faithmd

Hello Brandy, is he having issues because of everything else that's gone on (your other health scare)? Or was he already behaving this way before? Come join us in the Intimacy thread, you're not alone: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/intimacy-36013/

Quote: Originally Posted by mjsafari I am 2 weeks out and on regular food. I was on liquid/mushies for a week, then my surgeon said soft foods this week and start on regular foods yesterday. I have been eating mostly chicken, chewing well and it is going down fine. I do have some restriction or at least a stopping point, but I wish it was sooner. I am eating off a small plate, but I can finish that. I can't wait for my fill on the 16th! It is so amazing how different doctors are in their post op diet plans, and I'm I must admit I'm very perplexed at going to solids at two weeks post banding (but if it's your surgeon's instructions, the that's what it is), so I had to go see if Allergan says anything about it at all. Here's what the Allergan (LapBand) site says: Post-Surgery Nutrition In the first few weeks after your surgery, you will be on a liquid diet since only thin liquids will be tolerated by your stomach at that time. As you heal, you will gradually progress to pureed foods (three to four weeks post-op) and then soft foods (five weeks post-op). Finally, you will be able to eat solid foods. Kinda blows your mind the variations out there, huh?

First thing Monday morning please call the nutritionist at your surgeon's office and ask for a more clarified menu.

Here's a sample schedule my surgeon's nutritionist gave me for the first two weeks (Clear liquids with Protein supplements) but you should ALWAYS follow your surgeon's advice about diet! Breakfast at 0800 Protein shake (240-330ml) Snack at 1000 sugar free non-carbonated, non-caffeinated beverage (240ml) and either 1 high protein Gelatin or other 240ml Protein Drink supplement. lunch at 1200 Protein Shake (240-330ml) Snack at 3 or 4pm high protein clear drink (240ml) or high protein clear Soup (240ml) AND 240ml non-caffeinated, non-carbonated, sugar-free drink dinner at 6pm Protein Shake (240-330ml) Snack at 8 or 9 pm 1 high protein gelatin or other high protein clear drink.

Oh my, with that little in, I'd be hungry too! You should definitely be sipping slowly, but rember you are still supposed to be getting in a minimum of 64 oz of water a day on top of whatever diet you are on. What stage does your surgeon say you should be at?

Many folks here (I think one poll I saw a while back put it at well over 50%) went to Mexico. Many surgeons there are have been doing it longer than surgeons in the US and some proctored US surgeons back when the FDA approved it for use here in June 2001. There is no way I'd pay $25K for the surgery out of pocket. You'd be better off going to Toronto to TLBC for $16K CAN. There is a doc in Denver (lapbandrockies.com) who does it for less than $12K I believe. There is a thread here dedicated to him (Kirschenbaum), you'll find lots of info in the Doctors and Hospitals forum and in the various state or country forums. Here's a few links to some threads about going to Mexico: How to check on Doctors in Mexico? Did anyone get there lap band done in mexico? Mexico Banders? In any case, if you choose to go out of your area you MUST set up after care locally FIRST. Many surgeons will not touch another surgeon's band. It doesn't matter if they were banded in Mexico, the US, or Belgium. There is a company called Fill Centers USA that is rapidly expanding across the US that will provide fills and aftercare. What is the trial for? It's been approved in the US since June 2001. The surgeon I chose has actually done less than 100 bands but I researched him well and asked him some pointed questions about his stats ans surgical technique and was completely comfortable with his answers. Inamed (makers of the US approved band) consider anyone who has done 100 bands to be an "expert" and eligible to proctor other surgeons in how to place the band. So 250 is a good number. I wish you luck in your decision, in Mexico I wouldn't hesitate to see Aceves, Ortiz or Rumbaut. There are others that are also good, I'm sure. But those are the guys that seem the most respected. No way I'd ever consider Betencourt, though.<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

I know many are fond of the Magic Bullet, but I am just not impressed with it's power (or lack of) compared to other blenders out there. Plus it's pretty expensive at $50, the cheapest I've seen it was at Kohl's at Xmas and that was a four hour day after Thanksgiving sale price for $36. The Magic Bullet has *only* 225W of power. There is a personal sized blender at Walmart that you can get online that is 350W and is only $18ish, here's the link: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3609512 I can't find it in the stores, but I did find it online at Walmart and at Brylanehome.com, it's more expensive at brylane, but if you are negative on shopping at Wallyworld (I understand some folks are), here's the brylane link: http://www.brylanehome.com/product.a...ducttypeid= 1 I just ended up buying a new blender (I needed one anyway) from Walmart, it's an Oster that came with a food processer attachment and a free personal size mix mug (not all the boxes had that, but they do sell those for about $13 or so) and it was $40. It has 450 watts. I do really like it. This is it: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5366505 Here's the link to the personal mixer cup: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5811496 But did you know that if you have a blender that has the screw-off base with the removable blades (screw the base off the jar and take the blade assembly and a gasket ring out for cleaning) that that ring actually fits on canning jars? Talk about nice and small, you could use half pint or pint size jars and not have to worry about buying another blender/mixer at all. I have a bunch of those old glass canning jars with the handle on them they used to sell in the dollar stores, those work great. Just wanted to save us all some dough <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Charlotte, try this thread, there's a few interesting responses there: Need helpful answers from experienced bandsters 16-18lbs in about 12-14 weeks is good, it's what I will expect once I get out of the immediate post-op period. I was told 1-2lbs per week, and that's where you are. We didn't do bypass. Our loss will be slower. True some people lose 20 lbs a month, I lost 3lbs in the month of April following a rather structured diet. We are all different. It is sooooo hard not to compare ourselves to someone else, especially when that other person is losing leaps and bounds above us. I keep reminding myself weight loss is a journey, not an event. Are you logging what you are eating on a site like fitday.com or mydailyplate.com or sparkpeople.com? I found it helps to see what I'm taking in. I log all food AND all liquids, lots of calories can be hidden in things like teas and juices. Are you sticking to one calorie level (like 1000 per day)? Many folks find that sticking to a strict amount of calories actually hurts weight loss as the body come to expect that caloric intake, try mixing it up, one day 800, another 1200, another 1000, it all averages out. Are you drinking with meals? I've read some folks say they had to stop drinking for up to 90 mins after to achieve the desired full feeling. From what I've read warm liquids can also ease restriction. So possibly drinking something warm prior to a meal can "open things up" a bit and go against the restricted feeling you desire. I have read over and over again that many bandsters will have different feelings of restriction on different days, depending on stress, Fluid retention, time of the month, etc. Some folks can eat more in the morning, some can eat more in the evening. From what I've gathered, restriction is constantly changing, pre-band there were times you were more hungry than others. Sometimes you could eat a sandwich and be happy, other times you could pig out at a buffet and still want to stop on the way home for ice cream. Why would that be any different now? Well, I guess I would hope that now I couldn't go pig out at the buffet. But perhaps I would be hungrier and able to eat more at one time than at another. I am by no means an expert, I was only recently banded, but I have read here and other boards for a long time and have tried to retain a lot of the good tips that I see repeated over and over again by what I would call successful bandsters. I hope others respond as well.

See, that's exactly it. I don't get AT ALL why the nuts and docs all think that for some reason this miracle band is going to make us all eat sugar free, low fat, low calorie, high protein, etc...If we could eat sugar free, low fat, low cal, make the best choices, then we wouldn't be fat! I don't get why a doc would band someone, then put them on Atkins, either. But I guess every doc is different. I know I need to make better food choices, and I've been committed to that since late January. Can I keep it up? I don't know, I'm going to try. Though the diet from the surgeon actually goes against everything I've done to be successful with the nearly 50lbs I lost pre-band. I will give them that it is only the post op diet, and hopefully once I'm healed I can go back to what I was doing, but still. Granted I made a committment when I had surgery and one would think that going so far as to have surgery would help keep one on the straight and narrow in terms of food choices, but we are all human. One of the biggest reasons I chose the band over bypass (other than not having to have feet of bowel removed) was that I am a food snob, I love good food. I wanted to be able to still eat good food (which often does have fat and sugar in it), but in much smaller quantities. I wanted a 4 ounce filet mignon to fill me up instead of a 12 ounce. I wanted to have a few bites of a creme brulee and be satisfied instead of two full ramekins barely scratching the surface. I feel like I'm going to have to keep two food diaries, one for the nut, one for real.

SE Michigan, near Ann Arbor

Okay folks, time for a brief lesson about what NSAID's are: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have the following properties: analgesic (pain-killing) properties anti-inflammatory properties antipyretic (fever-reducing) properties There are three types of NSAIDs: salicylates (both acetylated, such as aspirin, and nonacetylated such as salsalate, choline magnesium trisalicylate and magnesium salicylate) Traditional NSAIDs which include: Ansaid (Flurbiprofen) Arthrotec (Diclofenac/Misoprostol) Cataflam (Diclofenac Potassium) Clinoril (Sulindac) Daypro (Oxaprozin) Dolobid (Diflunisal) Feldene (Piroxicam) Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) Indocin (Indomethacin) Ketoprofen (Orudis) Lodine (Etodolac) Meclomen (Meclofenamate) Mobic (Meloxicam) Nalfon (Fenoprofen) Naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve) Ponstel (Mefanamic Acid) Relafen (Nabumetone) Tolectin (Tolmetin) Voltaren (Dicolfenac Sodium) COX-2 selective inhibitors which include: Celebrex (Celecoxib) Vioxx (Rofecoxib)(No longer on market as of September 2004) Bextra (Valdecoxib)(No longer on market as of April 2005) There are also other COX-2 Inhibitors being developed, including: Prexige (Lumiracoxib) Arcoxia (Etoricoxib) The Enzyme Cyclooxygenase Further research of the enzyme cyclooxygenase, also known as COX, has revealed that there are two forms, known as COX-1 and COX-2. NSAIDs affect both forms of cyclooxygenase. COX-1 is involved in maintaining healthy tissue, while COX-2 is involved in the inflammation pathway. COX-2 selective inhibitors became the newest subset of NSAIDs born of this research. Other Facts About NSAIDs Pain and inflammation sometimes occur in a circadian rhythm (daily rhythmic cycle based on a 24 hour interval). Therefore NSAIDs may be more effective at certain times. NSAIDs can be divided into two groups: those with plasma (blood) half-lives less than 6 hours (i.e. aspirin, diclofenac, ibuprofen) and those with half-lives greater than 10 hours (i.e. diflunisal, piroxicam, and sulindac). Since it takes three to five half-lives to stabilize blood levels, NSAIDs with longer half-lives require a loading dose to be given (large dose given initially). The "half-life" is the time it takes a drug to go down to half of its initial level. Prostaglandins, which are inhibited by NSAIDs, function in the body to protect the stomach lining, promote clotting of the blood, regulate salt and Fluid balance, and maintain blood flow to the kidneys when kidney function is reduced. By decreasing prostaglandins, NSAIDs can cause stomach irritation, bleeding, fluid retention, and decreased kidney function. Hope this helps!

Deanna, it's AWESOME when it's done. I would not suggest you do it to him if you've not waxed anyone, though. There are plenty of professional waxers that do it, it seems to range from $80-$120 or so in my area.

Thank you so much for posting and being such a wonderful inspiration! You both look absolutely wonderful and have achieved a fantastic goal together, you should be very very proud. Thank you again!

EVA, your doc is incorrect. The AP band was released in the US during the ASBS convention earlier this month (June 11-17th to be exact). At the ASBS the docs could get trained in the differences in placing the AP. I have also heard the ports are the same, regular or the low-profile mini port. From what I understand, the other poster is correct that the port size really doesn't matter that much, the doc (or at least mine did) will choose the band size and the port size while in there. Both are based on what your body looks like inside. Thickness of abdominal wall for the port, thickness of stomach walls for the band. The other consideration for the port has to do with amount of abdominal wall fat for fills, you gotta have a port you can find. Though I believe most docs in general go with the low-profile mini port if they can. If your doc is going to order the AP, have him, not you, but him call Don Mills at Inamed or have him talk to his band rep and set up a proctor to be there for the first AP he places. I say this because it doesn't sound like your doc attended ASBS and thus didn't get to take the AP class. There are differences in placement, which possibly could be simply explained to him over the phone, depending on his comfort level, how many bands he's done, how many VG bands he's done, etc. When I was trying to get an early release of the AP Don Mills did suggest that my surgeon order a minimum of 4 bands, 2 small and 2 large. They won't know until they open you if you need small or large, and then if something happens to the first one they try to place (drop it or rip it), they'll have a back up. Don also told me the instruments (trocar) used to thread the AP must be much larger than the ones used currently. There are some distinct differences in placement so it is important for the docs to get training either by reading or talking to someone or by a proctor.

Mitch, ! Pamela, hubba hubba! And you have a gorgeous smile!!!! I guess I just noticed that you live in PS, or maybe it just hit me...our very very dear friends Tim and Andy live there and own a fantastic B and B on East Ramon (333bnb.com). We love PS and hope to come again this fall. I'll have to post a Halloween pic from a couple years ago when we were in town. We all dressed as various characters from the Flintstones.

I also made soup out of tomato sauce and low fat ricotta cheese and some tomato juice in the blender.

Nope but at 8 days (today) I tossed a can of beenie weenies in the blender with some tomato juice and some catsup to make it more of a Soup. Granted the calories are high (240), but I get 8 grams of Fiber and 14 g of protein. Perhaps next time I'll just puree and soup up some plain baked Beans with the fat free hot dogs so I don't get so many calories/fat grams. Then again, I'm still under 1000, so who the heck cares? :mad::clap2:

hello Gaut, WELCOME to LBT! Move down to the bottom of this page and you'll see that some other threads like yours have come up as Similar Threads. Check them out, there's loads of good info here. There are quite a few bandsters who have had babies banded. My surgeon dosen't want you to get pregnant for two years, but that's not to say that it doesn't happen, I'm sure. Some docs do a complete unfill, some unfill a little, some just see how it goes. All depends on your surgeon.

Yep, there's a few threads around here about this, I think. From what I recall, many folks have lost at least width and in quite a few cases, a shoe size. I am looking forward to it myself (being an 11W)

petag21, I know this won't help you over the weekend, but on Monday morning, I want you to go and get your insurance card, then go to your telephone and call your insurance company. Tell them you want to have adjustable gastric banding done and ask if they have a special procedures case manager who takes care of the bariatric cases that you can speak with. If not, then speak to whoever can help you figure out if they cover it and if so, what the requirements are. Have a pen and a pad of paper handy, write down the name of every person you speak to and note the date and time. Make notes of what they say. Most big companies have case managers that deal exclusively with special procedures like this. If not, then with the codes below, you should be able to get somewhere with the rep you talk to. The codes to ask if they are covered are: laparoscopic surgical adjustable band:Procedure code 43770; diagnosis code 278.01 Once you have found out from them if they cover it and what the requirements are, ask them to snail mail (and email if they can) you a copy of those requirements.<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Pssst, there is children's liquid ibuprofen. It works great. Most bottles are the 5ml=100mg (but always check the label), so take the amount into account if you need a lot of Motrin (in that label's case 800mg of Motrin-the usual adult prescription dose-would equal 40ml or almost three tablespoons). Aleve, YOUCH!<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

The green is way too light...sorry. I just like plain old black. :mad: I'm a spoil sport, though.

I am glad to hear you are alright! So did you at least get the moose meat? What kind of car was that? Looks like it did a pretty good job of absorbing the impact.

BTW, I don't know more about your situation than what you have just posted, but based solely on that alone, I just wanted to say that some doctors elect to put the port on the right side. Your doc may very well be a quack, and I realize you are upset, but if your comment *is* based only on his port placement, I'd hesitate to call him that. The band itself has undergone some refinements in design in since 2003, the new AP band does address some of the issues with port problems and band replacement versus the need for just port replacement. In 2003 in the US the band was barely two years old and since then docs have also perfeted surgical technique, like more often than not choosing to place the port on the left side. Port placement is MD's choice, no real benefit to the band from what I understand (anyone please correct me if I am wrong) from placing it on the left, or the right, or the middle. The tubing that comes with it is trimmed to the length that is needed. The reason I recall being told that most docs started placing it on the left was so later on if the patient were to need studies or abdominal surgery of some sort, the port and tubing would not be in the way. I hope this helps a bit.

Okay, another person *just* wrote about a port flip, how weird is that? Small world! Here's a list of links for you to other threads about this on LBT: Flipped port? My port is flipped already!! Port tipped/flipped- questions Flipped Port Please help w making decision/flipped port My port flipped If she gets rebanded, try to make sure she gets the new AP band, it is supposedly easier to buckle and unbuckle and replace the port. I think one of the new design features (just came out in the US to the general public about 10 days ago) is that it is easier to replace just the port and the tubing without having to replace the whole band. Best of luck! <!-- google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) -->