MacMadame

I just noticed your post bbypokins. Have you considered seeing Dr. Jossart instead? I've heard he's a "teddy bear" and a lot of people who don't like Cirangle, like him a lot. (I assume you paid some sort of fee for follow-up care and possibly aren't using it because of your dislike of Dr. Cirangle?) Personally, I like Dr. C. so much I had him do my sleeve, but our personalities do mesh. You do need to see someone that you can related to because bariatric surgery is not like having your gallbladder out. The relationship is important. If you don't mesh with Dr. C, you need to find someone else or risk being less successful with your band.

Welcome to LBT, colinandme!

My recommendation is to find another surgeon. The 10% weight loss requirement is not supported by data. It's arbitrary and, for many people, unnecessary. There are plenty of good surgeons who don't require it and would be very happy with your 16 lb. loss.

What did the error message say?

I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I tried to get my family to eat whole wheat spaghetti and we all thought it tasted horrible. What brand do you use? If I can find a tasty one, maybe I will succeed in my quest.

I'm on the liquid diet and would kill for some scrambled eggs and cottage cheese.

You need to call your doctor ASAP. That is not normal and it sounds really serious.

Yeah, in some ways they should be giving you a discount for being a guinea pig, not charging more. :tongue2: My surgeon charges $14000-ish for a lap band and I live in one of the most expensive parts of the country. $20k seems entirely too high to me too.

When I was researching the band, I came across the story of someone who lost 100 pounds and never had a fill. She had enough restriction without one.

The NIH guidelines say BMI of 40 or above with no co-morbidities. Most insurance companies follow the NIH guidelines on this. So I think you qualify. (standard "all insurance companies are different" disclaimer goes here.)

Well, those are good choices. You need to do what it takes to be successful. But you probably know that already. :tongue2:

Don't forget to check out the Mens-only forum on here. Lots of guys there. :tongue2:

I noticed no one answered you on this one. You might want to try again in the Post-Op forum. Sometimes the Intro forum doesn't get a lot of traffic from the experienced bandsters.

Starbucks has insurance that covers WLS. I don't know your area so I can't give other companies, but you did say you had retail experience, and that's retail. You're probably over-qualified for them though.

That's great that insurance is paying!

Did you post this on the NJ forum? You might get more of an answer there.

Good luck to you!

My surgeon's office quoted separate fees too. I was adding up like crazy trying to figure out which package to do with. I'm not good at arithmetic in my head so it was a strain. :tongue2: I don't know anything about the single incision version of the surgery. It does sound intriguing.

I noticed you didn't get any answers. I know there are people doing that program on LBT. Maybe if you posted in the General Support forum you'd catch their attention??

That's weird. I was totally stressed and no one said Boo to me about it. What does your surgeon say about the whole thing?

I would tell the ones who determine your work duties that you've had abdominal surgery and you are not allowed to lift anything for a while. You should easily be able to get a doctor's note to that effect.

You should tell them. Let them be excited for you even if they don't quite get it. Plus, I bet your mom understand more than you think. She's lived it.

You need to educate them. Tell them about all the studies that show once you are over 50 lb. overweight, diet and exercise don't work, and that obese people have more ghrelin than normal people. I have tons of links to news articles about how diets don't work and I bore everyone to death who tells me I can do it on my own by quoting from them. Some people will never be convinced. But some can be and the more you have on your side, the better off you will be. Here are some of the links if you want some education: Ghrelin, Appetite & Weight Control Bye-bye BMI? Better way to measure obesity - Fitness - MSNBC.com BBC NEWS | Health | Obesity 'may be largely genetic' Brain Scans Hint at Why We Overeat Weight Loss: Fact and Fiction Let the post-diet era begin - The Boston Globe http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1208731674-OtndlOvb+jZyYLdZ8Yv8jg The Hunger Hormone, Controlling Ghrelin May Be Key To Curing Obesity - CBS News http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_64338.html Thin people might be fat on the inside - Fitness - MSNBC.com Yes, we're fat, but what do we do about it? - National - theage.com.au Study: Fat people cheaper to treat - USATODAY.com CNN.com - Obesity linked to virus, new experiments suggest - July 28, 2000 A Sweet Tooth in Your Intestine? - Diabetes Health Ghrelin Researchers Examine A Possible Link Between Bacteria Found In The Human Digestive System And Obesity Surgery will do more than education to fix the obesity epidemic - Opinion http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_he_me/med_healthy_obesity 'There is no cure for your obesity' Low Levels of Brain Chemical May Lead to Obesity, NIH Study of Rare Disorder Shows Obesity Surgery Is Called Cost-Effective - WSJ.com How Weight Loss Surgery Can Change Your Life - Weight Loss Surgery: Long-Term Results http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/health/16brod.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1221808518-QvFIgN5kXgwa7pJny+UQAw They are kind of all mixed up in there. Sorry about that. One of these days, I need to organize them.

I hate baseball. It's incredibly boring. Softball too. Naturally Mini-Mac loves softball and is actually quite good at it. I really have trouble convincing myself to go to her games. Me too. I'm trying to get in more water (I'm short today. Well, I'm short every day, but today I'm short on fluids.) and surfing the net.

Sounds like Acid Reflux to me. A PPI will help -- talk to your doctor to see which one he recommends or if he has a different idea of what it is.