GeezerSue

I have given up all my size 32, 30, 28, 26, and 24 clothes. (I'm negotiating with the other sizes.) I've given up bra sizes that start with 5's. I've given up my Bi-PAP machine and usually can't find my inhaler. I've given up my cane and didn't have to order the walker. I've given up many of my nights alone on the couch...and might again tonight :-D I've given up wondering if I'll fit in the airline seat. (It is still tight, but I fit.) I've given up half of my excess weight and an entire apron of hanging belly fat, and I'm working on giving up more! I've given up double-digit sized-underwear. There's lots more, but you get the idea. The other question...the first banded person I met lost only ten pounds the first year. She lived on Soup and Starbucks. She stopped that and lost weight.

Also, click on the "search" button up on top near the right, and then type in GARZA. You should find any comment made about him.

I'm familiar with the name, but I don't think I'm in regular touch with anyone whose surgery he performed. (or I could just be senile...I'm very old lately.) I also went from California to Monterrey, but Roberto Rumbaut did my surgery.

h pylori infections were found to be the real cause of most ulcers. Some cute little Aussie doctor figured it out and then was shunned by the entire world community of gastric specialists because he was not a specialist in their field. So he intentionally infected himself with the bacteria and then got "ulcers" and then cured himself. It doesn't usually take long for the antibiotics to work. I told my brother-in-law, who suffered from ulcers, abou this discovery over ten years ago. He ignored me. Ten years later, the doctor finally had him go on antibiotics for a few weeks and twenty-five years of horriffic pain stopped. So I know the antibiotics DO get rid of h pylori. And it may be totally unrelated to the band. Hang in there. http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/PrintablePages/HealthConditions/1,20041,21,00.html http://www.retirement-matters.co.uk/gparchive/Ulcers.htm http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1189/is_n3_v266/ai_15183837

You CAN get you fills from the doctor who did your surgery...but my surgeon did my SIXTH fill, and the others were done by other doctors.

Book chick, You're doing the hard part now. You've decided, you've paid, you've done it and the band...still hasn't actually started to work. At eight weeks out, your band should be healed into place. You should be able to eat most anything. There is no reason on earth you should be losing even a pound, because you have no restriction. You are normal. Not losing during this stage is normal. Gaining back some of the post-op weight loss is normal. Over-reacting during this periosd is textbook normal...which begs the question...so, why no fill? Sue

Odd Man Out, here! First, two months is a little longer wait than usual, so is there any reason it couldn't be moved to the 9th or 16th? Just thinking aloud. And there is IMHO no reason to put it off. Many of us drive or fly hundreds or even a thousand miles or more to have a fill. We wait around a day or two and then fly home. I think you have plenty of time. But if he could move it to the 16th, you'd have enough time to adjust to it so you could at least have a bite or two on Thanksgiving. If your tummy is senstitive, two days after a fill on the 23rd, you might still be on liquids...no fun.

Chantal, Obese women often have very low self-esteem and will often settle for far less than decent treatment because they think that even an emotionally abusive man is better than no man. When you get to the point that YOU believe that you DO NOT DESERVE emotionally abusive treatment, you will throw his ass out. Until then, you REALLY need at least a visit--alone--with an attorney, who will advise you how to arrange your life so that IF /WHEN a divorce occurs, you will not be abused financially. However, my thinking is that if he was at a golf resort and you were home with the kids, you're already being abused financially. Get your mind out of the "separation until he comes to his senses" mode, because when your mind is there, your future is on hold. One more thing. "J" is not his "friend." If they were "just friends," he would have no reason to lie to about who was going. He will SAY that he lies because you are insanely jealous. WRONG. He lies because he is a liar and has something to hide. The little girl in you is fearing abandonment. Give her a hug and let the grown-up in you make an appointment with an attorney. And, if he can afford a golf resort, you can afford an attorney.

What she said. And informed choice and trust in your surgeonare...well...it's an informed...uh...?...CHOICE...with a trusted surgeon! That's the best any of us can hope for.

I put this in the wrong thread. I'm not a "fan" fan, but i just realized how often I turn the radio up full blast when his stuff is on...

I just learned that Kenny Loggins is playing at the Golden Nugget on October 8th. Hmmmm.

Get another opinion...or fight like hell with the doctor you have. If you inhale that junk, you can develop really bad pneumonia. The band can cure GERD in those who do have it and CAUSE GERD in those who don't have it. Call Don Mills at Inamed and get info you can use to convince your doctor you need meds. Achiphex is my favorite, but many insurances have stopped covering it. Use one of the over-the-counter drugs if nothing else. You cannot inhale stomach acid without damaging your lungs. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000121.htm

I haven't driven it...but some people have: http://www.oldandsold.com/articles02/mexico_travel18.shtml I'll look for other links. With pictures for you and your classmates.

I forgot to mention that I now order poached or soft-boiled eggs and concentrate on the yolk.

Yeah and...once she loses the weight she'll want plastic surgery and THOSE guys are sticklers about it, because smoking REALLY compromises not only the surgery, but the healing process.

Because eggs seem to never really dissolve; they just get smaller. Peanut butter eventually dissolves, and does so before it plugs you up.

YOU JUST MISSED HIM at Kuri's Bandster Bash at Rosarito. At least he was scheduled to go. Aviasca Airlianes (not Avianca) has had direct flights from Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Although it's way cheaper flying out of Tijuana. Aviasca is kind of Mexico's version of JetBlue. The first time we went, we had airline family benefits on the Star Alliance, so we went on Mexicana, via Mexico City. Not gonna do that again. We were in the so-called business class, and all I can tell you is that you can take the caballero out of the campo, but you can't take the campo out of the caballero...if you get my drift. And I was SO freshly banded and they were so drunk and kept kicking my seat, but at a discount, it's inappropriate to complain...so I just hated them all quietly and wished them an eternity in an alcohol-free zone. Rumbaut is of Cuban heritage. He was born in Venezuela, but then his family moved to the US when he was a kid and he went to junior high in Ohio. Then the moved to Mexico. He's a nice guy. He sent me to his endodontist. She's a teeny little pony-tailed lady who said, "Jooo know...I knew Rrrroberto when he was fat and poorrrr, and I know him tin and rrrrich. He's da same pair-son." And she was rrrright. Think flying into Houston or San Antonio and then a really long drive. It's Monterrey...the third largest city in Mexico. http://www.mexperience.com/guide/majorcity/monterrey.htm And he's a cutie: http://www.obesitylapbandsurgery.com/teamdiaz.html

oops

Ryan, I debated with myself and then sought sage (?) counsel before sharing this info. I'm not sure if you're saying that your surgeon has plenty of LapBand experience, but limited experience with male patients or if you're saying he has plenty of experience with RnY, but not LapBand. I think the general consensus is that it's akin to parallel parking an 18-wheeler. If you've previously parked a car, you have the idea and will probably get there eventually...but those who have parallel parked an 18-wheeler a few times really do have a better safety record than those doing it the first few times. You're a literate fellow, interpret these as you will: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12582760 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14625767 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12841906 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11975229 ~~~~~~~

W'daddy, Is your surgeon pretty new at this? Could it be he's heard the tale and wants to play it safe? I think that the more experienced surgeons, who have the appropriate equipment, tend to be far more relaxed about this diet thing. Anyway, I forgot to mention that my BMI teetered around 50 at the time I was banded. No pre-op diet. No problems. (Surgeon had done over 1400 bands at that time.) Sue

Yeah, but...you guys and I all went to Rumbaut. And there ARE some doctors working in places not far from the ones Zoe describes. Lurkers!!! If you are researching, be thorough! I've read comments here which have alerted me to the fact that some people think that ALL Mexican doctors and hospitals are somehow alike. People have posted stuff like "I'm going to Doctor A at the little clinic in Sleepy Village, so I really want to know how it goes for you, with Doctor B in the high rise university hospital in City Center, because I need some reassurance." As though one had anything to do with the other. There are also very rustic facilites, very far from big city hospitals, in Mexico. People need to be careful not to generalize, either positively or negatively. Kinda like asking "What's it like to live in New York?" There are many, many answers to that question!

For over two years now, I've read the pre-op diet to shrink the liver stuff. I wrote to the doctors (in New Zealand) who were promoting the theory, to ask if they had definitive answers to whether their diet had any impact at all on the liver. One of them wrote back saying, essentially, that they didn't yet have results, that they'd publish when they had results and that if patients didn't want to cooperate they didin't want to do the surgery. Segue to the present... I haven't found anything published anywhere that says that certain diets shrink the fat around the liver. I asked Dr. Rumbaut about this diet and he told me, post-op, that my liver went this-a-way as opposed to that-a-way, and it wouldn't have made any difference in my case. My two cents.

The pool picture...I swear I almost bought that house and pool once...but it was in Henderson.

I should hav

What leatha said...and things that MELT at room temperature or body temperature or DISSOLVE on contact with liquids (saliva) are liquid. So, cotton candy is pretty much liquid. It's a gawd awful choice, but it is not a solid when it gets to your stomach.