Kat817

Wow--your schedule does make things difficult, it is going to be something you might have to adjust as time allows. I too love cornbread, and can eat it without issue, but it is not exactly low cal---especially when I smother it in butter!!! You might try some high Protein Snacks to take with you so you don't get soooo hungry at work. I take a cheese stick, and slice it length wise into 2 or 4 pieces, then roll a slice of the thin lunch meat around it. I can drop 3-4 of these in a zip lock, and snack when I want without worrying about them being bad for me....and they will hold me til I can get a good dinner together. Or in your case until your lunch break at work hits. Plus, they don't leave your breath horrid for dealing with your patients!! Maybe a can of raw almonds somewhere that you could grab a couple of them from time to time if you are starving at work, as well. They are high protein, and will help hold you over. If you got a few divided plastic childrens plates, you could dish you up small servings of the things you make over the weekend, and since it would be in kids plates, the real kids would know it was yours!!! I have one of Tweety Bird!!! I use it here at home, if I make a full dinner, I fix me a plate to have for lunch the next day, and it keeps me mindful of how much I am eating. I know you wouldn't want to take that to work but for eating when you get home. Do you eat when you get home, right before going to bed? I can't do that due to reflux, but I understand it is bad for weight gain too. I notice when I eat oatmeal of any kind, even the weight control kind, I get hungry really quick! I would have thought it would stay with me, but for some reason with me it works the opposite---so you might watch and see if you are reacting the same way. I know prices are so much higher for healthy foods--seems so backwards! Walmart is not my favorite place to go, but I like the ability to price match all the different stores in one place. What I do is this....our grocery store ads come in our Wed. newspaper. So Wed. morning, I sit down and look through them, make notes about what is on sale where. Then when I hit Walmart---and I try to do it at an off time so it is not so busy---if it is in an ad at another store, they will Price match it....so I get the sales from several different stores, and only have to go to one. Like I just did this....and the little baby carrots---peeled and ready to eat are on sale at several places, so I will get a couple bags of those, they are good to snack on, and my granddaughter loves them! Good Luck----you might ask your Dr. if they have a nutritionist you could consult with....they might have some great ideas for you!!! Kat

TA-DA!!!! Previewing the new siggy----TY Laura!! Kat

Yeah they just did a piece on this human body exhibit---it is a big thing! Supposed to be unclaimed bodies they say---and now they will have releases from either the donating family or from the ME stating it is an unclaimed body from now on! Dunno about any of that, but I am looking forward to going! Rick is looking forward to the bike show---it always costs me, he finds new chrome or something!!! Actually this year, I want a new drink holder for my seat!!! ME! ME! ME! Laundry is ready to change! See I DID go do something....I have 1 load of clean clothes, and a bubbly clean granddaughter as well!! BBL~~ Kat

Hell if she is comparing her size to that of the apple--I am gonna have to walk around carrying and measureing a melon!!!! Wonder if we can get a cheaper rate buying melons in bulk BBK???? Kat

Morning~ Did not sleep well at all! Went to bed with a headache, and Rick is all stuffy headed so he was snoring like crazy---finally got to sleep about midnight, and woke up--wide awake like it was time to get up at 3 AM!!! Was awake til 4:30 or so, then sacked out hard---------just in time for the alarm at 5! Finally drug out of bed, just as Rick was leaving at 5:30-----Kinsey got here, wide awake at 6----------and I am still just draggin' my butt around! I have laundry to do, lots of things I want to accomplish today before Rick goes on his 4 days off---------but cannot get it together! We are going to Albq. on Sat. to a big motorcycle show, and a human body exhibit I want to see--done with real preserved human bodies. Manda saw it in Vegas, said it was totally cool, but she is my child who was totally serious about wanting to be a forensic pathologist....actually sat in on several embalmings, and an autopsy----not me!!! She may have pursued it further if her experiences with her nursing had been of a different nature. But now the oilfield money has her locked in! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN!!!! Do not let him spoil your day--it gives him WAY to much power---and that is YOUR power. Remember this is YOUR year!!! You laid claim to it, just as you laid claim to your job. He has no more power than you give him...... As sad as it is, he is no longer the man he could have been before the accident--and you deserve better. You did not cause his accident, and you are not responsible for being his punching bag---or the one he dumps all the frustration on....he needs some help, and is obviously not willing at this time to get it. Move on, let him move on as well--maybe that will be his impetus to get the help---and if he does.....who knows what the future could hold? But the way it is now, it is like a looped tape, you get your hopes up that he is "coming back" as the guy he was before the accident, and he disappoints you every time. You and your kids deserve to be able to count on someone...and he has proven to you time and time again that he cannot be counted on. I would imagine he is struggling as well, I watched my brother do it--and when he would see short comings in himself---------watch out, he would get into a bad mood, upset by it, and all hell would break loose! He would say cruel things, and act out in ways totally abnormal for him. Brain injuries do that. Do I wish I had the brother back from before? Of course! I am positive he wishes it too----but HE made the decision he did to get in the car with a drunk driver. Just as your bf made the decision to ride with no helmet.....now he has to find his way in his new world...it is NOT your lot in life to lead him, and be beat up (figuratively) along the way. Just as some think it is cruel to make a blind person learn to navigate on their own, in his case, he needs to find his way without you as his fall guy----you will both end up better people for it. OK----------off my brain injury soap box!! Now Girl---go celebrate!!! Pamela----sorry your test was a yucky one----hope everything gets the go ahead for the ablation.....isn't that the plan? And you can call me anytime too----Any of you can! Well----the laundry is not gonna sort itself----guess I should go get it started---so I can get it finished. Anyone wanna pay my bills for me? That's another task I need to finish today! BBL~ Kat

Triser, I think if I were you I would focus on personal health issues leading you to being banded---so as not to make it appear to the equally large girls that it is a vanity issue. It is a fine line to walk, and while they will be your support, you will also be showing them a new way of doing things. I had teachers I loved! Still do! I would have worried, but also would have, as you say noticed if something that big changed! No pun intended!!! It gives me hope for our school systems when I see so many loving teachers on this site----I wish all of them were so caring about their students!!!!! Good Luck to you both! Kat

I mentioned to my DD that there was a discussion about getting tattoos while in TX. She showed up here this evening, and she come to talk to me about the tattoo!!! She wanted Rick to be here. Back when I began looking into being banded, she was recently divorced, and she and the baby were living with us. I had researched several Dr.'s, but was going under the assumption at the time that insurance was still going to see the light! So one day out of the clear blue, I get this email from Mexicali Bariatrics. I knew for a fact I had not signed up for anything from them---I had not looked into going out of the country---as I say I thought insurance would come through. This started a conversation with my Mom, Manda and I about my Grandma. She had been diagnosed with a form of Luekemia, and was not responding to the type of treatment she was being given. In the end she went with her sister to Mexicali to a clinic there, and received treatment. They remained in Mexicali for 12 weeks. When she come home, she was in remission. This was in her late 40's---I was a baby. She lived til I was in my late 30's. She always spoke of Mexicali like it was this beautiful, wonderful place. It was---it allowed me to grow up with the most awesome Grandma! So I never saw the website again until 2 days after insurance fell through. I cried those 2 days away. Opened my computer up to another email from them. Manda was home, we opened the site, began scrolling through the pics----and about fell out of our chairs. In their pictures there is one of a very heavy woman in a hospital bed---ladies, that could be me in that picture!!! Everyone kind of freaked out!!! So, to be very honest, I wondered about Grandma leading me....so I mentioned this Dr. to my original surgeon choice, and he knew him immediately---he had mentored with him in a laproscopic training course. He supported the decision, and spoke with him. So I had my Uncle do some digging. He is an MD, in the states of course....but he found good things too. I was hesitant about spending the $$$ out of our account, and was being very wishy washy about it. On the 3rd day of my uncertainty of what to do, I got a call from a Mrs. ---------- same last name as my Grandma, who was with Geico insurance, the insurer of the person at fault in the accident that basically cost me my insurance coverage for the band. She made me a cash settlement offer. We all kind of freaked out over the name. I made the call to set the appointment the day I received the check from Geico. Mexicali, was not what I expected....yet I felt incredibly secure. It was made more so....and I know the eyebrows will go up in question over this...but girls it is true....3 times while there, I found pennies---American pennies (My Grandma is the one who ALWAYS referred to them as pennies from heaven) but the pennies were never alone, they were with a cigarette butt each time! My Grandma smoked like a freight train---but she smoked very particular cigarettes---they were called Parliament. They have a very different filter. It has a hollow place on the tip of the filter with this little baffle type of thing....never knew why....just that it did. Each of the 3 pennies was near a Parliament filter type of cigarette butt! My DH and my SIL were there to witness it, in fact my SIL found the last one! I truly believe my Grandma has been with me through this, she would be soooo happy and proud of what I have done. She would have went with me....just to get back to Mexicali! My Grandma was a woman before her time! She worked as a welder during the war, and was capable of doing most anything. She was not perfect! She married my Grandpa, and had my Mom, and her mother (my great Grandma) lived with them her entire life. When my Mom was a young girl, my Grandma left her family, and moved to California....and lived a wild few years. I have pictures of her partying in a club with Johnny Cash! She eventually come home, and set to making up to her family, and had another daughter. She never judged....anything I did, she supported me! She loved a good margarita! Amanda reminded me of all of these things. Her point being---if Grandma was alive, she would go and meet her friends, and she would have a few margaritas, and have a wonderful time, and she likely would have gotten a tattoo! My Grandma's name was Violet..... So even if I don't do the tattoo----my DD is. She wants one, a small 1" Violet on her foot or ankle. She come to tell Rick, that he needs to support me if I want it done. She took us all back through all of these things my Grandma was with me for.....and after all that he listens patiently and he says to her-----I told her to do it! Talk about taking the wind out of someones sails!!!! Was so funny!!!! Had to share----sorry for the book length post! Kat

Maybe if you gave us an idea of what you are eating now in an average day---what kind of meals you have to prepare---what your kids do for food on your 12 hour shifts---what your options are during your long shifts.......those kind of things, then we can critique and tweak what you are working with..... Like I know our local hospital has a totally separate cafeteria for personel than for visitors----employees have access to a salad bar, visitors get pre made is it.....so if we had some info into your life on a day to day basis, maybe we could help you help yourself a bit easier!!! I understand how the first year is so much easier!!! I too lost the biggest majority of my weight in the first year. Welcome to LBT! Kat

I'd be careful with the Gall Bladder story--I heard a high percentage of bandsters as well as bypassers lose their gall bladder in the first couple of years following the surgery due to dietary changes. Would be hard to explain you miraculously having 2 gall bladders!!!! I suggested the same thing once Wendy, and had someone send me the numbers on the surgery following WLS---they really are high! Wish I still had them....so far mine is still in where it belongs!!! I have no idea how to hide it, it would be more difficult that's for sure. I am one who told everyone!!! I could never keep straight if I told someone or not, so I told everyone! Probably a lot who didn't want to know even!!! Kat

While you are here looking around the site, be sure to check out the Before and After Pics--under the general lap band surgery discussion heading. True inspiration if there ever was any!!!! Kat

Your sister told you correctly, the rate of complications is VERY low. Most of that is dependent upon who she has chosen for a surgeon---that is very important. As for the lap band itself, I truly believe it to be much safer for us than the obesity. When I was banded almost 2 years ago, I was a size 22/24. I had high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, joint pain....all kinds of issues. On medications for most. I now take zero prescription medications, my blood work makes my Dr. VERY happy, and I am wearing a size 14. I am able to exercise, and have grown to enjoy it even! The improvement to my life are way to numerous to list....but the point is, I feel like I have my life back. I have and will continue to reccommend it to anyone who asks me how I lost the weight! I would take my own Mother, or Daughter-----or Sister, if they needed it, I believe in it that much! Refer your sister over to our site, for some serious Lap Band Support!!! Kat

Wow---my SIL and I went to Mexico for banding, and we flew. We flew home on the 3rd day...with no issues, or no questions from either the surgeon in MX...or our local fill Dr. She (SIL) flew to Oklahoma when she was about 3 weeks out to a funeral. Then I flew 5 days following my first fill, to Texas, and have flown several times since, and have 2 fills now.....I have never had an issue. I have mentioned flying to MX to my original surgeon, and nothing has ever been said. In May our monthly support group is all flying to TX to meet, and none of us has said anything about our Dr.'s being worried. Call your Dr. and ask! Better safe than sorry! Kat

If you are getting the soup down, I would relax right now. Stress is not going to help the situation! I would go onto Clear Liquids for the next few hours, not keep trying to put heavy liquid or solids onto the stoma, it might be irritated, and will cause swelling, which will increase restriction! Then tomorrow morning, I would continue with clear liquids, because I am so much tighter in the morning. Then come noon or so, then I would go back to something like the soup you are eating now....and stick with that for the remainder of tomorrow, or things of about that thickness---Protein shakes.....etc. Then slowly progress to a day of mushies....you get the idea, take it super slow since you are feeling obvious restriction, and some discomfort, or as though it is in the esophagus rather than the pouch. If you get to a point liquids are not going through, or you cannot swallow your own saliva----you need immediate attention, here or in MX either one. My second fill was a tiny one.....50cc. and it was HUGE in how it reacted for me!!! I had little restriction with my first of 1.25....so thought that little half a cc would do nothing--I was wrong!!! Be very cautious, and take your time easing back. With my 2nd fill, sometimes 3 bites was all I could manage!!! Within a couple of weeks it eased up--and I am still working off of that 2nd fill!!! Just don't push yourself too fast, or push eating too much. To PB on it this early will only make the swelling that much more likely!!! Hang in there! Kat

There is never a guarantee---as they tend to regain, many of us end up losing our bands, and making other choices, luckily with a band we have an opportunity to take advantage of other options, and a way to adjust. More than anything, this sends a message to me, to LEARN with this opportunity, learn healthy eating habits, and to be kind, because I never know that "there but for the Grace of God goes I"....I might be next. Kat

My pre-op diet was quite simple, it was 10 days of zero to low fat, and lean high Proteins. Lean meats, vegetables, salads, but watch the dressing it is high fat! I lost 6-8 pounds in the 2 weeks leading up to banding, but what the diet did do, and what I would suggest to you to simplify your post op and recovery would be to eliminate the caffeine, and the sugar from your diet....and cut the carbs as well, as much as you possibly can. With the sugar and the carbs, the more you eat, the more you want. So if you can get through the withdrawals from those, BEFORE you are coping with post op discomfort, and possible gas issues, then you will be that much ahead of the game, and more prepared for the post op diet. You can also use this time to taste test some Protein supplements, to find one you will like. Keeping in mind you will need both one that is CLEAR liquid---such as zero carb Isopure, and also one you can later use in protein shakes when you move on to Full liquids and mushies. You can taste some broths, and things along those lines, so you can stock some to have ready for you when you get back. Don't forget to look into some of the sugar free flavor packets to add to a bottle of Water, like Crystal Light...as well as others. You will be working to stay hydrated following surgery so if you have a variety of flavors, it helps your stomach as well as your head----if you have some flavor variety! Finding some you like now, will put you ahead of the game. And give you something to drink as you begin eliminating the sugars for now. Also it is not part of a pre op diet---but during this time, take some candid pictures of yourself front, side, and back--as well as a full face shot. And get a little notebook, and list your weight, and take a full set of measurements. Include your neck, bust, under the bust, waist, hips, thighs, calves and upper arms. When you go to the gym, they do not count all these measurements, and neither do I in my signature, but.....it will give you such a great view of the changes you are making as your weight drops. I know when I plateau according to the scale is when my inches really change--not sure how that works, but as long as it works--I am ok with it!!! Good luck as you prepare for your banding! Kat

I flew home from my banding, and have flown since with no issues at all....except now I fit in the seat a LOT better!!!!! Sometimes if you have a lot of fill, and are known to get air sick, they will recommend an unfill, but unless that is an issue, I don't think there is anything to worry about. Enjoy Hawaii---it is beautiful! Welcome to LBT! Kat

Today as I drove home, there was a van in front of me, poking along, we were in a semi-residential area, but a well travelled one, with a 25 mph speed limit---and we were doing 5-10 mph. Traffic lined up forever. Then I see why----there is a little white dog, looked like a mop that needed cleaning...trotting right up the middle of the lane big as you please. The only reason I finally saw it, was this little boy peddling like mad on his bike, and finally the dog saw the boy and they run off together! Hope he keeps better track of the dog....but had to kind of laugh, at first I was irritated about why we were going so "dog"-gone slow....then I saw who was REALLY in charge and it was not the van!!!! Good for you taking time to care for all the unloved ones that come your way!!! Kat

How long after the Dr.'s visit did you wait to call insurance? I am like you, I don't want to piss anyone off being pushy, but I wanna yell at them to HURRY!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL So glad you understand!!! Kat

I gotta get my pic to Laura--------Rick picked one----lol, I didn't like any of them!!! Got my torture device adjusted, lasted a couple hours, til I ate. A snack---easy to chew Quaker things Laura mentioned----could not eat with it, so it is hiding in the bathroom again!!! I found this on a page I was reading earlier----can you imagine if you hit air turbulence---------flop---flop-----flop!!! "BERLIN - German holidaymakers will be able to indulge their love of naturism by taking to the skies nude on special flights being launched this year, a travel company says. "In the former East Germany, naturist holidays were a much-loved way of spending the best weeks of the year," said the founder of OssiUrlaub.de, Enrico Hess. "We want to make that freedom possible above the clouds too." The flights are aimed specifically at former East Germans, nicknamed "Ossis" in German, who feel nostalgic for the naturism that was authorised and extremely popular under the communist rule. The first nude flights will be a day-trip on July 5 between Erfurt in southeast Germany and the Baltic Sea island in Usedom, which is fringed by white sand beaches. Tickets cost 499 euros ($NZ970) and there are just 50 seats on board the jet. "All the passengers will fly naked, but they are only allowed to undress once they are in the plane. But even then they will be able to enjoy the hour-long flight in the way God intended," Hess said." Anyone planning to join them???!!! So, now I cannot get my type back where I want it, without going advanced.....so will post and start over. I L O V E the pics Tracy!!!! Kat

I remember hearing that and thinking, I WISH thats all I had to lose....and now it is! I now realize those 20-30 are just as hard as the 120 was!!! I also know I am a kinder person though than many who fussed about their 20-30 pounds, in front of me! I do not fret about that in front of those who are working hard to lose much more...I have been there, and I have been there when I needed to be working on it, and had given up on it at that place in time. Hearing them just depressed me more back then! It did not motivate me. It did not make me feel like I was "one of them". Now that being said, out in the everyday world is what I am speaking of. Here in LBT--we discuss hundreds of pounds to the last stubborn 10-------and I do feel like one of the crowd! We are all doing it the same way---I love the cameraderie!! Kat

Happy Birthday Denise----may it be a wonderful day!!! You deserve to feel giddy and like a kid---------it is YOUR day---make it great!! Jane birthdays were on the address list sent to you at Christmas for most everyone, if you need it again, I will send it to you. Not much time, I am leaving for my "tooth/no tooth" day. Oral surgeon appointment at 11 and dentist at 2. And I need to go grab a toothbrush to take---meeting Rick for lunch between the 2. Will check back. Pamela----probably an internal ultrasound---------not fun but survivable--will tell you sometime about the psycho I had do one of them!!!! Hugs ladies!!! Kat

Oh me too!! Forget the passive, I would just become aggressive if forced to deal with Dr. Phil and his self righteous attitude----horrid man in my opinion!!!!!! Kat

I still get great pleasure from food. I have began cooking differently, and trying new recipes---especially vegetables---I used to fry dang near everything!! Now I buy higher quality food---and spend twice as long cooking it as eating it....but I cook in better ways, and am much more experimental. In the summer, I hit the farmers markets, and local produce farms, and am seriously looking forward to that again---I am tired of winter!!! I notice food textures, and subtle seasonings more than I ever took time to do before. I don't eat a LOT of what I cook, I don't cook a LOT of anything anymore. It is just my DH and I, and he is very accepting of whatever experiment I place in front of him and call dinner! I guess I am still addicted to food---I just turned it in a different direction, than stuffing as much as I can in my mouth----and I was reeeeeeaaally good at that!!! Hopefully someday I can be just as good of a cook!! Kat

Really there have been relatively few things to change from my perspective of "normal". The amount of food I eat has definitely changed. But I can eat meat, salads, most fruits without issue. It takes me longer, but I finish my small portion about the same time they finish their larger ones.... I have changed the types of things I drink. I do have alcoholic drinks on occasion, and even occasionally mix something with some carbonation---never beer, it is way tooooo carbonated! But it has not made me feel an outcast. I have changed the dept. I shop in, but now I can shop with my friends as opposed to leaving them in Misses to go to Plus sizes. Sometimes in the summer, I miss guzzling Water when I am working out....in fact this one truly irritates me sometimes!!! It isn't always fun trying to keep in mind to eat healthy. I mean we have so much less room to get our nutrients in, that I try to keep that in mind, and I do sometimes miss the days I didn't give that a second thought. But not thinking about it, led me to be almost 300 pounds, and on multiple prescription meds----I no longer take any. Sometimes looking in the mirror I see more wrinkles than I used to...now whether I would have seen them even with the excess weight --- who knows, I am 2 years older---I may have had them anyway! I have never had my restriction to be super tight. I have hunger control where I am---and rely on myself for the stricter portion control---I have a fear of being too tight. It has/is working for me. What little things I miss----got me into the shape that was killing me! Hell there are times I really miss cigarettes too---I want one! But I would NEVER start smoking again! I look at it the same way---I did what I did to save my own life and improve my health. No regrets that matter.....I love the changes in my life, and knowing my life is likely going to be longer due to them! Kat

jj---I just want to say I love this site, and helpful people like you---you make it the great place it is, being kind and helpful. Good luck with your possible reversal surgery--will send good thoughts your way!!! Kat