BillOh

Thanks for the insight.

Who needs attention? I think your getting it here with the self rightous statement.

I would only question the "Go out of their way"

Thank you for your concern. I should clarify one thing. They broke two porcelin crowns. I don't know if they are easier to break or not, but my dentist was still pretty alarmed. This does explain the cost to some extent though. I also want to add that this was my first ever surgery and the anesthisa team made me feel really comfortable and the surgery was a good experience.

I can understand your senitment and agree to some extent. I won't use the card everywhere, but there are places I find it approrpriate. My Chinese Buffet was an example of it not being needed. Also keep in mind many restaurants price buffet type meals based on what the average, or the upper percentage will eat. Many quality establishments like the Mongolian BBQ I mentioned recognize that at their prices you are going to eat there a lot less because for you its jut not a good value. They recognize this and welcome our business by making it a better value. One other point about these cards is port sizes at regular restaurants. Some places just have ridiculous portion sizes and many times taking home is not an option. Some places offer smaller portions of good food and limit that availability to seniors or children. I should have the right to buy the smaller portions. Smart restaraunts recognize its good to make a little profit rather than no profit. Plus it helps thier tip depended wait staff. As I may have mentioned, I tip based on what I use to order instead of what I do order. I figure why punish a wait person for my eating less. (I am still saving money)

You certainly didn't offend me. I look at it this way, I am looking everywhere for motivation. You have one additional place to look and I truly am glad that helps. My main motivation was being off blood pressure medicine and hopefully one week away from finding out my sleep apnea is cured.

Do you have a laptop with a wireless connection? Under the "your experience may vary" disclaimer I could see you functioning as long as you could stay comfortable. At a pc at a desk, a little tough, but if you could make yourself more comfortable, its possible.

You may not have any restriction. Some people here relate about getting fluid added to their band at the hospital during surgery. However my doctor waited 2 months for the swelling to reduce before adding any fluid to my band. There technically was some restriction, but I could drink as much fluid as I wanted as fast as I wanted. Some food I would notice restriction more than others, but it was there. Even in this mode I managed to lose considerable weight before my first fill.

Based on my experience this is exactly right. When I overdo it too much, the pain is bad enough to kill my appetite for hours.

Last month my doctor cut my blood pressure medicine in half, and yesterday he cut it in half again and gave me one month's worth of pills. He said when they are gone, you are done with it Just keep monitoring it and let him know if it spikes. I made my appointment with the sleep doctor for next week. I am going to wear the oxygen measuring clip on my finger over night and I expect it to say I'm greatly improved and hopefully cured of sleep apnea. My wife says I don't snore anymore and my breathing sounds better. In one month I may be cured of two life threatening conditions! The surgery will have definitely been worth it.

I ate some undercooked chicken and threw up ok. It wasn't fun of course, but I got through it. I'm leaving next month on a cruise, so I plan on eating carefully. I just have to remember my band during the first few bites or it will remind me.

I was told 4 weeks, but as others said, listen to your body. I'm on a curling team, I started back at 4 weeks, had problems with sweeping irritating my port site. At 6 weeks all was well. I just started back at the gym 2 weeks ago.

COngrats Catherine. My weight is coming off at pace like yours. My wife was in 3derland and was very happy to get back to onederland. For me onederland will mean I am about 80% there, but there have been several landmark goals met already.

Ok, just kidding, I've spent months thinking about the title I would put on today's message when it finally came. Do any of you have a Nintendo WII and the WII fit? Its pretty interesting and a lot of fun. It seems like a very accurate scale and has some neat features. Every day, it weighs you and calculates your BMI and tracks your progress over months. While its measuring it has a little avatar that represents you. As soon as it calculates your data, the character balloons up and a tiny computer voice says, "Thats obese!" At least that is what it said until today. I got up and weighed myself and today is the day I've been waiting almost 3 months for. I'm no longer obese, I'm officially overweight. I had been obese, I believe, for 12 years. This has been one big milestone I've been waiting for. I've got two more. At 225, I plan on calling my sleep doctor. Sleep apnea was the main reason I chose to have this surgery. My wife says I don't snore anymore and I breath deeper at night. I'm going to call the sleep doc and get retested and hopefully say good bye to him forever. My last milestone will be the 200 barrier! Maybe before my 50th birthday in June.

I went through the program at OSU after my wife had the RNY bypass there. We both have been pretty sucessful. I thought the program was great, losing almost 20 pounds before surgery. The only bad part was OSU broke two of my crowns during surgery. At first they were apologetic, then they went into denial mode.

With 20 years of internet experience, I tend to doubt things like this when they make up a different ID to tell the story. Do they think Mexican bandits read this forum? Why would someone do this? Because they have something to lose by people going to Mexico perhaps? I see it all the time on many forums. Ever notice the tricks spammers use to sound legit and to get you to pass on their message? First there is the supposed need to post with a new ID and the need to tell us, they are a legitimate poster here. I just don't buy it. By the way, I have 2 million dollars stuck in Nigeria and I need your help getting it out.

Sorry, I missed it. Just found this thread.

Did your equipment include a humidifier? I mainly couldn't stay asleep with the equipment on my head.

Goal #2 of the week met. Today I call my sleep doctor and I'm going to tell him I want the overnight test where I wear the oxygen meter on my finger tip. When I first had that test, my 02 level dipped to 79. When I was in the hospital overnight after surgery it never dipped below 94, That was almost 30 pounds ago. Wish me luck, I plan on dropping out of the sleep apnea group on web-md soon.

I had a physical last year with blood work. Most everything was ok. Pre-surgery they did some more blood work and found me to be very D deficient. I started taking a D supplement before my surgery. I've lost almost 50 pounds in 4 months, I guess maybe getting my D level up has helped.

Your probably on carpet. Put a sturdy board under it. After that I found it to be very accurate. We actually bought a 2'x2' wooden floor tile at home depot to put under it and it helped a lot.

I'll let you know tonight how the first fill goes at THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY:thumbup:

I'm back! The worst part was the hour wait to get in. It went really well. It was easy and totally painless. It was fun to watch. The contrast you drink wasn't nearly as bad as when I had some GI work done years ago. Just small sips of a minty drink that was thicker than Water, but thinner than a shake. She put in 3ccs, decided it was too restricted and backed it out to 2.25ccs. Here we go, hope to lose 10 more pounds before my 4/6 cruise.

Congrats, we are in similar situations. I went in at 4 weeks and had lost close to 30 and he scheduled my first fill for the 8 week after my surgery date. My weight loss has slowed down a little, so I'm looking forward to the fill. At this point I'm within 2 pounds of shedding the obese label for the first time in 12 years.

Mine was definitely sore for more than 4 weeks. Now its not as noticable, but I can sure feel it. Less than 2 weeks from my first fill.