<think the following in a Southern accent> Well, mah, mah Pookie dear. You do go on dahlin!
Hi dg39! The Queen has arrived. I'm doing my queen wave, but unfortunately just gave myself a black eye because of all my lovely, hanging upper arm skin hitting me in the face!
I had LapBand surgery April 6, 2004. I am down 72 pounds and am a happier, healthier person. I had my surgery done in Greeley, Colorado by Dr. Johnell and am very happy I made this decision. The ultimate goal is to end up 100-120 pounds smaller than I was.
Your husband chose a good surgery. Hopefully he's done all his homework and knows what to expect. I think that is very, very important. One of the common things I see people get upset about is the rate of weightloss.
We don't lose as quickly as a gastric bypass patient will!
That is so important that I had to put it in red. There are times that it gets very difficult to compare results and see them losing so much faster. He probably already knows that by the two year mark the losses are about the same.
The procedure itself is pretty easy - at least it was for me. I had my surgery one morning and went home the next. The first couple of days, he'll probably need to take it easy because the incisions will be sore. I only had to take pain medications twice though. As a matter of fact, I traveled to Arizona a week after my surgery to host my parents anniversary party. Nobody could tell I'd had surgery, except that I was on a full liquid diet.
I see a lot of people who complain about bad gas pain after surgery. The surgeon expands the abdominal cavity with air during surgery and this air can cause pain afterward. I had very little problem with this, but I know it's pretty common, so he needs to know this can happen.
Hopefully his doctor has a great aftercare program. If they have support groups and educational classes, I highly recommend them. I felt well prepared after my surgery because my doctor's program is so well done. I see lots of questions from people who didn't have such a great program and feel very fortunate that I didn't have guess at things. A specific list of foods from his doctor that can be consumed during the different recovery stages is essential. Speaking of which, if his surgeon recommends protein drinks, I suggest your husband starts looking for one now that he can handle. From my experience, Unjury makes the best ones available, but YMMV.
Also, check out the lapband forum at Obesity Help (
http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobe...and/posts.html) because there area lot more bandsters there.
What Pookie didn't tell you is that besides being the Queen of Lapbandia, I'm also the Queen of Long Stinkin' Responses! Really, if you or DH have any questions, I'm happy to answer. I love my band!
Chickadee
Queen of all things Banded
Question on Lapband
