Wheetsin

If you guys were willing to expand the forums offered, giving some of the stickied threads their own forums would be nice - e.g. "Turtles", "BI over 50", etc. A sticky is nice, because it gives us something to go back to, but sometimes it's hard to keep up with the 12 different conversations that are going on, and people's questions will be easily lost.

I've heard papaya enzyme (chewed one when I was in the early PB stages and it did nothing). I've heard meat tenderizer in warm Water (didn't want to try it - yuck) I've heard warm water b/c apparently it helps you open up (tried it and it just gave me that much more to bring up) I've heard Peanut Butter because it "lubes" things (didn't try it b/c I can't imagine that being true, at least not for me) Nothing worked for me other than some good old wretching and "presentation" of the food. Def. wasn't puking though. Too little amount, no acid... just looked like chewed food and saliva.

I've only PBed once, and it took me two times. After the first time I thought it was better, the pain had lightened up, but I still didn't feel right. Pain came back about 10 minutes later and it was the wole routine all over again. After the second time I felt WAY better and was pretty sure I was done. Never stuck my finger down my throat -- don't think I could do that.

Great results!

I've told several people at work. I haven't told everyone because I don't talk to/know everyone... there are only a few people on my floor, and I don't know many people on the other floors, but my department knows (my department is virtual so I'm in MO, my boss is in IL, and my peers are in FL, CO, NY, NJ...) Ends up one of the ladies in NJ had been looking into RNY b/c she couldn't find anyone to ask questions about LB to, so now she's been calling me about 4x a week. The family I've seen in the last 2 years knows, and my in-laws (live in another country) know. I don't go around blindly offering the information, only because I don't go around blindly offering any information. If someone asked how I'd lost the weight, I'd tell them. It wouldn't bother me at all. No one has reacted negatively. My grandmother (74) at first asked, "Can't you lose weight another way?" but this came from a family friend who had a horrible, horrible experience with LB. Once I explained to her how our two situations were different, she said, "Oh, then maybe I should get one of those limpband things!" She can't hear too well.

I'm going to guess ages will be 6 - 13, but we really won't know until the day of. Our time slot is an hour and a half.

Definitely look for another doctor, even just to see what your options are. Tests (excluding PAT, maybe, which you probably haven't done yet anyway) don't have to be done anywhere in particular, they just have to be done within X days of your surgery. If it were me I'd be on the phone with the hospital find ing out whether or not anything changed, when it changed, what it changed to, etc. Someone "must have" has never meant much to me, especially when it involved my money.

Dr. debated whether or not to give me a fill b/c of my weightloss so far. He asked me a lot about what I could eat, how much, if I felt hungry, etc... at first he wasn't going to give me a fill, but finally decided on giving me a small one so I got 1cc in my 4cc band. My port is located about 1 - 1.5 inches below my port incision, and to the left a bit. The fill was not what I had expected. "Painless" wasn't entirely accurate. Normally when I've had a lidocaine shot, it stings and then stops. This one stung, and just kept stinging deeper and deeper -- I could feel that he was pushing the needle down as he went (I know they do this, but it was weird to feel the needle being pushed that far into me). I also didn't get completely numb so I felt the last little bit of the saline needle between where the numbing stopped and the port face is located. Little ouchier than I had thought it would be, but nothing I couldn't handle. Soup tonight - no problem because I'm not hungry - then try some mushies and moveback up to solids as I feel comfortable/as tolerated.

Please don't be scared! I promise - it's nothing that would keep me from going back. It just wasn't what I had expected. It's no more pain that a lidocaine shot normally is, it's just that for me, it kept going and going. Robin - we have similar weightloss trends. I've *always* lost a bunch up front, then hit looong plateaus after. Even on WW I lost about 20# in my first week. A lot of people seem to lose weight steadily, so that they see a difference each week. Not me, and I'd much rather have it the other way. On Atkins, which was when I last lost significant weight (120#) I'd go weeks with nothing, then the scale would show 9# lost overnight, then nothing for 2 weeks, then 2#, then nothing, then over the next 3 days I'd total 17#... Once I stalled for 4 months (I weighed 315 in March and said I'd give myself until July 4 to be anywhere under 300). Didn't lose a pound come July. Gave up on the scale. Got it back out in September and was about 298. Got it out a week later and was about 290. And BTW you were right about him having to palpitate. It took him at least two or three minutes to decide he'd found the right place, then it felt like he marked it with a pen, went to the counter, came back with the needles and had at it. I'm supposed to call Billy in 3 weeks and check-in with her re: to fill or not to fill. It was reassuring that he took so much time to really think over whether or not to fill me!

You will lose a "chunk" of Water weight in the beginning, two main factors for this (IMO) -- not being able to drink enough & going into slight dehydration and 2) onset of ketosis from SF pre-op, liquid post, etc. and ketosis causes cells to release water (really long story made short there) From my experience, all the experiences of friends, of people in the "low-carb" online community, etc. this initial loss genearlly ranges from 2 - 20 lbs. After that initial loss, the good stuff starts! By my home scale I've lost 52# (last weighed on Tue last week) and I'm in my 6th week post-op. I lost 32# in my first week, the VAST majority of which was water -- I could see that in my skin. When I went in for a fill Wed my surgeon told me that loss was very atypical, and they generally see 8 - 15 lb losses after the first five weeks, and that so far the 1 - 2 lb loss seems to be true for longer-term post-op.

It's doesn't dehydrate me, I love the lemonade, but artifical sweetners will slow/stall my weightloss. I learned this when on Atkins. It's a common phenomenon, esp. whem combined with a low-carb diet.

I didn't gain any weight, but my weightloss did "stall" as I got more daring with my solids. By my home scale I lost about 52# between surgery and first fill (was on Wed), but in the last week or two prior to my fill my scale didn't budge.

This is my limited understanding as it applied to the general insurance world. If the employer has specifically excluded the coverage, then there is nothing to appeal unless you wanted to write a letter of appeal to the employer asking them to consider changing their coverage for you, which they won't, because it's something they do to reduce premiums. Appealing to the insurance company does nothing because it's not something the employer has purchased. That would be like if you bought a base model car from a dealer, then complained to the manufacturer that your car didn't have a sunroof. IMO there's nothing to hire an attorney for. It's 100% up to an employer what coverages they want to purchase and what they don't. There's also no discrimination in it - what coverages an employer opts to purchase is 100% that employer's business. Not choosing to buy WLS coverage isn't discrimination against the overweight anymore than a $50 copay is discrimination against people who don't have $50. They aren't doing it specifically to treat you any differently... there's no discriminatory intent there. Some employers have incurance policies that exclude x-rays, but they aren't discriminating against people with bones. Not good news, I know - but when the denial comes b/c it's an employer exclusion, there's not a lot of room to play with. If the insurance company denies you, you have a lot more room and substance for appeal.

The insides of a sandwich. Any kind of fish. Soups. Check out breakgast menus = eggs, oatmeal, lean meats of they offer them. Etc.

I don't know what your stats are, but at my surgery weight I had nearly 200 lbs to lose before hitting goal. The more weight you have to lose, the higher the chance it will come off a little more quickly. If you think of it in terms of layers, or even percentages, it makes perfect sense. Trust me, I'd trade a slower rate of loss for a lighter starting weight any day. Bummer about your reschedule. I'm not a patient person - that would be a very hard dela for me to deal with...

I attribute it to two things. The first thing is that I'm a BIG Water drinker, and was not drinking much at all right after surgery. So I went from 160 - 180 oz water per day, to maybe 20. I could drink it, I just didn't want to. I'm sure a lot of that initial loss was water weight. I know it was, because I could see it in my skin. The second thing is that my appetite never returned. Sure, I get hungry, but had just enough restriction from the band to help me feel full quicker, and managed during the last 5ish weeks to hang on to my willpower enough that I could take a few bites, ask if I was still hungry, get an honest answer, and go from there. Once I started eating slowly and really paying attention to whether or not I still felt truly hungry, I was amazed at how little food it took to not be hungry. Not full, just no longer hungry. Sometimes it was only a bite or two. During my entire first week post-op I consumed about 600 calories. I'm paying for it now, the scale hasn't budged in about 2 weeks.

I had food stuck about 3 days post-op. It did not stay stuck for long because I PBed it up after about 45 minutes. Sorry I can't help more. Does it feel like maybe you're just sore from having something stuck, or does it definitely feel like it's still there? Maybe a sip of cold water, so you can tell whether or not it goes through? (you'll feel the cold in your stomach) I don't know... wait for others who've maybe been stuck for hours & hours that might have some different advice.

Hi Babs, do you have any pics of your before/after?

I'm faaaaaaaaaaaaar from goal, but pretty sure I will require PS if I'm to look like I'm not melting. My trouble area, methinks, will definitely be my stomach/pannus (hopefully not requiring pannus red. TT), upper thighs, and upper arms. Not worried about the boobs. The stomach and thighs - go for it. The upper arms -- as MUCH as I'm looking forward to wearing tanktops, not so sure... that brachioplasty scar is nasty stuff...

That's amazing, you should be very proud of your accomplishment! :clap2:

I'm craving carbonation. Weird, huh? Not any particular drink or flavor, just the bubbles...

What does Campbell's do when they sell alphabet soup to countries that don't use our alphabet?

I've been thinking about Botox, honestly. Not because I have problems now, but preventatively. They're really starting to encourage that in people my age. The rationale being, you can tell where wrinkles are likely to form, so if we Botox now, before the wrinkles can set in, you'll never get wrinkly. How much did it hurt? More sting than say a shot of lidocaine?

Oops, found the thread and it looks like they're already working on one. (BTW, I only know this stuff b/c DH and I run three messageboards... I admin one and moderate the other two) :scared:

I'll look into it. Earlier I saw an area for suggestions/improvements... maybe the admin posted that. I'll have a look and see what we can figure out to do. :scared: