard that your family is not supporting you...I am lucky in a way because my family is.. well my Husband and my Sister are. I don't think my teen is.. she is not so keen on the idea. but she really has not said anything to me.. but what she and my other daughter don't know is I am doing this for them as well as me. I want to be healthy for so long I have always wanted to be healthy and happy.. I am not happy, I am down right a mean and sad.. and if I keep going like that they my life is only going to be one pile of junk and I dont want that for them.. I am also doing thos for my self.. I truly belive if I am not happy then who can I make other people happy.. or have other people like me.. I think your doing what makes you happy and if you are not happy with your weight or your health .. then you got to do what you got to do and what you want to do.. so good luck. and do what makes you happy.. this is a very scary thing... and waiting is a tough thing I am so happy that my program I am makes you go through all this stuff. I went to an information meeting in Jan. then in feb I had my first meeting with the surgeon then two weeks ago I had my work up stuff. stress test, upper GI. blood work, ecko cardio gram. then on the 16th I go for the phy eval.. (well there goes that I failed) hahah and I have to work with a nutritionist then I see the Doc between all that. then I have to have a sleep study.. then.. I am not sure I think we do get it scheduled.. gosh I think having a baby went faster..LOL you know it is almost like that.. you know its coming after a certin amount of time that passes and you prepair all for it.. LOL well any ways feel free to write me any time good luck You can do it

Hi! My surgery is a week from today! Woo hoo! Still working on getting all my pre-op done, which is stressful. Endoscopy is tomorrow...EKG later today. I'm rushed because there was a cancellation for next week and I took it! :biggrin: I'm wondering if there are any 20-somethings (I'm 26) that would like to stay in touch as email buddies for support, etc? I live in the Thousand Oaks, CA area, so even if you aren't a "20-something", but live in the area, let me know! I haven't been able to find a local support group, so I'd like to hear from some locals on that. Thanks everybody! Wish me LUCK! amy

It is sooooo worth it in the end, so be patient. I had trouble with the pre 3 month weight loss program my insurance required. The PA was not nice, was shaming and critical. One session I told him he had never told me a certain thing and he lambasted me saying the other three ladies in the group that day would tell me differently - I reminded him I had never been with this set of ladies before as they had stuck me with a different group each time I came. He always made me cry. They kept mixing up appts and times. I came for an hour visit at the assigned time to find out they had moved me to a 3-hr group from an individual hour appt. The group wasn't to start for another over 30 minutes later, and they hadn't notified me about the appt changing to three hours either. I had to work following the scheduled hour appt. It was a mess each time I went. I kept telling myself it's only three months, only three months like a mantra and I would never have to see these people again.Whew! thanks for letting me vent, too. Soon it will be all done, with some followup appts, but after surgery it is really about YOU, your program and you using this wonderful tool of VSG well. Don't let the turkeys get you down.

I start my liquid diet on Friday for surgery on the 21st. This is my food funeral. Portuguese pichadinos Flank stuffed with spinach and feta Prosciutto wrapped chicken breast Not sure what to make the other 2 days. Maybe pizza and Chinese.