Wheetsin

That's not a bad idea. Too much maintenance for me, I'd lose them before I had the chance to use them. I have so far as to use regular scotch tape to to hold the labels down. Once, in a pinch. :lost1.5lbs:

My BMI was over 55 and they never mentioned one to me. And I had to go off hormone-based birth control about 8 years ago because I was getting weird, superficial bloodclots in weird places. (And the anesthesiologist & surgeon knew this). However, they did give me a Heparin shot while the IV was getting placed. And I also vaguely remember them putting some kind of thing on my leg that was blown up like a blood pressure cuff. I think. :lost1.5lbs:

My mother had the first one placed before her surgery, and the second one during. She then had a third surgery to remove them both.

Most stores that carry bikes (Target, etc.) will carry wider, gel-filled seats that really do make all the difference.

Yes, I'm a laber cutter too. Can't stand them. I'm very happy that some of the designers have started just printing the information to the back of the shirt. Label free. I'm with it.

Hi Nancy, Sometimes when a surgical patient is at high risk for bloodclots, they will insert a filter into the vena cava (takes blood to the heart) to help reduce the chance of a bloodclot making its way into the heart or lungs. You're probaby hearing about it in relation to the lap-band because obese people, particularly women, are considered a higher risk population for bloodclots. My mother has a history of DVT (deep vein thrombosis), and required a lengthy surgery to remove a melanoma, and a follow-up to remove her lymph nodes and form a skin graft. She had one placed both times.

Fluoro for $65? Crap, I'd pay for one every month, just for the peace of mind of making sure everything's where it should be. Fluoro at the hospital my surgeon uses starts at $800.

Kind of depends on what field you're trying to get into. My undergraduate degrees are in English Literature and Philosophy. My employers love the English. On the literature side it gives you - at the very least - an amazing ability to manage ambiguity. You might be surprised how many employers would love to have someone with an English degree. Professional communication is a HUGE problem plaguing companies today. The new hires of the younger generations, generally speaking, do not have business/professional/written communication as a strength. Anywho - I'm not ttrying to persuade you, although it probably comes off that way. Just have a lot of opinions. Don't count yourself short. When I was studying English & Philosophy, I used to joke (and get joked with) that all it would qualify me to do would be dye my hair purple, get my nose pierced, and work at Starbucks. It has proven to be much more valuable, and help me be much more competive in the hiring market, than I would have ever thought. I'll bow out now, so you can get input from actual teachers.

Good luck to you.

I could have written that post. We literally rented a storage unit to hold my clothes in until we can get them bagged up. (We were eager to paint the extra bedrooms, closets included, and this was our answer b/c there was NO way we would have been able to get in there with all the racks and racks and totes and ziplox XXLs full of clothing). I *shouldn't* spend a lot of money on new clothes, and at times I stick to my resolution. But sometimes I can't help it. Which pisses me off, because I keep buying $100 slacks for work that I can wear 4 or 5 times. I'm going to a seamstress next week to see if she can take them in, or if they're just too big to do anything with. In the last onths or two I've stopped myself from buying stuff unless it's on sale or at cheaper stores. That has helped. I've also started buying things a size too small, like jeans. At 50 - 90 a pop, they add up. So I've been buying a size smaller than I need, and I've been able to wear them longer. I've done that with a few jackets, too. Just wear them unbuttoned for a few weeks, and then instead of getting rid of them I have another round of wearing them buttoned. I'm not a terribly impulsive person, unless it comes to spending money. And my two weaknesses are clothes and interior decorating.

Muffin tops are gross. Muffin tops with misplaced thongs are even worse. But the jeans belted around the thighs with the boxers hanging out give them a good run for their money.

I had restriction before I had a fill. I PBed 3 days post-op. I'd say - enjoy it. A lot of people around me struggled when their appetites returned. I never got mine back. It made things that much easier.

I think it's a bad idea.

I live in Missouri but had my surgery with Dr. Hoehn at Shawnee Mission. He is fantastic, and his LB nurse is a superstar. I truly can't say enough good things about those two. They have a really good, comprehensive program (info night, coordinator/advocate who sits with you and tells you in detail exactly what happens, etc., staff psychologist, staff dietician, support groups, their own message board, etc.) and he has extremely impressive numbers. Another thing I've come to appreciate since needing an emergency unfill is that there's another WLS primary and one secondary in the same office, so you always have access to someone who knows what's going on. I actually had decided on another surgeon, and a friend of mine who had RNY with him talked me into going to his info night, just to see what I thought. It took me all of about an hour to change my mind to him. Website is www.kcbariatric.com. As for your candidacy, you could be a candidate. You may have some push back from your insurance company because of your BMI, but it will depend on their requirements. What can/can't you eat. For me, there's nothing I can't eat so far. There are some things I've chosen not to eat b/c it takes so much chewing to get it to where it can be swallowed, but nothing that's a no-no for me.

Hmm, that's not what I was thinking of. What I was thinking of literally looked like a tube top. And you could wear it as such, or scrunch it down and it was a belt, or pull it over your hips and it was a skirt, or double it around your head and it was a hairband, or loop it around your neck to accent a blazer, etc.

For me it was my upper body - shoulders, back, chest. Then my face. Then thighs, and now belly. I'm now about two sizes smaller on top than on bottom. But one of the first visible changes I could see was my collarbones.

Understand that since I don't know you, all I can give you are my impressions. That said, it seems like you're attributing a lot of things to your weight that may be coming from somewhere else. Your professors, for instance. I've *never* known a professor to discount someone because they are overweight. And that's during 8 years in college, in 3 different colleges and two different states, and 5 years in graduate school in two different universities in two different states. I was overweight for most of that time, and certainly had some MO and super MO classmates. When your weight is what bothers you the most, it's easy to say that it's the cause of other problems. Honestly, people do it all the time. But just maybe there's something else going on. Sometimes you can be so used to blaing your weight for thigns that it becomes ingrained as a cause.

Dr. J (too lazy to type out names) = Dr. Jurani. He's on their website, but I don't know if he's new or not. I think he mainly does non-WLS surgeries, and assists with RNY. He was actually really curious when I was there, was asking questions, and wanted to stick around and see what happened because it surprised him that relief would be so instant with an unfill. It was cool to see a doctor so interested in what you're experiencing.

I'll have my turn soon enough. :huggie:

Do you think you could be projecting your feelings onto other people, and attributing things to them they aren't really doing? It's something people do very frequently, and they're rarely aware of it. You've already said you feel invisible, and now you're saying tohers think you're invisible (e.g. profressors not hearing you). Do they really not hear you, or do they not give you the type of attention/response you're hoping to get? Have you tried talking with them about it?

When I first joined here I talked to some people about building an offshoot message board tht could be linked to. Only instead of "general" and "lounge", it would be "size 26", "size 20", etc. And instead of conversational posts, someone would post the clothing they had with pics, and instead of conversational replies, people could reply asking questions about the clothes or wanting to call dibs. All business happened between the poster and replyer, they just had a consolidated place to do it. Would you guys be interested in something like that? And I know at once point Alex had posted that he was considering adding a clothing swap as a board enhancement, but I don't know what happened to that idea. I can try and follow-up.

I remember going to one of the malls and seeing a store that sold those. The windows were covered with outlines of women wearing "bands" of fabric. And I vaguely remember seeing lots of black, pink, purple, white, blue... all bright colors. I was probably... well, between 10 and 13 for sure. I definitely don't feel disgustingly young. :huggie:

No, I was only 13 when they tried to pull me away from my parents and push me into the seating. I forgot to write it down. :huggie:

Uh, sorry, lots o' typos there and no energy to fix them. :huggie:

Umm... hmm... hmm hmm hmm... I've never read anything relating higher BMI to increased chances of erosion. I don't see the connection. Erosion occurs between the band and the organ wall, and I'd really think BMI is irrelevant there. The surgeon will apply a band that fits, and if it fits then it fits. As an analogy, a ring that fits fits, right? If you get too small of a ring that's when you'd expect complications like decreased blood flow. Same with the band. Your esaphogus isn't obese, so if the surgeon fits your band will, your odds of erosion should be the same as someone with a BMI of 35. I weighed 382 the day of my surgery, 370 the day of my consultation. My surgeon also does RNY. NEVER once did he even bring it up. I asked my family doctor about it and she said I would be the perfect candidate, and was thrilled that I asked her about it. (And I kow for a fact my surgeon will suggest RNY if he feels there would be any problems with LB). Be in eed of frequent fills because your weight is high? *cough*bullshit*cough*. I've had... 4 fills. It shoud have been 3, but when I went in for my first one I'd lost enough weight that he only gave me half the normal amount. Actually I just got an unfill today. The only reason I could imagine needing more fills would be IF you had a large fat padf around your organ and IF when you lost weight it was one of the areas to shrink the quickest. And even if that's the case, SO WHAT? The port is designed to be punctures TONS of times. So you need a few more fills than someone else... maybe. I wonder why he would even bring it up? If I were you, I would call him and make him vaidate those statements. I just posted this on another thread, but I hate it when "professionals" want to make statements blindly, without backing them up. Call him and ask him specifically why he says those things, where the research is, etc. Make him explain to you, specifically, what it is about your high weight that would impact whether or not the band cuts through your organ wall, or would make you need more fills (and again, so what... some people get restriction with one fill, some get it with 17... who freakin' cares, that's why it's adjustable. He sounds like a goof.