WASaBubbleButt

Grace... I know I already commented but I still love this quote. Priceless! All the people that scream and swear for people going to Mexico for surgery and giving them the business vs. the US docs... I'm going to steal your quote and use it!

The doc I am scheduled with is creepy, he's very skilled and I've seen his work but I don't like him. I just want to smack the arrogance right out of him each time I see him. He wears this silly blue smock and had creepy little eyes. He's just so arrogant! I hate arrogant! I am going to try to get a consult with one more doc before December. It would still be done at the same hospital just by a different plastics guy. I've seen the creepy doc's work and he really is amazing. A person I know had a face lift and TT and she looks GREAT! She's 60 and she doesn't look like a 60 y/o trying to look 20, she looks like a sexy 50 y/o. He really is very good and I should just shut my mouth and go to him and get it over with. You know how when the doc is very good and more than capable but there is no doctor/patient chemistry? It's like that. So I want to meet one more doc and then I'll decide from there. But price... in the US the procedure I'll be having (TT with lipo) is $10,600 and on top of that is some special insurance for PS complications since my major medical wouldn't likely cover it, then pre op labs and meds on top of that. So around $12K. In Mexico with an equally skilled surgeon is $4K in and out the door. That's a really big difference. I forgot the cost for breast implants and a lift in the US but in Mexico it ranges from $3800 to $6K. It depends on the implants I would choose, the hospital, the doc, the city, the works. I totally admit that I am impressed with Mexico for surgery. They have to work hard and do a good job, they have to work twice as hard for half the recognition just for the mere fact that they are in Mexico. They have to depend on reputation or they get no future business, or very little of it. So they do go the extra mile for patients. It really shows. Another thing, many of these procedures are now done on an out patient basis in the US. A TT carries a LOT more risk than banding. Mortality for TTs is almost 2%. Or, 1%-3% depending on the study you read. Yet it's done as an out patient procedure many times in the US. Both a TT and boob job. In Mexico it is a minimum of two nights in the hospital and the rest in a hotel. I'm told to expect to be in Mexico either at the hospital or hotel for a week. Creepy doc says he does not do Medical Tourism. He said if I do not agree to stay a week and be seen a minimum of once daily, typically twice, he won't do the surgery. I don't even have to go to the hospital or his office for the follow up visits during that week, he comes to the hotel each morning and each evening. A guy in Tijuana that I really like a great deal said the same thing. Only his was 10 days. Maybe a week but plan on 10 days just in case, he said he won't do medical tourism. It's all or none. I really prefer him but I want the surgery in Mexicali. The Mexicali and TJ doc said I would either have to arrange follow up care in the US before scheduling surgery in Mexico or return weekly for a month, my choice. That's another of many reasons for wanting it done in Mexicali, it's only 3.5 hours from Phoenix and TJ is about 6.5/7.0 hours from Phoenix. Besides, I don't want to go to TJ. There was one doc in Nogales (armpit of Mexico) and she was the cheap one. Breast lift and implants for $3800, one night in a clinic, go home and return in 3 days for a suture check and I'm done. I remove the sutures after "X" days. I don't think so. The differences in the US vs. Mexico are night and day. There is no comparison.

In my next life I am going to do a wayyyyy better job of picking relatives! I think I was preoccupied or something the last time. :eek:

Do you know after she's been running around telling everyone I'm DYING she actually emailed me to congratulate me? On what, dying? My family.......

Kuchiegrl1... You haven't had the test yet so there is no way to know what the results will be. We have no way of knowing if they will be normal or not so we have no clue what to tell you. If your doc can't tell you the results of the tests before they are done, you have to admit... we can't either.

Can you imagine Dee turning down such an offer? Dee made a lot of claims about Amy. Said they were good friends, they chatted all the time, Dee could get by with anything because they were friends, could get posts/threads deleted... when push came to shove the threads she wanted to disappear the most are still there AND Dee got herself moderated by Amy. Needless to say, Dee was pretty miffed at Amy. Funny how friends moderate one another. :eek:

This explains it. The thread gets pretty funny. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/unsuportive-relative-40707/#post556911

I have a hunch most would agree that OH moderators are a big cause of the problems on OH. They really are horrible. But on the bright side, ours are GREAT!

My weird sister that keeps telling everyone I'm dying is: Dead Psycho Pretty darned close!

And she's on line now too! :eek:

Isabella, would you please please please check out this thread? I think you are the one person here that could offer the most. Thanks! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/need-help-daughter-16-300lbs-43001/#post590859

Isabella!!! That's the young Canadian girl's name that I think you should talk to and have your daughter talk to her. I'll send a PM to her with the link to this thread. She's a gem, you'll love her! I promise!

I cook them by going to Panda Express and ordering a side of Mixed Veggies. :eek: 80 calories and they are great. I am a really horrible cook.

(emphasis my own) This is a pretty good example of one of the problems I have with the Wendell bashing. Okay, I'll grant you that he likely did things to annoy Sandy on purpose, she did the same to him. BUT... it takes two to cause that kind of an uproar to the point of lowering morale. Yet according to the way I'm reading your statement it was Wendell that caused the lower morale, just Wendell. Sandy played a huge role in this as well, why aren't they both blamed for the problem of morale? You know, it really makes me angry when I see someone write that their doc supports protein shakes and Sandy all but tells them their doc is wrong and she is right. Protein shakes work for many of us, me included! I understand her point, liquid calories. But if someone is using them in place of a meal vs. in addition to a meal, AND if they are good to go for a few hours then what's the big deal? What is her huge issue with them? So they don't work for her, then she shouldn't drink them. But they work quite well for others. I absolutely hate it when she downs someone's doctor because something didn't work for her. She is one person, a unique individual just like the rest of us. She'll post a study and then claim MOST doctors agree with the study. Once again I'd have to ask, says who? Who says MOST doctors agree with her study? She makes that stuff up to defend her stance on an issue. Those kinds of behaviors annoy the crap out of people and they start getting tired of the behaviors and the attacks and they respond in kind. Please understand, I'm not asking you specifically to answer the above questions, they are just issues I personally have with Sandy regarding her studies and big claims. My real point here is that they were both going at one another on a constant basis yet it is ALL Wendell, everything that happened was Wendell's fault, all controversy was Wendell, all Sandy's reactions and fights are Wendell's fault. When does Sandy start becoming responsible for her half of these issues? You can't tell me she did nothing to egg him on, yet we don't hear about that. Just what Wendell did. Fair is fair, let's put the blame where it belongs, both of them and not just one person.

I didn't see a price for it. It referred to one scoop or one package as being a serving. I just thought it would likely be expensive per gm of protein. But possibly not.

I don't know Medicare's requirements, once your Medicare issues are straightened out will you be able to be banded quickly or is it a long drawn out process? The reason I ask is that maybe if your ex sees how well you are doing that might encourage him to want the same for your daughter? Also, might not be a bad thing for your daughter to see what you go through to make sure she is willing to do what it takes to make the band work.

JMHO but if someone made a huge difference in your life and helped a great deal, seems to me that they deserve a bit of recognition. Even if they aren't reading boards. If someone has a problem with a person that helped you that much, wouldn't it be their problem?

This is off topic, but any Mom's here? This Mom has a 300# 16 y/o daughter and is considering the band. I'm not a Mom, I think this one needs other Moms. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/need-help-daughter-16-300lbs-43001/#post590859

Wow, this is a hard one. I'm all for younger people getting banded. If they are 16 and 300# there is clearly a problem. But I think it depends on the kids individually to be honest. Some kids are very mature and more than ready to make the huge lifestyle changes. Some kids are going to cave with peer pressure and eat all the wrong foods at parties and such and the embarrassment of PBing could be problematic not to mention the health issues. At the same time it seems as though kids that are 300# don't have the same kind of social life as their thinner peers. Do you think your child is mature enough and capable of making the HUGE and MASSIVE lifestyle changes necessary to have a band? Are you banded by any chance yourself? Are you super familiar with it? I only know of two kids that were banded, one was in Canada and one in Mexico. The kid from Canada is great, she's a gem. The one from Mexico I am not as familiar with but I know how to reach her Mom. Do you want me to see if I can get her to come to the boards and chat with your daughter? I think she's 14 or 15 now. She was banded about a year or so ago. I agree with you, if the child is ready and capable of dealing with it then now is a much better time vs. later when she has joint damage, heart problems, diabetes, etc. If your ex is in medicine he already knows the health risks for obesity and the health improvements with weight loss. Do you think he'd be willing to spend any amount of time here? This forum pretty much shows the good, the bad, and the ugly of banding. Is she having any obesity related health issues yet? Anything at all such as back pain? How about an inability to participate in school activities? What is her social life like? Is she dating? Any prospects for dating? I feel so bad for her, I can only imagine what it must be like to be in her shoes during HIGH SCHOOL. That's such a hard time anyway, to be a big girl in school must really be difficult. (((HUGS))) to you for wanting to do something for your child!!!

Oh yeah! I remember now. How could I forget such brilliance? Hopefully she was a troll instead of really being that stupid.

And a pair in my purse as well as a pair in my car. I hate it. I can't see anything anymore.

I read that thread, I couldn't believe what she was saying. I think she just plain couldn't stick to the post op diet and justified it by saying she was a fast healer. Isn't she the one that also said she didn't care if something happened because she wasn't following the instructions?

I think sometimes that is true but when you explain the reason for the post op diet sooooo many times they are floored, they had no idea. They just know it is for healing, they never heard the concept of scarring or other issues. We had a thread a long time ago where this issue was discussed. We had it set up so that the newbies would wait and see if their doc explained it to them as they knew the info ahead of time from reading the boards. Not a single doc explained the details. Just that the post op diet was important for healing. Then we asked the newbies to start asking their docs why they didn't explain well and the thread died off about that point so nobody really explained what their docs had to say. And I think it is information overload sometimes. There is a LOT to know about banding. There is a ton of information out there and I think people get a little overwhelmed with all the info so they don't retain it well. But the post op diet is my own personal pet peeve. Docs need to do a better job explaining why the patient needs to do things, not just that they need to do it. When people understand why they are more likely to remember and follow the instructions. When they don't understand why they don't do nearly as well at following instructions.

I agree, get lots of people involved. Social workers to make sure it isn't for financial reasons, psychiatry to make sure it isn't depression that can be helped with meds, talk to the patient away from the family to make sure family isn't pressuring them for any reason. Get lots of people involved. Assisted suicide happens every single day in the US, it's already here. It already happens. But now it's left up to docs and nobody else. It's a bad position to put a doc in and it's not fair all the way around.

How about those that claim they didn't know they weren't supposed to eat pizza but they are worried they did damage? If they didn't know they weren't supposed to eat pizza, why are they worried?