ouachita

No. The best revenge is to live well. Don't waste your time being jealous of what you perceive others having or resenting them for how they have treated you - you probably don't have a clue as to how screwed up their personal behind the scenes lives really are. You have to wonder what personal traumas and demons drive their behaviour. If they are capable of personal growth then they will regret their actions anyway, if they are not capable then nothing you can do will have any effect on them. Never argue with a pig. It only makes you look stupid and it annoys the pig.

Ditto everyone else's comments - especially about comittment. The desire to wait for the "next best thing" is understandable but it's like buying a new computer, if you keep putting it off waiting for the newest, fastest chip to come out you never will buy one.

Nice to see another person getting banded on 2/19.

Taking off two weeks. I've got 112 days accumulated sick leave. I've got, I earned it, I'm taking it.

I wonder if the success with meat tenderizer/papaya enzyme people report is due to: 1. Thinning of mucus 2. Reduction of swelling 3. Actual breakdown of the Proteins involved 4. Placebo effect 5. Any combination, or all, of the above As long as it is only your PB that turns orange I guess there's nothing to be too concerned about.

meat tenderizer Typically refers to a powdered naturally derived enzyme powder. The enzyme most commonly used is papain which comes from papayas. Meat is sprinkled with the powder and the enzymes help to break down the meat fibers. The same result can be obtained by marinating meat in papaya or pineapple juice. The tablets do sound a lot more convenient to carry than the powder and having to mix it. Thanks for the tip - now to locate me a local source. Edited to add the following interesting info: Dr. Grossan's Ear, Nose and Throat Consultant Pages <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 VSPACE="0"><! TR WIDTH="100%" BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD"><TBODY><TR bgColor=blue WIDTH="100%"><TD width="20%"> </TD><TD><DD><DD> Comments on Ear, Nose, and Throat Meds & Remedies </DD></TD></TR><TR width="100%"><TD> </TD></TR><!---------Padding row------></TBODY></TABLE> Papaya Enzyme Tablets - Papain and Bromelain are proteolytic enzymes from papaya and pineapple, respectively. These are wonderfully effective, useful medicines that our health care system has made it difficult for us to get at - though it is now available over the internet. BE CAREFUL: You must only use tablets that are calibrated in ENZYME ACTIVITY UNITS. Papaya tablets at health food stores, basically, can have any amount of enzymes in them, and there is no way to know what you are really getting with these. You must dissolve the enzyme tablets in the buccal pouch (between cheek and gum). You will see that many papaya supplement instructions say to chew or swallow; it is well known that the enzymes are inactivated by stomach acids, and swallowing guarantees they will do almost nothing. The reason they instruct you to chew or swallow is most likely due to FDA regulations on supplements. Dissolve in buccal pouch for good absorption. Papain and Bromelain proteolytic enzymes take down swelling and thin mucous. They are effective for everything from helping boxers with their bruises to taking down swelling of the throat, swelling of the eustachian tube, and sinus pain due to blockage. Some of my patients report extremely rapid action in helping them clear their ears in case of inflamed eustachian tube. Years ago, there was a drug called papase on the market, by one of the big drug companies. The story goes that the FDA required tighter rules on getting drugs approved, and paperwork and clinical trials were required. The drug companies felt, well, everybody knows this is just made from papaya, and no one will pay enough money to make it profitable enough for us to sell it. Forget it, let's take this off the market, let them buy more expensive drugs. Papase is no longer available. Getting Papaya & Pineapple Proteolytic Enzyme Tablets - Search the web for "proteolytic enzyme calibrated in FCCPU enzyme activity units".

I don't know about down under but here in the states you can get it both over the counter and online. The important thing is make sure it is safflower derived "Tonalin" or "Clarinol". I believe "Tonalin" is the original process for making CLA from safflower oil and the most trusted. I use 1285 mg "Clarinol" (got from a drug/health store) and 1300 mg "Tonalin" (online) products. I'll check the brand names for you.

SherryW, Happy bandiversary and congratulations on your continuing success!

Huh!? You say that like it's a bad thing. :)

Tracy, Bummer about the April date instead of February, but great news that BCBS will pay. Congratulations on the approval and solid date!

I'm taking 3-4 1300mg capsules a day of CLA. I started taking the stuff 2 weeks ago and I'm now on my pre-op diet (started monday). I can't definitively say that the CLA is causing me to loose weight because of the diet. I can report that during our cruise last week I did not gain weight and that this week it seems to suppress the acute hunger somewhat. I still get hungry but I don't find myself slipping into "Predator" mode where I am ready to kill something and eat it raw on the spot.:biggrin1: It may be purely a placebo effect, but hey!...if it works I'm going with it! There are two major forms of CLA on the market Tonalin (Canadian I believe) and Clarinol (European). I can't tell the difference between the two although the Clarinol claims to be slightly higher in CLA concentration.

Wal-Mart sells Body Fortress brand "100% premium whey protein powder" (their claim, not mine) in vanilla and chocolate flavors. Haven't tried the chocolate yet but the vanilla ain't half bad and can be flavored with Luzianne no calorie tea flavoring or some of the diet syrups on the market. Cost about $12.00 per 30 serving container. It's high protein but no other appreciable nutrients/vitamins/minerals/etc seem to be added. Here's the breakdown as listed on the container: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Serving Size: 1 Scoop (30g) Servings Per Container: about 30 AMOUNT PER SERVING Calories: 110 (presumably without milk) Total Fat: 1.5g Saturated Fat: 1g Trans Fat: 0g Cholesterol: 35mg Sodium: 55mg Potassium: 170 mg Total Carbohydrate: 1g Dietary Fiber: 0g Sugars: 1g Protein: 23g Vitamin A: 0% Vitamin C: 0% Calcium: 15% Iron: 0% Ingredients: Protein Blend (Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Soy Lecithin, Acesulfame K, Sucralose. Contains milk and soy ingredients. Manufactured by Healthwatchers (DE), Inc., Bohemia, NY.

Started my two weeks of "two shakes and a Healthy Choice meal" for a Feb 19th surgery. Dr. Luttrell and staff work on President's Day - anyone else here having surgery on the 19th?

Hey Y'all. Just back from vacation and started the "two shakes and a Healthy Choice meal" pre-op regimen today. My surgery is February 19th in Little Rock with Dr. Luttrell. It is nice to get the experience and feedback of other "Y" chromosomes.

Grammar? What's that?

That's about what I anticipate although I do intend to keep up the ellipitical workout routine I've started while aboard. Judging from the volume of traffic on ALL the message boards I've looked at I agree! If everybody but WLS people were to disappear we'd have it made.:thumb: :mad: Seriously, is the male to female ratio of banders as skewed as it seems or is that just a perception of mine based on what I see in the message boards? Do that many more women than men get banded or is it simply that women are more apt to admit to or talk about it publicly than men? Is it just that we on this thread are secure enough in our masculinity and emotionally strong enough to discuss it? (No "Shallow Hals" allowed in this man's thread!) Does anyone have some statistics on the male/female ratio of WLS patients in general and banders in particular?

I'm scheduled to get banded Feb 19 in Little Rock by Dr. Rex Luttrell. Self pay @ $16,000. Going on a cruise (planned 6 months ago) starting this Sat so I get a "last hurrah" before the two week course of two shakes and a "reasonable" meal routine! One of these days I'm going to catch up with this "reasonable" person and I've got a few questions to ask and choice words to say to them. I understand from reading elsewhere that the Inamed VG band requires 3.5 cc fill just to flush out the air/empty space in the port, tube, and balloon.

Congrats! on the date. I could have had a date sooner but would have been out of town too so I understand your concern. Good luck!

At the very least, tell your counselor about your pending banding if you haven't already.

567 questions? Was it basically the same 7 questions asked over and over again 81 different ways?:scared:

My surgery is scheduled for February 19th with Dr. Luttrell.

Obama is obviously an intelligent and articulate candidate but he is a comparatively blank slate (to me at least) at this point. I simply don't know enough about his track record on enough issues to say whether I would vote for him or not. I emphasize track record because even I could sound good in a series of 20 second sound bites or prepared speeches. I don't know what he has actually consistently done regarding policy and votes. I do have to confess a prejudice regarding Mr. Obama, anyone with the middle name of Hussein does have an extra hurdle to jump to get my trust with the presidency. I am certainly willing to give him every opportunity to show me he's the best man for the job, I'm even willing to give him every reasonable benefit of doubt, but I have to be honest about it. I need to see a history and I need reassurance of motives. I seriously doubt that I am alone in that, just politically incorrect enough to actually state it. I freely admit he may be the best thing since sliced bread but I need something more substantial than I have now to be comfortable with him. I'm taking a wait and see attitude for now.

Sugarbear, I'm having my surgery in Little Rock by Dr. Rex Luttrell. I am supposed to go on a "two Protein shake meals and a reasonable meal" regimen for two weeks prior to surgery. I am assuming a "reasonable meal" would be something on the order of a Healthy Choice or similar frozen dinner. I have the Protein Shake stuff from Luttrell's office sitting on the shelf ready for the pre-op and have purchased some protein shake from Wal Mart to try a two week stint starting tomorrow morning. Kind of like the old Jerry CLower story about Marcel Ledbetter going home to eat the big watermelon to see if he could come back and handle eating the stranger's watermelon to win a bet! I would have set the date for the week of Jan 29th or Feb 5th but my wife and I are going on a cruise (scheduled months ago) with friends and family that week. I couldn't see any sense in having WLS AND a cruise consecutively....that's just wrong on multiple levels. I'd also just like to lose a few pounds just before the cruise. My last hurrah I guess. I get the impression there are a lot more LB'd folks in this area than I imagined.

Muy Gracias, Sugarbear!

Surgery date set for Feb 19!