ragdollx19

I was banded by Dr. Marsden May 23rd and LOVE my band. I had to get mine done at Wise Regional in Decatur due to insurance and it is a really nice facility. I also go to the Surgery Center in Hurst for my fills and have been verry happy with them. Congratts on your surgery date!

I have gone geo caching before, its a lot of fun!

I agree with the rest, you need a fill!

Just curious why you need diet pills with the band?

My 3rd fill started wearing off around 5 weeks after I got it. For about 3 weeks I thought it was all in my head. When I sat down and could eat a whole steak with no problems I called to get another fill. I have only had it since last week so it has been tough to eat much but its getting better every day. Congratts on the smaller clothing, that matters way more than the scale!

NSV!!! A co-worker told my I looked really skinny today! My response "I am really skinny today!" I love my band!!! I have got to find more pants that fit though. The one or two pair I have are not enough!

I dont think they do fills at AIGB but I could be wrong? Next door to AIGB in the same building is the surgery center where they do the fills. I had my surgery done in Decatur, it is an hour to an hour and a half from AIGB off 287. I liked the facility a lot and had them dope me up on morphine so on the ride home I was knocked out!

You supposed to be doing the Diabetes Walk at the AA? I am going if you start feeling better I would love to see you there!

I was always told to be on liquids for 24 hours and then progress to mushies... like applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese. Maybe you are starting out with too solid of a food and it is still too swollen to tolerate that? What are your doctors food instructions after a fill? I would call. Its better to have to get a small unfil and work your way up to restriction than to be so restricted you cant get any food in.

The lady who does the fills has been known to be cranky on occasion. The more I am around her the more I think she just has a dry rigid personality a lot of the time and really doesnt mean anything by it. She has never made me cry or anything like that, she just gets straight to business!

I was doing this too untill someone on here told me they dont have any minerals in them. Now, I dont know much about vitamins so I would guess taking minerals is better for you? I dunno. There are so many opinions on vitamins its a bit overwhelming. I do like the way the gummi's taste though!

If I were doing that badly I would pay the money for fluro and then claim it with the insurance company myself. I would not wait to have it looked at. Good luck and I am sorry you are having to deal with this!

I went to Goodwill today and got some cute size 16 pants and skirts. Some of the pants wont fit yet but soon I also got a few size LARGE shirts. And when I got to the counter the lady said "Hey lets have a sale on Women's clothing and give you 25% off!" Woo hoo! I think I got 6 or 7 outfits for $29 with tax!

I was there around 4:15-4:30 Wed This fill is kicking my rear. I had a meatball off a subway sub for dinner. yes "a" as in ONE.

WHY wont insurance cover it? did they cover your band? Or they exclude all weight loss? Is it because they arent in network?

I used Dr Marsden in May and had a great experience. I had to have my surgery at Wise Regional because of insurance reasons. It was a very nice hospital! I asked him to call in my prescriptions a few days prior to surgery so i wasnt waiting at a Walgreens right afterward. He is very laid back and his office has always contacted me immediately no matter what it was in regards to. I havent seen Marsden since my post op as he does not do fills. My scars are very minimal and with time you wont hardly be able to see them. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions I can answer! Life will never be the same

Angie, that is VERY exciting! Good luck to you your life will never be the same

I absolutely love my digital scale that I got at Target. It is not the same weight as the balance scales but it is consistent compared to them. I like not having to figure out what lb marker it is at. Even if i replaced it once a year it was only $30, and I know I wont have to replace it every year. Oh and it is very slim and fits under the bathroom cabinet very well. I hate having everything out and cluttered.

If you can find someone else to do your fills who is not covered on your insurance you can call your insurance company and ask for an "Out of Network Exception". I have BCBS and had to do this. I called them and said I was not aware when I got my surgery that they did not cover the facility my Dr uses for fills. I told them I would be willing to go somewhere else if they could find someone else who would do it. I tried calling other places that were on my insurance and they would not because it was a different surgeon. Now I get in network benefits for an out of network provider.

Try calling the Specialty Surgery Center of Fort Worth. They are actually on Precinct line in Hurst. they do lap band surgeries here as well as fills for a lot of Drs in the DFW area. Explain your situation and see if they can help. If not call AIGB who is in the same building and ask them.

This is straight from my weight loss spreadsheet. Sometimes I lose, sometimes I gain sometimes nada! But it averages out to 2 lbs a week if you count all weeks. <table x:str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="66"><col style="width: 50pt;" width="66"> <tbody><tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 50pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17" width="66">-2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">0.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">0.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt; color: rgb(221, 8, 6);" x:num="" align="right" height="17">3.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-4.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-3.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt; color: rgb(221, 8, 6);" x:num="" align="right" height="17">2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-3.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-3.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-2.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">0.0</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"> <td class="xl24" style="height: 12.75pt;" x:num="" align="right" height="17">-1.0</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

Laura - I don't know how your restriction is but I like to eat those Curves snack bars that have 100 calories. They aren't bad for you, the chocolate peanut butter ones taste like a regular granola bar. I would have had to eat 5 of them pre band to be full but they are perfect now. Sometimes I eat some yogurt or oatmeal with it too. Dont wait till things settle down to get back on the wagon. Do it NOW for YOU! Think of how far you have come already... why delay getting to goal. Can you imagine how good we are going to look and feel by then. You can do it! No more excuses Missy... make the time to do some kind of work out! mini- You are right I am extremely proud of how far I have already come and I know slowly I will get there!

Sandra- I am sorry to hear that about your son. Any parent would feel bad but its only natural with your kids to first tell them to suck it up after all the whining you hear over the years. I hope he feels better soon and dont beat yourself up over it. Melissa- You will look beautiful no matter how the dress fits, the worst that could happen is you would have to pin it in the back near a seam. You will make due and be beautiful! I got my 4th fill yesterday, I couldnt believe she actually gave me .5 cc after only giving me .2 last time. It brings me up to 2.7 in a 4 cc band. If nothing else it has done wonders for my motivation! I have been a little sad that my scale hasnt been moving despite my hard work, today after not eating most of yesterday due to the fill I am down a pound. I dont care how I lost it, its nice to see my scale down. I havent been in the teens for a VERY long time. 218 is heaven compared to the 261 I started at. This has definitely been a journey so far and I have learned a lot about myself both good (I CAN do it in the gym) and bad (food is not entertainment)!

I have had 3 fills since being banded 5/23/07; my last one was 8 weeks ago and brought me up to about 2.7 in a 4 cc band. I have been losing an average of 2 lbs a week. I say average because it fluctuates. I work out a lot and very hard so I know if I weren’t doing that I wouldn’t be losing anything at all. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> The last two weeks I have been so hungry and its not just head hunger. I can eat a lot more food, and have to if I want to feel full. I am eating healthy proteins most of the time and that does not seem to make a difference, within 30 minutes I am starving. I have let this go on like this for a few weeks because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a bump in the road that would correct itself. I can eat breads of any kind with no problems which before would have been a huge problem. <o:p></o:p> I go to a fill clinic that has a Fill Nazi, just generally bad bedside manners and is very rigid. Do you think the fact that I have been losing weight will make them not want to give me a fill at all? <o:p></o:p> I think I will wear heavy shoes, clothes, and load the pockets up with weight! J No really I know I need a small fill but am worried they wont want me to have one unless I am not losing.

Update- Well, I went yesterday and she was in an amazingly good mood! I think i have really only had one bad experience with her before and maybe she was just having a bad day. She asked why I thought I needed a fill when I had lost 16 lbs in 8 weeks, I told her it wasnt about the weight loss that it was about the quantity of food I could consume and how hungry I have been the last 3 weeks. She gave me another .5 cc yesterday, for a total of 2.7 cc in a 4 cc band. I really think this fill is going to do it for me, the last one was great for 5 weeks. I also think it will help with the motivation.