GeezerSue

Cindy, You and I are in similar situations. I've been banded for almost two years, lost 80 pounds, get reflux, got unfilled, got refilled, got unfilled for a tummy tuck, got refilled...now down about 60 pounds. Less than ideal food choices and way too much seat-warming going on here. Oh...I was talking about me, not you. I'm going to read the responses and learn a lot. HOWEVER, :::insert drum roll::: I actually fit into a shirt at Old Navy...a tad snug, but hey.

I just love saying "Slidell, Louisiana." I was born in California and STILL can't say it without a drawl.

I'm not gonna tell you, Lisa. I have a very good friend, whose mom--a nurse--now has stomach cancer. She was on NSAID's for arthritis and knee replacements and all. Not a good situation.

oops

I don't understand why the newer, less-experienced doctors invent stuff like a three-month wait, when doctors who have been banding people for YEARS do the first fill in five or six weeks. I don't understand why a banded person WITH NO RESTRICTION would be told to eat a half a cup of food per meal, when the people teling them that OUGHT TO KNOW that you cannot get your needed Protein in with that plan, and that you will be hungry and malnourished. Sorry...but it sounds to me like your doctor has way too much experience with bypass and way too little with the band. There is NO published iinformation that says to wait three months, and I'm pretty sure Inamed does not encourage a three-month wait. GRRRRR. And the worst part of all of this is that the patients feel like failures and the doctors never hear about the ones who do as they wish... I would NEVER advise you to ignore your doctor...but I'd tell you what I'd do. I'd go elsewhere and get a fill. And... The mushy stage with the most experienced doctors lasts a week and so does the puree stage.

Yeah...what SHE asked.

My best friend on the planet is from Brownville (no longer exists), which was outside Northport which is outside Tuscaloosa. And our only child was born in Kentucky. I know from all o' y'all Southun Belles. And I have no complaints at all, except for the abomination y'all perform on "iced tea." I know, you say "sweeee-tea." Which is the LEAST you should say considering what you do to it!!! Here's what I think. Make tea. Pour it over ice. Stick a slice of lemon somewhere nearby. Mint will do if you've run out of lemon, but try not to run out of lemon, okay? LEAVE THE SUGAR IN THE CUPBOARD. And...don'choo pay them no nevahmind...everuhbody tells me I tawk juss like a yankee, too.

yup...even if they found a way to pour it on the floor and let us roll around in it...it would STILL irritate the stomach...which may also explain why there is such competition in the Nexxium, Prilosec, Tums market. Lots of people got lots of screwed up stomachs from all these really good pain relievers. They stop the pain AND mess up your stomach.

If you're morbidly obese, the medical necessity part is a no brainer. I think I'd ask the PCP to NOT make reference to the TYPE of bariatric surgery, unless he can say that the LapBand is medically necessary. You don't want him to say that the RnY is what is medically necessary. It may be the "gold standard" in the US, but that surgery is a lot more deadly. (Have you had any previous abdominal surgeries? Sometimes those surgeries are a reason to not have RnY.) Have you calculated your BMI? A big part of the medical necessity hinges on BMI. Now, you have two weeks to get together info on the LapBand for your PCP. Doctors don't like anything WE say, because they are convinced that we don't know anything. You might want to call Inamed to find the most recent articles that have been published in "peer reviewed journals" that you could take with you OR you could have them mail to him right away. Also, if you're good at wading through that kind of stuff, there are abstracts (the mini-book report version) of those articles available online.

No need to limit drinking before meals and right up to the beginning fo the meal. After meals, an hour is good. (And a half-hour is better than nothing.)

And... AFAIK As Far As I Know AFK Away From Keyboard BFN Bye For Now BOHICA Bend Over, Here It Comes Again BRB Be Right Back BTDTGTS Been There, Done That, Got the T-Shirt BTSOOM Beats The S**t Out Of Me BTW By The Way CRAFT Can't Remember A F**king Thing DARFC Ducking And Running For Cover DH Dear Husband (also Dear Hubby, Duh Hubby and of course Dick Head) DIY Do It Yourself FAQ Frequently Asked Questions FUBAR F**ked Up Beyond All Recognition FUD (spreading) Fear, Uncertainty, and Disinformation FWIW For What it's Worth FYI For Your Information GR&D Grinning, Running, & Ducking (alternatively GD&R) HAGD Have A Great Day HAND Have A Nice Day HTH Hope This Helps IAE In Any Event IANAL I Am Not A Lawyer (also IANAxxx, such as IANACPA) ICBW I Could Be Wrong (sometimes It Could Be Worse) IIRC If I Recall Correctly IMAO In My Arrogrant Opinion IMHO In My Humble Opinion IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion IMO In My Opinion IOW In Other Words IRL In Real Life ISWYM I See What You Mean LMAO Laughing My Ass Off LOL Laughing Out Loud MHBFY My Heart Bleeds For You MHOTY My Hat's Off To You OIC Oh, I See! OTOH On The Other Hand OTTH On The Third Hand PDA Public Display of Affection PITA Pain In The Arse PDQ Pretty D**m(ed) Quick(ly) PMFJI Pardon Me For Jumping In PKB Pot, Kettle Black (as in "Look at the pot calling the kettle black.") FAQ Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers.) ROFL Rolling on the Floor Laughing ROLF Basically ROFL, but laugh and floor are switched, meaning an unfunny, offensive, corny, stupid joke. ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing ROTFLMAO Rolling On the Floor, Laughing My A** Off RTFM Read The F**king Manual RTFFAQ Read The F**king FAQ SITD Still In The Dark SNAFU Situation Normal, All F**ked Up TIA Thanks In Advance TTFN Ta ta For Now TTYL Talk To You Later TWIMC To Whom It May Concern TYVM Thank You Very Much WTH What The Hell WTF What The F**k WWW World-Wide Web WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get YHBT You Have Been Trolled YMMV Your Mileage May Vary As a former Army-girl, I'm especially fond of BOHICA and FUBAR (which are VietNam Era and Gulf War Era equivalents of the World War II favorite SNAFU), and RTFM, RTFFAQ

Lisa could find fun if we were stuck in the bottom of a dumpster for a week. It's all in the attitude.

Welcome back! did you have the surgery at his new outpatient or overnight place...whatever it is he's using instead of the regular hospital? How did it go?

Margret, Soups, white cheese, yogurt, pudding and smoothies are liquid and not what makes the band work. The chicken--from what you've listed--is what works with the band. Two weeks post-fill, you should PROBABLY be able to eat more solids..."probably," because we're all different. But if your band is so tight that you cannot eat solid food (and if "learning the hard way" means food is coming back up) then there is a chance that: a) you're not chewing well enough; you're eating too fast; c) your band is too tight; d) all of the above. Remember that a too-tight band does not make for faster weight loss, but actually slows weight loss down. Good luck getting to know your band! Sue

Pâté is a ground meat paste. Like pâté de foie gras...whic is goose liver. Or salmon pâté, which is salmon and cream cheese and other stuff. In the mushy stage, I'd eat hummus on nuthin'.

From the little I've read--and Alexandra is the expert here, not me--it looks like your insurance DOES pay for bypass surgeries, for the morbidly obese, probably with documentation that you have jumped through certain hoops. The next item is to see if they even mention LapBand or "adjustable gastric band," anywhere in their literature. They may say that they consider it experimental. (Which is stupid, but some companies till get away with that approach.) They may say that they pay for it only with certain physical conditions being present. Or they may just pay for it! Find out what the starting point is and don't geive up too soon and don't assume they'll pay for it and then get depressed if they don't. It's a step-by-step process.

Just adding that, from what i can tell, that loophole is right there. Hosptializations for surgery for someone who is morbidly obese ARE covered. We know that because they say that confinements for bypass type operations are not covered unless the patiente is morbidly obese...which you are, so there we go. By the way, Blue Cross and Aetna (and others, I guess) have the coverage policy bulletins online. Have you checked your insurance to see if the policies are online? Sue

Ruthy, There ARE a couple of good Aussie sites. I think Yahoo has an Ozband group and there's also a Perth Group. I've had fun in the past writing to some of those nice people. Who is your surgeon? Sue

Here's an explanation: http://www.medicinenet.com/nonsteroidal_anti-inflammatory_drugs_and_ulcers/article.htm

"unless morbidly obese" is the last part of a sentence...what does it say BEFORE that part?

Oh, I see where you live. And you know, maybe I HAVE heard the name. Well, then. A really honest answer from me would be...why would you fly so far away from home, when there are more experienced doctors closer to you? If you stick the phone number on Mascareno's website into Google, you learn that it is listed to a Matthew Caposino, 1127 Broadmoor, La Puente, CA. I used to work very close to that area...not a business area...more of an industrial/low-income residential area of Los Angeles County. Usually, but not always, that kind of arrangement is between former patients who recruit new patients for a fee and the doctor. Not always...but often. Anyway, there are some US doctors...Jaime Ponce is in Dalton, Georgia, and lowered his fees for surgery done at an outpatient center. By the time you add in mutlitple trips across country, you will probably spend as much. Also, in Monterrey, MX, there are several doctors who are very experienced, work at great hospitals, cost the same and are closer to your home. My priorities are surgeon experience and a fully equipped hospital, then accessiblity for the routine maintenance that you have to have with the band, then cost. So my choice would not to be to travel to Tijuana for surgery. Have you figured out what your priorities are for this surgery? That will help. Sue

I've been researching LapBand for over two years (and I've been banded for almost two years) and have never heard of him. I live fairly close to Tijuana but went to Monterrey for the surgery itself. Where do you live?

Just for the record, those drugs can be tough on the stomach in two way: 1) after banding, the drug often sits in a smaller upper stomach (pouch) until it dissovles and so a higher concentration of the drug has contact with stomach tissue; and 2) ANY TIME, one of the things that NSAIDS do, is to lesssen the mucosal lining of the stomach. The mucosal lining is what keeps the stoamch acids from eating through the stomach tissue. So they are critical.

I was banded almost two years ago. My local doctor had done about 30 bands, and the cost would have been $30,000. My doctor in Monterrey, MX, had done 1400 bands, has a band himself and was $10,000. Even if the price had been the same, the experience was a huge factor for me. HOWEVER, there's Mexico and there's Mexico. Pretty much anyone who wants to open a hospital there can. And there are many, many hospitals of varying size, quality and reputation in most Mexican cities. Even the nicer, newer hospitals that some of the Mexcian doctors use, are very, very different that what one would find here. Be aware of what YOUR needs are, and then find a good match.

Good.