WASaBubbleButt

Okay, fess up you guys. How many (besides me) have gotten triple their Calcium intake by eating those chocolate Chewy Calium things? Ohhh, they are sooo good. I justify it by saying I didn't take calcium yesterday so I need double the Chocolate... or Calcium chewys today. Right?

And here is the male example showing it's not always women that resort to acting like children. Name calling, stomping his feeties, the works. Need links?

I have to admit that I voted for the 3rd option just because I thought the wording of the questions was annoying. :huggie:

Isn't that the truth! Especially petty and childish name calling. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f80/my-child-s-teacher-46652/index7.html#post653957

Ahhhh, so you do understand why I was starting to give my sis the finger as she took the photo! Sorry about your Dad, it's hard losing them. Very hard.

I truly don't have any before photos. Honestly, the only fat photo I have is one that was taken the day before my Dad died of cancer. I was not happy. My creepy sister wanted to take family photos. ??? My Dad was dying. I was just getting ready to give her the finger and she took the photo. That is my before photo. After my PS I might, actually I probably will. But you know, there are strange people on these boards like the person that has been suspended under various IDs. Someone was telling me that she has actually stalked people in real time before. How much info do any of us want out there? Denise822, Neveragain, KansasSooner, Shirley, Steve, Gary, Wendy, Lucki... quite a few people have seen me, can't you ask them what I look like? :huggie:

He lets me ask any question in the world, even if it doesn't have anything to do with banding. Maybe I want to know more about the technique for bypass or sleeves. He doesn't keep looking at his watch making it clear that I am annoying him. He's a touchy/feely kinda person. He makes it a point to put his hand on my shoulder or some simple and similar gesture. I think Mexican docs are a little different from US docs in this practice. It can be a liability for US docs to be this way. I am really impressed with the body language of Mexican medical professionals. It is not what I expected at all. My doc makes it a point not to stand and tower over me. In the hospital all the docs will sit in the edge of the hospital bed so they are at eye level with the patient. They do whatever they have to in order to make sure the patient is at ease. If you push the button for the nurse she does not come in and stand at the door way and ask what you want, she comes over to your bed, puts her hand on your arm, and asks what she can do for you. It's really a very different world there. When I go there I make it a point to learn the body language and the simple things done there so I can do the same when I come back to the US with my own patients. The driving distance, but that isn't his fault. As a group or individually? As a group I don't think you do anything well. There is too much competition and cut throat business practices that many participate in. US docs try to scare people out of going to Mexico with dishonesty and greed being the motivating factors. Mexican docs tend to point out the greed and motivating factors of the US docs. I'd just like to see you guys as a group learn to work and play well with your peers. :huggie: Too many patient coordinators are like used car salesmen. I really question if docs have the slightest idea how many patients they lose to other doctors because of their patient coordinators. You could put a patient coordinator in a room with Ernie, the used car salesman and I'll bet you wouldn't be able to tell who sold cars vs. who sold surgery. Please understand, I'm not referring to you specifically in any of these responses. I'm speaking in generalities. Do things such as you are doing here on the boards. Communicate with us, take 10 minutes a day to answer a question or two. Educate people beyond the basics, "What can I eat and how much of it can I have." That is answered 500 times a day on these boards. Go above and beyond. People really want to know how all this works. They want to understand the details, the latest studies, new stats and figures. Especially those that have been banded for some time. We know the basics, we want to know more. You could also get together and come to terms on an appropriate post op diet. If you are going to differ from manufacturer guidelines, explain to us why you disagree with Inamed or J&J. So far I have been told that the reason some docs aren't strict about the post op diet is because the patients don't follow it anyway so what's the use? That is not acceptable. Keep patients returning to your office and hold people accountable in a positive manner. I see to many times on the boards where people have gained and they are actually afraid to go to their doc. Why would any doc put a patient in the position of feeling too frightened of behind slam dunked for gaining weight? One of my biggest pet peeves (ask anyone here, they'll tell you) is that doctors are great at telling us what to do but they don't explain why we are supposed to do it. Check out the post op diet threads. All the old timers here feel like pulling our hair out each time we see a post that says, "I had surgery 4 days ago and today I ate a whole fried chicken. Did I hurt my band?" What are we supposed to do, get our superman xray vision glasses on? Doctors are great at telling people to go on a post op diet but they don't tell them WHY they are on this diet. Most newbies here tend to think that when the swelling is down and they can eat, then they should eat. They have no clue about adhesions or any of the other healing that goes along with the post op diet. When we explain to them the reasons behind the post op diet they are floored, they had no idea. How could a patient walk out of any MD office not knowing WHY they are on a post op diet? As horrible as this is going to sound, hire at least one fat person or one banded person. Seriously, we feel like mega heifers walking into an office where all the staff look like California beach blondes that wear a size zero. We know there isn't a chance in the world they can relate to what we experience. I don't want your 18 year old Med Asst. to call me, a 45 y/o RN with 20+ years of experience in trauma, "Sweetie" or "honey" as I am not her sweetie, I'm not her honey either. It's a bit on the insulting side. She can joke around with me and she can laugh with me, just don't treat me like the next step is to pat my wee head for losing a pound.

Lauren... Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Don't help the idiots do this!

You know, I do believe I am going to protest from now on! Next time I see a stupid post that does: This thIs THIS or... tHiS I'm gonna say I refuse to respond until the person writes like an adult.

How much would it really add to the bypass OR time? Wouldn't it be a matter of finishing the staple line, stuffing it in a bag and pulling it out? I guess the thing that made me question the practice is the potential lack of blood supply and the possibility of necrosis. I have to say that as an experienced banded person if I had it all to do over again I think I would have gone with a sleeve. I have nothing against banding, and matter of fact I am pro-band. I think the whole world should be banded just to make sure nobody ever gets fat. :huggie: But for convenience sake, I'd go with a sleeve today. When I was banded I thought it was an absolute horror to get anything that was permanent. Well, now I'm sitting here scratching my head trying to think of any reason I'd ever want to be fat again. I want permanent and forever. I've never stretched my band pouch and it seems reasonable to say if I didn't stretch that out I wouldn't have likely stretched a sleeve either. I don't know, Inamed is hinting around that stats are climbing for slips, etc. And then I see so many posting here with infection, erosion, constant N/V, battles with their docs over fills, dilated pouch, dilated esophagus, esophagus motility isues... With a sleeve there are no fills, no port infections, no band erosions, no fills, no anything. Just get the procedure, take your B12 and go on with life. It just seems much more reasonable to me.

It is more than annoying, I know. But you'll probably loosen up a bit as you lose. If you continue to barf then you'll likely need a slight unfill.

yEs, i Am a sPeeD rEaDeR tOo aNd i hAte sTuPid wRiTiNg lIkE tHis.

Faith... The Inamed band is different from the J&J and. With Inamed there is no buckle in the sense that nothing sticks out. The J&J band does have some issues with the buckle looking thing. There is a flap that sticks out. My friend was banded a couple of weeks ago and at my friend's request and the doc's okay, I was permitted to stay in OR with him. That's where I saw the differences in the two bands. Inamed is more rounded around the stomach where J&J has a flap sticking out. I asked Dr. A if that could cause a problem and he said potentially yes, but all he can do is to sew it so it doesn't budge. The port placement is bizarre, very bizarre. I wasn't impressed. Since J&J wanted to tweak the band a bit I could have given a few suggestions and the port placement would have been #1 on my list. But that was the only way to place a J&J band.

Yeah, I skip those posts too. Or the posts in bright happy, peppy, perky colors like Neon Yellow. Grrrrrrrrrrr I skip anything that is a chore to read.

Once you start messing with your cuticles it's a battle from that point on. They grow back funny, jagged, sticking out, you name it. That stuff is amazing. Just put a lot on your cuticles so there is excess around the nail bed. Then go to bed. It usually takes me two nights of doing this and my cuticles are fine.

Regarding cuticles. I have a cure for messed up cuticles. The more you pick at them and tear them the more jagged they are and the more jagged they are the more you pick at them. I bought some stuff at CVS pharmacy, it was less than two dollars, it will last a couple of years at least, and it is called: Pomada De La Campana, Dr. Bell's Pomade It's simple basic cream, it's in a plastic round jar kinda thing that is the size and shape of a can of tuna... white with black writing. Put it on your cuticles at night for two nights and your cuticles will be in perfect condition again. The stuff is amazing. But don't put it on your face, it's too rich for that and you'll get zits.

My sis has OCD in a mega huge way. Example, she'll be cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and she HAS to plan it so that she's done wiping the table off at exactly the same time as the song on the radio comes to an end. If she misses it then she has to clean the table again and she has to finish at the same time the next song is over. When her kids were little she'd be using the vacuum cleaner in the living room while they were trying to watch TV. Well, she couldn't stop cleaning. After a couple of hours of this they kids would call me and tell me she's at it again. We'd hang up, I'd call my sis and ask when the last time she used the vacuum downstairs because the last time I was there it was pretty dusty and dirty. She would panic and run downstairs and clean then the kids had the living room to themselves. We finally told her we used to do that a couple of years ago. My niece is just as bad. She has to line everything up in the cupboard according to fat grams. The least fat grams in the product is at the top left hand place. The items with the most fat grams goes on the bottom shelf, right side. If two products have the same number of fat grams per oz then those go in alphabetical order. For me I cannot STAND it if my nails have jagged tips. If it is not absolutely smooth and perfect I'll cut them all off. Makes me nuts to try to ignore it. I hyperfocus to the point of ridiculous. If they are not perfect I cut them off and let them regrow. Since I don't use fake nails or coverings it can take months to get them where I want them. If one nail is a hair shorter than the others I will redo my entire manicure.

It sounds like you are describing mycotic nails. The thick yellow nail usually means there is a fungus growing in there. It usually happens of someone cuts/tears their toenails down too far to the point that they bleed. The fungus is in the air and it gets into the nail bed and over time the nail grows in thicker and thicker. Here is some info: ACFAOM.org: Onychomycosis The only reason I bring this up is that there is a treatment. It's an anti-fungal drug that is in tablet form. You take one tablet daily for (usually) 90 days. By that time the nail has had a chance to grow out again and the mycotic nails are gone. She's just too young to have to have something like nasty yellow nails.

I usually start out reading them and after a few lines I just skip that post. What About When They Do This? This Is Very Hard For Me To Read.

I think the reason for no names in the situation you are writing about is that the person does LBT searches for her name. Then everything starts all over again. However, this is indeed a funny thread.

Wow... I don't think 010308 meant that the way you took it. When I read it I thought it was just a "heads up" so you wouldn't be in for a huge shock in case your insurance did not cover this.

There are times where only another banded person will understand my issue, questions, what have you. When I first joined LBT I didn't know anyone in real time with a band. After being here and my docs board I was able to meet others in my city and we have become good friends. I don't let them get by with silly excuses such as starvation mode, and they don't let me get by with the same issues. One banded person can say things that a non banded person wouldn't dare to say. I look at LBT as a networking kind of place.

Dr. W... Question about surgery. Why is it with a bypass pouch they staple of the extra stomach and keep it yet with a sleeve they remove the 80% of stomach. Is there a reason for saving it in a bypass patient and not saving it for a sleeve patient?

Depending on the severity of the erosion, is it possible to do a sleeve at the same time of band removal? Could the necrotic tissue be removed and changed to a sleeve?

Yep, I was just going to suggest this. I believe Alexandra explained that if it is an emergency situation your insurance HAS to pay for it. I am a bit concerned that you are waiting until Jan/Feb to have it removed. One of the problems is that stomach acid can leak out into your internal organs and colon. This can cause a severe problem including infection, sepsis, etc. What if you were to find a good Mexican surgeon to remove your band, would that be cheaper? I can't believe it would be more than $5K but I could be wrong. It's actually easier to place a band and less OR time vs. removing a band and the scar tissue around it. Also, your band surgeon should be working on this with you. They don't have to, but many of them will give significant discounts for another surgical procedure on people they banded. Another thought, if you want to be rebanded you would need to remember that if you erode once, you are more likely to erode again. Have you considered a sleeve? Depending on where the erosion is, maybe they could remove the band and do a sleeve instead? I am very sorry you have to go through all this. But do keep in mind one possibility. If you can get insurance to pay for the removal, that will cover all your OR time, anesthesiologist, labs, etc. If you were to convert to a sleeve procedure at the same time you'd only have to pay the difference between what insurance pays and what was charged. Might only cost you a couple thousand at that point? It's worth looking into assuming you can have a different procedure at the same time as the removal. Please let us know if there is anything at all we can do for you.