GeezerSue

Since I got decent re-fill (I had been unfilled for a while) I am unable to eat much of anything before 10:30 a.m. I CAN drink some really good 1/2 a cup of fat-free milk, 1/2 a cup of coffee w/ a scoop or so of no-sugar-added vanilla powder. It's so much fun, that eating Breakfast isn't even an issue. Sue *now dealing with the fact that I can eat late in the day*

Fla. Women Disarm Intruder With Sandwich TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Confronted with an armed intruder in their home, two women plied him with a ham sandwich and rum until he became groggy and passed out. Police arrived and arrested Alfred Joseph Sweet, 52, to end the five-hour episode. Cathy Ord, 60, and Rose Bucher, 63, said they tried to befriend the man after he burst through their kitchen window with a sawed-off shotgun Tuesday night. They made him a sandwich, gave him a bottle of rum and suggested he shower and shave so he could ``sort of be disguised in his getaway,'' Ord said. ``We just treated him with kindness,'' Bucher said. She said she had offered Sweet cash and the keys to her Cadillac, but he just sat with them, holding his gun. The intruder never said what he wanted, the women said. ~~~ Please, try to stay within your doctor's eating guidelines. Sue

Oh, yeah...there's a Yahoo over-50 bandsters group, too. (But we're cuter here.)

Kathy, I can answer only from my own experience. I was 55 when I was banded and I was worried about being too old. My surgeon chuckled and explained that he had a patient who had been banded a couple of years earlier and now, in her seventies, kept showing up at Bandster Bashes with new boyfriends! That said, each doctor has his own rules. So, I've read here about strict pre-op diets, and BMI limits and other things my doctor didn't have. But he had done over 1400 bands when I went to him and what he did have was plenty of experience. I compare the surgeons to parents. It takes an act of congress before the first kid gets a bike or the car keys...but those same parents, a few years later, have no qualms when it comes to the third kid. They weren't WRONG about being so protective...but it was more about if the parents could handle it than if they kids could handle it. To me, it's the same with the surgeons. Those who are out of the country and have eight or ten years experience seem to me to have far fewer rules. It's more about what the surgeon can handle than what the patient can handle. (Whew! I talk too much.) But this is my way of saying that if you hear "No," from the surgeons, it wouldn't hurt to find out how many bands they have done...and to keep asking. If you don't have luck locally, check with the "pioneers." They are in Italy, Germany, Belgium and Mexico, and were involved with the pre-FDA testing. Don't overlook the Australian and New Zealand doctors, either. They are the surgeons who performed the first surgeries and trained the others. I KNOW several of them do the band on patients your mom's age and, in most cases, the price is lower (and the travel abroad may just be tax deductible.) Good luck...if you need any links to those doctors, I think I can find them. Sue

A little late for this year, but... when our daughter was teeny, tiny, we'd take her to the homes of three of four neighbors and that was it. As she got older--and more and more weirder and weirder people started using Halloween as an excuse to hurt kids--we decided that having a Halloween Party was the way to go. And so did a few friends. And then, so did the Girl Scout Troops we led. So we planned ahead and had really great Halloween Parties with cool scary stuff. As our daughter got older, she hung with kids who also seemed to prefer parties. There was one night with an excess of sugar, and a few measly leftovers. But no grocery bags full of junk. So, maybe in some little way, we taught her that the event was about friends and fun and not about candy. I hope. Sue

Yeah and don't forget the conversion rates. Our $12,000-$30,000 CASH surgeries translate to $17,000-$42,000 in Aussie Dollars! Yikes!

This makes me so happy :banana I may need to be restrained. (I'm on the wrong side of the country, but that's okay.) So now we have the Pacific Northwest and Gulf Coast covered...it's only a matter of time, huh? Sue

No apology necessary, Leo. I often "say" things the wrong way...when I didn't mean to do so. And we all have different "comfort levels" with what other humans do. My next door neighbor (who had had a stroke) had a home health aide, who--within a week--was trying to underbid the company she was working for to get the job on an "under the table" basis, even though she had signed a contract saying she wouldn't do that. On my advice, the neighbor let the worker go and let the employer know what was going on. It's hard for me to accept that the woman who was trying to cheat her current employer wouldn't eventually try to cheat her next one. (And, no, I'm not a goody-two-shoes.) Yet, the neighbor on the other side was saying, "Everybody does that. They just want to make a buck. The agency underpays them, and deserves it." She thought I was unreasonable. So...knowing what I know about several various doctors, I would still choose verboonen over several others to do my surgery. But I have a couple I'd choose before him, too. Kinda like, "which is 'better,' butter-pecan or caramel-praline, cherry garcia or chunky monkey?" :ermm I apologize to ANYONE I offended with my comments on this or any other doctor. And really, really, I'm not recruiting for any doctor...although, like many others, I'm very happy with MY surgeon. Sue

Like I said... "Okay, somebody is probably going to get mad at me for posting this link. AND, I agree it has nothing to do with how well he performs surgery, but apparently he did plead guilty to health care fraud...' I didn't say he wasn't a good surgeon; I did said he was a convicted felon. :rolleyes If I were inquiring about a surgeon who had a criminal record, I sure hope someone would mention it and let me make my decision based on all the information I could gather. I think I'm grown up enough to sort through it all, and I think anyone who asks probably is, too. It was not my goal to convince people that my doctor is great. I've met four Mexican LapBand surgeons, and recommend three of them to others, plus one doctor whom I haven't met but who also has an excellent reputation. If verboonen has nothing but happy patients, that speaks highly of him as a surgeon. (But I still wouldn't be sending any substantial amount of money in advance. Not because I wouldn't trust him because of his convinction, but because, like I said, I'm a skeptic...and I don't trust many people, especially if they're asking for money!) Harshly :rambo yours, Sue

They'll notice; they just won't know WHAT they're noticing. So they'll ask if you have a new hairstyle or if you changed lipstick colors. It will never occur to them that your shirt sleeves "grew" two or three inches. And to me, that's good, because I sure didn't want them to notice when the scale was moving the other way. However...when you go for your mammogram or eye exam or tax guy or to some other appointment you keep annually, THOSE people will start screaming. After the double-take. And it's fun! Sue

Hi, pegs.. Welcome. As an Aussie, you are fortunate to have (mostly) far more experienced surgeons than we do here. (I've read about them on the OzBand boards.) Is the procedure the same there as here? Mostly done with no more than an overnight stay? Tell us all about it! I know that Perth has active support groups, how about Melbourne? Sue

Orange County, but I'll get on a plane or train anytime, just to see you. Sue

Denise, The only person I ever met who had had surgery with Joya, had a horrid experience, especially in terms of the surgery itself and recovery. When I met her, she was in another doctor's care. In the overall scheme of things, one person's bad experience isn't much, but this lady's experiences were enough that I had to mention it. The doctors about whom I never hear anything negative (well, sometimes people complain about staff, but never about surgical competence) are Sanchez and Rumbaut in Monterrey. (They are not partners; they are actually competitors.) In Tijuana, Kuri is consistently competent and (like Rumbaut) someone Inamed calls to fix problems created elsewhere. And Lopez in Tijuana, has a good reputation, too. (Ortiz is also in Tijuana and competent, but--based on my experience and that of others--getting a good fill is a hit and miss thing with him. Ortiz and Lopez were partners, but they may have moved on to other partners...I'm not sure.) Sue

Hey, folks! The U of Penn School of Medicine is doing a study on genetics and obesity. For a little info and a little blood, you get $100 and a chance to help answer a really big question re why fat people are...you know...fat. If you are interested, contact: liz@bgl.psycha.upenn.edu or call: 1-800-354-4363 ext. 1 You must have two parents who are willing to participate OR an overweight child (and his or her other biological parent), that is...they want the obese person and that person's parents. Sue More info at: www.med.upenn.edu/bgl

BTW, that's $100 per participant, not per family.

Well, I'll tell ya. My granddad was a cop, so I was raised as a skeptic. I would not be sending money in advance to anyone who I knew was less than honest. I took my money with me when I went to see Rumbaut. And he had no problem not receiving it in advance. (He just didn't want me showing up with a personal check, but I don't blame him for that.) Ask on the Yahoo boards, too. But since you asked me, if I had the choice of a doctor who I at least thought was honest and a doctor who had been convicted of fraud, I'd not choose the convicted felon. Sue

From Las Vegas, an airline named Aviacsa (not Avianca) used to fly to Monterrey, Mexico, where several experienced LapBand doctors practice. Does it still? it's kind of a Mexican Jet Blue. I had my surgery there with Rumbaut and could not be more delighted. In Tijuana, I'd check out Dr. Kuri's new facility (and probably new prices.) There are several very experienced doctors in Europe, as well. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson are in clinical trials with the Swedish Band now. No reason it shouldn't pass with flying colors. Then more US doctors will learn how to deal with it. Sue

Okay. somebody is probably going to get mad at me for posting this link. AND, I agree it has nothing to do with how well he performs surgery, but apparently he did plead guilty to health care fraud: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cas/cas30916.1.htm Sue

IAMOMX6--Can't speak for others, but here's why I went to Mexico: 1) Dr. Rumbaut had (at that time) placed about thirty to fifty times as many bands as the most experienced surgeons in Los Angeles-Orange Counties. 2) Dr. Rumbaut was the proctor (teacher) for many US surgeons, who were still new at the band. 3) Dr. Rumbaut was part of the pre-FDA trials. He--and others--did the work to prove to the FDA that the band was worthwhile. It occurred to me that Inamed wasn't going to put a multi-million dollar enterprise in the hands of anyone but the best surgeons they could find. 4) Dr. Rumbaut's price was (at that time) about one-third the price of the local doctors. 5) Dr. Rumbaut uses fairly large, well-staffed hospital. The rooms are private and each has its own bathroom. Each nurse on the surgical wing had four or five patients. (Where my mom had just been, in California, it was 15, and other nurses have reported having as many as 30!) Nurses are the front-line in keeping little problems from becoming big problems. When they are overworked, more patients die. (There was a recently published article on that, as if we couldn't figure it out ourselves.) Those are most of the reasons I went to Mexico. Sue

Hi, Jennye... Yeah, the new book is on their website at www.inamed.com I put the link SOMEWHERE, but I'm not exactly sure where. Just keep following all the MO links. Nice to see you again. Sue

Ginger, DO prepare yourself with an answer for future "helpfulness." Or, take her aside BEFORE she has another opportunity and say something like, :nervous "The other day, you were very concerned and trying to be helpful when you warned me about having too many sweets. I hope I didn't offend you when I walked away! You see, a very important part of my expensive 'band education' is to learn to ignore everything except the signals I'm getting from my body. I hope you'll understand if I have to walk away again, but it's doctor's orders and I really do have to ignore everything and everyone else when it comes to food." Or you could do what I'd probably do and tell her to butt out. But then I have no people skills. ~~~ Leannie, Tell that one woman you've told about your surgery that you are doing so well with your current program you just may not go through with surgery. If she "buys" that lie, stick to it! :cool: Good luck! ~~~ Sue

On another thread, Nancy (claraluz) mentioned that she didn't have the Inamed book. I remember when I didn't have a copy of that book, and how left-out I felt. So here is the link to the Inamed website page where we can download both the pamphlet and the book. http://www.inamed.com/products/obesity/us/patient/lapband/information.html Sue

Tonia, As I was one of those who whined the loudest about the sanitorium that Dr. Pedro Kuri in Tijuana used, I'd like to be among the first to mention that he apparently has a brand-new state-of-the-art hospital. I want to include some background: To be clear, he was not my surgeon but he did my first fill. While I had (and have) all the respect in the world for his abilities, I was really turned off by the hospital and the radiological facilities he was using a year ago. I caught a lot of flak from his fan club for speaking up, but you know, it was a $47 per day hospital. Many medical professionals, who know how to evalutate an OR, had their surgery there. But quite a few of us who were not so trained had to go by what we could see and understand. What I saw and understood were about six or eight rooms, four beds to a room, bathroom down the hall, no air conditioning, no doctor on duty 24/7, and clean but relatively primative surroundings. For some people that is fine, but I would rather come up with $1000 more and have my surgery in a place that looks like what I think a hospital looks like. When I wrote elsewhere that a year ago, I was "attacked" as speaking unkindly of Dr. Kuri. So: He has a new facility and it looks gorgeous. The "fill room" appears to have more modern fluoroscopy equipment. Everything is new and looks immaculate. I am not aware of how many doctors are using this facility, how many are around during surgery in case of emergency, who is there overnight, that kind of thing...but if someone has previously read negative things about Dr. Kuri's hospital and radiological lab, those have changed and it may be time to give him another look. Sue

Oh, my! Margie! Hello, you little redheaded sweetie! I've popped in and out of here for the past few months. Mostly lurking. But there are some REALLY smart people here, so I've been tapping their brains. Welcome! Sue

I think the US doctors are more likely to require one. I just don't know if I want to credit them for being so cautious or blame them for spending our money to cover their butts. :cool: I've dealt with three very experienced band doctors outside the US and none of them require pre-op GI tests. My surgeon had placed over 1400 bands when he did mine, and we got along just fine without that testing. Sue