Wheetsin

I (heart) the F bomb.

No worries, topics come and go. I just get lazy and post links rather than retyping my opinions.

Do you see it here?

Many people fly out of state or country for their band surgeries, and have to fly back home afterwards. I don't remember seeing many special needs mentioned, just basics like wearing loose, comfortable clothing.

For good deals try stores like TJ Maxx, Gordman's, and Marshall's. This probably sounds snotty, I don't mean it that way, but you couldn't pay me to wear clothes from a used clothing store. It just creeps me out, truly. But I have found many items at cheap prices at those places. I don't think there's a universally flattering look for "deflated" but there are ways to flatter specific body shapes. Even deflated bodies have shapes. What's yours? I'm about 230 and in 14/16 or 18/20 tops, and mostly 20 bottoms. This is because of my hips. I can go and pick up a 2x anywhere and it's loose on my upper body and loose on my legs, and pretty well fits my hips and thighs. I'm a hair under 5'11 so sometimes I will go with a 2X even if it's loose, because that will give me the extra length in the legs. Talls usually have a bit more room everywhere, so if you're on the cusp of a size, you may want to go tall and just wear heels to compensate for the extra pant length. There are waaaaay too many clothing brands to give a breakout of how they're sized. In general I go by LB's sizing when I refer to the sizes I wear. They seem to run true to most places. I buy quite a few thigns at Target now, too, and they seem to run small, depending on the item. I have several of their misses 2x, but also have some women's 26/28 that is snug and 26/28s hang on me like tents everywhere else.

Depends, TOTALLY, on the individual day and time of day. Yesterday I ate one over-easy egg for Breakfast, and a fee hours later a few drinks of a light white mocha from Starbucks, but it didn't go down well so I gave up long before even 1/4 was gone. lunch was 2 bites of chicken Jerky (I didnt' like the flavor). dinner was about 3 bites of grilled chicken breast topped with gorgonzola, about 1/4 cup sweet potato, and a few pieces of asparagus. Thursday I ate nothing until dinner, where the people I was visiting wanted Red Lobster *barf*. At dinner I ordered a cup of clam chowder (only drank the juice from it) and the stuffed mushrooms (6 came, I gave 3 away and ate the stuffing from the remaining 3). I ate a biscuit, and ate 3 of someone's shrimp bites (like popcorn shrimp). Wednesday I ate the broth from a cup of tomato bisque (that's it all day). Tuesday I ate 1/2 slice of a small Thai chicken pizza (lunch), a hardboiled egg and 1 tilapia fillet (dinner). Monday I had half of a small lentil Soup (lunch), about 8 grapes (snack), 2 bites of chicken (dinner), 8oz of V8 fusion (desert). Restriction for me is never constant. So there is no set amount/measure that I can refer you to.

My view on the border issue (1 2 3 4 5 6) Jack Illegal aliens (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... Last Page) mrspruett It's quicker than re-posting.

Answers below in blue. How do you deal with not being able to eat things that perhaps you really enjoyed before? I have been told no carbonated beverages period. That would mean never tasting beer again ever?? No rice, no bread, no Pasta??? There is nothing I ate before that I cannot eat now. I do not drink carbonated beverages, but I didn't drink many pre-op either. Just the occasional caffeine free Diet Coke and Fresca, really, so giving those up did not bother me at all. I eat rice, bread, pasta. I have always had beverages with meals...sometimes that is a glass of wine, but often it is 3-4 glasses of Water. How hard is it really to not drink 30 minutes before a meal, during a meal and 30 minutes after a meal?? My surgeon advises 30 minutes before and two hours after. I drink before meals. The water goes through and it is not impacting my sensation of fullness. If I need a drink during the meal I take it, but only small sips. I'm generally clear to drink about 20 minutes after eating. unless it's a slow day - then it can be upwards of 4 hours or so. I can "feel" when I'm ok to drink. A few encounters with drinking waaaay too soon taught me that. And finally, on the emotional side of things, I am wrestling with the mind game that everyone will think I am such a "weak" person (myself included) that I resorted to surgery. Am I a bad person for not having the discipline to lose the weight and keep it off rather than losing 20-30 lbs and gaining back 30-40 as I have been doing more more years than I can count. First of all, let's say someone out there thinks you're weak for it. And you somehow know they think this. So what? What does that person's opinion matter? Does it change your life? Does it change any outcome of the band? Everyone will have their own opinion. Sometimes those opinions will change. In either case, there's little you can do about it other than be able to see beyond what others think. NEVER give anyone else that amount of power over you.

I was banded by Dr. Hoehn at SMMC a few years ago. If you don't want honest opinions, don't read on. I know nothing about Hitchcock so I can't give opinions of him, but if they share the same office staff, some of this might be applicable. I think Dr. Hoehn is fantastic. I have referred at least 15 people to him, and at least 6 of those 15 have had surgery with him or are working on the paperwork/insurance process. Including my own parents, so that should say something for how highly I think of his ability. I would have equally high/glowing feedback for Dr. Sabapathy, and for - can't remember her name, but the lady who does the information session with you where she details the surgery, shows you a band, etc. (at least that used to be a part of it). She has been an absolute jewel and is definitely one of the high points. I think some of his office staff are fantastic. But I think the rest are miserable. At least 3 of the people I've referred almost went with other surgeons because of the "attitude and hatefulness" (their words) they experienced with some of the staff during the information seminar. Perhaps the support groups have changed - I would hope this is the case since I last went, but the only thing I found them good for was the handful of people I met and could get to know outside of the formalized support group setting. Billie was excellent, but I've been told she's no longer there even though she is still listed as part of their staff on their website, so I don't know. There was another lady who ran one of them that I attended and she answered questions with inaccurate/wrong information (not what you'd expect from someone there representing a lap-band group), and several people found her treatment (considering "support group" environment) to be condescending and downright inappropriate. When I attended, parts of the support group had grown "cliquey" and the ladies I normally went with started to be singled out by the office staff and even regular support group participants - literally pointed at, whispered about, etc. in the middle of "support group" meetings. This continued into the office, unfortunately, where people would be called back thinking it was their turn, only to be taken aside and chastized for things they had said at support group, posted online (at the time they were monitoring posts), etc. This was kind of the breaking point for me. I would have expected a support group to be a sort of safe house, but I know at least 3 people (not sure how many of them still post here, but maybe they'll show up) who received inappropriate treatment in the medical office as a result of something they said in support group or online. That line, IMO, should never be crossed. So overall I'd have to say it's a love/hate type thing. I've met/worked with two of the surgeons there, and thought they were fantastic. I love how comprehensive the program is. I love Dr. Sabapathy's approach to the evals. The meeting with the nutritionist was...OK. Nice enough lady, but (at the time at least) not informed/aware of the difference between RNY and band -- e.g. she told me "your stomach will be reduced to the size of an egg" and "at least 6 months before you can eat red meat, your new smaller stomach has to adjust and build up to a lot of foods." When I started Dr. Hoehn did the fills, and then that transitioned to a PA. The PA did not do well with mine, but to be fair he may have come without experience, and I did catch him when he was new. If that's the case, one would expect it to be a much easier (and less painful!) experience by now. Some of the nurses were great to work with, and some are barely tolerable to the point that they make finding another facility to do your care a reasonable idea. My surgery was at SMMC and I thought it was fantastic. Lots of little details that other hospitals I've been to overlook.

perhaps the single-most predictable (and universal) weightloss pattern is a stall-out between weeks 2 - 3, sometimes as late as week 5. I've seen it time and time again (not just my personal experiences, but as a witness to medical study data, as an observer in weightloss therapy sessions, case studies, etc.) ESPECIALLY if you've had a loss of more than 1 - 2 lbs during the preceding weeks, but absolutely not required. Looking at your dates, you're smack dab in this timeline. It doesn't matter what "diet" someone is on, this happens enough to be almost guaranteeable. The short and non-scientific explanation is that there's a point where your body realizes it's losing fat and freaks out, kicks out a bunch of chemicals, lots of things are rearranged and redistributed, released, reserved, and a temporary reduction or cessation of weightloss results, or weight gain. NOT fat gain. Weight gain. Too many people are oblivious to the difference between WEIGHT and FAT. In non-banded folks, this body process often leads to a physiological urge to binge -- and is probably the #1 or #2 killer of sincere diet efforts. People do well week 1, and "suck" week 2 and say "F--- it, I'm not giving up all those goodies for <no weightloss> <weight gain>... I'm eating cupcakes!" Stick it out. It rarely lasts longer than 2 weeks. You may be able to help it on with increased exercise and hydration, but this is one of very few times where we can legitimately blame it on our bodies.

You really shouldn't be able to feel the band itself, and especially internal sensations of things like "wet"... hmm. Are you doing anything when you notice these feelings? Have you recently had anythign to eat/drink? Any particular movements? Any chance you're feeling cold things move through your stoma, so you're associating it with "the band"?

I was given 2 weeks through my STD coverage. My surgeon's office actually asked me how long I wanted them to put. I told her "I don't know, whatever is typical."

My gallbladder pain never hurt my side (I had it removed in Aug). It hurt right down the middle, always centered. It would move up, down, up, down - but never to a side. That's part of why it was so hard to reach a diagnosis. Do call, but it doesn't sound band-related from the info above - as it lasts for days, irritated by caffeine, etc. The sharp pain with deep breaths can be a sign of being stuck, but you'd likely have constant pain that got worse with deep breaths, and it definitely wouldn't go away only to com eback with caffeine. I'm surely not a doc tho, so do call.

It just never bothered me. I don't think I told him until I was looking into surgery, for the simple fact that it never came up. I had definitely weighed when he was in the room, maybe he looked and already knew. Who knows. But it doesn't bother me to tell him what I weigh any more than it does to tell him what my favorite color is, or what I'm thirsty for. Same with the rest of my family - if they ask I will tell them, if it comes up in conversation (not my weight necessarily, but a during a recent conversation an unclue of mine whot ops 400 lbs said someone his size couldn't be banded...) I will tell them. I don't have it printed up on a t-shirt or anything.

My surgeon works in .5cc increments for 4cc bands, and I *think* 2cc increments for 10cc bands. He is one of the moer aggressive fillers -- in his words, "Why not get you losing quicker?"

No non-pureed pieces accidentally making their way down, which DOES happen. There's no such thing as "pureed" in your mouth. You can tell yourself that, but it isn't going to happen.

What sucks is that it seems like I always need to burp when there's a food queu in my pouch = discomfort. The pressure of needing to burp combined with not being able to. I learned about a year ago that I could kinda force a burp, but it runs the risk of bubbling up my pouch contents with it. :tt1: I will also have to burp a lot more when something is stuck. Either tons and tins of itsy bitsy burps, or a growing pressure from needing to burp and not being able to. And I should have clarified what I posted earlier. I used to do little dainty burps. Now I burp like... not dainty.

I have between 30 & 70 lbs to go, depending on which scale and doctor's chart I go by. Personally I'm sticking with right around 50 left. I've been here for a few months, bouncing back and forth. I've gone as low as 238, and as high as 256, with an average around 246 and a goal between 180 - 190 (I'm just under 5'11). But I have no right to complain because I'm not doing what I could be to make it better. I haven't been to the gym in a good 3 months, and although I have been doing a ton of stuff around the house, it's not the same. I've also gotten a lot more sloppy about what I eat (as I sit here muching on a handful of Cheetos), but not all the time. I don't have a hard time staying on track, I'm just not militant about it. If I have 2 sloppy days, I will ensure I have 2 - 3 good weeks.

Two pounds in a year is abnormal and would point to either the surgeon or the patient not doing their job. 20 lbs in a year, for someone with 40 lbs to lose, is not bad. 20 lbs ina year for someone with 300 lbs to lose shouldn't happen, because consultations with the surgeon should have resumed at that point. Many people invest in the surgery not just for the loss, but for the ability to maintain it. For me, the ability to maintain was priceless, as I had 8 years of either losing or gaining, actively. Now, even though I don't lose like I used to, I've never gained fat back. Priceless. I think several people have had good experiences with the MX doctors who seem to charge around $8k. There are stateside surgeons around $12k. etc.

I marked other. I think - when I'm not thinking about it - my tendency is to take "normal" bites, chew it all up, but only swallow bits at a time. Where 1 bite may take me 4 - 6 swallows to empty my mouth. Hope that makes sense. I quote normal because it's not like what you'd feed a toddler, nor is it what I would take pre-op. Maybe the size of an olive, if I had to make a comparison.

Sometimes I think I'm thinner than I am. Sometimes I'm surprised by how thin I am. Just kind of depends. My office has glass doors, and if I'm not paying attention and look into them, I won't recognize myself at first. On the flip side, at dinner the other night (I was sitting parallel to some windows) I turned to look out the window and caught the reflection of my side profile, and was dismayed and how much "roll" I still had on my upper body. Maybe it's not that much, really, but to me it looked like a heck of a lot.

50 lbs is good loss and 3 hours is nothing. Would you be better off with a band that requires a 3 hour drive to tighten, or no band at all? You can probably answer that. :tt1:

Absolutely. No secrets between us. If I tell him I'm going to weigh, he will come watch as I do it and help me keep track of any loss. It's not like - if he doesn't know my weight, maybe he won't realize I'm fat... with my ass walking around the house naked most of the time. :tt1:

Oh I can't stand Dr. Phil. I thought I was the only female in America who can't stand him.

Tell her to call her insurance company (if she's seeking insurance). If not, tell her to call band surgeons and see if she can find one willing to do her. They're about the only two entities that could possibly answer her question.