anyone have surgery in norfolk,va

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

hello, i am currently going through the process of getting banded and i am looking for anyone who may have been banded in norfolk,va and i would love to hear from anyone who is like 3-4 years or so out and pick their brain a lil.:wink:

Edited April 2, 2008 by BANDIT GIRL

[jshelley24 0]

I am also in the process of having surgery in Norfolk, VA. The support group was great...it was held at ECPI. Are you going through Norfolk Surgical Group? If so, the support group was really informative because it was a mix of both post op and preop patients...You should check it out. Good Luck.

[VIRGO_GIRL824 0]

Ditto what jshelly24 said. The support group was great! Lots of good people. Are you going to Norfolk General or Depaul?

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

hey fellow norfolk bandsters! yes, i am also going through nsg with dr fontana. what dr are u guys using? i am excited about going to the support grp. i am scheduled in april. maybe i will c u there. my name is della. have u guys been through the white light scan yet? that was fun.....had to get naked...but no one sees u. they stand around the corner. it is cool to c ur image. were there post op people for a few yrs out at the support group? i am gonna be at norfolk general.

[VIRGO_GIRL824 0]

Hey Bandit Girl...

I will speak for myself and jshelly24 (since we know each other) we are both fontana patients. Going for pre op testing (ekg, u/s, barium swallow (yuck) and the such) on 4/8, I go for the white light scan on 4/11 the wellness class on 4/17 and the psych eval on 5/5, then I will be done with all my pre required stuff. jshelly24 and I have appointments all on the same days within about 30 mins to and hour of each other! At the support group I atteneded last Thursday there were 2- 6 months out, 1- 1 year out, a 7 week out, a 7 DAY out and a couple more that I can't remember, but the longest was the one who was a year out... She is really great! Hopefully she will be at yours also! Good luck and keep me and jshelley up to date on your progress... feel free to PM me anytime!

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

thank u so much! and i will definetely keep u informed. i am also going through this with my boss. we have all our appts together too.we figured we both wanted it and our insurance just started paying for it this yr(optima health) all of our appts r scheduled in april. i think lab/ekg/us/cxr for 4/4,support and wellness 4/17,psych 4/28.i am scared and excited all at the same time. good luck to u guys! were u at the meeting to get ur big book with mary on the 5th or so? i think we may have been at the same one. i was there with the red head and we both work for sentara.

Edited March 25, 2008 by BANDIT GIRL

[VIRGO_GIRL824 0]

thank u so much! and i will definetely keep u informed. i am also going through this with my boss. we have all our appts together too.we figured we both wanted it and our insurance just started paying for it this yr(optima health) all of our appts r scheduled in april. i think lab/ekg/us/cxr for 4/4,support and wellness 4/17,psych 4/28.i am scared and excited all at the same time. good luck to u guys!

So are u a Sentara employee??? So are jshelley and I! We go to the support and wellness 4/17 also so i guess we will see you there! Which psych are you seeing??? May was the earliest we could get with Kati Lynch, the other psychs on the list did not have openings until July!!!! You are luck to have gotten in so soon.

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

yes, we r sentara employess also.this is soo cool to have met u guys! we are seeing kati lynch too! wow small world.yeah, i thought this whole process would be much longer . i am happy it is moving fast.we r just concerned about out 1yr dr supervised weight loss attempt. but i may have that under control though.(hopefully) that is soooooo horrible to put a yr stipulation on that, most insurances do 3-6months.like i haven't tried to lose weight the last 20yrs of my life! what do they think i can do diff in a yr? lol anyway i look forward to maybe meeting u at the wellness class.

[VIRGO_GIRL824 0]

I know about the 1 year stipulation... it sux!!! I heard that it had to be 1 year on a dr supervised diet like weight watchers, medifast, etc... jshelley asked at her financial meeting and was told as long as your doctor weighs you everytime you go and there has been flucuations (sp?) then that should be sufficent. I really hope so... I am keeping my fingers crossed... I started seeing a new Dr. in September who is wonderful and i am sure he has been documenting my weight and the things we have discussed about diet. I'm not so sure about my doctor before that... I know they took my weight, but not sure if he documented how we talked about exercise and eating right... he also have me a diet to follow to lower cholesterol... I just hope and pray that that is all they need. I have to get this done and i can't wait another year.

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

yeah, it does.....i spoke to my dr yesterday and she is gonna write me a letter about the work i've done in the last yr. i have been off/on weightwatchers for the last 3 yrs. i took her all my records from the online ww site and she is gonna c me for a couple more months and we will c. i know optima is gonna be mad when they c all these sentara employees trying to get surgery...lol! i called optima and i got a letter from lola the insurance coordinator and it said it has to be 1yr and it has to be documented in the dr record.i think it's bogus but i will jump through the hoops to get where i need to be. it has to be a actual diet not just the recorded weights.

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

testing 123

[VIRGO_GIRL824 0]

Hey! I guess me and Jen were the only ones who responded, and unfortunately we are not post-op! I wanted to ask you something, so i am going to try to pm u....

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

Hey! I guess me and Jen were the only ones who responded, and unfortunately we are not post-op! I wanted to ask you something, so i am going to try to pm u....

hey, u can im me at work if u use the group messenger....della gobble :wink_smile:

[heavy duty 0]

Hi all,

I am having surgery 8/21 with Dr Fontana and I wanted to get the firsthand scoop on the hospital stay and the post-op. How sore were you and how long did you remain out of work after the surgery? I am planning on taking a week, but wanted other opinions.

Also, I was told in my pre-op class that there is no sensation of restriction until the first fill. How can that be possible? There are folks who have gone 6 months without one.... Just curious.

Any other tips, advice would be great. I start the pre-op liquids this Thursday. Also, what Protein drinks do you recommend (best tasting) because some of those shakes are not good!!

Thanks!

[BANDIT GIRL 1]

Hi all,

I am having surgery 8/21 with Dr Fontana and I wanted to get the firsthand scoop on the hospital stay and the post-op. How sore were you and how long did you remain out of work after the surgery? I am planning on taking a week, but wanted other opinions.

Also, I was told in my pre-op class that there is no sensation of restriction until the first fill. How can that be possible? There are folks who have gone 6 months without one.... Just curious.

Any other tips, advice would be great. I start the pre-op liquids this Thursday. Also, what Protein drinks do you recommend (best tasting) because some of those shakes are not good!!

Thanks!

Hello again! I cannot recommend any shakes because the few that I have tried were yucky. I kinda feel a little restriction. The PA Deborah told me that Dr. Fontana leaves in a little Fluid in the band during the surgery. Not sure how much, probably differs per patient. I am out for 2wks per Dr. Fontana. I go back to work on the 18th. :frown:lol. The hospital stay was wonderful. Everyone in the short stay unit were great! I honestly wasn't that sore. I probably used my pain med pump a hand full of times. It really only hurt some when getting up and after walking cause ya use those stomach muscles when getting up and walking. You will have an upper GI test before you go home the next morning. The barium you have to sip is a little yucky. They do that to make sure everything is in place. I really would take the 2wks. I don't think I would've wanted to go back in a wk. It's just better with the tummy soreness and being on the liquid diet and concentrating on that. It honestly isn't as hard as I thought it would be at all. So i wish you luck!!! Keep us informed.