elkhunter_65

You must have been morbid or had co-morbid conditions in the first place for a surgeon to do the procedure in the first place...right? That should be grounds for medical necessity. I would persue this. I am lucky my insurance and employer has been very good to me.

Good job. You are having great progress. I am probably one or two days away from beginning with a 2 for the first time in 5 years!. I m so excited.

Just got insurance approved yesterday, Getting the band put in March 3rd. It has been a 6 month process and my wife is 4 months behind me.. I didn't have to do a supervised weight loss program. I did find out that I have sleep apnea and have been on CPAP for 3 months. I really sleep good now. I am stoked about being thin and healthy again. I was in the Air Force for 14 years and got out 10 years ago and put on 150 pounds!. I don't have a hard number goal but want to lose a lot. I'll take it one pound at a time. I am glad there is such a large support group here. I look forward to chatting with you all.

19 days post procedure and 25.1 pounds lighter! I haven't been hungry hardly at all and my stomach pains from the hernia repairs are much better. I am sooooooo glad I did this. I get my 1st fill in two weeks. I realize that the weight loss will slow down to 2 to 3 pounds a week once I get in my rhythm, but it is sure exciting for now.:wink2::thumbup::wink2:

That black stuff is probably blood. I hope you are OK.

I had the squirts pretty bad. Liquid in liquid out. Now I am on mushies I have been having better bm's. You gotta remember that you will be taking in about 1/4 of the food you used to so you should be dropping the deuce about 1/4 as much.

Are you eating too soon before bed? Maybe you had too many liquids right before bed. I found that I would regurgitate some stomach contents if I ate within 30 minutes of bed (including drinking liquids)

Hang in there. I think I'm ,losing so fast because I ate so poorly before. You are still healing and are off to a great start, Hey at least you are not gaining. I'm sure if you keep up on the proteins and water it will kick in. Keep your chin up!

Chocolate milk out the back side for three weeks now. It has "firmed up" some what now that I am on mushies. You are in for one hell of a ride. Use mylanta to help with the gas pains. Mine were horrible!

Not only would you want to get it checked by the doctor, but that kind of documentation would help you justify getting the loose kin removed and have insurance pay for it. Correct me if I am wrong, I don't think insurance will pay for excess skin removal unless it is medically necessary. Having this documented in your records will help you. I hope you get some immediate relief.

I heard a good one . might have been here on LBT. "Those who judge don't matter, Those who matter don't judge" Just thought that sounded good

After the Doc OK's it I would be sure to get up and walk the aisles often. That is a long flight and you don't want blood clot issues. Have fun

You need a new boyfriend!. Please don't do this for him do it for you, he doesn't deserve you. What happens when he is fat and bald? are you gonna treat him like he has a disease? I don't think so. I get so pissed when I hear about men like that. I met my wife 20 years ago, I was very thin then (175) she was a 2-3X gal back then . I fell in love with her. I know it sounds corny but love is on the inside. We have been married 19 years as of last month. I now am a plus,plus size (not for long I hope) she never looked at me any differently when I put on 150 pounds over 20 years. She is in the approval process for Gastric bypass so we can take this journey together. Please for your sake, find someone who loves you for who you are and don't settle for what you can get.

Thanks. Its going pretty good for me thus far. I have gas pains and am figuring that out and my hernia repair pain is subsiding.

I am still in a lot of pain but I think it is because I had 11 hernias repaired at the same time. The band itself I don't believe is causing me much pain at all. I also have severe knee arthritis knee pain that I live with ............I'm a mess!

I have been experiencing a lot of painful gas. I have been getting relief from mylanta but I still wish this weren't a side effect. I have been walking and that helps. Laying on my left side also helps. I am still 100% confident I made the right life choice. Just think about never having to ask for a seat belt extender on a plane ever again. That's what motivates me. I travel on business a lot!. Go ahead and get the procedure done.

Congrats! Got any Before and 100 pound pics?

32 pounds in one week is not only extremely dangerous but I would think nearly impossible!

Hey another North-Westerner! I was banded last week and have lost 7 pounds. I was up and down for the first few days and expected that. I was not and am not infatuated with the scale. I think of banding like a tattoo, you don't see what the finished product is going to be like until the swelling goes down and your body accepts the change.. I struggled with gas, lots of gas in my stomach/intestines. I have gotten some relief with mylanta. Laying on my side helps a lot to pass the air. I have a tremendous amount of additional pain from the abdominal hernias that my doctor repaired (11 total) I have had two huge surgeries prior to this, I had 10 inches of my sigmoid colon removed due to diverticulitis and a year later I had an incisinal hernia repaired due to the surgery the year prior. That didn't go too well. I got a staph infection and was hospitalized for 11 days and almost died! I had a bunch of abdominal wall damage and had cadaver skin sewn in place to hold things together. Well now as a result I had a lot of hernias on my abdomen. I spent 5 hours on the table last Monday getting those fixed along with the Lap-Band. I still have a lot of pain with my abdomen but the lap-band part of it is going pretty good. I have been eating yogurt, protein drinks, water (crystal lite) , creamed soups, juice etc. I have one more week of liquids then I get to have mashed potatoes!. I'll be home from work for at least one wore week maybe two. I look forward to chatting with you

Banded 5 days ago 03/03/08, I would feel "normal" if it weren't for the painful bloating. I'll sit on the pot thinking I will get rid of the whole load (hope this is not too much info) and it will only dribble and spew a blurp of gas. The rest of the gas ball kind of gurgles and goes elsewhere in my belly. If I could just let a good one rip I would feel SOOOOOO much better! My eating is going great. I made an excell spreadsheet checklist I keep on the kitchen cabinets to track my proteins, water , vitamins, fat etc. I haven't been hungry at all yet!

:cursing:got my band Monday 3/3/8. What Hell I am going through. I had some serious hernias (11 total) from a previous abdominal surgery in 2004 (I had diverticulitis and had 10 inches of my large intestine removed) and a botched hernia repair the following year(2005) because of the strained incision. I got a staph infection and almost died I even had Cadaver skin grafted in place to help hold my stomach together.. I went into this banding procedure knowing that I would have to get the hernias repaired. My Doctor- Patterson -spent 4 hours applying the kevlar mesh to the inside of my stomach wall and separating the intestines from the mess of scar tissue. I spent about 4 1/2 hours on the table. I am so sore! I wondered if I had done the right thing but I guess my hernias were pretty severe. I have been doing well on the liquids and protein drinks also liquid calcium and liquid multi-vitamins. It is hard getting 3 litres of water in a day when you are sipping little by little. I have been able to keep my pain manageable and have been getting plenty of rest the last couple of days. I am just now feeling like I did the right thing. Pain sucks. this pic is some of the bruising from the hernia repairs. The big scar above the belly button is from the open suction wound healing resulting from the staph infection. It was already there. Doc Patterson did a huge repair on my stomach and I appreciate it. Now that I'll be losing weight it will pay off.

I am seeing Dr.Emma patterson at Legacy Obesity Institute at Legacy Good samaritin. I like the way I have been treated thus far.

It's not just weight. If you have co-morbid conditions like diabetes or heart condition or sleep apnea due to the weight an your BMI is below the threshold, my Insurance (blue Cross) allowed my wife to proceed with a BMI of 36. The cutoff for me was 40 or higher you were in the club. I am higher than 40 BMI so It didn't matter if I had a co-morbid condition. did that make sense?

I grew up in Gunnison but now live in Oregon. I wish I were back in Colorado!