CMTurner

What a wonderful doctor. He is a partner of Dr. Virgina McGrath-Weaver (who is also wonderful but totally booked for months and months). He did a fabulous job on surgery day spoke to me two times post op and my DH twice. He is very professional and is super nice too. He was very good at explaining things to my DH and myself and was impressed with my knowledge of the procedure (thanks lapbandtalk.com and people on here!). He even "reused" two of my gallbladder surgery scars and they look better at two weeks post surgery than they did one year after my gall bladder removal. I will know more about his fill technique and how agressive (or not) he is with fills on Dec. 2. I am loving that I will possibly be getting a fill only one month post surgery. I would highly recommend him to anyone. If you were origionally going to see Dr. McGrath-Weaver and liked her but didn't want to wait 3-4 months to schedule surgery, make an appointment with Dr. William Gibson and see if you don't like him too. I had my surgery date scheduled for just 3 weeks after my initial visit with him and have been super satisfied so far. I am down 20 lbs since I started my pre-op on Oct. 14th, 2008! Hope to be under 200 lbs in the next 6+ months. If you would like to talk to me further regarding Dr. Will Gibson, please feel free to message me.

OMG. Can't stop laughing at most of these posts. Thanks for that. But for my 2 cents (ok a nickel). Been there done that. It all depends on how gentle and relaxed the people are. Like I said it was ok with the right person and I did live with a man for 4+ years who loved having his prostate milked. But then again several double shots of Crown Royal got his hard as a rock too. Not normal. LOL. It you like it thats fine. I don't remember who said as long there is no blood loss anything is worth trying and I think that the anal thing is one of those things. As for why most men like doing that to women.....for one it is a tighness issue and its also a power/trust issue. Plus for the most part men are much more into the visual thing and that is a big deal in porn movies any more. Men also all think they want to be with two women (as seen on porn) until it actually happens and they aren't as "involved" as maybe they thought they were gonna be. LOL Again, to each his own. But remember, if you trually trust the one you are with, there is nothing to be ashamed about in trying new things. Even if that just means taking a trip to the local adult toy store. Just please, please communicate. Let them know what you like/dislike and that just because you wanna try a few new things does not mean you didn't like the old things. Unless that is the case and then you probably should be talking about much more than play.

I have been LMAO reading this. I have no idea what I might have said going in but, in recovery when they went to remove some of the adhesive leads for the machines that were on my chest they flipped my gown down and totally exposed my breast and the male nurse started apologizing profusely and I said, "It's ok. I've been to Talledaga." (for those of you confused at this point, Talledaga is a NASCAR racetrack in AL where it is one huge party and most of the women flash people for beads). Both him and the female nurse started cracking up and asked me who my favorite driver was. He was still chuckling when he wheeled me to my room where my DH was waiting. I didn't remember saying it until the next day. Thanks for the great stories. You all made my day on this dreary cold day. Between this and the poop floaters vs sinkers post. LMAO

Hiccups are my full sign. I get them when I am at a full point and my sign to stop eating anything else.

I have seen ads for "lipdisolve" or whatever the name is for injections that disolve fat in specific areas. You might check that out and see about price and results. I never looked into it any further because I didn't want them giving me THAT many injections. LOL. I am pretty much resolved to the fact that I am going to have to have plastic surgery at some point as to not be horrified or terrorize my DH with my naked (and even clothed) body. I am starting a special savings account for just such an occasion. Hope you and the physicians and insurance can figure something out for you.

I am so sorry you are going through this right now. I have been where you are and thought I would post something I recently received in an email that made me think "Aha!" I hope this doesn't offend anyone. I just think it makes sense whether you believe in god or not. Saying Goodbye By T. D. Jakes There are people who can walk away from you. And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you: let them walk. I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone. When people can walk away from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left. The bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19] People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay. Let them go. And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person it just means that their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don' t keep trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead. You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you something. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay. Let them go!! If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to. ..... LET IT GO!!! If you are holding on to past hurts and pains . ..... LET IT GO!!! If someone can't treat you right , love you back, and see your worth ..... LET IT GO!!! If someone has angered you. LET IT GO!!! If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge. ..... LET IT GO!!! If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction. ..... LET IT GO!!! If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents LET IT GO!!! If you have a bad attitude. . ..... LET IT GO!!! If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better. ..... LET IT GO!!! If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him. . . ..... LET IT GO!!! If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship. . ..... LET IT GO!!! If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help themselves . ..... LET IT GO!!! If you're feeling depressed and stressed . . . . . ..... LET IT GO!!! If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying' take your hands off of it,' then you need to. ..... LET IT GO!!! 'The Battle is the Lord' s!' God loves you and watches over you every day.

OMG! You look amazing. You are an inspiration to us who are just starting the whole weight loss after surgery process. Thank you for posting the pics. WOW! Congrats!

Oh I would definately be turning these people in and contacting a lawyer. I am sooo sorry you had such a horrifying time at the hospital. I wish I would have been there with you cause I would have went off! After having to deal with problems with our medical insurance and it taking over a year and a half to deal with an auto accident, auto insurance, etc. I don't take shit or a bunch of "excuses" from any of those type of people any more. If they don't respond to my complaint immediately, I go directly over their heads. They really hate to be called down by people "over their heads" or people that can control them. LOL In fact I have the top man over the benefits department for the county government here as a contact on my email and I don't think he likes to hear from me but things get done when I end up having to get a hold of him. I always have names and times of who I talked to and what their responses to my requests were. I think a couple of gals have gotten their asses chewed because they were just too lazy to help. Well I hope you get some resolution to all the crap they put you through. Sheesh. I would have probably gotten arrested. Hope everyone is feeling great and on the move.

wvgal - after hearing all those details, I think I would contract a lawyer. I would definately not be paying anything out of pocket for surgery at that hospital and would also notify my insurance of all the problems (especially if they are contracted providers). I am glad you got the right surgery and I definately wanna sign up for the yahoo group which I will do right after this posting. Keep up the good work all.

Whoohooo! Congrats on the NSV (Non Scale Victory)! I have had people tell me they could see a difference already also. It feels good. Well off to go walk before it starts to rain. Hope everyone is doing good today.

Mushies are for the healing process. They don't want you eating anything your stomach muscles have to work too hard to digest yet. So you are allowed mashed potatoes and even when healed you don't have to have just protein they just want you to eat your protein first as you will only be able to eat so much at a time. You should still be able to eat them once healed just in small amounts and of course after your protein. LOL BTW I don't think I like this new "look" to the site. I knew where to find things before and now there are extra steps involved and it is just annoying. But I don't get a say obviously. LOL So how is everyone doing? I sneezed really hard two times last night and thought someone shot me in my port area. I ended up taking some antihistamine and eventually a pain pill so I would be knocked out and not cough or sneeze. Feeling much better today but think I am gonna call my PCP and see if I need to go see her or if she can prescribe or tell me something over the counter to take. I use the think the people on here who said they get the hiccups when they are full were just pulling my leg but now I know they are not. I know it sounds weird but if I take that extra bite after feeling full I also am getting a bit of a headache (unless it is just a sinus thing with the sneezing etc.) Which I guess in a way is good as it is a very noticable "sign" to stop eating. I am gonna have DH take some more pics in panties and bra or old swimsuit to keep in my personal stash to show myself just how bad things are now and to show myself how much improvement is made along the way. Maybe one day when I am healthier, I might show them to the public. NOT. LOL. Well I hope you are doing well and feeling good.

Welcome Sunwyse and Congrats on the weight loss girls! I too am feeling pretty good. DH had to go have a place incised that was "abnormal" and he is napping but when he gets up we are going to go run errands. I only have discomfort at my port site and that is mostly with turning or twisting or stretching the wrong/right way. I have sort of reverted back to my liver shrink diet with some mashed potatoes and cottage cheese added. So two protein shakes a day and usually some tuna salad or mashed potatoes and or cottage cheese in the late afternoon and applesauce as a snack (instead of the fruit I was eating pre-op). I can tell when I have taken a few extra bites. I get that weird pain sorta like heart burn and sometimes even a bit of a headache. I am gonna start with the regular exercise instead of just walking around here and there. Continued good healing and feeling better to all.

I am feeling super! Still some gas here and there but fine. Only have some discomfort in port area which I know from reading on here is normal. I am so excited for the future. I know I will be seeing the scale drop below 200 in the next year so I am happy!

I am doing great. The only painful area I have now is the port area and that is only upon straining those muscles. I am thinking about using my DH's support thing he had for broken ribs and see if that takes some of the "strain" off that area. It has been making me sit up straighter since it is uncomfortable to slouch in a chair. LOL Losing weight and getting better posture....who knew? I am going for a long walk today too. I totally understand the stir crazy thought. And Altoonasoup - I knew someone would understand the "wasting" of food. I grew up on a farm in rural KS and we were not allowed to leave the table without cleaning our plates and if you complained about something on your plate you might have to eat extra. Plus we ate all those filling foods so you could go out and work in the fields or get all the farm chores done. That worked fine as long as I was doing all that activity and was young. It was even ok through school since I was still doing farm work and playing sports. But boy once I got older and not as active my body just packed on the pounds. I have never been a small person and know I won't get down to single digit sizes even now but, I know I can get to a healthy weight and maintain it with my new tool. When my DH and I were out driving the other day, we passed my favorite Chinese buffet restaurant and I flipped it off. My Dh laughed. He says don't you wanna go there and eat again? LOL I said maybe some day because now I know I won't be able to fill three plates and I know it just wouldn't be worth it to make the "wrong choices" and get the "bad foods" that I used to get. They do have some good food choices that are pretty healthy (they also have "soul food" and american food). I read on another thread when I first got on this site that one person referred to the Shwann's guy as "the drug dealer on wheels". LOL I get it now! There was one point in line at the grocery store the other day where I kinda got to "jonesing" for a chocolate bar. I mean bad. Like thinking ok if I buy the 2 for a $1 I can sneek em in and eat em both. Then I moved a little getting things out of the cart and felt that pull in my port area and thought "what the hell are you thinking?" Just wait til you get home and you can have a chocolate protein shake and be soooo much better off. I know I have a lot more battles to come but so far I am WINNING!!! Hope you all are doing good and starting to feel better. You can do it! Start moving and eating how you are supposed to and we will all get through it.

Hey babyface - Congrats on your surgery. The only reason you should ever do this surgery is for yourself. Maybe if you tell your girlfriend you are doing this to be healthier and to make sure you are around longer she might understand better. I am doing super well. Still a little gassy from surgery but not having any problems going to the bathroom or sleeping. Only took a pain pill last night cause we were out and I went to scoot my chair in towards the table like normal and that did NOT feel good. Felt pain in my port incision area. But all better today. I am on mushies and yesterday after eating some cottage cheese I kinda felt like I was still hungry so I started having some yogurt but within 2-3 bites felt ukky and full so I stopped. Yea for me cause the pre-surgery me would have never stopped and "wasted" the rest of that yogurt. LOL It's working already. Plus I got on the scale and I believe I have lost about 17 lbs according to my home scales (since starting pre-op diet on the 14th). The swelling in my stomach area is going down and the bruising to my port site and IV site is starting to fade so all is good. I go back to see my surgeon in a month so that is kind of exciting. I hope everyone gets to feeling better every day! Remember to follow the rules and take things easy to give yourselves time to heal. If you are taking the prescription pain pills on a regular basis you probably should be taking miralax or dulcalax as a stool softner/laxative. You do not want to be in more pain that way or put that additional strain on your stomach muscles yet. I am so glad we are all through that and starting on our new phase in life. Continued good luck and good healing to all.

wvgal - sorry you had a bad experience at the hospital and are in so much pain. In my opinion this doesn't hurt near as bad as my gall bladder surgery last year but, that is just me. I am only taking prescribed pain meds at bedtime as I tend to roll from side to side and don't want to be in lots of pain. DH and I went to Walmart last night for a few things and to walk around but by the time we left I felt like I had done a little too much so gonna just take small walks close to home for now. I get to eat mushies today so I will let you all know later how I did with that. I have had some shoulder/neck pain from the gas but nothing to terribly bad. Also had a bowel movement yesterday. Remember pain pills tend to constipate you so if you are taking them religiously you might also wanna take some dulcalax or something similar (stool softner). I am also glad to report my surgeon was able to use two of my previous scar sites from gall bladder surgery for this surgery so I only partly look like a mine field of scars across my abdomen. LOL. I haven't gotten on the scales yet since I am feeling so bloated from the gas still but I figure I have lost about 10-15 lbs since my pre-op diet. I hope everyone gets to feeling better and better. I am gonna go have some broth and take a little something for the leftover cough I have from before surgery cause coughing does tend to hurt a little. Take care all and I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers for a quick recovery and hope you all feel better soon.

Hope this helps. Just had my surgery on Wed. the 29th and feeling pretty good. http://www.cigna.com/customer_care/healthcare_professional/coverage_positions/medical/mm_0051_coveragepositioncriteria_bariatric_surgery.pdf

Oh yeah ... forgot to say a big thanks for all the well wishes and thoughts and prayers. They worked wonderfully! Our cats were running around driving me crazy(ier) and I had to go potty so thought I woud sit down and send out this message. Thanks again.

Hi Gracie. Glad you are home and doing well. I got discharged a little after 5 pm Central time and have been feeling pretty good considering. I had a bit of a headache but, I think it was from one of the pain meds they gave me in recovery. I am really not in any pain just tender abdomen between boobs and belly button and can't get to a sitting position or up from recliner very quickly. Had to spend the first hour at home assuring my fairly new kitten he was not abandoned again (we found him around a dumpster late one night at a Waffle House). I did lay down for a bit to try and get rid of my headache but now up walking around and getting online to let everyone know I am fine and I hope you are all doing well also. Here we go! First day of the rest of our lives. :w00t:

Leaving for hospital. Good Luck All! You are in my prayers. Hope to be back on later today if just for a bit.

I am not dizzy and am amazingly calm. I have all my stuff laid out on the bed in the spare bedroom just not in a bag. Gonna wait until after I brush my teeth in the am probably just to go back over everything. Should be leaving the house in about 10 hrs or so. My DH was so good today to not eat in front of me as this is my only day (ppre-op) of clear liquids. Well we are on the verge of getting the tool we need to make our lives more enjoyable and healthier. I will be thinking of you all tonight and tomorrow. Either I or my DH will get online and let everyone know how it went. Good Luck and my prayers are with you all.

I know how you feel. I toyed with the idea of grabbing some things the other day at the store that I knew were no-no's but I won the battle with myself and said NO! LOL There is a first time for everything. Well I start the full liquids tomorrow so DH and I went out to eat this evening and I was good. Had my protein and some veggies. Still working on that not drinking with my meal thing though. I am going to go ahead and get all the stuff for my bag for Wednesday morning laid out on the bed and make a list for any last minute items to pick up tomorrow. I am also doing some last minute cleaning around the house and making sure all the laundry is done up (even though DH is pretty good about doing his laundry). Lets all just take a deep breathe and relax and think of all the wonderful things we will be able to do once the weight is coming off. Things like buys smaller clothes, cross our legs, tie our shoes with out straining, exercise without feeling like you are gonna die.....LOL and so much more. I am so excited for us all! I am also having to make sure my DH has all the phone numbers for people he has promised to call or text to let them know I am out of surgery and ok. Just think friends......by this time next year we will all be looking soooo good and wondering why we didn't do this sooner and why we were ever nervous. Continued Good Luck and Prayers coming everyone's way. :biggrin::w00t:

Just remember you are doing this to help you get your health back and live longer. Plus they will give you something for your nerves Wed morning. The clear liquids for 2 days would suck. It's gonna suck for just 1 day. Plus my DH is getting on my nerves right now. Don't know if it is just him or combination of him and upcoming surgery? LOL Just a few more days til our "new beginning". :thumbup:

Hi all. I have to be at the hospital at 8 am and surgery is scheduled for 10 am central time. I am the second surgery of the morning for my surgeon so you never know. It might be earlier. I will be thinking of you all and say several prayers extra the morning of surgery for us all. Good Luck!

Ahhhhhhhh. I can breathe through my nose today! Yippee! LOL Thank God. I was beginning to wonder if I was gonna turn the corner. I still think someone needs to figure out how the human body can fit so much "stuff" in the human head that even when you have coughed and blown your nose a hundred-thousand times there is still more stuff in there.....? Counting today, THREE more days of pre-op diet then ONE day of full liquids with nothing past midnight! Then SURGERY!!!! Yea Us!