La_madam

Terry let me be the first to say WOW! You look fabulous. You must be so proud of yourself. You have done an incredible job with your band. I'm so happy for you CONGRATULATIONS!!! P. S. How is your daughter doing?She looks great too! It must be nice to have a mini support group with the 2 of you going through it together at the same time.

Bushbaby.. Im the same way...seems at night time I get a ravishing sweet tooth so I fill up my 24oz Water bottle with ice cold water and come here to read and post so I don't raid the fridge or candry drawer my hubby has:) My nightime water bottle is my best friend and Lisa Propel will not keep you up at night, it is just a sweet tasting water with some Vitamins & such, they are good!

When a doctor tells you something even if they don't give a reason..trust me listen to them :cool: ..I had never drank with my meal for the reasons mentioned above but once I had a piece of food stuck so I tried to wash it down with a swig of water and OH MY GOD was that a mistake, I felt like I was backing up like a clogged toilet, never again will I do that. I now wait a good hour before drinking after a meal just to be sure. However I do drink right up until about 3-5 minutes before a meal

Hi Iluvsammys Congratulations to you with your band. You will love it! Its the best thing I have done for me ever! This support board is full of information and wonderful caring supportive people....Welcome and Good Luck to you with your band journey

Hi Lucy Congratulations to you. Being banded is the best decision I have ever made for myself. You are one of the lucky ones to have a doctor who answers his cell phone..I have the same thing in my doctor, once I called him and he was at dinner with his family in a Mexican restaraunt where I could here the mariachis playing in the background and he was kind enough to take my call and answer my questions. You don't get that here in the US with the doctors that is for sure! This is a great support board, everyone here is so friendly and supportive you will enjoy it here! Good Luck to you

Isint Ibruprofen a NSAID? I was told by my doctor not to take any ibruprofen becasue it can iritate the stomach and long term use can cause erosion. Be sure to ask your doctor if the ibruprofen your dentist gave you is OK to take. I was an advil lover before surgery..but now I only take adult strength liquid tylenol it doesnt work as well but it gets the job done! With the problems you are all ready having I would hate to see the ibruporfen make things worse irritating your stomach any more then it is.

Maureen I'm so sorry for what you aregoing through. But There is a very knowledgable woman on this board her name is Donali, I reccomend sending her an email and asking her , she just had her band removed from erosion and she knows so much about erosion. She is so sweet and kind , I know that she would be willing to help answer any questions for you. Just go into the members link and look for her name it shoud porvide her email or if anything else you can send her a private message...she may even read this post and reply herself. Keep your spirtis up...8/3 will give you the answers you need, you may not have anything to be concerned about.

Again Whippleddaddy thanks for the info my husband has sure had his share of epidurals over the years for both his neck and back..I will definately ask his doctor about this.. You are very kind..I have been trying to do more things for myself. The band was one of those things..I just also bought 2 books, I do get my toes done every 2 weeks it is my retreat and 1 hour of peace. I'm struggling with a new problem in my life right now so I'm trying to find some sense of serenity..this board sure does help! Thanks for your encouraging and kind words My mother always told me what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger..and that God will only give you what you are strong enough to handle..He must of thougt I was a rock of strength... But I truly believe everything in our lives happens for a reason. My oldest son dying of cancer saved my youngest sons life..he had a dream about his younger brother while he was in the hospital fighting for his life, he told me he had a bad dream that something was wrong with his youngest brother and that we had to take him to the doctor he was adamant about it so we did and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that my youngest would be diagnosed with cancer also...but honestly my husabnd and I truly believe God did this for a reason with my mother dying 10 days before my son , we had a reason to carry on..we had to be strong for our youngest son while he was going through his intense chemo. We thank god everyday for our son having that dream or who know if we would of ever caught my sons cancer. This band is giving me my life back after living in a fog for the last 6 years....my family is reaping the benefits from it just as much as I am!

I had a birthday part a few years back for 2 of my girlfriends and one was dating a black man and the other was dating a white man..so I took the snowballs you know those pink coconut cupcakes made by hostess and a bananna for the my friend who dated the black man I arranged the snowball and bannana to resemble a mans penis and I covered them in chocolate and for the friend who was dating a white man I did the same but covered them in a very light orangish pinkish marshmallow cream.. It was hysterical when I brought both cakes out to the table to sing happy birthday.. Love the weenie cake!!

You go girl..I think it is a fabulous idea..I just started my exercising routine this week also..30 minutes a day swimming laps in my pool plus my 20 minutes each night of my 5lb weights with my arms...I'm interested to see if it helps with the wieght loss..I have been losing 1.5 - 2 pounds a weeks with minimal exercise since April..Let us know how it goes!

LJ Thanks for posting the update on your wife..please let her know she is in our thoughts and we wishh her well. Please update us or when she isfeeling up to it she can update us. I agree with Leatha,she is a lucky woman to have you by her side, so caring and concerned for her.

I could not gulp down water for about the first week and a half but now I can with no problem, the first day is weird..take it slow with the water. It is strange..I can eat just about anything as long as I chew it to bits..but it seems when I eat my yogurt I feel like I'm getting backed up and I get the hiccups. Still having decent restriction with my first fill on June 7th and losing steadily 1-2 pounds a week..so I'm not planning a fill anytime soon.

Way to go ladies..keeping off the scale is definately a challenge but you al ldid it..Congrats Darcy on 4 pounds that is awesome! See you all next Monday for Week #2

Dr Kuri is very well known and respected here in So cal where I live, there is even a online support group callled original southern california bandsters and most of the members in it are Kuri patients as a matter of fact they had there monthly meeting yesterday in Irvine at a restaraunt and he showed up to participate. There is a woman here in our group that used Kuri (delarla) and she isvery happy with him. Dr Kuri is a very experienced band surgeon and has a great bedside manner he will give you his cell phone number and will answer the phone personally, or call you back right away. Great Surgeon! Great Choice!

Hi Dave according to my surgical report and what my surgeon told me I have the 10cc Inamed band and I had it done in Mexico . I have had no problems to date and I have had 1 fill so far . It has been 3.5 months since surgery. I agree with Alex if you plan to have your aftercare in Virginia make sure you have a doctor all lined up who will take Mexico patients. I am fortunate I live in So Cal and am just 1.5 hours from Tj Mexico..Good Luck on your decision

Happy Birthday Babs Don't beat your self up. By reading your goals I do not think they are unrealistic if you stick to following all of those It is possible to lose 8 pounds by August 23rd..You Can Do It! There is a post here for a "weekly scale challenge" that I strated last week..join us it really does help to only weigh once a week and it also helps to have others doing it with you . Maybe that will help you??

Thank You New Hope and Leatha for your kind words. I appreciate it It has been difficult but I have been very blessed ...The people in my community where so wonderful and caring and helpful to my family and I..they and the lord made it possible for us to get through all of this . One of the reasons that I'm here is becasue after all of the tragedy I was placed on an anti depressant I was 186 at the time the lowest weight I had been in in years..6 years later I was 265. It was time for me to take care of me, enough time had passed and I had grieved long enough for my son and mother but had 3 other boys (one of those boys who is still suffereing from the side affects of 3 yrs of chemo) and a daughter to think of who needed me..I knew my weight was out of control and I had to do something I was so depressed from my weight it was affecting every aspect of my life then I heard about the Lap Band from my neighboor who had had it done and was very successful...so here I am 3 months post op and down 37.5 pounds and so much happier then I have been in years.

Monday mornin here and this morning I was 227.5 -1.5 lbs for the week, I think it was the hour of swimming laps I did last night

I hear you New Hope..not only does my hubby live in chronic pain but we have had our tragedies.Our oldest son died of cancer 6 years ago and our youngest son was diagnosed with a different cancer 3 weeks after our oldest was diagnosed., he is in remission but still struggles with a very supressed immune system and to top it off my mom died 10 days before my son so I have learned to put my priorities in order..the things I used to think were so important are not and the things that should of been then now are! I'm a much kinder person from all the kindess that was shown to me during my times of tragedy. I can relate to exactly what you are saying.

You got it! Sending "approve..approve...approve thoughts to insurance claims person!

Whippleddaddy thanks so much for the info on RSD..my husband is having nubnessin his shoulders and left arm lately plus some numbness in his legs. My first thought was heart attack due to the numbness going down his left arm so he went in for EKG and Echo but heart is fine so I will definately ask his pain management doctor next month when I see her about RSD.This has been a battle for almost 8 years now for him. Living and loving with someone with chronic pain is sometimes very difficult..I hate to see him hurting. It has affecteds his life in so many ways..but I still love him and would not trade him in for anyone else EVER! Thanks again for the info

Carolyn I got real tight a week after my first fill but it did taper off. I also notice that the week of my period I have a tightness in my chest that seems to go away 3 days in to my period. If you can eat and drink with no problem maybe it is just your body adjusting to the fill. I also notice when I have a stressful day I get real tight. The strangest things affect my band and my restriction level.

Hi Paula There are some doctors who do prescribe diet pills for their patients before their firs tfill. One ofthe girls I had surgery with is going to a different doctor then our original surgeon for her aftercare and he gave her phentermine. My PCP als gave me a 30 day supply of 15mg phentermine in case I needed them before my first fill. I only had to take it once though. Good Luck and I hope your first fill makes a difference for you..mine sure did!

4 is fine with me here on the west coast...

Congratulations SIssy...you are on e of the lucky ones to get your insurance to pay 100% I have Blue Cross of California and no way do they cover the band yet besides I was told by my PCP that I would never qualify even if they did.. even though I was 100 pounds overweight with a BMI of 42 I was in perfect health..blood pressure normal..low cholesterol..no heart problems or diabetes or sleep apnea or arthritis or joint pain. Hard to imagine being 100lbs overweight and my PCP tells me I'm as healthy as a horse so I self paid but do not regret one single penny of it! You are very fortunate..that is great you had no expenses out of pocket...