Wheetsin

Ah, anxiety dreams. Mine were around eating something, and then realizing I hadn't chewed it. Or since I generally try to follow a low-carb diet, eating something high in carbs (which really doesn't phase me in reality) without realizing it... like "Oh I didn't know those pretzels were hidden inside the piece of bacon" and freaking out because I've blown it. Welcome to type A.

There is a list somewhere, don't know where off-hand. PB = Productive Burp. It's generally accepted as the term for when something becomes lodged in the stoma and cannot pass, and has to be expelled from the esophagus. In other words, you yak it up. "Burp" is a very mild analogy.

Honestly, I eat that on a good day. But I don't really have an active job, either - corporate desk job with the occasional exception. How do I cope - you know, I just forget to eat. I very, very rarely feel hunger. And I've moved beyond the mental grip that food had on me. So between the two, I tend to forget to eat. Sounds hard to believe, I know, especially from someone who weighed close to 400 lbs. And what gets me is that I do this on minimal restriction. I mean - If I don't chew, or swallow too much, I know it - but... how can I explain this... I've never felt mechanical intervention in the quantity of food I eat. I lost my appetite when I started the pre-op diet... and it NEVER came back. So I have no doubts that the band is doing its job... or as much if its job as it can with my fill level. I think to a very large degree I just got used to drastically reduced meals... stomach shrunk or whatever you want to call it... and I just fill up faster. I definitely have a differnet "stomach full" sensation than "band full", and usually hit stomach before band. The other night I had a decent dinner and followed it up wth a Protein drink - was desperate for another 20 grams. And while I never felt the restriction or felt the band full, my stomach (real stomach, nt pouch) hurt, like it would before banding when I'd eat some huge meal. Ah -- I'm rambling. The point is, for me anyway, it's easy because eating has become something much closer to "interrupts what I want to be doing" than "must do now". It's that whole eat to live, not live to eat thing. When you get there, which I think I am - for the most part - it's not that hard.

Wish I could help (trust me, I mean that, I'm a loose "C" on a good day!), but I have no personal experience. The best I can offer is a friend's experience. She said it took her about 3 weeks t feel back to normal - lots of soreness in between, but not constant, mostly when moving the wrong way or "forgetting" and bumping into something. Her pain was noticeable especially the first 4 days post-op, but tolerable. She said the first day it felt like someone pushed her boobs through a meat grinder... but she wasn't staying on top of her meds either. Don't know about the stomach or exercise. I know she didn't stay the night (because I went over to help take care of her). She wasn't married and has no family, so we (friends) alternated stopping by for the first 4 days. Most of what we were helping with was things that required lifting (household duties), and company. After that she swore she was fine and ready to go it alone. She's not as small as she originally wanted to be, but has adjusted nicely and is now happy she didn't go smaller. I went to her consultation with her, and what he did with her was use cutouts to "mask off" part of her boobs in various sizes... so she could get a rough idea, and then he made suggestions based on her frame size. And then she asked me to start putting the implants in my bra so she could see how they'd look to someone else. :faint:

Bloodwork came way after my initial consultation. When I had mine, it went: weigh > vitals > wait in this room for surgeon > surgeon comes in > surgeon asks questions > I ask questions > general chit-chat > surgeon leaves >coordinator arrives and says, "Pick a date". For me the bloodwork came when I was getting my admittance stuff done, between the consultation and the surgery.

A lot of it comes from confusion (or perhaps lack of separation is a better way to put it) between RNY and AGB. With RNY, most of the time, there are things you just can't eat. With AGB, you can eat whatever will pass. I can't even say "a lot" but several AGB surgeons began as RNY surgeons, and when they grew their practice to include AGB did not completely revamp the guidelines, nutritional info, etc. the way they probably should have, so a lot of AGB patients actually have RNY care sheets. The gum is a suggestion, for the most part. Actually everything is a suggestion, for the most part, though some surgeons will certainly exclude some things. Gum has an inherent danger in that it's not something that a churning esophagus is going to be able to manipulate enough to clear the band. So if it's stuck, it's probably going to stay that way, unless you can get it up. Swallowing gum probably isn't a common thing, but it's one of the things (like large pills) where if it goes down, and your restriction is good, you're probably going to KNOW it.

What's allowed for you at 2 weeks post-op? Can you do mushies? If so, kick that soup to the curb. </Ricki Lake> How about some wet salads - tuna salad, chicken salad, etc? Refried Beans with a little spiciness and cheesy goodness. How about *other* Soups? Or meatless chili? Is chili a soup? I don't know! How about cottage cheese? I'm a success story in waiting.

That's along the same lines as what I was thinking. If they pay 50% regardless, then perhaps you could have some leverage for negotiation - e.g. I could have this done for $40,000 and you'd have to pay $20,000, but I'm willing to go to this place that charges $9,000... And usually when there's a percentage pay involved, it's a percentage of what the insurance company is billed. So if 50% is an in-network rate, you pay 50% of the network negotiated charges. If that's the case, you could be looking at a very reasonable out-of-pocket in the neighborhood of $500 - $1000. (the network negotiated amount for my surgery ended up being something like $1600 ... it makes a BIG difference what 50% they're talking about!) But do check, an insurance expert I am not.

A little levity, Wheetsin style. And warning - there's also some mild adult content. As some of you know, I met my husband 6,000 miles away from home... so a lot of our communication had to happen indirectly -- at first through phone calls and letters, but then when my college brought on e-mail (and I realized I could send messages to people outside of my school) and chat, a whole new way of communicating (for free!) opened up to us. Keep in mind this is early 90s, and I'm not talking about a spruced of chat client complete with emoticons and spellcheck. I'm talking about medieval tools like ytalk and the original beta ICQ. And once upon a time his parents were visiting (I had already met his parents in person by this time) and my husband had to run an errand, so he says "Here, chat with my parents." Which is kind of impossible. So I'm stammering on about something generic and flame retardant and, intending to tell them a story about a time I was blowing a bubble (bubble gum, not soapy bubbles), blew too hard, and it landed in my cousin's hair. Only by the time I'd fat-fingered it all up, what I ended up messaging to my future father-in-law was: He came to close, I blew too hard, and I ended up spitting cum in her hair. Curses to Mr. Qwerty. That "c" and "g" are just a little too close. I really don't understand why their aversion is there... :rolleyes :heh:

I've not heard of e-pen (I thought you were looking for one of those pen-shaped zip drives or something!), but my mother had a home electrolosis kit when I was a kid. She had to mix up saltwater, do a bunch of hooey... and she said it hurt like crap! I'm consdering laser hair removal, but I want some of my friends to go do it first so I can see if it works or not. :guess

I've never been under the impression that bandsters can't vomit. Otherwise we wouldn't pursue liquid antiemitics like Lotto tickets! My understanding is simply that vomitting can cause band complications including slips, so should be avoided. I'm no doctor, but my best guess is that one's ability to vomit when unfilled would depend on the level of natural restriction received from the unfilled band. Some people have a large amount of restriction from empty bands.

Hi Laurend, are there any considerations around the 50% coverage? Meaning -- if you went to a surgeon who charged $100,000, and a surgeon who charged $5,000, would they pay half of either regardless? Or is the 50% capped by some amount?

I've been known to chew gum. :confused: ...but I do try to be careful, and I only do it when my ketsosi breath is kicking in and I don't have any mints handy. I *try* to stick with the liquid mints, or the dissolvable strip mints, but a carefully chewed piece of gum is better than melting someone's eyeballs out.

I don't want to answer the wrong question, so forgive but are you looking for the perspectives of SUPPORTIVE bandsters who have UNSUPPORTIVE spouses? Or the perspective of UNSUPPORTIVE spouses who have banded SOs? Or something else? :help:

I came here looking for a man, but no matter how hard I try to woo you, you keep bringing up your wife.

I agree about the spelling errors. I've always agreed with that one - it has come up many many times - on boards far, far away. It's a peeve of mine, but I try not to point it out unless I legitimately cannot understand what the person is saying (and that DOES happen!). And occasionally because I think the person really doesn't know, and it's an opportunity to honestly help someone. But I don't do it as a jab. (I know you weren't referring to me, but wanted to explain that anyway). It's the how that makes it a jab, not the what. True for most things in life, no? To me, and this is just me, and is only a general statement, it seems like people will often move to spelling when they're approaching "attack you not the idea" mode. Or to point out an apparent lack of intelligence, which is really no different from the latter.

I'll take a pooty cigar over thousands of dead citizens any day.

That's the double standard I see, though perhaps it could lay elsewhere. Ron calls me "darling", but calls foul when he's called "sweety" by someone else. As I said before, if I had called you sweety, it would be a double standard.

I was the one you called "darling", and I was the one who protested it. Laurend is the one who said (paraphrasing) "it would take an idiot to believe that". Laurend is not the one you called "darling". Had I called you "sweety", then it would be a double standard. You also thought Laurend was a moderator. Perhaps you're confusing the two of us?

My surgeon's/program's psychologist has what he called the "Oh shit" period, where it's normal for people to wonder, "Oh shit, what did I just do to myself?" I really worried about the size of my bites and sips and tastes in the beginning. I would want to drink, but be too worried I would do something wrong if I did any more than moisten my tongue, or ate any more than what fit on the very tip of a baby spoon. The best advice I have is - this goes away, but you probably won't see it go away overnight. For me, I "accidentally" took too big of a drink of water one day, and realized - hey, that went down just fine! So my drinks got a little bigger, and a little bigger. I don't remember worrying about too much of anything after the first month or so, but I was a bit of a nervous wreck before then, trying to do everything exactly right.

I sleep naked! Even in hotels, which I'm in frequently for work travel. I used to try wearing a nightgown at hotels, but I'd tear them off during the night, so I figured - why waste my time.

I enjoy my Protein drinks and look forward to them. They're my "treat". I use "Six Star" whey protein isolate. As a base, try "Carb Countdown" milk. I can't remember who makes it, but it has GREATLY reduced carbs, even fewer than soy milk.

My burps changed. I rarely burp now, but when I do, they just kind of keep coming, and it feels like they're coming from deeper than before.

Honestly, and I get nothing for saying this (except grief if the wrong person reads it) - Dr. Hoehn and Billie (the LB coordinator) are awesome. And Becky (receptionist) is a peach. Enough so that it's (IMO) worth dealing with the others. They aren't all bad. But there are two or three bad apples, and one in particular. (And a LOT of people see this, band and RNY, so don't think it's ever "just you").

Swelling going down would explain less restriction, but not more. I know for me, I typically feel the restriction the evening I get the fill, then not for a few days, then kapowie - it will hit me out of the blue, about 3 or 4 days later. Why? No idea! There are a lot of things that just don't make sense with the band. :rose: