Looking for advice
I am just beginning the process and will meet with my surgeon next week. I am not sure sure which procedure I will have or when. My daughter is getting married in July and I want to make sure I will be feeling fine by then.
I've got some basic questions I am hope you can help with:
With lap band, are the things you are allowed to eat as restrictive as with gastric bypass?
Do you suggest I have the surgery before or after the wedding? I need to follow a nutritionist for 3 months prior to surgery, wo that would put it in May.
How do I figure out how much I will lose before the wedding for dress buying purposes?
I'm open to sugggestions abouot all of these and more...
Thanks
I've got some basic questions I am hope you can help with:
With lap band, are the things you are allowed to eat as restrictive as with gastric bypass?
Do you suggest I have the surgery before or after the wedding? I need to follow a nutritionist for 3 months prior to surgery, wo that would put it in May.
How do I figure out how much I will lose before the wedding for dress buying purposes?
I'm open to sugggestions abouot all of these and more...
Thanks
Cathy
I don't know if the foods are as restrictive with lap band as they are with rny, which is what I had. With the lap band, I would think you would still have to restrict fats and sugar in order to get the best results. I wish I could help you decide on a procedure, but you have to decide what's right for you. Do your research about the procedures, discuss it with your surgeon, and visit the boards for each procedure.
As for clothing sizes, everyone progresses at a different rate. I think I was in a different size about every 3 weeks for the first 5 months or so.
Good luck with your decision!!!
Julia
The first hurdle is to see exactly what your insurance requires along with the wait time for your surgery. You know that you already have to wait a minimum of 3 months. Many plans now require at least a 6 mos nutritionist/doctor review. Hopefully your surgeon insurance person will have that info for you, or can get it for you.
Also, once you are approved, doesn't mean you wil have surgery exactly at that time. There are some doctors who schedule you for a procedure without the actual approval....but some (like mine) won't even begin to discuss scheduling until the approval has been made. Personally, I prefer the later and understand why they do that.
So....see where you go from here. See how the 3 months goes. When you get approval, talk to the scheduler. They will have some insight. If your surgery would be scheduled for a month or less from the wedding, I would personally post pone the surgery. But I'm an RNY girl, not lap band, so the lap band girls here would probably have a better idea on that.
What I do know about the lap band is although not nearly as restricted, because you don't get "sick" off of sugar and fat foods, you still need to eat frequently, and as someone else said, to get the BEST results, you need to restrict fat and sugar. It's just the way things are...calories in vs calories out.
In the meantime, continue to do research and decide on what is right for you.
As far as the dress is concerned.....that will all depend on if you have surgery and when you have it and when you order the dress. I would of course, err on the side of caution, not order it to small even if you have had the surgery, and suck it up and pay for alterations when the time comes. Most of the time it's easier to take things in than it is out.
Pam
Also, once you are approved, doesn't mean you wil have surgery exactly at that time. There are some doctors who schedule you for a procedure without the actual approval....but some (like mine) won't even begin to discuss scheduling until the approval has been made. Personally, I prefer the later and understand why they do that.
So....see where you go from here. See how the 3 months goes. When you get approval, talk to the scheduler. They will have some insight. If your surgery would be scheduled for a month or less from the wedding, I would personally post pone the surgery. But I'm an RNY girl, not lap band, so the lap band girls here would probably have a better idea on that.
What I do know about the lap band is although not nearly as restricted, because you don't get "sick" off of sugar and fat foods, you still need to eat frequently, and as someone else said, to get the BEST results, you need to restrict fat and sugar. It's just the way things are...calories in vs calories out.
In the meantime, continue to do research and decide on what is right for you.
As far as the dress is concerned.....that will all depend on if you have surgery and when you have it and when you order the dress. I would of course, err on the side of caution, not order it to small even if you have had the surgery, and suck it up and pay for alterations when the time comes. Most of the time it's easier to take things in than it is out.
Pam
Instead of complaining that the rosebush has thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses. 
Congratulations on starting this process. I sincerely hope that the main reason you are choosing to have this surgery is NOT because of your daughters wedding. (Which, another big Congrats BTW) I know when I was trying to figure out the best time to have my surgery, I spoke with the surgeon regarding a trip overseas I was taking. The time of my trip would have been about 3 months after my surgery when we talked about it. When the surgery actually happened, it was almost four months after my surgery and I felt great and traveling was not a problem - as a matter of fact, it was much easier becuase I had already dropped about 50-60 pounds at the time. I had RNY and was very restricted as I was overseas and was advised not to try anything new. I agree with what someone else said - that if you are thinking of doing it about a month before, I would wait until after the wedding! Good luck to you!
Welcome. Deciding what surgery to have is a very personal decision. It should be based on LOTS of research, and soul searching. I choose the RNY for several reasons. One of those reasons is that I have a major sweet tooth and I wanted the restrictive nature of the RNY to help me with that problem. Good luck with the process and feel free to ask as many questions as you want.
Cathy,
I PM'ed you as well with some more info.
But I wanted to say.... This is your daughter's wedding you're talking about - there WILL be stress and chaos involved. I would think (were I in your shoes) that the LAST thing you'd want in the month or two prior to the wedding would be a major surgery and recovery! My recommendation would be to spend the time in the run up to the wedding enjoying the preparations, planning and chaos, and then have the surgery to look forward to afterward. You'll stress less if your surgery gets postponed a week or two due to some unforeseen thing (yep, it happens) and you'll be feeling great for the wedding itself. You'll also be able to better calculate your size and order your dress.
As to the choice between RNY and LAP-Band, you need to put thought into why you've failed in the past at "diets." For me, I knew that if I HAD a choice of what to eat post-surg, I would choose the wrong things and it would all be for nothing. With Lap-Band, I have been told that you can literally eat anything, just in smaller portions. I knew that wouldn't work for me, which is why I chose RNY. The "threat" of dumping on sugar and high fats would keep me honest and "on plan" by externalizing my poor impulse control. I am a sugar addict and a carb addict, so recognizing that was a key component of picking which surgery would work for me.
Once I picked the surgery, I did the research of surgeons in this region, looking at number of surgeries/experience, complication/death rates, read reviews by their patients, and then went to presentations (the group presentations that you don't have to pay for) by several of them. I knew I needed to be comfortable with the person and with the staff and office, and that's why I picked Dr. Pupkova and Barix.
I had frankly underestimated just HOW important the relationship is that you build with your surgeon and their support staff. I had thought of the process as a "one and done" surgery kinda like when I had my gallbladder out... and that the followup and support would be something I'd need to handle on my own. HOW WRONG I WAS!!! I firmly believe that the office and surgeon has a huge impact on your post-surg life, choices you make, information you have, and ultimately your success rate, and that relationship is measured in years, not months or weeks.
Hope this helps - sorry it's long!
Karen
I PM'ed you as well with some more info.
But I wanted to say.... This is your daughter's wedding you're talking about - there WILL be stress and chaos involved. I would think (were I in your shoes) that the LAST thing you'd want in the month or two prior to the wedding would be a major surgery and recovery! My recommendation would be to spend the time in the run up to the wedding enjoying the preparations, planning and chaos, and then have the surgery to look forward to afterward. You'll stress less if your surgery gets postponed a week or two due to some unforeseen thing (yep, it happens) and you'll be feeling great for the wedding itself. You'll also be able to better calculate your size and order your dress.
As to the choice between RNY and LAP-Band, you need to put thought into why you've failed in the past at "diets." For me, I knew that if I HAD a choice of what to eat post-surg, I would choose the wrong things and it would all be for nothing. With Lap-Band, I have been told that you can literally eat anything, just in smaller portions. I knew that wouldn't work for me, which is why I chose RNY. The "threat" of dumping on sugar and high fats would keep me honest and "on plan" by externalizing my poor impulse control. I am a sugar addict and a carb addict, so recognizing that was a key component of picking which surgery would work for me.
Once I picked the surgery, I did the research of surgeons in this region, looking at number of surgeries/experience, complication/death rates, read reviews by their patients, and then went to presentations (the group presentations that you don't have to pay for) by several of them. I knew I needed to be comfortable with the person and with the staff and office, and that's why I picked Dr. Pupkova and Barix.
I had frankly underestimated just HOW important the relationship is that you build with your surgeon and their support staff. I had thought of the process as a "one and done" surgery kinda like when I had my gallbladder out... and that the followup and support would be something I'd need to handle on my own. HOW WRONG I WAS!!! I firmly believe that the office and surgeon has a huge impact on your post-surg life, choices you make, information you have, and ultimately your success rate, and that relationship is measured in years, not months or weeks.
Hope this helps - sorry it's long!
Karen
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