Wheetsin

Ok, wait a minute... if you go to the kitchen and he sees you, he gets his ass kicked?!? That's pretty harsh! Is that like - "If I'm in the kitchen, you better look away!"?

Well, I only have to do the liquids for 2 days prior to surgery, but here are some items from the sample menu my surgeon gave me: sugar free popsicles Fruit juices (sugar free or low sugar) such as grape juice or apple juice Water, tea (decaf if possible) Reduced sodium, reduced fat broths Per his diet, it's anything transparent. A fluoroscopy doesn't (well, I'll say shouldn't, because who knows what people have run into) hurt. Long story short - you drink a barium solution, and then they take x-rays to see where the solution is. I've never known an x-ray to be painful. Unless you count the contortions they make you do in order to pose for the x-ray. :xena_banana:

In terms of pure numbers, yes - it makes perfect sense. However, our brains & bodies can easily overrise what makes sense. It makes sense that someone eating 400 calories would lose weight. But it also makes sense that our bodies reach a point of equilibrium where they've given up all they're really willing to let go of, and interpret the decrease in calories as a decrease in food availability. Think back long ago on the evoluntionary ladder when man was nomadic, and meals were few and far between. Our bodies learned to store when we can, burn when we can't, and slow the heck down when we can't store & aren't getting enough to burn. Our bodies being able to say, "Ok, 'nough is 'nough, we have to make preparations in case it's another 3, 5, 7, 9... days until we get food again" (aka "starvation mode") was critical for survival. Dangit, why can't we get past that? (and this whole facial hair thing while we're at it!) Your body can only do this for so long, or we would never see anyone die of starvation. So the good news is that if you stick with it, weight will come off. The bad news is that plateaus can last months, maybe longer. The takeaway is that the closer you can keep your calorie intake to the fine line between "eating" and "starving", the steadier & healthier your loss will be.

What do you need an answer to? Anything someone outside of Indiana can help you with? Unless it's a local doctor issue or something, there isn't much that's regionally specific about banding.

But as much as "you get more nooky if you lose weight" might incite a man, it's a heck of a bummer for the girl/guy on the other end! That would never work in our house. "Oh, you didn't lose weight? That's OK, it's the thought that counts!" And we'd end up with the scenario of - why buy the cow if I can get the milk for free.

Ironically, with a different haircut and outfit, I think he would look just like one of my old college English professors!

Ok, so I'm a big fat liar too. I can't even remember the last time I was a virgin. I just have to quote Something About Mary, it has such classic lines: "The last time I had a pap smear, the guy needed leather gloves and an oyster shucker." That just kills me. I met DH on a trip I took to Europe. Between when I met him, and when he moved here, 4 years elapsed... at some point during which we decided we'd be in a committed relationship, yada yada. Made for some REALLY lonely nights, and I mean "Ooh, these tight jeans giving me camel toe feel pretty damn good!" kind of lonely. So when we'd finally manage a visit, after not seeing each other for 2, 4, 6 months, we'd let loose. It was then, after smuggling in some sexual contraban, and half scared but half hoping the cute European customs guys would pick my bags to inspect, that I learned "edible" is such an overstatement. Oh and in case I failed to mention, yes - my bags were inspected in the customs line. And the edibles were the tamest thing I had packed. I have no shame. Word to the wise? Plug-in *ahem* accessories that are designed to run on American current really go haywire when plugged into European outlet convertors if you've forgotten to also plug in the current convertor. You'd think that after plugging my hair dryer in, only to have it blow with about 250 HP, and have the heating element instantly start to glow red hot (no exaggeration), I'd have learned my lesson. But nope, I learned the hard (but incredibly satisfying!) way that this is true for all pluggy in type devices.

I'm a born again virgin.

Oh, the other thing I should (or rather, "will") mention about Curves is how freaking annoying/gimicky they are. I'm sure someone out there falls for this stuff, but they really just got on my nerves. It started with the obligatory, "So are you ready to stop thinking & start doing?" and never really ended. "Oh, you lost 9 pounds. That's SOOO great! Ring the bell, grab a bottle of Water and spin it, and then you and the other person get to go up and grab a prize!" "You want me to play spin-the-bottle with sweaty post-menopausal women?" "No, well - yes, no... well, I want you to have fun!" "I don't want to ring the bell." "Oh, come on! Don't you want a prize?" "Not really, I just want to workout so I can go home." "Well, don't you want to win a great prize for someone else?" "I thought this was about me?" "Well we're all ONE BIG COMMUNITY here!" Uhhh it was murder until they finally learned I wasn't really there for the half-hearted pep rallies and (de)motivational coaching.

My surgery is in about a month. I've really been investing in thoughts about everything that will change. I did this before my decision, for about 4 years before, but now that it's that much closer to home, the thoughts are that much more present. If I had to rank the required behavioral changes that concern me the most, my #1 is -- of all things -- drinking w/ meals, and sipping. I drink A LOT of Water with my meals. Usually more than 64oz per meal. And none of this "take a drink, put it down, take a drink..." crap. I CHUG. If I'm thirsty, I'll drain a 32 oz glass without thinking twice. The only time I've gone drinkless during a meal was when I was too lazy to get up and get one, and then I just obsessed about it. I already went and bought those sippy cups for toddlers, to use post-op, to try and help with this. What was your most difficult behavior to change?

Ok, since we're all up in that... I'm not banded yet and we've become that much more amorous. DH says it's the fact that I'm doing what I need to be more healthy - it has taken some concern off his chest, and makes it that much easier to relax. But we're a pretty amorous couple anyway, so is there any difference - maybe not yet, but we'll see in a few more weeks after I'm banded & healed. BTW, just so you guys don't go thinking he's a gentleman or anything like that, in the next breath he says "his" goal for me is that he wants to be able to see my heeheedilly when I bend over, instead of just seeing my thighs all the way up. :kiss

Hehe, cute name. Like DeLarla, my DH also calls me "DaMama" when talking to the dogs. Ok, to be honest - when we baby talk the dogs everything is pluralized, so I'm actually "DaMamas". Peggy - it's pretty self-explanatory once you figure out some basics. Post starts a new message, reply tacks a message on to something else.

Tell him that his belly is getting in the way of being able to eh... play his flute, and you might have to give up the music lessons. I bet the pounds fly off! My DH is 6'5 and has settled in with a nice pot belly & love handles at 250. I love every inch of him. He went on semi-Atkins for 2 months and dropped down to 220, which is pretty lean for him. At 220 he's in a 36 waist pant. There's just something about low carb and guys. I was part of an Atkins messageboard for the full 16 mos that I followed the program, and I can tell you that every single guy on there lost an amazing amount of weight, most of them lost well over 100# within a year. Now if he's a yo-yo dieter, maybe not the right solution. But if this is his first try, and he has the willpower to keep the equilibrium once he can shed some pounds, it could be a good option for him to try. To show him he can lose weight, if nothing else.

So - take the question in the light it's meant, but seriously -- you guys have some of the biggest collar bones I've ever seen. And that's not just LB, that's DS, RNY, etc. They're way more protrusive than others I know who have lost the same weight through diet & exercise. Between the neck & breastbone, everyone looks like they're about 15# below goal. :biggrin1:

Hey, that's nothing! You should have seen me about 30 mins before that picture was taken, cruising around 120 ft. underwater, sucking down Nitrox. THAT would be a good avatar! But not nearly as good as the wetsuit/mardi gras combo!

roggie, do you live in America? Did I read right that you're in Louisianna? What money does your wife have to pay taxes to Norway for? What is her residency status? My husband is not an American citizen, he too is from Scandinavia, but he is a permanent legal resident. He has a SSN and pays regular federal & state taxes (and cannot vote - what happened to taxation without representation?! Oh yeah - that's just for citizens! ). My husband does not owe any money to his home country, other than his student loan payments, but since he maintains original citizenship he is still eligible to vote - they send him a proxy ballot. Also - please explain more about the LLC. I work full time, but I also own my own business which is an LLC. My coverage through my employer is taking care of my surgery, but you've peaked my curiosity -- how does the LLC save the money? Do you just mean deductions through providing your own insurance?

Yep, they're basically saying they will only approve lap-band if there is some physical reason why you cannot get gastric bypass, e.g. a birth defect that would make gastric bypass impossible, but banding an option. Odd, I have UHC and they covered gastric bypass & lap-band equally when I first called them to ask. They're one of the more band=friendly carriers out there.

Are you in Kansas City? Corporate, as in 4400 Main St.?

You're supposed to start drinking w/ meals at 6 weeks? I haven't had my dietician appt. yet but I thought that was a long term no-no...? I want your doctor. I don't know if this will help anyone here or not, but a good friend had RNY. She had the same problems with chewing enough. She was supposed to chew 30 times, but found that by chew 6 or 7, the food was sort of making its own way down her throat (when I've "practiced" chewing to mush, I've found the same thing). So when she gets her food, before she touches a single bite, she cuts everything up into tiny, tiny pieces, just larger than minced. On top of that, she chews well. Between the two, there's not much chance for anything too big to get in her pouch, and she's had a BIG decrease in things getting stuck.

Here's what I did. I started at my current employer in June. When it came time to pick my carrier, I "circled" those that I knew had covered some type of WLS procedure before. Then I asked to see their SPDs, and read each one to see who had WLS exclusions and who did not. This brought me down to 4 choices. Of these 4, I went with the one that had covered the most WLS procedures in my geographic area. It just so happened to be the same carrier I had at my previous company, and I love 'em. Once I knew which carrier I was going to have, I talked with my employer's HR area to ask if they had any policy exclusions, as mentioned above. They told me that they offered the po;icy at face-value, ala did not deny anything the policy included. After I was approved (apparently w/ no requirements other than high BMI) I called my HR area again, and told them I had received a letter of pre-approval, but the letter said that my coverage "may or may not" cover the WLS. I asked them if my coverage would or not. Their reply was that the letter must have been a form letter, because they do not dis-allow anything that the SPD allows for. BTW, here's word on the street, so to speak. I've heard this both from a good friend who is a doctor, and from my personal doctor. Insurance companies got a lot tigheter about WLS this year, and are expected to get even tighter before the year is over. Why? They're realizing that it does not make financial sense for them to cover the cost of the procedure. Yes, it is cheaper than medications & treatments for comorbs in the long run, but "in the long run" is the key phrase, and the average subscriber does not stay with the same company for "the long run". Too many people changing jobs, changing providers, etc. I didn't have any problems with my coverage. In fact, I didn't have to submit a diet history or have one single test outside of my physical. I don't have significant comorbs. My blood levels are in check. Blood pressure is spot on. No diabetes. No hypertension, etc. My company still pre-approved me within a week. BTW - do check with your employer. My employer is within the top 35 of the Fortune 500, employees who knows how many people, and did not exclude anything from the carrier's policy. Doh, I forgot! I have UHC EPO.

You have lost 83# in 2.5 months?!? That's frippin' amazing! Congratulations!

Hi desertmom, it's the same difference as I posted to you earlier. Endoscopy is the "technique" for how they see inside you. Upper GI is where they look. An endoscopy is done by running a thin, flexible tube with a camera & light on the end (called an endoscope, which is why any procedure done with this tool, regardless of where it's done at, is referred to as "endoscopy") down your throat, to whever they're needing to see... roughly, the esophogus & duodenum parts of the gastrointestinal system.

Hmm a stalemate.

It is the same thing. Gastroscopy = upper gastrointerstinal endoscopy. Gastroscopy is the specific procedure. Endoscope is the tool, so endoscopy would be anything done with the tool. Gastroscopy indicates where the endoscopy is being done.