Wheetsin

The best restaurant I have found for bandsters is The Melting Pot (or other fondue places). Why is fondue perfect? The portions are smaller in quantity and in size. You're cooking your meat in liquid so it's virtually always moist and tender. You're having to cook your food, so you're forced to eat slowly. (DH and I went to Melting Pot for our anniversary and it was a 4 hr dinner). They will usually have themed selections including a seafood choice. Plus often times fondue restaurants have nice little cozy nooks and crannies to seat you in. They also often offer add-ons if your DH is into that kind of thing (e.g. for our anniversary they had taken care of placing roses on the table, preparing a gift bag, and bringing a bottle of wine, plus we had a nice private table and a velvet drape we could use to close off our area from the hall.

1. Last sunday I was stopped at a red light and someone rear ended me going about 60 mph. My car wasn't totalled, but the repairs are over $15k and will take at least another week just to get the parts in, let alone begin repairs. So we're down to my husband's truck and a tiny rental car. I'm hurting, and my doc is throwing out phrases like "long term physical therapy." 2. Oh, while I'm at post-ER follow-up with my regular doc, she's feeling my joints and tells me she thinks I have minimal symptoms but early signs of osteoarthritis. :cake: TG for my band, and a renewed determination from her comment to get the last of the lbs off. 3. This past Sunday - one week after the rear ending, I'm driving my husband's truck (out of town) because it beats the tiny loaner, get caught in a freak winter snow/hail/rain/sleet all at the same time storm, and have a low speed collision with a guard rail -- hitting "just right" to make his truck undriveable. 4. So *both* our cars are out of comission, one out of town, the other out for at least another week. We have a tiny loaner, and are reticent to take out a second. And today I remember that we keep our mailbox keys in our cars. I did think to grab mine when I went to sign the repair uthorizations, put them in my purse, which flipped & emptied when I crashed in my husband's truck. So as far as we know, both keys are in his truck out of town but we won't be able to get there until Friday at the earliest, so we don't even know for sure. 5. Sunday was our tax appointment and due to the freak storm that got me, it took about 10 hours to get his truck towed so we were no call/no show for our appointment. (My father picked me up after the accident, we were about 4 miles out of town, and in the 4 miles back to town we saw 18 individual or multi-car wrecks that weren't there when he drove the first time to get me). This included the first of their three trucks going off the road, and the second catching on fire en route to bring the first truck in. 6. Oh yeah - the day after I wrecked the truck, was my husband's first day at a new job. We needed his focus to be the job, so I took on the full weight of managing everything for both accidents. Plus he's 6'5, 260, and trying to drive the tiny rental car to & fro his new job -- perfect, he's being a grouchy whiner... "wah, my kneecaps slam into the console when I break" -- "wah, I can't sit in it without reclining the seat all the way back." 7. Then I remember - my textbooks for school (last class in my graduate program and I'm trying to maintain a 4.0 so getting things done on time, and done very well, is extra important) are in his truck too, out of town -- crap, I have an assignment due that night. Fortunately my professor, whom I've had before and have a good rapport with, was beyond reasonable and offered to give me a pass on the assignment without any point deductions - I didn't even have to make it up. 8. Then I remember - crap, I had just picked up RX refills from crash #1 (rear-ending), and they're in the truck too. Of course, when the truck was towed I remembered to get things like the garage door opener, my cell phone, some curtains I had just bought, etc. but forget the things like keys, books, and medicine. 9. My in-laws are arriving around the 18th of this month and spending 2 weeks with us. I'd been trying to do mad house cleaning and had really hoped to get painters in here before they arrive. Yeah, you got it - painters had been scheduled the week after my rear-ending, but I was not in any condition to deal with them so we cancelled. I know, who cares, could be worse, but you don't know my in-laws. :mad: I feel like life is complete & utter chaos right now. I grabbed stuff willy nilly out of both cars, and have been forgetting where I put it. Not sleeping well. Hurting. Stressed about school & in-laws. Their visit includes a mini-trip elsewhere, so also stressed about that. The one good thing is that my employer has been awesome and completely removed any work-related stress. Here's to hoping something will go right soon.

Back when I was in research mode, one of the things I saw consistently was very pronounced shoulder area features in all WLS patients. All that I saw pics of, anyway. This seems to be the first area we lose, but also where a huge difference is made. At this weight on my way up, my collar bones didn't protrude as much as they do now. I even have that little identation in my neck, and I was like 180 the last time I had that. Gotta <heart> collarbones! They make us look skinny from the neck up!!

I needed to lose about 200 lbs. So far I have lost about 160 and hope to lose about 50 more. Down from a size 32 or larger, to 18 on average. 2 years out and still have my band, no issues that I know of. Is that good news? :smile:

Moving this to the fill forum and merging the duplicate posts.

WHen I was a kid we just used to ask each other something like, "Who do you want to marry when you grow up?" That distracted our thoughts, and usually ended the hiccup. Which makes no sense, but works. It's the same principle with drinking from a glass backwards. You're concentrating on doing it, and not spilling (aka distracted). BTW, moved this to the lounge for you since it's not a surgery topic. :smile:

You just described like 95% of the American population.

There are a few ways to do fills (prep for it, to be specific), and countless levels of experience in between, all of which will impact the actual fill experience you will have. I have had two painful fills. One was when they used lidocaine, and that hurt like a B. Much worse than a lidocaine shot should hurt. And I have a high pain tolerance. After that I said "no lidocaine" and fills became painless. A tiny, tiny prick, much like getting blood drawn, and then just some pressure. Sometimes a "popping" sensation (maybe like a joint popping) as the port membrane is punctured or as the needle is removed from it. And that's it, really. My second painful fill was actually an unfill done by someone who had not done one before, so 'nuff said about that. The "average" experience I have is: Surgeon or fill person palpitating area to find port. "Target" marked on the skin. Needle poked in. Needle pulled out. Area cleaned & band-aid applied. I have never felt anything after a fill (minus the emergency situation, but that's irrelevant) - no immediate tightening sensation, no nausea, etc. Restriction changes I can feel, but nothing around the actual fill. BTW, I too have (or had, I'm rather desysetized by now) a strong needle phobia. In fact, fear of an IV (never had one before my band surgery) was one of the factors that caused me to wait 5 years to get this surgery done. During a fill, there's no reason for you to even see the needle. You're (usually) laying flat back, so you're looking at the ceiling.

I did not have troubles. Describe the pain you are feeling.

Why am I thinking that Malley was on North Oak?? Who's on N Oak?

I'm glad the hot liquids are working for you. I would suggest that you keep at those for a day, maybe even two, and then slowly progress back to foods. So once you're confident the hot liquids are no problem, moev up to something a little thicker like a "cream of..." Soup. If that goes well move on to some mushies, etc. You may have just had a serious irritation that caused swelling. As the swelling lessens, you will be able to add more things to your diet. About a year ago I was overfilled. I got stuck on a chewable Vitamin and over the course of about 6 hours swelled to the point that I couldn't even get my own saliva down, so I was having to yak like every 4 - 5 minutes. I got it taken care of, but I took about 6 days to work my way back up to regular foods. Better safe than sorry!

I own a business so technically my husband works for me, even though we're partners. This is outside of our regular jobs. We don't have any challenges. Our individual skills draw clear lines around who owns what, and we just get the job done. No need to provide my link as I wouldn't see LBT as a potential market (hence no one would need the link).

Ask your surgeon NOT to provide the procedure name, just "laparoscopic surgery" or something. Does your company have some type of short term disability (STD) benefit? Most large companies here do. If you're on STD you would not need to worry about a note. And last - not many people need more than 7 days off. I'd guess the average is 5. Are you planning on needing more? If not, the note may be a moot point.

Dr. Malley is the onyl surgeon I've heard of who is actually in KCMO. I don't know his contact info but if you google him I'm sure you'll find him. He's the one with all the commercials on TV. I used Dr. Hoehn in Shawnee Mission. kcbariatric.com. There's a place in KS with "grass" in the name, I can't remember it exactly. You might want to browse through the MO & KS forums, and see what surgeons people are mentioning. That will give you some good starting points.

Those sound like bypass procedure rules. Many surgeons seem to use them interchangeably. Unfortunately, because the way the two procedures eat, and what they tolerate, and even how the evolve are total different directions from each other. Following a surgeon's diet is always best, but perhaps you'd be within your rights to question some of these rules.

Hi Yvonne 72, I moved your thread to the Nevada area. Hopefully that will let more people in those areas see your question.

I didn't require a referral so I didn't talk to my physician. The only involvement she had was to do the physical required by my surgeon. Do you require a referral for approval? I went to the seminar in Nov, had surgery in March. Much of that time was me dragging my heels about my decision.

Moved to the lounge per not being surgery discussion but rather solicitation of an event.

At the point that they denied the claim you should have received an EoB and it should have a clearly stated reason why it was not covered. For example, I used an in-network physician a few weeks ago, but when I received my EoB it stated: Claim denied because: in-network physician not used. I got mine taken care of, but the point is -- have you received your statement, and what was the reason? If you have not received it, call and ask them why it was denied. I personally would start here vs. escalating. I also had a hard time getting my insurance co to cover the anesthesia portion of my surgery. Stupid, huh? Come to find out there was a conflict in the way that billing is submitted between anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists. I nagged while they fought it out between them, and they eventually paid. Insurance companies really aren't looking to rip people off, so if it were me I would give them a good faith opportunity to explain the situation. Once you know WHY it was denied, you can move forward accordingly. Also, review your letter of approval. Most have a clause to the effect of, "...this does not guarantee payment/approval."

Yeah, that's why I asked those two questions in particular. I had my GB out in August. It took a while to diagnose because I had atypical symptoms - it took an ultrasound to be sure. If you can associate it to meals, especially high fat meals, and especially later in the evening, say it's waking you up at night -- GB is definitely in the line-up. On the breathing I asked because of pleurisy. You pretty much (as I understood it) nailed the location, but you'd probably feel it more with deep breaths -- have to breathe shallow to avoid pain -- even if it didn't last long. (I've had pleurisy with an upper resp infection, it hurts). Then again, I don't get paid near enough to diagnose people, so it's worth exactly what you paid for it. :biggrin:

Hahaham, we're all like 50 lbs from goal and wanting PS. I'm waiting to see what happens kid-wise, so it's not anytime in my immediate future, but I do plan to go for it one day. In the meantime, I could stand to have the scrotum taken off the undersides of my arms.

See... I'm picky about the whole weight/fat thing. I think too many people see them as one in the same, and all that does is cause confusion, extra challenge, and too often hurt emotions/self concept. I'd say in answer to the quote above that the loss of fat is the number one goal, not loss of weight. Loss of weight is best measured by a scale - agreed. Loss of fat is best measured by some device that measures body fat. You could lose weight by dehydrating yourself, hitting ketosis and having a Fluid dump -- heck, even a colon cleanse, a haircut, or an amputation. :biggrin: Unless you have some extreme intervention (lipo for example), you're only going to lose fat by using it up. (I'm not suggesting you'd dehydrate yourself to lose weight, etc. -- just using them as illustrations of the weight/fat difference).

Yeah I like my tea and I like it slightly sweet. Not sweet tea, but not plain either. I used to use Equal. It was my preferred sweetner because (IMO) it dissolved the best. I always thought Splenda was too sweet. But honestly, I've switched back to raw sugar. About a year ago. I drink tea maybe 3x a week, so we're talking about 3 tsp per week, not much. I did some thinking and research, and for me, in the long run, I'd rather take on the carbs/calories of natural sweetner than the chemicals. I've been trying pretty hard to do -- not quite an organic diet, but more of a "back to basics" campaign -- cutting out as much processing and manipulation of food as I reasonably can. A teaspoon of raw sugar has 5g carbs, 20 calories. I can deal with that. ETA - I've tried Stevia, and it too is too sweet for me, and I didn't care for the aftertaste. Too "fake" for me. I don't really like sweet things, and tea is the only thing I can think of that I add sugar to, but I do like a hint of sweetness.

I have heard of it happening, but don't personally know anyone it happens to. Perhaps call your surgeon prior to your appointment, he may want to move it up a bit.

Well yeah, thinks like medications or supplements that are known to discolor urine obviously fall outside of the "if you're urine isn't clear/light" radar. (Because something can be dark yellow and still be clear). My lips & skin are my biggest tell-tales. Ugh, and they hurt too.