WASaBubbleButt

It's not the band that cool foods contract, it's your stoma.

Yep, what Denise wrote. If you erode you won't have any band at all. How much weight will you lose then?

Just a thought, whenever you get a bunch of nurses together you get a TON of great stories. Anyone up for moving this to the R&R section so we can write anything we want?

I was, Dr. Aceves. Best $7800 I ever spent!

Well, now you know someone that it didn't work for. Didn't do a thing for me. Bupropion (generic of Zyban) made a huge difference but the side effects were so horrible I couldn't stand it. I was sleeping about one to two hours a night.

Well, I'm a nurse and I was fat too. Not a great example. I think you might be surprised at how many medical folks smoke, docs, nurses, resp care folks, the works.

How about, "One of my incisions broke open and yellow stuff is kind of oozing out. Should I be concerned?"

Heh... you know with a band my 12# Shih Tzu can eat more chicken than I can. And she does! Of course, she can eat more than a full grown pit bull. I can eat about half a chicken breast on a very small chicken at best. But, that is with a mega salad too. With Protein shakes (one or two) throughout the day I'm really not hungry until evening but I still have plenty of calories and I can have anything I want for dinner. Takes me well over an hour to eat it, but I do. Another thing I'm hooked on right now is beef Jerky. Takes forever to eat, you have to chew for about five minutes, and the brand with A1 sauce in it is great. The dogs love that too. 80 calories for 1/3 bag. Not bad.

I always forget the name of that stuff. Thanks. I think it's a mental block because I don't really care for it much. Half the time I give it to the two pound poodle, he loves veggie chips... all of them.

I don't eat spicy food merely because I don't care for it but plenty of bandsters do eat it. Dumping is not something that happens with banded people. Dumping is when someone such as a gastric bypass patient eats a bag of chocolate and then they become very ill. They break out in a sweat, feel nauseated, feel faint, and often times diarrhea. We don't do that, that's a whole different procedure that causes dumping. You don't want to drink Water with your food, you can drink before you eat or an hour or two after you finish eating but not during eating. The idea is to eat a solid Protein and it will fill your pouch and will slowly drain into your bigger stomach thus, you'll be full for a long time. If you drink water it makes the solid protein in your pouch a slush and it will drain faster, you'll be hungry sooner, and it will defeat the purpose of the surgery. Hope that helps.

Since I discovered what I weigh (at the time of my surgery) I weigh daily. It's my reality check. I have never gained more than 3# or so and I credit that to weighing daily. If I am gaining I stop and think about my food choices, are they salty, am I retaining water, or did I just eat too much of what I shouldn't. It kept me on track and still does.

I know a crazier than crazy doctor that is using it. He swears it's curing his many issues. I really doubt that, he has too many issues. :mad: He's a weirdo, that's my only experience with these sorts of products.

Sounds like you need to get back to the basics. If you know you are not chewing well, chew better. Count 30 chews if you have to. If the bites are too big, stop doing that. If the food choices are not great, stop doing that too. From what you are saying these are issues within your control.

For this one she's going to need to contact her doc and ask for suggestions. It's unlikely anyone is going to offer thoughts for diabetics. There are too many variables. Good luck to your Mom!

Congrats! You worked for it, you earned it, enjoy!!!

I'm amazed at how many fewer loads of laundry I have now. It used to be about 4-5 pair of my fat jeans was an entire load. Now I have REAL loads of laundry! Double the clothes fits in the washing machine. I still pull the stuff out of the dryer and think I am out of my mind to think I'll fit in them even though I may have just worn them yesterday. I like shopping in the better stores with regular size clothes. I like not wearing tents anymore for shirts. But I do get embarrassed if anyone mentions my weight loss. I'd rather it just not be discussed.

I was going to go to Terry Simpson but at the time I was having surgery there was one staff member I just couldn't stand and there was no way I was going to deal with her. So I crossed him off my list however, she's not there anymore. I didn't like the office policies for Juarez, haven't heard of the second doc on your list. To be really honest I wasn't looking for price either, I was looking for skill and experience. Had I known about De Barros in Tempe I might have considered him especially since he was just banded himself (I believe in May). After a lot of time, research, and thought I picked a Mexican surgeon. He's 3.5 hours from N Central Phoenix. I adore him and for ME I made the right choice. Dr. Aceves in Mexicali. It was $7800 and that includes absolutely everything including two nights in the hospital. But Mexico isn't for everyone so you need to see what works for you.

You pretty much stand a 100% chance of complications from being fat. You stand less than 1% chance of death from banding. I think at some point you have to put it in perspective.

Nectar is a good quality protein but I haven't found one I like yet. I think they smell like dirty socks but others really like them. Problem is, they are whey and whey is a byproduct of cheese. I think you'd have to stick to soy. But isn't soy loaded with estrogen? Honestly, I don't know much about it. I forgot most of what I used to know about soy. I would avoid the veggie Proteins (stuff made from peas, for example) as they do not include all the essential amino acids for a full protein chain. Just avoid those test tubes, the protein is collagen and not a quality source of protein. New Whey is a test tube and it has whey and collagen.

It will be a looooong time before I drink Choco Milk again. That is seriously nasty when it comes back up. Curdled Choco Milk is vile.

I didn't write that well. I do not eat baked potato chips, too many carbs. I do eat baked carrots, this brown stick thing that I don't know what it is, green beans, etc. I get them here: J&D Fine Foods | Nuts By The Pound | Dried Fruit By The Pound | Candy By The Pound | Gift Baskets | Wholesale Bulk Nuts This is also where I get dried fruit as well.

Well, I'm kinda lazy to be really honest and I'm a horrible cook so I substitute one or two meals with Protein shakes. They are 120 calories each, 23gms protein then I eat pretty much whatever I want for dinner. Any kind of salad, tuna salad, (chicken salad does not work well for me), lettuce salad, veggie salad, or roasted chicken and veggies. Another one is to take tender veggies, soak in Italian dressing and I eat as much as I want. Then there are Quizno's salads that they make just for me. Any Quizno's will do it. Tuna salad, tomato, onions, lettuce, no bread, ceasar dressing with Italian cheese blend. When others cook for me :mad: orange roughy with mango salsa, talapia cooked in a pan but not fried. Panda Express Mandarin Chicken and Mixed Veggies. 220 total calories and I can't eat all of it. My latest kick is just a roasted chicken from the grocery store. My dogs and I share it, it takes three days for us to eat a small chicken. But I'm wanting to get away from meat of any kind and going to give tofu a try. Anyway, roasted chicken and veggies are my latest thing. I go in spurts and only want one thing for days on end. Fruit or veggies for a snack whenever I want them. That includes dried fruit and baked to a crisp veggies. (Like a potato chip but not potatoes, carrots, green Beans, etc.) I cut out ALL white carbs. ALL of them. Only carbs that I typically eat come from fruits and veggies and I don't eat fruit until evening so that when the carbs make me hungry I'm already asleep. Lots of hard cardio, at least an hour daily. A ton of Water during weight loss mode is important as well. That's how I did it, hope it helps you.

I am amazed at how many nurses are banded. I keep seeing more and more of us. YEA US!

I know of people who had a TON of other issues going on, including previous WLS that failed, I know of one person that threw a clot and died. But I know farrrrrr more that died from being fat.

If anything I'd think you would be healthier and would have an improved immune system. People without bands get pneumonia as well. I have not read any studies that show banded folks get pneumonia at higher rates vs. unbanded folks. Sorry, I don't email. I post.