StrawartS

I'll be there, Janet!

I think I just realized that we are all on the same side. :confused: If whatever you are doing is OK by your doctor, it's no longer "cheating." It's following new rules that your doctor decided make better sense for your personal journey.

Have you heard about those fake slot machines they use in non-gambling states? Supposedly, it's kinda like a lottery - you buy a card to use at the machine for however much money you want to play. At that point, your "winnings" are decided. When you plug the card into the slot machine, it's just so you can have the fun of pulling the handle - your odds don't change. Anyway, I think Dateline did something about this issue, and the people playing at the slots refused to believe that they were being swindled. They were convinced that it was a regular casino, even though regular casinos are illegal in that state. Gotta love the real Vegas, baby...

I hate to get back into this, but I don't want this discussion to end on that note. I am not a child, and "just because I said so" is no longer an appropriate or sufficient response. Until I get a response that is logical to me, I will not "just go with it" at the end of the day. Requiring reasonable explanations for things that don't make sense to me does not make me non-compliant and does not mean that I am trying to sabotage my own success. It means that I paid for a service, not a favor, and I intend to get my money's worth out of my surgery. I have been asked to expound on my "distrust" for my own physician. I kindly ask that you don't read between the lines and take my previous posts at face value. I never said that I did not trust my doctor. In fact, I never asked my doctor to explain the post-op diet. I told him I was ready to eat solid food, and he said, "OK, GO FOR IT. YOU MUST HAVE HEALED MORE QUICKLY. JUST CHEW WELL." My reluctance to believe these doomsday band scenarios comes from my confusion over why my doctor would let me eat normally versus why you all think I am the newest rogue band terrorist for sharing my personal experience. For the bajillionth-and-a-half time, regardless of with which post-op procedure you agree, there is nothing wrong with saying, "Some doctors, like mine, are more lenient. Why don't you ask YOUR doctor about it to see if he is one of those?" :deadhorse:

Yeah, there's a coconut diet, and it can be yours for the bargain price of seventeen easy payments of $19.99!!! I also have a friend who is an African businessman who recently came into a large sum of money and would like to share it with you. Please provide him with your bank account number so that he can wire you over $10 billion (in the currency of Kenyan shillings).

See if this works...

To my knowledge, no one has ever DIED from the LapBand. I think saying that eating a ritz cracker a week post-op is LIFE-THREATENING is a bit melodramatic. Furthermore, I think we aren't giving Danielle enough credit. To assume that she will do whatever a bunch of internet nerds either give her permission or not give her permission to do is a little patronizing. And I do not support the notion that I should take my doctor's advice without questions. I, too, have a post-graduate education, and I think it is my right to expect reasonable explanations for seeminly arbitrary rules. Those of us who are more lenient on band rules should not be considered irresponsible or incapable of handling our bands. I do believe that we have always said, ask your doctor. Nobody said "I broke the rules, and I'm fine." I specifically said, "I broke the rules, MY DOCTOR SAID IT WAS FINE, and I'm fine."

Ok, here are some more of William (whose full name is President William Jefferson Clinton, III). And one of the reasons he doesn't live with me anymore...here he is feeling guilty after ripping up the berber carpet. I ended up re-carpeting my entire upstairs.

They don't seem too small, that's about how much I eat, minus the protein drinks. I usually eat lunch and dinner with 2 snacks of a piece of cheese or some dry cereal. As long as you're losing weight, I think your portions are fine.

Janet, that's a great plan! Just post the info here, and I'll plan on being there.

Hot tea, hot tea, hot tea! Drink before, take a bite, drink more tea, take a break. Do that for the first few bites, and go really slow for the rest of the meal, and you should be fine.

Susan, it's easy for you to come back here and restart this argument when you deleted your original comments. You were the one saying things like, "if you can't follow these rules, you made a bad decision getting the band, and you should rethink your goals." You obviously deleted those comments because you realized they contributed nothing to Danielle's problems. I'm not sure why you came back to resurrect this debate. You are really blowing the whole Nazi thing out of proportion. Cashley, as she has so generously and humbly explained, meant no reference to WWII atrocities with her choice of words. It feels like you are grasping for straws to win this one.

Can you cover it yourself? My fills are $100. I couldn't do my fills as quickly as I wanted to since I am temporarily living away from home, and it was so depressing. I was desperate and convinced that I would never lose weight. Anyway, just a thought.

Wheetsin, where are they paying that much? $2.99 here in Fort Worth - it cost $45 to fill up the Accord! More than I just spent on 2 weeks worth of groceries for myself (thanks, LapBand!).

William isn't with me because I was a bad mommy. I didn't have time to run around with him as much as he needed. The people I got him from live in Dimebox, TX, which has ONE school (K-12) and about that many people. They have acreage and basically operate a beagle farm...there are hundreds of beagles there. So, you know how people tell their kids that Rover went to go live on a farm when he actually died? Well, William is alive and kicking, and I'm sure he's having a blast running around with all the other beagles. But they are really like little people with souls, and he is still in my heart. Here's another pic.

In case anyone is interested, here is VW's response to my complaint about their horrible commercials: Dear StrawartS, Thank you for sharing your comments with our Volkswagen website. We have noted your concerns and would like to apologize if you found the nature of this ad offensive. The commercials are intended to show the realities of what happens in the situations and accidents depicted in the spots. In order to show the importance of the safety features of the car and how they may be implicated in accidents. Please know that we here at Volkswagen strive to provide safe and reliable vehicles for our consumers. Please accept our apology, once again. We appreciate your submission Ieshia Volktalk

Don't rule out carbonation! Try it first and see if you can tolerate it. Many of us can. As far as never drinking again...well, I've never heard that, either. And I'm with Laura - law school without drinking just isn't worth it. And as far as alcohol making you eat more, I can agree with that. It does make you forget what you are doing and eat quickly. But I can honestly say that the best PB of my life happened when I was tipsy from 2 margaritas. It was almost a pleasant experience - I went to the bathroom, leaned over the toilet, and the PB just flowed on out. I think being so relaxed helped me not to fight the PB, which I usually do. So, it's good, it's bad, whatever...but let's not write anything off completely!

I did a search on Senna and Senekot, but nothing came up. Since I really started losing weight by eating so much less, I have had some constipation issues. I really never feel the urge to go anymore, I just try to go. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's just painful and I get little results. I had been taking Dulcolax about once a week when I start to feel pain, but it really doesn't do much. I still never get the urge go go. My mom, a nurse, said I should start taking senna daily. Anybody have any experience with this?

Hey Kathy - I think this thing is working. Remember how I bragged about eating half a pizza? Well, I have been good lately and eating real food that comes from the earth instead of processed shit, but tonight I heard the word "pizza" and had to have one. But I was full after one piece! That's 1/8 of a pizza, not half! Woohoo! Ok, just because 1 piece was enough doesn't mean I didn't have 2. But I didn't really need it, so I'm not counting it against my band.

Thanks for your replies, everybody. My next question is a little more specific - does anybody take something EVERY DAY? I can always get myself to go without straining if I take a laxative, but I am having to take laxatives about once a week. I am looking to take something every day so I don't have to decide whether or not it's time to bring in the big guns again.

Alex - as far as the phones, I imagine you could just transfer your office phone to your home or cell when you weren't there. My mom does this with her business. Most phone companies have a really easy code, like *72, and the line gets transferred to whatever number you put in. If you go the transferring route, you might consider getting a separate business extension at your home. If you had the phones transferred over the weekend, you probably don't want them to ring on your main line. This is so exciting! I hope you can find a way to make it work.

For all you cat lovers... The Infinite Cat Project is a website of pictures of cats looking at other cats looking at other cats....and so on. You take a picture of your cat looking at your computer monitor at a picture of the previous cat looking at computer monitor. It's pretty cool. http://www.infinitecat.com/

My William...I don't have him anymore, he went back to the people who gave him to me. I still dream about him all the time!

How did the stomach die, Dee?

Oh no, I'm slacking off here! I didn't get an email notification of your new post, sorry for the delay in responding. :eek: I was also an emotional eater, but not in the depressed way. I guess you could say my life is too good - I only overate when I was around people I loved and having a good time. The weirdest sensation I experienced post-banding was PHYSICAL hunger. It took me a while to realize that I wasn't feeling surgery pain, but hunger pain! When's the last time you went so long without eating that your stomach growled? Post-banding, my emotional eating went through several stages. 1. First week post-op - I was very nauseated from not eating and from taking pain meds. I was convinced that I would never get pleasure from eating again because I literally did not want to put anything into my mouth. I probably drank one bottle of Water all week. Yeah, that went away as soon as I started eating again. 2. No restriction - this was a very lonely, desperate time for me. I was horribly disappointed that I had this stupid surgery and the only weight I lost was 10 lbs. during my one-week post-op fast. I was convinced that I was one of the few for whom this wouldn't work. During this time, I lapsed back into my old eating habits - trying to stay on a diet, but completely giving up when I gave into temptation. 3. Restriction! This is when I started losing about 2 lbs. a week, and when my attitude really started changing. Honestly, I don't attribute my lack of interest in eating to the band and the physical sensations it produces, but to the fact that I see myself losing weight. Once I realize that my attempts are not futile, it is much easier to not binge. I completely understand your concern about being home all day. I'm a law student, and for the next two weeks, I'm going through finals...which means holing up in my apartment and not going anywhere! That lack of human interaction by itself is really hard on me, but surprisingly, I haven't been filling that void by eating. I've had two meals today and 2 Snacks of string cheese. I just don't need massive amounts of food anymore. Which brings me to the topic of feeling full...it took me a loooong time to understand what "full" felt like with the band. It is NOT the comfy, filled tummy feeling of before. Being "full" with the band is actually uncomfortable...and makes you feel like you just had a huge binging episode. It's actually much more pleasant to just be satiated with the band. Which is why is it easy to have 1 string cheese as a snack instead of a happy meal. Which brings me to the issue of food quality. Once you realize you can only eat a little bit, you will really want to make sure that everything you eat tastes good and feels good. I used to eat fast food because I could eat it while driving, but now, I need an hour to eat, so fast food doesn't work. My tastes and cravings have changed - now I really enjoy "real" foods that come from nature, like veggies, rice, cheese, and unprocessed meat, as opposed to snack foods that are made of chemicals. And once you realize that eating these "real" foods actually fill you up, you don't crave the junk as much. I kinda feel like it's pointless now to eat chips or candy, because it just slides right through. Ok, is this long enough yet? I'll conclude. Before I started losing weight, I swore that I would never diet again, and I would get so filled that I could eat ANYTHING, just in tiny quantities. However, I realized that being too tight is not fun. So, yes, the lapband is just another diet. But it's a diet that works, which makes it much easier to follow. Once you see the weight drop, you don't have such a hard time changing your habits. Did I even answer your question? I can't remember now.