ParrotheadCathy

Cold doesn't seem to bother me at all! I drink ice water all day long. Hot, on the other hand, helps relax my band in the early morning on those days I wake up feeling a little tight.

I'm in Conyers, too. I went with True Results/Dr. Chris Hart. My surgery was 2/10/09. I'll be glad to answer any questions, etc., perhaps meet if you'd like....

One thing that might help curb the out-of-pocket. My PCP was behind my choice 100%. So I found out from my surgeon's office what I had to have in the way of tests and my PCP made the referrals to providers under my insurance and got it covered by my insurance. Then I only paid my surgeon his fees.

Truthfully, you should be able to eat anything BUT (and that's a mighty big BUT) that doesn't mean you should. For example, you might be able to eat a foot long sandwich from Subway but that doesn't mean you should buy it and stuff it in! It's very tough to "get back on the wagon" but that's what you have to do. With this fill, why don't you go back to liquids only for 2-3 days and then mushies for a couple of days and then back to regular solids? That's what I'm supposed to do after each fill anyway. Then treat it like you're just post op and back on real food. Plan your meals, weigh/measure as an insurance policy that you aren't giving yourself an extra smidge here and there which could add up to gaining a pound a month or even more. WRITE DOWN everything you eat and when. I say when because you may see that there are certain times of day/circumstances when you eat more than you should or eat when you shouldn't eat at all. That could help you plan your day better and perhaps avoid the pitfall(s). Ditch the soda .... it may not stretch your pouch or it might BUT it's just not good for you. It's tough on your stomach, tough on your teeth and that's reason enough to not drink it. And, I have to say it: GET BACK INTO AN EXERCISE ROUTINE. Yeah, I know ALL the excuses because I've used them. But once I started getting up at 5:00 AM instead of 6:00 and walking/running 4 miles, it's become a habit such that even if it rains, I go out anyway and just get wet. How sick is that? LOL.

Sorry, I couldn't remember the website addy: www.carecredit.com Don't know the one for Capital One but I'm sure you could also Google "medical financing" or something similar.

Care Credit finances medical procedures. So does Capital One. I used Care Credit. Instant approval online at application. They tell you yes or no and how much they will approve you for.

It's hard until you get enoug fill to consider yourself at or near your sweet spot. Here are a few suggestions: 1. EAT Protein. Ditch any Protein shakes. Solid protein takes longer to digest than anything else you can put in your stomach so it will make you feel full longer. 2. If you get hungry in less than four hours, snack...BUT make that snack PROTEIN. Am I getting boring yet? LOL! Seriously, 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese (that's somewhere around 12 grams of protein), a boiled egg, three or four steamed shrimp.....See #1 above as to why I'm saying snack on protein. 3. Drink your Water (eight 8 oz glasses a day is only a start for me). Drink it throughout the day. It will make your skin look healthier, help you feel a little full between meals and will make you less likely to miss it during and immediately after your meal if you drink it steadily. 4. Exercise. You don't have to go to the gym for 2 hours everyday, but pick an exercise habit you know you can stick with and DO IT. Nike had it right: Just Do It! Good luck! And keep us posted as to how you're doing.

It doesn't really hurt BUT most doctors will give you a shot of lidocaine first if you want it. Note here .... you still feel one shot no matter what. They know where the doc puts the port and they can feel it. I have a 10cc band. There was .6cc left in the band at surgery after they fully filled it to test it and then drained it. My first fill was 3cc on top of that. After my first two fills, it was "normal" diet. But now, I am on liquids for 24-48 hours after.

I was outpatient...and out taking a walk that afternoon.

BIG rip-off! For most of us, all that is includeded in the fee for the surgery. I'd shop around before I committed to that. They're just looking at you as a paycheck and that's their way of increasing the paycheck.

Chew it up like anything else and you should be fine. Eat the darker greens instead of iceberg lettuce since iceberg lettuce pretty much doesn't offer any nutrition at all. There are lots of other lettuces that are better for you (and actually have some taste, as opposed to iceberg, LOL). And not all salads have lettuces of any kind. Dice up a nice tomato, seed a cucumber and dice some of that. Add a little onion, some chopped basil and a really good vinagrette (forget light; go for the "real" stuff because you don't need but just a drizzle. Now, that's a salad. Want to add a little Protein to it? Add some fresh mozzarella, which is nothing like the mozzarella they put on pizza....it's soft and tasty. If you can find it, buy the "buffalo" mozzarella which is really made from buffalo milk and that's really good stuff. And, yeah, love that greek salad. Kalamata olives, feta, some slivers of pepperoncini....I can taste it now.

Glad to hear you're feeling better finally, Erin!! A little secret. Some (a lot of) people are kind of weird about commenting on someone else losing weight ..... Some of them are afraid that if they say "have you lost weight?" and you haven't that they will hurt your feelings. I'm down 75 pounds for pete's sake! I went to a meeting the other night and there were people there who haven't seen me since before the surgery. And nobody said anything for the longest time. So I'm thinking 'what, you can't tell??!!' THEN, finally, my friend Roxy said "Wow, Cathy, you are really looking great!" And when I acknowledged that with a happy face and a quick spin to show off, THEN and only then did anybody else say anything. Weird, but it's happened that way a couple of other times. So, like your teacher, they say things like did you cut your hair? Anyway, enjoy every minute of your senior year! You rock the school, okay? Do everything they plan for the senior class. Every party, dance, football game, bonfire, whatever. I want you to look back on your senior as the best year ever of school. I want you to tell your children how much fun you had, all the things you did ... and you can remember how wonderful you felt as the pounds fell away. Good luck!!

Gallstones after weight loss is a very common occurrence. I lost 124 pounds many years ago and developed gallstones. Had my gallbladder removed back in 1983 -- when they cut you from your sternum to your appendix (and took that out while they were there). Today's surgery is nothing by comparison. On the average, the surgery I had meant 10 days in the hospital and out of work 4-6 weeks. That was the average, and I did much better but THAT compared to outpatient? Just go get it taken care of and feel sooooo much better. Wishing you a quick recovery.

SandyGoKate and others nailed it .... we're talking about a guy. Frankly, guys are pretty simple once it gets to naked. I mean, really. Example? I'm in a very long-term relationship (no desire to get married or live togethero. He knows me pretty darned well after all these years. I almost lost my leg 2 years ago because of a beta strep infection that followed up an achilles tendon rupturing and being repaired. I had an OPEN WOUND on the back of my right leg with a copious amount of bandages and he didn't even notice until WAAAYYY later, LOL. Guys! If he actually notices AND comments. You always have the option of "oh, it was no big deal, just a _______" fill in with cyst, hernia, or gallbladder problem. I'm all for honesty but that's me.

Bob, don't read opinions into your significant other. You may be projecting your own feelings onto her. TALK to her. If you feel comfortable doing so, let her know what you have to do to get back on track and lose the weight you've recently gained. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that she is more understanding than you give her credit for and she may be more than willing to stand by you in this endeavor...and maybe even help you out.

There may be specific reasons related to the specifics of the original surgery. But gastric bypass may not be your only option. Talk to someone about a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. VSG is sort of an in-between lap band and GB -- no fills but no intestinal bypass either. A good surgeon is the authority on your potential as a patient for any procedure.

There are SOOOOO many cookbooks for dieters. You could go broke, LOL. Pork chops. I would season them (i'm partial to pepper seasoning, like McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning) and grill them. Make a spinach salad (unlike iceberg lettuce, which has pretty much NO nutritional value, raw spinach is packed with good stuff) with a little diced boiled egg, a little onion and light raspberry vinagrette dressing (there are a couple of different brands of this on the market, but I like Ken's Steakhouse version best). Don't be afraid to steam some carrots and put a little bit of light margarine or butter on them and a little Sugar Twin brown sugar. This makes a great treat. Buy an acorn squash. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and put the halves face down in a baking dish and put just a little Water in the pan. Bake at 350 until done (time will depend on the size a bit, but about 30 minutes). A little light margarine and this is yummy. Spaghetti squash .... bigger but you cook it the same way. When it's done, drag a fork from one end to the other and it will break the squash up into something that looks like spaghetti. Put your spaghetti sauce on it.....tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, garlic (lots of garlic, LOL) ... you won't be thinking that it's not Pasta.

Nope, I took 3. Wouldn't be the first time, but then again, I take a dose of Tylenol about once every year or two. Buy the smallest "pocket" packaging they offer because most of it gets thrown away. My doc knows I do that. Heck, when I got a beta strep infection and damn near lost my leg, I took four at once before I went to the emergency room (I was in Key West and had to get someone who actually had a car drive me to Stock Island where the hospital is because I couldn't ride my scooter off the island). Still had a fever of 106 when I got there. Nobody in the ER said a word about the 4 Tylenol ... maybe because they were all focusing on the fact the the infection was in the bone. That was the last time I took Tylenol....November 2007. But whatever. And I didn't tell the OP to take 3... I said "take a couple of Tylenol". But thanks for looking out for me; Lord knows I need a keeper most of the time!!

A lot of us have had a fill and thought "hmmm, did they actually put anything in?" .... and a week or ever longer later you suddenly feel that fill and think "oh wow". Don't know why that is, but you're not alone.

My suggestions are simple. 1. When at home, cut your food up all at one time. Make sure the individual bites are no larger than a nickel. 2. Take a bite and PUT YOUR FORK/SPOON DOWN. Chew the bite. You don't have to chew it to a liquid state as I read someone suggest one time. You just have to actually chew it. Most of us who ate fast hardly chewed our food at all, so just actually chewing it up is all you really have to do, but it will seem like a lot of chewing compared to the inhaling we were used to. 3. Talk with your table mates, be it your spouse, significant other, toddlers or stuffed animals. This will slow you down, giving that reasonably well-chewed bite a chance to traverse your esophagus and get into your stomach. 4. Pick up your fork/spoon and take another bite, and repeat #2 and #3. In short, make your meals a pleasant time. Enjoy your food! Marvel at the taste and texture (something you probably didn't do much prior to surgery). And if you don't chew well enough or eat too fast, you will know it very quickly. It's a learning experience but it doesn't take much to make you eat "correctly".

I never went to a seminar until I went to serve as a patient to answer questions for potential questions. I went through True Results and they offer the option of a "one-on-one" just by calling and scheduling. Because I went in having obviously done my research, that ended up being my first appointment and I started the process that day. That was 1/2/09 and I had surgery just over a month later on 2/10/09.

I don't live alone .... and the issues are more difficult under those circumstances, but they are still controllable! My granddaughter Skye (who is 21 and weighed 106 when she moved in) and her daughter, who is 17 months old live with me. Skye is working hard to GAIN weight, so yes, I buy snacky sort of stuff that I absolutely cannot eat; I bake brownies even! BUT that stuff is in her room. It is NEVER allowed to stay in my kitchen and, for whatever reason, I would never consider going into her room and getting a brownie or whatever. Rini, bless her heart, wants to eat whatever Mimi (that's me) eats -- so she has developed a strong affection for cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, Cheerios and fresh fruit. Her mom doesn't give her much sweet stuff, so fresh fruit with all that natural sweetness is a BIG treat regardless of how much she gets at one time or how often she gets it. Lessons here? (1) Don't have the bad stuff where you can get it and (2) learn to be like Rini -- let the really good stuff be your treats. The other thing....WHY are you sitting in front of the TV watching old reruns? That's a deadly set-up for a visit to the kitchen to eat just because you can. Don't turn the TV on in the first place. Come home from school and change clothes and go work in the yard, take a LONG walk, anything productive that is active. And, lastly, THERAPY. I believe that every person on the planet could benefit from at least some therapy. Some need more than others. Therapy can give you insight and coping skills that focus directly on your food issues.

I was banded in March '09 and, yes, I do get random pain at my port. It seems related to my activity level. For example, over the holiday weekend, since I didn't go anywhere, I mowed the lawn (I have an acre), cleaned house like crazy, cleaned out my closet (I mean, seriously .. I can walk into my closet for the first time in something like 3 years, LOL), did a ton of laundry..... and Sunday night, it just plain hurt. I never take any kind of any medicine since I had the surgery, but I took 3 Tylenol and went to bed. It's happened that same way a few other times, like when I steamed 5 rooms of carpet in 2 days on top of regular cleaning, and situations like that. Try a couple of Tylenol and see if it relieves it...and look at what you really did for the 3 or so days before the pain became apparent. You may see a pattern. Remember, if you have the Lap Band AP, the port it stitched to muscle and can pull; if you have the Realize Band, it has metal crimps that they squeeze into the muscle and consistent pulling on the area that you don't even think about at the time can cause the result we're discussing

No more kitchen gadgets that are bigger than a potato peeler! I just don't have room for them. But I will say that I use the gas grill in the back yard A LOT and what I usually do is when I grill a meal for the family, I will grill 2-3 extra chicken breasts/chopped steaks or whatever for my lunches.

Heck, I told EVERYBODY. Strangers, even, LOL. I must live in rarified air because I have not heard even one vaguely negataive comment from anyone. I've gotten a lot of curious questions. But if anybody ever says you're cheating consider telling them this: If I had a heart condition and a mechanical device or a valve transplant would help my heart keep working you wouldn't say I cheated. If I lost a leg and wore a prosthetic, you wouldn't say I cheated. How can doing something that HELPS me to not suffer be cheating? Remember that I still have the responsibility for what goes into my mouth .... bad choices or good ones. I still have to decide whether or not to get out of the bed at 5:00 AM to walk/run/skip 4 miles before I get ready for work. Explain to me how that is cheating.