MacMadame

I think they are looking for more long-term (5 years out) studies in peer reviewed journals. And to avoid having to pay for anything they can avoid for as long as possible, of course.

He sounds like a big baby. Why does he have to talk to them? Is he then going to come back and say "but they said.." then when you counter what they said, say "well, let me check with them" and then go back and forth forever???

I'm glad to read these as, once you get to goal, it can be hard to remember why you wanted to do it in the first place. I remember having goals when I first started out such as wanting to not put my kid off every time she asks me to go to the pool with her. I did want to go back to ice skating or take up ballroom dancing but later on I changed that goal to doing an Ironman. :thumbup1: It's nice to be able to tie my shoes without having to sit down, too. Buying regular clothes in a regular store and looking good in them. Being off the BP meds. That was a major one for me. I hated taking the pills because of what they represented to me.

John Lomaco from Big Medicine says the laser stuff doesn't work that great compared to traditional lipo. He posted about this quite a bit on LapBandTalk, if people want to check out what he said.

Really, even losing 10 lb. is enough to make a big difference in the liver. Your liver should be fantastic with your weight loss.

I know a lot of people have stalls, but I never do. But now that I'm at the end and not really losing weight any more (at least I think I'm not), I have experienced getting smaller without the weight changing. I think it's my loose skin being reabsorbed back into my body combined with my strength training building muscle.

I've had a open gallbladder and two c-sections. This was the easiest by far.

I agree with everyone else... go for it! As for band vs. sleeve, I think that's something you have to take on a case-by-case basis. Some 18 year olds just aren't mature enough for bariatric surgery so having a band means you can take it out and wait until they are older to try again. But, like Steve said, it probably also means a re-operation later on down the line. It's something to talk about with the doctor and your daughter, for sure! Oh and check out this guy.... he's the son of a guy I used to work with. He's 18 and just got a band and is documenting his journey. Your daughter may find watching someone her age go through the process to be helpful: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jakes-Journey/92292716733?ref=search

Yes, I used LapSF. I love them! Dr. Cirangle was my surgeon. I love him too! :thumbup: I was local so my experience will be a bit different from someone coming in from out-of-town. My surgery time was at 8 am and they wanted me to check in at 6 am so we drove up the day before and stayed in a hotel. (Going over the Bay Bridge at rush hour is just too iffy... could take 45 min, could take 4 hours.) We stayed at the Cathedral Hotel, which is affiliated with the hospital in some way. We got a special rate that was very good for a downtown SF hotel. The hotel is clean, but old. It was okay. I've stayed in much worse in SF for a similar price, but if you aren't used to the prices in SF, you may be disappointed. They told us it was 6 blocks from the hospital but it was more like 18 if you walked. (There were two small streets without lights for every big street a car would notice.) We walked and were sorry. For the sleeve, the hospital stay is overnight. It generally works out to about 36 hours for most people. Then I went home. If you are from out-of-town, you go back to a hotel instead and have a follow-up before they let you go home. I had my follow-up visit at 3 weeks and I go to most of the support meetings in San Jose and all my follow-up appointments. I had one follow-up appointment over the phone and that was fine. I've definitely seen Dr. C more than the schedule says too. Plus once I had to call the emergency line and it was answered right away by Dr. C. (I think Dr. C and Dr. J take turns with it.) I've used the nutritionist once and the counselor zero times. Dr. C is my surgeon. I picked him because he had done more sleeves than Dr. Jossart. Also, I went to the seminar where he was the surgeon and instantly hit it off with him. I liked his attitude and approach to bariatric surgery. He's definitely a no-nonsense kind of guy and can be blunt. Some people don't like that. They prefer Dr. J who they describe as more of a teddy bear. I prefer blunt though. Dr. C pushes me to do more than I think I can and I like that. I picked LapSF because of their excellent reputation. As a self-pay, I wanted to minimize my chance of complications and their stats are top-notch. I also wanted someone local, if at all possible. Also, their prices are completely reasonable for self-pay for this area. Finally, they get results. Their sleeve patients lose as much as their bypass patients and regain is less with the sleeve than with the bypass. Their overall results (with all surgery types) is better than national averages as well. If you have insurance, though, they do charge a program fee. This includes two years of after-care including unlimited access to their counselor and nutritionist. Most insurance companies won't pay for that, hence the fee. But not everyone is okay with paying an extra $5000-8000 on top of co-pays when they have insurance!

And slipping into your fat-brain was because you were unfilled. Don't beat yourself up for needing a band.... we all need WLS or we wouldn't be here!

Some people just withdraw. I think that can be okay, if they do it in a way that works for the other partner. But if they do it like an ex-boyfriend of mine -- why you are talking to me when I want to be quiet? You're insensitive! -- then it's not okay. It's not okay to blame the other person for not being a slave to your moods.

You have to go to my profile. Look up MacMadame on there and in my profile will have some blog posts. I have saved all the links to all these posts because otherwise you can never find them. The search over there SUCKS! (I don't have time to get a direct link right now because I'm at work and they get mad if they catch me on here during work hours.) You can send PMs to people by clicking on their name in a post. A drop-down menu comes up and one of the choices is "Send a private message to <their name>"

You need to talk to your doctor... intense, unexplained pain can be so many things. But, if it makes you feel better, your heart is actually more on the left side of your body. Also, it's normal to lose anywhere from .5 to 2 lb. a DAY when you are on liquids.

No one ever hits on me, fat or thin. :sneaky2:

Weird. I do heat it for 3 minutes, but 1.5 should probably be fine.

If you don't get a lot of responses here, I have a post on my ObesityHelp.com profile that has links to people's "surgiversary" reports that are at least 1 year out. There are plenty of 2 year reports you can look through. If they don't talk about hunger directly, then maybe you can PM the person and just ask....

Wow, it never ends for you, doesn't it? Hang in there!

My advice is to get as close as you can to that BMI one way or another... Make sure your height gets measured as short as possible and your weight as high as possible. A little slouching when they measure the height and heavy clothes, drink lots of Water, eat before your appoinment, etc. and you could get up there. The closer you are, the better off you will be, if you have to appeal.

What temp was the water? I get mine pretty hot and it always dissolves pretty well.

I don't like coffee but some of my friends that do make "protein coffee" for breakfast in the morning. They add cold water to a protein powder and add that sludge into their coffee instead of creamer. It's supposed to be pretty good. I've done it for Hot Chocolate and it works, but I like my ready-made protein hot chocolate better.

I wear short sleeve even though I have a lot of wrinkled skin in that area. But I have too much loose skin to wear sleeveless. I get this lip of skin that hangs over the shirt. It's disconcerting because it's not something you normally see. Wrinkled arms, I've seen before on really old people. I don't like having the arms of a 70 year old (even if it's a very buff 70 year old), but I can live with that. These weird flappy things? Not so much.

coffee can be hard on the tummy early out. Caffeine can be a diuretic. It can also be an appetite stimulant. In my program they say to wait on caffeinated drinks until you have already consumed 64 oz. of non-caffeinated fluids that day.

Time. We lose fast and the skin needs time to catch up. My weight isn't changing on the scale much any more but every day I'm smaller due to shrinking of my skin.

Here are two booklets that are online from other centers. They may be helpful: http://www.hopkinsbayview.org/bariatrics/docs/nutrition_sleeve.pdf http://www.cornellweightlosssurgery.org/pdf/dietary_guidelines_sleeve_gastrectomy.pdf

I make mine so they foam on purpose. :biggrin: I think they taste better that way. I've never had a problem with the foam, btw. I also have done this with the blender, the Magic Bullet and an immersion (stick) blender. They all add air so they all add foam. As others have said, some powders foam more than others.