Wheetsin

Everyone I personally know had to have at least 3 visits with Sabapathy. A few people needed more. Christinapereze, I would suggest Dr. Malley. I've never met him, but I know a handful of people who were banded by him and they're very fond of his practice & methods. And from what I've been told he does MX fills.

Keep in mind that the "per week" guideline is a long-term average, not a week-by-week expectation. I went 6 months last year losing about 3 lbs the entire time, and very very rarely do I see a week-by-week change on the scale, but my long term weightloss average is still about 7lbs/wk.

Skip the Gas-X, people don't realize Gas-X is for intestinal gas. Post-op gas is from them filling your abdominal cavity with gas to make things easier for the surgery. It's not gas that is inside your intestinal tract or the result of something you ate, which is what Gas-X is designed for. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/792743-post2.html

Down about 185 lbs (no, that's not a typo, I was that fat!), about 40 left to go.

Oh oh oh! Kind of like "ADHD" which should be more like "MPDGMEA" (My Parents Don't Give Me Enough Attention). :redface: Just throw some drugs at them, they'll calm down, so it must be some kind of actual disorder. (Sorry, yes, I think we blame an awful lot on "things" that could probably be boiled down to remiss, lazy, inexperienced, etc. parenting). But I don't want this to turn into a throw down of people who disagree, so I'll just add the standard disclaimer that the above is my opinion only, and worth exactly what you're paying for it.

This doesn't even make sense to me. If one shot + 30 seconds didn't get you drink before the band, it shouldn't get you drunk after. Nothing about the absorption of our anatomy has changed. The alcohol still hits everything it hit before, still has to go through everything it went through, etc. The shot rule is often true for people with malabsorptive procedures (e.g. RNY), who are often told they will be able to tolerate a thimble of alcohol at most (because their absorption is all outta whack). But for us, especially with liquids, it should be as though nothing is changed at all. I can tell you that the shot + 30 seconds isn't a rule, absolutely not, because it doesn't apply to me. I've never been drunk before or after band (I've drank, just never get drunk) but I've had shots. And I've had large/strong drinks. So it would stand to reason that if it changed because of the band, it would have changed with me, but is has not. (BTW, not arguing, just trying to make sense of this. I think it might be one of the BS things our surgeons tell us to help their numbers and promote better choices... kind of like the diet that we don't need to be on because of our bands, but it helps us lose weight quicker... alcohol is going to be comparable to a milkshake in that regard).

After 9/11 my husband was laid off. It took him exactly 1 month to have another job offer, but that month REALLY sucked. For my husband, his desirability to employers is a huge ego driver, and with what he does and his experience he usually has potential employers pursuing him, trying to lure him away from his current job. It was new to him to have to compete, and the thought of having to do an interview, vs. getting a cold offer... that was virtually uthinkable. This all really got to him, really really, and very quickly, and situational depression kicked in. Within 4 days he was "giving up" and not even looking at jobs. I'd call him from work to see what he was doing and he would have just woken up, or be playing a stupid computer game. Did you look at new Monster postings? No? Why not? (I don't take crap so I updated his resume and sent them out for him). Ah well. I don't know much about the automotive industry, but I know that my father (jet/helicopter mechanic chief) loved getting guys with auto mechanic history. For a while he was a line manager at a local airline and would also look for "generic" mecahnic backgrounds with some specialized training (A&P license). Has your husband considering pursuing something like that, which might land him a different type of job, but in the same general field of mechanics? With my husband, I told him not to freak out if he didn't get his dream job in a year, but that I would give him 3 months to look. After 3 months, if he didn't have anything, he was going to be a door greeter at Wal-Mart, even if he had to do it nights so he could interview in the day, because I wasn't going to work while he schlepped around the house not even trying to bring money in. So - tell him to get his ass out there and get *A* job, because that's better than *NO* job, even if it's not *THE* job.

They would have if it hadn't been deserted. :redface:

I dont' know, which do you think is more annoying? This Sentence is. THIS SENTENCE IS. this sentence is This sentence is. So yeah, I guess give me something that's text-based any day...

Surely there's more than one surgeon to select from, and one of them is a network provider...?

Going to move this to the TX board since you're specifically looking for people from there. You might get more attention to your thread that way.

God am I admitting this? I've weighed my head before, just being silly. I put it in a produce scale at the grocery store.

The band doesn't change the alcohol's potency, and we aren't steeply affected like people with malabsorptive procedures are. Just thinking in terms of logic here, maybe there's some difference because you're probably going to have less food in your stomach with the band than without... most people find alcohol is the same for the pre-op as post-op.

I think US self-pay prices start around 10k, give or take 2k. There's someone in Colorado who seems to be the cheapest, they're maybe 8k-9k (don't remember). Actually one of the ads on the right side just flickered $6,750, mylapbandsurgery.com.

Largest/most painful incision will be the port 99.999% of the time. The extra soreness comes from stitching it in. They don't do the same disruption at the other sites, hence not as much pain. My port incision is about an inch and a half below my bra line, on the right side of my body, just slightly off center. The port itself is a bit lower and farther to the right.

Tilapia is my favorite. Any whitefish should be similarly mild: cod, pollock, haddock, hake, etc. Catfish is fairly mild too. Swordfish, and shark is fairly milkd (I can't stand fishy flavors or smells, e.g. salmon.)

Don't be afraid of sleeveless dresses. It doesn't mean you have to go with bare arms. A pashmina, shawl, wrap, cropped cardigan, etc. all can work and cover up the arms.

Well, what made you think that the smart start would be the healthiest? Was it advertised as the healthiest or something? (I don't know, I don't watch much tv).

I hated Curves. Aside from being a medicore workout at best (let's face it, resistance machines aren't ideal for everyone, especially when you're taller than the target audience). I was self-conscious having to be in a circle with not much to look at other than other people. I hated having to deal with the crotch/butt sweat from the person who used the machine right before me. The music was lame, the little pep rally activities were lame, etc. Can you tell I'm not a fan? That being said, I don't kno what auqafit is, but could it be worse? Sounds like Water aerobics, and I would do those in a heartbeat if I could find ap lace near me that offered classes.

Yeah, they really should have provided verbiage in the denial (which both you and your surgeon's office should have received) that explained why, but this doesn't always happen, unfortunately. Even though they're our policies and we pay for them, it's not unusual (as happened in my case) that the surgeons' office learned of my approval before I did.

I have one of the UHC PPOs and I needed a BMI 35+ with 2+ comorbidities or BMI 40+ (very standard). That was it.

Just call them and ask, it doesn't have to come from your doctor's office.

They owe you an explanation. Find the reason for denial and go forward from there.

The band does not stretch. Stretched pouches that are diagnosed tend to be linked to overeating.

I don't understand how "loving" parents can let their kids run to hell and back. With today being like it is, how does it not scare the crap out of you? Tell you what, I won't even address the kids running around after hours, vandalism, etc. I'll narrow it down to stores (more confined spaces). How can parents be ok with just knowing their kid might be in the store, somewhere? I can't tell you how many times I've seen parents shoo their kids away so they can gossip with someone they ran into (the two of them now blocking the freaking aisle with their carts, btw). So the kids start trying to beat each other with loaves of bread, or they go to the toy area and trash the place, or they're trying to play hide & seek in the furniture department. I can't tell you how many times I've hit, or come very close to hitting, kids in stores because they're running around like banshees, not watching where they're going, and I turn an apparently clear corner... and then mom wants to get mad at me for "running her kid over" with my shopping cart. How are you in a store the size of the stores we have today, not know where your kids are (I'm not talking about teenagers, I'm talking 3 and 4 y/o), and BE OK WITH THAT? That just doesn't register to me