faithmd

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

It is so wonderful to read that I'm not alone, and that I'm not insane for staying (maybe we all are?). I want the snuggles and cuddles and so much more but I do look at the rest of my life and realize that in all other ways my marriage is a very good one. For me it is not yet a dealbreaker, it is just an empty area that I am trying to deal with. I've got so many other things going on in my life right now, I'm trying not to focus on the emptiness. It is just great to read so many of my feelings are validated by you all. I love this thread!

Here's a link to another forum that has information about this band: Trace W. Curry, M.D. :: View topic - New AP band

It is quite common to gain. Usually you have lost fast from the liquid diet pre-op (if you had one). Those folks seem to gain the most in the first couple of weeks, but lots of people who didn't have the pre-op diet gain too. It is from all the IV fluid you get during surgery. Don't worry about gaining, the first four to six weeks are for healing, not weight loss. It will start coming off.

Hello there, thanks for posting your pics! Just to let you know, there is a whole thread dedicated to scar stages, you may wish to post you pics there, too. And you can see how other folks' look. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/scar-stages-share-yours-6117/

In most surgery areas they want you to have one or two digits clean of polish to monitor your oxygen levels (place a sensor on it), so having your toes polished shouldn't be a problem as long as you have fingernails that are clear.

lizrbit, you hit the nail on the head with this last post. MANY nights I have laid next to him crying. But I guess it was my choice and I think your old Hebrew saying may be right. Maybe it will change when I am thinner, I dont think so, but I've never been a niormal size since puberty, and that happened in about the 4th grade for me. He met me fat, married me fat. Course I got to 100lbs heavier this past year than when I met him (in 8 years). That's hard to say, hard to face and hard to write. But I did. Strangely enough, he never said a word, and my clothes didn't change size much (other than jeans), is it possible he never noticed?

Heather, can you move me from June 20th to June 21st? After a lot of stompong of my feet they were able to get me in then. Otherwise they tried to tell me that it would be July 19th. All for something that was not my fault! Somehow someone didn't schedule me in the book, I had it in my book, but it never got moved into the surgery log. And for that, I was NOT going to wait until July! I'm sort of sad to not be the lone June 20th bandster, I kind of liked being the only one. But now it looks like I've got some bandster siblings (which is pretty cool, especially since I'm an only child)!

There are many threads around here about this. Use the Search function on the blue toolbar near the top of the page. I'd suggest you click on Advanced Search and then click on Thread Titles Only (pulldown menu) and put in words like tell or secret. There's also a poll or two around here asking if you told. This is a great question. I have told only my parents, my husband and one friend who wants to be banded as well. I will not be telling my boss, my paperwork will say I'm having major abdominal surgery. The surgery is my business, I have no desire to have "food police" checking out what I eat, and asking me all the time how much I've lost. I'll know they mean well, but I just don't want to hear it.

30 lbs is a good loss. That's about 10 lbs a month and that equals more than 2lbs a week. That's what we are supposed to lose. I know some people lose more than that, or faster than that, but you are LOSING. You haven't gained 30lbs! I have lost about 40 since late January (not banded yet) and I get frustrated because that seems slow to me too. I just have to remind myself that I didn't gain it, I lost it. Last week I was carrying groceries upstairs into the kitchen and I noticed how heavy it seemed. I probably had about 30lbs of stuff in my hands. I thought, "Wow! And just think, 48lbs ago I was carrying another 48lbs on my body, PLUS groceries! How on earth did I do it?" Keep going, you are doing well! We'll keep encouraging each other.

I just wanted to add that your kids do love you, they are just going through alot themselves right now. Though I know you wish they would just talk to you about it and you could work through it together, they are teenagers and more often than not, they are loners (or talk with their friends). I know it's hard to do, but give them time and space and they WILL wake up from this fog they are in and WILL realize that you needed to do what you did. They know that you love them very much and they will realize that love is so much more important than a car or a vacation. It may take a while, but they will come around.

Carlene and Derick give great advice. I have a step-son whose mother was like your ex. She and her second husband (my husband and she divorced when my step-son was 2), who she married about a year after the divorce have frequently tried to buy my step-son's love (and even though he's 19 she still tries). My husband never made close to what they did, but he tried to play "Keeping up with the Joneses" and nearly went broke doing it so he started just spending time with him when we had him (I came along when he was 10). Camping, cooking, computers, building projects, etc. When my step son was about 15 he started hanging with the wrong crowd and having problems, his mother let it get bad and then called his father to take him off her hands. We did and that was the worst thing. She didn't tell him she was sending him away for good, he got mad at us and said we were keeping him from her! Tried to run away over and over. She took him back (of course) and still tried to buy his love (just bought him a new car a couple weeks ago). After we agreed to send him back, my husband told him that since he wanted to be treated like an adult, he was going to let my step son call us. We didn't hear from him from January until a card came for my husband for Father's Day. No phone call. Then Katrina hit, we finally found out they were okay. No phone call. It wasn't until the following Christmas that my stepson started calling. He hasn't stopped. He needed to figure it out on his own that his dad loves him unconditionally and he loves his dad very much. They do change, they do need to strike out on their own, and teenagers are no longer our loving little snugglebugs. They just aren't and we have to realize we have done what we can to give them a good start in life and just be there for them if they need advice. But we've raised them, now it should be our time to enjoy. Good Luck!

Julie, how are things going lately? How's the healing process? Hope all is well and that you've had better dates lately.

sdkellygirl, the best advice I can give you about Kaiser is to pick up the phone and call them. Just because Vicki J's policy covered it, yours might not. Every company can offer different riders and clauses on their insurances. Many companies do not choose to pick up the bariatric surgery rider because it is more expensive. Please get your card and call the company and ask before you get too far into this. That way if you need to change to self-pay you can fairly easily. Length of time off depends on each person, and what you do. I've red many people say that they returned to their desk job in a couple of days, others needed a week, others two. There's quite a few threads around here about it and a poll or two. The Search function on the blue toolbar near the top of the page is great. I'd advise you click on Advanced Search and then choose Thread titles only as a search. Put in Work as the search word. You should get quite a few hits. Good luck! Everyone loses at different rates. The intention for band loss is the safer and slower 1-2lbs per week. Some lose faster, some slower. It all depends on how much you want to work with the band. It does require a lot of work on our parts. We still have to watch what we eat and we need to exercise and move. Good luck and WELCOME!

The Atkins ones are tooooo thin for me. They are not rich and creamy at all. The Slim Fast are a little higher in calories (by about 30 per can or so) but are also higher in Protein and are MUCH thicker and richer. They have Vanilla and chocolate. I get "Sip-ahhh sipping straws" from Walgreens (available in Chocolate, Cookies and Cream, strawberry, banana or Vanilla and are 15 calories each) for $2 per box of 10 to flavor the Vanilla to something else. It's a drinking straw with flavoring in it so that when you drink through it it adds flavor to the drink. And a word of caution, look for Slim Fast Carb Control (or Low Carb) ONLY, NOT the High Protein, NOT the Optima.

I did LOW CARB Slimfast (not Optima, not High Protein, not regular) 2-3 cans a day, and then for my "big meal" I had a salad with it with low fat (low cal) dressing and an occasional sugar free Jello snack. I dropped 12 or so in a week (which is what I needed to do) never felt I was hungry, either.

I forgot to mention the new AP bands, since they haven't been widely released yet in the US (next week) I forgot about them. There are two sizes of those as well, the small and the large.

That's my hubby to a "T" He is very content to masturbate as well. For him it came from not only his teen years, but from many lonely years after his divorce.

Here's some links to other threads that discuss this, hope they help! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/packing-hospital-30599/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/need-link-packing-list-23007/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/post-op-checklists-things-have-before-surgery-14814/

Here's a post from Wheetsin: Just to save time, I'll paste this response I made in aother thread: Quote: what are the different size bands and why? Why first. Because organs are different shapes and sizes, and what fits me may not fit you. Just like bracelets come in different sizes to fit around our wrists, so bands come in different sizes to fit around our esophagae. The surgeon will select the band that fits your organ the best, which is why most of the time they can't tell you in advance which band you will receive (if they use multiple sizes). Some surgeons only use one size. Some prefer, say, the 4cc to the 10cc because it takes less time to reach restriction, while some may prefer the 10cc because you have more room for fine tuning, while others prefer the 4cc because they feel the single pillow makes fine tuning easier to achieve than the multiple pillows which could hold uneven amounts of Fluid. BioEnterics bands: (length/capacity) 9.75cm/4cc 10cm/4cc 14cm/10cc There are other bands out there, but I'm not sure about their capacity/length. And here's a link to the thread here (in the FAQ and References forum) that discusses band sizes. Mind you these (and Wheetsin's) are all US bands, there are more bands out there (Swedish, Midband, Etc...) http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f73/technical-lap-band-reference-15216/

That's AWESOME that you are down 100lbs!!!! Keep up the GREAT work!

I love cheese too! I recall on our trip to Ireland and Scotland a couple of years ago I was in cheese HEAVEN! Trader Joe's has a WONDERFUL selection of cheeses. And I agree with you ladies that do not do lowfat or light anything. I will NOT do the lowfat /light/diet crap again! I am losing well (47lbs so far) without doing it, and I can imagine with the band it will only get easier. As a matter of fact I will not be following the dietician's guidance with the sugar-free popsicles and Crystal Light, etc. I rarely drink anything with artificial sweeteners in it, I'd prefer just some lemon juice or True Lemon in my Water or decaf tea. And if I'm eating a popsicle, I'll be darned if I'm going to struggle through some of the sugar free crap that's out there. Everything in moderation. Including CHEESE!

I wouldn't care what it was gathered from. I think it's a great idea. Think how many people have their loved ones' ashes on their coffee table. I'd much rather wear someone around my neck or in a ring.

Found it: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/big-medicine-35746/

I love Garth, knew him when he was just a little resident. I haven't seen the show, I need to try to catch it, there is another thread around here about it.