Soon to be banded in Richmond

Hey thinner1 (Mary too :))

Hang in there. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to have to travel, eat out and maintain the LAP-BAND^® diet...especially if your co workers like the good (bad) places. Concentrate on making the next 5 weeks count, and you will be successful.

I am still waiting for Dr Brengman's care coordinator to contact me. I tried to call her on Thursday, but she is out this week at a conference. I was sent the Emmi link from Dr. Brengman's office so they must know I am out here waiting. That was encouraging. :) Still not solid date yet. The last person I talked to said sometime in October.

Good Luck to everyone and stay cool. This wet heat is unbelievable. I found a mushroom in my front yard this morning that must have been a foot high. :cry

Mary

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Got my letter today. My surgery date is Sept 27th. And I go in on the 12th for testing and preop!!! I am so excited that I actually have a real date!

Take care,

Mary

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Hey Lukvinke. I'm from Dinwiddie too but currently living in Petersburg. l had surgery at St. Mary's 1/19/07. I deal with Commonwealth Surgeon's. My surgeon was Dr. Amy Martin but she has since moved out of state. I now see Dr. Bautista. I have had no bad experiences thus far besides a tilted port which makes fills time consuming. Janine, nurse practitioner, is great.

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Crishell
Great Things are in store 4 U & me in 2007 & beyond!! :clap2:

Hi everyone! I too am seeing Dr. Schroder at St. Marys. Started the process in June with the seminar. Joyce says I should have a band date in October if everything stays on track . Nice to see sooo many Virginians.

Congrats Luvbug! Sounds like you will be recieving your packet in the mail very soon. Joyce told me that I would have my surgery in October and they scheduled me for Sept 27th so she was pretty close on her estimate.
God Bless

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Crishell
I was also banded at St. Mary's and my doctor was Dr. Batista with Commonwealth. I went there after talking with three woman that work with me that had gastric bypass there. The last one had Amy too and she said she was great. I was disappointed to hear she was gone. But Dr. Batista and Jeanine are great.
I had my first fill on July 31 and have been doing ok, but I think I need another fill. I was on vacation last week so Jeanine would not do another fill until I returned. My appointment is on Tuesday.

You have been banded since January? How are you doing? Do you go to the support groups? Jeanine suggested I go to the joint one rather than just the band one. I was so eager to learn from the first one I went to but there were so many questions from pre banders and then a guest speaker, that I really needed discussion.

Mary Glad you finally have your DATE!! Sept. 27 will be here before you know it!

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Janine

Congrats to those who have upcoming dates!

You won't believe how quickly the day will come....best wishes to all~

Hello Bandmates! It's been a while since I've visited this forum, it doesn't appear on the main page of the site so I will have to remember to check in weekly. I read all of your post and just wanted to say Congrats to all. Crishell, i'm sure we have probably passed one another in the store from time to time and don't even know it, but it's nice to know that you are near and that we are on the same track. I'm doing okay with my weight loss but I keep eating soup for lunch and dinner and like someone mentioned earlier it only fills you up for the moment I need to focus on more protein. I will check weekly to see everybodies progress, keep up the good work be it pre or post op, you can do it.

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On my way to a thinner, healthier me!

Thread Starter  

Congratulations Mary! Less than a week away before your pre-op testing. I didn't find the pre-op diet as too bad, and I lost like 10 pounds on it!

Yesterday I went to Dr Shroder and was expecting to be told to go have another fill. I had my first fill five weeks ago - 3 cc's. The doctor told me I was doing really well and was doing better than a majority of his patients and that he I didn't need another fill yet. According to their records I've lost 9 pounds in the past 5 weeks and 41 pounds total.

Today is the first day I am wearing my size 18 pants! And they aren't tight at all! Funny, I remember when I was in 8th grade in 1978 and my sister got married and my bridesmaid dress was a size 18. I think the sizes are a bit more generous now than then! I wish I still had that dress to try on but my mother threw it away years ago when my parents sold my childhood home.

I've started cleaning out the clothes in my walk-in closet. I am a clothes horse and it was stuffed full with clothes. I did one little section this weekend, about a 4th of the closet, I removed probably 40 items and left about 5.

I am going thru a phase of losing my hair. I haven't started panicking yet cuz I went throught a couple month phase a couple years ago and then it just stopped. I Googled causes of hair loss and the first site I went on to, the first cause the listed, was that major hair loss could occur around 4 months after a major surgery. And before I come to this thread here on LAP-BAND^®.com I found a thread about hair loss and from other bandsters said, it looks like hair loss is normal. It can start anywhere from 3 to 12 months after surgery and can last up to a year. I hope my stops sooner than a year or I will be bald!!!!

I'm still having issues of "binging" on sweets once a week or so. I tell myself I can't have chips or sweets for so many days and I am good for those doay, but then when that target day comes I eat way to much. Couple cookies, some chips, a shake! But at least I've been able to control myself to only binging that one day and then getting back on wagon! In the past, once I started eating the sweets I wouldn't stop. That's how come the million diets I was on never worked!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Congrats on the weightloss Thinner1!! Forty one pounds...that is awesome!! I know what you mean losing your hair. A few months after my last knee surgery my hair thinned out a bit and I was starting to freak. The good news is that it grew back and then some!!
Yeah the 27th is closing in fast, but I am ready. I know I am going to have to work hard, but it will be worth it.
I love this forum, and everyone has been so helpful!!

Go #19 Elliott Sadler (sorry but it's a race weekend)

Mary

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Just checking in on my Virginia Bandmates. Congrats to thinner1 for the weight loss and congrats MaryWalker20 you are getting closer to that big day. Keep up the good work everyone. I'm now incorporating excercise into my daily diet and it is working really well.

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On my way to a thinner, healthier me!

Thanks luvinke. I am so excited about this. Today I went in for my testing and pre-op...it's really going to happen!! Started my pre-op diet today too...not excited about that, but I know it's necessary. Good luck everyone, we can do this!!

Mary

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Mary I have really had you on my mind recently. Hows the pre-op diet going? The 27th will be here before ya know it. Good Luck!

The pre-op is going great. Took a couple of days to get the hang of it, but I am sticking with it. And man do I look forward to my dinner! :) I did get a call from Dr Brengmans nurse and she said that I have some sort of stomach bacteria ususally associated with stomach ulcers. I had no I idea! I was so scared they were going to postpone my surgery but they called in a prescription of Pre Pack. It's 2000 mg of amoxicillian, 2 previcide, and 2 Biaxtin . You have to take 1/2 of the pills in the morning and half at night. It has this nasty side affect that brings up some perfume tasting stuff in the back of your throat. To tell you how bad it is, I normally blow lightly in my horses face (it's a comfort thing), and yesterday I was doing my normal lovin on the horses thing, but when I blew in my quarterhorses face she snapped her ears back and got that wide eyed look. My daughter got a kick out of that. No respect I tell ya!

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Mary... stick with that med before your surgery. I have the same thing (H Pylori) but didn't get my prescription until after. I found I was allergic to one of the pills (exaggerated side effects). And now I'm not eating enough to coat my stomach for the new pills. I wish I had been given them prior!