Daisalana

I didn't intentionally mean to tell everyone, I told friends and family, and I work with a lot of family and they ended up telling everyone. I don't mind, my only issue was that since everyone here knows at least 1 person who has had GB, and NO ONE knows what Lap-Band is, so they kept wanting to know why I didn't get GB.. then tell me the success stories of people they know who did GB, then saying I should try that instead, etc. Now that it's over, the girls in the office go 'you look skinny already' or 'you're just wasting away!' I know they're trying to be nice and helpful, but *I* know I'm not going to waste away in 2 weeks so I take it the wrong way.. like they're patronizing me maybe. I don't care who knows, I just have to take everyone's reaction with a grain of salt. I have no problem explaining what it is, what I'm going through-will have to go through, etc. But I don't like when people are wanting to know why I'd choose lap-band over GB, because they don't really know the risks of GB to begin with, so it's not very educational to them. Seriously, everyone I work with is a size 0. :rolleyes

My sharp pains are finally dulling I haven't felt the excruciating pain since Wednesday night when I was in bed.

I've been healing good, the major pains stopped on Thursday.. Last night in bed (I've been able to sleep on my side occasionally, right side.. left side is where my incisions are), I rolled onto my right side, and at some point I realized a sharp pain my left side. I figured it was a pulled muscle or something? When I take deep breaths, it 'hits' whatever it is and causes me to buckle over. When I move certain ways, it 'hits' and causes me to buckle over. I don't know what gas pains feel like? Could this be a gas pain? I've felt through my side, it's not under an incision, but it feels like where maybe my band area is. I don't know what I'm feeling. There's no knot or lump, but I can push a spot and it 'hits' whatever hurts. So I need advice. I'm not panicky yet, just figure it's a pulled muscle (so I stretch it out a little till it hurts too much), or gas (I've been walking around). I *was* really gassy last night. It wouldn't really come out either. I kept feeling it shift around inside, but nothing would come out either end. I also, have not had a real bowel movement since the surgery. That brings me to my 3rd possible scenerio. When I am able to use the bathroom, I really have to strain for the little bit of liquidy movement (sorry for being graphic!!). So maybe I strained myself that way? But its about 3 inches down and 4 inches away (toward my side) from my left breast. Anyone have this happen or have any insight? Something I need to be watching for in case this is something else? Help!

Wow... just.. wow. This video really stirs up emotions for me. There's clearly so many things wrong with this. Why would a doctor do this for advertising? Why wouldn't he just learn lap-band and push for them both? This girl sounds like a clear canidate to fail on GB. In fact, she mentions her doctor said if you can cheat the band, you'd cheat the GB (paraphrase). And I think that's true. Does not sound like she utilized it properly or had the guidance, or made the effort at it. Why would she with GB? Hell, with GB she is going to stretch her pouch out QUICKLY...at least lap band they could fill her. I'm so confused about this video. This is suppose to make people want to go to a doctor? That advertises like this on youtube? Wow.

Ok, I was going to keep my mouth shut.. I'm quite dirty it seems, but I didn't want anyone to think badly of me.. but since you're all on board with this kind of talk, I'm there! Faith- It's funny you said that about the 'is it in yet?'..that's my all time favorite horror story. When I was in college, there was this guy I met at a club.. he was HOT.. and I was havin a good time, and we went back to his place. He had all these gimmicks.. had black lights, round bed, zebra stripe (ehhhh).. it was hard not to giggle at his antics. He was about 6'0, average body.. nothing to give away his 'size'. So we're getting into it, and I finally asked him 'Why isn't it hard yet?'.. this was about 15 minutes in, never had a guy take so long (I haven't been with THAT many guys.. but still). He said 'it is'.. so I thought since I'd been partying and the black light and all, I just was clumsy. So we get to it, and I go "put it in already!' or something similar.. he got pissed off. Then it dawned on me.. and I burst into tears from laughter!!!! Needless to say he threw me out, but now I have my smallest man ever story. The biggest was 10 inches, length isn't all that important, my inside isn't 10 inches long! So it was a bust. I prefer girth. Fiance was my best ever, and so I decided to keep him around.. don't tell him that though, don't need his head to get any bigger.. no pun intended

LOL Was... Reitterating, don't make anything up. Tell them your concerns, we can't tell you what your concerns are! I had heartburn and chronic back/disk problems from my weight. I still have both, but those are MAJOR factors why I *needed* the surgery. Plus severe history of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc. in my family. I'm nipping all that in the butt now before I get to those problems. Frankly, I'm extremely lucky I DON'T have diabetes. It's kind of a phenomenon, all my doctors have been waiting. I'm more overweight than anyone in my family in 3 generations. And the 2 generations above me are full of diabetes, and EARLY diabetes. Anyway..good luck And like they said, if you're self-pay (like me, my insurance wouldn't cover it no matter what), they will certainly ask why you want it, and if your doctor does psych screening, they want to make sure you can handle the change.. and you're off.

Ewww this is first time I've seen an AD right in the MIDDLE of the boards.. is this going to continue?

LOL you sound like me. But the ER was a lot nicer to you. They didn't give me anything for pain, they said go home and take tylenol. They did ekg,bloodwork and ct scan and nothing showed up, but he never gave me an idea of what it could be (I was HOPING he'd say it was gas). I'm going to go try what you said about the pillows!! They said if in a week it still hurts, to come back or go to my normal doctor, it could be undiagnosed bronchitis.. I have no clue where that came from?? They were smug about me making the self-diagnosis of a blood clot, but they didn't seem to tell me they had any ideas! I did finally call my surgeon and they called me in pain meds and said to take it easy basically. Glad you're ok! I wonder how many more people are going to go to the ER afraid it's a blood clot because of that thread!

Blah blah blah.. Fudruckers?! LOL Oh this food coma. I'm starting to get very hungry!!!!!!! I love fudrucker's burgers.. we don't have one around here, but we would go there when we lived in New Mexico. What do you put da vinci syrups in? I have seen sugar-free syrup things like this before, but don't understand what they're for. I dont like flavor things in my drink, so besides like maybe coffee/cocoa what foods are they good for? Past couple nights I've had a HORRIBLE time sleeping. I think it has to do with fiance being a jerk about me watching tv in bed. ALL OF A SUDDEN he complains he can't sleep when I have the tv on.. but I can't sleep without the tv on. So I've been leaving when he is going to sleep and going back in to watch tv after he's out.. but by then I'm occupied watching tv in another room or getting on the computer.. blah.

Wow wheetin.

wasabubble- Yeah, first posts I saw from you were you saying you were picking a doctor to remove the band. I guess I never saw a follow up, but since then it looks like you're a strong advocate! So it's good to see you got through the darker times and came back to be a promoter

So far no.. only in liquids, but it seems like healthy liquids go down better than sugary/junk liquids.

Scrambled eggs with salsa, I did that on atkins. I thought it sounded HORRIBLE!! But let me tell you (Oh, I also had a dash of sour cream), it was absolutely wonderful. And I really do NOT like mexican foods, so I had low hopes.. I also like scrambled eggs with ketchup.. such a neat flavor. Anyway (gah sip sip sip..stupid food talk j/k!) Cream of Wheat.. I know as a kid, my mom made this for us.. and I loved it when she made it (I think it involved sugar). When I was grown and out of the house, I kept some to make. I made it once, and I don't know what I did wrong. It was a completely different texture, I couldn't get the sugar blended well.. and I never has cream of wheat again. I did buy some for my post-op diet, and plan to ask mom how to make it and try using something besides sugar, but I'm not too sure how that's going to end up. I look forward to grits. I can't wait to have grits with lots of my Can't Believe It's Not Better 0 calorie butter spray.. that stuff rocks my world LOL. I read somewhere not to use diet stuff, but I love it.. and 0 calories.. you can't beat that. Or grits with scrambled eggs in it. I'm going to have to go get a jello snack before I go to bed!! I posted this in the food section, I found out crab is really high in protein and it's an ok food for most people.. so that's going to be my first mushy food. A Crab cake from Ruby Tuesday's.. 10 days!(I think).

I use BCBS of Alabama. I knew they weren't going to cover it and went in as a self-pay. I told the doctors I'm not claiming it, but gave them my insurance card for the psychological evaluation and something else my insurance would cover (don't remember what now). I got a letter yesterday from BCBS.. I didn't submit, I guess my doctor did.. saying I'm denied for coverage and detailed info on my policy.. Nice to know.. I'm still claiming major medical, that should reimburse me for some of it. My employer is helping me with the papers, he knows how our insurance is set up and likes to pay games with companies like this. If I get some money back, I'll be extatic (sp). If I don't, I'm still bouncin off the walls cause I'm BANDED! And congrats x1000000 on stopping smoking. I just can't. I know you have to want to quit smoking. I want to lose weight, smoking is back in my mind right now. I'm not as strong willed to conquer 2 things like this at once. I need one of my vises to fall back on. So kudos to you! I plan to stop smoking when I want to have kids.. I want to have kids as soon as band heals..I'm giving myself 2 years. So in 2 years when I'm skinny (and married..) I'm going to quit smoking.. and then have kids. :clap2:

mdrai- LOL!! Preaching about the good band.. you crack me up Her dbf should come update us.. or wake her up and walk her to the computer!!!!! I keep checking back, hoped to hear back before I went to bed. Anyone know if she said she'd be coming home same day? (I know they kept me 23 hours) --- Congrats Becky and welcome to the other side!! My doctor didn't tell me I needed ice or heat.. But I did buy some of those self-heating pads you can tape to yourself (of course I'm too big to tape it down, but I layed them on me, let my gigantuous boobs hold them down and would sleep with them on). --- And now my concern today ugh.. I was down to 311 2 days ago, stopped weighing myself for a day, this morning I was 314!!! I went back to myplate, I'm only getting 300-400 calories a day, how could I possibly put on 3lbs?! I refuse to change my ticker yet, I know it has to be an error due to something.. I just don't know how I'd gain 3lbs in a day.. that's not possible is it?

Jachut- I Know this is the wrong thread, and I've seen you post other places but I just this moment noticed your weightloss. Your starting weight was 113, and now you're 78? And.. now I see you're doing kg, not lbs (scrolled back up to make sure I wasn't hallucinating).. I was wondering how short someone has to be for 113lbs to be a 35 BMI. LOL! Guess I had too much pain meds

Lap- Sounds like you're pregnant! J/k I know what you mean about the pampering. You have years on me, but for about 5 years, its just me and fiance and I take care of EVERYTHING!! I clean, I cook (yeah right, just kidding, neither of us a cook).. but if someone was going to cook, it would be me!, I pick up after the animals (all of which seem to have some disgusting habit that needs cleaning up on a daily basis), I do the dishes, I do laundry, I pay the bills.. And before the surgery I told him it's his turn, I need to be relaxing and doing nothing. Well, he did it half-ass.. picked up a couple things when I fussed.. but other then that, this place has turned into a pig stye. Only because of the doctor's orders to rest my side, have I not started tearing the place apart. And I've had to send him to the grocery store for last minute food ideas (when I realize I can have something and I don't have it), and he grumbles the whole time. Men..can't live with them, can't get away with killing them.

I had the same situation, in fact I Had a thread about it before I was banded. I wanted GB for years, and I finally snapped and said, I'm tired of being scared-I'm doing it. And thus the research begun.. and I found lap-band. And I was relieved.. I could get the band instead! My doctor prefers RNY, and as I said before he doesn't 'push' anything, but he's had RNY and of course swears his life to it.. much like I plan to do with my band When he does his lectures he tries to encourage people to get RNY. But it was my decision, I wanted the band 110% and in the end he said he thinks I'm going to do great on it and I'm highly motivated

That sounds about right I did finally call my doctor yesterday and explained it to them. I told them the ER results (blood work was fine, CAT scan showed nothing) they asked if my stomach and chest were both scanned, I said I assumed so.. because the girl said she noticed my missing kidney (it's not missing, but it's way out of place so no one sees it on routine checking), and the lap-band. She told me to keep taking pain meds (called me in more liquid lortab), and DO NOT lift anything heavy and DO NOT do anything to strain my stomach.. so I've stopped with the housework for now. It is better today!! Normally eating makes it soo much worse, now eating does bring on the pain but it's a lot less than it has been. I tried gas-x too, it did nothing for me too. I had bought 2 boxes of gas-x strips from all the posts I'd read about needing it post-op, but if I ever had pains related to gas (I can't tell the difference in the different pains), the gas-x didn't do anything for it.

I don't think you're obligated to tell your employer, because your insurance is through them. But I agree it would likely be beneficial to tell your boss if you have that kind of a relationship, so when you have time off they're more understanding..and if you had any sort of complication or slow healing, etc. they'd be more accomodating.

I know, when I went to the ER last weekend and tried to explain I thought it sounded like a blood clot, you could tell the nurse was irritated with me. My mom use to be a nurse, so when the nurse left, my mom laughed and said 'You're suppose to play dummy... say "My chest hurts, I don't know why!" and let them figure it out'. One thing all the doctors keep asking me when I talk about the pain, is if I have a fever.. I haven't, but fever goes with infection. Though you are too far out for a surgical infection, anyone know if it's possibly a port infection? I thought those had nothing to do with the surgery. Hopefully it's just a flu, but talk to your doc

Candle- Same here.. our family goes to Six Flags over Georgia EVERY halloween for years now..this last trip when me and my dad couldn't fit on anything fun, it kind of killed it for us. I didn't mind because honestly I hate rides, I like the ambiance and walking around and being with family.. But my dad took it really hard. He didn't realize how much weight he'd gained and he was really depressed about it. He has called off our family Six Flags trips due to this past year.. But I'm glad to know he'd still be able to ride other things, so maybe this year I can convince them to do a WDW Trip!

Good thread! I am getting married in December, and have not even thought about the gown yet.. or the wedding.. except for location. I'm afraid to fall in love with a gown now that may or may not fit then. Also, if I see my fat arms in a wedding gown today, I may end up getting married in a moomoo because of traumatizing myself Good to know 3 months out is a good time to start fitting.. leaves me a while yet!

The lady who does my eyebrows does threading! She was talking about it last time I went, she said she just did some ladies upper lip (Luckily, only facial hair I have to worry with is eyebrows.. for now!). I asked what it was, so she said give me your arm, and I did.. owwwww. She did it really quick, the rolling the thread around.. egads. It stung for a while on my arm, I wouldn't let anyone near my face with that!! It might just be what you're use to, the waxing doesn't bother me at all because it's so quick.

Still no word from Tracy yet! Must be some good pain meds Jennifur- I felt the same way the day before my operation. My 'last meal' was french onion soup from Longhorn Steakhouse.. asked them to strain the onions, and no cheese/bread. It was the single best broth I've ever had in my life. And NOT just because I was starving at the time. It was SO flavorful and mmmm. I wanted to get a pint to go, but we were going to be there for 3 days before coming home and no refrigerator in the hotels. We have a local Longhorn but it's a ways away, one of these days I'm going to get a pint to bring home. It really is the best!