faithmd

If I had dropped a load of money on a cruise, I'd want to have a slight unfill (assuming I get banded sometime before I die ) so that I could enjoy some foods perhaps I wasn't able to eat otherwise. I would try to control myself by not gorging on the chocolate buffet, but I'd want to be able to sample a few bites of lobster, prime rib, etc. I'd of course endeavor to eat as healthy of things as possible, but I would just want to know that my restriction wouldn't be such that I would have difficulty.

It's a couples shower, Sunta. He will be there (from what I gathered). In that case, I'd buy a couples gift.

I was also adopted, and I have always said that I am glad my mother had the courage and love for me to carry me to term and to give me away because she knew she couldn't raise me the way she would want to. But even having said that, I also recognize that this was before Roe v. Wade and if she could have aborted, she probably would have, and that's okay too. It would have been her choice. I cannot imagine the long term effects of giving up your baby that you carried for nine months and felt kicking and went through hours of pain and labor to give birth to. And if you had to have a c-section and then gave your child up for adoption, everytime you looked down you'd see that scar. It takes a much stronger woman than what I am sure we raise today to be able to do that. Talk about long term effects.

One of my dear friends and his wife adopted from Vladivostok, in Russia a few years ago and those fees are close to what they paid. Add in flight and hotel, etc and it was almost $20K, but in the US they were looking at that as a bare minimum for a starting point, let alone travel and then the wait.

Yep! I was pulled and yanked into my corset (just like the one you posted in your want to wear thread) by two women. It was a challenge but it was worth it! I had a waist and my 44DD's looked even bigger. EBay is a GREAT place to buy nice corsets for reasonable prices.

The biggie here is did you try on that specific gown in an 18? Do you know for certain that though your personal clothing size is an 18, that gown will also fit you in an 18? If so, then you may be able to lose to a 14. Wedding gowns are notorious for being sized oddly. One manufacturer's 8 is another's 6 and yet another's 10. There will be no way to tell until then. I used to make wedding gowns and I can say I wouldn't have ordered it yet in the 14. But what's done is done. You now have to buckle down and work, work, work. As Alexandra said, sure you can do it! And we're here for you! I don't recall if you said how much you weigh now, and I don't know how much weight lost = a size lost for you, but I've lost 40 lbs so far (pre-band) and still haven't budged a single size. Then again, I'm 331 lbs. I was 371 and a 28, and I am sitting here typing in the same 28's I was in then. Exercise will also be your friend.

VG is 11CM and 10cc's. It's easy to confuse cc's and cm's.

COVER YOUR INCISIONS! Eficka here experienced the unfortunate side-effect of having her incisions become reddened and they have not faded. You should not expose surgical incisions to the sun until about a year after healing. Other than that, you should be just fine.

WasaBB, I think you are absolutely correct that you should follow your MDs instructions! While I personally agree with you that 250 bands is a good number to be considered experienced, I thought I should point out that according to Inamed (the maker of the LapBand system) a surgeon is considered an "expert" and is cleared to proctor other surgeons in how to place the band after placing 100 bands themselves. That came straight from Don Mills at Inamed. Would I rahter have a surgeon who has placed 350 bands than 100 bands, probably, unless the complication % rate is significantly higher for the surgeon with 350 than 100.

Hmmmm, I might be inclined to decline both invites. Why? Because A) It's tacky, tacky, tacky to include where you are reigstered for gifts in the wedding invitation. B)If I haven't seen him in years, and rarely before that, I wouldn't feel an obligation to go. C) This one is my clincher: If nothing is on the registry for under $80 then that again is rude. You have to provide all price points in your registry list unless you are absolutely certain EVERYONE on your invitation list is quite well-to-do. Another option is to skip the shower (and save a gift) and attend the wedding with one gift (perfectly acceptable). Or attend the shower with a couple gift from the registry and take your camera to the wedding (this only works if you are a halfway acceptable photographer and can put together a decent album) and take lots of pictures yourself. Lots of candids are great, especially of kids and people dancing/talking/etc. Then you load them on snapfish.com (the best quality processing for the best price I have found) and order some prints. Make some B&W, some different sepia or pink tones, etc (all easy to do on SF.com) and then you make a wedding album for them. You can easily get it all put together in a couple of weeks and send it to them. They will LOVE it, it will be WAAAAY cheaper than a gift from the registry, it will give them photos liekly before they get theirs from the official photographer, and it is guaranteed to be one of the best gifts they receive. I have done this for the past four weddings I've gone to. Snapfish also has enlargements for a reasonable price, one of the weddings I attended, I just selected some very nice photos and had made into some 5x7's (less than $1 each) and some 8x10's (less than $3) and bought some beautiful frames and then wrapped them and gave that as a gift. Went over just as well. Or give $50 cash

I just read on OH that Dr. Obeid is doing well and will be back in a month or two. No one yet knows what the problem was, but apparently he was quite ill himself. So it is very possible that he did have a stroke. I don't need to know what was wrong with him, but I wish Hurley would have not lied to me and told me I'd be able to see Dr. Obeid in a week (way back when) and instead would have just said he is ill and won't be back for a while, you'll need to reschedule with another surgeon. It would have made it easier and I would have made the choice sooner to go with Dr. Wagner instead. Oh well, it's over now, I've chosen Dr. Wagner, Dr. Obeid is expected to be back in a month or two if he continues to recover well and life is fine.

Can you give the office a call? Or better yet, call your insurance company. If they've even filed again yet, the ins co should be able to tell you that. Then you'll know where you are in the process. You also would be able to know if you have been approved or denied if it's gotten that far.

Thanks, Wheetsin!!!

Really? I'm signing hubby up, too!

Hello Pebbles and welcome! First I have to ask if you are in the US? If you are, given you age being listed as 19, I wouldn't think you should be concerned about alcohol and the band for a couple of years, right? The band does not cause "dumping" syndrome like bypass does. Therefore you can still drink alcohol, but why would you? It's full of empty calories and can be tough on your stomach. With a small pouch being created from either procedure (band or bypass) alcohol wreaks havoc on your esophagus and stomach over time. Also, if you drink to get drunk and end up puking, you risk causing a band slippage, and that my friend, is BAD. Carbonation is generally considered off limits, at least initially and many docs still say never again, so beer or "coolers" or champagne are out unless you let them get flat first. So don't take that as a reason to get bypass, because lots of bypass patients report dumping syndrome with alocohol intake (sweating profusely, diarrhea, cramping, etc) which is no piece of cake. You are 19, believe me when I say that in a few years, alcohol will (hopefully) not be a big part of your life so please don't make a huge decision such as this based on which procedure will be easier to drink alcohol with (if that's a factor, I mean). After your initial post-op period (four or six weeks, depending on *your* surgeon's instructions), you can eat whatever solid foods you like. Though I have to say that there are certain foods some people can eat and other cannot. Everyone is different and you will not know what you can tolerate until you are banded. The point of the band is as a tool to restrict the amount of food you can eat, not what kind of food you can eat. It does require work, you have to make good choices in what you put into your body, and you will need to exercise. There are many choices and changes to be made in order for the band to be successful, but it is not anything one cannot do. Bypass malnourishes your body, it works by removing a section of your intestine and causing you to not absorb certain things. It is a truly lifetime commitment as you will never be the same again. You will need to take supplements forever. Sometimes those supplements include injections of B12 and Iron. At 19, I would never want to alter the insides of my body before I gave a band a chance (at 37 I won't, either). The band is removable, it can be deflated for pregnancy so you can eat normally, it is a flexible tool. Here's some threads that ask questions about band or bypass and what others have to say, I hope this helps you, good luck! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=34045 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32584 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32616 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32079 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=30997 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=28724 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=28690 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27483

Because it's now *6* lines, and as you had originally posted it is limited to 500 characters. Read Alexandra's original reply to you, and then read Suzanne's reply. She explains how to get more info and still have it be 6 lines.

BJean: What can I say? Sometimes I share too much! I'm sort of an open book.

LOL! I won't be delicate :heh: The largest guy I had was about 11 inches long and you couldn't get your hand around it. He was the second worst lover I ever had. :faint: The worst one was a man who was 6'9" or 6'10" tall, he wore size 22 shoes, he had hands that could easily palm a basketball with nice long, thick fingers. His nose was a nice big, aqualine nose. I thought I'd be in heaven...:clap2: Well, I remember once saying "Is it in yet?":( as he was grunting in the midst of his "O" I guess it was...oops! That relationship didn't last much longer...:bored

Georgia, how are you doing this week? I saw on another post about wearing a certain outfit and it not lasting long. So I take things are still tough for you? I really hope it gets better. You are a very inspiring young woman, I can't wait to get banded and start getting serious about my body as you have. We all have our bumps in the road, or our crosses to bear as it were. You can get through this! Is part of this the strong conflict between what you want to do and the religion that you have been raised with? Some people do change religions, sometimes things just don't seem the same to them when they get older. Sometimes we realign our belief systems as we learn more about other beliefs and ideas, we discover ourselves, we discover things about ourselves. I was raised Methodist and became Catholic when I was in my late teens because that's what I found myself drawn to. I know that's not the greatest example, but I think it just shows that we can and do change. I'm not saying for you to renounce your religion and belief system, but you are struggling right now. Therapy is a really good step for you to take. Perhaps a therapist not in or related to the Church may be beneficial as well. Someone who will help you see the bigger and broader picture without focusing so much on immorality. You need to sort through many other conflicting issues (as I'm sure I do, too-we all have issues to sort out sometimes). I have been following this thread for quite a while and have been completely amazed and inspired by your strength and have felt sadness that you haven't found what you want in life. You deserve it all! Everything you want and more.

I think it depends on what your employer says. If you don't want to tell them you will be having a surgery or procedure (you don't have to tell them what for), then I'd suggest scheduling some vacation time. But if you plan to tell ANYONE at work, I wouldn't call in sick at the last minute. I'd schedule sick time.

Welcome Ragdoll! This is a great site to come to for information and advice, I've found most of my information here (beyond what the surgeon's office has told me), by that I mean the practical, how to live with it information. Here's some threads about time off work: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31539 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31467 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=24060 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27726 Here's some threads about long term success: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=26123 http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=16051 There are a few studies that are fairly recent that show the rate of weight loss about five years out is nearly the same between RNY and the band. That tells me that the RNYers are gaining theirs back at that point, and the bandsters are pretty stable. I'd much rather lose a bit slower and not have my intestines cut and parts removed. Again welcome!

I would suggest if you are finding problems, you PM Alex, he needs to know about these things. And he's asked us to PM him. Hope it starts working for you soon, I use that feature all the time.

Nope, no trouble at all, but I click on Advanced Search right away.

Wow!!! Lap_dancer, you posted the very corsette I wore on my wedding day (though I looked no where near that good in it!) and that you loved Halloween...Well, that was when I got married! Halloween, 2001. I love Halloween, too!

Hello, this is a frequent question and certainly a valid concern. I'm going to list a number of threads that discuss banding versus bypass and hopefully reading what lots of other folks have struggled with will help you in some way. Also, you have to remember the band is not a magic cure-all. The band will not cause you to lose weight like the bypass does. The bypass works because you are starving, actually malnourishing your body. But the body can really only be fooled for so long, it's a smart machine. You ever know anyone who had bypass and then a few years later they are gaining again? The body knows, and it adjusts after a while. The band MUST be worked. You still have to make good food choices. The bypass sort of keeps you honest, for a while, about things like sweets (dumping syndrome). But again, that can fade. The band requires work, it does help with portion control. You still need to exercise and do all the things you would normally need to do to lose weight. The band is a tool. But it is REVERSIBLE, it does not require removal of any part of an organ, and if it fails, it can always be converted to bypass or another procedure later. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32584 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32616 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=32079 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=30997 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=28724 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=28690 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27483