faithmd

I second Travelgirl's post above. I'm nervous and excited and happy and, and, and so many other things for you! You have been there for me and have been such an inspiration to me. I am so over the moon for you that this next step in your amazing journey is coming in about 14 hours!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Rarely if ever do first fills give you any kind of restriction. Usually it's three or four or more before you hit that "sweet spot." I think you did very well with your amount of food consumed and sometimes for some people it's no longer a stuffed feeling, it's a loss of interest with eating, or it's a hiccup or their nose runs or they get a golf ball feeling, it's it sooo different for each of us what satisfied feels like. Read Wendell's post about fills and unfills in the FAQ forum, it's very informative.

That is insanity that they wouldn't let you split an entree! I understand if you were at a buffet, but at Olive Garden? Unless you wanted salad or Soup, too. Even then, they could charge you for the garden salad. What's a dadeetdadeet? Are you trying to do the Carlos Mencia dee dee dee? And $8.95 for a scoop of chicken salad? Nuts!!! But if you think about it...what's in thier chicken salad sandwich, an ice cream scoop of chicken salad, some lettuce and two slices of bread. We should all be in an uproar that two slices of bread and a piece of lettuce is soooo expensive! I won't use the restaurant card, either. I get a box to go or at a buffet, I just think of the added cost as my entertainment dollar for the evening. I also consider how many years I ate plate after plate after plate MORE than getting my $ worth at buffets, now it's payback. However, if I am at a place that doesn't have any band friendly food (that I didn't choose to go to, that is), I will ask what they can do for me like; in the case of Einstein's chicken salad. I don't want the bread, can't eat the bread, don't want the lettuce, either, can't you just sell me the chicken salad for say, $6? (Even that's a rip off, and that stuff is full of fat.)

For me consultation was in March, surgery in June, could have been May if I hadn't insisted on getting the AP Lapband after it's general release date. HOWEVER, and this is a BIGGIE, I knew EXACTLY what was required by my insurance company for approval, which was: 100lbs + over weight for five years, BMI greater than 40, or 35+ with TWO co morbidities (not a problem, I was greater than 50), and documented MONTHLY appointments with my MD and an attempt at weight loss supervised by an MD for ONE YEAR. A letter would not suffice, I had to have monthly visit notes with my MD detailing what all I was doing each month for loss (walking, stair climbing, joined gym, cut carbs, etc) AND a 5% loss of my EXCESS weight (above the MetLife insurance tables). I didn't lose the 5% due to a medical condition that crept up in the year of visits and was denied the first month I submitted. I was approved the next time around. I would advise you to talk with your insurance company and get in writing WHO they'll pay for you to be banded by (mine paid for three places, now they only pay for two and one of them has only done 6 bands!) and EXACTLY what is required so you can be working on it. Then yes, you MUST go to that info session. You get loads of valuable information there, for example I found out exactly what the surgeon required pre-op and took the couple of months I had between my info session and my consult to obtain it all. That way when I walked in the door for my consult, they had the entire package and were able to sumbit to insurance right away. Believe me, everyone here wants or wanted it ASAP. I can't imagine a single one of us who said, it's okay if it takes a year...I can wait. Some folks (WasABubbleButt for example) just went and did self-pay to get it done faster. If you can afford that, I'd suggest that route. That's what I'd have done if I had the $$. I'd have been on a plane to sunny Mexico to see Dr. Aceves, or Rumbaut or maybe Ortiz. GOOD LUCK!!!!

Many RN's and PA's and NP's do fills. I believe they do them under the auspices of an MD who is Inamed or J&J certified in the US. I don't know how anyone would go about the training and licensure or certification needed to successfully start doing fills without working under an MD's license. I'm sure there's a way, though. Are you asking for yourself? That is, are you asking if you can get trained and fill yourself? I would think that would be opening up a big can of worms. I'd be tempted to fill or unfill myself way more often than suggested by the manufacturer.

Sarah, vent away. Fingers crossed for you that it will turn out just fine. I cannot imagine how freaked I'd be, too. I haven't been filled yet and lately have been noticing more restriction and signals after about 1/2 cup of food that I'm full. It wasn't like that before but I'm ignoring it for now...until I start with the reflux and aspirating that is. Goodonya for getting an unfill until you can figure out what's really going on.

That is totally awesome and wonderful!!!!! Where are the photos?

I'd give your doc's office a call and describe to the nurse or PA or doc what's going on and ask what they think. Sometimes docs want you to wait it out as long as you can keep liquids down, sometimes they want you to come in and get unfilled a bit.

Here's the link to Wendell's post: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/how-lap-band-actually-works-fills-refills-41738/

Lots of docs use Omnipaque for fills. They will choose to use it if they believe a patient may have a tiny leak or a very slow leak in order to keep more in the band for longer. Quite often I've read posts where a patient's doc chooses to use it to keep the fill around in the band longer than saline. Also as you mentioned, since it is radiopaque you can potentially find a leak easier. Here's some links to many threads about it (and it's spelled many different ways by folks, so it's hard to research here): http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/omnipaq-vs-saline-50181/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/unexplicable-saline-loss-35077/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/anybody-feel-like-just-not-working-them-52687/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/omnipaque-what-44159/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f78/losing-fills-42550/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f91/lost-restriction-41535/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/anybody-heard-about-other-fill-solution-40201/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f78/please-read-leak-omnipaque-35480/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/thick-saline-solution-used-fills-33533/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/fills-omni-pak-16478/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/frustrated-leaking-port-9997/

I haven't heard of one. Anyone know the capacity of a Realize? The biggest I've heard of is 14cc for the AP large. If you know for sure you've got a VG and you have the booklet, then you have the manufacturer's suggested capacity. Some doc's will fill over that based on their experience. Just because you may have near band capacity in the band, does NOT mean you will definitely be restricted. Restriction's totally different for EVERYONE. Our insides are as different as our outsides. For more about band fills and unfills and how it all works, please see Wendell's post about this in the FAQ and References Forum. It's a GREAT reference.

Here's a post I've written before: 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-$60, 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: Back to Basics 3-Speed Brushed Chrome Personal Blender Express, BPE3BR - Wal-Mart I can't find it in the stores, but I did find it online at Walmart and if you're not a Wallyworld fan, here's an msn link with more estores that carry it: Back to Basics 350-Watt Personal Blender Express price comparison 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 (now less than that). It has 450 watts. I do really like it. This is it: Oster 12-Speed Osterizer Blender With Food Processor Attachment - Wal-Mart Here's the link to the personal mixer cup: Oster Blend-n-Go Cup - Wal-Mart 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.

Nikki-the steroids are a wonder drug for the baby if you do deliver early (I'm in neonatology), but you're down to the last little bit here, hang in there! Jill-hope the unfill helps you Claudia-welcome to the warm and sunny Midwest! (LOL) I kid, I LOVE Chitown! Steph-what a GREAT compliment! BBK-I really like Ginger Butler! How about Ginger Greer or Grier? You could have the nickname GG if your new persona becomes mega popular! Greer and Grier are really great pin-up names in history. Just a thought. I read this thread almost daily but I don't have much to talk about lately so I haven't said anything... Oh yes, bman, congrats on the new job! VAB-WOOHOO on the loss!

I've lost 75 and I'm still wearing the same stuff. Granted it's a little big on me, but not so much that it's falling off. WTH, huh? It make me see red when the rag mags talk about how much some star has lost and how 15 lbs is three or four dress sizes...in whose world???

I knew a Kandy Kane as well, (can't remember if it was Kane, Cane or Caine). One of my roommates during my college years was named Mandolin Robin Hood. I had a teacher named Barbara LaBarbara My DH's ex FIL is named Harry Balls. Actually Harry is his middle name, his first name is Francis and he didn't like Francis so he called himself Harry Balls...I think I'd go with Frank or Francis or Frankie... I'm now in neonatology and my colleagues and I have seen some DOOZIES! Twins named Ameriae and Amerion, Norman and Namron, Beautiful and Brianne (imagine being Brianne?), Neveah and Heaven, Brianne and Brianna. I could go on for hours... When I was is college I worked doing birth certificates and here's the best one I ever had, I've never had anyone top this: Picture a middle-teens aged mother who really liked the Disney movie Fantasia. Pretty Hot And Tempting was just making it's mark as a catch-phrase, and as I'm sure you may have noticed many African American moms seem to choose names that are mixtures of other family names or favorite things, or names that end in -eisha, -sheia, -ieka, -eika, -nae, -kia, -tay(tae, taye), etc... Here's the first and middle name: Phayntaysheia Shedollolorhonda Yup, that's supposed to be Fantasia. But she didn't know how to spell it and when I wrote it down for her, she didn't think it was interesting enough... WTF? I want to create a job at the state or national level where I can sit with a HUGE red rubber stamp and deny stupid ass names and stupid spellings that come across my desk... People name babies, not adults. They just do not think about what happens when the kid grows up and tries to climb a corporate ladder with a name like Blaise or Shithead or Deiontaye. Anyhoos, back on topic: I really like Ginger Butler, or Ginger Greer. I looked up a list of pin-up women from the 1910's through the 1970's and Greer or Grier was listed a few times. It evokes that classy sex-kitten image.

LJM (and karey) Best wishes and best of luck!!!! Christine, I'll be thinking of you every day until we hear how well it all went! Lots of love to you!

Veronica Greer Ginger Greer Greer Lamour

Veronica Rouge Veronica Cerise (two ways to include something red in the name)

Thanks for the tips, what I mean is that on fitday foods are grouped by category. For instance if I ate some cheese I'd either enter the cheeses I ate into the search like on dailyplate, or (most often) I click on the Dairy and Eggs category, then click on cheeses then the type of cheese. I don't seem to find any group lists on thedailyplate, I really like that. I ate an orange and a tomato today and got TONS of different oranges and tomatoes on thedailyplate. On Fitday I'd click on a pulldown list for fruits or vegetables and then select exactly what and what size of each that I ate.

I seem to remember us discussing the name thing early on and thought we agreed we kind of liked being different and having no name. Besides I'm not a big fan of those flashing name banners... Holli, CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I started trying thedailyplate today and it's nice, but isn't there a list you can choose from for food like on fitday, or do you just type in what you ate and wade through the results?

AWESOME!!!! I'm still holding out that I'm not purchasing any new clothes until I hit a hundie off. I had to buy one pair of jeans, though. I cannot imagine a 1X, how VERY exciting!!!

I was banded June 21, 2007 and still haven't gotten a bill for my $1000 deductible portion... Wonder who I should call? I have the $1000 sitting on my flexible spending account card, if I don't use it by March 15, I lose it.

First, call your ins company! You need to talk to them and find out what their requirements are TODAY for adjustable gastric banding. Then have them send you or email you a copy. Have them explain fully what is meant by six month, or three month, or even twelve month (that's what I had to do) supervised diet commitment. In my case, I had to weight EVERY month, could not miss a single month. I HAD to see the MD EVERY month (couldn't just weigh with the nurse or an MA) and discuss my weight loss attempts with her, and her notes HAD to reflect that. I also had to lose 5% of my EXCESS weight in that time (for example, if you are 100lbs over the ins co's weight then you'd have to lose only 5 lbs in that year). My ins co did not accept a letter from the doctor, it had to be copies of the actual office notes with statements of what I was trying to do to lose weight. That can be as simple as walking the stairs daily at work, or cutting carbs or trying SlimFast, etc. As you can see, had I merely went with what I heard about weighing every month at my doc's office I would have missed some very crucial pieces of my required diet commitment and I would have had to do ANOTHER year! The most important thing you can do is to contact the insurance company. You also need to know who they'll pay for you to be banded by. It would stink to go see a surgeon, really like the office and find out the ins won't pay for you to go there. Once you know what you need to do to get covered and who you can see, then go for another seminar and get scheduled for an appointment. Use the six month time commitment to work on whatever that doc requires for pre-op testing, etc. If you need a psych eval, you can get that done, EKG, etc...

I also told no one. Including the kid (but he was 19 at the time). If I have my arms over my head grabbing something and someone sees my scars, I've said I had a hernia operation. My parents know and DH knows and a couple of VERY close friends who are considering the procedure or who have already had it done. That's it.