BJean

I don't have all the data to back up my posts but I know that it's happening because I see it each and every day. I'm just a regular American. A bona fide, red-blooded American voter. And I am not blind to what the hierarchy in the Republican party has done starting with the not-so-covert operations during the Nixon administration up until now. And I hope that most red-blooded Americans have been watching as well. I too have some conservative views of how things should be run in this country. And I've voted for some Republicans in the past because of that. But I can not fathom voting for anyone Republican these days because those Republicans in politics are trying to continue running this country (and my economics) straight into the ground. It is good though to read Cleo's links because they come from people who have much more clout than the likes of me. And I may not have a lot of credibility with other LapBand posters, but I know the truth and I am deeply saddened and afraid of what is next for this country if the voters do not stand up to the convoluted thinking and lies that the Republicans represent today. I believe that is what voters did when they voted for our president. I believe that they realized what happed in the previous two elections. I believe they knew they had been lied to over and over and over again by the Republicans. I believe they understood that Sarah Palin represents what is wrong in American politics and they voted in large numbers against it. I hope and pray that we are able to turn this country around but we can't do it if we don't rebel and show them that we do not trust them and that we know that they are driven by greed, not the democracy and patriotism that they say they believe in.

patty, you seriously think that the government should be in the business of punishing its' citizens? WE are the government. WE THE PEOPLE. We the people, i.e., the government, should not spending time and money punishing people for bad predicaments. We should not be in the business of passing judgement on how someone made a decision or when they were born or to whom they were born or the fact that their employer decided that it was more lucrative to take their jobs elsewhere. You talk about progressives having everything backwards and that they're going to hell for not believing as you do. The rub seems to come in when one side is willing to lie and misrepresent to get into office. The rub is when we elect someone to represent us and they refuse to do the job we elected them to do because they don't want to work with the president or the people's representatives in congress from the other party. The rub comes in when they are so unhappy with any effort to truly improve the country that they do their best to convince voters that the majority party is a socialist party and that the leader of the free world is not a true American. They try to convince voters that to support the president and majority party means that one is also against free enterprise in America. But the truth? The truth is that they are either already very wealthy or they stand to become wealthy by representing the most wealthy interests in this country rather than the comon folk. Which would be fair since the very wealthy are good American voters themselves, right? But wait, if they were good Americans why they do business elsewhere? Why instead of employing Americans to help our own economy, do they help the economy of other countries? Why do they pour American dollars into other countries and they don't even pay their fair share of taxes? And as for those congressional representatives who represent big business interests in congress? They claim that anything big business or the wealthy in America do, is fair. And not only do they not have to pay their fair share in taxes, not only do they not employ Americans or invest those dollars in our economy, they resent and fight against anyone who wants to improve our economy and try to help those who have been put out of work by these anti-American practices. Why? Greed and avarice. So we think YOU've got it backwards. We think that greed drives the wealthy. And avarice and greed and lying are not the things that God rewards in the next life. No matter how many times those folks claim to be "born again" God won't reward that kind of behavior. He believes, like you, in punishment. So, get ready... like you claim, here He comes!

Egad, sorry for the long lecture. Hope I didn't gross anybody out!

Btw, Sunshine, our bodies have become very efficient at saving calories. I am not sure if it is from all the dieting we've done as obese people or if we're just built that way. But sometimes it helps to trick your metabolism by eating a little more (not at one sitting) one day than what you are normally eating. It often works if you've cut your calories drastically and you're not cheating at all - and you know for certain that your calorie intake is a whole lot less than you were ingesting before surgery. Just try eating more calories one day and I'd be willing to bet you'll see a weight loss on your scale the very next day. And if you're still having a problem and you know that you are following your doctor's plan, have someone hide your scales. Don't weigh for a month. That's hard to do, but I promise that you'll lose in a month - and it won't be just a pound or 2 - and you'll be happy with the speed you're losing overall. Also, you might be surprised to learn that all these weight loss tickers can show lbs lost that were actually taken off right before the surgery and some people don't have any more weight lost since surgery than you do in the same amount of time. Don't lose heart. I've been experiencing some scary thoughts myself and have had several people reassure me too so try not to be hard on yourself, try to enjoy the ride. Oh yeah, and another thing is that if anybody is having any hunger (head or otherwise) are you drinking caffeine? Cut out the caffeine - it's an appetite stimulant and even worse, my dietician (and others on this site) says it can interfere with absorbtion of nutrients.

If you're stalled, you are probably retaining Water AND "poo." Once you increase your water intake (not other fluids) you'll poo and you'll notice a weight loss. The main reason you lose so much at the time of surgery is that you really do get dehydrated, usually in spite of the IV fluids you get. At least I do. I hit the constipation wall too and called my doc and he said to get Dulcolax. But he also said that I definitely was not getting enough water. If we take in enough water, we won't get constipated. Unless perhaps you're still taking pain meds. But water is absorbed almost immediately in your gut and once your body gets hydrated, it will eliminate all the excess. A good test is that if your pee has a yellow color, you're not getting enough water. If you're properly dydrated, your pee is clear. After 3 months post op, it was easy to figure out the little stalls that happened nearly every week. If I hadn't pooed for 3 or more days, no weight loss. If I pooed regularly, I'd lose at least half a pound or a few ounces every day. Makes sense, doesn't it? Don't freak out but if you are deviating from your doctor's program in any way, you can't expect to get the results that those people get who aren't deviating at all. That means the kinds of foods you eat as well as the liquids you drink. Frankly, at a couple or 3 weeks out, there was no way I could ingest a cup of anything at one time. But I'm a very small person. That being said, I have to confess that I have never been able to get 64 oz of water down in a day. I just can't. But if I don't get enough water, constipation is a fact of life for me. Try it and let us know if it has helped. You sure don't want to become dependent on laxatives to get the job done. It's much healthier if you do it the natural way. I bought the dulcolax, but only used it once. When he told me about the water factor, I was good to go.

If you're talking PUBLIC pools, for sure. And public spas are supposed to be the worst. We keep our saltwater pool and spa sparkling though with frequent tests and chemicals balanced and it probably has fewer bacteria than the water from my tap. But I don't think the doc wanted the steri strips soaked with water and that's why he okayed a shower so soon, but like you Ntvtxn, no bath (or spa or swimming) for weeks.

Oh thanks for the heads up. Is a troll someone who lurks on threads and then jumps in and insults people? I've never been real clear on that. I'm not being a jerk, I really don't know.

My doc wouldn't let me swim until the steri strips had fallen off (which is when your incision has healed.) The steri strips on the incision where he removed my stomach didn't fall off for about 4 weeks or longer, I can't remember exactly. That incision opening was as big around as the size of his thumb and a very important spot to get healed properly. An infection there could be pretty bad.

Oooh this IS fun. I don't know which comment was more telling. The one where sumthingwong says, "... u cant never tell with a woman!" or the one where lisalu insinuates that sumthingwong is a misogynist troll. Good stuff.

barbann, that sounds great to me! Congratulations on your success in meeting your goal! I hope you're right and we don't have to worry a lot about stretching. morgan, it is scary to think about long term success and the variables. But after having the band, this seems much less likely to develop problems than the band did. There are so many more things that seem to go wrong with it, with pretty bad consequences. This almost seems too good to be true. Guess we all need to keep our fingers crossed!

The thing that patty, and others, don't seem to understand about progressives thinking that they are racist is because the president is actually doing the work that Bush did not do and he's also reparing some of the terrible stuff that Bush did do. And many of those things are the very things that tea baggers and conservatives complain about! So if they are against the president, but he's proven that he's not as far to the left as they claimed he would be, his actions have actually been quite centrist, and he's hasn't raised taxes on them which is another thing they complain about, and hasn't taken away their guns and all that, then what's left for them to dislike him for? Trumped up rhetoric that doesn't hold water for a second. It's pretty darned obvious when you go to a tea party rally and idiots wave racist signs and shout racist slogans and suggest that the president wasn't born in America. There's just nothing else a reasonable person can believe if one is following their words and their behavior that is so provocative and hateful. Especially since the things that they want for America seem to be the things that the president is trying to do for America.

I would like to think that I'm kinder than those people and not mean spirited but sometimes when I see how people react in public to overweight people, I secretly hope that they become obese one day and see what it's like. I do not think that becoming obese necessarily has everything to do with "head" issues. I believe that there are some biophysical aspects that have been triggered, possibly by overeating. And the head games and depression may possibly be a side effect, not a cause. Psychologists have been practicing for years on the premise that people who are obese have been abused, usually sexually, as children. I think that's a cop out of a kind. Something to blame obesity on, perhaps to take away some of the guilt that obese people experience. But I don't believe that anything like sexual abuse has been adequately proven to be the root cause of obesity. They've also tried to blame bad parenting skills (parents who are perfectionists with their daughters) for anorexia. But although psychological counseling that uses that approach may have helped some women fight through anorexia, I doubt seriously if they have actually proven that anorexia is caused by certain parental behavior. I'd be willing to bet that like obesity, there is a physiological, metabolic reason behind it and many of the psychological manifestations are intertwined with those physiological ones through a lack of or too much of certain hormones and nutritional deficiencies. And no, I have no medical research to back me up, but my guess is just as good and probably as educated as some of the stuff that the diet industry regurgitates every day.

Perhaps that is due to the type of steeve restriction that he personally does. In other words, he may have seen that outcome in his patients but that may not necessarily mean that other doctors have the same incidence of stretching over the first 2 years.

There may be other studies going on as we type. This is a relatively new procedure for weight loss - particularly being done in the numbers that they are now. My doctor will still place a band if someone insists but he tries to educate them and let them know that the VSG is producing better results. I read somewhere here on this forum that in California Keiser isn't paying for the band anymore, but I don't know who posted that or where they got their information. I also heard that as to the lack of appetite, our bodies will eventually adjust and figure out a way to produce feelings of hunger. It's a survival mechanism supposedly. But again, all this may be mostly conjecture since we can all do that just based on our own experience.

NtvTxn, I definitely do think I'm going through the same slow realization because I had to buy new lingerie and pjs and there was only a size "medium" in some gowns that were on sale. It was such a fantastic sale that I decided to go ahead and get 2 for future when I reach goal. However I got home and even though the tops are fitted, they fit! I bought size XL in the other stuff, thinking I'd be thrilled not to be buying a 1X or 2X. But they XLs are actually too big and I have to return those. Some people seem very surprised when they see me. Others act like there is nothing different about me. I feel slender but I know that even though I'm much smaller than I was, I'm still overweight for my height. So I don't want to feel too contented with this size. Does that make sense to you? All the dieting and rebounding I've done has made me distrust the mirror and my own commitment to being a slim person. I never realized how big I was unless I saw myself in a photo. That never stopped being a shock to me. Crazy as a loon, huh?

You're on. Just give me a few more months to lose this other 30 lbs so I can keep up with you!

Yay Donna!!!! You are spot on! The weight loss industry in America is obscene. And the more we fall for that crap, all of it, the worse off we are and the more we hate ourselves.

At some point she probably gained 10 lbs and that's the basis of her claim of having overcome being fat. Susan Powter used the photo of herself when she was pregnant. And some of the Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem people have done the same thing. We ALL had to lose weight after pregnancies. That's not the same thing as fighting obesity. Except of course for Jaffa. Doubt if pregnancy played a roll for you. Man, you're going to be so glad you got the revision! It's the best thing I've ever done for my health and my appearance. At this point I haven't had it very long and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this elation I feel, lasts. I agree with SarahD on that. I've been through so many ups and downs doing every diet imaginable and struggling after every re-weight gain following the strict dieting. No wonder we don't want to share our surgery with everyone. We have a hard time believing this is going to work long term ourselves so why should anyone else think it will? We've been through so much disappointment ourselves, we don't need to see it reflected in our friends eyes. I imagine my friends wonder what I've done because I've lost so quickly. And when they ask and I tell them I have another 30 lbs to lose, they say "Oh that's too much!" But of course 30 lbs will only put me at the same relative weight that they are right now. Slim people are clueless about what obese people go through.

HA! How do you look in your jeans when you're picking oranges? One owns a chain of jeans stores and the other sells irrigation for organge groves. I must say, most American gents respond well to British accents of any sort. And you're so right... it never hurts to ask! I'll let you know when they're ready to adopt you. But they better adopt me in the process as well. I'm personally all in with my Okie influenced Texas drawl. And no, there sure ain't no call for that unintellectually stimulatin' verbiage. In fact, it's practically all my one man can handle. Bet you can imagine that.

Honestly if it were my daughter contemplating having part of her stomach removed, I'd worry too. But knowing how positive the results are now, I would be happy to hold her hand and do all I could to support her. I hope yours get comfortable with it and aren't too scared and when all is said and done they are very proud of your strength and determination to get healthy. Glad you have a date now. It helps a lot to have a date once you've made up your mind. Best of everything to you! Keep us posted.

Jane I noticed you've dropped another couple of lbs. Cool. Btw, my friends invested a ton of cash in cosmetic surgery so they wouldn't have to photoshop I guess. :-) I don't know if I really think that cosmetic surgery is the right thing to do. They're a little older than I so perhaps I'll someday change my mind but I watched a facelift on the tube and it was frightening! They actually lift your skin up off your face to reposition it.

I cannot tell you how extremely happy I am with the results of the sleeve procedure. I got the band in 2006 and struggled and was pretty miserable with only marginal results (44 lbs) It has been a completely different story with the sleeve which I got in April. Although I do think that the misery with the band prepared me well for accepting any discomfort from the sleeve surgery without regrets. And I will say that although I was more uncomfortable after the sleeve revision surgery than with the band, it was very short-lived. And I haven't had one episode of nausea since the first hours after surgery (where they managed it with meds) and I haven't had one episode of serious pain from eating more than I should. It is easy to know when to stop eating with the sleeve whereas with the band I could overeat by a single tiny bite and not know it until a few minutes later when I experience terrible pain for hours. I'm one of those who wishes this surgery had been available 30 years ago! I am the happiest I have been since I was in my 20s. I not only would do this again, I am hoping that my husband will do it too. He's taking meds for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. and I don't want to lose him! The only piece of advice that I could give someone considering this surgery is that they make sure that they get the best possible surgeon in the best hospital they can afford. This is not minor surgery. The side effects can be as minor as mine were, but they can also be life-threatening if not done properly. You're wise to consider all your options and do lots of research. But your success is almost guaranteed with the VSG and with the band it's a crap shoot. (I accidentally put RNY when I meant VSG! Duh.)

No drain tube for me either. My surgeon does a leak test while you're on the table in the OR. He has never had a patient develop a leak. And he's done hundreds of sleeve procedures. I had a drain tube with an adominal surgery years ago with a mid-line incision. I can tell you that my recovery was so much quicker without the tube and big incision! There is really no comparison. But if your doc is only comfortable using the tube, then you just suck it up and deal with it, right?

P.S. Something about being anonymous here defnitely works like alcohol on my inhibitions! In fact, I've been known to get rather brash and offensive. It's lots of fun, I have to admit. And quite liberating for someone who normally prefers to be politically correct in polite company.

Set me up for that transplant! LOL I just saw recent photos of old friends on Facebook. They look younger, after 11 years, than they did when I lived near them. Well... some teeny bit scary deer in the headlights eyes, but no saggy chins or winkles anywhere! Amazing what money can buy.