faithmd

He was at the hospital I am at for his pediatric surgery fellowship. Good surgeon.

Thank you for responding. As I said, I now totally understand your frustration...:eek::doh::frusty:

I haven't tried my jeans on since banding, I guess I had better go get them out :eek:

Crossing my fingers and toes and eyes and everything else for it to be okay. Sending great thoughts and healing vibes your way!

Brazilian Wax

Thanks Tann! Laura:Woo woo hoooooo!!!!! congrats on twoterville! I can't wait to get there!

Come to think of it, maybe I have some pix, too...

Dan, I'm jealous you got pix! (And darned excited, too :eek: I am glad to hear it went well, I think 90 mins is pretty good for table time for the band, and congrats on the most excellent loss pre-op! I went to a one week post op appt today and got my staples out and met with the nut who said I could go ahead and move to full liquids, but I think I'll be cautious and conservative and continue with the liquid prepackaged plan I bought from their office for as long as I can (I have two weeks worth). At the appt I was talking with the clinic manager who did my intake because I was their first AP band and I gave her a bit of a hassle about it. She wanted to follow up with me as to how it was going. She looked at me and said, "We all got a kick out of seeing your pictures." I was sort of confused. Apparently they took photos of my belly in the OR when they pulled up my gown and found where I had marked AP band ONLY and for the waistband of my scrubs and my jeans and my braline. Don't know how I feel about that...

Ooooooo!!!! I'm gonna go add that to the what I want to do when thread! BRAZILIAN WAX

How very, very exciting!!! congrats, congrats, congrats!!!

leedorr:Banded July 24, 2006 Starting weight 311 Goal weight 175 Heught 5'7"" Dr. Cywes Jacksonville FLorida As in ROB Cywes????? Rob Cywes is doing bariatrics??? No f-ing s$*t! Why on earth is he doing bariatrics? Hmmmm, he was a fellow in pediatric surgery way back when (1998ish). I remember him well. I also understand your frustration even better.

It'd be time for a new doc for me. I can completely understand your getting disgusted. As long as we are sticking to small reasonable portions and moving around, not trying to sabotage the band by eating nothing but ice cream, my theory is the surgeons work for us, we are their boss. Is there a fill center usa anywhere near you?

Call them and tell them you want it. I did.

Good luck, Eddie!

Okay, I stopped at my PCP's office today to get some lab slips and I jumped on the scale while I was there (after all, it's Wednesday), and I have to keep reminding myself this will all change soon enough and the scale will go back up for a while...but...W O O H O O !!! July 4th Challenge Week 10 Name.............................Starting….Current…...Goal….....To Go losingjusme..(Christine)......317...........285 .............295...........-10 tann.............(Tammy)........257.......... 226............232........... ..-6 juliegeraci..........................232.......... 232..............220...........12 Josette..............................340.......... 322..............315.............7 Inner_me.....(Chris).......... ..306...........295 .............280...........15 Elisabethsew..(Elisabeth).. .281....... ...270 .............260...........9 Waterlily1072...(Nicole)...... 278..... .....272 .............252...........20 Libra..(Angela)................... 230...........218........... ..205...........13 Lapbandit……...............… .208………..206……..…..185…….....21 RidinMyHDDream.(Carol).. ..281...........269 .............256...........13 FaithMD............................ 341.5........317.5..............310.. ........7.5 We're all doing so well, and Christine and Tann, you guys are AMAZING!

Hiya Dan, best wishes for a speedy recovery after banding! I was my surgeon's first AP, the difference as explained to me by Allergan in placing it is that the instruments they use in our stomachs need to be a bit bigger to slide the band through, and the buckling is a bit different, but it's not that big a learning curve. My surgeon said it wasn't much different from placing the VG band that they place quite often. He said the only thing was buckling it took him a little longer because the mechanism was different. I'm crossing my fingers you can get one!

I think i have to find an Avenue... If only just for me. I used to ALWAYS make sure my bras and panties matched, and that I was always clean shaven. After a while you just get tired of doing it for...what? I know, I know I was supposedly doing it for me. But let's be honest here folks, I can't even see my hoohoodilly, so why would I care if it's perfectly shaved? Perhaps I'll have to get back at it.

Sorry, if it is in the contract in writing that it must be a 12 month supervised program of weight loss, then that's it. I had to do it, my insurance required a 12 month MD supervised weight loss program and I had to have a 5% loss of my excess weight in that 12 months. The loss is to show your committment to the change. In my case, the 5% loss would have totalled 9 lbs. They also required me to visit MONTHLY and maintain regular attendance, miss a month and the clock starts over! In that year I had another health crisis, and ended up actually gaining 17lbs on top of the 9lbs I needed to lose (they don't look at your highest weight, they look at the weight your doctor records when you start the clock on the 12 months). I then started to lose some before my 12th month, but was still up by quite a few lbs. I had letters from my internist and my cardiologist saying it wasn't my fault and that the gain was because of my medical condition and meds I had to take. The insurance company didn't care, I still had to lose the weight I gained, PLUS the original 9lbs. So I guess the answer is no, there is no way around it. Make sure you call your insurance company and have them mail you a copy of their requirements so you have them in writing. Study them and make sure you will be able to meet each of them (like my 5% excess loss, monthly visits, etc.), call and make your appt now and get started. Is it required to see an MD for those 12 months, or would a program like Jenny Craig suffice (VERY important to find out the distinction!)? Make sure that your doctor documents EVERY MONTH not only your weight, but what you are doing to try to lose weight. It can be as simple as documenting that you are eating more vegetables, that you have started walking 30 minutes a day, that you cut out sweets, that you are trying Atkins, whatever. But it MUST be documented EVERY MONTH. Sucks, I know. I was denied because I didn't lose the weight and all total it took me 15 months until I got covered. Had I known that was what was going to happen, I would have taken a loan and been a self-pay with Aceves or Rumbaut or Ortiz in Mexico. When I switched to this ins company I had been told it was a 6 month requirement, only to find it was 12 months. By the time I got into it, then denied, I got so mad I decided those f&%k#$s were going to pay for this surgery come heck or high Water. I wish you both luck, get started NOW!

Congrats!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!

I'll be in for an exercise challenge, once I'm feeling up to snuff and okayed to start my program back up. If we are talking weight loss challenge, I sort of like the threads already out there like http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/road-twoterville-20113/ and http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/countdown-onederland-33961/ They're kind of low pressure but high on support. I agree with Toni, I can be a turtle, too.

lizrbit:Thanks so much for your continuing support, you rock! trystelle: I waited so long for this AP, I'm so happy I have it. Thanks for mentioning and following me :eek: Gibson:The AP is the newest band released by Allergan. It stands for Advanced Platform. They are not discontinuing the other bands, this is in addition to the rest of them, here some info: Here's a link to a thread Dr. C posted on his forum that discusses the AP: Trace W. Curry, M.D. :: View topic - New AP band Here's a link to a thread on another forum that has good info about it as well: Advanced Platform (AP) Band Information - Band2gether.net (b2g) Lap-band Support Forums

I think I got about 30 mins sleep that night! :eek: Congrats!!!!!!

Just wanted to remind us all that the generally accepted theory is we only probably can process about 25 grams of protein at a time. I am assuming you are putting one of the mugs away for later?

juleeann, how are you feeling now? Are you doing better? May I ask, do you have the AP band?

No sh*t, whoa! And I just got my band... :whoo::whoo::whoo: Watch out world! I don't care how long this takes me, as long as I'm still a loser, I'm happy :eek: :clap2: Marimaru (you gorgeous bride, you), could you tell I really gave my answer a lot of thought? :cry