Dody

Bucky should have been in the bottom three for sure, but Kathryn butchered that song. It was pitchy and off-key and I though she was lousy. As for Ace, at least he sang on tune, and heck I do like looking at the cutie pie. If you ever listened the second time over to Kathryn singing that song, it was horrible. I thought Bucky deserved to be gone, but Lisa is a good second choice. She will come into her own with time and training though. There was no excuse for how bad Kathryn sang though. It was a tough night for all, and there was absolutely nothing outstanding about any performance. All the wrong songs....and so many to choose from. I'm not sure Trisha, but I think the West Coast sees the show before the east coast. We get it at 7:00 p.m. and my daughter in Tennessee gets it after I do.....we are mountain time though not pacific.

Where have I been? I just discovered the South Beach Diet breakfast wraps. I love the Denver ones. I don't know why it took me so long to find these. I love the peanut butter diet protein bars. They are my favorite. I was wrong about the calorie content...they are only 210 calories a bar. Awesome in place of a meal and terrific when you crave a chocolate bar.

I've checked out this site many times as I'm a heart bypass patient. I belong to a support group and always wear my "red dress pin". Before my surgery I was drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and working around the clock to get my mind off things that had happened in my life...death of husband and mother, etc. I was a heart attack waiting to happen. That was 5 years ago and today I'm doing great. My cholesterol is 150 which is excellent, HDL good and bad are great. I eat much better than I did, but I don't get enough excercise because my feet are so sore. This is an excellent site for anyone to check out.

I've noticed my grandkids are mesmerized by video games and TV. Well when I was growing up...shows you how old I am...we didn't have TV until I was 9 years old and then it was only sporatic and black and white. I can remember I Love Lucy and Jackie Gleason...and I could go on. What I remember most is barely any overweight kids. We had PE classes at school where we actually climbed ropes, had parallel bars, vaulting horses, etc. We also all wore those silly blue bloomers that we hated, and we got weighed once a mo. also. At recess it was very organized with games like Dodge Ball, etc. There wasn't playground equipment like they have now. We had to run..play tag...hide and seek, which we also did for entertainment after school, along with hop scotch (I wonder if today's kids even know what that is). I think today's obesity is caused by all the soft drink machines available in schools and the goodies (we had none of those things...we chose between white and chocolate milk at lunch). Most of us lived within walking distance of our schools and went home for lunch, but that was the days when mom's were stay-at-home moms also. We usually had a good nutritious lunch, and if we did bring our lunch...you guessed it peanut butter and jelly (which was high in protein) I really believe it is because today's kids eat a variety of different and sometimes fattening foods and stay indoors and play video games and watch TV that this generation is where it is. This is just my two cents, but I can honestly say I didn't go to school with one single overweight kid...and that's really something. I now see kids about 12-13 that look to be 50-60 pounds or more overweight. OK, I've vented over the junk food and lack of excercise for our kids today...I feel better. I have to say I made sure my own kids were very limited with TV and we didn't have a video game until my youngest was about 12....they were pretty awful up until that time and antiques now. Wow, I am getting old!!:confused:

This is a great forum for the banded and the yet to be, and yes even those that have lost their bands for some reason or other. I have belonged for a few mo. and am still waiting to be banded. I have gleened a lot of info, almost all positive, from the people on this forum, and I'm looking forward to joining them sometime in May (at least it looks that way right now). I bet you will do great, and there is nothing you can't ask here. Good luck to you on your journey...hope to join you there soon.

I know Cathy and she lives in Boise...small world

That's a very expensive surgery for a place like Bend, Oregon to be charging. Where do they think they are...New York City? If you want to travel to Boise a deal can always be made with Dr. Anderson's office (if you are paying cash) for about $3000.00 under what he normally charges. Personally, he didn't have the experience I wanted, but I really haven't heard of anyone with any complaints. I've heard his price can be as low as $15,000 if you talk with his secretary and it is cash up front. You might want to give that a try and follow up in Bend.

Dr. Patterson does loads of Medicare patients. I would call that a very good thing for any dr. to do. She is excellent and in fact taught the doctors in Boise how to do the procedure. The woman knows her stuff!!

Ryan Seacrest and Terry Hatcher are a couple. He is 31. She is 41. BOY TOY TIME!!

Another victim for Paula? She is very interested in Ace's scar and wants the whole story "sometime". Uh oh.....another scandal? I think she really likes young guys, and especially the cute ones. Last night sucked I thought. I didn't think anyone did that great. Everyone was in their comfort zone and it was boring. I still kind of think Bucky is not destined to be there much longer. I think Ryan was definitely just teasing about Titanic songs seeing as there was only one song that came out of that movie "My Heart Will Go On". The movie wasn't filled with killer songs by any means, mostly just music. It was a joke guys!!

I've been reading your threads and keeping up with how you are doing, and I'm sorry you aren't feeling better. I think this must be quite a shock to the nervous system too. It sounds like you are getting some great advice from Kathy and a couple others who are already banded. My banding looks like it will probably happen in May, because my surgeon's appt. isn't till March 26th. The other day the nurse at my general practitioner's office told me that on Fri. she had the band in (cute young thing about 20, but very heavy) and she was back at work and feeling great by Monday. I was soooooooooo envious. I wonder why some people have it so easy and others suffer so much healing. This girl had gone to Portland, Oregon to get her surgery done and although she was just a little slow on her feet seemed to be feeling fine and joked about wanting her "Liquid Lunch". I hope I breeze through it, but I bet by the time I have mine you will be giving me support talks as I know I'll be turning to the board. I hope you heal fast and feel better fast Leener. I'll be thinking of you. I wish I was more help but I'm not banded yet. I have, however, been being treated for esophageal problems and a big ulcer the past 3 mo. and couldn't have surgery before they were gone. I don't want you stressing out and developing an ulcer over this. Just take things slow and easy. Your body is in a new learning stage. God Bless.

Why can't these doctors know if they put in too much or too little. I don't know maybe some kind of test with water and crackers to eat there or something. It doesn't seem right this happens so often. In a lot of cases people's doctors are far away. Anyone know why these docs can't get it just right. Do they need to do all fills under fluoro to make sure they aren't getting to much in. For me it would be worth the price than having to drive a long distance in a day or two to go back. This seems to be the one part of the lap banding process that isn't worked out yet.

I had a friend that had RNY years ago and died 2 weeks later of sepsis. Dr. Pleatman says "she must have had a leak"...DUH you think so!! She did have a leak around her intestines and it killed her. I'm not willing to take a chance like that. You only go around one time in life and I intend to enjoy the ride. The lap band is right for me and I know it. I don't listen to anyone that tells me any differently. I don't want the tons of sagging skin that goes along with RNY and I know I won't have that if I lose slower. I'm 5'9" and weight 259 right now and my heart is the reason for the bypass, or chances are I wouldn't qualify. I could weight 180-185 and look great, but the cardiologist wants the extra weight off for my heart. It was off until I started eating after giving up smoking...what a great switch huh? Hey PhotoNut, I lived 20 years in Mountain Home before moving to Caldwell. They didn't then, and I doubt they do now, have a McDonalds. Would you believe I've never, ever been to one. Arby's is probably my only downfall and that is always for a market fresh sandwich. I'm waiting for someone to explain if a McGriddle is like two pancakes put together with something inbetween. Once you've never been there or had one in your town I guess you really don't even think about going there. We had a Taco Johns and a Dairy Queen...that was it, and I didn't care for either.

I am not banded yet, but I think that $50.00 for a fill anywhere (if you don't have insurance) is a great deal. They are usually much more than that. I can absolutely relate to you having to travel so far. That is a long distance, but I would certainly hate to see you get too much of a fill and be back within the week to have to have an unfill. I agree with the above poster. I'm glad your first fill is free, because usually that is done under fluoro, although some dr's. use them for all fills. Let the dr. do his job and try and be less anxious. It is definitely a nuisance to have to take off work and travel long distances, but it is also better to be safe than sorry in the long run.

That is what I miss the most. I have to have my shower. So glad you thought ahead. Have a great time.

To all of you who love your band and are working with it and not against it...KUDOS!! You guys sound like you are all doing amazingly. I only hope I do half as good. Keep up the good work. I love to hear from happy bandsters.

Randy Jackson looks no different to me today than before he had whatever he had done. Whatever it is, it isn't working for him.

OK, this girl doesn't live where we do PhotoNut, because camping with the wind blowing about 35 mph and rain in the forecast doesn't do a lot for me....actually to be honest I hate camping. It is like packing up my kitchen for a couple days and then having to unpack it. Camping is a great hotel/motel with room service. That's as rough as it gets for me Hope you have fun on your camping trip.

If your band slips and doesn't fix itself (sometimes it will with an unfill and liquid diet) it is fine to be rebanded. I'm talking about people with deep erosions that have damaged the stomach walls. That is where the people at Vanderbilt say they would not reband, because there is much too much damage and danger of infection. You don't get to choose rebanding, your dr. has to think you are ready for it. If you have gone 6 or 8 mo. and an endoscopy shows complete healing it might be an option. It's one I would have to think about, but I would definitely want it before Gastric Bypass Surgery. I also think if you are not going to reband, you should not be converting failed GB patients to the band...makes no sense to me. Good Luck.

Dr. Pleatman, I appreciate all opinions I hear here on the lap band forum, but I have a very serious issue with the promotion of bypass for "everyone". I have been informed in a telephone interview with a surgeon at Vanderbilt Hospital (among the leading hospitals in the nation I think you would agree) that gastric bypass is NOT for everyone. With the risk factors I have from my5-way heart bypass surgery they would not consider it until I tried banding. Now this comes from experts, who feel the risks of gastric bypass are definitely much higher than the risks of banding which are fairly easily reversible and problems are usually able to be managed. Now, if a facility with the name of Vanderbilt tells me that at 64 I am only given the option of lap banding at this point (which is truly what I want anyway) I have to give creedence to their opinion that the gastric bypass is a dangerous proceedure. You said "Medicare would not pay for it if it was dangerous", but Medicare's stand is lap banding first for anyone over 60. There are extreme conditions like weights in the 700 lb range that constitute gastric bypass as a must to save a life, but for people 100 lbs. overweight lap banding is the preferred method, and yes I spoke to the people at Medicare to clarify this too. Medicare has also opted on behalf of Medicare patients to see that they are exclusively banded at Center Of Excellence Hospitals. At first this threw a kink in my plans as my banding was going to be at a smaller hospital in Tennessee, but after thinking it over, and after being referred to Vanderbilt (which will be a 3 hour drive) I understand Medicare's stand on this. They want people on Medicare at a hospital that provides the very best of everything and the very best in both gastric bypass and lap banding (which doesn't include doctor's that have done perhaps 100 lap band or gastric bypass procedures) but experts in the field of both. They are also fully staffed for people who have had heart bypass as I have where the smaller hospitals are not. I have found out Center Of Excellence for lap banding patients means that the credentials for lap banding are excellent, and not just the overall hospital. This being said, the surgeons at the Bariatric Center at Vanderbilt confer on each and every patient and there are hundreds a week, and have come to the conclusion that lap banding is the way to go first if possible. They don't think you should ever take drastic measures until you have given banding a try and move on from that direction. To jump right into gastric bypass is a huge shock physically and emotionally and they don't feel you are ever ready for that huge life change to start with. Therefore, the top surgeons in the world are on the bandwagon for lap-banding. I don't know where you qualify hospital or dr. wise as far as being an expert, but I do know and have studied Vanderbilt and am thoroughly impressed and very grateful that they have accepted me. I am not the every day run-of-the-mill case I agree, not with my medical history, but I am a very good candidate for lap banding in their opinion. I thank you for your opinions but do feel that being biased is not a good thing. There are those of us for which gastric bypass is not the answer. There is also a lot more psychological investigation that should be given to this huge lifestyle change and not just a simple talk with a psychologist. That being said I welcome you as a member of this board, but I know in my heart and mind that these surgeons, among the best qualified in the world, do know what is best for me. Thank you for your time and opinions, but they aren't for everyone. You are hearing from people on here for whom the band is working wonderfully and from those that for whatever reason have had problems. Naturally, if people are having success with the band they are very happy with it and not very happy with your touting of gastric bypass. I think the lap banding patients have made their choice, and if medical reasons down the road change that choice they are well informed on their own as to what the next step should be. I do, however, agree that re-banding should not be an option, but I also don't believe a failed gastric bypass patient should be allowed to convert to lap banding if they fail down the road at gastric bypass. Apples and oranges...I don't think so!! I have personally left out the Mexican doctors in this thread because they will operate on anyone that shows up with money and do any surgery. Like it or not you that went to Mexico know you didn't need sleep studies or any of the requirements in the states for your surgery. Perhaps that is why without an upper GI a lot of you suffered esophageal problems. I wouldn't be banded in Mexico on someone else's dime. They have a huge erosion rate and they don't even require a diet beforehand to shrink the liver. It has to make you wonder if that may not be one reason for erosion...the liver is too big to get the band high enough on the stomach. I think there are lots more erosions from Mexico because the surgery is but a plane ride and a walk in the part for $10,000. That's just my 2 cents for what it is worth. I would rather jump (or step gingerly) through the hoops to have an excellent surgeon in the U.S.

I have a couple things to ask you. Why is it that a patient that has had RNY and regained the weight after stretching out the pouch (this is at the end of about 3 years) could than be lap-banded. Why don't the same principals apply. If you won't re-band someone, but you would do an RNY, what is the reasoning for a failed RNY patient to be able to get the band? Secondly, and most importantly, as a retired nurse I've been reading on a new procedure that I know is not ready for use, but it is about being able to staple the stomach doing endoscopy. Can you tell me what you have heard about this procedure if anything, and how long you think it will be before it is FDA approved. Are they doing this procedure anywhere that you know of and how is it done? They can't possibly do anything with the intestines endoscopically, so do you know how this works. Thanks for the answers.

I think the South Beach Diet Protein Bar got more yays than nays. I'm ready for one right now. If you are a sweet lover you are probably better served by them and/or a cereal lover because it seems like you get a little of both. They are breakfast for me and I love them.

I thought it was the best protein bar I've ever eaten, but everyone has their own likes and dislikes. I loved the crunchiness of the bar and the peanut butter flavor. Sorry you didn't like them.

Where are you going to find a protein shake with 150 calories is my question? I bet most everyone is drinking at the very least 220 calories every drink. I just know these bars are only 220 calories and that's a long ways from a candy bar and they are yummy. They satisfy the urge for those that love chocolate. I haven't seen any on the cereal aisle, but these were on a huge display at Walmart. They are big, they are fresh, they are a meal in a bar, and they are delicious. I tried a sample of all 3 of them and finally decided on the chocolate and peanute butter. I would normally walk right by these bars because they make me gag for the most part, but this one is excellent. I can't eat a meal that has only 220 calories that's for sure, and this satisfied me completely.

I find most protein bars just plain blah. With this one I thought I had a bowl of crunchy cereal and a milk chocolate bar. Let me know if you agree they are yummy. Will be anxious to hear someone else's opinion.