Alexandra

Hey Janie, that's great! How cool it must have been to be ahead of a bypass patient--I'll be that doesn't happen often. And it's always nice when one's doctor is pleased. :cool: The chat room doesn't get used, as far as I know, very often. There are no scheduled chats. If you're interested in having one post a time and date when you will be in the chat room and maybe other interested people will come in to chat. Go for it!

Hi Nikki, First, please try to remember that in three months you will have an amazing tranformation in your life, and for a while you won't have any problem thinking about something other than your weight. I promise! :cool: Second, what Michelle says is right on. While excess poundage can be upsetting, it's a fact of pregnancy and is serving your baby well. Now is not the time to be agonizing over every calorie or trying to lose weight. Of course it's always good to try to make the right nutritional choices, but your body is busy nourishing the new life inside you and it knows what it's doing. Try to take your mind OFF your body weight, and forget that you have a band for now. It will still be there after you give birth and are ready to go back to losing weight (which should only be AFTER your nursing relationship is well established, if you plan to nurse). Next year at this time you could have a nice tight fill, sipping some iced tea, watching your baby start to crawl, and be wondering what all your anxiety was about.

I can't believe I've missed this amazing thread until now! I am deeply moved, on several levels. Exorcising our negative feelings is very important, and I think a process we all handle in our own way. My particular approach was to focus on what was working in my life--essentially, my job--and pretty much ignore what wasn't--my weight, my terrible first marriage, my alcoholic mother. For a long time I pretended these negatives don't matter, that there are a lot of people worse off, and as long as I have (whatever was giving me joy at the moment) I'd be OK. Hey, whatever works. At some point I got to a place where I decided I'm worth more, and I jettisoned the husband, detached from my mother, and, well, lived with the weight. But that was pretty good for a start! There are plenty of negative memories from my childhood, lots of diary pages scrawled with 'WHY CAN'T I LOSE WEIGHT?!?!?!?!?!?!?" in psychedelic colors. I was "Thunder Thighs" on my high school volleyball team. Charming. But you know what? Time heals lots of wounds, and when I think about these times I'm really over them. There's a lot to be said for being 42. You get a lot smarter with age. :cool:

LOL! You're not intimidating, but your obstacle course could be. You, however, are an inspiration to others facing the same sort of pre-op turmoil. :cool:

Deliriou5, don't let the length of Baileym's list intimidate you. Most people probably don't have anywhere near that many appointments. I just had the following: 1 - required seminar held by surgeon 1 - PCP for physical, which included an EKG 1 - Lab visit for bloodwork 1 - Psychological evaluation 1 - Nutritionist meeting 1 - surgeon preliminary appointment to determine my qualification for surgery 1 - preop appointment and class about two weeks before surgery That was the whole gamut, and if I hadn't had insurance problems the process would have taken less than three months. People who have conditions like sleep apnea and so on can probably expect more testing. My co-morbidities were limited to high cholesterol and blood pressure, which were evaluated at the physical. I'll be very interested to hear what Anthem says. Are you in PA? Good luck!!!

Holy COW, do I need a fill. Today's menu included popcorn AND ice cream, in addition to half of my daughter's small milkshake, plus my own Breakfast and dinner. (The popcorn was lunch.) And I know all the carbs have been making me sleepy...since I've been basically without much restriction lately I've been taking in more Pasta and bread and less Protein over the last couple of weeks. I'm SOOO tired!! :cool: Well, every day is a new chance not to screw up. Tomorrow, I'm back on the carb-avoidance track, and I can't wait until my next fill!! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends. It's yucky raining cold here. (And if anyone cares, Harry Potter ROCKS!) :D

Sultana, I know what you mean about the weather making it hard to keep our "chins" up. (LOL!) I crave Pasta in weather like this, which is why I went for the baked ziti the other night. It was DEEEE-LISH! Chris, I definitely experience a full feeling after many meals. It is different from the "stuck" feeling, and only comes when I've managed the meal well. That means waiting a couple of minutes after the first two or so bites, and taking subsequent bites super slowly. Eating one quick bite is sometimes enough to throw the whole meal off so I can't eat enough at that sitting to get full. It's a balancing act, and I'm still learning how to balance.

This is another one of those things that is unique to each individual. Any trauma, which surgery certainly is, can upset your cycle. Add in the hormonal changes that come with rapid weight loss and, well, who knows what will happen? My periods have been getting slightly more frequent--my cycle used to be 28 days like clockwork and now it's down to 25 or 26. Of course, that may be age-related (I'm getting up there) but the change was quite sudden after surgery. As for the pain, no, I've not felt any difference in cramping related to my band, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Sultana, I've had two fills so far; next week will be my 3rd. With both previous fills I had great restriction which lasted a couple of months. I think with me losing weight is what changes the restriction. At this rate, I might need three or four more fills before I get anywhere near my "goal." D...stopping when full is the SINGLE hardest part of this whole journey. No question. How come we weren't born with that ability? Seems like something other people do effortlessly. :cool:

Donali, thanks for sharing your photos. You're a brave woman for taking that hairdo step! I've had long hair all my life and I've recently chopped it to barely shoulder-length. Was it weird to have it go so short? You're beautiful, and it's really becoming. Congratulations on all your success. You continue to inspire me, truly.

Baileym, what you're going through is perfectly understandable!! I remember driving to work the week before surgery and thinking "Next week at this time I'LL BE BANDED" (insert orchestral flourish here). "This is my last day at work as a non-banded person." (Dramatic drumroll.) And on and on. It is a big thing. Just try not to torture yourself...the time will pass quickly and you'll be a bandster before you know it! :cool:

I'll be more emphatic. NO, it will not continue. And you don't want it to--that rate of loss isn't healthy to sustain. You're still on soft solids, you mentioned elsewhere. Probably when you go back to eating normal solid foods your weight loss will stabilize.

Francesca and Janie, you're moving right along! The healing phase is almost over and you're taking the next step. Francesca, are you on solid food? Sounds like you're doing great...it's such a relief to find that eating can be done without problems, as we learn to take it SLOW and pulverize our food to bits. Congratulations! Janie, I'm surprised your doctor wants you to have a fill if you're not yet on regular solid food. You might want to say that you want to wait to see how you handle things on a regular diet first before scheduling a fill. Good job, both of you!!

Donali, thanks for your insights and I absolutely agree with your analysis. I didn't mention my breakfast--a chicken breast with ranch dressing--or my dinner--a generous portion of stir-fried chicken and vegetables with garlic sauce. And my dinner the night before was a package of frozen enchiladas--yes, a whole package. (That package of five small chicken enchiladas was intended to feed one, but still it was WAY more than I've been eating.) So it's not just the presence of ice cream and popcorn in my diet that leads me to my conclusion, though I know it sounded that way. It's the fact that my meals aren't doing the job of filling me up enough so that Snacks and Desserts recede back into my sub-consciousness. I am a little nervous about the possiblity of getting too tight, but I really feel almost no restriction now. If my band gets back to the place it was after my last fill, I'll be happy as a clam. That level of fill FORCES me to stop after a decent amount, because one more nibble might create a problem. That gives my inner adult time to come back from wherever she was and tell me to stop. And when I'm not hungry it's easy to walk away from the baked ziti and tortellini. :cool: You're amazing, D. Can I borrow you to live in my pocket for a while?

Joyce and Michelle, it sure sounds like you are both ready for your first adjustments. I'm going for my third next week, and I know I am ready because: I feel less and less restriction, resulting in... more and more food necessary to feel full... less time between a meal and hunger pangs... and my weight loss stopped. I have no idea how much Fluid is in my band or whether it's relatively a lot or a little. All I know is that my fill level is no longer enough to keep me from wanting to eat more than my body needs to lose weight, and so I need more restriction from it. Good luck with your fills!! :cool:

Hi there, As is repeatedly pointed out here and on other bandster boards, after your stomach is healed from surgery you'll find that over the next few weeks you'll be able to eat almost as normally as you did before surgery. Without restriction you have no more ability to resist your demons than you did before banding. Don't beat yourself up about it!! With time you will learn when enough is enough, and if you're like most people you will accept what you have to do to avoid pain. But this comes only AFTER you have restriction. You've also discovered a main reason that telling one's friends and family can be problematic. They just can't understand the difference between banding and bypass, and expect to see the same results. THEY ARE WRONG and you should ignore them. Being a "lightweight" as you are, the extra weight will probably come off you more slowly than off someone with 200 extra pounds. But that's not a worry either--slowly is the correct, safe way to lose excess weight and you must remember that this is not an overnight process. Good luck, and PLEASE don't listen to other people. Your process is just starting and 6 months from now you'll read this post and laugh.

Laura, it's definitely not a lost cause. Tell your BIL to be patient and just take it step by step. We can understand why insurers want to be very sure about the patients they pay thousands of dollars for. Making sure the patient is a qualified candidate and a good risk for surgical success is perfectly within their rights. Asking for evidence of a supervised attempt at weight loss is pretty much standard procedure. The letter of denial has to be specific as to the reason for denial. If there are two reasons given those are the only things he needs to address in his appeals; think of them as marching orders. He has a right to clear communications from the insurer and to know what is missing from his file. You're absolutely right to tell him to document everything, and keep copies because he'll probably have to provide paperwork more than once. With regard to the "experimental" label, Inamed can provide studies and material to counter that position. The doctor has no role in fighting that issue. But first things first: The first step is making sure he meets the medical criteria for weight-loss surgery.

Hi Laura, If your brother's company is large enough, they likely have a self-funded plan that is administered by Cigna. That means someone at the company made a lot of the decisions about what would be covered by the company plan. The State of New Jersey has guidelines and mandates that all insurance plans must meet, but it is permitted for self-funded plans to make a lot of their own decisions. If it is a self-funded plan, his first plan of action would be to appeal the decision within his own company. To do that he'd start at the human resources department. There has to be a procedure for appealing healthcare decisions made by the company plan, and he should find out what it is and follow it exactly. Key to his appeal will be knowing why he was denied. His next step will depend on the answer. In my case, I was denied solely because Aetna felt the band was still experimental. So that's the point I argued, and eventually won on. They were not saying that the treatment was unnecessary, or that it wasn't covered by my contract, or that I didn't qualify for WLS, or any one of a million other reasons people get denied. So why was he denied? What did the letter say, exactly?

Donali, horns? I'm shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED. (Hee hee, horns actually sound like fun! You little devil...)

Christine, if you got a bill for the hospital don't just cave in and pay if you thought the hospital was in-network. You can't be held responsible for the whole bill even if your doc was out-of-network. This is a NJ state regulation, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Good luck!!

Hi Laura, Does your brother-in-law live in New Jersey? Does he work for a small company? If so, he's in luck. In any event, though, the place to start is with his contract. He clearly wasn't denied for medical reasons, so the question is why was he denied? There's no "of course" about it--he suffers from a medical condition and his doctor could easily make the case that surgery is an appropriate treatment for it. Certainly the first step is to find a doctor who agrees with him. He can't possibly get insurance approval if his doctor doesn't believe surgery will help. If the doctor does believe it will help but just doesn't want to get involved, he can handle the appeals himself. My surgeon's office had no faith I could get my denial overturned, but I did and was ultimately banded at my carrier's expense.

The short answer to your question is YES. However, a lot depends on how your doctor approaches fills. Some doctors like to "creep up" on restriction, giving the patient lots of time to get used to the feeling. Others, like mine, try to go for a good level of restriction right away. Depending on which way your doctor goes, you'll either feel not much different, or VERY different. Only time will tell. But, either way, eventually you will get to a level of restriction that will indeed curb your hunger and let you lose weight. Congratulations on 15 lbs, and good luck with the fill!

Hi Cindy, welcome!! Congratulations on your banding and I'm glad you found us. Nice to meet you!

Kathy, as you know a fever is a sign of your body working harder to fend off or fight illness. A low-grade fever can just be an indicator that your body's white cells are doing their job and helping you heal. If you feel OK otherwise and don't have any pain, it's not necessarily an indicator of any problem. But it's good that you noticed and can keep an eye on it. Try resting a little more--you might just be overdoing it a bit sooner than your body really wants.

If you don't eat for an hour or two before going to drinking, liquids should indeed go right through. I think the general advice is aimed more at food. If you're not experiencing any problems, drinking in the evening is nothing to worry about.