anonemouse

That sucks! So far, I'm kind of enjoying this job, because it sure isn't rocket science (although the cash registers (point of sale system) are a lot more complicated than I thought they would be - but not too bad once you get used to them. I'm probably going to be working mostly in the housewares section, helping customers, rearranging stuff, and making sure that everything gets replenished. I did get to train on the registers yesterday, which was pretty interesting. The discount is really what decided it for me, though. I can get ALL my Christmas shopping done early this year! Who knows, I may buy my dad the gas grill he's been wanting and give it to him for his birthday (or at least, buy it and then have my mom and brother split the cost with me).

I honestly think that if I ever do decide to have children, I'd like to go the pre-implantation genetic screening route, if possible, since I doubt I'll be married or have a partner at the time. But I dunno. Kids still freak/creep me out, when they're not actively driving me insane, lol!

That's odd. In my control center, it's on the main page, right under all the newly updated subscribed threads. Maybe it only does that if someone's left a comment. I dunno.

Patients also have a responsibility to educate themselves. The vast majority of surgeons DO tell their patients about complications. Many patients don't actually listen or comprehend, though. I've never seen a surgeon that didn't provide at least a pamphlet describing the surgery to his or her patients, if not an entire binder with post-op instructions, possible complications, etc. Your lap-band not functioning until two weeks ago ISN'T a complication. That's how the thing works. You have to get fills to have restriction, and until you have restriction, you can eat normally and probably won't lose much, if any, weight.

Yep. And furthermore, it isn't our place to tell ANYONE that we "think you'll be fine." Unless you're willing to step up and volunteer to pay for their follow-up care and any possible future revision surgeries or replacement bands if a slip should happen because they followed your advice over their doctor's, anyway. In that case, be my guest!

Don't forget me! Apparently, I'm constantly sniffing up your ass, according to some of the stalkerish coordinators and various LBT lizardy wackos. And by the way, Cosmos? A regular like Wasa or snowbird are a heck of a lot more legitimate than a troll who's done nothing but post anti-Mexico rants. Between the two of you? Let's see. A person with 17 anti-Mexican surgeon rants and a person that's had 5,000+ posts since she's been a member, many of which were made in this forum and advocate personal research into whichever surgeon a patient choses. Hmm. Do I even have to say it?

Well said. I won't say I completely believe the OP's story. While I do think he probably had complications, I personally think his story is probably either rather exaggerated or a product of his own stubbornness in refusing to see his doctor unless they saw him for free. If he did have the problems he said he had, I feel sorry for him. But, to be completely honest, that's how the wind blows, sometimes. When you go in for elective surgery, smart patients do all the research they can, both on their surgeon and on the procedure/aftercare/etc. And every single US surgeon that I've ever heard of requires pre-op seminars, consultations, yadda, yadda, yadda, where prospective patients learn the possible side effects and complications. So what I'd like to say to newbies that read this thread is this: Yes, complications can happen. Yes, they can be severe. But they are VERY rare. You are FAR more likely to have a complication-free experience than an experience like the OP supposedly went through. But the bottom line is that if you think something is wrong, GO TO YOUR SURGEON. DON'T WAIT. Be aware of what can happen and stay aware of how your body is acting.

Woohoo! Boy or girl?

Yep, you can see the comments that people have made when you go to your control center, in the section called "last reputation received." People aren't required to leave comments when they give positive points (when they could give negative feedback, they HAD to leave a comment when they took a point), so you may not have any there.

Dr. Weaver does my fills. She had her nurse in the room with her, but she's always been the one to do it.

It's a good thing that the restaurants aren't around here and the stores here don't sell the brand, because I'd be in trouble.

Yep, that's why I got banded. According to my doc's scale, I was 225 pounds, which put me at a BMI of 40. According to my scale, I was 222 and had a BMI of 39+ (I like mine better). I didn't have full-blown diabetes, but I did have insulin resistance. I also had PCOS, asthma, very high cholesterol, etc. I have extremely strong family histories of diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, strokes, etc., so I knew that if I didn't take care of my obesity problem now, I'd just wind up with more problems later on. I'm sure not going to apologize because my insurance paid for my surgery. (Mostly, anyway. I still paid about $8,000 out of pocket.) That's because I DID need surgery. I've been through enough diets and crap in the past that I knew myself enough to know that I was never going to lose that extra weight, and that I'd eventually be massive if I kept on like I was. Just because someone is smaller than you, doesn't mean that they don't need the surgery just as much as you do. So yes, we will support you in your search to find a surgeon and have this surgery. We can point the way to a lot of very good surgeons that offer good self-pay deals, even if that means going out of the country for surgery, and we can suggest ideas about diets and aftercare. But all we ask in return is that you also support US, no matter what our pre-surgery size.

Yep, a strawberry milkshake made with fresh, ripe strawberries, whole milk, and good-quality vanilla ice cream is hard to beat. Or a nice peach milkshake, if you have fresh or frozen peaches! Also, if you have Friendly's ice cream in the stores up there (boy, I miss it now that I'm back in the South), they make a really good black raspberry ice cream that makes a yummy milkshake - just put it in a blender with whole milk.

Ditto! It's much more personal and member supportive than apple-lady, I think.

And then she turns into one of the parents that you mentioned earlier (especially the hooker mom), and the whole cycle continues. At least if she stays in school, there's a chance (small, granted, but still a chance) that she can make her life better and get herself and her child or children out of the cycle of poverty/pregnancy/welfare/etc. Her baby will have a better life (at least, for as long as the girl is in high school) than it would have if she had to leave school and get a job to pay for the baby's daycare, and it'll continue to have a better life because the mother will have at least a high school diploma.

Well, if it keeps her in school it's better than her having to drop out because she needs to take care of her baby.

I'll admit, I'll shorten some phrases into acronyms, like "IOW" (in other words) and "IMO" (in my opinion), but I try not to use the ever-annoying "UR" and "R" or "2."

My PPO recently switched from First Health to Aetna, and I went online and looked at their requirements for plastic surgery coverage. I'm not sure about the breast lift/reduction, but I'm pretty sure they will only cover a panniculectomy (removal of hanging skin from the belly button down), not a full tummy tuck (removal of skin, repositioning of belly button, and muscle tightening). And that requires a fairly extensive history of skin problems (rashes, fungal infections, etc.) that were caused by the excess skin, and the excess skin needs to extend down over the pubis before they'll cover it.

Awesome!:biggrin:

Yep. I'll ditto this ditto!

It's only been VERY recent that it was brought back, I think. It only lasted a couple of days the last time we had it.

Alex, is there any way to remove rep power comments from the control center? I know that the whole comment thing can be collapsed, but there are some mean/childish comments that were left to me during the last time we had the rep power thingy, and I'd rather not see them whenever I do have it opened. So, a way to remove them or an automatic removal after a certain number of days would be awesome.

Ugh, that sucks. Hopefully, though, you will start feeling better.

If you like someone's post or dislike it, you can click on the little scale in the bottom left of the post. A pop-up will come up and you can click on "I approve" or "I disapprove" and also leave comments that only the person getting or losing the reputation point can see. I personally dislike it, because people can say some pretty nasty, hurtful things with it and use it to attack people, especially if the person they're going after tends to be rather outspoken (like myself). They can also tell their friends and have their friends go and make childish, mean remarks and remove your reputation points. That's why it got removed last time. It's basically a popularity contest. If someone's very popular here, they tend to get lots of reputation points, even if they're giving out bad advice, etc. If they're not popular or have unpopular opinions, they tend to lose reputation points, even if they give good advice and help people all the time. Back when it was first started, it was right when there was a huge, controversial thread in Rants and Raves. I had some unpopular opinions and wasn't shy about stating them. My rep power was practically in the negative numbers and some people made some rather nasty, childish remarks when they took rep points, just because they didn't like my opinions. Edited to add: The idea behind it is good, people getting rewarded for making helpful posts. The actual function of it isn't, because it allows people to punish others. IMO, if they keep it around, it should be altered to where people can only give points, not take them away or leave messages.

Some of it, probably. Hopefully, anyway.:biggrin: