lindaa

How is it in the mushy stage? How much do you eat at a time? Do you feel satisfied? How long can you go in between meals without getting hungry?

Aza--sounds like you've been waiting for this for a long time. I'm glad that your day is just around the corner! This is a big group, and really friendly. They got me through it, and keep me going now. Stay in touch!

Ash, Perfect. Just remember to eat slowly, chew well, and not to drink. Let us know how it goes!

I'm just checking in. It's been just the saddest week ever. My daughter-in-law wanted to make a scrapbook for her sister, so my house was turned into a scrapbook factory for a couple of days. It was wonderful to see so many people come over and help out with a page or two, but also so sad to look of the pictures of the little boy and his family and know how much he will be missed. The funeral was last night--so so so sad. I did manage to lose another 4 pounds, so that's a good thing. Tomorrow I will start mushies--lookin forward to that. Did I mention how much I HATE the Protein shakes? I try to get them down, but it seems such a shame to waste calories on them! Now a slice of cheese or eggs or tuna. . .

Brady--I am self pay even with a BMI > 40 and co-morbidities! I fought the battle for a year and gave up and went to Mexico.

Phyl, I've got 'em too; I'm thinkin it's pretty normal. Hope that clears up soon as it could be a pain at work! Thank you all for your prayers. I just got off the phone with my son, and they're getting through this. Lots of guilt as you can imagine to add to the sadness. I think losing a child like this is as bad as it gets.

Mommy, I was banded the same day as you, and I started full liquids yesterday, so we're at about the same place. Hopefully, you were able to take something for the rash? On another note, I am asking you all for prayers for my son and daughter-in-law and her family. Yesterday afternoon they babysat for their 1 1/2 year old nephew. A couple of hours after they brought him home they received a phone call that the little boy had just drowned in a pond near his home

Welcome Jackie! I'm in and out, but have found that just reading everyone else's posts has givem me a great deal of insights. Many times my questions are answered before I even ask them. You did a great job with the pre op diet. I bet you already have noticed some changes. I'm a couple of days ahead of you and starting to find that the clear liquid diet's not enough unless I just want to lie aroudn all day, and I've done enough of that. I'm kicking it up to full liquids today and so far, so good. I'm not liking the prepackaged Protein shake much though.

Lynnette, Last week you guys were talking about a recipie page. Where can I find that?

AMEN Sunny!

I know I've been really bad about posting this week. Now that I'm pretty much over the hump, I hope to keep up. Indigo: I hear you, and I'm sorry that your nursing care was less than stellar. It's sad that so many nurses these days don't realize the impact that they make--either positively or negatively--on their paitenrs. Too many of the younger ones especially have never experienced difficulty themselves and lack the compassion for others that you learn through those experiences. Janie--it does get better, however when you start feeling fewer aches and pains, the appetite begins to return as well. The good news is that it doesn't take much to satisfy that appetite anymore. Hang in there! Pamper yourself, and just remember to walk, drink, and rest Lynette I read all about your problems with the pancakes. Thank you for sharing that. I can totally see how I would do something like that too. I just got back from buying some Papaya Enzyme thanks to you! Sunny—Thanks for the shout-out! How’s your day? And Denise—We are cut from the same cloth when it comes to moms. I haven’t told mine yet and she lives a mile away! She is so judgmental, and will criticize me to the rest of my family, and I don’t need that. I’m sure the day will come, but for now, she can wait. Kathy—The kitchen is looking great? What kind of counter tops are you putting in? My DH did a great job remodeling the fire place the week before I left too. It was pretty unnerving to have all that mess around, but I’m glad it’s done. I whish I had time to shop for some pottery for it when we were in Mexico. Well, maybe if I go down for a fill someday! Your daughter is a sweetie! Got to love the messy-face-in-the-high-chair pics! We did foster care for awhile and could have adopted one of the girls we had too, but choose not to. I often wonder what happened to her? What a wonderful, unselfish thing to do! Speaking of sweet li’l girls—Dini—what a precious munchkin you have there!! I can sure see why you are so proud of her. I was a total Diet Coke-aholic too, but have not had any since the day before surgery. While I was gone my daughter hid or gave away all the Coke I had in the house—what a sweetie. Like many of you, I had headaches too, but my doctor said that caffeine was not a problem with the band, so I am allowing myself my usual 3 cups of coffee in the morning. I see it kinda of like smoking in that if you can’t quit completely, at least cut down. Eventually, I will start using more and more decaf, but for now, I feel OK. I also liked the Pasta, but so far no cravings for that either. So all in all, I’m still glad I did it! OK, gotta run now—DH wants to show me something. . .

Hi Rachelle, What exactly are you nervous about? Pain? Complications? Just the whole hospital thing? What helped me with the nervousness was to consider how many people are having this done, and all the success they are experiencing. Keep reading the fourms. If so many people are doing this and having positive outcomes, then you can believe that you will do well too.

I hear you, and it just blows my mind how insurance companies discriminate against the obese. What makes me really mad is that in my state Welfare patients can get gastric by-passes, but even after working for full-time for 21 years, I can't. You might look into going to one of the hopsitals in Mexico where the cost is less than 1/2 of what it is in the USA or Canada.

Biggest Loser: You are doing great on the pre op diet--you've lost what--11 pounds? Welcome to this group of losers!

dieka 32: Tonight I made one of my favorite meals for everyone else. It was the pits watching them eat But I knowing what would happen if I tried gave me the strength I needed. It's no longer a choice. Nasty but true: This is the hand we've been dealt. We will get past this phase and I believe that it will get better.

Hang in there Tinkerbell. I am sore and my back hurts from sitting differently. I have shoulder pain too. But every day it's a little better and at least I don't have to travel anymore--the landings were not fun! It was all worthwile when I got up this morning and weighed myself--down 7 from last week. I can take a little pain for that--especially knowing that it will not come back!

Brandy--I have not told my parents or siblings, although my husband, kids, and close friends know. My family is very judgemental and generally not supportive of me so I would rather not get into it with them yet. As far as work is concerned, I am off during the summer so it's not an issue.

In the interest of fairness, I need to tell you that I no more than posted my previous message and I received a call from BeLiteWeight. They are aware of the issues they can control and have already implemented changes. For one thing, they, just this week, hired an on-site bilingual patient facilitator! They seemed very appreciative of my comments and are striving to continuously improve their services. Can't ask for more than that! :clap2:

OK, so there are some strong feelings about Lopez Corvala. I posted most of this in the Lucky-7’s thread and someone suggested posting it here. I hope it helps anyone considering Angeles Hospital or Dr. Lopez Corvala First you need to know that I am a nurse educator (in other words, I know how things SHOULD be) and I speak a little Spanish. The staff at Angeles spoke very little English, but with my limited Spanish we pretty much communicated the basics. My experience with Angeles Hospital was that the hospital appears modern, beautiful and clean. My concern was that the standards of care are not the same as in the USA. For example, I am hypertensive and had a difficult time convincing them that it was not a good idea to keep my IV running at 125ml/hr, encourage fluids by mouth, and hold my antihypertensive meds the day after surgery! Finally, at 9:30 at night when my BP was alarmingly high, they called a doctor and got permission for me to take my meds. There were a couple other things like me having to show them how to eliminate artifacts on my EKG (something any EKG tech is taught to do), glass thermometers, no sharps containers or biohazard disposal bags, no ID bracelets (which did result in at least one patient mix-up—thankfully the other patient was also a nurse and caught the mistake) and absent or incomplete instructions--all of which would be considered inferior care in the USA. Anyone going to Mexico should appreciate the meaning of "Mexican time." "Un momento" does NOT mean "one minute." It means "later." The people are very polite and will smile all the time and tell you what you want to hear, but then they turn around and do as they please. Since it's hard to communicate with them, it was hard to know if they understood what we wanted, or if they forgot, or what is going on. At the same time, I do need to emphasize that the many of staff were very nice. When I told someone in the pre-operative area that I was nervous, she hugged me and tried to communicate reassurance. Dr. Lopez only spoke to me for maybe a minute (not unlike some American surgeons), but the ansetheologist couldn't have been better, and Dr. Lopez's assistants were personable as well. I did receive written instructions in English and had some opportunities to ask questions of people who understood and spoke English. Dr Lopez Corvala: Well, he IS a surgeon, and in general they are not especially personable so I didn’t expect much. People have to realize that there are always some patients who have bad experiences and have nothing good to say about their doctors. On the other hand, even the worst doctors can do a good job. The reason doctors (and nurses too for that matter) are licensed is to protect the public. The states set the standards and regulate who is allowed to do what. When you leave the USA, you can not assume that the physicians outside the country meet our standards. It’s a risk. For me, everything turned out well and I got what I wanted. I may feel differently down the road if something comes up and I can’t get it dealt with, but for now, I would say that Dr Lopez Corvala is neither better nor worse than any random surgeon in the USA. I just don’t know, and there really is no creditable way to know. BeLiteWeight has some work to do too: We were initially told that my husband could spend two nights in the hotel and I would spend the second night in the hotel with him. But when the time came, no one could tell my husband how to get to the hotel so he ended up sleeping on a bench under the air vent (very drafty) in my room. The second day, I was told that I would remain in the hospital that night which meant a second night for my husband on the drafty bench. I ended up rubbing his back at 5 am as he was getting pretty grumpy about the whole thing. He had to fend for himself as far as meals were concerned, and beg for extra towels to take a shower in my room. (They don't provide washcloths either, so be sure to bring one from home) I would recommend Angeles hospital and Dr. Lopez with reservations. It's really important to be informed before you go and know what to expect because until they resolve the language issues, patients would not have a way to know these things. (Where I live, the hospitals are required to provide translators for non-English speaking patients!) Remember that Mexico was a "Blue Light Special" compared to what it would have cost me to have the band placed in one of the centers 50 miles away from my home. When are the insurance companies going to stop discriminating against obesity? They’re the real bad guys here, but that's a whole different issue. . .

New CC: Where are you going? I was allowed to shower in the hospital the morning after my 6 pm surgery. Kinda hard since I still had an IV, but I got 'er done--sorta. At least my hair was clean--can't go a day without that!

It's hard keeping up with all of us! I am so encouarged by MsPris's attitude. I hope that someday she'll be able to look back on her experience and see how it all worked out for her good. In the meantime, MsPris has retaught me a valuable lesson--I am always inspired by people who take set backs and focus on the positive. I wish you the best, hon, and I definitely want you to keep in touch with us all. Like someone else said, we are family here, and banded or not, you are one of us. Aunt Phyl and others who are banded today (I'm sorry, I can't remember all your names): You are in my prayers today. There may be that moment of fear and doubt, but go forward. There is nothing to be gained by stopping now, and everything to be gained (or lost:)) by moving forward. As my little mexican nurse said to me as I was waiting to go into the operating room: "Dios nos ve" (God sees us). As for me, I'm down 7 more pounds this week and finding the clear liquid diet not-so-bad. Yes I am sore, but as long as I don't push the walking too much, Tylenol is sufficient. It's acutally kinda nice to be able to nap when I want to and not feel guilty about it. I know that by next week I will need to start exercising more, so I am enjoying this while it lasts!

Hi Reconciler. First you need to know that I am a nurse educator (in other words, I know how things SHOULD be) and I speak a little Spanish. My experience with Angeles Hospital was similar to yours in that the hospital appears modern, beautiful and clean. Like you, the staff spoke very little English, but with my limited Spanish and thier limited English we pretty much communicated. My concern was that the standards of care are not the same as in the USA. For example, I am hypertensive and had a difficult time convincing them that it was not a good idea to keep my IV running at 125ml/hr and hold my antihypertensive meds the day after surgery. Finally, at 9:30 at night when my BP was alarmingly high, they called a doctor and got permission for me to take my meds. There were a couple other things like me having to show them how to eliminate artifacts on my EKG (something any EKG tech is taught to do), and absent or incomplete instructions that would be considered inferior care in the USA. We were initially told that my husband could spend two nights in the hotel and I would spend the second night in the hotel with him. But when the time came, no one could tell my husband how to get to the hotel so he ended up sleeping on a bench under the air vent (very drafty) in my room. The second day, I was told that I would remain in the hospital that night which ment a second night for my husband on the drafty bench. I ended up rubbing his back at 5 am as he was getting pretty grumpy about the whole thing. He had to fend for himself as far as meals were concerned, and beg for extra towels to take a shower in my room. (They don't provide washcloths either, so be sure to bring one from home) Anyone going to Mexico should appreciate the meaning of "Mexican time." "Un momento" does NOT mean "one minute." It means "later." The people are very polite and will smile all the time and tell you what you want to hear, but then they turn around and do as they please. Since it's hard to communicate with them, it's hard to know if they understood what we wanted, or if they forgot, or what is going on. OK, now that I have vented about the problems, I do need to emphasize that the many of staff were very nice. When I told someone in the pre-operative area that I was nervous, she hugged me and tried to communite reassurance. Dr. Lopez only spoke to me for maybe a minute (not unlike some American surgeons), but the ansetheologist couldn't have been better, and Dr. Lopez's assistants were personable as well. I did recieve written instructions in English and had many opportunites to ask questions of people who understood and spoke English. I would recommend Angeles hospital and Dr. Lopez with reservations. It's really important to be informed before you go and know what to expect becasue until they resolve the language issues, patients would not have a way to know these things. (Where I live, the hospitals are required to provide translators for non-english speaking patients!) Oh yes, the cost was $8,000 + travel. Still a "Blue Light Special" compared to what it would have cost me to have the band placed in one of the centers 50 miles away from my home. When are the insurance companies going to stop discriminating against obesity? But that's a whole different issue.

Hi Everyone! Just want to check in and let you know that I am back. I am exhausted--more from the trip and not eating than the suregey itself I think. I will post later with advice for people going to Tijuana, but for now just know that your encouragement and advice made all the difference for me! As they were wheeling me into surgery I just kept thinking of all of you that went befoe me. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Good morning Trystelle, and congratulations on making it to the other side! Looks like you've come a long way already--Good for you!! Keep us posted on your progress. My adventure begins in a couple of hours. Don't know how much access I'll have during the next week, but I will get back to you all and let you know when ever I can. Thanks again everyone! Your postings have ment so much to me. I looking forward to keeping in touch with all of you.

Hey Felicia, Remember: Nothing in = nothing out so I wouldn't worry about that. Are you taking your medication for pain? The heating pad idea might help too. Since I'm not scheduled till next week, I don't have any first hand advice for you. Just to take it easy and be patient. Baby yourself. Have someone get you some good movies and settle in for the weekend. This too shall pass!