*susan*

Keep it friendly, please all. We encourage everyone to post their personal experiences with their doctors. We discourage personal attacks on one another.

DeeDee, I am so excited for you girl!

You are getting close now! For me, I found the first three days are the toughest, and once you get past them, things seem to even out and you adjust pretty well. You just have to keep your eye on the prize.

Last I knew of, Dr. Aceves was $12,000 for a band to sleeve revision. While I understand cost is important, I think experience is even more important. Band to sleeve revision is a bit more complicated, and he has a lot of experience with it.

Hi Daniel, welcome to our forums and thank you so much for sharing your success with us. You are doing fabulous.

I am not against the band either. I am thrilled for those who have had success with it. What scares me though, is there are more and more people like yourself, me and several others here who are starting to have a great deal of problems with them at two and three years out. If you are self pay, like I was, it can be very, very costly between the fills and revisions that are needed. With the sleeve, you have the surgery and that is it, you are done. I can understand your families concern. Mine was concerned as well. My hubby was okay once he did some research and learned that Mexicali was pretty safe. Plus, he went with me. No way would he have let me go alone. Plus, if you go with a doctor such as Dr. Aceves, their staff (Ernesto) picks you up from the airport and drives you to the hospital for your pre-op tests. Then he drives you to the hotel. We just stayed around the hotel that night because we were so tired, and it was very nice and we felt very safe there. Then, Ernesto picks you up from the hotel and takes you back to the hospital. You remain there until Ernesto takes you back to the airport. So, we felt perfectly comfortable and safe at all times.

Manatee, that is great news. I also got to keep my band. I loved it for the first two years, but was miserable with it the last year. I keep thinking I should do something mean and evil to it to get even with it for that last year. :blushing:

Tiff, the waiting and not knowing for sure when he is coming home would drive me insane. I don't know how you guys do it. I have so much respect for you.

Once I got home, I probably could have done just fine if I was by myself as well. But, I had my mom, my hubby, my kids all waiting on me hand and foot. Actually, it might have been better to have been alone, I could have gotten more rest!

Sounds like things are moving along nicely for you!

I can definitely see a difference, your booty is disappearing girl!!

Wow, what an awful experience to have been put through. The lack of compassion after you explained you had just gone through major surgery was uncalled for. There was no reason for them to be so rough on you. It does sound like a power trip. I agree with the others, you definitely need to lodge a complaint. Did you get the names of the people that did this?

I am also glad to hear you are home and on the road to recovery. It sounds like you had a good experience. I am going to have to go check out that other thread of yours now.

Hi and welcome. Isn't it wonderful to not feel like you are starving all the time and wanting to eat? I love that feeling, it gives you such a sense of control. Milk of Magnesia was definitely my friend during the first two months of banding. As for being gassy, that, along with the constipation will pass (pun not intended) after you move into regular foods and your body begins to adjust to all of the changes it has gone through. Good luck and keep us posted on how you are doing.

Shanda, you have already received some great advice from everyone here. I really agree about the Protein shakes, you may just want to purchase a few samples to have on hand. After you are sleeved, try them out, see which ones you like and then order more. Most of us have found that our tastes changed significantly after our surgery. I cannot tolerate anything sweet anymore. Congratulations on your upcoming date, keep us posted on how you are doing.

Hi Kim, and welcome to the forums. That is wonderful that you are your friend are going to be going through this together. You will be a great support team for each other!

But, don't you think by pm'ing people the details, so you can further rile them up, you are upsetting the apple cart? :blushing: I am going to make one final post on this matter, and then I am done. I am coming off of a week in which I put in a ridiculous amount of hours in preparing for our biggest fundraiser of the year on Saturday. I am exhausted. I have been sick for two days and not feeling well. Then, we had to deal with a situation here that has been brewing for two months. The person in question has been sending me threatening/nasty emails. People I considered to be my friends are slamming me over a decision that was made by myself and the mods and endorsed by Alex. Aside from being the administrator here, I am also a human being. Human beings are allowed to make mistakes. I posted my frustration about this and many other things that are happening outside of here on facebook. That post had no names mentioned in it. It was simply assumed whom I was referring too. While it has been posted quite a bit on here that I made that post, what hasn't been mentioned was that it was only up for a very short minute or so on facebook before I thought better of it and deleted it. Much like the post that was made about me being power hungry and who did I blow to get this job. How was that any different in terms of taking things personally, and attacking me on facebook? How do you think my husband felt about THAT comment? Or all the comments made about me in reference to it? I made a mistake in what I posted on facebook, knew it and took it right back down again. My deepest apologies for being human and offending anyone by it. I will not apologize for banning a member, nor will I justify the reasons for doing so. It was a team decision, endorsed by Alex and I continue to feel it was the correct and appropriate action. As for why am I here when I don't have a band, well, first off, I have a lot of experience with it. Brandy, you have experience with being pregnant and raising kids, so sure, you could definitely be a mod on a pregnancy forum. Alex is a great guy and has done a lot for me and I owe him so much and will continue to do the best I can for him. We both have one main goal, which is to see people succeed in their weight loss efforts. Again, I apologize for anyone whom I may have offended. I have lost people whom I considered to be friends over this issue, and I find that very sad. If you think I am sitting here on my high horse of power, well, then you just don't know me very well. I am not like that all, not one bit.

What Daisy said, milk definitely is a no-no during the clear liquids phase. I found it really, really difficult to get in my required protein until I hit the mushies phase.

I commend you for doing this. No matter what the age, we all deserve the opportunity to be healthy and feel better. If having the desire to improve your quality of life, your longevity of life and your overall health is crazy, then I guess everyone of us on this site are crazy right along with you.

I just go to the gym. But, we recently started a new one and they have a lot of classes you can take. I am more excited about that than I was just working out on my own. Hopefully that will motivate me more.

I agree with MacMadame, Deb, you are doing great. That is a nice, healthy weekly average weight loss.

I wish I had that switch in my brain to flip! I hate exercising and really procrastinate doing it. The thing is, once I am there I feel so much better that I wonder why I tried to come up with excuses not to do it. But, I just really have to force myself.

Glad to hear the scale is moving for you again too, Carrie. I can lose .25 pound one week, and then three the next, so I hear you on the fluctuating part. I also weigh only once a week, on Sunday mornings right before I step into the shower.

When I did do WW, I always did the online program. I am always near a computer or have my iPhone with me, so it is easier to access the program and calculate points that way. I would love to see how someone reworked the points for sleevers.