ParrotheadCathy

Bear in mind that two different employers who both offer BCBS of Florida may have different coverages. If you haven't already, I suggest calling your insurance company and finding out exactly what their requirements are to be approved. Make sure you are even covered for weight loss surgery!

Valie, here's my suggestions. 1) Call your insurance company yourself. Ask exactly what theire requirements are to approve you for surgery. They may tell you that the 6 month supervised diet is their requirement (or you may find it is just that surgeon). Either way, you need to know. 2) Ask them for names of surgeons in your area who are approved providers. Then do your research. This will be especially important if you find after 1 above that the 6 month diet is the doctor's requirement rather than the insurance company. 3) Even if the 6 month suprvised diet is the requirement of the insurance company, it's not like you're the only one who has had to do that. Many have had 3 or 6 month required diets. (I was self-pay and was able to skip a lot of the hassles.) Good Luck

9cc is a lot of fill, especially for the first fill. I did note that you say you have a "12 cc band". I think bands come in 9, 10 and 14ccs. But, regardless...If you can swallow liquid today, and can eat mushy food tomorrow, you are probably okay. I am sure that such an aggressive fill would make you feel weird!! I'm at 6ccs in a 10cc band and I'm at my sweet spot and my last fill (.6cc) did leave me feeling a little "off" for abouat 24 hours. That note that you are coming up on a holiday weekend and going to an emergency room is a crap shoot at best as it is likely that you would not be dealing with someone experienced with lapbands. That being the case, if you are not feeling better tomorrow, CALL THE DOCTOR and go in for an unfill.

My instructions were that until I reached good restriction, if I got hungry before 4 hours had passed since I ate a meal, to eat protein only. So, I snacked on low fat cottage cheese, low fat cheese, even a few shrimp. I was told never to snack on carbs. The protein snacks worked for me. There are some 2% cheese that comes in single serving pieces, usually with 12 in a bag (Sargento and Kraft) and I keep those at work even now for their convenience.

Nobody has the right to question YOUR choice. This is a very personal matter and involves your commitment to your choice! That said, here's why I chose lapband. #1 Gastric bypass (GB) scared me too much. A very common complication is malnutrition (which is a result of the "bypass" part of the surgery). Involved permanently eliminating the functionality of a good portion of the stomach and a permanent bypass of a good-sized section of intestine. Weight loss can be very fast, which leaves little chance for stretched skin to recover and many GB patients seem to need plastic surgery later. #2 Gastric Sleeve Gastrectomy (GSV), when I encountered it on the internet, seemed more recommended for the severely obese who were not likely to do well with GB initially. It was stated in more than one place as a "step 1" basically, with GB being "step 2" after significant weight loss had occurred. Involved permanently reducing the size of the stomach. I never read any statistics anywhere on speed of weight loss, complications, etc. #3 Lapband (LB) was reversible should there ever be a reason. There have been people on this forum who have had to have the LB removed. It still required that I "drive the bus" -- that is, I still have to make the right decisions every day so I truly am in control. The weight loss is slower than GB, which is absolutely fine with me, and my skin is recovering pretty well for somebody who is nearly 59 years old! I might need some plastic surgery, but I also know that I may not be that different from other women my age a year after reaching goal weight. Finally, my internist (whom I trust implicitly) felt that LB was an excellent choice for me. He was not very supportive of the idea of GB, saying that he felt that even though I wanted to lose 134 pounds that GB was "too drastic" for that amount of weight loss. So, it sounds like GREYTZ and I had similar feelings to yours. Hope that helps.

A bite or two too much may just make you feel like you ate three plates full at Thanksgiving (like Jachut described). But more than that won't even go into your pouch, will get stuck and you will PB it all right back up. The first time you get stuck, you'll be in so much pain and so miserable until it moves that you'll pray for a PB. 9" of a foot long sandwich? (I can't even eat soft bread, not even a bite.) Three cookies on top of that? I know I couldn't eat anywhere near that volume of food without PBing and wouldn't push myself because I don't want the feeling of pain and the slime that come with that.

You've only got a month of experience, and part of that was post-op diet which isn't very realistic when it comes to what you can eat. Like any new thing, you have to concentrate on it more but with time many of the choices become almost second nature. For example, I can now look at a piece of meat and know how much of it I can eat; earlier, I had to think about it. Your first fill will start you on the road toward restriction -- and that means that you will have a "governor" on your eating. So don't dread this fill or the ones to come later. Consider them as stepping stones.

Somewhere in the vicinity of 55% or so of all insurance policies don't cover WLS, so you're definitely not alone. I knew before I started the process that I would be self-pay and was prepared with cash and financing in place. I will say that you get your surgery a lot more quickly as a self-pay because you don't have any hoops to jump through for an insurance company. I had to do the chest xrays, some blood work, upper GI, cardiac clearance and sleep study. A big hint. Find out what testing is required and get your primary care physician to do or order all the testing with referrals to in-network providers. That way your insurance will cover that part. The sleep study doctor billed my insurance almost $5,000 so that was a significant savings to me. Since my insurance doesn't cover WLS, it doesn't cover any of the doctors who provide it...so if they surgeon's office had referred me, I would have been completely out of network.

From a practical point of view, by limiting your clientele to post-surgery WLS patients, you might be automatically putting yourself out of business for lack of enough business. Not every WLS patient is going to even want to go to a gym in the first place, and then you don't want "regular" clients? I think a regular gym that promoted the fact that it has personal trainers with background specific to WLS might be more successful because you wouldn't limit your population.

eyez.... liquid isn't even the best thing to cut spicy heat! bread (even a tortilla chip) or something oily. Now, I know that neither of these is good for you. I eat tons of spicy food. Grilled chicken with hot wing sauce, mexican, horseradish with prime rib. Doesn't bother the band. I do have a high tolerance for heat so it's not a big deal to not have anything to wash it down with.

#1 You probably don't need to go on liquids for "days" #2 I can't eat regular crust pizza, but the really thin crust works great for me. 1 slice and I'm happy.

I've made Cosmopolitans with the lite cranberry juice! Worked great.

Fill Centers USA has an office in Houston. Fill Centers USA does fills for anybody, that's all they do. My surgeon is part of a group called True Results and they have an office in Houston. You could call them. Look them up at www.trueresults.com. I would think a reputable surgeon's practice would pick you up as a patient since you have moved from overseas. Not like you went to Mexico to save money.

The MetLife table bases weight calculation on 100 pounds for the first 5 feet and 5 pounds for each inch over 5 feet. At 5'8", 140 is the baseline weight for you. Your normal weight range is likely 140 - 160. Just ignore them. There may be a little jealousy in it but you are more likely right on the money that it is perception. They see you as so much smaller than before and it's hard to get used to. Heck, I've lost 70 pounds so far and it's hard for me to get used to that!

You are not going to stretch your pouch by drinking while you eat. What you are doing is defeating the way the band works! Liquids pass right through the opening created by the band (the stoma) (like water through a funnel). Food stays in the pouch to digest, it takes less to make you feel full and it stays in the pouch a good while so you feel full longer. If you drink while you eat, some of that well-chewed food washes through the stoma with the liquid so less of what you eat stays in your stomach so you get hungry sooner.

I sometimes order an appetiser and a salad. I usually just order a meal and take half home for lunch the next day. I have used my card at Longhorn's and Bugaboo Creek. Nobody said a word negative, and one waitress asked me a bunch of questions about the surgery, LOL. You should not expect a waitperson to be loud and rude about the card. They are definitely not in the business of embarassing customers. And, if you ever had someone say something rude, that should be taken up with the maitre de or the restaurant manager.

Remember too that most general practitioners, OB/GYNs and internists haven't seen many (if any) WLS patients. There are a LOT of doctors out there and, really, those of us who have had any kind of WLS are still a small, small percentage of the overall population. That means that those doctors can only rely on statistics in medical journals. And, sadly, many of them are also misinformed. My internist is ranked one of the top 100 in Atlanta (a city of more than 5 million people) and he has no patients other than men who have had WLS of any kind. When I asked him about it, he said that he felt I was an ideal candidate "from what [he'd] read" and told me that I'd be his first patient to have WLS. My surgeon does gastric banding with the Realize band AND the Lap Band AP bands as well as gastric bypass. He told me that banding was the best choice for me. I was told in advance that it would take work on my part but that the band would work with me. I, too, was scared of bypass surgery. I don't know anybody who has had it but what I read about malnutrition being a common side effect, dumping syndrome and other things, I knew in my heart that I couldn't do that. I have no regrets about my choice of banding. I had surgery on February 10, 2009 and I've lost 70 pounds. I'm looking forward to losing a good bit more -- hopefully another 64 pounds but I may adjust that some when I get closer. I'm thinking about how I'll look. The last time I was that thin, I was much younger, LOL. But I know that the band is working with me and I can lose the weight I need to lose AND it will still be with me to help me keep it off. Banding CAN be revised to vertical sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass. From what I've read, in patients who have had their bands removed, within a couple of months their stomachs return to their normal shape. Your doctor meant well. But I'm a firm believer in second opinions -- and even third opinions sometimes. No doctor is infallible or 100% "up" on the latest information. Research your surgeon choices well and then go for a consultation.

TO flavor your basic Southern-style sweet tee, you have only to add thin slices of the flavor that you seek -- kind of like you would to sangria. I have put thin slices of peaches in my tea when I brew it and remove the slices when I'm ready to serve. To keep your tea from becoming cloudy (and usually bitter) DON'T refrigerate it. That means you need to brew less at one time, but you don't have to pour it out either. I was raised in a house where once Breakfast was made and the dishes cleared away, you brewed your tea for the day! That way, there was fresh tea for lunch and supper. I grew up using loose tea in a metal tea ball. Later, started using famiy-size tea bags. I like Luzianne tea brewed strong (2-3 teabags to 3 quarts of water). Sweeten when it's hot. After all these years out on my own, I still do exactly that. And nowadays, I have a cup of hot tea in the morning and my granddaughter (who lives with me) drinks the tea iced for the rest of the day. I have also frozen slices of lemon and lime and orange in ice cubes that we use for tea when we have family cookouts and such.

Definitely an allergic reaction to adhesive. I ruptured my achilles tendon in my right leg in July 2007; got a terrible infection in the surgical site in November 2007 (almost lost my leg) .... and wound up totally unable to use anything with adhesive on it anywhere near that part of my leg. What I experienced sounds a lot like what you've just been through. An allergy treatment cream (I believe Benadryl makes one) should help. There are several products that remove the adhesive residue. Just ask your pharmacist.

3 ounces of LIQUID (measured in a measuring cup) does not WEIGH 3 ounces (solid, measured on a scale). They are two different things entirely. Strawberries are solid matter, not a liquid, so you would weigh them rather than measure them in a measuring cup.

I think a great many of us drink socially. You have to consider the empty calories, but yeah you can drink. A shot of rum is 60 calories. Add the mixers ..... yeah, the calories add up quickly. Having said that, you said you like to go dancing. It's decent exercise.....plan on dancing enough to dance off the calories, LOL! I went on a cruise 5 weeks after my surgery and, yes, I drank my share. I got a lot of extra exercise with all my activities and at the end of the week I hadn't gained anything (nor had I lost any). One week was a wash post-op? I'm not complaining. As of yesterday, I've lost 70 pounds and I'm seriously NOT complaining. So have your drink or two or three. Enjoy them. Just don't do it frequently.

Since it doesn't sound like you have a serious problem with varicose veins, surely surgery isn't the only answer. My mom had a couple of varicose veins and the doctor injected them with a sclerosing agent that collapsed that spot and the bulgin vein disappeared. Now, she passed away a few years ago and it was some years before that but......

I think the place I'm thinking of is called Fill USA (try Googling that). They offer fills but not the surgery so they don't really care who did your surgery. I've seen their website before -- You put in your zip code and they tell you where their closest office is. Hope that helps. My surgeon, and many, many others, do the first fill at 4 weeks post-op, so in that regard you probably are "due". I have had 5 fills, 1 month apart and am at my sweet spot now.

Plum, for most insurance and surgeons, the "line" is a BMI of 40 or higher does not require any comorbidities. You are well above that line so you wouldn not have to worry about whether or not you have any comorbidities....except to know that you should be able to kiss them goodbye in the future. Good Luck