TheGh0st

"SMMC LB Support Group Chicas"

SMMC stands for Shawnee Mission Medical Center. It was a thread started by a bunch of us that were all banded by a specific doctors group though in the Kansas City area. Though technically my surgery was at a different hospital also used by the same docs. The thread use to be named after the doctor until a particularily annoying employee there complained, hence the odd SMMC chicas name.

Shoot if there are margaritas involved I'm there!

Seriously if you ever decide to pop in for a suprise visit to Billie one of these months let me know and I'll rearrange my schedule to go that night as well. It would be a hoot.

Yes it sounds like you might be OK delaying your fill. HOWEVER, wether your self-pay or insurance your office visit next week should already be covered at no additional charge. My suggestion would be to go ahead and go to the appointment. It is for more than just a fill. It is a way for your doctors office to monitor your recovery from surgery and make sure you don't have any other issues or questions about the process so far.

Most if not all doctors will take the time to talk to you before the fill about how you are doing, how much you are able to eat and how much hunger you are experiencing. There were a couple times during my first year that I ended up not getting a fill at my appointment.

If by some chance your doc doesn't bring up the subject first. Definitely speak up and voice your reluctance to get a fill before you feel you "need" one. On the other hand you never know, there have been many a time that just one or two days seemed to make the difference between my feeling OK with my fill level and wishing I could eat my own arm off.

Hey nonad, I know you were asking Mimin but thought I'd chime in as well. I can't remember what her total weight loss so far is but her and my ticker as well are set for a short term goal right now.

I am so sorry to hear about the misinformation you received on your first fill. If I had heard that I think I would have been slow to travel for another fill. But as you said at least you are DOWN over 20 pounds and no longer struggling tooth and nail to keep it off. How many years in our life could we say that in the past?

How is this new fill working for you? Are you feeling more restricted now? Try not to feel to bad about the last year. You really have lost weight after all and you are not the only slow loser out there. Plus if you think about it you did pretty amazing without the proper fill level to help you.

You also asked about Ortiz' book and follow up questions. I have friends that were banded in MX but I wasn't so forgive my ignorance. Did he give you any good advice on what/how to eat at restriction, or would you like us to give you some? I don't want to come across as preachy or condescending by giving any advice that you may already know.

Over 100 pounds lost in a year! What an amazing Valentines present to yourself! I am so happy for you.

I would love to see you all again, but my schedule doesn't allow for me to go to Hoehn's support group. :cursing:

We might just have to arrange a girls night out sometime soon to catch up or even put faces to some of the newer names on here.

Hi! I am from Fremont NE and looking forward to getting a lap band at some point when I get everything worked out. I am set to go to St. Elizabeth's in Lincoln for the meeting on Thursday. If anyone has experience with them or with Coventry insurance I would appreciate any words of wisdom. I don't really know what I am doing yet. Just trying to get something started.

Have a great day! Tonja:redface:

Tonja - Welcome to LBT (LapBandTalk) I found the following response on this thread from another poster askinga similar question. Thought I might re-post it just incase someone doesn't see your post by Tomorrow. Good Luck. A group meeting sound a bit strange to most at first. I know it did me. I wanted to see the doc one on one and was a bit annoyed at having to attend a seminar first but in the end I found that so many people had not only the same questions I did but also thought to ask some even better questions that hadn't even crossed my mind. So in the end it was more usefull to go as a group. It kept him from having to repeat himself 100 times over, It gave me answers to questions I hadn't thought of and it also made me realise just how many other people there were out there just like me. In some ways the last one was the most important it helped me feel a little less "guilty" so to speak for considering weight loss surgery.

Well before I go on to long let me just say welcome to the site one more time and I look forward to seeing more of you around here.

Joely,

The initial seminar at St. E's is a round table presentation describing the procedure. They tell about both the lap band and gastric bypass if there are people there wanting more info on that. They talk about the preop qualifications, the preop diet etc and then describe the surgery day and all that happens. They discuss the post op diets, Protein supplements and what to expect following surgery. Most of the people there had already had a consult with Dr. Hung I believe and it was used as a preop teaching session. That was the first thing I attended. This was presented by the nurses.

I also went to another class on a Saturday morning that I really didn't know what it was. It ended up being a general overview of the services they offer and what things must be in place for you to qualify for surgery. The nurses and one of the doctors were there to answer questions.

There wasn't really any one on one time with them but they were happy to answer questions after the program also. What I have been seeing on here is there is really basically not alot of difference in the insurances, they seem to have much of the same requirements with just a little difference here or there.

I hope this helps you! Good luck on your journey, I am counting down, hope to be banded by February!

i dont have the problem boss anymore. thank god.

Congratulations!!! Tell us more, tell us more. Did he finally stop his advances? Did you end up reporting him? What happened?

There is a whole thread dedicated to people lamenting about how cold they've become. I too have fallen prey to the old heater under the desk trap. I can remember well the days when I had plenty of names for women like that. LOL

I forgot I changed my ticker to a short term goal a while back. What a waste that was, my body is just determined that I'm at goal and it won't lose anymore for me. Ofcourse I'm really not in the mood to try either so I can't really complain. :smile::seeya::thumbup:

My starting weight was around 260 and I got down to 163 around the time I had a Tummy Tuck last fall but with the post surgery swelling and all I'm still up closer to 175 even though I haven't gone up in sizes. Size wise I started at a size 24 so tight I had to lay against the bed to get them buttoned and jump up and down to zip them. But I was determined not to buy the next size up knowing I was going for surgery soon. Now I'm wearing 10's most days but can fit a snug 8 and even managed to zip up some 6's from Aeropostale though I couldn't sit or breathe well once they were on :hurray:.

My four year old swears he has the cure. Everytime someone starts to hiccup he tells them to say "Allacadabra Allacapoof!" he keeps telling them over and over until the relent and do it. Surprisingly it seems to work most of the time. Maybe its because all his incessant pleading has distracted us and then the concentration it takes for us to say it just the way he wants us to.

I'll be waiting for your review....

2 pages front and back 12 point Arial Font with appropriate footnotes. :smile:

You need to follow any advice your doc gives you first and foremost. But I would recommend trying to go more for soft Proteins over carb-ladened foods like mashed potatoes. You could try some cheese Soup or cottage cheese (chew well) or make some Sugar Free Chocolate pudding and mix in some Protein Powder. tuna salad well blended and without things like celery would also be good. Agan just chew, chew, chew.

I know its hard but try your best to get in some more fluids. Your body really needs it right now to help you heal. Congratulations on getting banded. I look forward to seeing your progress.

That is fantastic!!! Good Job!!

I've only known of one other gal that lost most of her weight with either 1 or no fills but then she was banded in Mexico 7 years ago and was only given the option of the smaller band so it may have been a bit tighter.

I wouldn't complain if I were you. If you can eat 1-1/2 or even 2 cups of food and still maintain the weightloss without stuggling with hunger issues then I wouldn't worry about it. Just be happy you were one of the lucky few.

I remember now one other friend that had only 1 or 2 fills in a larger band and lost all the weight she wanted to while still eating pretty large meals (bandster-wise that is) but then she quit smoking and everything changed for her. She put on 20 pounds and has been struggling to get back on track, so she is now getting more aggressive fills and discovering new sides to the band (like sliming and having to give up certain foods that don't go down well) that she never really had before.

Hmmm...? How about Lobster Tails, many restraunts around here will let you add a lobster tail to a main dish. My DH will order his meal and I just add the lobster tail on to his order for me. Fish in general is a good choice. I also think that Indian and Ethiopian Foods are generally band friendly. Just not the Indian nann bread. Oh and I love going to those Japanese Steak houses and ordering Lobster as well YUM!.

That sucks. Though at least there is some hope of them approving it. I had BCBS and a written exclusion on the policy so I had to go self pay. Still if my insurance had covered it I'd hate to be told that after battling my weight for practically my entire life I still had to show them that nothing magical was going to change during an additional 6-month supervised diet. Good grief what do they expect to find? Don't they realize by postponing it they are only increasing the odds of more payouts on the insurance due to co-morbidities than just getting the surgery overwith and the weight loss started?

Sorry, I haven't read it either but it sounds interesting so I thought I'd bump the thread and see if anyone else has.

Dr Price works out of St. Lukes on Wornall but I can't think of anyone else specifically on the Missouri side. Here is a link to their site.

Saint Luke's Center for Surgical Weight Loss - Saint Luke's Health System

I believe I have heard from several people that he and his staff leans more towards RNY but can't say I remember anyone specifically having problems with him otherwise. I did see his site referring to RNY as the "Gold-Standard" in weight loss surgeries. I couldn't find any information on numbers of surgeries performed or any other data.

Dr. Malley's website is malleysurgical.com his office is in Mission, KS but performs his surgeries out of the NewHope Bariatric Hospital just north of 435 & Nall. The other site Wheetsin mentioned is Tallgrass and they are out of Topeka.

There are several other doctors performing the lapband in the immediate KC area but in my own humble opinion Malley & Hoehn are the most experienced doctors in this area. Malley has performed over 1000 band operations and Hoehn isn't too far behind him. Malley is a proctor for the region teaching other docs learning how to do the surgery and Hoehn works out of Shawnee Mission Med Ctr which is one of the only hospitals to get its Center of Excellence Rating for this surgery so far. In other words I think it would be hard to go wrong with either surgeon. I would recommend checking out both of their seminars and more importantly attend each of their support group meetings before making a final decision.

If you are interested there is also another local Bandster Group that is not affiliated with any doctors called KCBandsters. They have an online Yahoo group as well as monthly meetings at a local library. The group has people that have been banded by many different docs even several that were banded in Mexico as long as 7 years ago. They are having a meeting next Monday night if you are interested. It may be a good place to meet and question people in person from some of the various local docs all at once without some of the bias towards one doc or another you might get at a doctor's run group. PM me if you want more details.

On another note I would have loved to have seen Rupert back he reminded me of my father's old friends from my childhood back when his hobby was getting together with a bunch of friends on some land they bought together, dressing up like some sort of buckskinner or fur trader, sleeping in TeePee's and lean-too's and competing with each other on thier skills shooting muzzle-loaders, or throwing knives, tomahawks, and such. They were an odd lot but it was always kind of fun to sit around the fire as a kid listening to the old guys trying to best each other with 'tales" about the "big-bear" that got away as opposed to the "big fish".

I had a STRANGE childhood.

Oh, and James, just say the word and I'm yours baby! :cursing: You know you us women with curves beat Parvarti scrawny body any day!

Yes, try to stay calm and not worry too much. As I said serious complications are rare, but you are definitely doing the right thing by not waiting any longer.

You are in my prayers.

Amazing Grace - Please give us an update. I am worried for you sweetie. I wish I'd seen your post yesterday. Not being able to get down liquids at any time of day is not a good sign no matter what the cause. Yes, it could be an obstruction if you tried to swallow something and hadn't chewed it well enough for your new fill level, a flu or other illness could be aggrevating your stomach lining causing it to swell more than normal, or it is possible that even a minute fill can be that proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. But the bottom line is no matter what the reason if you can't get any fluids to stay down within a 24 hour period (maybe even less, after all I'm no doc) you definitely need to get in for an unfill even if you have to go to the ER and demand one. It may be rare but still in situations like this you don't want to take any risk that the band is so tight you may cause damage to your stomach that would require the band be permanently removed.

Like I said please give us an update.

You have to do what works for you and you alone. Many bandsters I know (especially us women) do find that their band feels tighter in the mornings from overnight tissue swelling. Good check would be do your rings feel tighter in the morning or at another time of the day? if so, then so will your band.

Early on I was able to lose weight without being so tight I couldn't eat in the mornings. Then for a while I found that I needed (wanted?) to have a fill level that meant I was a bit too tight for foods in the morning, because at a lesser fill by afternoon my band would feel so loose I'd be ravenous the rest of the day.

Still you have to be carefull not to cross that line to where you are battling a fill that is too tight. (*edit*) I started to post a little essay on what it means to be too tight but decided to delete as I'm not a doc and the idea of too tight can mean different things to different people.

I did have to visit the Cardiologist and even run on the treadmill (What a laugh that was). But then I had a pre-existing heart issue, so they just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be a problem for the surgery.

I do still go to support group meetings. But sadly I no longer with Hoehn's group. I miss seeing everyone there and have been thinking about going back for a visit ever since I heard Billie was back. Who knows one of these months if I ever find the time I might just pop in.

Yippee!!!! Jon boy is gone. What a creep. I'd bet the farm that he really hadn't wanted to get voted off and his own stupid scheeming just bit him in the proverbial @ss! I am so glad he won't be around anymore.

I'm routing for James, Ozzy, Cirie & Yau-man. Suppose, with that smile of his, James would have to be my top pick though. Wouldn't you just love to see a little wardrobe malfunction on that man. Mmmm Mmmm Good.