Dody

Too funny, and I believed it until the end...well perhaps the ending isn't that far off

After all the postponements, etc. I HAVE A SURGERY DATE FOR JULY 18. Dody

Congrats on your great accomplishment. You are a great inspiration. Dody

As many of you know this last mo. has been pretty horrible. My surgery was supposed to be June 5 and anesthesioloy found a bruit in my neck and I had to see my dr. who ordered a Doppler ultrasound which showed blockage. I then saw a specialist who ordered another test where they insert dye into your arm and do a scan. Lo and behold I had little to no blockage. It was the thick tendons in my neck that is the problem. I knew I had a hard head, but little did I know the tendons were involved I also tore the medial meniscus in my knee and am having surgery on that on July 6 or 7. I am making the final arrangements tomorrow. Everyone is going out of their way to see that everything will be done in 3 weeks. I am so much more relieved now then I was a mo. ago when my surgery got cancelled, but I am ever so glad I had to jump through all the hoops I did before surgery as I have some medical problems that needed attention and I needed my surgery done in the states. Vanderbilt here I come......:success1: Dody

My wake-up call came 5 years ago by way of a 5-way-bypass...Heck of a wake up call. I haven't touched cigarettes since that day. Dody

As most of you know I was scheduled to have my lapbanding surgery on June 5 and it got derailed when they found a bruit in my neck. From there the mo. has been hectic. The next day I saw my family dr. who arranged a Doppler ultrasound at Methodist Hospital, and that came back saying 60-79% blockage. My surgery was cancelled immediately. I was so bummed, but also knew I had to deal with the problem at hand. It took 2 weeks to get an appt. with an excellent vascular surgeon who wanted another test where they inject dye in your arm and then scan you. The test came out fine. It appears the tendons in my neck were too big to get an accurate reading on the Doppler and the blockage was not much at all, and certainly would not keep me from getting the band. What a relief!! Then I had to wait for the vascular surgeon's office to fax the test to Vanderbilt and they called me to re-schedule. My surgery date is July 18. What a trip this has been. I still have the torn meniscus I have to have surgery on, but I think it is going to have to wait till this surgery is over, as the orthopedic surgeon is very busy too. They are going to call me if they can get me in. Praise to God. Everything has worked out. God Bless, Dody

It's nice to hear a dr. say that "his boss is the same as mine". Who could ask for anything more? Again, welcome.

I love country and always have. George Strait is my absolute favorite country singer. However, I do like to listen to Fuel, Savage Garden and Journey on occasion. I also love Michael Bolton and love his new CD with all of Sinatra's old hits. I love Barry Manilow's voice and think it is one of the best all time voices there is, so I guess you could say I just plain like good music of any genre.

Wow, that must have been a horrible experience for you...the surgery and then waking up and not having the band. My Mom had CHF and I know her kidneys had to work extra hard, and I know it puts the other organs in jeopardy, but I don't know about enlargement of the liver as simply being linked to CHF. It could be you had a fatty liver from the foods that you ate for years and years. I'm so sorry for you that you had to go through this. Did you follow a pre-op diet for a week or 2 before surgery to shrink the liver? Let us know how you are doing. God Bless, Dody

I was told that aspirin (which is contained in iburprofen) is a big no-no, which presents a major problem for me. I am (and have to stay on Plavix) which is a blood thinner for clots. I also have to take one baby aspirin a day and will for the rest of my life. When it comes to life-threatening conditions your physician will most likely tell you that you need to take your meds, but if you are talking about just a headache Tylenol based products are definitely the best. Anything with aspirin in the ingredients is a no. It adds to fast erosion of the band (or at least they think it does, although no one really knows) and is hard on the stomach in general (could cause ulcers). I have no choice but to take mine, but I'm also on Prevecid to somewhat counteract it. If I had the choice I would not touch anything with aspirin in it, and I'm sure your dr. will tell you the same. (Mind you this is a theory that it causes erosion, just as carbonated beverages do). No one actually knows what causes it. Some of the best bandsters in the world have taken none of these products and end up with erosion. Maybe someday they will have all the answers for us. I'm signed on for a study group at Vanderbilt (if the day ever gets here I can get my band) thatis studying erosion of the band and slippage and the things that might cause it. They will talk with me (and a lot of other people who are participating) every mo. and see if anything happens if there is a common denonminator. Mr. dr. says the band is the very best they have for now, but that it still needs fine tuned and over the years will just become better and better. I'd actually prefer we could take aspirin based products over the Tylenol, which leads to a lot more liver problems, but unfortunately most dr's. rules are NO aspirin. Hope this helps. Dody

thanks for clearing that up. I thought that was the only way they did RNY anymore was laparoscopically. Glad to have you as part of the forum.

Just a quick question. What is "lap RNY"?

A friend of mine has Tricare (she is military) and they covered RNY for her but not the band. She went with the RNY, but she has been sorry ever since. She has lost a lot of weight, but has never really felt good. I don't know why they cover RNY and not the band....seems idiotic.

Every drug is not right for everyone. Lexapro seems to be working to your disadvantage. I have tried a lot of them over the course of the last 10 years and find Celexa and Cymbalta (helps with fybromyalgia terrifically) to be the best of the drugs out there. Give your dr. a call and perhaps a different med will have you feeling better in no time. God Bless, Just noticed your up-date where the dr. increased your meds. I hope this works for you, but upping my meds only made me more tired. Anti-depressants do that to me anyway. If this doesn't work, ask to have your meds changed. My daughter's sunny disposition completely disappeared on Lexapro and she was grouchy and touchy all the time. She is now on Cymbalta and loving the way she is feeling. Anything 40 mg or more is too much of an anti-depressant to take in one day. God Bless Dody

My answer is NEVER to returning to work. I spent 38 years as a nurse so I've served my time. I've raised 5 girls and managed to go through 2 husbands. I've sworn off both (the children not even being an option:) I love retirement, except that's when things start to need to be patched up. Here I am needing knee surgery, and some surgery on my carotid arteries, before I can get the banding. 5 years ago it was 5-way-bypass and my gallbladder, OH and a broken foot, but those are just the little things that happen when you get old. My spirit is young and so I shall continue on my Quest. Each and every day I wake up I thank God (even with the aches and pains) for being here and having another day with the children and grandchildren. There is not much golden about the golden years when you have health problems, but not working is sure a nice thing. I imagine the younger people spring back much faster and go back to work faster than us old folks do anyway. They seem to do great, but I know quite a few oldies but goodies that are doing terrific with the band. If I could change anything about my life I might just change my weight without needing surgery (not going to happen) and some of the rheumatism, but aside from that I'm still here and kicking and consider myself one of the lucky ones. God Bless, Dody (It would be a good idea to state what type of work you go back to. There would be a huge difference before you could go back to digging ditches as opposed to a sedentary lifestyle as a secretary or librarian).

Medicare is paying for the lap-banding surgery, but doesn't pre-approve any surgeries. The dr. I'm going to have do mine has done about 300 Medicare patients with no problems in collecting from Medicare. I'm 64, but feel 84 most days. I'm hoping to be banded next mo. or so. I was supposed to be banded on June 5, but some other medical problems got in the way. Dody

I'm retired and 64 years young. I think a lot of it is based on your present health. Right now I'm going through some serious medical problems and will probably require more time to recover from the lap-band surgery (if and when I ever get the OK). I will then have had 3 surgeries withint about a mo. time and I have a feeling it is going to take me longer to recover, because one surgery is on my leg and will limit my walking for awhile. I'm keeping a very positive attitude though that I will get over these surgeries quickly and within a few mo. feel great. God Bless, Dody

Control freaks who are always right (even when they are wrong)

What a great inspiration you are. You go girl!!:clap2:

I went with a friend of mine a couple years ago to Salt Lake City as she was going to have RNY done there. The dr. there is a well known dr. famous for doing RNY. The secreatry told her that before the surgery $500.00 was due (the reason for this she said was for the following years information and support groups). My friend informed her she was 6 hrs. from Salt Lake and would be attending a support group in Idaho (which cost nothing by the way). They still insisted on collecting the $500.00, which got her absolutely nothing, but they would not do the surgery without it. She had Tri-Care and they picked up the surgery. To this day she is furious she had to pay $500.00 out of pocket that had nothing to do at all with the surgery. It seemed like kind of a scam to me, but she didn't want to ruffle feathers either and just paid it. Sorry you are going through this, but I guess it really isn't that uncommon in some dr's. practices. You could seek a new dr. perhaps. To me this was just some extra bucks in the doc's pocket for something of no use to my friend. Good Luck, Dody

One of the first times I've heard of this one, but my sugeon wants me on 7 days of Carnation Instant Breakfast (6 a day) and of course water.....it's the first time I've heard this pre-op mentioned, but I'm not questioning a man that has done perhaps a 1000 lapbands in order to qualify for a center of excellence for Medicare. Actually, I love Carnation Instant Breakfast, so should be fine. Dody

I think you gave yourself the wrong name if you intend to take all of Jack's harem away from him. You might want to give that some more consideration. He has quite a following on here. Make sure you are up to the task :eek:

I've seen cries for help before with women saying outright they can't take care of a baby. They aren't kidding. They truly can't. This is often where shaken baby syndrome originates, because a parent just can't cope for many reasons. One of these reasons could be post-partum depression. Don't put off getting involved when there is a small baby that can't speak for itself. You would never forgive yourself for it if anything happened. Speak up and call Child Protective Services. You will be doing the SIL and this baby a huge favor. God Bless, Dody

If this is the result of negligence by the doctor for misplacing the band. I would take the upper GI studies (and also ask for an endoscopy) right to a malpractice attorney and sue this dr. There are to many doctors out there just really learning this trade and have done very few bands. I found this out when investigating the band in my home state of Idaho. The only two dr's. there that did the lap-banding had only done 50 lap-bands between them. I choose not to be a guinea pig for them. I came to Tennessee for my lap-banding at Vanderbilt and am so very glad I did. I don't yet have the band but did encounter a potentially life-threatening situation that needs surgery before the banding. Thank God for a wonderful hospital like Vanderbilt. I thought I had jumped through all the right hoops, but they had more of them for me, and I'm very glad they did. I would run not walk to see the nearest attorney. You should not have gone through this. I would also find out how many lap-bands this particular dr. has done. God Bless, Dody

I never encountered this silly game that truckers play on the interstates until I came to Tennessee to see my kids. My daughter and I were on the way back from Nashville and were about 8 cars behind 2 truckers playing what my daughter called "Roadblock" (fairly common I guess). It is two semis going side by side at 40 mph and holding traffic up. I guess they keep it up until someone with a cell phone calls in a report and puts a stop to it, but that doesn't happen immediately. This went on for about 1/2 an hr. before we finally saw them pulled over. Playing cars in semis and cars is dangerous business....this is also a pet peeve of mine. Dody