Wheetsin

When I was a kid my parents had an ice cream maker and I would sneak handfuls of rock salt. We lived by our neighborhood's baseball fields and I'd go sit in the bleachers, watch games, and snack on rock salt like it was popcorn. My parents were worried so they took me to the doc and he's the one I heard about it from. It made sense, because I never really drank milk and have hardly touched it since I was about 8... and wasn't much on yogurt, cheese, etc. either. He told my parents to give me 1200mg calcium a day. About 4 days later the salt cravings went away. Too bad the admiration for cheeses came in its place.

Cravings like that can come from dietary deficiencies. Calcium is one that is thought to trigger a salt craving. I see you're fairly newly banded - are you keeping up with your multivitamin, calcium, etc?

Completely amazing. Nebulae are, IMO, probably the single-most beautiful thing we can see today.

I swear like a sailor. Not in professional settings, but at home and a little more frequently around children than I probably should. It's hard when you don't have any children around you, you don't even think twice about it. As for made up words, more ruralites where I live will use phrases like "Dag blasted." A friend's family considers "fart" a bad word so they have to say "toot" instead. My mother tried to make my father quit swearing around me, so he started saying "Jumpin-gee-hossefat". A friend of my husband's taught his kids to play off a swear word, like they're saying something else. For example, his little boy will say, "Oh shit...ake mushroom!"

Welcome to the rest of your life. :clap2:

We're in the same boat! DH's family is in Sweden are we're scheduled to visit later this year. All I know for sure is it's physically impossible (as in, basic physics) for any elevation change to put more saline in the band. All it can do is make the saline already in there take up more or less space. How people feel after flying - totally different subject. I've sent the highlights of the discussion to DH to pass along.

Here's the document: Product data sheet Page five, left column, about halfway down. It also states "It is designed to permanently restrict food intake." (page 4, left column). Inamed may intend for the band to be more behavioral modification device, per "Patients who elect to have this surgery must make the committment to accept significant and permanent changes in their eating habits." (page 4 left column). It's a little ambiguous. Is the band intended permanently to reduce food intake, or temporarily to change eating behavior. There's a lot of room for interpretation, at least in that particular document.

You know - that's an aspect I hadn't thought of -- difference in environmental atmospheres between your destination and your departure locations. Of course that would impact (in "kicking myself", not in "you dummy" kind of way). Maybe that's what happens? The flight itself will let your 1cc take up more than 1cc in your band, then you land somewhere with higher altitude than you live and that 1cc never reduces quite back to normal until you're back home. I haven't seen literature on this, do you know of any? This def. has me wanting to figure it out.

It was in an Inamed publication. I don't remember exactly which one. It was linked to on this board re: diameter of stoma during fills. Search around that topic, I'm sure you'll find it.

Ok, I'm thinking about this way too much. I'm definitely an analyzer. :rolleyes When you take something underwater, e.g. the pressure is greater, it contracts. You can fill a balloon with air, take it diving with you, and it will look empty because the gases have been compressed. When you surface with the same balloon, it's exactly as full as it was before, because there's no change to the amount of gases in the balloon, just how much space they take. This is why if a diver ever has to ascend rapidly, they need to exhale the entire way - otherwise the air in their lungs will expand and basically their lungs will explode like an over-filled balloon (so much for what you see in all those Bond movies!) The higher up you go, the less pressure (called atmospheres) is put on you. Planes have to pressurize their cabins equivalent to the natural pressure at 8,000 feet. Mt. Everest is just over 29,000 feet, so we're talking over 1/4 of the way up Everest. That's significantly less pressure than we're used to. At less pressure, the saline in the band would expand. So I could def. understand more restriction during a plane. But once you land, the saline should return to normal (actually it would happen slowly as you descend), just like the air in the balloon returns to normal when you ascend. There's no way flying in a plane givse you more fill. It's impossible. All it can do is let the fill take up more volume... but as pressure is added, the volume would decrease. Def. going to have to run this one by all of DH's physicist friends and see what's missing...

They can and will. Even for "minor" surgeries, like when my husband had his wisdom teeth cut out, the terms of his release included someone physically there to pick him up. I don't think you'd be in any condition to drive anyway. Narcotic medications, pain, sleepiness and fatigue... not good driving companions.

I hope to be here some day. I just wanted to say that I think this post is a fantastic idea. I have nearly 200# to lose, and it adds a measure of comfort to see that it is indeed possible. Great idea!

Spiders. Failure. Losing loved ones.

Hmm... I asked my surgeon and he said flying would not effect the band. Pressure decreases in a plane, but they do pressurize it... not sure why that would have any impact. Once you land I'd think everything would normalize. It would be possible under the right circumstances for the Fluid to expand, but I wouldn't think it'd be an issue after grounding. I contacted Inamed about pressure effects on the band way before my surgery, because DH and I are avid scuba divers, and they assured me that under normal diving conditions there would be no problem...granted that's adding and not subtracting atmospheres. Hmm... sorry, I was thinking out loud, but it's an issue that interests me (I fly frequently, and dive frequently). Here's something I found from an older post:

I'm using the orange flavored Centrum chewable. It's ok, I can take it or leave it. I considered the Centrum liquid but it had 5g carbs per dose, and this had 0 so I took it. I'd love a different option, but for now it works. I can't think of the calcium brand I use... Caltrate or something like that. It's chewable. Kind of like gigantic Tums, comes in 3 flavors to the bottle that aren't great, but better than the Centrum.

I made my Protein drink a little more palatable lastnight. In fact, it really was downright good. I had been adding Isopure mix to Water. Blech. Instead I used 1.5C "Carb Countdown" fat free milk, 1.2C water, 2 scoops Isopure (50 - 52gm Protein), 1tbl "Carb Options" Peanut Butter. Whiz it all together. The peanut butter does add some fat and minimal impact carbs, but it's better than not getting in my protein. B/c of the added fat I've decided to make this recipe last 2 days, so each day I have half which is about 25g Protein. For the rest of my protein I will use the pre-mixed drinks that are lower in fat. I can't wait to try the "Orange Julius" recipe, but I can't do citrus just yet. Maybe some strawberry puree instead.

You know, I hear a lot of people saying the band is meant to be permanent. I certainly went into my surgery assuming it would be, barring complications, so I was surprised to read recently in an INAMED publication: Patients should be advised not to consider their implants lifetime devices.

You're like an onion. Take off the few outer layers and there's not much difference. Get closer to the core and take off a layer, and dang - that's one small onion! I don't know that it's up to him. He should be talking with you about this, what you want to weigh, why, what's realisitc for your build, etc. It should be a conversation, not him writing a prescription for your weight.

I guess it has to be taken in context. Reading what you wrote, I wouldn't be offended at all. My friends and I joke like all the time. Are you sure she meant something negative by it? If so, then talk to her about it. Best of luck!

Most doctors put you on a pre-op diet, for different lengths of time, and consisting of different foods. My surgeon had a 2 day pre-op diet of clear, sugar free liquids including popsicles, juices, Jell-O, etc. I've heard of pre-op diets as much as a month out, and I've heard of them being much more relaxed. The pre-op diet is mostly for your liver. The liver stores sugars (long story short), and rests on the area where they're putting the band. By depleting the sugars from your diet, your liver will expunge and decrease in size, allowing easier & safer access to put the band in place. Then there's a phased post-op diet. Mine was liquids for 4 days, then cream Soups & yogurt until day 7. Weeks 2 & 3 (where I am now) are mushies, including canned fruits, canned tuna or chicken w/ mayo, deli chicken or turkey, cottage cheese, refriend Beans, tofu, etc.

I'll be 2 weeks banded this Thursday. I'm going to say this past weekend was the first time I truly felt up to par. I could certainly get around, work, sleep, etc. before then, but could only say I was 90% or so. Saturday I felt back to myself, but a little tired. Breaking it out a little more, I had surgery on a Wed and the first three days really hurt to get out of my chair, any kind of sitting up, but I could walk. Day 4 or 5 I noticed I could do stairs w/o it hurting. A day or so later it no longer hurt to walk. Now bumps in the road don't hurt. It's like each day, I realize something else that doesn't hurt anymore.

Congratulations! I had hoped I would be approved, but didn't want to count on it. I'd already told DH to get the checkbook ready, just in case. Apparently it was four days from when my letter was submitted to when I had received written confirmation of pre-approval from my ins. co. My total cost for surgery was... hmmm... $20 copy for my consultation, and $20 copay to the hospital. $40. Unless you want to count the $20 copy for my pre-op physical. I was thrilled, and we saved a ton of money (my surgeon's cost near $30,000 and I would have kept the same surgeon) that we would otherwise have paid.

Keep in mind that the more you gain now, the more you have to lose then. I was "dieting" during my entire research phase. I figured - it was a headstart in case I didn't go with the band. After I had my date set, I ate pretty much whatever I wanted. I guess my advice would be - don't count on the band being the end-all cure. With the band you still have to diet, even more strictly (IMSE) than without, because you will have strict diet phases that have to be obeyed in order for you to heal... and even after you're healed, there are bound to be some foods you just won't tolerate very well. Keep yourself as healthy as you can, especially if you're unhealthy (comorbs) now.

If you can eat mushies, here's what I'm living on right now: Rosarita Chile & Lime refried Beans. MMMMM! I can't stand regular refried beans, but these are SO good. A few dashes of tabasco & I'm good! Cottage cheese Tuna w/ mayo. Albacore, the kind you get in a pouch. Yummy, comes in a 4 oz size, and the meat is dense enough that you can actually chew it up. Campbell's Select in "Blended Red Pepper and Black Bean". MMM! I can also do deli chicken & turkey, tofu, etc. -- just haven't added them into my diet yet. I'm still only eating 2 or 3 oz food per day, and there just aren't enough meals to accomodate my available selections yet. I can't wait until I can do real chicken & get a chicken bol w/ beans & pureed hot salsa from Chipotle, and add my own lowfat sour cream to moisten it up.

I told everyone. I told them back when I was just thinking about it. IMO I had nothing to hide, and am not terribly concerned about any resulting disapproval (WLS would be the least of my worries in this area). I've not been banded through the holidays yet. I did go out to eat with DH & my parents when we were visiting them, and I just ordered a small Soup and a bowl of cottage cheese. Knowing my friends & family, they will make a point to have at least a few dishes that are WLS-friendly. Even if I'd wanted to not tell people, I couldn't have. For one, it's just not me to lie (or "withhold" the truth)... whatever which way you look at it. There's no way I'd have surgery w/o telling at least my closest family - we just aren't like that. As for outside of my family, my friends & co-workers would want to know why I wasn't going out to eat lunch with them, did I feel ok b/c I wasn't eating very much, and if something got stuck I'd rather them understand what was happening and "act normal" than be concerned that I was sick. I just never have seen any reason to hide this. I'm not ashamed, or concerned about others' reactions.