Wheetsin

Don't be embarassed, it happens more often than you'd think. Pushing shouldn't have bothered your port, you're using different muscles. My body likes to get about 1/3, maybe 1/2 way through a BM, and then just stop. Like - it doesn't want to budge another inch. I've had to get very creative a few times.

Laurend, I lost my appetite on the pre-op diet, and I'm neaing 18 mos out and it's yet to return. I'm very, very rarely hungry. I feel hunger -- maybe once every few months. If I followed the advice of, "Don't eat if you aren't hungry" I'd be getting by on 200 calories a week. :car: For a while, I thought my low calorie intake was driving my long plateaus (I cant point to that correlation any longer, and any newbies out there, please do not think this means "starvation mode"). I had no interest in eating more, so I ate higher calorie foods. It was the only thing I could think of to move beyond 400 - 600 calories per day, if that. Didn't make a bit of difference. I'm probably still under 1000 calories 98% of the time. Due mostly to my restriction. For the most part, Breakfast is out and lunch is a x-small Soup, or nothing. So come dinner, I've maybe had... 400 calories, at MOST (if it's a fatty soup), but more often than not I've had 0 or damn close to it.

Is the exclusion carrier enforced or employer? If you consider changing plans, be sure to find out what they exclude before you leap, or you could end up in the same boat (this happens all the time). I was banded in the US and covered by insurance. If I hadn't been, I would have self-paid in the US. No MX surgery for me, but that's just my personal decision. Many people have gone to MX, and hopefully they'll chime in.

Howard Gardner proposed 7 (now 8) different types of intelligence people can have in his Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory. I have to be very familiar with learning and assimilation theories such as this one, and people tend to think this one is fun, so I thought I'd post it and see what we look like. Take the MI test.

Why not go ahead and start your supervised diet? That way, if your new carrier also requires the 6 months, you're already halfway through instead of having to start from scratch in Jan.

<p>Morbidly obese is a BMI of 40 or greater. Obese is 30 - 40. I know it sucks for him to have burst your bubble like that. Just don't take it personally. DOctors tend to be extremely matter of fact, and what he said was very matter of fact (although arguably wrong).

I wasn't hungry for like... since 2 days pre-op.

That's because your esophagus is still pumping. How tight are you? I believe foam is most commonly associated with saliva not being able to pass through the band. The esophagus keeps trying, and churns the saliva into the foam. I was overfilled, and had something stuck, and was yakking up either foam or what looked like egg whites for about 7 hours. A slight unfill brought immediate relief. Anything you put down your throat, when you're tight to the point of yakking up your saliva, is going to have to come up also. When you're to that point of being closed up, eat and drink nothing. What can you do? Pursue a slight unfill would be one suggetion. Stop eating/drinking when you're stuck would be another. Aside from that, you can't do much at all - your body is going to keep at it until such a point as that you're clear (when the stoma has relaxed...ie).

I caught this on NPR this morning. I'm not the best storyteller, so bear with me. A man named John had his leg amputated after a plane crash. His piritual beliefs require the body be buried whole, so he had the leg preserved. For safe keeping, he put it in his BBQ. The BBQ ended up in storage, but John didn't pay his storage bill. With most storage places you sign an agreement that upon X number of missed payments, the storafge facility assumes ownership of your property and can auction it off. The BBQ with leg inside was auctioned and bought by a man named Shannon (who didn't know it had a leg in it). Shannon eventually found the leg and gave it to a funeral home so John could claim it. Then Shannon started charging people $3 to peek inside the now empty, but once held the leg grill. Now, seeing that he can has a lot of potential to make money off the leg, Shannon is pursuing a joint custody battle with with John, claiming he's the rightful owner since he paid for it, fair and square. The latest from Shannon: "I thought about pursuing the foot just as a conversation piece, religious or not. Put it in an air tight box with a glass window on it." "It's a strange incident and Halloween's just around the corner. The price will go up if I get the leg."

None of the remedies have ever done anything for me other than make it worse. When I PB, I just have to wait until my esophagus is clear. Normally it takes me 2 PBs, rarely 1, rarely more. But I can't say "2 hours" or "15 minutes" because it takes what it takes. Sometimes I PB once and need to again with 5 minutes, sometimes I've gone to bed feeling not quite OK after 1 PB and woken up a few hours later needing to PB. (I can usually tell if more are needed. My "sure sign" that the stoma is clear is that I can take a deep breath without pain in the band area. if I can't take a deep breath, or can't take one without pain, I'm fairly sure there's more to come). The only things I have found to expedite the PB are: 1. Actively spit the slime out vs. just letting it drool out, or trying to spit daintily. I have a strong gag reflex, and often the spitting is enough to get me to wretch. Once I wretch, the PB usually follows soon after. Sometimes I can wretch and nothing happens, so I will spit out what little sime is left. Just the spitting action can do it for me. (Imagine the stares I would get if anyone saw me over the kitchen sink doing my little *cach pooey* *cach pooey* *cach pooey* trying to PB). 2. Take deep breaths and sort of clench my diaphragm down as I exhale. Imagine a therapeutic inhale, and a muscle clench exhale, and you've pretty much got it. I don't know why, but often after a few exhales like this I can get the PB to happen.

Keep in mind that while fluid retention may impact your weight, it does not impact your fat loss. What could be happening is the retained fluid masks any weightloss, and then when the fluid is released, both the fluid weight and fatloss are suddenly represented on the scale.

I err on the direct side, so I would say something like "Mom, you're really irritating me, shut up." As for "the easy way out" - lots of stuff: 1. Ok, for the sake of argument let's say it is "easy." Who cares? Who determined that weightloss had to be earned the HARD way? What, is it weightloss suddenly invalid because you had WLS? As long as you lose weight and gain health, does HOW matter? I've NEVER NEVER NEVER understood this mentality. But I can tell you that 99.99999999% of the time it's made out of jealousy and could probably translate to something like, "I need to lose weight but don't have the balls/money/whatever for WLS." 2. Anyone who has walked a day with the band knows there's nothing easy about it. I would love for someone to follow me as the esopohgeal spasms have me doubled over, groaning out loud, and I have to keep a wad of papertowels to help catch the flood of slime. Look at the behaviors we have to change: how we chew, bite size, swallowing, portion control, etc. We have to be continuously aware of what we're doing and what our bodies are telling us. Changing behaviors IS easy, but someone who isn't changing theirs cannot say that yours are "easy." My mom's first two reactions when I told her I was thinking abotu doing this (she was already familiar with the proceduer and knew people who had it): 1. Oh, so you're not going to just try another diet? To which I replied, "What good have diets ever done?" 2. I'm going to be jealous if you lose a lot of weight. She came around, and is trying to get one herself now.

I would pick the hospital that you get th best vibes from. Peace of mind is worth a lot. I know many people who went the "free fills" route, and dislike the aftercare program so much that they're not wanting to go get their free fills. Not a good bargain, is it? I've never heard of an exercise person through a surgeon's program. I have heard of a psychologist, which you don't mention, but everyone here could benefit from (a good one). Might want to ask about that as well.

I told the dr (a cardiologist in Dallas) that I was hungry and he gave me 4cc's. Cardiologist? Why is a cardiologist doing your fills? Why is he involved at all with the band? The next day I couldn't swallow 1/2 a cup of tea all day total. What size is your band? I called his office after hours and he wouldn't call me back. His after hours told me to call the ER and they told me they couldn't help me. They could hydrate me but couldn't do anything w/ the band. This isn't unusual for hospitals/Ers to say, but anyone on staff with subdermal ports could help, I'd think (e.g. oncology nurses - my granfather's told me she deals with potrs all the time). In 12 hours, I threw up about 50 times. I called the surgeon in the morning and they immediately called me back from the surgery room.Still not understanding why a cardiologist is doing anything to your band, but when you say surgeon, are you referring to the cardiologist, or the person who placed your band? He emptied it completely and was real concerned that the dr didn't call me back after doing this to me. I gained 10 lbs after they removed all the Fluid in 1 week. Yeah, you were probably dehydrated. When you lost fluids, your body wants them back, it doesn't just say "oh well" and move on. The surgeon had told me to come see him for a fill after the swelling goes down and I am hydrated again. I went and they want to charge me 120.00 for a fill. I need a dr that can do this with my ins/co-pay. Who did your band surgery? What do they charge for fills? Was your surgery covered with ins or were you self pay? The surgeon says he is not suppose to do fills so I have no options. Other dr's won't take on other dr's patients. Any suggestions??? HELP.The surgeon as in cardiologist, or guy who placed the band? I've never heard of a laprascopis/bariatrics surgeon who is not supposed to do fills. If they don't do them themselves, then they usually offer a PA or someone who can. Sorry, I'm totally confused with doctor, surgeon, cardiololigst, surgeon, dr... can you clarify who's who, how you were banded, etc?

Unless I'm at home, I drink through a straw. Never had any issues. I'm not going to intentionally contradict anyone's post-op advice, or advise anyone to do anything other than what their surgeon has instructed. I personally drink through a straw all the time, and here are my thoughts. Consuming too much liquid. Unless you're too tight, pouch is already full, etc. liquids go through. There's a difference between "drinking with a straw" and "gulping with a straw". if you're intent to gulp, a straw isn't going to make a difference. If someone is really that concerned about it, all they have to do is use a skinny straw. Consuming too much air. I don't know about you guys, but I usually don't start the suck until the straw is already submerged in liquid, and I don't usually remove the straw from the liquid while I'm still sucking. So from whence cometh the extra air? Are we really "sucking in air", any more than we're "swallowing air" drinking from a glass?

My surgeon places in the upper abdomen mainly because, on larger patients (which I definitely was), it's much easier to feel through a small amount of fat to find the port near the breastbone, than to have to feel through who knows how much fat in the lower abdomen. The outline of my rib cage protrudes, the individual ribs don't unless I'm flat on my back, and my port is nowhere near showing. It's still a good hard poke down in there. I can easily feel it, but not see it.

I think you missed someone wanting some granola bites. Or sumpin.

Blue Diamond I believe it is has raw almonds with a chili lime seasoning. YUM!

It's hard to say for sure, but generally your port incision is your largest incision, as well as your sorest (most sore?) and slowest to heal. My surgeon placed the band and port through the same incision. Looking at your incisions, I'm guessing yours did the same.

I used to use sweetners, and then I thought, "Are the few carbs/calories I'm saving better for me than this teaspoon of chemical?" I'm trying to make the switch back to sugar. I just wish it would dissolve as well.

I'm tired of people who do not take responsibility. I cannot tell you how much this irritates me, and what's worse - it's CONSTANT. Parents for their children, people for themselves and their behaviors, individuals for the consequences they invoke. I hate finger pointers. I hate: ____ made me do it. I had to because of _____. It's not my fault, I can't help it, I have/was/_____. Own your friggin actions and reactions. I didn't make you mad, you reacted to something I said with anger. I didn't make your feelings hurt, you reacted to something I said with some emotional affect. This is everywhere. It's one of our worst plagues, a plague of irresponsibility, apathy and ignorance. We're catering to the lowest common denominator. I'm sick and tired of schools not teaching critical subjects at younger age, or even as mandatory in older ages. Things like personal finance, communication, ethics & diversity, critical thinking... all of the above normally aren't taught under college, and then, they're electives or aligned with major programs. I understand the limitations, but I would really like to see this change. I'd MUCH rather have been able to study finance than geography. I can learn the geography on my own if I need it. The finance - not so much. Lessons learned in geography - I've pointed to the wrong place on a map, or lost a game of Trivia pursuit. Lessons learned in personal finance - I'm up to my eyeballs in credit debt, had to declare bankruptcy, or don't know what 401k is. I'm tired of people who think they're owed something. Again, something that applies all over the place. Be glad you have what you do, and you're ebing given what you're already being given. Want more? Go work for it. Want more than that? Find a way to work more. Quit looking for ways to make it my responsibility to hand it to you. I'm tired of kick ass interior designers because I'm jealous of them, see their gorgeous pics, realize I don't like something about my house, and then spend $$$ to get equally mediocre results. I'm tired of young kids acting like, looking like, and being whores. This is a gender neutral statement. When I was 12 I wasn't worried about whether or not I gave good head. I was worried about making the all-star team. I feel a sick sort of pity for these people. Someone or something has influences their behavior, and as a society we're unequipped and uneducated about what we can to do help. And our culture is rewarding and inciting this behavior. Hmm, I wonder why it doesn't change... I'm tired of people who still write checks or, more specifically, wait until their entire cart is rung up befire beginning to manually write the check out. There are only two places that need to wait. C'mon, you can do it, go ahead and write the store's name... there you go! I hate that people who intentionally work high-risk, dangerous jobs are "heroes" for doing exactly what they're paid to do, when they're paid to do it. These are employees, not heroes. They agree by having the job that X risk is acceptable in exchange for X reward (intrinsic, extrinsic). If you're a cop, you kind of have to know that you have a chance of being shot at. If you're a firefighter, you might get burned. If you're a lion tamer, you might get bitten. You can't be surprised/in shock/disbelief if these things happen, and you're not a hero for going through it. I'm so sick and tired of people who actually think that not forwarding me the email with the puppy pics and rainbows will cause them 10 years of bad luck, or that they're really going to miss out on the free $20 Applebee's gift certificate. I hate tramp stamps. I hate that everything is a lawsuit. I hate infomercials about starving children. I mean - if you feel for them that much, teach them how to shoo a fly while you're there filming. I hate people who only show up in discussions or debates long enough to take a jab and run away. I see this much more on the internet than in real life. I attribute that to anyonymity. If you poke your head in the door, I still know who you are. If you post "I think this, now I'm done with this thread, bye!" - not so much. If you want to share your opinion, have the cajones to really represent them. If you can't back up your words, then at the very least say that to begin with. I should stop now, cause no one wants a novella.

I am a steak and chicken person as of now (not banded). I have a fear that I will never eat steak or chicken due to the band. I am also a big pizza person, but I know that has to change. I've removed red meat from my diet, but I can eat steak. I often eat chicken. I eat pizza when I want it. My question to you all is....After you switch to the solid food stage, are you able to eat some what normal, or can you not tolerate certain foods. Some people find there are things they can't tolerate. Some find that as long as they're chewing, monitoring bites, and swallowing bandster style, they can eat anything. (this is me) Some state that they can NEVER have meat or chicken...or both. some say fish (tuna, sushi) they can't eat. I would just eat the raw fish and no rice...or very little rice if possible. It's completely individual, and often seems to change. E.g. I know a LOT of people who could eat chiken in the beginning, but can't get it down now. I guess I am just normal having a concern as to the diet...way of life that will happen once I am banned. I don't want to be that, "special" diet man the rest of my life. I would guess that more bandsters than not find that they eat regular, well-balanced meals - just small ones. Which is a heckuva good approach, IMO. I would like to eat normal foods with limitation. Have a drink or three (lol) after dinner (a half our that is) The band does nothing to prevent drinking, unless you're clogged. That's one of the nice things about it, vs. some other WLS options (not that you can still drink, but that in and of itself, it doesn't exclude anything). You know what I mean...it is a concern of mine, but I am sure you have more experience than me....I am not banned yet. Just behave and we won't ban you. j/k - banned, banded, har har. It's completely individual. I had dinner with 4 other bandsters, and we all ordered something different based on 1) what we CARED to tolerate, and 2) what we COULD tolerate. Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

I don't think anyone is intentionally lying to you, you've probably just run into a miscommunication or misunderstanding (It has happened before that reps indicate somethign is covered when it's not. It is not a malicious lie, it's just confusion, usually). If you're getting different answers from different people, review your SPD for exclusions. If you don't see it listed, have your HR rep contact the insurance company to help them get it straightened out.

PB that would have been embarassing if I hadn't been hurting so much. I closed off once. The surgeon's office is about 30 mins from my work. Of course, DH and I had carpooled that day, he had the car, and was in a meeting. So I had to ask a co-worker I didn't know that well for a ride to my surgeon's office. Good thing she's nice. En route I tried to control the PBing by spitting into paper towels but that wasn't enough. I had to have her pull off the highway so I could PB (door open, still sitting in the car style). Then again about 5 mins later, and about 5 mins later, 5 minutes later (repeat until you get to 30 minutes). Made it to the parking lot, had to open the door and PB in front of everyone there... nosey snots look and see what looks like a big pile of meringue, so everyone is coming over to ask me if I'm ok, do they need to call an ambulance... Once I was at a lunch with some coworkers. Both know I had the band and that this could happen. Had to excuse myself to the restroom. Thought that took care of it. Got on the interstate, realized that hadn't taken care of it... was determined not to make this girl pull over so I controlled it (can you say PAIN?) until we got to work, but once we were there I couldn't wait any longer. I had her drop me off at the door, left my purse 7& everything in her car, and ran into the bathroom. Normally I try to find an empty bathroom but I couldn't wait. There were probably 5 other people in there. Let it loose... then I start hearing some of the other people starting to gag/wretch... sympathy pukers, I'm guessing.

Posted earlier, lazy & don't want to retype: