See if this is working......

I tried to send this message to your email address and it didn't go through so I thought I would go a head and post it here. Lap buddies sounds like a good idea to me. I live in Boise and have been here almost 3 years now. We moved here from Washington state to be close to the grandbabies. Of course after we did that they moved to England! They will be moving home next year but meanwhile I have to fly over occasionally to visit. Once I'm there and sleep at least a day we will head off to Venice for a week. I'm really excited about that - it will also be the first time I've seen my son, daughter-in-law and grandbabies since I've had the surgery. I wish I could loose 15 more pounds by the time I leave but I don't think that is going to happen. Even with the band dieting is darn hard work! Has Dr. Korn talked about a pre-op diet? When do you go on your trip to France?

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I started at 260 and lost about 28 on the presurgery diet. I've only lost another 28 since the surgery in mid-Nov. I've cut way down on calories and have joined curves but I'm not losing 2-3# a wk. I think I need to exercise more - I'm only going 3 times a week right now. I travel a lot for my job and don't exercise at the motels - need to work on that. I'm not nearly as hungry as I was and feel a lot better since I've dropped the 56#. I will say that you have to work at losing the weight and have to watch what you eat. I paid for my surgery and would do it again if I had too. I go for my 3rd fill in a couple of weeks and hope that I get more restrictions - not to much though to cause trouble on my vacation. Rae Jean

Hi McKenna - I got my lapband in Nov, my surgeon was Dr. Anderson. Just want to give you a quick reply about the foods you may be able to eat after surgery. I have had two fills so far and will have a third in Feb. So far, I haven't had any problems with bread, rice or pasta. I've only had pop once since surgery and didn't have any problems with it either. I choose not to drink pop at this time so I haven't tested it throughly yet! I have had some issues eating too fast and not chewing my foods enough - still love to gulp and run! and a slow learner at that. You're right about sweets - I have had the occassional cookie here and therebut I'm trying really hard not to do it too often. From what I've read here and on other sites everyone is different on the foods they can tolerate after the band surgery. Hope you have fun in France, I'm going to England and Venice in March and can't wait to try all the different foods in Italy

While I used Dr. Korn for RNY and not Lap Band, I had a great experience with their office.  While they are new to the lap band procedure, their track record and complication rate with the RNY procedure is very good.  Teresa is wonderful when it comes to navigating the insurance requirements.  I think the time from initial visit to surgery will vary greatly depending on the requirements of your insurance.  In my case, my initial visit was at the end of February and my surgery was at the end of June.  The surgery date was actually scheduled during my first visit based on their experience with my insurance.  When it was submitted for insurance approval, they took care to make sure all of the documentation was there and I was approved within a couple of days of submission.  All of the followups have been great.  I also really like JoLynn, the nutritionist that they use.  They work in tandem, so she also received a copy of my post surgery blood tests to help her identify any deficiencies so that she can adjust my supplements.  Good luck with your surgery.  And know that this won't be the last time that you'll be able to enjoy those things---just in smaller quantities.  Do the best you can to diet before the surgery.  While Dr. Korn doesn't expect you to be perfect, he would really like to see you lose some weight as it will shrink your liver and make the surgery easier and safer. Kirsten