wootsie73

Hello Everyone, I am waiting on the hospital I'm having surgery at to get their certification as a Center of Excellence. I would love to have a buddy to help me not only until I have surgery, but after surgery as well. Thanks, Joan

If you were sweating under your breasts and tummy, it could very well be caused from that. The best thing to do is keep it clean and dry. You might also put some cortisone cream on it. Next time you feel bad and don't feel like showering, wash those areas with baby wipes and be sure to get the area underneath completely dry. You might also put deodorant on those areas after you clean them. That should help with the sweating problem. Joan

The Body Fortress from Walmart is pretty good. I like the vanilla, because you can mix it with almost any kind of fruit to make it yummy. Joan

Welcome to the site! As you already know, you will find a lot of great information here. Continue to read and research. Just ask if you have any questions. Joan

Hi Everyone, We really need to keep this thread going. How is everyone doing? I'm still not banded, and am still waiting on the hospital to get their Center of Excellence certification. They told me it would be September or October, so hopefully soon. Joan

You have come to the right place for friends. I will keep you and your family in my prayers. Please keep us informed and let us know how things go. Good luck! Joan

There are a lot of choices of Protein powders out there. It all depends on what you are looking for in your Protein Powder. Do you want the very best quality, or 1 that is less expensive and will get you by? Do you want a high number of grams of protein per scoop, or does that matter to you? Do you want to buy the powder locally, or do you want to order it online? Isopure and Max Protein are both very high in protein per scoop, and are the whey isolate, which is the best quality. They are both expensive though. unjury makes a good tasting powder that a lot of people tend to like. They also have an unflavored variety. Unjury is a little less expensive than the other 2, but has less protein grams per scoop. Walmart carries Body Fortress brand, but it has less protein per scoop. However, it's much cheaper than the others. You can order samples of the Unjury online to see if you like it first. I hope this helps you. Good luck! Joan

Hi bluetopaz, At the top of the page under the pictures, look on the far left and it says User CP. Scroll down to where it says settings and options over on the left side of the screen. In that section, there is a place to edit signature. I hope this helps you. Joan

Hello and welcome to the site. There is a ton of information here, as you already know. Keep us informed about your progress. Most of the ticker things you see on peoples posts come from tickerfactory.com. Joan

Hi Deb, I'm 53 and I'm still waiting to be banded. I started this process in 2006, so I will be glad to finally get it done. Welcome to the site! There is a wealth of information on here, so take advantage of it and read as much as you can. Good luck and keep us informed on how things are going. Joan

Hello 123crod, I'm a 53 year old single woman with no grand children, because my daughter can't have children, and she's an only child. So, I share my brother's grand kids with him and his wife. I'm disabled, so I don't work, but I'm an RN. I spend a large portion of my day on this board and another one as well. I'm not banded yet, but I hope to be before the end of this year. I've been working on this process since 2006. I've been looking for a buddy ever since I've been on this board, so I would love to chat with you on a daily basis. Just let me know. Joan

Yes, it seems we are sort of in the same place. My surgery has been approved already, but I'm waiting on the hospital where I'm having it done to get their Center of Excellence certification. That's a must with Medicare. I would love to keep in touch on our journey. Joan P.S. I don't have a ticker yet, but I'm going to get 1 soon. I guess I will be official then. LOL

Hi Mike, Welcome to the site! I'm not banded yet either, so I can relate to where you are on this journey. There are lots of smart people here who have great advice sometimes when you need it. Good luck and let us know when you get your surgery date. Joan

I agree with restless! I am a nurse myself, and it's out of our scope of practice to tell someone to take any antibiotic, much less tell you which one to take. You should never have left over antibiotics anyway since they always say on the bottle to take them until they are all gone. Go see the doc and don't worry about wasting his time. That's what the jerk is getting paid for! I also agree that in this day and time, people are very wrong to totally trust what your doctor says. The field of medicine has expanded so much in the last few decades that no doctor can know everything. My mom gets mad at me for going to so many specialists, but my PCP doesn't feel like she can take care of every healthcare issue I have, and I agree with her. It is your responsibility as a consumer to become more knowledgeable about your health issues. I liked the new car analogy. Your healthcare should be more important to you than buying a new car any ole day. Joan

Was it a tablet or capsule? That will help identify the medication. Joan

I will check with my surgeon before I do this, that's for sure. In my original post, I plainly stated that I'm not banded yet, so I don't have personal experience with this yet. The information I copied and pasted is on my surgeon's website. I have not talked to him about it in person. I will be sure to do that before I have surgery. I, like everyone else, want to do what my surgeon thinks is best, but I'm also realistic enough to know that 9 bites of food is not very much for an entire day. Joan

Well, this is 1 of the best surgeons in the state, according to my PCP, Texas Monthly magazine, and D magazine. The D magazine is a Dallas, TX publication. He has done thousands of bariatric surgeries, and takes very difficult cases that no other doc will touch. He was the head of Bariatric Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, and left there to open a private practice closer to where he lives. So, he's not stupid, which is implied in your post. It does sound very conserative to me as well, but I will talk to him and the Nut about it before I totally disregard the information. I wasn't trying to sway anyone or trying to get you to follow the rule. I was just showing that there was another doc who believed the same thing as the original posters doc does. Joan

I think everyone is trying to do what their surgeon tells them to do. I am copying and pasting the information from my surgeon's website. This is his philosophy on timing your eating. I just thought I would share what he has to say on the subject. A Simple Formula for Weight Loss Success After weight loss surgery, the first and most dramatic change you will make is how you eat. Whether you have had a Lap-Band® or gastric bypass procedure, the rules are essentially the same. Your stomach has been altered so that anything you eat goes into a small pouch the size of a golf ball. That means after just a few bites, you feel full—something that might come as a shock if you’re used to devouring huge portions at the dinner table. Bariatric surgery will alter your eating habits dramatically, particularly in the first few months after surgery. To gain the greatest benefits of the surgery, Dr. David Provost recommends patients follow a simple formula: 3 x 3 + 30 What this means is that you should only eat three bites of food at each meal, and separate each bite by three minutes. In addition, you should not drink anything—including water—for at least 30 minutes before you eat and 30 minutes after you eat. That may sound like a ridiculously small amount of food, but the truth is, after weight loss surgery, you won’t want to eat any more. Both the Lap-Band and the gastric bypass restrict the amount of food that you can fit in your stomach. If you try to eat more than your stomach can hold, you will feel extremely uncomfortable and you may even vomit. In addition, waiting at least 30 minutes after drinking liquids before a meal and also waiting 30 minutes to have a beverage after you eat will help ensure that you get enough nutrients and keep you from cheating your surgery by washing down your food through your pouch. Finally, slowing down your eating will also let you experience your meals in a whole new way. When you wait three minutes between bites, you have the chance to savor your food, and also appreciate the people who may be sharing the meal with you. So, remember 3 x 3 + 30 at each meal will promote rapid weight loss and help you achieve your goal weight faster than you ever thought possible! Joan

I have a question for everyone. What kind of Protein powder did you drink pre-op and during your liquid post-op period. I know we are supposed to have a lot of protein, so I'm just wondering what everyone used. I have no idea what to look for as far as taste, amount of protein, etc. Joan

This is a long story, so I will try to make it short. I went to see my surgeon for the 1st time in Dec, 2006. He said he wanted cardiac clearance, so I saw my cardiologist. He ran a PET test, which is a test that shows if you have blockage in your coronary arteries. It turned out that I had to have 2 stents put in my heart. He used medicated stents, so I couldn't be off of my blood thinners for at least a year. During that year, Medicare decided to make you have a 6 month dr supervised diet. It took some time to get my PCP to do that. I finally got finished with that and was going to make an appointment with my surgeon again. Well, my surgeon moved out of his big group that he was the head of, and opened an office in another city. It's 5 to 6 hours away, so that didn't matter so much. The problem now is the hospital where he is practicing now is not a Center of Excellence, which Medicare requires. So, I'm waiting for them to get the certification at this point. He offered to send me to someone else, but I don't want to change surgeons. I trust him completely, and that's hard to find in a doc. Hopefully soon. Joan

I watch Big Medicine and the show about Brookhaven. I don't get the other channels, which is a real bummer. I really like watching Ruby. All of these shows remind me why I am choosing to get the Lap-band. They are very inspirational to me. I hope I get my band soon. I never want to be in the position the people at Brookhaven are in. Joan

I will start out by saying I'm not banded yet, so I don't have the personal experience everyone else here has. However, my surgeon uses the 3 minute thing to, so there is more than 1 doc who recommends that. I will ask when I talk to someone at his office again. Joan

I agree the tests shouldn't be duplicated, but it doesn't sound like they are being repeated. I guess I always get a chuckle when people are soooooooooo determined to have surgery right away. I've been waiting since December, 2006, so a month or so doesn't seem long at all to me. Just try to be patient and get all of the testing they want done. They are running the tests for a reason. I have 5 different doctors ranging from my PCP to my cardiologist, and my surgeon wanted clearance from 3 of them. A pain in the butt, yes, but I'm sure he will learn everything he needs to know from my records. Joan

I have to say that putting to much attention to a child's weight can make the situation worse to. My mom took me to the doctor and had me on diet pills when I was 14-15 years old. My mother would also go a couple of days without eating if she gained a few pounds. Of course, most of her family is obese, so she is obsessed with her weight. Now that she's in her 70's, she has gained a few extra pounds, but she still diets most of the time. So my examples weren't the greatest either, which I know played a huge part in me being obese as an adult. Joan

The bad breath is definitely caused by the ketosis from eating a high Protein low carb diet. I hate it too! I get around it by chewing sugar free gum all the time, but I'm not banded yet, so I can do the gum. Joan