Wheetsin

There is no such thing as a card that will give you permission. It's at the restaurant's discretion. What they give is usually something along the lines of a card with the lap-band on it that states the card holder has an adjustable gastric band and can only eat 2 - 4 ounces at a time. Some surgeons distribute these, some do not. Mine did but I have never used it. Childrens' menus usually consist of crap food that I don't want to eat (chicken strips, grilled cheese, hot dogs...). Plus, the few (maybe 2) times I have ordered from a childrens' menu, I've just told the waitstaff I'm not very hungry, asked if I could order a childrens' item, and had no problems. If it had been a problem, I would have just ordered a regular entree and made 3 meals of it.

Unless you're in open water infection shouldn't be too much concern in the pool (heavy chlorine), but you will want to be careful outside & right around it. I was advised to wait 6 weeks before swimming for exercise, and 4 for leisure.

Oh, use a stick deodorant, and not a "wet" deodorant like roll-ons.

I have a really flabby, deflated pannus. What I do aside from daily washing with antibacterial soap, and making sure it's completely dry after my shower, is simply to swipe deodorant under it. The deodorant keeps it dry and also keeps it from getting stinky (let's be real, it can get stinky just like anywhere else that sweats). I used to get a lot of irritation here, especially before I lost the weight, but now it doesn't bother me.

That I'm aware of, it's not a "real" language. Real in quotes because things like leetspeak (technically that would be L337 5p34k) ...real but not "formal" languages. Like Alexandra, I too would be curious to know what it is, other than hard on my eyes. :biggrin:

I usually order a to-go box when I order my food. I simply say "Go ahead and bring it now because I know I will need it." No one has ever questioned me. If I sense a question, or someone asks if the food was ok, I just say "It's great so I want to take it home, I just wasn't as hungry as I thought." If Ie ver got a direct question, I would just tell them that I have a lap-band and physically cannot eat that much food. In fact, some local bandsters I know locally used to get together for lunches every now and then, and once we were at The Melting Pot and not sure if they'd let us all split a fondue so I explained to the waiter that we had all had weightloss surgery and physically could not eat more than one fondue between all of us, and he didn't charge us the surcharge you're supposed to get for sharing.

I have a really hard time with suits. REALLY hard. My chest is small so most one pieces are out just for the huge bra in them. Not to mention I'm an overall smaller size on top than bottom. I've been watching for a suit, and so far no luck. I've tried Penny's, LB, Target, Sears, Macy's and Nordstrom's and cannot find a single one that looks decent. The cutest so far was at Sears - shortskini with a cross top that was actually cute, and lined board shorts style bottom that fit miserably. Two pieces, but they weren't mix & match. I *think* they had some plain black suits, so if you haven't checked there yet, give it a try. Sears Grand did not have them, just regular Sears. Maybe two years ago I bought a simple, modest black suit from either Penny's or Sears online. The online measurements were true. I prefer to avoid online ordering, but I was desperate. I also bought some shorts to go with them. Not attached, just separate nylon (dry super fast) shorts that I could put on in the Water if I wanted, or wear as a cover-up out of the water. Of course it's all way too big now, but they may still offer the same.

It's fluid. Excluding any extreme medical conditions, if you gain weight in a very quick period, your diet has not changed significantly, and you were not previously gaining weight, it's fluid. Lots of things cause fluid retention. Medications, salt, barometric changes, temperature, and lots of body processes - just to name a few. Before my period, I will gain between 8 & 15 lbs of fluid. Ketosis is another one that can cause huge weght changes overnight. If you're in ketosis, and you break it, you can easily see a change in the area of 10 lbs +.

I'm about 2 years out and haven't had a fill in at least 8 - 9 months, and don't plan on getting one in the forseeable future. I have roughly 50 lbs left to lose, and unless one of those 50 makes me a whole lot looser, I'm where I want to stay. I think you need to look at more than whether or not too much food makes you yak to determine if you need a fill. Are you hungrier than you used to be? Does it take larger quantities to make you feel "not hungry"? Are you snacking between meals? Can you drink with meals? Can you now eat foods you previously couldn't tolerate? Those, and a ton more, are all factors I consider when determining if I need a fill or not. You know this, but we can't eat crap and expect more fill to be the answer. If your band is controlling your portions with good foods, then it's doing its job.

My parents are doing the paper work thing now. They are using my surgeon, who is a Center of Excellence. When they first spoke with Tricare, they were told "Good, it will save you that much hassle" (related to the fact that they had already selected a CoE).

Oooh I wanna come. I would love to live in either New Mexico or Arizona. Did live in Tucson very briefly when I was rather young. It's soo much easier for me to cool off than to warm up. I love the land of the southwest, and the culture. I need to get a divorce. My husband cherishes his winters, and swears he's faint if the weather tops 80. Maybe we can just invest in a second household, and spend Spring & Fall together...

As for your qualifications - qualifications get a lot more malleable once self-pay comes into the picture. Guidelines are BMI 40+, or 35+ with 2+ comorbidities. You may or may not be there, depending on your height. You weigh just a bit more than me, but I'm around 5'10 - 5'11 and might have to pull some strings for insurance approval now. That probably wouldn't be the base with self-pay. Ok, 3 posts to one thread is quite enough. :confused:

Oh, also - think outside the box. If you don't qualify for financing, do you have good credit? If so, pursue a credit card with a LOC large enough to pay whatever part of the charge you can't. If it's high interest, see about xfering to a locked APR until paid in full. Since you haven't asked your parents for money for school, perhaps you could ask them for this? If able, they may be willing to help you out, considering it's their child's health. I hate to suggest it because I only took out student loans for 5 years, I've been paying 3x what's due on them, and I'm barely chipping away at my principal BUT you could seek the max payment per semester and use the extra toward the surgery. Consolidated student loans run around 8% and that's pretty darn competitive. Much better than most of the credit cards you're likely to qualify for. Of course, this is assuming the total amount of your disbursement isn't consumed by tuition. I was stupid when I got student loans, so I was getting disbursements of about 4k per semester, with a bill around 2k, and I was really bad about blowing the leftover money. If I were in your shoes, I'd seriously consider putting it toward a band.

Will depend on your credit history, the rate you qualify for, the terms of the loan, the amount of your loan, etc. A very, very generic average is to pay about $25 per $1000 borrowed for a 5 year loan. So let's say your band cost $10,000, you might see payments around $250/month. But that's as generic as saying you can qualify for a mortgage of 3x your annual income -- soooooo many factors come in to play with that, that you really have to take it as a shot in the dark.

IMO, at optimal restriction you can't really drink with meals. Maybe a tiny sip now and then, but not enough to wash down every bite. In fact, whether or not I'm able to drink with my meals is one of my guidelines for determining whether or not I need a fill. What is your drive to eat more? Are you still feeling hungry? Are you not feeling full, and missing the sensation? Do you just have a hard time saying no to good food? Are you a social eater, wanting to eat as long as you have someone to talk to? Etc. It's simple, but perhaps try eating on small plates. There are very small paper plates, saucer sized, that are perfect bandster size. This gives the illusion of a full plate of food, without the portion size to go along with it. It's also a good starting gauge - and can help satisfy the urge to clean a plate without also meaning you've eaten too much.

My husband has woke me up a few times with his bombs, don't get me wrong, but he can't hold a candle to my dog. Wtf is up with dog farts? They're enough to peel the paint off the walls.

Please do abide by your surgeon's recommendations, they're the best guidelines you can get. It becomes a little more ambiguous when 100 different surgeons have 100 different guidelines, but each bandster should follow their surgeon's guidelines (that's one of the few "rules" out there).

Hmm, I typed mine with caps lock on. Let me try this: THIS IS ALL CAPS, NO CAPS LOCK. <-- really shouldn't make a difference. Hmm, I still get all caps. Maybe it's something tied to a mod login, or maybe it's a preference somewhere, etc. I'll have to poke around and see what I can find.

I can hide just about everything. My legs don't get messy until mid-way up my thigh. My stomach is messy, but nothing some good Tummy Tuck jeans can't fix - a little. I still get that sort of tell-tale weightloss shirt stretch that it seems like most people who lose large amounts of weight get, but that's ok b/c I gravitate toward cross tops, empire waists, and other shirt styles that help hide the tummy. (You really can tell in many WLS patients that they've had WLS... the skinny woman with the hanging pannus kind of thing). What pains me the most is my scrotum-looking, upper-arm bat wings. Before I got fat you had to fight me to get me out of a tank top. Then I avoided them all-together when I got fat. Now I'm at a weight where it would look ok BUT FOR the fucky skin and neurological map of stretchmarks. I got fat really fast, and got more than two or three people's fair share of stretchmarks. I even have them (white and faded) on the tops of my shoulders. I do dearly miss my tank tops. I'll go as high as a cap sleeve now, but even then I will make a strong effort to keep my arms at my sides. Brachioplasty is definitely on my list.

The scientist in me has to bring up the concept that the brain can only handle so much stimuli at once, so when it reaches that point of overload it automatically shuts down the more constant and personal stimulus such as constant or frequent odors. For example, when us ladies put on our perfume, we may smell dandy for a few minutes, but very shortly we're no longer aware of the perfume unless we happen to get a particularly strong whiff of it or make an effort to smell it. Meanwhile, others can be ultra aware of our perfume's scent because it is a new scent for them, and they're only exposed to it temporarily. Ok boring "why" stuff over with... I know some men who probably fart enough to qualify for this theory. Types of farts and their distinguishable characteristics. (Green, the only reason I took French in high school was because only in French could "Faites le bruit du cochon" sound amazingly romantic.)

I'm not sure if it's still the case, but at one point this board's software would automatically convert all-caps to first letter capitalized. I'll type my next sentence all caps so we can see if it still does: THIS SENTENCE IS ALL CAPS. (ETA - looks like that function is no longer in place) Granted, I'm sure there are people who intentionally capitalize each letter, they have a lot more time to dedicate to typing than I do. It does add to the difficulty of reading the message -- messes with the eyes too much. I like to see the actual subject of the message as the title. That helps me know whether or not I need to respond to it (as does the number of replies). I do not like misleading titles, or ambiguous "draw you in titles." Using potential titles here as an example, I would rather see "I need help with meals" as a title than "Can you help me..." and only once I'm in the message do I see they need help with meals. I also find a little annoyance when the title is "OH MY GOD HELP ME PLEASE!!!" and the message is asking whether or not it's ok to drink Crystal Light lemonade. Wall of text, caps, distracting fonts -- don't bother me so much because I largely just ignore them, if it's an option.

I've never heard this, nor does it make sense. Is it part of your surgeon's guidelines? Most guildelines I've read and/or come across recommend limiting alcohol intake, but do not say you're never supposed to drink it. Yeah, alcohol is liquid calories. So? If someone wants a drink, have a drink. A day of extra calories isn't going to kill anyone, and anything done in moderation can add to the special occasion. I've certainly had nights where I go to BnR, and take in well over 95 calories I'm sure, so what? I want a treat and I have it. Treats won't kill us as long as they're "treats" and nothing more. If the issue is that you're concerned you won't be able to control your drinking, then you have a bigger issue than your band to take care of, which may up your chances for complications. If your concern is that you want to drink tequila and tequila specifically makes you sick, then you pretty much have to make a choice between drinking it and taking the risk, drinking something else, or not drinking (alcohol). Few people have been "perfect" (whatever that really looks like) since getting the band. And those that have been are probably newer bandsters. I do know a few who have been ideal, but many of us see our bands as a way to enjoy the same life we did before, just with some forced moderation... no special diets, no absolute restrictions other than those imposed by the band, etc. It's a special occasion, we're talking about a few drinks. Have responsible fun, and be ready to get back on track when the occasion is over.

Bravo Green! Honestly? Everyone should be in therapy. There's not one single person out there that would not benefit from some time with a good therapist. Sadly too many people won't go because being in therapy means you must have a problem, and we can't have any of that going on! And yeah, sorry for italics, I'm unable to change the formatting for some reason.

Not sure if you're addressing me or not...? I'm not a psych nurse but I have a MS in Psychology, and yes - my mother is passive aggressive. As hell. Whether I use it in the colloquial or clinical sense online probably has more to do with being "ok" with its use, and not needing to make the correction because I understand its use in the context. :biggrin:

Yes, and it has a lot to do with one's comfort levels around confrontation, feelings, etc. Most if not all of which stems from all the experiences, genetic dispositions, etc. that comprise your personality. My mother is one of the most passive aggresive people I know. She will absolutely not do things face-to-face, but she wants to talk a big game about it ("If they d this, I'm going to...") and when recounting her version of a story, she has always confronted the person, even though in reality she never does. She prefers everything to be indirect, avoiding all face-to-face, and avoiding as much personal involvement as possible. There's a LOT of passive aggression on the Internet. I know in one rant thread or another I've referred to people who come into a thread, post something inflammatory, and then say "Ok don't bother responding I'm done with this thread" or something similar. That's kind of the virtual equivalent of walking into a room, slapping someone in the face, and then leaving before they have a chance to respond... breaking up with someone on a post-it note... etc. Look at another demonstration of passive agression -- someone tells you they're running late, so instead of trying to hurry, you drag your feet - knowingly or not. That's no different than the "pokes and prods" you see online.