I got my band!!

Well, after having to postpone my surgery back in May because my liver was too big and they couldn't get around it to do the surgery, I did my low-carb diet for six weeks and tried again.

Honestly, the diet sucked. I stuck to it, but I really wasn't happy. I got so damned tired of eating tuna fish and cottage cheese! :( During the last week of my diet, I found that a deli in my building where I worked sold these organic bagels that were *just* low enough in carbs (30g each) that I could have a bagel for breakfast if I didn't eat any other carbs at all for the rest of the day. Let me tell you, that is the only thing that got me through, I swear, I was missing bread so bad!

So anyway, I went back in for surgery on June 23rd, this past Monday, and it went really well. My doctor told me afterward that my liver had shrunk so much that it was only a quarter of what it was at the last surgery (my liver was really huge before, apparently).

So everything went great, I got my band in, they kept me overnight, and released me the next day. My large incision still hurts a bit, and is pretty tender, but it's so little that I'm off of pain pills as of yesterday. Also the gas pains were gone before I even left the hospital.

I lost 29 lbs on my low-carb diet and I've lost another 8lbs since surgery (though I hate to see how much that's going to slow down once I'm allowed to eat real food again), so I'm doing really good and I'm super-happy!

Thank you guys for all your support before!

Wow congrats!! Im so happy for you!! Keep up the good work!!

Way to go!! I'm glad everything worked out for you! You should be really proud of your weight loss...you are doing really well!

Congrats to you and welcome to bandland!

AWESOME! WTG! =)
Isn't it crazy how our liver can get so big and then shrink back down? I find that amazing.

Good luck on your liquids/mushie stage.

YOU are important and WORTH IT!

278/233/180

That's awesome congrats

WOW!!! What a story about your liver...I am so glad that the diet worked so well for you!...

Now, good luck with the healing...folow docs orders!

Excellent ! But you may have eaten your last bagel :-)

Thank you thank you thank you all of you!

I know! How sad is that! I'm going to have to test if I can eat them if they're toasted and semi-crunchy instead of soft and chewy. Maybe if I take teeny-tiny bites...

Ah, a girl can dream.

Hello,

I have BCBS of RI, how difficult was it? I am waiting to hear...

24 hours. I kid you not. The next day.

Who's your Dr in Atlanta?

WOW! The next day?
My MD is Dr. Steinberg.

I do have a concern, my BMI is 40+ but I have no other comorbid conditions...any thoughts?

Shawna at Dr Steinbergs office will get it thru RI BC/BS with no problem (as long as you see all the preliminary doctors that they set up for you). 40 will be fine, BUT, your primary DR may have to co-operate to the extent that he says that you have been at 40 for the last 5 yrs as opposed to just recently reaching 40.

But, in general, Steinberg has the best insurance support operation going, AND, in general RI BC/BS is very co-operative compared to other insurance companies.

Thanks! That really helps. My BMI was 39.4 in 2003 amd 40+ since then...that is another concern, it has not been at 40+ for a full 5 years, are they really picky?

No, not picky at all. Surprisingly co-operative.