Wheetsin

Alexandra, let me try to ask this clearly. It's more clear in my head than it will translate in text, I fear. Since your rebanding, have you ever had the same sense of satiety that you had with your first band, when you've eaten a "bandster" type meal? In other words, with surgery #2, have you struggled for some sense of restriction the entire time, or was it there at first and taper off, etc?

The longest I know is under 10 yrs. It hasn't been done that long in the US, so you'd probably have to look internationally for someone who has had it longer than 5 or so years. 2001 were the FDA trials, so that's going to be your limit stateside, unless you can find someone who left the country to have it done before it was approved here.

THis has come up among some banded girls I know IRL... let me ask, were you significantly overweight your entire life, or at least most of it? Or did you not gain until later in life? There were 3 of us in this particular conversation. One lady had been significantly overweight/obese her entire life. She didn't have a single memory of being thin, a single picture, etc. The other two had become obese later in life, maybe having bouts of chubiness as kids, growing out of them, and starting to pork out maybe around high school or college. I'm in the latter group, and for me and the other lady, we had a sense of "getting my body back" -- of "this is how I'm supposed to be, I've just been not myself lately" and of "I can't wait to be back into this size and pull it from my closet." But for the third lady, the one who only knew obesity, she was having some much harder self-concept issues. She couldn't relate to a thin body, had no past references to relate to, or hope for. For her, losing weight was much more like us as we gained - we lost our bodies, had no idea what we'd look like in the end, and longed for the way we were. In her case, she too was losing her body, but the fat body. She had no idea what she would look like thin because since being a toddler she had never been thin. And she did kind of long for her fat self in a way, because it's what she knew, and not nearly as scary as this unknown thing around the corner.

If you feel it under the port incision, but your port is placed somewhere else, it's not the port. You don't feel a lump in your arm and assume it's your eyeball, even if it's round. :glare: The port will feel kind of like a button under the skin. You may have to push semi hard to feel it, and it may be very tender when palpitated. If you're just feeling a "mass" directly under the incision - my money is on scar tissue. That's what incisions do, scar.

You're probably feeling scar tissue. The port feels kind of like a little button under the skin. Very small, very distinct shape/feel. "You know it when you feel it" kind of thing. There's nothing mass-ey about it.

For DH's eyes only, if he wanted me to, yes. In public, no. My thighs look like socks full of quarters. Add to that the baggy weightloss skin making skin folds on my inner thighs. As if that weren't enough, I'm knock-kneed. Anyone turned on yet? I also do try to be age-appropriate. I know, not always a popular notion, but it works for me. And oh yeah, the height thing. I'm just shy of 6'. A "miniskirt" would fit me like a belt.

I'd love to help you out but frankly, I'm very confused. Is the premise that this is a potential business for you, and you're wanting input from potential customers? (just got that from your follow-up, but don't get that from your original) Or is it you asking us what we do? Or you wanting our input on what you should do? Assuming it's the business thing: I take mine monthly, in the nude. So for me, hiring someone to do this is out of the question. I think the best progress pics are in the nude because clothing - even restrictive clothing - hides so much of the real transformation. Weekly is probably not going to show a difference, and quarterly might lead you to miss some of the nuances of what's happening. I'd want the date, but I'd know that, so I wouldn't want it on the picture. Id' also know the loss, which is something I'd be more comfortable tracking myself than having a "photographer" track for me. Privacy is big with me. Same with measurements, I use one of the free online services to do it for me. If I didn't have a way to get prints myself, I would probably want one print for my own records. I wouldn't necessarily want it posted to the web, and if I did, I could just scan the print. I do make composites of my loss, so that might be something I'd be interested in, but I'm not sure it's something I'd be willing to pay for (so many people offer to do it free). I always use the same location so I can see my changes related to the environment. E.g. in front of a door, and look how much less of that door I cover up. So unless you're really willing to travel far and wide for not much money, again - not sure it would be a practical service for me. Not terribly interested in a formal session, no offense, of your own accord you're not a professional photographer and if I'm going to pay/want a formal photography session, I'm going to have a professional do it. Most of us hide from the cameras for most of our lives, so when I reach the point that I'm proud to do it, it's going to be a full-blown studio event. The pricing is where this gets sticky. I would say not a lot, because it's something most of us can do for free, and probably many of us prefer to do it privately/on our own anyway. Theoretically if I were interested, then the price I would pay would depends on things like: (please don't feel the need to answer these, they're just criteria I would consider to determine the value of the service) What exactly is your experience? What technical media would you use? Do I have to travel to you, or do you come to me? What is included by default, vs. what has to be purchased additionally? Do you offer data recovery/backup if I elect to have you host my web pictures? Do you ownt he rights to the negatives or do I? Can you use my image without permission? How many years' experience do you have? How can you ensure my privacy if you're doing things like tracking my weight/dates/measurements? What if I'm not satisfied with the pictures? (i.e. refund issues)

Some of it bothers me, some does not. The Playtex commercial where the fat lady pulls a gummy bear out of her bra and eats it - that bothers me as much as anything I've seen in a movie. Sometimes I think it's funny. Sometimes I think it's tasteless. It just kind of depends on different factors. Whatever the Luke Wilson movie was where he started a fraternity - the fat kid with the brick tied to his penis, that was funny. It would have been funny if the kid was skinny. Shallow Hal - didn't find that funny, maybe because I've yet to like a Jack Black movie. The Replacements, the fat cheerleader tryout girl - thought she was funny, but it's the humor that comes from something being the antithesis of what we expect more so than her being fat. Old, uncoordinated, etc. all could have equal entertainment value for me. Honestly, take the most offensive fat moment thing, and what bothers me more is like -- Mo'Nique's movie where her and her fat friends meet the hot guys in Jamaica or whatever. It's one of those "learn to love yourself" movies. And I don't know if it's more offensive to me to watch a fat person be made fun of, or to watch someone advocating it as an OK way of life, because I don't think anyone should advocate for obese lifestyle.

Normal refers to the actual foods, not the portions. So "eating normal" basically means yu're no longer on the graduated post-op diet. When my surgeon provided "eating normal" what he really meant was - foods at your discretion, as tolerated. In other words, welcome to bandster trial-and-error. :rolleyes2: What you're able to indulge in depends 100% on what you find you can tolerate.

Rep doesn't serve a specific purpose other than, well, rep. So if it's meaningless/pointless to you, the good news is that it's just one line and easy enough to ignore. There are some boards that are fanatic about rep. Their reasoning is -- the higher someone's rep, the more likely they know their stuff, and if newbies come and see higher rep, they're more likely to really pay attention to that person (as opposed to someone with lower rep, who may be more likely to lead them astray).

Faith - Alex disabled rep a while ago. We were having hurt feelings and people being vindictive if they received negative rep. During some recent updates, Alex unintentionally turned rep back on, but only the positive rep. Since the negative rep was what had caused the fiasco previously, he decided to leave it turned on.

As a very, very strong introvert I find this thread fascinating. People are largely disposable to me. I do not have any lifelong friends. The closest would be a girl I was tight with in college, and we maybe exchange an email every 2 years. There are a select few people I need in my life. Outside of them, no one matters. My husband is the opposite. He's definitely the social butterfly, strong extrovert. On top of that, he moved to America about 10 years ago, in his 20s. So he had to leave behind his established friends. AND, if you think of where people here tend to make friends (school, growing up, clubs, etc.) he didn't really have access to that stuff anymore. I've been trying to encourage him to make friends, but he's not your typical Joe. Everyone likes him, but it's going to be hard for him to find a real friendship-type connection with someone. I try to moderate my personality in a way that will make things easier on him, and try to bit the bullet and do social things in hopes of making his life that much better, but he has his own akwardness when it comes to clicking with people. So I'm definitely keeping an eye on this thread...

BTW, this is hard for me. I was raised a plant snob, by a plant snob, but have no ways with the greenery of my own. Two plants, ever, have lived in my house. Everything else met a very quick demise. Of the two that lived, I ended up euthanizing one, and the other is still ticking along but looks really sad... very sparse. Nothing like it should look. For the longest time I wouldn't even consider a fake plant in my house. I mean - as if - right? When your mom can grow anything and make it perfect, you don't grow up with them, and they're something "those people" keep (and then you become one of "those people" and hey, they're not that bad...) I liken it to a brilliant artist friend of mine. He scoffs at me for buying prints to hang on my walls. "Why not just paint something yourself? Why pay money to hang someone else's art? There's no purity in that." When he wants a picture of the cityscape with this particular palette, he just whips it out and it's perfect. He doesn't understand that 98% of us can't do that, and that if it weren't for others' work we purchased, our walls would be decorated at best with dirty handprints, dings and scratches.

Oh, our landscaping (hardscaping, or whatever they call the permanent landscaping) is maintenance-free. To the nth degree. We have only shrubs, bushes, grasses... a small decorative tree. And all of them define their own shape, we don't even have the ones you need to really prune or shape. And when that is needed, we hire someone to do it. I'm all abut no maintenance. (annuals lifecycle lasts one growing season, so you have to keep up with them, perennials come back until they're done). I revisited Hobby Lobby an hour or so ago, picked up some fake geraniums, "spikes", etc. I still need to get more, they didn't have a huge selection. We'll see how they look in the pots, it's hard for me to visualize it looking anyting other than cheesey.

I really don't get the to-do with this thread. What's the big deal? Someone posted their experience with the band, an unfortunately negative experience. If you're concerned/paranoid that something you say or do here is being used for a book, well - hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sites like this one are perused all the time for ulterior motives. I know many people IRL who use this site, none of whom know who I am on here. So I know we have people looking through our food threads for cookbooks they hope to publish, and looking for "average" experiences to compile FAQs. I know of at least one surgeon who looked through the pictures here and downloaded a few in hopes that the people would agree to claim he was their surgeon. You don't think surgeons and/or patient coordinators, support group hosts, etc. are here to gether information for their next topics (some of which are being compiled for publishing, don't think otherwise). Even IF that's why he's here, at least he has mentioned it. Think of how many people could be lurking here unknown, copying your pictures and blod entries, etc. It's a fact of ilfe on the internet - you have to assume nothing is "safe" or confidential, and you have to assume that the entire online world reads your messages. Yeah, he probably could have presented his information a little differently. So could everyone. Yeah, he insinuated without really saying much, many people here have at some point. Maybe that's just how he communicates. Maybe he's trying to walk a thin line between "enough" and "too much" with whatever may be going on legally in his life. Maybe he reads "creepy" or "shady" or "not trustworthy". Maybe you do to someone else, too. Fact remains he's still a stranger on the Internet that you don't know, and your guesses as to what he's like are just that. So - he'll say X, Y, Z happened without posting pictures, naming hospitals, etc. Most of us have done "anonymous" things here at some point. I claim to have lost almost 180 lbs, but that doesn't mean I'm going to throw up a picture of me because some internet stranger wants "proof". He could have easily thrown up a pic of any absominal laparascopi picture and said it was him, placated a bunch of people, and no one would be the wiser. But he hasn't. If you have a SPECIFIC complaint, and I don't mean "this guy is creepy" or "getting bad vibes" -- then report the thread to us, give us your reasoning, and let us act on it. Otherwise, just take it for what it is. Not trying to defend anyone, I certainly pointed out a major inaccuracy he made already. But -- just keep things in perspective. We're all here for some reason or another.

I can recommend the Nordic Naturals brand, if you're still looking for a fish oil. I added it to my supplements about 2 months ago. I can't take capsules at all, not even the softgels. They will not clear my band, I cannot do pills/capsules/etc AT ALL. I tried this brand out of desperation - it's carried at an organic market near my work. It's not cheap, but to me it's well worth it. I can drink theirs from the bottle, no fish taste at all, just a light hint of lemon. It's the only one I could do without trying to mask it with yogurt or something. The down side - it's pretty thick, like any other oil, and it's really, really odd to have something that thick in your mouth with no real taste. I keep expecting some cherry cough syrup flavor or something when I take it. I've even considered having the pharmacy add one of the "for kids" medicine flavors, if it wouldn't compromise the oils. You taste no fishy taste at all. There is a very faint lemon flavor, like a glass of water that has a lemon wedge floating in it. Product Details - Nordic Naturals Omega 3 purified fish oil Per teaspoon: 825mg EPA 550 mg DHA That's REALLY good for being band-friendly, and not fishy tasting. Like I said, I looked at chewables, powders, etc. and most of the non-capsule options I found, that I could down without gagging, had about 150mg/serving. I could chew 18 chewables, mix in 15 packets of powder, or down 2tsp of this oil. Easy choice. :rolleyes2: If you can tolerate capsules, Prenate makes a DHA prenatal, PrenateDHA.

I've picked up some things at Target, some of their stuff fits, some of it doesn't. Generically I'm wearing an 18, but I'm also just under 6 ft so things for the legs can be a bit tricky. I'm not worried about officewear, my office goes to casual during the summer, plus I work from home most of the time anyway (bathrobe casual - yes!) But I will need some jeans/skirts/capris for summer, when I'm huge. So far the winner is penny's online, but I'd prefer to try things on before I pay for shipping, and the JCPs here don't carry above a 14 in maternity. Like fat people don't have babies.

Well, let me throw my 2 cents out there. We're clay, completely. Our builder actually scraped the top soil of all the platts before he began construction, and sold it off to topsoil providers, leaving us with literally 100% clay. As in, don't even try to plant anything once it's hot out, because the ground is *solid*. Our sod was put down on this, and almost instantly had problems because clay does not retain the moisture well enough for sod. We had to leave our sprinklers on non-stop, watching most of it run down the gutter, because anything else and the clay leeched the moisture down and the top would be dry. Even then it dried up in several places. One of the places where it did the best we went to dig up 2 years later and found it just rolled right up. Yup, after 2 years it still hadn't been able to root, it was just living off surface moisture. Fortunately this was a shady area so it could do that. Then, if anyone stepped on the clay, the sod was wrecked because the clay/foot sunk and tore/buried the sod. I could go on and on. We built our house about 10 years ago, I was working some stupid part-time job, and hubby was at his entry-level job. What we bought was all we could afford. We upgraded to the extent our pre-approval mortgage limit would allow, but we had NO money for upgrades outside of that. So anything other than the sod that came with our purchase price was out of the question. But I would go just about any route other than sod now.

I tried on some maternity capris at Target. Size 18 was snug but I could wear them. Then again, that was several weeks ago and I actually had to get smaller jeans lastnight, I've lost a size since learning I was pregnant. So maybe they'll fit nice now. But one thing I hate - I like higher-waisted pants. They hold my loose stomach skin in like a girdle. Same with undies. Hate low-rise, they make me hang out everywhere. So I like the maternity duds with the full tummy panel. Target's pants are all low rise with the wide stretch waistband. I want my pants to cover my stomach, not let it hang out. And their pants are all too short in the legs, anyway. Capris usually work generically, just hit me higher than most.

Yeah, some people just don't "get" that they're not wanted. Must really need some attention for it to be worth coming back, and back, and back, and back...

We're leaning toward passing. It's definitely a tougher decision that I thought, because when you look at passing, quality of life issues come into play. And in the case of Down's, which is what my OB focused on, a positive would need an amniocentesis for further study, which in and of itself can cause problems. Man, I thought I just got to have lots of sex...

Even 10 hours won't hurt you. But if you really need Protein, the protein Water mixes will still work. They're about the size of a tube packet of sugar. Best of luck in your travels. Airport food seems to be hit or miss in terms of band friendliness. (I tend to average 3 flights a month, so I wish it were not the case).

Our lawn was sodded and I would do it with hydroseed (the green food/seed mixture they just spray on) if I could do it over again. It would be more expensive, but I'm sure very much worth it. One of our neighbors used zoysa, fast and cheap, and nice during its short season, but he has to stay on top of it to keep it where it belongs.

I doubt they'll read it, to be honest. I doubt it would hurt anything, but I equally doubt it will make any difference.

I did not start early. RE: how chewed foods are the same as soup. Soups generally have a water consistency, perhaps a bit thicker. Chewed foods have a consistency closer to veryt hick glycerine, which is far from what surgeons will equate to a "liquid" in reference to a post-op diet. This is because saliva is not the consistency of water, even though people tend to think it is. Spit, and if what comes out looks like you're pouring from a glass of water, you need to seek medical attention. So the long story short is that soup is a very, very different (much thinner) consistency than anything chewed in your mouth. Spit a mouth full of chewed food into a glass. It's not going to "pour" like al iquid would, it's going to "lump" like oatmeal. I'm not going to say a thing about starting the diet too early, the info is out there if you want it. I'm just saying - you can't chew something and amalgamate it with saliva, and think it's the same consistency as something from Campbell's.