WASaBubbleButt

You don't HAVE any personal experience, you haven't been banded yet!

Leah, how many IDs do you have here? Wasn't your other ID just suspended for pimping the boards about 2 days ago?

It is good! I love it. I get it from: Netrition's PVL Prices The Chocolate is gross, Choco/PB is fantastic!

Due to my banding "issues" I came to know Nina pretty well over the last 2 years. ;o) So I called Nina yesterday and gave her a "heads up" regarding their system, too many people are complaining that family members are not being notified. That's just not fair to family members. She has a computer print out of all phone numbers dialed and she looked up both you and Elisabeth. Your daughter was called at the correct phone number at 1:11PM and she did not pick up, so Maricela left a message. Elisabeth's sister was not called at all. Nina agreed that they would have to come up with a better system. No clue what they will start doing but she acknowledges they have to change things. It really isn't fair if a family member is waiting to hear about someone getting out of surgery and they are left wondering what is going on.

This can cause lots of problems, you really seriously need to get an unfill. I had the same problems.

Pleatman is a nice enough guy but I wouldn't go to him. He hasn't done enough and I don't care for his leak stats or that he doesn't do any leak tests on the patient. Just not my pick. Rose... sorry for this interruption in your thread. Are you feeling better now? Did sleeping on it last night help any? Seriously, lots of people are very uneducated about Mexico and the world outside of the US. Many have the attitude that if a doctor is in the US that makes him good and if he is in Mexico he's bad. That's just ignorant thinking. Ask ANY operating room nurse how many doctors they would let operate on them and they will be able to count them on one hand.

What did your doctor tell you to eat? You should have paperwork outlining this. Who is your doctor?

The flu isn't IN Mexicali. It's mostly in Mexico City.

No to Slim Fast. What about Atkins Advantage? Those aren't bad. You want to shoot for around 20gms protein in less than 200 calories. Mine have 23gms protein for 120 calories and 2gms carbs. I use whey Gourmet and EAS.

You know, Rose... a lot of people are very uneducated about Mexico or any other country. We aren't great in the US for teaching about anything other than the US in schools and our media survives on yellow journalism. You are an adult, you have done your research, this is what you want. Seems to me it's time to tell your parents how it is. This is your body, your health, your decision. They are clearly attempting to manipulate you with this horseshit about your husband not loving you. That's getting pretty down and dirty. Just do what YOU want to do and don't worry about their attacks. Go with your gut and do what is right for you.

It gets *really* expensive as you lose weight. The closer you get to goal the faster you go down in size. I was at an 8 and satisfied with that and then band problems kicked in big time and I was on liquids for a few months. I had a huge wardrobe of size 8 clothes that I have spent a fortune on. Then I started losing more weight. I'm down to a 4, sometimes 6 depending on brand/style. Then I had to start all over again. It's fun but verrry expensive! ;o) I still go in stores and wish I was small enough to fit into something on display and then... I remember I'm at goal. HA There was a post on another board from someone that is in the clothing industry. She works at the factory level. She was explaining the reason you go through sizes so fast when you get closer to goal is that there is 2" more material between sizes for Womens than there is between sizes for non-womens. That's one of the reasons it takes more pounds to change sizes in womens. Once you are out of those the sizes start zipping by.

BTDT too! ;o) It's still fun to shop in regular stores. That hasn't worn off yet AND it's cheaper! My big mega issue right now is body dysmorphia. :)/

we bandsters have to stick together! Heh... not hard to figure out why your account was suspended. ;o) No doubt when you come back after your suspension (unless they made it permanent) you'll be at it again. Maybe if you worked for a better doctor he'd have more business and he could afford advertising instead of patient coordinators recruiting people on message boards. $5500... you do get what you pay for. Especially in this case.

The $5K and $11K are not the going rates in MX. Dr. Aceves can remove the band and do the sleeve in one procedure (like he did for me) as that is the Standard of Care in the US and MX. I was at goal when I got my sleeve. If you do not have a slip or erosion there is no reason why you can't remove the band and revise to a sleeve in one procedure. It's safer for you because less OR time, one surgery total, etc. My doc charges $12,500 for the entire revision. Or if you get your band removed under insurance in the US then you have to wait three months for a 2nd surgery and then it's $9500 for a sleeve. For this kind of surgery in the US or MX you really seriously have to go to a revision surgeon. You can't go to just anyone. After you have had a band your risk for leaks, infection, and bleeds increases x3. It's due to the scarring and adhesions from banding.

That's what we all refer to Conray. Conray is a hydrosoluble contrast used for the final leak test. By the time you drink that stuff you feel pretty darn confident that you know what battery acid tastes like. You can't drink barium for it since it's a leak test, you have to have a Water based product and they use Conray or Gastrograffin. Gahhhhh...... Renee has a better description for it than that. HA!

Gaby isn't a coordinator, she's the aftercare specialist, she's a psychologist. She's great about things like... transfer addiction! She has really helped me a great deal with issues like that.

You are going to Aceves? Very cool! You'll love him and the staff. They are all great!

Most doctors are doing it now for lower BMIs if the person is self pay. You should be good to go.

I believe you may be misunderstanding the complications because there is no way banding is 1%. Perhaps actual surgical complications but you did go on to compare the 1% surgical complications with long term GB complications and that's just not accurate. Just because something is less invasive does not mean it is safer long term.

BC requires a BMI of 35 or greater with specific comorbidities. If you do not have those specific comorbidities you will have to have a BMI of 40 to be approved or you are looking at self pay. If you did meet the requirements they typically require a six months medically supervised diet, psych eval, nutrition eval, and bariatric eval.

If that is what Cathy was writing it would be closer to truth, but that isn't what she repeatedly writes:

The stats and facts come from Inamed and another good one is Christine Ren's studies. All available on line. It's important to get the facts out there (both pro and con) about all surgery types because otherwise people don't have solid information to base their decision. For those who have already had any form of WLS it's important to let people be aware of these issues so they can do anything possible to prevent problems.

Cathy... You continue writing this but you never back it up. It is NOT true that 1% of the banded population has complications. You aren't even close. To continue writing this when the band manufacturers, doctors, and studies prove you wrong is pretty much... dishonest. Infections are about 2%. Slips are over 7% now. Erosion remains the same, 1.3%. The new stats came out showing that 30-50% of the time within the first five years people will need another surgery to correct something band related. Slips, erosion, port flips, something. If you have a surgical correction for a slip or have a new band placed your chances for a future slip in the first five years are about 70%. According to Drs. Husted and Ren the band fails 25% of the time while bypass fails 20% of the time. So I beg to differ with you, it most certainly is not a statistical "FACT" that bypass has 10x the complications of banding. They both have about the same number of potential complications but in banding the complications are not typically fatal like they can be in bypass. Please stop telling people complications are 1% with banding, it simply is not true.

No, he doesn't. And stating facts and stats is not necessarily saying something negative, it's just the truth. Would it be better to never tell the downsides to banding? Is that what you are suggesting? There is good and bad to EVERY WLS type out there. Showing both sides so noobs can make the decision that is right for them is not a bad thing, it's the responsible action.

BTW... Have you checked with your insurance on WLS? With your low BMI unless you have some sort of medical problems insurance probably isn't going to cover your surgery. Before submitting anything to the insurance company that you can't undo, check the requirements. If you have high blood pressure or something similar you stand a better chance of getting approved.