Last week my doc submitted to my insurance company and I found out yesterday I was approved!!!!

My surgery will be scheduled during Thanksgiving week or the following week (need to firm up today).

I am so excited, nervous, scared, happy, relieved, hopeful....UGH so many emotions!!!

Now I must do my pre-op appointments and get ready for the big day! Any advice from you veterans out there to a newbie on how to stay calm before the surgery or on anything that you wish you would have done, read, asked before the surgery?

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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EDIT

Now I have a date too!!  Monday November 24th!!!!!!!!

Lifting you up in prayer at this moment...

In her "skinny" picture she looks plain scary!!!

I have been on this board for some time now and I want to thank you all for your open and honest posts as they have helped me make the decision to pursue the band.

This week my package was submitted to my insurance company (Optima) for review. I am excited, nervous, scared, hopeful, I don't even know what else! I just keep thinking about how great I am going to feel once I finally have some help. I have been off my doctor-monitored diet now since July and I have fluctuated 2-3 pounds since then. I am still exercising like crazy (45 min cardio 4-5 times/week).

Now I have to start really watching how I eat my food. I am still eating too fast and too much. I know that I am not going to be able to REALLY change the too much until I am banded, but I know I need to stop eating so fast and start chewing my food better. I also need to stop drinking while I eat.

Did anyone else feel the way I do now (scared, excited, nervous, unsure, happy,  hopeful, etc) before the band? My mom (who had RNY in 2003) tells me that once the pounds start to come off I won't be so nervous anymore.

Fun questions Jean!!

1. Fav websites: foxnews, coach.com (luv fashion...especially bags and shoes because no matter what I am always the same size!!), facebook, ancestry.com
2. Mom - Curly red hair, blue eyes, independent, strong-willed, stubborn, (we are basically twins...can't tell our childhood pics apart!!)
Dad - Curly red hair, ear for music and playing instruments (mom is tone deaf), athletic ability,  addictive personality traits (dad is a recoving alcoholic)
3. My husband and I met the first day of grad school, first class. He followed me into the building because he thought I was beautiful and was ecstatic to see me enter the same room he needed to go to.
4. Springhead (from my older sis), Butthead (from my dad) and Punkin (from my mom) and I still get called all three!
5. I am the youngest. Just me and my older sis. I am the baby of our family and all that it implies. My husband is the baby of his family so needless to say it is always a negotiation over who will do what around the house!
6.  volunteer consultant to a local non-profit, family historian for my scottish clan, church activities

I have continued the antidepressant discussion on another post (Antidepressants and the band).

Besides medication, is there any other way that one could do everything they are supposed to and still not acheive weight loss with the band?

How much can antidepressants impact the success of the band?

I take 30 mg Lexapro and 50 mg Trazadone. I am scared that these meds which I need to help with my anxiety, depression and panic attacks, will be what keep me from losing weight and becoming healthier.

I eat well but I eat ALOT and I already exercise ALOT (6-8 miles on bike or 3-4 miles elliptical 5 days a week) so I am hoping that portion control and exercise will overcome the antidepressants.

Can anyone tell me how they have done with banding and antidepressants?

That is great news! I take 30 mg.

I know every body is different but still it is awesome to hear such success.

Anyone else?

More weight though may mean longer recovery time and more pain than necessary (im in pain most of the time now).

You'd think this could be same as pregnancy...they could unfill the band prior to the surgery so I would be able to get more food during the recovery time?

Well I have been on these boards since April, trying to decide if I want to do the gastric band. I have been unsuccessful in my doctor-monitored weight-loss program (no weight loss, but no weight gain either) as well as previous diet attempts. (Current weight 205, BMI 37)

This past Friday I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon to have my scoliosis checked. I have had an idiopathic S-curve in my spine since I was 14 (44 degrees thoracic, 47 degrees lumbar at diagnosis). I am now 28. Every ortho surgeon I have seen since then has told me it will not get worse and to just monitor every 4-5 years. The last visit I had in 2004 showed it had not moved since I was about 17 (52 degree thoracic and 56 degree lumbar.)

Well the ortho surgeon on Friday X-rayed and measured the curves. My thoracic curve is now at 58 degrees and my lumbar curve at 44 degrees (which is not an improvement, just merely a shift to compensate for the increase in the thoracic curve). 

The doc told me that it will get worse 1 degree per year for the rest of my life and I will need major spinal surgery in the next 10 years as continued increase in the thoracic curve will increase pressure on my rib cage, causing decreased lung and heart function. 

The surgery SHOULD have been performed when I was young but because the doctor told my parents it was not necessary and that the curves would not get worse after I was skeletally mature, my parents opted for me to NOT have the surgery. Now since I am getting older the chance of paralysis from the surgery increases greatly as does the needed recovery time. Needless to say, I am terrified. My husband and I cried together in the docs office.

I told him I was considering gastric banding and he was very supportive and said he would write a letter to my insurance company if needed in order to get my gastric banding approved. He wants me to have to band and then come back to see him and check if the increase in curvature has slowed (he believes the weight loss will slow the worsening).

My question is:

Does anyone out there have scoliosis as an adult like I do and if so, have you seen any change in how fast your scoliosis is worsening since losing weight through gastric band?

My decision to have gastric banding is starting to become easier to make as these health problems rear their ugly little heads.

Thanks for the replies. I guess my concern is that you know how when you don't eat for awhile you can get headaches?  I'm afraid I will have headaches or be too weak to go to work.