piercedqt78

I am only on my second day and I am already thrilled that I did this. I want to do the banana dance but am still a bit too sore for that. ~Mandy

See ya tomorrow!!!!! ~Mandy

I spoke with Don Mills at 1-800-624-4261 ext 4546 He was very helpful and sent me some material to submit to my insurance. Hope this helps~Mandy

Inamed makes the band. You can find them at www.inamed.com Good luck~Mandy

I was told by Inamed that there is a finance company that they have special consideration with for bandsters. If your band doctor is not familiar with this then call Inamed they can tell you more. ~Mandy

That is wonderful news, I have a 4 year old daughter and I fall in love with her again and again. I remember the day she was born, I just watched her breath and my heart melted. I hope you have a smooth and perfect pregnancy. Do we get to help you and hubby pick out baby names, or do you already have names in mind? Mandy

Ok, I have some nonmedical input here. I am a body piercer and when we do tongue piercing we reccomend liquids and soft foods for 7-10 days. I was told my my hygenist that the white coating is from no solid food scraping the "old" cells away and it is normal. I am on day 9 of liquids and I bought one of those little tongue scraper thingys at walgreens for like $1.49 and I have a nice pink tongue and thanks to sugarfree mints I have great breath. Just a thought, maybe I am wrong but who knows maybe for a change I actually know what I am talking about . As everyone else has said once something a bit more "solid" is going in it will resolve itself, until then consider a scraper thingy. ~Mandy

Today is day nine on liquids for me. I have to say that the first 3 days were really bad, but now I am not even hungry. I have to make myself drink the protein shakes and have at least 1 cup of yogurt each day. ( I am allowed 3 servings) I drink propel and it is just the best stuff around, I just discovered the melon and it is soooo yummy. As for the chewing, I chew sugar free gum, my doc said that was fine, as were sugar free mints. I found that the protein gave me a bad aftertaste so the mints have been helpful. I also think that I will not have the post-op hungar to deal with now and that is really going to be a blessing, I am being banded on the 28th. Only 2 more days whooohooo!!!~Mandy

I would ride all the rides, I love everything about that place. We are going for 4 shorts days in october, we normally go twice a year but hubby started a new job last year and this is our first trip this year. I am already planning our feb. trip, we are going to be there for my birthday!! whoohoo! We spent a total of 15 days last year, 6 one trip and 9 the other, we love that mouse!! I have a date with a mouse very soon, and I am going to be all healed and not yet filled so I can eat pretty much anything I want and not worry that I am going to have food issues while there, this will be my last chance to eat at the buffets and make them worth it! :eek But it is just hubby and me this trip so we are eating at more upscale places I was told that the portions are smaller at the gourmet places so I should still be ok. When we went last october I ate like a pig and lost 5 pounds from all the walking. Next time you are planning a trip let me know I would be glad to help out if I can, there are tons of ways to save money there. I have been like 20 times and I know the place inside and out. ~Mandy

bumping for July bandsters

Maybe your band didn't like the bacon in the soup?? I now that my list says that bacon can be really hard to handle. ~Mandy

I would love to have a full month in Disney ( I know I know I am a total 4 year old) But I want it to ba a month of me and my hubby with a sitter for our little one. I would spend a few days at the spa in the Grand Floridian (5 star all the way) and some time sipping iced coffee on a balcony looking over the savana watching the giraffes eat and the zebras play. I would send my little one and the sitter to the parks and me and hubby could lounge around all day and enjoy the sights and sounds that are Disney to us. It is really my favorite place on the planet to be and my family loves it soooo much it makes us all happy. Also I think I am so in love with the place because I have never been too big to ride anything there and I have never seen anyone else too big to ride, everything there is pooh-sized people friendly. ~Mandy (who is currently pooh-sized but soon to look like cinderella)

One of my dearest friends had the GBP and we were in Sam's club today and I bought fruit snacks for my 4 year old DD and I said you know I love these and I can't wait to have a few when I am all healed from surgery. His response was, as he looked at all the candy, I wish I could have them ever again. You see the GBP people have what they call dumping syndrome and they usually don't tolerate sugar very well, and too many sugar free candies have a laxitive effect, so a candy bar or even marshmellows are out of the question for him EVER again. That is a big reason I choose the band, I have a lot of birthdays and hopefully someday a wedding for my little one and I want to be able to have cake and ice cream with her. I know that sounds dumb, but that was my first thought when the insurance said they would cover GBP and not the band, I fought my big butt off and made them pay for my band, I am being banded in just 2 days. ~Mandy

I get mine at trader joe's and it is all in the same section, but not the coolers. That is another benefit of rice and soy products most of them do not need to be kept in the fridge until they are opened. I buy 6 or 8 gallons at a time as we all drink it and it is my 4 year olds milk substitute. For cooking I buy the "plain" the vanilla is too sweet to cook with and it tends to burn when baking with it, not sure why, maybe there is something in the flavoring that makes it not soo good for cooking. I get the plain and make mashed potatos and mac n' cheese and my family can't tell the diff, hope this all helps. check out www.imaginefoods.com for some more info on rice products. ~Mandy

Vines, you should try rice milk it is yummy and low fat, we buy it with protien and calcium added. My DD is lactose sensitive. We stopped using soy because of the link to soy and brest cancer, just to be safe we switched to rice products. I love the rice stuff it cooks really well and it taste like melted ice cream, it also comes plain I use that for making regular foods like rice casseroles and such, the vanilla is just too sweet to use in "real food" but the vanilla makes the best sugar free pudding in the world. ~Mandy

My paperwork says if you have not quit before the day of surgery you will not be banded. This was never mentioned at any of my appointments or at the information seminar, but then again I am not a smoker so maybe they thought that it was not nessary to tell me. Who knows, but if I were a smoker this would have been major as I got the paperwork just 4 days before I had to start a liquid diet and just 2 weeks before surgery. I don't think a liquid diet and quitting smoking would be possible at all, I quit several years ago and I am glad I did it then and not having to do it now. Good luck with your surgery, and I hope the smoking thing resloves it self~Mandy

My original PCP was part of a group, and one of the members of that group was totally against WLS of any kind. I remember about 2 years ago I asked her for a referral for a weight loss surgen (hmo at the time) and she falt out refused to even hear my reasons for wanting surgery. The group has split and the doctor that I stayed with was all for the surgery however she is terrible at charting and almost cost me insurance coverage of the band. There were no documented weightloss efforts on my part, even though there was a document of my cholestrol comming down 60 points without meds (due to diet). She did sit down and write a letter explaining that it was a charting error and she amended the chart to support her claims, but the insurance company was stll sceptical. I was finally approved for surgery and I made an appointment for some general labs and a last check-up before surgery when she said that I would have to provide her with a list of meds that I could not take and she would look them over and make a few notes in my chart. (previous charting expierence was bad remember??) Then she said that if she prescribed something that I should not have just let her know and she would call in something else, I guess I was hoping that she would put some effort into researching this proceedure and the after effects and limitations, but that was not the case. I called a lady that runs a RNY support group and ask if there was a WLS friendly PCP in our area and she gave me the name of my new doctor.(80% of his patients have had some form of WLS) He wants to see me 2 weeks post-op and then every 3 months for the first year to check my progress and do some bloodwork. When I was finished with my first visit he patted me on the back and said, it is great that you love yourself enough to do this, congratulations on a new life. I felt 100% better leaving that visit like I had an advocate to help me with all of this. It is nice to see that there are doctors out there that do care. ~Mandy

If you click on a persons screenname (top left corner of the post) it will give you a drop down menu, one of the options is read all post by that member. As for pictures, there is a page in the lounge and there is a page in the general support board, it is a "sticky" at the top of the page, there are tons of pics before and after. ~Mandy

I have to be on a 10 day liquid diet and I am only on day 2. I did really great yesterday but today my stomach is making all kinds of niose and I am starving. I am not sure that 8 more days is going to be doable. I am really tired and feel really run down and I have 8 more days of this to go. For those of you that had to fast or do strict liquids what did you do to make it through? ~Mandy

jqpublic, thanks for the encouraging words, it really means a lot. I am sooo glad to be here and have my LBT family for support. My husband has been wonderful, but you guys know what I am going through. Today is day 5 and I am doping much better. While my family had dinner I took a bath with some really strong scented bath salts, it covered the smell of the food really well. For the next few days I have a really full schedual and I think that if I stay busy I will be fine. I only have 5 more days to go (not counting today). My mom came to the rescue and found sugarfree popsicles for me and they have been a lifesaver. I also discovered that if you freeze yogurt and then stick it in the blender it kinda taste like ice cream (yum!) My family says they are going to take stock in gatorade because I am living on propel, everytime they see me I have one in hand. I love the melon!!! I found it at Meijers (it said "new flavor"). Again thanks to everyone for the encouragement. ~Mandy

The first few days are the hardest. Today was day 4 and it was a bit easier today than the last few days have been. I am allowed lowfat yogurt and cottage cheese, I hate yogurt and I am living on it right now. Maybe I will even check out cottage cheese. Anything is better than broth and sugar free drinks. ~Mandy

I am maintaining the list and I believe you are on it already. It is in the support forum.~Mandy

I use the generic (walmart brand) of clearasil (sp?) the foaming cleanser. It is like $3 a tube and last about 3 weeks. I love it, I have had acne problems in the past, but not with this stuff. The only time I break out is when I am due for a depo shot. Before I started this stuff I would be totally broken out for a week before my shot and a week after, now I have one or maybe 2 small places for a day or so and that is it. I also never wear make-up and the only moisturizer I use is in my sunscreen. My mom is in her 50's and looks 30, so maybe it is genetic as she does the same routine as me. ~Mandy

try here: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=4642 ~Mandy

I refer to this place as my band family's house. I love it here, it is the first thing I do when I get online, even before email. I have laughed and cried and really gotten great tips and support here. It was my "band family" that told me to fight with the insurance company, so I did and I won. It is my "Band family" that tells me I can make it through 10 days of liquids and I will, (I think). It will be my "band family" that tells me to sip, sip, sip, and walk, walk, walk, when I am wondering what the hell I have done to my self in a few short days. I am glad to be here, and I share this place with anyone thinking of the band. I too wish to say thanks to everyone here for everything you do to help me be a healthier, happier and thinner me. ~Mandy