TexasBecky

Salsa, this is just my opinion, but your pcp sounds like she is working for your insurance company instead of you. Nutritional testing after having lost 100 pounds seems like a totaly legitimate expense to me and an EKG for someone training to run a marathon also seems legit. It is not like you are trying to rip off your insurance company. They did not have to pay for your lap band, yet are reaping the benefits of your improved health and fitness. They are not having to pay for your PS either so a few simple blood tests and and EKG are not unreasonable. I'd call your PCP again and plead your case to get her to order the darn tests. Plus she should care about the results! Good luck.

I did cardio and weight training today. Crazy Ates May Exercise Challenge 14/20 Cardio Sessions 5/8 Weight Sessions

Molly, I hope you're feeling better today. Let us know. Great job Salsa. You are inspiring a lot of people who never imagined being able to run a marathon. I did my hour of cardio this morning. Crazy Ates May Exercise Challenge 13/20 Cardio Sessions 4/8 Weight Sessions

My doc likes me to eat lightly before a fill and then do liquids for 24 hours after. They all seem to have slightly different guidelines. Listen to your doctors after fill instrctions.

That's another good point. My doctor is also the only one of the docs I saw who includes the "just in case" insurance in his quotes. That gives me peace of mind if anything goes wrong.

The whole process takes a while too. So, if you think you might be ready for surgery by the end of the summer, now is the time to start looking into it. I'm self pay so I wasn't even dealing with insurance approval and I started scheduling consults in February, started going on consults in March, made a decision in Arpil, and I'm actually having surgery in June.

Excellent advice from Frangi, as always. I "shopped" around a good bit too and ultimately picked the doctor who has the most experience with weight loss surgery patients and body contouring following weight loss. This is serious business, and you need to have alot of confidence in your doctor's ability.

Salsa, you are doing such a great job, but thank goodness you have some reasonable people around you (DH) who will tell you when it is time to quit. Don't take unnecessary risk like being out running in the dark! And like Frangi said, be sure to listen to your body. The last thing you want right now is to injure yourself in any way. I only scold you because I love you, lol. Ok, that is it for my motherly lecture. I met LJM for coffee yesterday and at the park this morning for a cardio workout. She is just as nice a person as you could imagine. She is also, as you would imagine, very inspiring; just one of those shining examples of what we can do when we put our minds to it. I did weight training this morning too. Crazy Ates May Exercise Challenge 12/20 Cardio Sessions 4/20 Weight Sessions

You people rock! I'm super impressed with everyone's work this month. Reaching Onderland, training for marathons, couch to 5K, trikking, hiking. Wow, ya'll are awesome. I did my hour of cardio this morning and now I'm headed out for a couple of hours of work in the garden. Later I'm going to meet "losingjusme" for coffee. Turns out that we live just a couple of miles from each other. I've followed her story for months so its going to be fun to meet her. Have a great day everybody!

Thank you Jody for the dancing bananas! You are such a sweetheart to be excited for all of us who are about to have PS. Salsa and Frangi, I am just amazed at everything that has happened since Aug. 07. I'm so proud of us. I never imagined that I'd be having my body fixed this soon. Did you? It is one of the most thrilling things to happen to me in a long, long time. I suspect that you two feel the same way. I'm feeling so much better since I've stopped worrying about all of this. I think a big part of my GI problems have been related to nerves. I'd forgotten how tight I get when I'm feeling stressed. I guess that is another good thing about my band. If I start feeling too tight I need to look at what is going on in my life and work on relaxing. In the past, I just ate when I felt stressed. What a blessing that I can't fall back on that now. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

If I were going to have plastic surgery in NY I'd definately consult with Dr. Schulman. He has posted such great info on this site and seems very knowledgeable about the band. Check him out: Matthew Schulman, M.D. Board Certified Plastic Surgeon Specializing in body contouring after weight loss Attending Plastic Surgeon, The Mount Sinai Hospital, NY Professor of Plastic Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Member American Society of Plastic Surgeons Member American Society of Bariatric Plastic Surgeons

Congratulations Frangi on getting your date set. I second the thanks to all who have gone before us and posted about their own ps experiences. It has also helped me tremendously.

Thanks for starting the thread Salsa. I'm having a lower body lift and limited medial thigh lift on June 12.

Yeah Frangi!! OMG, we are both less than one month away. How exciting is that? The "home" health service you describe sounds great. It must be reassuring to know that you will have that available if you need it. How long do you plan to stay in FL after the surgery? My plan (and the docs) is to stay in the hospital two nights - June 12 & 13 then home for a few days and back to the doc for a follow up on the 17th. My sister is coming to help me out for the first few days. DH said he would take off for a week if I wanted him to, but honestly I don't think its necessary. I really think my sister is going to be the better caregiver anyway. When I tried to explain to hubby about the drains, etc., he turned white as a ghost, lol. He was going to Boston for business on the 17th, but he has changed that so that he can take my sis to the airport and me to my followup appt. that day. After that I hope I'll be ok on my own. I think I'll arrange for some kind of home health service to be on standby too. That is such a good idea Frangi. My upper GI is scheduled for May 28th. I've discussed it with my band doctor, the plastic surgeon, and my pcp and none of them think that there will be anything that will cause my surgery to be postponed, so I'm feeling like it is safe to start getting excited now. I see the plastic surgeon again on May 23. He will have "worked" on my naked pictures to show me what results he expects to get from the surgery. I'm really anxious to see those - the afters that is. I'm not so anxious to see the before pictures, but I guess I can endure it. I've always hated to see myself in pictures with my clothes on. Can you imagine how awful it is going to be to look at pictures naked? Oh God. It makes me shudder. I'm rambling on and on, so I think thats enough for now.

I do feel a little better after seeing the band doctor today. He assured me that hiatal hernias are very, very common (especially in those over 60) and that usually they do not cause problems and do not need to be fixed. The fact that I am "only" 50 and have a lapband does require some additional testing. They are scheduling an upper GI to be performed within the next two weeks. They'll call me with the details. He thinks that my pouch may be dilated - probably unrelated to the hernia, and causing the reflux so I got a slight unfill today and am on liquids for 24 hours. I asked if he thought this was going to interfere with my plastic surgery on June 12 and he said he doesn't believe it will but can't say for sure until after the upper GI is done. More waiting. I will remain cautiously optimistic and be a very careful bandster in the meantime. On another note, my plastic surgeon has said there is no need for an unfill prior to my surgery. I've read alot of differing opinions on this so I asked the band doctor today and he also said no need for an unfill. Salsa, I know you are already unfilled and will be until after your surgery. What about you Frangi? What are your docs recommending?

Today's cardio is done. Off to the doctor in a little while. Crazy Ates May Exercise Challenge 10/20 Cardio Sessions 3/8 Weight Training

I agree completely. No one should let the fear of excess skin stop them from doing what they can to lose the excess fat. I really don't understand why so my band docs tell their patients not to consider plastic surgery until they've been at goal for at least a year. In my case it was obvious that my skin wasn't going to bounce back and at 50 years old, I don't want to waste anymore time. I've also read studies that suggest that people who have plastic surgery following weight loss are more likely to maintain their weight loss. I consulted with four plastic surgeons and not one of them thought their was any good reason to wait.

Thank you ladies for taking the time to respond. Even if the doctors aren't terribly responsive, it is nice to know that my fellow crazy ates are interested. Jody, as for my symptoms, I have started having acid reflux, especially at night. I've taken Nexium for years so when the symptoms first appeared a couple of weeks ago I thought it was from eating spicy food (you know us Texas gals - we gotta have TexMex once a week), so I just starting popping an extra Nexium at night and thought nothing more of it until the CT Scan results showed a problem. I'm also very tight lately, which seems odd because I had loosened up quite a bit over the last couple of months. I have been working on maintaining my weight and had been eating more without any problems. I admit I've probably been too careless - eating faster and not chewing as well as I did during my weight loss phase, but like I said, I was looser and eating was not causing me any problems. I have felt better since I've been on a soft diet for a few days. I hope its all in my head. I guess I'll know more tomorrow. Now what about you? What doesn't feel right? If you are having any problems, don't ignore them. I think I'd gotten fairly relaxed about my band lately and now I know not to do that. Of course I've been reading alot about complications this past week and I've been reminded that the complication rate among bandsters is pretty high. Most studies report that about 20% of us will encounter some problem in the first year. Its a reminder that we need to stay tuned in to our bodies and continue to follow the band rules - even when things seem to be going great. I remember when I decided to get the band I was willing to take whatever risks and possible complications that might come my way. I still feel that way, but I sure hope this turns out to be a minor issue. Yes Jody, I'm laughing at the image of you all crossed up on my behalf, but I certainly appreciate the gesture. Frangi, so glad that the doc finally called back, but things are sounding more complex now aren't they? The myomectomy is a little more serious than I'd imagined. I was just assuming that it would be less complicated than taking the uterus, but I guess not. I know you'll be thinking long and hard about your options. Either way it is going to be an ordeal, but at least you will have a flat stomach and perky boobs when its all over. Now that the coordinators are in charge of the details I'm sure you will have a date soon! If all goes well for us both, we'll be having surgery just one day apart. Yipeeeeee!

I did cardio and weight training today. Yes Salsa, for some reason May is flying by at lightening speed. My ps date is less than a month away now! Crazy Ates May Exercise Challenge 9/20 Cardio Sessions 3/8 Weight Training

Jody, not much new with me yet. I am going to see my band doctor tomorrow. I am quite frustrated with his office's nonchalant attitude about all of this and their unwillingness to work me in. A phone call from my plastic surgeon to my band doc is what finally got him to agree to see me this week instead of next week. I have placed myself on a soft (liquid/mushy) diet based on the info I've been able to gather online. Now that I've done some research on hiatal hernias and lapband slips, I do think I'm having some symptoms that I was ignoring. Of course that could all be in my head since I've read so much on the subject. Whatever the case is, I just hope it can be resolved easily, perhaps at the same time as my ps. Keep your fingers crossed. If it all works out my ps is one month from yesterday. Yikes! Frangi, what can I say? I'm so sorry you are in this holding pattern. I know how frustrated you are and I think our doctors just don't appreciate how difficult this waiting game is. I'm crossing my fingers for both of us. Keep us posted and I'll do the same.

Congrats Marathinner! You're doing great with your weight loss and you look fabulous.

Jody, I sure hope your knee is feeling better. Do take it easy and let us know what the doctor says. Good work Salsa. I did my cardio this morning. Crazy Ates MayExercise Challenge 8/20 Cardio Sessions 2/8 Weight Training __________________

I'm getting ready to have plastic surgery for my saggy skin and my pre-op chest xray showed a "patchy infiltrate" on the left lung so I had to have a CT Scan. It only took about 10 minutes, was completely painless, and the "patch" turned out to be nothing of any significance. I hope you have the same good results. Good luck with your lap band too!

I've decided against implants. My doctor discussed the technique that Dr. Schulman describes to get the fullness in the upper pole and I've decided that I'll be happy with those results. My main issue with implants is adding yet another foreign object to my body that could fail. I too am concerned about future complications with the band and not having implants will be one less thing to worry about. I like the look of implants, but not enough to add that extra concern.

BooBoo, I hate that you've had this complication. I hope you begin to feel better very soon. Thanks for keeping us up to date. An awful lot of people are following your story. This is an excellent reminder that we should never take any surgery too lightly. Complications can and do arise no matter how well we prepare. Wishing you all the best.