How did you first find out about bariatric surgery and what were your initial impressions of it?

I found out about the surgery from a friend who had it done and had great results.

Describe your experience with getting insurance approval for surgery. What advice, if any, do you have for other people in this stage?

My insurance wouldn't pay for the surgery, so I had to use my savings.

What was your first visit with your surgeon like? How can people get the most out of this meeting?

My first visit was very informative, but I wish I had done more research beforehand so I would've known what questions to ask.

What made you finally decide to have the surgery?

I decided that I didn't want to be "40 and fat".

How did you decide which proceedure to have?

My doctor recommended which procedure he thought would be best for me and my weight.

What fears did you have about having complications or even dying from from the surgery, and what would you tell other people having the same fears now?

I was more worried about how overweight I was and my health than having complications from the surgery.

How did your family and friends react to your decision? Would you have communicated anything differently if you could now? How supportive were they after your surgery?

My family and friends have all been very supportive. I haven't had any negative reactions.

How did your employer/supervisor react to your decision? What did you tell him/her? How long were you out of work?

I actually didn't tell my employer until afterwards. I had the procedure done on a Thursday, and went back to work on the very next Monday. When he noticed how much weight I had lost, he began complimenting me so much that I felt guilty and had to tell him how I lost the weight.

What was your stay in the hospital like? How long where you there? What things are most important to bring?

I came home same day of my gastric band procedure.

Did you have any complications from the surgery? If so, how did you deal with them?

I didn't have any complications from the surgery.

In the weeks after you got your surgery date, how did you feel? How did you cope with any anxiety you might have felt?

I felt excited about my surgery.

How far did you travel to have your surgery? (If far, how did this affect your aftercare?)

I only had to travel about 50 miles to have my surgery, so it makes travel for follow-up appointments relatively easy.

Please describe in detail what things you could and couldn't eat in the weeks and months following surgery. What foods have been off limits? Please explain how your dietary tolerance changed week-by-week, and then month-by-month since surgery.

Any bread, or very dry foods are hard to tolerate.

What was your actvity level in the days and weeks after surgery?

I was back to my normal activities after a few short days.

What vitamins and/or dietary supplements have you taken since your surgery?

I am currently taking a multivitamin

What side effects (nausea, vomiting, sleep disturbace, dumping, hair loss etc.) were worse for you? For how long after surgery did they persist? How did you cope with them?

I did experience some hair loss at first, but am back to normal now.

What was the worst part about the entire bariatric surgery process?

Limiting myself on the amount offavorite foods has been hard to get used to, but once I learned that I can still have those things, just a very small amount, it wasn't so bad

What is your scar like? Is this what you expected?

I have four very small laparascopic incisions. The biggest one is to the right of my bellybutton, and is about two inches in length. The others are hardly noticeable.

Do you notice people treating you any differently now?

Some people that I have always known that didn't even speak to me before are now friendly to me. They would never even carry on a conversation with me when I was overweight. Now these people (males in particular) talk to me like we have been best friends for years. It just shows me how shallow some people really are.