hagerteresa

Hi Tellie, Sorry to hear about your plight... Stand FIRM!!! If you want to go on your trip I would push for the company to cover it. Your friend made a drastic mistake... If you just want your money back, I would not find it acceptable to pay the cancellation fees on any of the tickets. How good of a friends is she? Penni, I may have to take you up on finding good flight deals sometime. Good luck Tellie, Teresa

WOW!!! What a mini-series this was.... I just noticed the whole darn thing. As a Lopez patient hearing all of this erosion crap it makes me very nervous. I just got to do the best I can while I have the band. If I ever lose it, hopefully a different technology will be available then. If not... I'll go SWEDISH... LOL. Teresa

Hi Minny, It is nice to meet you. I wish you the very best in your research and hope you make a decision that is right for you. Good luck, Teresa

Hi Nik, Nice to meet you and I wish you the best of luck on your band day! Just one more week to go!!! Teresa

Hi Fran! I hope all went well today!!! Best wishes!!! Teresa

I just had the coolest evening ever last night. I absolutely loved Rupert on Survivor the last two seasons but never thought I would actually get to hang out with him ever. Ends up they were in Oregon for a fundraiser and rented out the entire bed and breakfast I work at for the night last night. The organizers had asked Roberta to make them a dinner and I was asked to help serve and entertain. Not only was Rupert there but Rudy as well. Ethan and Jenna had also been on this Oregon trip but had to leave a day early. Anyway it was SOOOO much fun. Rupert was exactly how I always imagined he would be. They both posed for pics with us and gave us autographs. The meal ended up being less formal than Roberta (my boss) had planned, more buffet style so I was able to sit right down with each of them and chat just like normal people. TOOOO much fun!!! I love the Survivor shows and just thought I would share my cool experience with you all. They got to go crabbing yesterday and caught 25 huge crabs, had them cooked and ready to eat when they got to the B&B. MMMMM. I've never gotten to eat so much yummy crab before. LOL. Teresa

Yes Carmen, That was a very good post and appropriately timed. I too share many of your experiences and feelings. I hope you have a good holiday. Teresa

Congratulations on the NSV Betty! Great Job!!! How old is that nephew? What a cute story... Teresa

Hi Khadija, Nice to meet you. There are several people on this site who have been able to reduce or quit several of their medications and I know some of them related to diabetes. Good luck on your research, Teresa

Hi Tim, The surgery typically only takes 30 minutes but mine took 90 minutes because they had to clear a lot of fat away from where they wanted to place the band. I had a higher BMI. I still thought that was a pretty darned short surgery even at 90 minutes. Good luck on your research and happy Thanksgiving, Teresa P.S. Congratulations on your date! Where are you having it done at?

Let me know what you all think of it when you get it. I will probably want one too if its any good. I took that Jessie Ahroni book and gave it to my primary doctor yesterday. I am the only band patient he has and thought it might be useful for him to learn a little bit about the procedure. Best wishes, Teresa

Hi Kim, Nice to meet you and can't wait to hear more about you! Who did your surgery? Have a good holiday tomorrow and keep in touch, Teresa

Thank you Betty, your doing darn good yourself though. I am starting to feel more and more like doing some jigging. I even jogged a short distance the other day. Last time I did that I thought the earth was going to crack and I was going to cause a massive earth quake. Best wishes, Teresa

Glad to hear everything was perfect! Teresa

Lisa, my fill was only 1 cc. It is a bummer about your port situation. What is going on with that and when are you getting a new one. Have you called Kuri about adding to your debt? Trust me, I was shocked at this weeks weight loss more than anyone... I guess my bod was just making up for lost time. Have a good one, Teresa

Hello all, Did I mention I LOVE my fill... LOL. I had my physical today at the doctors and of course they forced me to weigh myself (recall I had gotten ancy earlier in the week and just couldn't wait till wednesday), I got on the scale kicking and screaming telling them I am breaking my forum challenge rules about the 1X a week weighings. I shut up when I saw I lost another 1.4 lbs!!! Yeah!!! That made 6.8 total lbs lost in 7 days! I am still eating, I promise!!! I even starting calorie tracking back up and am getting about 1500 calories in a day. Anyhow I am pleased and can say I've lost 76 lbs. Thanks for the support everyone. Penni, I've missed you and am sorry you have had the flu. You poor thing. Did you get a flu shot yet? I haven't gotten one and forgot to ask my doc for the suppository things today. Glad your back and hope EVERYONE has a great thanksgiving! Teresa

Hello, I was so glad to see you posted today and let us know how it all went. I'm sorry if you felt like I was one who personally attacked but by no means did I mean to sound like it. I am glad your surgery went well and that was such a good facility. My BMI was higher, so I had to have mine done at a different place. I was really happy with Dr. Lopez's personallity, was able to understand his accent and am very happy with my surgery. I know there are concerns about every doctor not to mention having surgery in Mexico. I hope that erosions and other problems aren't statistically greater with Dr. Lopez but there are a lot of people on the forums who have used a lot of different docs and its always the Lopez ones we hear about. Hopefully Don Mills from Inamed (also a doll) is correct and we don't have anything more to worry about. I got my band for life and really really want to keep it. I love my band. Anyway, I am so glad to hear back from you and hope you'll keep in touch with us. Have a great thanksgiving, albeit a liquid one, Teresa P.S. I never planned on going back to Mexico for aftercare and made sure it was all lined up closer to home before I had my band surgery. Therefore I have no reason to be unhappy with his aftercare. I am mad at belighter.com because I had the bad sense to buy into their false promises, paid extra for their service and have been dropped off the face of the earth by them. I had SEVERE drainage a week after surgery and nobody from their department bothered to return my calls even though I had paid for a 24 hour telephone nursing hotline for times of need. Oh-well, my faithful family practitioner totally helped me thru it.

Your doing great! Everyone is a little different but your problem doesn't sound like a new one to me. Are you counting your calories at all? I use a program called www.fitday.com, its free for the web version. It will at least give you an idea of your calories and nutricianal intake. A fill will help too. Have a good thanksgiving, Teresa

Yesterday I did 60 minutes of water aerobics and was a greeter (on my feet the whole evening walking around) at a fundraiser called the Festival of Trees (very posh...). I thought I was doing great food wise until just before I left the festival and saw the long table full of scrumptous desserts. I of course lost all my self control, grabbed one and snuck it home with me. OH MY GOODNESS it was heavenly: a thin round layer of chocolate sorrounded some kind of chocolate orange mousse on a thin cake layer topped with a chocolate leaf on top. I felt SO sick afterwards though. Not a PB sick but a "its too rich" sick. It wasn't even really that big but obviously big enough. Speaking of dogs, my dogs are pudgy too and like sweets. I have a huge bowl on my coffee table that has 3 gigantic candles in it and then gold leafed pine cones and poutpouri. Everytime I leave the house I now find one of my dogs munching on the pine cones and poutpouri... HMMM... Doesn't sound too tasty to me...

Good Girl!!! Keep the spirit!!!! Teresa P.S. Your welcome on this forum anytime no matter what!!!

Bummer Lauri, Don't give up yet though. Does your insurance policy say they cover WLS if it is medically neccessary or is it an exclusion? I have a friend who had the by-pass and her insurance considered WLS an exclusion. All she had to do was hire an attorney that specializes in weight related cases, he wrote the insurance a letter and the next thing she knew they accepted her claim for surgery. I am hoping the same thing will work to get my mom banded because our insurance excludes weight loss surgery as well and she doesn't have the money to self pay. You might have to do 12 continous months of doctor supervised weight loss attempts. Is your primary doctor supportive of the band at all? I doubt you would have to pay to go to a dietician but maybe your primary can help supervise you... I don't know... I had to self pay for my surgery in Mexico. I am sick of insurance companies as well and can add a few more "bleeps" to yours. Teresa

I just had my first fill and was nervous about it for a long time. The first time they didn't use flouro and I got poked a lot but even then it wasn't too painful. My guess is we don't have many nerves in our fatty part of our belly's. The next time I went back they used flouro and it was wonderful. Just a single poke and it was all done with. I only got 1 cc. but it has restricted me enough to kick-start my weight loss again in a big way. Hope yours goes smoothly. Gina, I am afraid I would have probably womped your hubby right over the head with that kind of attitude. What a shmuck!!! My husband knows I am dissappointed enough when I don't lose anything for the week without adding to it. He has made comments concerning eating too much dessert but maybe just once or twice and it wasn't really meanly or condescending. Dang, does your hubby know that the average loss is ONLY SUPPOSED to be 1-2 lbs per week??? Tell him not to criticize you until he has done his research on the subject because he has obviously not done so. Be strong girl!!! Teresa

Neat article. I found it all pretty believable too. I always was kind of skeptical of the atkins high protein type of diet. I recall an interview of a man who wanted to live as long as he possible could and he designed this special food concoction that he ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It looked hideous but consisted of soy beans and a lot of other very fiberous low calorie foods. He was as thin as a rail and looked great for his age. Of course I like to live a little, and couldn't do anything nearly that extreme but I do try to keep some carbs in my diet. I need to get better choosing some of the healthiest ones though. Anyway great article, Teresa

Getting it started is the hardest part for me. Something about looping the yarn around my fingers and trying to finangle six stitches into is hard to catch on to. Took a lot of practice. When I first learned to make them last year, everytime I had to start a new hat I would take it up to the lady who taught me and make her get each one started. I did eventually learn how to do it on my own. It just takes practice and patients. Maybe Becky or Penni can give you more insight on starting it. Teresa P.S. Thanks for all the compliments folks. I just could not believe it when I saw the number change on the scale myself. I've been giddy all day.

Thanks Becky, I sure was proud. Teresa