faithmd

No problem at all. I understand there are certainly negatives to going to Mexico.

I really like the shakes (come dry in packets that you mix with water in a shaker) I ordered through my surgeon's office. They are called Nutrimed 420 (yeah I know, "420") and are available in Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, and are really rich tasting. I got them from bettermd.net Here's the nutrition breakdown on them: Nutrition Facts Amount Per 1 serving Calories 80 Calories from Fat 0 % Daily Value * Total Fat 0g 0% Saturated Fat 0g 0% Polyunsaturated Fat 0g Monounsaturated Fat 0g Cholesterol 5mg 2% Sodium 200mg 8% Potassium 400mg 11% Total Carbohydrate 7g 2% Dietary Fiber 1g 4% Protein 14g 28% Alcohol 0g Vitamin A20 % Vitamin C30 %Calcium35 % Iron20 %Vitamin D20 % Vitamin E20 %Thiamin30 % Riboflavin30 %Niacin20 % Folate20 %Vitamin B-630 % Vitamin B-1220 %Phosphorus20 % Magnesium20 %Zinc20 % Copper20 %*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Except the SlimFast Carb Control/Low Carb Diet, which is quite a good supplement (other than the somewhat higher calories). It is available in Chocolate and Vanilla and is rich and creamy and very satisfying. It has much better protein than the SF Optima or the SF High Protein. Here's the info from SF Carb Control Creamy Chocolate: 1can (325 ml, almost 11oz) 190cals Total fat 9g (14%DV) Sat Fat 1.5g (8%DV) Trans Fat 0 Polyunsaturated Fat 1.5g Monounsaturated Fat 6g Cholesterol 15mg (5%DV) Sodium 260mg (11%DV) Potassium 550mg (15%DV) Total Carb 6g (2%DV) Fiber 4g (16%DV) Sugars 1g Sugar Alcohol 0g Other Carbs 1g Protein 20g (40%DV)

I wish I had some suggestions for you. Maybe a sundress? I drew all over my belly with marker to show where my waistband and my braline sat and was fortunate Dr. Wagner avoided those areas.

Quote: Originally Posted by josieinmurrieta Hi Marty, The only advise I can give you is you need to stop, You have to lose at least 5% of your weight before your surgery date... This is the diet... If you have to have a soda pop drink a diet one. Good Luck & God Bless You Josie Josie, I know you are trying to be helpful, but please don't give advice from your doc like it is something everyone (who is not his/her patient) should follow. Not every doc requires you to lose 5% of your weight. Sometimes weight loss requirements are driven by insurance companies, not doctors (my insurance required a loss of 5 % of my EXCESS weight). Percentages of loss also can be quite different if you talk about it in terms of EXCESS weight or TOTAL weight. Every surgeon is different and I reiterate the need for each person here to follow their own surgeon's advice. Josie, your pre-op diet would have had my surgeon's head spinning. My surgeon required a totally liquid pre-op diet and for different BMI's it was of varying lengths. He also required I order the kit from their supplier (not use Slim Fast-BTW, the Optima isn't as good for you as the Carb Control-the CC has more protein). I would, however, advise most folks to try to cut out sodas pre-op because very few docs will allow carbonation post-op, and the ones that do, usually have you wait for a while until you are healed. There is also a lot of controversy around pre-op diets and the efficacy of them on liver shrinkage, but I won't get into that here, it's a discussion for a patient and a doctor to have.

I'm glad you were okay and did not have an accident or worse! This is a great thread and an excellent reminder to folks to ask about things like this. The Internal Medicine doc that works with my surgeon's practice stops all BP and "water" pills as well as oral hypoglycemics and then slowly restarts them if need be. His reasoning is just as you mentioned, it takes very little loss to have a huge effect on your system. Thanks for posting this!

:welcomeB: Welcome and good luck, we're here for you in your journey!

Exactly why I didn't tell folks. But it's done now and you can't take it back. I love HarleyNana's suggestion of showing them the before and after pics of folks here! I also agree, if it were so easy to just push yourself away from the table, there wouldn't be an obesity epidemic. That having been said, the Band does require work and committment in order for it be the best tool it can be. This is your decision, this is your health and your body (not theirs), go for it!

Juli, it sounds like you had a GREAT time! I LOVE tapas and didn't even think about it as a food after banding, you are wonderful for reminding me!

:welcomeB: You'll find loads of good info here, we're a big family, some times we bicker, but we're all here to help one another through this journey!

I think your weight loss is wonderful! Congratulations on your bandiversary! I am sure it is hard to keep it up for such a long period of time, I am only starting this journey and am trying to gather all the info I can to help me later down the line. Here's a link to a thread that a woman who didn't work with her band started, I realize you have done very well, but it is a long and very inspiring thread, nonetheless. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/read-b4-being-banded-my-experience-33351/

I'm sorry, was I yelling at you? I certainly didn't think I was, nor did I intend to. Quoting myself, "oreokitty, that's wonderful if your doc said it was okay..." I do think it's wonderful if your doc said it was okay. (May I ask who your doc was, BTW? I might have to switch docs because I do like your post-op program a lot more than mine! ) I agree with your thought and your statement: "BUT YES YOU HAV ETO CALL YOUR DOC FOR ANY CHANGES TO YOUR DIET I guess i thought that was a given" It really would be nice if that was a given, but sadly it isn't. Some folks think this is just as good as the medical advice they'd get from their doc. :peace:

$15,000 is quite high for a band, even in the US. lapbandrockies.com (Kirshenbaum in Denver) is considerably cheaper than that, there is a guy (Mark Pleatman) in the Detroit area that is a little over $12K, look at the ads on the sides here, they are for cheaper than that. Mexico has some of the best band surgeons out there and I don't think I've seen a Mexico clinic higher than $10K, most are around $8K. But that having been said, to a point you do get what you pay for, so do your research! (Avoid Betencourt.) The key is if you are going anywhere away from your home you MUST set up your aftercare BEFORE you have your surgery. Many surgeons will not touch/fill another surgeon's band. There are some that will, that's why you have to set it up first. There is also a company that is expanding quickly called Fill Centers USA that does fills. Keep looking around, you'll find something better. And no, sadly there isn't someone who will give you a grant for a band. If there were, we'd all have used that grant money up. Admittedly it is a struggle, but the band does require a committment, and part of that is how hard are you willing to work to get it in the first place? I was fortunate, I had insurance that covered it, but my struggle was still five, almost six years to get the band. Initially no insurances covered it, then I was told that one of the insurers I could choose did cover the band. I switched insurances, and guess what? I was misinformed. So I had to deal with that company for a year, the next year I was told the thought they'd be adding it, they didn't, another year went by. Then when I did get with the company who does cover the band, they changed the provider list, and then changed MD supervised diet requirements (were 6 months, changed it to 12 months)..yada, yada, yada. After all that I was adamant those f*^k#rs were going to pay for my freaking band. But if one more thing had happened, I had already lined up financing and would have been on the plane to Mexico to see Dr. Aceves. While you are waiting and figuring out how to get the band paid for, may I suggest you make some changes now that you will have to make down the line? I did, and I can tell it you that it has helped the post-op transition immensely. I stopped drinking all soda (no carbonation), I gave up caffeine (you can still have minimal amounts, but it is a diuretic and many bandsters struggle to get in enough fluids as it is, then to add a diuretic on top of it doesn't help). I started logging every bite I swallowed and every thing I drank (even water) on fitday.com (it is free and there are others: sparkpeople.com, mydailyplate.com, calorieking.com, etc) along with my activity and weight. I wasn't perfect but I tried to give up all white (refined and most simple) carbs, enriched flours and anything with high fructose corn syrup in it in favor of whole grains and steel cut oats. I tried to cut out as many artifical sweeteners as possible (Nutrasweet gives me headaches, saccharin tastes gross, Splenda/sucralose still causes the vicious cycle where your body thinks it ate something with sugar in it and then you get that release that says I'm hungry again) in favor of blue agave syrup (still has carbs, but is low glycemic index-broken down slowly by the body) and Stevia (plant derivative you can find in the health food section of bigger supermarkets or at health food stores, it has no effect on blood sugar or insulin secretion). I started eating like U.S. bandsters are told to: proteins first, veggies second and if I had room, I'd eat complex carbs or fruits. I liked Kashi with vanilla soy milk in the morning and a little dried or fresh fruit, yummy! It sounds like a lot to do, but it really wasn't hard AT ALL. By making these changes I lost almost 50 pounds in 4 1/2 months PRE BAND. I began taking tiny bites, using baby utensils sometimes, practicing chewing chewing chewing (that's my hardest thing), and not drinking with my meals, or for an hour after (if I can make it that long). Try some or all of these things while you are getting things together, the worst thing that can happen is that you lose some weight, and that you will be much more prepared for life after banding. I do wish you luck, as Red Green says: "I'm pullin' for ya, we're all in this together."

First, who? Second, how ill must someone have been to kill themself, their wife and their child? Sad, too bad he couldn't have gotten help. If this turns out not to be the case and it was set-up to look that way (gotta cover all the bases), then how sick must anyone be to kill a defenseless person?

oreokitty, that's wonderful if your doc said it was okay, but please don't tell someone else it's fine for them. wadew1976 needs to follow their doc's advice. There is sound reasoning behind the liquid diet, I know it's tough to be in Bandster Hell (I'm day five post-op), but point of it is to allow scar tissue to form around the back side of the stomach to help hold the band in place. Yes the surgical technique has improved over the years (pars flaccida) and it is sutured on the front in a much more secure manner than it used to be, but nothing secures the band on the back side of the stomach except scar tissue that forms. In order to get good scar tissue formation, the stomach needs to be at rest. liquids are not difficult for the stomach to process/digest. There is minimal movement of the stomach muscle to move liquids (especially clear liquids) on through, but when you start ingest foods with more substance to them (even if chewed to a pulp) your stomach muscle has to churn and move to digest them and push them through to your intestine. The churning and moving disrupts that scar formation, kind of like pulling apart a papercut everytime you flex your finger. Wadew1976, you are NOT alone, many folks get desperate for something to chew. I would suspect that's the number one call our nutritionists get post-op is us begging to go on to the next stage early. Remember we are doing this for our future, for our health, I made a committment and I am going to do my damndest to stick to it for me. I suggest you give your surgeon's office a call and see what they say, they may choose to advance you, like oreo's did. I look at it this way, if I were pregnant (or if I were a man and my wife were pregnant) and my doc told me I had to avoid something to keep my baby healthy, I cannot imagine being desperate enough to put my unborn child's health at risk. Why do we risk our own when we know that it is for a finite period of time (two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, whatever)? You can do this!

Totally depends on the airline. Here's a link to a thread from the early spring where folks rated which airline they thought was best for larger people, it may help you: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f7/best-airline-larger-people-30769/ I personally always make sure to choose my seat when I book online and choose a WINDOW seat on a side of the plane or in an area where there are only TWO seats. In my experience, the farther back in the plane (last row or so), the less likely it is that someone will be next to you. I pee before I board so I don't have to step over anyone to get out. I never choose the aisle because a)I don't want to be bashed by the beverage cart and no one could possibly climb over me to get out to the restroom, I'd always have to get up, and at my size, I'd be bumping into someone in the next row of seats. My thought when flying heavy is that I'd rather stay put tucked back where I'm out of the way. I also wait until last to deplane, that way I don't have to stick my butt in anyone's face while pulling down my carry-on. Who cares if you get off first or last? The luggage won't be unloaded yet, anyway.

Yes, the band is secure on the front where it is sewn, but the back gets secured by formation of scar tissue. That has to form over time and the movement of stomach muscle to digest solids prevents that from happening. I don't think the OP slipped yet, either. But to be safe OP should tell the doc what happened.

Wow two nights! Congrats and best wishes for a speedy recovery Marga! You'll do great!

Pam, at 0800 tomorrow 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 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 what the requirements are, ask them to snail mail (and email if they can) you a copy of those requirements.

Don't know, don't care, think she looks gross in any case. But good for her for losing weight.

Just ask for one. Don't be scared, your doctor works for YOU.

I would think the ice cream is fine in moderation, but the thing was, did you eat the cookie?

Good luck to you, tomorrow! You'll do fine!

It's probably a seroma (a mass or swelling caused by the localized accumulation of serum within a tissue or organ). It is usually fluid or fat that has broken down and isn't reabsorbed yet by the body. My surgeon's info binder says about 40% of bariatric patients develop seromas, just apply warm soaks a few times a day. The important thing to watch is if it gets red and hot (indicating an infection). It may drain clear or straw or pink/peach fluid and that's okay as long as the fluid is CLEAR, not puss-appearing. The surgeon's binder also said the majority pop up around day four to six.

With staples if an incision develops an abcess or an infection or needs to be opened for any reason, you need only remove the staple over the area that needs to be drained. With sutures or steristrips or glue you have to open the entire incision and then you'd be looking at packing the wound. Also, with staples, bad stuff can work it's way out between the staples, but with a sutured or glued wound, nothing can escape. He does have a valid point. When I did burn we always stapled large wounds shut and grafts on for that very reason. Dr. Wagner also told me that in the couple thousand bariatric procedures Hurley has done, their infection rate is less than 1%. He would have gone ahead and put in a running silk suture if I would have truly insisted, but I gave up. Can't really argue with good logic that I've seen in practice before.