MacMadame

cosmos, you make it sound like researching band surgeons is some sort of mysterious process full of secret signs and handshakes. It really isn't. There are plenty of places where real people post their real experiences on the web. You can also ask the coordinators of the various surgeons some questions. You can go to support groups and talk to patients in person. You can ask the surgeon for references. I did that for surgeons in my area on my insurance plan. I discovered fairly quickly by searching LBT that there is one entire group that has unhappy customers and a high infection rate. Another surgeon is a pompous ass, a good surgeon, but does what works for him, not what you want. Another one has placed less than 100 bands. Etc. Etc. There were a few surgeons I couldn't really get a read on and a few surgeons who were consistently raved about and had good stats. So I'm sticking to the ones I can get a good read on and that don't have problems that pop up online on a regular basis. Maybe one of those surgeons people say bad things about is actually fantastic and I'm missing out by not going to them. But it's unlikely if you hear consistent stories from a variety of sources about a particular surgeon or office that they are all lies and, besides, why take a chance with your health. Yes, it's true that every surgeon has patients with complications. But if you have a choice, why knowingly pick a surgeon who has many more complications than the others? Or one who won't give you their stats? Or one whose references won't call you back? As for screaming to the heavens that people should avoid Mexico if they value their health, it's not logical. If I had a bad experience with a band surgeon in my area and came on here screaming "Don't get banded in California!" people would laugh their asses off at me and I wouldn't blame them. It would be different if you were screaming "Avoid Arturo Rodriguez -- he almost killed me" because that's telling people about your experience. It's not condemning every doctor in an entire country based on your experience with one doctor.

Me either. Pout. (Not really. I am not into collecting "Friends".)

You misread me, I think. I am looking at costs of one insurance vs. another. I know the sleeve is a little more than a band, but that's not my big issue. My big issue is that I don't want to change my insurance. The one I have works really well for me and the one I have to switch to isn't a good choice for me overall, but will cover a band. So is it worth it to switch in the long run? That's what I'm struggling with. If it's not worth it and I have to pay myself, then I'm going to get what I want when I want it. I can't see saving a few thousand and not getting what I want when I'm spending 8 to 20 thou. (depending on where I go and what I get). That's just not my approach to money. But if I decide to stick with insurance, I have limitations. My best guestimate is that even with insurance, I will still be out-of-pocket $4200 this next year. I can lower the damages by using a FSA for that amount. But if I'm going to spend $4200 and then have higher out-of-pocket expenses every year for years, why not spend $8000 and get my band in Oct. when I want it without having to do a 6 month diet and other things that I find to be silly? Or get a sleeve if that is what I want? This is how my mind works... I know other people have a different approach to finances and for some people $4000 is a lot of money to be saving. But for me, it's about not having to pay much at all vs. paying a lot but getting exactly what I want.

I keep going back and forth. Plus I did a spreadsheet and if I switch insurance my out of pocket expenses will be double what they are now. If I don't switch, I have to self-pay and if I self-pay, then a sleeve seems like a better deal as I don't have to worry about erosion or slippage and having to pay again to take it out. But if I switch, the band will be paid for 90% after my deductible is met. They also made some changes in the plan this year but won't post the Plan Summaries with all the exclusions. Man, this insurance stuff is so complicated and unpleasant!

My HOA has a pool. I was the Pool Chair for a year and on the Board for two. I don't believe sunblock really clogs up the filter. We never had that problem. The holes in the filter are much bigger than sunblock! Now hair, people throwing trash in the pool, etc., yes, those messed up our filter. OTOH, when someone slathered with sunscreen jumps in the pool and it's not a water-proof kind, it does make the Water kind of slimy for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the real reason behind the sunblock ban. :thumbs_up:

The last time I visited the Oregon Coast, my son accidentally fell into the ocean.

:frown: I forgot to say that most days I use my car as a blow dryer. :thumbs_up:

I was re-reading their policy statement and this time I interpreted the text differently. It says something about "no weight loss reported at 3 years" and I first interpreted that as "no one had maintained their weight loss at 3 years" but I read it again and this time I interpreted it as "no study has reported on weight loss at the 3 year mark". It's very confusing because the way they worded it really can be interpreted both ways. I'm guessing the meant the later though. Why can't these medical people just say what they mean! :thumbs_up:

Welcome back, WasA. I'm glad everything went well for you!

I hate this woman at work. She's a useless waste of space.

I started with hairs like that and now I can grow a little chin beard if I want to. I have thought about getting them waxed but I can't wait for them to grow out long enough. It means I'd have to have chin hairs for a few days that everyone can see. I'm thinking about laser treatments but I've heard horror stories about going to a place that doesn't know what they are doing and I have no idea how to figure out if a place knows what it's doing.

My reaction to this post was: she's grossed out by the cannibalism but not by having sex with dead bodies?! But then you came through for me. :behindsofa:

I've heard anything over 30 is wasting money because the benefits are dubious. According to About.com, sunblock is different from sunscreen. With sunblock, you have to leave it opaque and not spread it around. Did you have sunblock or sunscreen?

This is a big fear of mine. I had to have my gallbladder out with a really large incision because of how my rib cage is placed. I'm worried my ribs will also be in the way of the incisions for lap band. Now I had my gallbladder surgery open as laparoscopic wasn't readily available back then so maybe it's all irrelevant. But I still worry about it. :behindsofa:

That's actually pretty normal. Some doctors will tell you that you should only eat 1/2 cup of food but not all do and it's not really realistic. Some times you'll need more. Other times you won't. Also, earlier on you said you get hungry after 3 hours and the nutritionist I saw for my nut. eval. said that normal hunger is every 3-4 hours. (I get hungry every 1-2 hours right now without a band--not normal.) It may be that you need a bit more fill to get to the sweet spot. If you feel like you are still a prisoner of your hunger, then you probably need more restriction. Or maybe if you are eating 1.5 cups a lot instead of just occasionally. OTOH, maybe you are just being hard on yourself. :thumbup: You are losing at the rate that is promised -- slightly over a pound a week -- and not getting hungry 1 hour later. You've also spent most of this time healing and with little restriction and still managed to lose. That's pretty terrific, really. I'm very impressed! There are plenty of people on here with bands who got to goal eating .5 to 1.5 cups of food at a time, and not having a lot of foods they couldn't eat. I would rather be like that and lose slower than be one of the people so restricted that I'm burping up food and sliming all the time and can't eat a bite of bread if I'm in the mood. But this is what is so great about the lap band .... we get to control how it works! If you think a little more restriction would make your life easier, you can try it out and see how it works. If you want to be able to eat most things, you can keep your restriction to the minimum. There are also some who choose to be very restricted so they get the maximum weight loss. This isn't for me, but maybe it's for you. But I really don't think you are dong anything wrong and a 10 lb. weight loss in 8 weeks definitely doesn't suck.

No, I'm a software engineer. My pink highlights are more fushia so they are kind of purple. But after a while they tend to go red which is why I'm growing them out. The blue I have my eye on is Punk Rock Blue, not Old Lady Brigade Blue. :party: My hairdresser says it will fade fast but that's okay. As soon as if fades, I'll go back to pink. :party: I bet cannibals don't have any trouble getting enough protein. I think most of them just went to bed.

Don't listen to me. I think my mind is going. I was posting late at night and must have gotten mixed up with some other surgery. It is not even physically possible to pull it up through the mouth because the stomach they cut away is outside the new stomach! :biggrin: I realized that this morning after a good night's sleep.

Well, I'm growing out my pink because I'm bored. I think I'll do blue next.

I don't think the dye my hairdresser uses stinks. I only get highlights though. I decided my gray hair needed company. So I gave it some pink because pink and silver go well together. :tongue2:

Okay, now you are making me doubt myself. I guess I'll have to go watch that video again! Hey, I had the same thought the first time I watched one of these videos. The other thing is, I'm not that grossed out by how fat my body is. I guess I'm good at ignoring it. But when I saw all that fat inside, I thought it was disgusting and it made me even more determined to do something about my weight. Sometimes I crack myself up.

Do people go into breast enhancement surgery being told their breasts will only last 15 years though? I haven't heard that but I haven't looked into it either. The modern generation of lap bands only started being implanted in the mid-1990s. Lap bands have changed a bit since then, though not in their basic materials. Plus a lot of changes in surgery technique have been made since then. So I don't really think that anyone knows how long they will last on average. I think when people say they last 15 years, it's because we don't know if they last longer (since there just haven't been that many implanted longer than that). But not knowing if they last more than 15 years is not the same as "they only last 15 years". I really don't think doctors should be saying the later when we really don't know.

I live in jeans. I'd buy other pants but I can't get them that fit most of the time. I do try to wear nice tops and not t-shirts. I used to live in t-shirts and jeans. I own 3 dresses. Two I bought for funerals and now wear to job interviews. One is floor length and I wear it to weddings and fancy parties. But I keep stepping on the hem and it's in kind of bad shape. So I need to get another one. I don't own any skirts. Again, I can't find any that are in my size that fit comfortably. I own about 5 pairs of shoes. I wear sneakers most of the time. If I want to look dressed up, I have a pair of Danskos that look sort of like Mary Janes in style. Flat heel of course. I do have one pair of shoes I use for ballroom dancing with a 2" heel. One pair of hiking boots I never wear. One pair of sandals I wear about 3x a year. That's it. I own one purse at a time. Right now it's a black messenger bag. I had to go school to learn how to dress myself and put on makeup. Since then I pick better colors for myself and get the right styles and when I do wear makeup, I get compliments on it. But I hate to shop so I have hardly any clothes and only stuff that is easy to find and is comfortable to wear. I could use a real personal shopper. Too bad I'm not loaded because I'd totally do it if I could afford it. So that's how I rank on the girly scale.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

I went through a period where I went nuts watching lap band surgery videos online. I found them fascinating and not scary. I did watch one vertical sleeve one and that one was a bit but only because they really do cut out a big piece of the stomach and pull it up through the throat and mouth. It really depends on whether you can handle seeing guts and a slight amount of blood. Some people can't.

Sorry to burst your amateur analysis, but I'm not the least bit afraid of dying from getting a lap band. As for "shooting down" another opinion, if people post on a public forum, they are going to get their opinions and posts challenged if people don't agree with them. Please show me where I was hateful or rude? This is why I suggested going to the Complications forum. I want to know all the risks involved too. But "my cousin's mother's roommate in the hospital..." is just not helpful. The "information" has passed through too many filters and there isn't enough of it. IMO, the OP's cousin has an agenda and will continue to save up stories of Lap band horrors until she has the surgery or gives up on the idea. I could be wrong about that, but that's how the original post came across to me. Personally, I think it would be a shame to give up on a surgery that has done so much good for so many people bases on these sorts of stories.