Welcome to the board!
You've come to the right place for information and support. I have not had my surgery yet, but have done a lot of research and have stuck around the board the last few months gaining insight. My surgery is now only a few days away......HOORAH! I'll just answer a few that come to mind as I type. Others will chime in with their knowledge and experience. First off......YES, you can drink your water. The thing with water is that you can no longer drink with food. The time frame to stop before a meal and wait after the meal will differ slightly. Mine say stop 30 min before and wait 60 min after. This is to keep the food from turning to liquid and emptying fast......leaving you ready to eat again. In between meals they want you to drink lots of water. The people I know are not sick and unhealthy. They are happy and healthy.......one of the reasons I decided to go for it. Yes, the band is less intrusive. I decided on the bypass over the band because I didn't want to worry about adjustments later......especially if you ever switched insurance companies and they wouldn't pay. Also, I felt the fact that the food processes the same, but just makes you full quicker would make me eat less healthy and keep more weight. I also felt the research was still a little too unsure for me. It's major good points are that you absorb all your vitamins the same, and you can loosen it if you become ill or pregnant and require more food. I'll leave the rest for others.......good luck in your search. Stick around!