DonnaB

Hi SUNNYO, I PM'd you a few minutes ago about negotiating your way around LBT and starting new threads. Hopefully, the information will be useful and that you'll be able to figure out how to open the PM! LOL (PM means private mail and you can locate it on the home page at the top right!) Good luck!

I have no problem with rice or tortilla but I had my first PB on a bit of ravioli. Hmmm. I can eat chicken if it's moist or if I really, really, really chew it. I'm not even going to try steak. I was afraid to try salad until this week when I discovered it's no problem at all, which is great news. I hadn't realized how much I was missing salad until this week. Had a nice chef salad for dinner tonight, yum! I haven't found anything else that I can't eat yet. I'm just eating less of it! lol

I love Jack too. I don't think I have a crush but I certainly look forward to his posts and I worship at the same altar - the holy Shredded Wheat, that is! lol

Poodles, I bought a Cuisinart "Smart Stick Hand Blender" which I highly recommend. It works great and eliminates a lot of the clean-up of mini food processors but allows you to use it with those same accessories if you want to. Heres a picture of the box so you can see what it looks like: http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h91/fuzzy_pink_poodle/CuisinartBox.jpg I like Swanson chicken broth. It's made with vegetables (no actual vegetable chunks in the broth though) and doesn't taste as salty as Campbells and some other Soup broths. Hope this helped. Good luck to you on your big day.

I'm with Jack on this issue: one bowl of the 'holy Shredded Wheat' cereal per day and the mail moves like clockwork! lol I know PhotoNut recommends Fiber One cereal but the picture on the box doesn't look that tasty to me. I tried the benefiber and didn't get much relief. Good luck.

Hi bug, You don't need all those tests - I didn't have them. Part of the reason I was a self-pay is my insurance wanted a bunch of tests including a year-long doctor supervised weight loss study. Ridiculous. What they really wanted was for me to lose interest and go away. Even after jumping through all the hoops I've heard of people who have the same insurance as I do who were refused coverage on technicalities. My doctor discussed my medical history and my current health, and with the information we talked about he ordered some basic tests to be done on the day before my surgery. I had a blood test, blood pressure, chest x-ray and echo-cardiogram to be sure my lungs and my heart were in good shape for the surgery - they were - and into surgery I went the next day. Good luck on your weight loss journey.

Welcome to LBT Divamom and MarcyD. Let us know how you're doing and good luck on your weight loss journeys.

I was self pay and could afford to have the surgery done in the U.S. but after doing research I found that the doctor with the most experience and best results with the fewest complications was Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Mexico for about half the cost. I spoke with his U.S. liason and got more information, spoke with his associate, then spoke with him. I was comfortable with everything I heard from them and from patients of Dr. Rumbaut, so I made my choice. It cost $10,600 which includes everything but the airfare to Monterrey. I also paid for my own food which, since I was on pre-op then post-op diet didn't add up to much! lol I know everyone is different but I flew home from Mexico on the Friday afternoon after having surgery on a Tuesday morning. No pain, no pain meds needed, no problem. I went shopping and sightseeing on that Thursday and again on Friday before catching the flight home. I had very little bruising and very little gas pain. Since you don't have to worry about the expense, you should have surgery with whichever doctor you have the most confidence in after having done a lot of research and asked a lot of questions. Be sure to speak to some of your chosen doctor's patients, preferably here on LBT so you'll get an unbiased discussion/opinion. Good luck on your weight loss journey.

You can purchase steri-strip tape and replace it. There are also paper-tapes you could use. Before you do anything though, you should call your doctor and ask what he recommends.

Hi Andy Liz, I had surgery with Dr. Rumbaut in March. My port scar is to the left and just below my belly button. I didn't know I had any say in the location of the port but I'm not sure where I would have requested it had I known I could! lol Another lady who was banded the same day as I was had her port placed just below the breast bone and, I understand that Cathy, Dr. Rumbaut's U.S. liason has her port placed there as well. I think if I could have chosen a location for my port incision I would have had it close to where it is but a couple of inches lower. That way it would be well below my waistband area and bending would have been easier sooner. As it is, as the incision site heals more and more every day, it's not really a problem so I'm content with where its located. Just after surgery for the first month, a little lower or a little higher would have been better! Give Cathy a call and ask her what she thinks about port location. Good luck on your surgery. Keep posting so I can keep up with your progress.

Post removed by DonnaB.

If she's significantly rounder in her belly than anywhere else and the weight has come on pretty quickly, chances are she's pregnant. Congratulations, you're about to become a mommy! Try to find your new babies good homes and GET THAT CAT FIXED! lol On a serious note, you can sometimes find a group like the SPCA doing free neuters and spays. If you find one you might want to get all the little babies fixed too. The world is too full of stray cats who live miserable lives and die lonely, hungry, and diseased. God bless you for taking in this beautiful cat and caring for her. Nothing will make a friend out of me faster than someone who will take in and care for a homeless animal. Thank you.

Do your research. Take a deep breath - and jump. You'll have good days and bad days, but the good will FAR outnumber the bad. In three years without surgery you MAY lose a few pounds, you may not. In three years with the band you may have lost those 110 pounds. You may have only lost 50 pounds. I'm in WEEK 9 and have lost 27 pounds. I don't know about Dr. Kuri but if you're considering surgery in Mexico check out Dr. Roberto Rumbaut. www.bariatricsurgery.com He costs a little more than some Mexico docs (do you really want a bargain basement priced surgery?) but he's done over 4000 lap band surgeries and I don't know how many RNY surgeries. He's highly respected in the WLS community by doctors, patient's and Inamed, the manufacturer of the lap band, and has taught the lap band procedure to LOTS of doctors now performing the surgery in the U.S. He has a less than 1% rate of complication - which is a pretty darned good statistic - and on top of everything he has an excellent staff, uses an incredible hospital, is very friendly and responsive, AND has a lap band himself, so he knows where you're coming from! lol Good luck on your weight loss journey no matter what you decide.

www.FitDay.com has the same function along with TONS of different reports and logs. Love me some FitDay.

Repeat post. Scroll down to see what I really said! LOL

I think there might also be a correlation between restriction and barometric pressure. I wish someone would do a study on this. Barometric pressure affects LOTS of things, why not the band? I mean, pilots have to recalibrate their instruments with barometric changes or they won't know the altitude they're actually flying at. That's huge. All because of changes in atmospheric pressure. Another thing I ws thinking about is air quality and allergens. It affects your lungs, sinus, eyes, throat. Maybe band? Hmmmm. I think I'll start notating the weather in FitDay so I'll have a record to look back at when I feel changes in restriction.

What a great week you're having! Not to mention, day, month, year, and life!!!!! Congratulations on your graduation and on your weight loss!

I had a very hard time burping after surgery and felt like I'd never burp again, oh no! But then, about 5 days after surgery I had a big ol', just-drank-a-soda, buuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrppppppp! It felt like heaven. Now I'm just burping like before surgery, only when I need to, nothing unusual or an increased frequency. Could it be you're swallowing air with your new eating method? BTW, the purpose of not drinking soda is not because BURPING is bad or dangerous for you. My understanding is that the carbonation in the soda puts pressure on your band and esophogus from below. Picture your stomach like a balloon - if you fill the balloon with carbonation it will expand rapidly. To release the pressure you open up the balloon and let air out, or, in the case of your stomach, you burp. With the band you cant get enough of the gas out fast enough to relieve the pressure which is hard on your stomach, esophogus, and your band. Not to mention painful, or so I hear. I don't like soda well enough to suffer for it! lol That's my take on it. I would think that if you drank soda before eating, the carbonation gas would cause a problem. If food is trying to get down that tiny hole and carbonation is trying to come up that tiny hole, there's bound to be trouble. Someone correct me if my understanding of the ban on soda is incorrect.

Body Fortress Vanilla protein powder (2 scoops) mixed in 1 1/2 cup of fat free milk (Braum's has the best - not blue!), with 3 tablespoons of sugar free, fat free, chocolate pudding, and 1 tablespoon of reduced fat peanut butter. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm. Tastes like drinking a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and gives you 40g of protein. It's a little too high in fat, calories, and carbs, so I alternated days with this drink and an Isopure carb free protein drink. I now get all of my protein from the foods I eat so I don't get to have this drink anymore. *Pout* Good luck!

I too love Chinese food but have discovered it doesn't go down well. The eggroll and rice go down just fine but the main dishes don't, so, since the parts I can tolerate aren't good for my new lifestyle, I'm afraid I'm going to have to put Chinese food on my list of "Not Worth The Effort and/or Grief" foods! Waaaaa.

Hi - I hate to call anyone THICKNESS, can you think of a more positive name? If not, so be it. I wanted to tell you that you're posting your introduction inside someone else's thread. On a message board that's kind of like interrupting someone while they're talking. You'll get a better reception with a wider response if you start your own thread. The way you do that is to go to the LapBandTalk home page. Scroll down the page until you come to the forum called Introductions and click on it. At the top of the screen, on the left, you'll see a blue tab called "New Thread", click on it and re-introduce yourself. Another thing you can do is to add more information so people will be able to better respond to you. Things like your age, weight, where you're from, who your doctor is or if you're still looking for one. Ask a few questions and you're sure to get a response. I hope this helps you out here on LBT. Welcome and keep posting. You'll get the hang of it. :nanahump:

I know I'm an inch shorter now than I was when I was thin. I also know that lots of people lose some height as they get older. I will continue to hope that I regain my inch when all this weight isn't, through that lovely law of nature, gravity, pulling with all it's might toward the earth! As to the shoes, all I wear now are ugly, comfortable, brogans! Even if I don't NEED to, I fully intend to throw away all ugly shoes and only wear cute ones from the day I reach my goal weight. Maybe sooner!

Hey lovechunks, You'll get a wider response if you start a new thread with your question. Asking your question here is asking a question inside someone else's question/discussion. Go to the main page, click on General Discussion. At the top of the screen you'll see a tab labelled "New Thread". Click that and then ask your question. Put in as much information about yourself and your band as you can as it gives people a better idea of what's going on. Personally, to me it sounds like you're just still swollen from your surgery and you're becoming aware of your body, which is a good thing. Re-ask your question and see what other people think. Of course, if you're in a lot of pain or you're really worried, call your doctor. Good luck to you. Keep posting so we'll know how you're doing.

I had surgery with Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico and during my pre-op we discussed mortality rates in lap band patients. Dr. Rumbaut has performed over 4000 lap band surgeries and he's never had a patient die from the lap band. He told me the only case he's aware of where a lap-band patient died, was a case where a man could not get water past his band and became severely dehydrated and eventually died from complications brought on by the dehydration. 1 death in 2500 surgeries (and who knows what other health issues were involved in that one death) is pretty good odds. The biggest risk with the lap band surgery is the anesthesia. I think it's a great idea for you to take your daughter along with you to your next appointment or to a seminar about lap-band. If nothing else, she may recieve information which will cause her to become interested in nutrition and hopefully avoid a future of yo-yo diets and obesity. No knowledge is ever a waste. Good luck to you and to your daughter during your weight loss journey.

Check out Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico. He has excellent credentials and is highly respected in the WLS community - with doctors, patients and Inamed, the manufacturer of the Lap Band. When I was there being banded I met another of Dr. Rumbaut's patient's who had a fairly low BMI and he banded her. She did have some problems with her joints hurting though so I don't know if that played a role in his decision to band her but it's definitely worth discussing it with him. His staff is awesome and will make it very easy for you www.bariatricsurgery.com Good luck in your decision. BTW, Dr. Rumbaut has a less than 1% complication rate which equals a greater than 99% rate of no complication! Those are as good, or better, than the rates in the states. The person who posted about complications in Mexico just doesn't know any better. I do.