503-250

There is some cost involved for the nutritionist and therapist I don't remember exactly but I believe it was 200 each. I can't tell you how great their staff is, I trust them 100% and I would recommend them to anyone who asks. Willo and Christine are the backbone of my support system and they are available to us 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. The same goes for the docs and PAs. I'm always happy to answer questions or help in any way I can...please feel free to ask.

I totally lived on Carnation Instant Breakfast shakes, vanilla and chocolate, just be careful, I think there is a high cal and low cal version.

Congratulations new banders!

ssankofa73 and Only4me, you two will be fine tomorrow, don't forget to walk and check in with us and tell us how it went when you get home....

ssankofa73: Don't worry about missing the meeting. Here's some of the highlights they should have told you at the meeting but don't. 1. Bring comfortable clothes to wear home, and a robe so you can walk around in the luxury surgical gown without giving everyone a view of the moon. 2. Bring a good pair of slippers or shoes which have a no slip bottom and are easy to put on and slip off. You will be walking, make sure you are comfortable and safe. 3. Bring something to entertain yourself, a walkman, an iPod, a video game, a book....you will have a lot of free time following the surgery and other then walking and watching TV, not a lot to do. 4. Bring a pillow from home, the hospital pillows are fine i'm sure, but this one is for the ride home. Hold the pillow on your belly and wrap your arms around it. This will help minimize being bounced around on the ride home. You will feel a little sore the next day and this will help limit the discomfort on the ride home. 5. walk....as much as you can...walk. Many people experience gas pains following the surgery. They are minor, but they are annoying. The more you walk, they less you have. 6. When you get home you need to learn the bandster dance...it goes like this....walk walk walk sip sip sip walk walk walk sip sip sip. Other things you missed: Learning that June looks and sounds like the English DR from ER who married Mark Green. That Dr Geiss looks like a game show host which makes it so much more amusing when he walks in to see you before the surgery with his blue scrubs and hair net on. You will have a catheter, this was the single most annoying part of the surgery for me. You are in excellent hands and everything is going to go smooth as silk. You should attend the monthly meetings with the dietitian and therapist to learn from them and your fellow bandsters. Be sure to have plenty of the foods and liquids you can eat on hand in the house (broth and Clear Liquids for your first days) Make sure anything you would normally do around the house is done or done by someone else (laundry, vaccuum, dishes, cooking, shopping) Be sure to make a list of your local lapbander pals so you can get ahold of us if you need something. Be sure to check in here and let us know how you are doing so we don't worry.

Hi Princess, First, congratulations on your amazing transformation, you were beautiful before and you are beautiful now. The implants and surgery had nothing to do with it. I understand your dilemma, and all I can really add is that I think they look excellent, but you are the only one who can decide that they are what you want. I think if you are uncomfortable in a year, then make him fix them. I think some of the women here are a little uncomfortable with the pictures, or with the men in forums looking at them. I started at 500lbs, I will need almost all of the same procedures down to the breast reduction. How will I find this information if it isn't for the brave women of this forum who are willing to share their personal and intimate issues with us. Isn't this what this forum is about after all? Thank you Princess, you were and now are absolutely stunning...that is absolutely amazing to see how great you have done.

Excellent FREE image editing software: GIMP - for Windows Using it to resize your pictures: Cool Solutions: Gimp Tips Part 1: Resizing Images If you need help feel free to PM me.... Congratulations on the excellent work.

Hi Joanne, glad to see we found each other....have you found the chicken dip recipe yet?

Hello fellow Long Islanders, i'm definitely in for a local Long Island meeting, but Panera Bread? LOL...they're the worst food for us, first of all bread, but their foods are all super high calorie. I guess there aren't a lot of open spaces with comfy chairs for us to meet, maybe since it's been nice out we could try to find a park....bring our own chairs and avoid the high calorie foods.

I'd definitely be interested in a local LI lapband meeting, please include me in any mailings.

Personally I always thought that one of the great men in US history has explained away the silly concept of judging a person through something ridiculous like color, height, weight, race, an accent or something even more ludicrous. Bellies With Stars THE SNEETCHES by Dr. Suess Now the Star-bellied Sneetches had bellies with stars. The Plain-bellied Sneetches had none upon thars. The stars weren't so big; they were really quite small. You would think such a thing wouldn't matter at all. But because they had stars, all the Star-bellied Sneetches would brag, "We're the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches." With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they'd snort, " We'll have nothing to do with the plain-bellied sort." And whenever they met some, when they were out walking, they'd hike right on past them without even talking. When the Star-bellied children went out to play ball, could the Plain-bellies join in their game? Not at all! You could only play ball if your bellies had stars, and the Plain-bellied children had none upon thars. When the Star-bellied Sneetches had frankfurter roasts, or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts, they never invited the Plain-bellied Sneetches. Left them out cold in the dark of the beaches. Kept them away; never let them come near, and that's how they treated them year after year. Then one day, it seems, while the Plain-bellied Sneetches were moping, just moping alone on the beaches, sitting there, wishing their bellies had stars, up zipped a stranger in the strangest of cars. "My friends, " he announced in a voice clear and keen, "My name is Sylvester McMonkey McBean. I've heard of your troubles; I've heard you're unhappy. But I can fix that; I'm the fix-it-up chappie. I've come here to help you; I have what you need. My prices are low, and I work with great speed, and my work is one hundred per cent guaranteed." Then quickly, Sylvester McMonkey McBean put together a very peculiar machine. Then he said, "You want stars like a Star-bellied Sneetch? My friends, you can have them . . . . for three dollars each. Just hand me your money and climb on aboard." They clambered inside and the big machine roared. It bonked. It clonked. It jerked. It berked. It bopped them around, but the thing really worked. When the Plain-bellied Sneetches popped out, they had stars! They actually did, they had stars upon thars! Then they yelled at the ones who had stars from the start, "We're exactly like you; you can't tell us apart. We're all just the same now, you snooty old smarties. Now we can come to your frankfurter parties!" "Good grief!" groaned the one who had stars from the first. "We're still the best Sneetches, and they are the worst. But how in the world will we know," they all frowned, "if which kind is what or the other way 'round?" Then up stepped McBean with a very sly wink, and he said, "Things are not quite as bad as you think. You don't know who's who, that is perfectly true. But come with me, friends, do you know what I'll do? I'll make you again the best Sneetches on beaches, and all it will cost you is ten dollars eaches. Belly stars are no longer in style, " said McBean. "What you need is a trip through my stars-off machine. This wondrous contraption will take off your stars, so you won't look like Sneetches who have them on thars." That handy machine, working very precisely, removed all the stars from their bellies quite nicely. Then, with snoots in the air, they paraded about. They opened their beaks and proceeded to shout, "We now know who's who, and there isn't a doubt, the best kind of Sneetches are Sneetches without." Then, of course those with stars all got frightfully mad. To be wearing a star now was frightfully bad. Then, of course old Sylvester McMonkey McBean invited them into his stars-off machine. Then, of course from then on, you can probably guess, things really got into a horrible mess. All the rest of the day on those wild screaming beaches, the Fix-it-up-Chappie was fixing up Sneetches. Off again, on again, in again, out again, through the machine and back round about again, still paying money, still running through, changing their stars every minute or two, until neither the Plain- nor the Star-bellies knew whether this one was that one or that one was this one or which one was what one or what one was who! Then, when every last cent of their money was spent, the Fix-It-Up-Chappie packed up and he went. And he laughed as he drove in his car up the beach, "They never will learn; no, you can't teach a Sneetch!" But McBean was quite wrong, I'm quite happy to say, the Sneetches got quite a bit smarter that day. That day, they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches, and no kind of Sneetch is the BEST on the beaches. That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars, and whether they had one or not upon thars. Perhaps the children who read this can explain it to their parents who don't understand it.

I've got a VG and according to: http://www.allerganandinamed.com/products/obesity/us/clinician/lapband/prodinfo.html It holds 10cc, i've got 9.5 and went for a flouro today. I was informed you can get well over 14cc in that band.

I'm currently over 9cc, I think 9.5...but thats a guess. I am finally feeling some restriction and I am so happy.

I'm at 9cc now in the VG band and I am still not feeling restricted. I did have two PBs since this last fill, but both were clearly large chunk of food which I should have chewed better. I was just informed that the band can be filled well past 10cc, which didn't make me feel much better. I had hoped the closer I got to 10cc, the closer I would be to the band completely closing the hole between sections 1 and 2. I have to go get a swallow test done to insure I have no erosion etc. I am not happy.

Excellent work...keep it up. (BTW October 17th is the next meeting for Dr. Geiss' under 1 year banded patients, send me a quick note if you are going. It would be great to meet some of my fellow banders.)

There is an easy solution for this problem. Carry a boat oar, or a cricket bat. If someone ever devalues your work losing weight, or tells you the band is cheating, help them learn how wrong they are by smacking them in the face with the broad face of the oar, or the cricket bat. You are doing an excellent job and this is not cheating, this is one of the hardest things i've ever had to do, and don't let anyone else convince you any differently.

I am also a Long Islander, Huntington, and i'm game for a get together. Dr Geiss was(is) my surgeon, I was at the 10/3 meeting, I was the lucky guy who got to tell his first PB story to the crowd. I believe you will also have a nutrition meeting coming up this month...the 17th at 6pm I think, I will be at the post op meeting which follows at 7pm. So you can meet me in between those meetings too! Dr. Geiss and his staff are absolutely the best. June is his OR nurse and he referred to her at the meeting as the Chief of Staff, or head of the OR, she is amazing, sweet and funny. I couldn't have felt more comfortable going through all of this. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. His current number of surgeries is now past 1400 lapbands. You can always get an answer from his staff, Liz and Kathy handle insurance stuff, Melanie and Dr. Powers will help out with fills, and the new fellow is Evan...he's the late night on call Doc. If you have a problem at 2am...call and he will take care of you.

Does anyone know how many calories to a cup of that Buffalo chicken Dip? p.s. sorry i've been AWOL, I miss you guys ALOT.

Thank you wonderful people...you are the best!

Breakfast: no food..hard to eat when you are asleep...that's right...I said sleeping. I finally slept...wooohooooo woke up at around 11am. Lunch: MOG bar Dinner: 2 bottles of water so far 1 liter or ~33 ozs

Hi Brad, from one guy to another (specifically a guy who lost a ton of weight on diets until I got bored, or found a loophole) I can tell you this isn't a magic solution, it does take work and effort. But, the nice part is there is also a tool built in which does keep you focused. Some people have already mentioned that ice cream and crap food still goes through, but once the band is adjusted correctly you can only eat X amount of food and then you feel full, more then that and it comes back up. I haven't gotten to that point yet, i'm still able to eat as much as I want (which is where my willpower comes in right now) but I keep going for adjustments to get to a happy place restriction-wise. Without restriction and being on steroids (which pack weight on and make you hungry) I've lost 47 lbs (going today hopefully to see if I lost more). It wasn't easy, but it definitely helps having the small amount of restriction I have now. The other positive side is, I was never a candy person, I just like meat and good food in general. So I know once the band is adjusted, a small piece of meat will totally satisfy my hunger and I will be full. So one of the parts of this is to make smart choices, not just when eating, but when shopping. Make sure the crap you shouldn't eat isnt in your house, so when you are hungry, grab some Protein (tuna, chicken, steak, Jerky...etc) and you will feel full.

Breakfast: MOG bar... Lunch: I grabbed one of those tuna to go packs and survived a day with no prepared lunch...didn't do as well at dinner. Dinner: one slice buffalo chicken pizza, one slice white pizza 10 bottles of water so far, 5 liters or ~169ozs

Today's goal is to not fall asleep at my desk. I am exhausted, no sleep last night, my back is out and I am praying for death. I also failed to make a lunch to bring with me, so I am off into the real world to find healthy food n the land of tempatations.

I'm in the 11cm, 10cc VG band and I have 8.5cc in. I can eat all the dense protein I want and if I didn't weigh and measure every bite I ate I'd be back to my pre-surgery size. I need another fill.

I'm 8.5cc into a 10cc vg band and can eat all solid proteins with no problem. The only time I feel any restriction at all is if I eat something to large without chewing well, then it lasts for a few seconds.