Bamablondie1

*chuckles* It does go slow at first. Rest assured, once you get to the halfwayish mark it speeds up!

Yeah! Good for you! I'm so excited for you! Congrats! Go make us some money gurl! lol!

Didn't you have your exam or license test this month? If so, how'd that go?

Well... that's kinda interesting considering my flipped port drama. Hmmm... is yours the Realize band too? However, I do hear that a 'leaning' or 'angled' port is not unheard of as time goes on and that usually it can be manipulated. On the other hand, that would have freaked me out had it been me since I have had a completely flipped port and it required another surgery to correct it. Grrr.... makes me nervous.

So how'd that go? Did you like him?

That's great! Don't forget the 6 month thingy is really almost 7 months. I know... ALL dr's say it's 6 but it is 7 visits with the MD. I think they count the first as a consult or something? So the following 6 are the actual 6 months. Ummm... I didn't find that out until like the fifth visit and I was so disappointed! I remember sitting there thinking that I had one more to go *Grrrrrrrrr* So that's when I started the 'bump' theory to get the appts a tad closer and putting me closer to this imaginary date in my head! *Grin* I know you'll be glad to get the sugar test over. *yuck* I so hate needles! It was torture for me to know I had to do all that and get stuck so many times *ack*

Awww ty ty ty! I needed prayer... and cheesecake! lol. I need to find a great low cal/low carb alternative to cheesecake! :sad:) How goes it with you? When's the next dr appt? Did you bump them all up just a bit?

And the flipped port saga... SO glad that is over! *knock on wood & says a prayer* They did my 'port revision' last Friday and I gotz to tell ya it hurt worse (afterwards) than the original surgery! OMG! I've heard a few ppl say that port revisions were a breeze but maybe mine was never in right or something! *ugh* Serzly... it was as bad or worse. No joke! But now... It's all good!

Glad that thingy went away! What kinda work were you looking for and where (generally) do you live? They were looking for someone else to work in one of our clinics but I dunno if it's still listed or not. Heck you may not even be near B'ham.

Hi! I had the same problem! And honestly, still do if I don't take a Fiber supplement. I dunno why... you'd think as much fluids as we guzzle down constipation would so not be an issue. I thought that maybe it was b/c I have IBS but I hear this a lot from other post-op bandsters. The one sure fire thing I've found that works is Benefiber. I put 2 tablespoons in my morning Protein shake and sometimes I"ll add 1 more tablespoon to another drink during the day or evening. It has no taste... not gritty... you can't tell it's in there at all. I can even mix it in water and not know it's there. My dr. did tell me that it's okay to use colace once or twice a week if I have to, of course I use the generic. But since I've started using Benefiber faithfully I've not had to use the Colace. Good luck and if you find anything that is a definite 'oh yeah that works' please post so the rest of us know! :laugh:)

Ummm... ok... so you are stuck but not stuck and it's NOT b/c of a fill?!?! How frustrating! Let us know how/when/why that resolves. I'm curious about how long it last so that I won't freak out if I'm ever in the same boat!

Well the good thing is that you've done a GTT before so ya know what to expect *chuckles* As for the 30 days... I dunno if it really matters if one is like 5/1 and then 5/31. Ya know? I can tell you that my dates were 5/26, 6/22, 7/16, 8/13, 9/8, 10/8 & 11/5. You can see how I kinda moved some of them closer the first few months trying to hurry up and get my 7 months over! :wink:)

Hey STL! Yeah we did! Were we the same day? Mine was 12/28. He wants you to wait two weeks? Odd. They told me it would take about two weeks for ins approval on the revision. Ya know when I went in he never looked at me. It showed that it flipped on the ultrasound and then Lisa came in and jabbed around *lol* to confirm it. She did say that she would have gotten him to come in but he was out of the office. Part of me is upset b/c it's like I have this thing but I can't use it at the level I should be able to - yet. Butttt... on the flip side I have lost 24 lbs since surgery and I do have some restriction. Just a speed bump in the road, I know. Have I mentioned how much I hate needles, surgery and hospital environments?!?! OK ok... I know... only like 10x!!! We'll get thru this sista! lol!

I do have the Realize band but I think that is all they've used for like the last year. Can anoyone else on here confirm that? Lisa told me that switched to the Realize band b/c they supposedly have less flipped ports. And maybe they hold a couple more cc's of fluid??? They told me my port was flipped on the 8th and at that time she said I was the 3rd person in 300/400 ppl.

I had to do all of those except the upper GI. I had no signs of GERD/heartburn/ etc. so they saw no reason to refer me for that. Dr. Miles was the one who told me (in consultation) what I had to do as far as extra testing. My dr had already ran a 3 hr GTT (sugar test) so that was out of the way - NOTE that is where I was diagnosed as diabetic. Actually, I had requested the GTT as diabetes runs in the fam. Usually during your 7 months the primary MD runs the WHOLE circus of blood panels! I remember sitting there that day watching her fill up 7 vials of blood! *ack* They do the A1C (sugar related), cholesterol, liver functions, thyroid, etc. Pretty much a really really good physical kinda thing. No matter what happens or what the results are just remember that the knowledge rendered gets you that much farther into the journey of changing your life. Finding out that I was a diabetic was the final determing factor for me in this process. I knew then that I had to make this work. Dr. Miles also ordered the sleep study but I expected that. You can use someone else but I think it's easier for them if it's their in-house dr. However, she's an ENT and is also Dr. Schmitt's sister. A LOT of ppl do not like her! I liked her my first visit but by the time we got to visit #3 and #4. she wasn't my fav person. Being that I work with dr's I like to consider myself fairly forgiving and understanding in that environment but she... ehhh... She'd call and say, 'I can't proceed until you give me XYZ.' Which I had already given her! So I would produce the info again with the fax confirmation and the note of when we spoke about it and what was previously said! At the end she told me everything was completed and she was (finally) sending my approval through to Miles & Schmitt right then only to call me a few days later and tell me that she was waiting on the read-out from my Cpap machine. Ummm the one we covered in her office a few days earlier!!! So she had lost my results from my Cpap disk somewhere during those few days! Which meant that she lied to me and had NOT sent the approval letter through the day she said she had! My suggestion on dealing with her is this - and this is just me - it is helpful to use her b/c she's there and knows the routine BUT do the sleep study early to anticipate AND CORRECT difficulties with her. Also, when you fax something, keep your confirmation. Every time you talk to her asst (Jenny I think) write down or email yourself the date and time as well as what was discussed. She was the most difficult part of the process for me. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh and she likes to cancel and reschedule appt's like you WOULD not believe! So never ever schedule your appt's with her up against a deadline. Hubz went to her after my first visit and she rescheduled his following visit THREE TIMES! Once she was sick... once she had something else come up... and then she decided to take off another day. Did your MD say if she's ever put anyone through this part of the program before? If she has, i definitely wouldn't worry. If not, why not just call Miles & Schmitt and ask them if they see a prob with it? Most of the ppl there are really nice. Have you ever done the 3 hr GTT before? *chuckles* Loads of fun! In saying all this, I can't stress enough that these are just my opinions and experiences. I'm sure that others have had different experiences so remember it's not the same for everyone. A lot of it you will just figure out as you go. I remember my MD telling me that the SINGLE most important thing was not to let more than 30 days lapse between each visit or we had to start the seven months all over! Hang in there! It's gonna be an exciting ride!

Actually... I think the $205 consult fee is a Miles & Schmitt thing - strictly. BCBS will not usually cover a consult fee. It does stink and they don't tell you that in the seminar either. I suppose they do it to weed out ppl that aren't serious so their time isn't wasted. There are some other fees that I should prolly throw at you. All the MD's they referred that had experience in pushing you through the 7 months of monitoring, charged an 'up front' fee for the weight management. My dr. charged $150 up front and $30 a visit - not covered or even billed through BCBS. Then once I was diagnosed as a diabetic, anytime I saw him for that I had to ALSO pay a $30 co-pay for an actual primary care MD visit that same day. Any other health condition can result in this as they the actual health conditions can be billed to BCBS vs the 'management' part. So of my 7 visits, I prolly paid $60 (vs just the $30) about 4 of those visits. Plus co-pays and deductibles for sleep study and visits revolving around the sleep study results.I had 3 or 4 visits with the ENT regarding sleep study issues. Also, a lot of people have to do the sleep study 2x so you may have to pay that deductible twice. Plus your part of the C-Pap machine if you have Sleep Apnea. The nutrition class was $60. And I had to pay $200 at my Pre-op consult for doctor's fees AND $50 the same day for my surgery consult when I went to pre-registration to do my paperwork for surgery day. I'll have a co-pay this Friday and I'll have to meet my deductible again since it's a new year. At least you are doing it all in one year instead of a situation where you'll hit your deductible 2x. As for being put to sleep... that doesn't bother me b/c I didn't know I was asleep when I was asleep. lol! It's all that medical stuff in the process. I hate the feel of a hospital environment and the element of the unknown. Know what I mean?

First, 54 lbs in a year sounds good to me! When was your last fill? Have you had a fill since Oct? How many fills have you had? Have you called the dr's office? If so, what did they say? Do you have the Realize band? Are you exercising? I notice that you didn't mention anything about exercise in your post. My first fill was going to be 5 cc's. I say 'was' b/c (incase you missed it in the previous postings) I have a flipped port and they are doing a port revision this week. However, I know that they are going to put 5cc's in during the revision.

I saw Lisa when I went in. They caught it on the Ultrasound first and they she followed by jabbing (ok inserting) me with a wiggling needle *grin* Only to confirm that what she was consistently hitting was the opposite side of the port. Dr. Miles was unavailable and I did not see him. As far as what they are saying... They don't know why... it just happens... no one's fault... nothing I did or didn't do... I'm the 4th person in almost 400... this is why they went to the Realize bands as this happened more with the previous LapBands... Supposedly the least serious and most common (although still rare) complication as well as being easily corrected... I'll just be glad when it's fixed! The port revision is this coming Friday and supposedly it's a much simpler procedure. They will go ahead and put 5cc's in at that time. I don't know if Schmitt & Miles use dissolving sutures internally but one of the common beliefs floating around on the net is that sometimes dissolving sutures are weak or dissolve too quickly. Then again, who am I to second-guess any part of the procedure. Nonetheless, surgery was 12/28/09 and I've lost 22 lbs since my pre-op visit with NO FILL in my band so I can't really complain! Did you make it to the meeting today? I was there. I think I just want to sleep through the next week *grin* Thanks for asking and I'm glad to see that you are doing so well! The positive support and journey's here really help to keep us motivated in times like this! Someone else said it and it's so true - you just never know when something you say or express is parallel to someone else's feelings, thoughts or needs.

Did you go? What did ya think? Did you schedule your consult? Is this a bad time to mention that you know me?!?! *chuckles*

I'll be better once they get it corrected *grin* They dunno the how's or why's. It's not my fault... nothing I did... it just happens sometimes. Well... less than 1% of the time. I have 'port revision' surgery next week to correct the problem. I did mention how much I hate needles and such right?

I'm hanging but I really really want to be bad! :thumbdown:)

I want a cheesecake now more than I have in MONTHS! lol! On top of that, my boss was very not happy when I told her that I have an 'issue' and will be out for a few more days to have surgery once my dr. gets approval from BCBS. Wow! I just so hate that it's inconvenient for them! Gotta luv it!

I was banded on 12/28/09. Went in for first fill on 2/8/10 and they couldn't get it. Did an Ultrasound and wahlaaaa! My port has flipped *ugh* So now we are waiting for BCBS approval so they can go BACK IN and do a 'port revision'. Joy joy!