Wheetsin

Whoppers?

I'm not a therapist, but I have the degree, and I see several red flags in your story. I can understand where the psychologist is coming from sometimes - in family closeness s/he's likely looking for your support system, but then by your therapist's rationale, someone who's family has died would be a poor surgical candidate, and that certainly doesn't have to be the case. I can also see his comment about one foot in. This procedure is widely viewed as the "reversible" procedure, meaning that it doesn't require the full committment that something like a permanent change/removal of your organs would. However, there are many, many extraordinarily valid reasons someone could opt for the band over a "permanent" solution, that s/he is either unaware of, or failing to acknowledge with you.

Sure it's a belief. She believes it is not true. That's just as valid as believing it is true. As for christmas - I hate the crowds, the extra traffic, and the surplus of unsupervised children running amock. And I hate the competition to get items that are in limited supply. Christmas isn't terribly special because I see my family regularly throughout the year. If I instead preferred to just pick one or two days of the year when I saw them, then I can see how it might hold more value. I love buying gifts for people, and hate to receive them. One of the very few types of charity I will support are the families that we "adopt" (a PC way of saying "buy shit for") for the holidays.

I wish I could find a remedy that works for me, but so far - nothing. The only thing that has brought any relief has been hunching over on my kitchen island. Twice, after doing that, my blockage has passed. Maybe coincidence -- it certainly doesn't work all the time. I've tried everything... meat tenderizer, pineapple juice, papaya tablets, holding my breath, doing the "stuck" dance, hopping up and down... I guess I'm just remedy-less. As for why I'm more open in the evenings... I have no idea why, it's just my version of restriction. Some people have even restriction throughout the day. I'm unfortunately not one of them. But it's a pattern that has been proven for coming up on 2 years now so I don't anticipate it changing anytime soon. There are exceptions, usually tied in to the time of month, whether or not I've flown lately, etc. -- but by and large it's a very consistent pattern.

Oh I love people watching. It's a great way to pass some time.

Whether or not you tell someone - totally your choice. However, as someone who has been banded going on 2 years, let me give you a bit of anecdotal experience. When you're banded, and achieve restriction, at some point you're probably going to be in pain, and or have to yak up gross stuff. The pain can be over in an instant, or it can last hours and hours. The yakking can be over in one try, or it can take 10, 15, 20 tries. There's just no way of knowing. And it's also very likely that you'll experience some of this prior to seeing change in your body. In other words, the majority of bandsters have their first "uh oh, restriction..." encounters long before the point where they're noticing their results. Again, totally your choice, don't get me wrong. I would be concerned, if I had kids, that having them see their parent go through this (when you're hurting and having to yak, you can't really do much to hide or disguise it, it HURTS, and the yakking isn't something you can "disguise") could scare them quite a bit. Do consider that as you make your decision.

Someone being bitter about something, and that same person being able to cherish some belief, totally unrelated and happens all the time. E.g., Titslereaux cherishes her belief that a pregnant virgin is ridiculous. "Cherish"ing something that goes against your personal beliefs may not seem to fit the verb, but for those who have the belief it does.

It could be either, and honestly it could be neither. About 30 mins ago I ate a very, small bite of very well blended refried Beans. It wasn't too big of a bite, nor was it too much food. But here I am, hurting over it. Sometimes, just eating, period, is wrong. For me, anything before evening is questionable as to whether or not it's going to go down easily. I don't often have to bring food back up, but it will often take a good hour or two before I feel normal.

If it's worth it to you, ask a lawyer about that one. That's so vague and ambiguous, I can't imagine it's enforcable. I mean, someone could be an hour away from school and be in a different state. I wouldn't think there's any way a school in say California could claim jurisdiction for an event that happens in Arizona. Remember people always claim things that have no grounds. Trucks can have a sign that says "stay back 300 ft not responsible for damage" but that doesn't mean that if something happened, they'd be absolved of responsibility. I would suspect it's the same with your child's school. Zero tolerance policies are sticky at best. A few weeks ago I read an online news article - a kid at a zero tolerance school was in a fight. Out of respect for the policy and not wanting to be expelled, the kid refused to fight back. Instead, he literally just covered his face and took a fetal position, and received some significant injuries. Much more so, doctors claim, than if he had fought back. The kid's parents are now suing the school over the injuries.

Teresita -- you KNOW how tickled I am to see you back here, even though I'm not a part of your MD area. Please stick around. No more hiatuses... haitus... hiatii... whatever!

I too have free resizing for life on my rings, however - there's only so many times you want to resize a ring (it's not ring-specific, just the properties of the metal), so it's best to wait until you can get everything done at once. I would think anyway, I don't have studies to back me up. My rings literally fall off me. My wedding set is heavy/substantial, my anniversary set is much more lightweight. If my wedding set falls off I will hear/feel it. Not the case with my anniversary set. About 8 months ago I was digging through some produce at the store, and my hand came out without rings on. I made them clear the entire bin to find the rings. When I wash my hands, I have to take my rings off, otherwise they will fal linto the sink or come off when I dry. For my wedding set (3 bands total), I bought a 14k temporary resizer. All 3 bands were soldered together, as though it's one big ring, so this works well. My anniversary set (2 rings total) is not soldered, but it could stand to take up a little more room on my finger so I bought two additional thin plain gold bands in a size that fits, and added one to the top and one to the bottom. I also had part of them notched out, so that they would fit up against the bands with stones.

Does the school's jusridiction extend beyond their property?

Err, roast on (a baking sheet in) a 300...

I love edamame. Here's how I cook it. Place in a large bowl and add a tiny amount of olive oil, seasonings such as garlic salt optional. Roast on a 300 degree oven about 10 mins, stir them around, and repeat until they're a light golden brown. Mmmmm. Note - you can continue the roasting until they're dry, and just use a little Kosher salt instead of any seasonings, or nothing... at which point they make the BEST crunchy snack.

Not every provider requires a pre-op diet (assuming you're referring to a medically supervised weightloss effort, versus pre-op diet in the sense of the diet you're supposed to follow to prepare your body for the surgery). I didn't have to do one, nor did I have to submit a doctor's recommendation, proof of obesity for X years, etc.

Find out if the exclusion is plan-enforced or employer-enforced. What usually happens (unless you're employer is very large) is that insurance companies lump together their most frequently selected options. From there, your employer can ammend the contract (via a rider, as a previous poster mentioned), they can take it as is, or they can exclude portions of the package to save cost. If your employer's contract excludes it, it may be something your employer has opted to include. If it was included, and your employer opted to exclude it, there's not a whole lot of wiggle room. That would be like buying a car that didn't come with a warranty, and then trying to get warranty work done. I would suggest a careful review of your SPD to see exactly what is says, and a call to your HR admin/rep.

Can I ask you guys a serious question? This isn't at all a shame on you for not telling people. I just want to understand. I hear a lot comments to the effect of "I didn't want to tell anyone because I was afraid it wouldn't work." If you do tell someone, and it doesn't work... like, so what? Honestly, what different does that make -- what would it mean to you? And of course, answers are optional. I'm really not looking to make anyone feel bad. I just dig learning others' POVs.

I think this is a miscommunication, stemming from my general failure to incude the OPs name when I post a response. That probably would have clarified things a but. I was only trying to address the suggestion that patient coordinators be banned (paraphrasing). It wasn't your suggestion, I don't even remember who made it.

My band was my first surgery as well. Most often, the breathing tube is put in place after you're asleep and removed before you're awake, or at least before you'll have conscious memory. I have heard of the breathing tube being left in until the patient removes it, as a sign that they're awake and able to breathe on their own, but thank goodness I've not yet experienced that in my 2 surgeries.

My surgeon runs a support group and requires that you attend 2 (I think) sessions prior to your surgery. He had separate groups for RNY and band, so the only other attendees either had the same surgery, or were interested in having it. The only time they were merged was for special occasions, e.g. once he brought in a plastic surgeon, so he combined both groups. Support groups for me are a total waste of time, but I've never been big on ra-ra, sisters in the fight together, be my candlelight. I saw it as a way to find one or two people who didn't seem to have their heads shoved up their asses, whom I could get information from. And along the way, share some information. I went to two or three meetings after my surgery to maintain a relationship with these people. Then a bunch of crap started going on and I quit alltogether, but that's another story. As for people going through this, and not having the first idea what it's about -- baffling, eh? But not uncommon.

After my bad I found myself completely turned off to red meat. It was more chewing than the taste was worth. However, if you want a hamburger and fries, it doesn't have to be bad for you, and fast-food isn't necessarily evil. There are many fast-food places that have food that's reasonably healthy. They just aren't the ones most people think of. But even at the major offenders, there are nutriotionally good choices. An egg McMuffin certainly isn't the same thing as a handful of fat free Fiber Cereal, but in nutriotional terms, it's a pretty good Breakfast. I do keep an eye on my carbs. I don't track them, but I know the range that works best for me and I try to stay in that range. I try to go with as few white carbs as I can - most of them being easy to avoid, but potatoes being difficult for me. I know about how many calories I eat. Outside of that, I do not follow a diet. I eat healthy, and if I want something, I have a very moderate amount of it, because - thanks to my band - that's all I need. My belief is that - if you want something, have it. No one thing is going to make you fat. You can cut any one thing out of your diet, and lose weight. They key for me is moderation. So as where I used to eat a heaping bowl of ice cream, I now have a few spoons of it. I still eat the full fat kind loaded with whatever acessories sound divine. If I want a cookie, I have a cookie. But thanks to my band, I can stop at once cookie, and not continnue my way through the entire package.

Well -- a few things here. First, we don't necessarily want to keep patient coordinators or others "in league" with surgeons away from the board. This site can be as great of a resource for them as it is for patients. For example, my surgeon's last coordinator had an account here and would use it to see what kinds of questions people were asking - what the "hot topics" were. She would then use that in turn to lay out an agenda for support group meetings. Second - yes, IPs can be banned. Meaning, anyone with that IP is banned, not just the offender. But it's not something we just go do, or even consider except for the most extreme situations. Usually mods and admins see this as an absolute last resort saved for times when blocking a specific offender is deemed better for the health of the board than the consequences of losing potential current/new members. This board is very liberal in what it allows/tolerates. Much more so than most boards I am or have been a part of. It would take a lot for an IP ban to be considered. (An example of when this might be used "lightly" -- when you have a local board, say for people in California, and someone from a *.ru is causing problems. Do you care if people from Russia can't get to your board? Probably not.)

Actually it's quite common for people to think they're feeling the band, especially when they're laying on their backs. Most often what they're actually feeling is either a chunk of scar tissue, or bones, joints, etc. that they've never felt before (because there was too much fat in the way). I had a banded friend call me up once, freaking because she thought she could feel her band. I went over and felt what she was feeling... come to find out it was either the body or xyphoid p. of her sternum WOW, was she relived!!!

I was... cautiosuly optimistic. I WANTED it to work, and saw it as a last resort. But when you have 10+ years of failed attempts behind you, it's much, much safer to hope it will work than to know it will work. A few months out, I remember having this odd sort of realization - epiphany - where I was like "Hey, this really just might work!"

I can't answer the poll because for me, it totally depends. For example, yesterday at lunch it took me over an hour to eat a bite of a veggie wrap and 2 spoons of Soup. Yesterday at dinner it took me about 30 mins to eatabout 10 spoons of food, and for a snack about 5 mins to eat a whole grain Wasa cracker. Sometimes (if it's going to happen, it happens in the evening) as long as I've chewed well, I can eat at a pre-op pace. I can feel the food going right on through. Earlier in the day, I'm typically restricted enough that a small thin soup is more than I can do in 1 - 2 hours.