Alexandra

Tellie, I'm so glad you saw your doctor!! Please be careful and take good care of yourself. Take it easy!!

HI Kyleigh, Welcome, and congratulations on your great loss so far! Good luck with your search for a fill doctor. I hope someone here can help.

Hi Tammy, Good luck with your insurance. It's the most frustrating thing in the world, but patience and perserverance are your best friends at this time. Let us know how it turns out. Welcome to the boards!! :)

We're home, and we had a GREAT time!!! The weather was absolutely sparkling, and I have a whole new respect for the New Jersey Shore. It's not all boardwalk and tacky arcades, nuh-uh. We were staying in a friend's house in the wonderfully named Surf City on Long Beach Island. Now I'm all jealous and coveting even the tiniest shack somewhere within walking distance of the ocean. Oh well, probably not in this lifetime. But it was fun, and I think I only gained a coupla ounces. That would be from the ice cream.

Actually, DeLarla, I thought 40 was some sort of borderline--like between severely obese and morbidly obese. I know that 40 is the point beyond which the mere fact of fat is considered a life-threatening disease, qualifying one for surgery even without any co-morbidities. But whatever, it's an imaginary borderline and a silly number. I mean, even Arnold Schwarzenegger is considered obese by that scale because the number takes no account of one's physical fitness. Even so, it was just a shock to see that on ANY chart or size guide there was a place where I fit, after a lifetime of being too big to be counted at all.

Leatha, you're lucky it was only your daughter. My BOSS just walked by!! Donali, nice boob...I mean, nice bra! I'm sure my hubby wishes I were interested in lacy undies and such. Your bf is a lucky guy.

Donali, you are a brave, brave woman. I'm the biggest weenie when it comes to stuff like that; I can't fathom pulling out my own stitches!! What's the opposite of Gross Darcy? Weenie Alex?

Teresa, all things come to pass in their own good time. It sounds like you've got lots of pieces falling into place, and the day will come (or not) when you make a decision about children. And when that day comes, you'll be amazed at how everything else falls into place as well. The land you describe sounds magnificent!! Someday you will be able to figure out the best way to take advantage of it. You're very lucky to have such a great thing in your lives. Serendipity works powerfully in my life, and I believe we have to be open to it to let it do so. I waited a long time to have children, and I'm glad I did. Giving them the right father was way more important than my being under 30 when I had kids.

Hi Lil Miss, Have you tried contacting Inamed? They might have some suggestions for you. You can reach them by going through the website, www.inamed.com. Good luck!

I agree, Tellie. Anytime we get to a point where we can't eat solids at all (even with chewing them to a pulp, even very late in the day), and ESPECIALLY when liquids are a problem, it's high time to call the doctor. Let us know what he says!

Darcy, it may indeed be nothing but it's probably a good idea to talk to your doc about it anyway. Will you be having a checkup anytime soon? I think it's very unlikely your band has slipped but that sort of pain does seem unusual. Good luck!

Hi Doxiegal, I have to say that I doubt you'll be successful in this Quest, at least now. Insurance carriers are really not interested in investing money for preventive procedures, which is what banding you would be. At this point you are close enough to a normal weight for conventional methods to make a big difference in your health (or so the thinking would go). The day may come when the insurance community takes a longer view at health care, and realizes that a healthier society now will save them (and us all) money down the road. But sad to say that day is not yet here. Just my POV, and I would very much like to be wrong. Good luck!

OK, you twisted my arm enough. My bite's all better, and here is a pic of my darling daughters having fun at a cheesy amusement park.

Hi Heather, "Erosion" refers to what happens to the stomach, not the band--the band's material is extremely durable and in the normal course of events will outlast our bodies. From what I've heard, the condition known as "erosion" happens in about 1% - 3% of patients. Sometimes it seems like more, but we have to remember that for every five people who talk about their band in public (online or off) there are probably 20 who do not. We tend to see the problems much more readily than the cases where there are no complications. That said, there's just no way to know for sure whether any given person will experience a problem. The band is designed to last forever, but whether our stomachs can tolerate a foreign object wrapped tightly around them forever is another story. Even the longest-term bandsters have only been banded for 10-12 years, so there just aren't any real answers to these questions.

ERGH, Penni, how frustrating!! But this is just a minor thing with local anaesthesia, right? That will make it easy to get past, and once it's done you won't have any protrusion thingy anymore AND you'll have a nice straight port. And that's great about your insurance covering it! Keep us posted, and good luck with everything!

Penni, you've got Long Island and Long Beach Island mixed up (not hard to do, I know). Long Island (LI) is part of NY and the site of the famous Hamptons, playground of the rich and famous. There must be parts of LI where normal people hang, but I've never seen them. As a child I spent summers off LI's coast on Fire Island, a most amazing barrier beach with car-free communities strung along it, which has pretty much spoiled me for beaches. I hate driving to the beach no matter where I am. But Long Beach Island in NJ (LBI) is essentially the same sort of place as Fire Island, only with cars. Even the houses farthest from the beach are walking distance, if you're not carrying too much crap. Anyway, I'm glad to be back. I'm exhausted!!

Hi Gail, Welcome! You've gotten good advice and I'll add my voice to those saying to take it slowly. For example, many people find they can't tolerate scrambled eggs after banding. I'm one of them and it's a real mystery why they're so hard to eat. So pay attention when you're trying any new food and see how it goes down before taking another bite. And while this may seem like hard work now, believe me, it will be over before you know it. You'll look back and barely remember what you're going through now. Congratulations on your banding!

Hi Keith, Congratulations on your banding and remarkable success even without restriction! Your essay certainly hits some points familiar to me personally. Just the other day I was shopping and realizing in a million tiny ways that I just move through the world differently than I used to. Not caring if I have to park a league away from the store, not balking at turnstile entrances, having the energy to add stops and do errands I didn't think of earlier, fitting in a bathroom stall WITH my bags...all of these are major changes to my life, and all due to banding. I've lost weight before, but never with the sense of permanence I have this time. I'm not fighting for every pound--I'm just living my life in a whole new way, one that doesn't involve mass quantities of food followed by guilt and self-hatred. Fighting for every pound and setting goals I may not hit would not work well for me: I'm more of a realist than an optimist and have never been an overachiever. But the band is helping me achieve a dream that's never been fathomable before. It's an ally in my lifelong struggle against obesity and it's wonderful to have it in my corner. I'm sure you'll feel the same way when you get to a point where you feel restriction.

All right, all right, that's enough of THAT!!! Who is this Alex person you're all yakking about? HI PAM!!! Nice to see you here, for real! Now don't go blaming your banding on me--all I did was drink coffee while you ruminated. :D WELCOME!! :Bunny

...but I'm going to be away until Sunday evening. I'm actually going to the BEACH!! It's nice to have friends with beach houses, I must say. Have a great weekend, everyone! See ya on the flip side. :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana

On other boards that shall remain nameless, there is a recurring debate about how much bandsters should be eating at a sitting or in a day. Since it's a subject of much interest to newbies I thought I'd start it up here (where it's likely to get less, ahem, spirited). How much is "enough"? The answer to that question is that enough is indeed probably less than we think. It's certainly less than we're used to. And it's probably one bite less than what makes us feel full even now. But it's NOT the same for every person, and changes for each person over time. No one person can declare that this amount or that amount is the "right" amount for all bandsters to be eating. Obviously the right amount is less than before, and less than what would create discomfort. But if that's a quarter-cup or 1 1/2 cups will depend on too many variables to predict. So that's the answer. I feel better now.

What's your BMI currently? If it's over 40 you may not "need" any co-morbidities at all. However, I didn't think I had any either except for borderline high blood pressure, but my PCP's letter had a list of things that would be improved by weight loss. I didn't know I was that sick! Good luck!!

Hi Kim! I'm another one who appealed Aetna's denial and won. They covered my surgery last summer. I think you just have to make the medical case why a different surgery is not indicated for you, and if you and your docs are imaginitive that shouldn't be too hard to do. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!!

Don't be too jealous, Penni. 'Sjust me and the two little monster babies, no hubby to share the load. But that's cool, we love our girl time. I really am psyched, even though it means packing, unpacking, bug spray, sunscreen, sand, toys, wet towels, and all the rest of it. But that's what it's all about!

No problem! It's a whole new language we learn. The port is under the skin, and not visible at all under normal circumstances. The largest incision is made at that spot, so the largest scar is there, but even the largest scar is pretty tame. It's the only spot left on my abdomen that a casual glance can detect anything at all.