pati-o

I told my mom I was going- two days before I was leaving to go from Michigan to San Diego and then on to Tijuana. I lied to my mom- I told her I was having my surgery in San Diego because it was cheapest there. I still feel bad that I didn't tell the truth- my mom would be SO upset if she knew I went to Mexico.

Hi Chris, I'm in the Hastings/Kazoo area. I had Dr. Kuri do my surgery and did the same thing you did. I have had great luck with Dr. Pleatman, he's located in Bloomfield hills. I emailed him and he got back to me really fast. I believe he does his own emails and not someone else in his office. If for some reason he wont take you on as a patient, you could try Dr. Alan Saben/Saber (not sure which spelling it it) he's in Kalamazoo and he may take you on as a patient. I hope you get things taken care of ASAP.

I am a part-time Outpatient Surgery R.N. and full-time mom of 4 kids ages 3,7,9, and 11. I've been a nurse for `14 yrs, and work 2 to 3 days a week from 6am to 2pm. (no nights, weekends or holidays) I love, love, love both of my jobs!

Aspiration Pneumonia is Nasty stuff! It happens when you inhale something that came from your stomach. The stomach acid is horrible on lung tissue, and it's one of the most nasty forms of pneumonia you can develop. This is the reason that people are told not to eat or drink before surgery, because eating gets the stomach acid production started and when a patient is lying flat on the operating table and is not awake they can burp/vomit up whatever is in their stomachs and inhale it into their lungs. (ALL patients put under general anesthesia are put to sleep and have breathing tubes inserted into their tracheas which does not guarantee that a person still couldn't aspirate, it just keeps their airway open and delivers breaths and oxygen). It can also happen with eating. Older people that have difficulty swallowing because of esophageal strictures or strokes are more likely to aspirate then a young healthy person. I don't know what role a band could play in aspirating. Id imagine that if someone had bad reflux or was too tight, they could aspirate during their sleep. I'm no expert- even though I have worked in surgery for 3 years and a critical care unit for 9 yrs before that, so I've seen LOTS of aspiration pneumonia- and it sure is nasty icky stuff!

have you been drinking large amounts of caffiene? Caffiene is known to increase the amount of fiber tissue in fibrocystic breast disease (don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds). That combined with hormonal stuff can make for some very sore girls!

9.75 here also

I truly,truly miss biscuits- the doughy ones that get kind of gummy when you chew them. Especially the ones that have butter and honey on them! I don't miss them enough to trade them for the 27lbs I've lost though!

I like Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce mixed with ketsup.

PB means productive burp. (Sometimes though it means painful Barf in my case:) )

Hi Esmerelda, I try to do an exercise video 3-4 days a week. My back hurts less, and my leg muscles are getting harder and stronger. Still though, I haven't lost zip in either lbs. or inches. I'm going for my third fill on 5/9 and it won't be soon enough!

since I've had 3 c-sections, my tummy tuck will be covered by my insurance company as a "scar revision" due to adhesions. I will only have to pay 250.00. now I just need to hurry up and lose this weight!

I've had two fills, (3/7/05 1.0cc and 3/23/05 0.5cc) for a total of 1.5cc. I haven't lost a speck since the second fill. Nor have I lost a single inch on my body. I have TERRIBLE problems with food sticking so I tend to avoid dry meat or meat in general. I can ALWAYS eat more then 1/2 cup capacity. Plus I'm always starving after about 3 hrs. and I "pick" at home on my days off. What are your opinions? do I need another fill. HELP!!

What if you approached it along this line. "Mr. (or Mrs.)___________. I wanted to talk to you about ___________(little boy). I was just a little bit worried because he wont eat what we are serving at school. I know some of the foods we serve aren't liked by all of the children, but for the most part they go over very well, are very healthy and we only use fresh ingredients so we know the food is of the best quality. Is there something we could do to help him try the foods we serve so that you don't have to go to the trouble of taking him out after school. I'm sure that must be expensive, and we all know that some of the fast food restaurants don't offer the best quality foods." If there was some way to get the father to think that it was his idea... I don't know what I'd do about the whole family being obese though.

In the past whenever I lost even the smallest amount of weight, whether it was 5 or 10 lbs. I always had the mentality that I could reward myself because I lost weight and could have treats, or eat whatever I wanted. I know it sounds stupid, but instead of rewarding myself with "things" I rewarded myself with food. And now that I'm banded, it's no different..... I am still rewarding myself. I'll get on the scale and if I've lost a lb. or 2 lbs. I find myself "picking" at food, or eating things I shouldn't. (like the chips, crackers and cookies that NEVER get stuck). I know I could be MUCH farther ahead in my weight loss if I was actually sticking to a true bandster diet. I didn't pay $10,000.00 for nothing. What does everyone else do? I am seriously considering getting some counseling for this. I know that what I see as a reward is truly a punishment. I'm sabotaging my own success! Help! I need advice!

I know what you mean Lisa. I've gotten into the habit of having a cup of the low carb cappichino (sp?) every night before I go to bed. That stuff has 70 calories in 2 tablespoons! Sheesh! hopeful, With my band the crackers and other snacky foods like that go down with absolutely NO problem whatsoever..... but the meat.. the stuff I should be eating first, sticks in my throat so bad that I've gotten to the point that I'm afraid to even try anything.

I don't know how close you are to Edmund (?Edmond?) Ok, but I do know there is a Dr. Floyd that does fills for Mexican banded patients. Hope this helps a bit.

I am an O.P. surgery RN. I had my surgery on thursday and returned to work on the following tuesday. I do alot of pushing and pulling of carts, leaning over cart rails, and squatting to do IV starts.I was sore, and slow for a few days, then back to normal. I played the sympathy thing up for as long as I could at home though!!

Nykee, I'm just wondering, is there any chance you could have adhesions???

OMG, this is too funny! And I thought that only people from Michigan were gross! You remind me of a time when a friend told me about a time when she and her DH were out VERY late one night. They were on their way home at about 6 am and nature called a few miles short of their home. My friend picked out a nice brick mailbox and told her DH to "Pull over NOW!" which he did, and while she proceeded to to the squat and push position behind this giant brick mailbox, the owner of this grand structure decided it was time to come and get his sunday paper. Well...... she wasn't quite finished when he crossed the road and got to the mailbox, and when he got there OF COURSE he spotted her........ all she could do was say "good morning, I hope you enjoy reading your paper." I would rather poop my pants in the car then to have that happen. Had to share the poop story, now I feel like you're family. Are you sure you all weren't born in Michigan????

My scars are still very pink. I have 4 small lines about 1 inch long, and one that is about 2 inches. I had my gall bladder taken out 9yrs ago and have 5 other little scars from that, they don't show much. (Plus having had 3 c-sections and ga-zillions of stretch marks from 10 lb. babies). The old scars look like someone drew on me with a white pencil- that's how thin the scar lines are. I know one thing, this body is NEVER going to be able to wear a bikini. Even with a TT. But those little scars sure make me darn proud that I did this, I feel SOOOO much better then I've felt in a long time!!

I think I'd change the amount of patients he does in a week. I was happy with the way my surgery turned out, but I did feel like a number when I was there, and I really didn't feel like there was anything personal feeling about the whole thing. I could have been a car being fixed, not a person. Still though, my Dr. is VERY skilled and that I wouldn't change a bit. Also, I would have liked for him to believe in giving more pain meds. That first night in the hospital was very painful, and those mexican drugs didn't do diddly:( Plus I was soooo nauseated and vomited for half of the night.

I've had two fills. My fill Dr. uses an ultrasound machine to locate my port, then he takes a surgical marker and draws a circle around where my port is and then does the poke in the middle while he holds my port between his index finger and his thumb. As a nurse who's accessed many, many chemo/med ports, (which are the SAME ports basically), I can't imagine how anyone who is familiar with ports could miss them. Of course like my fill Dr. told me- everyone has different amounts of adipose (fat) tissue over their ports, so every ones port is at a different depth. I feel completely comfortable with the way he does my fills. I am VERY aware of the signs and symptoms of a slip, and try pay close attention to my body. I want this thing to last

I also wear scrubs. I've lost 23lbs and have gone from an XXL to an XL in the top and bottom. I bu all elastic waist, and plain v-neck tops because the tops can be taken in easily with one seam in the back. The pants with the elastic should fit for a long time because they stretch. PLUS they don't rub on my port. My jeans have gone from a 22tall to an 18tall. Hope this gives you a little idea/help

WTG Michelle! Wow, I can only hope to be hald as successful as you've been. Congrats to you:)

My kids are 3.7.9. and 10. I rarely leave them, so when I flew to Ca. with my sister I told them I was going on a vacation so they wouldn't worry. When I got back I told them that I had gone away to have a "rubber Band" put around my stomach so that when I ate food it was tight and made me want to stop eating as much. I told them I wanted to lose weight so that I could teach them good eating habits, and that I wanted to be able to run and play with them. Here's one thing I WANTED to say to my 9 year old son who has had a couple of other boys tease him and say things like "your mom is FAT!". I wanted to tell my son that I wanted to lose weight so that he wouldn't be embarrassed to have a fat mom, like I was....... I'm ashamed to admit that I felt that way as a young child, but I did. I don't want my kids to be embarrassed to have their mom show up at school or sporting events.