Wheetsin

Tijuna has it's horrible parts full of donkey shows, hookers, and dirty, half-starved kids trying to sell chiclets and marionettes - but it also has its beautiful parts. I personally wouldn't have surgery there, but that's just my personal choice. A lot of people who have gone there have absolutely raved about the facilities and level of care they received. I went through a LOT of doubt. For all 5 years that I was debating the band. What worked for me was to try and see the bigger picture. So when I would second guess whether or not this was right, I would try to just focus on the fact that THIS TIME, I was going to lose the weight AND keep it off. I'd done the former MANY times, but NEVER the latter. :huggie: I just kept telling myself, "This will be the last time!" For me, it really worked, and I felt at ease each and every time I had that thought.

Oh, you mean like "Fu** you, get out of my shop!" :huggie:

We don't. I just made an exception to the rules. For me. Regular rules apply to you. :huggie:

I kind of fit. I'm a student. And I have taught, but don't now. I can do it well, but it's not my thing. I prefer the behind the scenes work. So I'm the one who would create the materials you would use to teach. Though my professional competencies includde adult learning theories/practices, and knowing how to create effective materials, and knowing how to accomodate different populations when you instruct, etc. I also do contract work with schools to 1) revise/design their curriculum... making sure there's instructional congruence on the goal/objective/content/assessment levels and 2) guide teachers toward being more effective facilitators. An awful lot of teachers out there know their stuff, but don't know how to best convey it to a given audience. I don't cringe when I see an older profressor. I used to assume they would be more strict, but I've had too many experiences that have proven otherwise. Nothing tickles my fancy like an older person who's feisty as hell. I love the older "firecracker" types. One of the best things you can do (and it sounds like you already do it, with the activity around describing colors to blind people you mentioned in another thread) is to hit them upfront with an unexpected hook. If it's a good one, they'll be wrapped around your finger. If you can "impress" or "grab" a student from my generation or younger, you've won us over. I think with teachers, first impressions are more final than with most other people, because students are automatically judging you off their past experiences, and EVERYONE has had less than spectacular educational/learning experiences. I'm a difficult student sometimes. Not difficult, but I do push my instructors to prove their worth, so to speak. I'm not going to assume they're teaching me the right things just because they're standing there. That's my personality type, through and through. I can't respect someone just because of a title or position. I will respect them through what I see them produce or through demonstrating competencies. Few things will disengage me faster than a teacher who can't (or won't) validate something they say, and that happens a LOT. A lot of older teachers don't like this, and I completely understand that. You have to see it on a generational level. Most of the older teachers come from generations where your title earned you respect, and feedback was given once a year/semester/when you did something bad/whatever. My generation expects feedback when asked and on demand, and aren't impressed by the number of letters after your name. Side note, if you'd be interested in seeing it, I have a matrix of 4 or 5 generations that are currently in the workforce, comparing about 5 or 6 different traits. Very interesting stuff. Could you make a whole lot more money doing something else? Probably. Would you love something else as much? You seem to be a very passionate teacher, and to care for your students. Could you walk away from that and feel fulfilled? My field pays very well, and is often a place people with teaching degrees/experience try to get. And very often they fit with a little training and information on the "scientific" side of what's going on (that's part of my responsibilities, too - to get people "up to speed" who may know part of the process but mot most of it). Teachers are generally good at assessing what's going on and reading the audience. They often just need a little work around the actual science of instructional design because they're not used to designing the materials, just using them to teach (referrign to things like texts, teachers frequently have to supplement with activities, analogies, etc. of their own creation). Then again, larger companies usually silo based on duty. In that case, a lot of former or intended teachers will opt to facilitate. This is at the corporate level. Is that something you might enjoy?

Nick always cracks me up because when his hair is in shaggy mode, he looks like a hobbit. He really does. What's a unit? I don't think I've heard of them. Other than THAT unit. Were those the interchangeable pieces - the top that could also be a skirt or hair band or belt?

Graphic post ahead, you know me, don't hold anything back. Especially details. I went in for an unfill around 3:00 after 5 hours of pain and about 20 trips to the bathroom (I mean that literally). I couldn't take it any more. PBs really hurt me. I think I just got irritated & swollen to the point that my own saliva wouldn't pass through, because after the first two yaks there weren't any traces of the calcium, it was just saliva or saliva by-product. It got to where every 6 - 8 minutes I had to go yak, just from swallowing. I had a girlfriend at work drive me, and during the 15 minute drive from work to the office she had to pull over 4 times so I could leave little wet presents on the side of I-35. And then I left a present in the parking lot of the building, and 4 more presents in the bathrooms inside. New experience for me today, yakking the infamous "foam". More times than I care to think about. It really is like foam. I thought people were exaggerating. It looks just like you scooped up a handful of bath bubbles, or really dense shampoo lather. And feels just like that when it comes up. :huggie: Ironically, after my last yak in the bathroom there, I started feeling OK while waiting for the doctor. Ok like it had passed. But I still went for the unfill, because why chance it, I can always get it put back in. So YAY to the relief. But I am SO SORE. Dr. H wasn't there, but Dr. J was. First time meeting him. He was SO nice! And was trying SO hard to find the port, but it kept eluding him. He was like, "Does Dr. H normally get this on the first try?!?" I felt bad telling him "yes" because he was trying so hard. I think it was about 5 or 6 minutes of having the needle poking out & shifted around before the port came out from hiding. I felt OK at the time, but a few minutes later - OUCH. And still OUCH. But Dr. J is a rockstar! He fixed me! He took out 1cc, and I was at 3. Which I like - I assumed he'd take it all out.

I never felt this, because I always felt like people were looking at me - and I DON'T mean in a good way. I felt so fat as to be near inhuman, and when I walked in a room I just knew everyone was looking at me, amazed that anyone could get that big. I WISH I could have felt invisible. How much weight did you have to lose? Remember that a decent number of people here (myself included in that) had a LOT of weight to lose. So yeah, maybe I lost 100 lbs in 6 months, but I had 200 to lose. If you only had 80 or 90 lbs to lose, your body just isn't going to want to give it all up in the same time that my body gave up 100. Gay guys love you in the same sense as a straight guy would hit on you? I'm not following. :huggie: Well, how do you present yourself? Presentation is a lot of attraction. Have you ever seen someone walking by, and it just looks like more and more of their self-esteem is oozing out with each step? I'm not saying that's you, but take that picture compared to someone who walks with their held high, and exudes confidence, and has "presence". Regardless of physical beauty, if someone doesn't feel good, they don't look that good. Whereas if an uglier person feels great, they'll look better. A good rule, honestly, is that if you feel like people are talking about you behind your back, they probably are. Truly. These things hurt us, and take a lot of time to get over. And it's amazing ho quickly one little incident can tear down years' worth of recovery. That's human nature. People are competitive. People sometimes feel better about themselves if they can make someone else feel bad, or smaller. I dont' agree that we should necessarily band together (this is being discussed in another thread), but I can say that now, having been fat, I will never see other fat people in the same way I saw them when I was thin. Oops, sorry! Disregard my last message. I use it because - well, that's what we are. And I'm not one to get all PC about things. I don't use it in a mean spirited way It seems like most of the time you feel sad and alone. Why would you wish that on your friends? No, that's not true. I was a cute kid (don't know what happened!), and thin, and except for the first few years of my life my parents were upper-middle class. And I was NEVER perfect. It doesn't matter how "perfect" you are, there's always something wrong. When I was a normal weight kid I was teased because of my red hair. Now that I'm married I get teased because of my horrendous last name. And one of the bes tthings you can do is get that out, so continue to post, and I'll try not to say "fat" if I reply. :tape2:

How long after surgery will it be before I can pick her up? I was told 6 weeks before any heavy lifting, or anything like abdominal workouts. How long would I expect to be out of work. I was thinking 2 weeks??? I had surgery on a Wednesday, went shopping that Friday, car trip out of town Saturday, and worked Monday. I could have gone into the office Monday but one of my incisions was right where the waist on all my pants went, so I worked from home Mon & Tue, and made arrangments for dress code exception for Wed - Fri (I wore tracksuits with fabric/loose waistbands - so much better!) I'm very lucky to have great insurance that will cover all by a few hundred of the total cost. I know that to start the ball rolling I need to see my PCP to get a referral to a bariactiric surgeon. What I don't know is about how long should it take from the point I meet the surgeon to actually have the surgeory? It was a month for me, because that's how long he was booked out. How long between your consultation and surgery will probably depend most heavily on how busy your surgeon is, and how long it is before he can fit you in. And also how log your pre-op work takes to get done, because - believe me - they're not necessarily concerned with being quick. :huggie: Obviously I have to a lot to loose - well over 150lbs. I carry the majority of my weight in the belly, which is really saggy (gross, huh). Is there anything that can be done to help shrink the skin post-op while I'm loosing the weight Everyone has different opinions on this. IMO, there's really not much you can do. The condition of your skin is going to depend on a few factors: how long it has been stretched out, how much it has been stretched out, your genetic propensity for elasticity... as well as environmental factors/condition of skin, and things like whether or not you smoke. Lotions, creams, etc. can't replace the elasticity, but they can "plump". Temporarily. Kind of the opposite to losing bosdy size through wraps. A lot of people claim exercise helps, but IMO what's happening is that the exercise is building muscle mass, the muscle is adding bulk to the body, and this bulk is "filling out" the skin a little, giving the appearance that the skin is more taut. As I see it, unless you're 17, were just a little overweight, or were only overweight for a few months, your skin is going to have some degree of... deformity.

Several months before being banded. I wanted to hear what it was like from people who had it, outside of the two people I knew personally.

You can go to the postoffice and get a pre-weight, then have users calculate it based on their zip code. You can charge a flat rate, so you say "shipping is $8" and whether it's $3 or $6 they pay $8. You can use flat rate shipping, so say a box costs $8 to ship no matter how much is in it. I don't have time to go to the postoffice every time so I generally guess what it will cost me, and charge a flat rate. Sometimes I get more than it actually costs, but that's ok - by the time I get a box, packing materials, etc. it breaks even.

re your questions: re BMI 34: Obviously a typo for BMI 54 No, not obviously. Lots of people don't know what their BMI is. Sometimes they type the BMI correctly, but mistype on the weight. Sometimes vice-versa. Sometimes they really don't know their BMI and have it confused with, say, their BFP or FM. re eval to determine need, vs. eval to determine qualification: What is the difference? Psych eval to help determine need would be a session where the patient discusses their eating disorders/behaviors with the psychologist with the goal of identifying whether or not surgery is a good option. E.g. The patient might want to ask, "Do I need this?" and discuss with their therapist. It's for the patient's peace of mind, and to help them talk through their decision. It's a separate meeting from anything with a program psychologist or independent psychologist "approval" for the surgery. Eval to help determine qualification would be part of the "standard" banding procedure, where the psychologist is looking to possibly eliminate candidates who have eating disorders, personality disorders, etc. that would not be conducive to compliance with the band.

Gurgling got worse & worse and I've been in the bathroom back and forth, yacking over that damn vitamin since about 11:45. I can feel the pressure building back up so I'm not done yet. $^#%#

Wow, almost 2 months out - if you'd gone to my surgeon you wouldn't have a diet to follow. The post-op diet is gradual and specifically to facilitate healing. After you're healed it's a matter of what you can/can't tolerate, trial and error. The pain in the heart area followed by a burp is pretty normal. The pain is caused by something getting stuck in the stoma (opening where the band is) and things getting stuck HURTS. Different places for different people, but almost everyone I hear talk about it indicates it's painful. I know mine are! As for the sugar overload - no idea, but I DOUBT that's coming from the band. chocolate is, for most bandsters, an "easy" food - one of the things they know will go down if they're having a hard time.

I lost a pound or two during Thanksgiving, then seemed to go up about 3 during xmas. I think the "one bite won't hurt" was getting to me. One bite normally wouldn't hurt, but if I'm only having 20 bites that day, and 8 of them are crap... it adds up. Not sure what I think of this fill. If I don't get any tighter I'll be ok, but so far I seem to go through a really tight spell 3 - 5 weeks after the fill. Makes no sense. I just did my chewable calcium and I'm gurgling over them. Not willing to try my tuna again, just yet, because I have a meeting in 30 minutes and it's no fun to have to leave a meeting to PB.

The fill really is nothing to be worried about. I had 5 openings. The largest is where they put the port, and for me it's about an inch or two below my bra band, slightly off-center to the right. In size it is about an inch and a half long. Three of the other incisions are about an inch, and one is tiny, maybe a quarter of in inch. A lot of surgeons will place the port/largest incision on the side under the ribs.

Oh and ask for asking your surgeon, just tell her/him you'd prefer to stay. My surgeon asked me, after I'd been prepped and was waiting to go back. I remember him leaning over and asking me if I wanted to go home afterwards, and I said "Yes please."

Mine was outpatient. Started around 10, went home a little after 1. Apparently within 20 minutes (not sure of the time, that's what I've been told) of hitting recovery I was up and asking them to release me. I was glad to be home. But it's a very indivudal process. I had no pain, no gas, no complications... not the case for everyone.

Definitely too much. Consider your fill level, and consider your eating habits. One of the two is the most likely suspect.

How did you break bad habits (aside from the tricks you mentioned above)? I'm so scared I'm falling back into them and I don't want to screw this up. Hmm, tough to answer because I don't think I'm at the point where my habits are necessarily broken. I still eat when I'm not hungry, I still order things that aren't the best choice. I probably always will. I do beat it, but only on a day-to-day basis. For me beating it (because until Monday of this week, I had only loose restriction) was a factor of a few different things. One - paranoia that I will lose my band. I don't vocalize that often, and it isn't a constant, but it's there just enough to make me stop eating when I'm no longer hungry, even if I really want to eat more. Sometimes I do eat more, but 95% of the time I'm able to stop. But it's not just the paranoia. So for two, it's also -- for me, once I lose a chunk of weight, it's easy to behave because I'm seeing results and that keeps me motivated. When I'm not seeing results (plateaued, stalled, no changes in sizes, etc.) is really the only time I have a major challenge. And for three, I was fed enough with failing at weightloss efforts that I volunteered to have the first surgery of my life. That was very significant to me. So in that sense, I am propelled by the sense of "dammit, I went through a lot for this, and I'm lucky to have it, and I'm doing a huge disservice if I don't take advantage of it". But don't get me wrong - I don't "diet". I just pay a lot of attention to how much I'm eating and make myself stop when I've eaten a decent portion. Well, until this week anyway. With the restriction I have now, I'm pretty much being stopped more than stopping myself. And you know - honestly, a fourth factor is simply that PBs hurt me, A LOT, and I have a very high pain tolerance. Once you've gone through that, especially a few times, it's surprising how much you'll give up without a second thought or a moment of missing/regret. The first time I tried to eat a cheeseburger post-surgery, I couldn't chew it well enough, and it hurt. I didn't PB it, but it hurt. I've not had red meat since. What do you think are the best things you do that has helped you have so much success? Part of the "success" is just numbers. I had a lot to lose, so I lost a lot quickly. That's really slowed down to a crawl. But if I had to identify one thing, it would be listening to my body when I eat, and really paying attention to when I'm no longer hungry vs. when I'm full. Those are two completely different states. And being an overeater, "full" usually meant miserable, not even healthy full. So I start with small portions, 1 of whatever I'm having... so 1 spoon of veggies, 1 chicken tender. And I eat it slowly, and when I'm no longer feeling hungry I stop. Almost every meal I could have eaten more if I really wanted it, but stopping when I'm no longer hungry really helped me keep it in check. And the other side to that is by only taking 1 of whatever, it's pretty much impossible to start off with too much food on my plate. When you do that, "clean your plate" syndrome kicks in. And you know what? In a wweird "rpud of myself" kind of way, it's awesome to be at a restaurant and have the waitor take a plate away that still has food on it.

Firstly is completely deciding which doctor/surgeon in Mexico...More leaning towards Dr. Ortiz. You'll probably find equal kudos for either. The only way to make this decision, IMO, is talk with each and go with your gut. The other is I take several meds and use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. This shouldn't matter. Meds can still be taken, usually. Talk to the surgeon about your specific meds. And CPAP is just a mask, right? That wouldn't interfere with the band in your abdomen. And as for the surgery, I'd imagine most hospitals would be equipped to accomodate your need. Something to bring up with your surgeon. And finally, worried about constipation which unfortunately is a frequent problem, no thanks to my meds. If your meds are constipating you now, chances are you'll still be constipated when you're banded and taking your meds.

Sorry amourette, I'm not quite understand what you're saying. But I see two completely different issues. Let's see if we can clarify, because you seem quite upset. There is a chatroom. If no one is choosing to use it - what is that about? It's not really about anything, other than people not chatting. Sometimes there are chats, and very often there are not. Many times I've used it to talk to some people when we've scheduled to meet there, and no one else appears the entire time we're chatting. Actually only once in the year or so that I've been using this board has anyone been there other than the group that has planned to meet. I think it's hit or miss as to whether or not you find anyone. Is that what you're asking? What sites aren't here? LBT is the only site that should be here. If you're trying to access other sites, you'll need to use a separate URL.

Not much to be done about it, really. Esp. not by the FBI. But do read my full post. The internet is still, legally, a free information domain. Meaning people can post pretty much whatever they want about whatever they want as long as 1) They aren't selling a product backed by false claims or falsely misrepresented, 2) They do not violate existing laws. (Not that one and two are mutually exclusive). For example, pornography claimed to be from consenting adults that is actually from minors is still prosecutable. Technically all this guy has done is tell a story. All he has to do is - well, nothing. If it came down to doing something he says, "It's a joke" or "It's a parody, like the 'redneck photo album'," and that's the end of that. However, what he has done, probably unknowingly, is used a registered trademark falliciously. "Lap-Band" is not a generic term like "band", it is a registered trademark that is copyrighted by Allergan, Inc. Technically it cannot be reproduced without their permission. Had the creator of that site been smart, he would have called it "gastric banding", which is generic. But he did not. And guess what - a little birdy sent Allergan an email this morning. I'm sure they'll be less than thrilled to learn of the slander and misrepresentation going on about their product, using their copyrighted trademark. (And Carlene - no posting of physical addresses. For the sake of the board, for one, and for your own sake as well. If you do that, you're technically in violation of the UA - unless your particular source doesn't have one posted - of the domain registry service).

Check here for your BMI. http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/. (BMI of 34 is very close to plain old "overweight", and definitely nowhere near morbidly obese... wish I was there!) You have to have your psych eval before you hand your paperwork in to your insurance co? Was it an eval to help determine need, or one to help determine qualification?

I've asked for 1/4cc, but I always get 1/2. I'm trying my first go at real food today. Kind of. I'm definitely gun shy, so dinne tonight is a mix of albacore tuna, light mayo, white beans, vinegar, red onion, pepper, and parsley. I took about 2 oz and am munching on it, taking a long time between bites. I feel it, but it isn't getting stuck. But - and I kind of missed this the last few months - 3 small bites in (maune the equivalent of one normal bite) and I'm already full. If you want 1/4, make sure you stress that with him. Insist on it. I've mentioned it, that I'd like to just try 1/4 this time and see what happens, and gotten 1/2. Which ends up was fine, but still. My scale hasn't budged since like October, I'm hoping this will help end my plateau, but I'm not holding my breath.

I agree, fills now don't hurt. And if I'd heard my own numbing story before I went it, I would have been a lot more anxious than I was. But everyone kept telling me "they numb you and you won't feel a thing". Fills are truly a piece of cake.