kaytie.lou

Hi Ky, thats terrible, I can't even imagine how violated you'd feel to be assulted, but for it to happen at work is shocking! I hope your work place is providing you with some sort of counselling? It looks like from your ticker thing, that you've almost lost half of your excess weight, that is so amazing, how long has it been since you were banded? It would be shit to have to have another surgery, are the replacing the band or repositioning it? At least your recovery time will be quicker:-) And demand that your workplace be very generous with sick leave time for you to recover from this surgery that would not have been necessary if you weren't assulted . . . will 'workplace cover' or what ever it is cover it? hope everything goes well for you:-) cheers, kt

hi Daisy, nope, no bad tests. only the blood tests for me. did your surgeon/doctor give you any outline of what will happen pre-surgery? do you have long to wait? cheers, kt

hi Daisy, did the doctor who put you on the waitlist give you any information or pre-surgery requirements? each surgeon is different, and I have no idea about the public system process. For me, my surgeon did a series of blood test, I had appointments with a dietician, exercise physiologist and a pychologist. Once I had a surgery date, I did a 3 week pre-surgery diet, that aims to shrink the liver. My surgeon also does a gastroposcoy as a standard pre-surgery procedure just to ensure there is no internal stomach issues (like hiatus hernia etc) cheers, kt

hi daisy, glad you've been put on the public waiting list, can you tell me/us what kind of help you are looking for specifically?

hi shaggs, glad my ramblings made some sense to you:-) you'll be on the other side of your surgery before you know it, it goes so fast! Good luck with the coming months. cheers, katie

hyia shaggs, i had the same thoughts before I was banded 8 weeks ago (i'm a newey) my take on it is to compare it with a heroin addiction treatment, where by they use Naltrexone to block the effects of opiates. If you are taking Naltrexone and you use heroin, it doesnt have the same impact. you just dont get that feeling. Well, for me, the band is similar, sure I can technically eat for emotional reasons, but it doesnt have the same impact (or payoff) as my pre-band binges. (which i my case was a nice long sugar/food coma) If you take away the feeling you get from mis-using food, then, the desire to use it in a negative way slowly goes away too (well for me anyway) And in a weird way, the feeling I get from using food in a negative way now is so vastly different to the feeling I got from my pre-band binges, that it doesnt work. I know that sounds a bit mumbo jumbo, but in my case (and i think mabey for alot of people) I was addicted to the way overeating made me feel and to being obese, not the actual act of overeating. I'd have to work really hard now to get in enough calories to one sitting to give me that 'sugar coma' feeling and not leave me feeling so full that it hurts. And, happily, I dont want to do that work:-) oh, plus, i see a physcologist as well, that helps alot with the food/emotional issues. If your surgeon hasnt recommended seeing one, I suggest you think about it. especially if you can find someone that specialises in food issues. its worth every penny! cheers, katie

honey, dont be hard on yourself, your melbourne doctor, well, he sounds like an ass. you've lost 44kgs in, what 64 weeks? my doctor says that .5 - 1kg a week is considered 'good' and healthy loss. my rough math says that you've averaged .7kg a week. 44kg is an amazing amount of weight to have lost. My starting weight is close to yours and I'll be super happy if I progress as well as you have. Keep it up! katie

Hi Ses, try Dr Phil, he really is lovely. I just looked at your ticker and it says you've lost 40ish kgs thats a huge amount, what time period did it take you to lose that and when were you banded? k

[so if anyone has a surgeon in Brisbane, or knows of one, that deals with the public patients who got a lapband, please let me know. Hi Ses, I dont know what the process is at my surgeons office if you havn't been banded by him, but here are his details Dr Philip Lockie Brisbane Private Hospital 259 Wickham Terrace Brisbane 4000 Phone (07) 3834 7080 Email info@drphillockie.com.au Phil is lovely and his practice also runs a free monthly support group for patients, that is very helpful, especially if you've been struggling. I've only been banded for 2 months myself and have only had one fill/adjustment but it was a very straightforward process and it didnt hurt a bit! Call his office, dont put up with feeling uncomfortable. Hope you find someone to help you. cheers, katie

i've found that most cafes/resaurants that wont bag up your left over's for you are more than happy to give you an empty plastic container to do it yourself. its a liability thing i guess. and i dont know if this is too extreme, but take a tuppaware container with you and do it yourself:-) kt

oh honey, any sentance that includes the phrase 'treated with chemo' should not include the word guilty. ever. clearly you deserve to be treated courtesy of the public system, its just a pity for you that the waiting periods are so umm Fluid. having dates pushed back and changed all the time must be really frustrating. I dont think I can handle the wait, so I am considering applying for an early release of my superannuation. I've only really been working for 6 years, so there isnt too many $$$$ in there, so its important for me to find a cheaper surgeon that will do the surgery in a public hospital (as a private patient). do you know if Dr Matrin does that? or do you have an email address for his clinic and I can ask myself:-) thanks so much for reponding, its hard to sift through all the information thats out there, all the doctors websites are the same, but yet all the information on forums is so contradictory it feels a bit confusing (or it did at 3am this morning when I had been reading various forums/websites for over 3 hours:-) thanks sarah, kt

Hi Ky, do you mind my asking how much the whole lot cost? I have no private health cover and can't wait a year for benifits to kick in, so I am considering using the small amount of super I have to pay for it myself. cheers, kt

Hi Sarah, if you dont mind my asking (and its totally cool if you do, mind that is:-) are you willing to share why you are a 'special case'? I only ask as I've just started to look into lap banding and am freaking out at the costs, its just not an option for me financially. Mabey I'd qualify as a special case too? i totally understand if you'd rather not answer, I do realise that it may be a private health reason or something you'd rather not share with a total stranger. either way, i hope your surgery goes well! cheers, kaytie.lou