Gaffer

I know what you mean. I have had times where I put on a shirt on the weekend and think it is too tight, and then the next week I try it on an I think to myslef "Great, I missed the week that this fit" For me the challenge is lower body garb. My boxer breifs are too baggy, so there have been a couple of times I have pulled up what I thought was my pants and gave myself the atomic wedgie. I am left standing there like a rapper with my underwere pouring out the top of my pants. Oh well, I guess it is better than the previous problem with all my clothes being too small. Andrew

I think Yoda is raising a good point here. Stick to what your clinic is telling you in your post op instructions, they are there for a reason. No matter what your age or condition you have just been through a major surgery and your stomach has a new device sutured to it which needs time to heal in place. Take it easy at this stage. You need to be following the rules laid out for you. Afterall, it is an inability to follow rules regarding food that got most of us to the point of needing the band. I would hate for anyone to jeopardize your bands. Take care of yourselves. Andrew

I think it is important to worry about diet and exercise at this point. Right now, you are to be concentrating on healing, but dont use it as an excuse to fall into old habits. Even though you are still in full liquids strive to make better choices. Look for those soups lower in fat and calories and stick to your portions, it will make it easier once you are through your recovery. As for the exercise, stick to what your clinic wants you to be doing, but I think it is important to walk and make exercise part of your new lifestyle before falling back into old habits. You are truly in the hardest part of this process, but it will get better as you do. Remember to work the band, even when it is not working for you. Andrew

Wow Mr. Yoda you are rocking. You are almost 1/3 to your goal already. Sorry to here about the low BP, hopefully you can get it taken care of. Andrew

Julie, It is true that men lose weight faster than women. I am VERY happy with my weight loss to date, and I think that if everything keeps going in the general way that it has I will have lost half my excess weight by the end of may. I might have to adjust my goal up from 210 to 220 due to the body analysis that I have been getting. I have been putting on lean mass pretty well so that will change things. I would like to shoot for about 15%, as of my last fill on April 13 I was at 42% and I have lost about 10lb since then and I dont know how much muscle I have put on. In terms of other things that I am doing, I spend 50 minutes on the eliptical trainer 4-5 times per week. I work out pretty hard and get my heart rate up to an average of 150 for most of that time. I am pretty fit that way, I like to say I am a distance runner trapped in a sumo wrestlers body. I also have an 11 month old boy who is into everything, and a job with some field work so that keeps me on the go. I have taken a loot through the Dr. Oz book, and I found it pretty interesting. My wife has a copy. I was aware of much of the stuff in it as I have a biology background, and took nutrition courses at univeristy. I do like the way that he has written the book, his style of writing is really amusing. I also like the section where he talks about weight loss surgery. It is nice to see a Dr. talk about it in a balanced light. It sounds like you are doing well. I will have to make a point of stopping in the CalgaryLapbanders site more often, but I have been really busy lately. I will keep my eyes peeled for those AHC codes. Andrew

Julie, That is great news about the codes for fills with Alberta Health care. If I recall correctly you were seeing Dr. Botha for fills, so does that mean that I no longer have to pay him? Or were you seeing Dr. Descoutoex (sp?). If you happen to get the code would you mind sharing it with me? I am happy to see that they go the approval for maore bands. It does not really help me, and I am still paying off my LOC for mine, but it will make a significant shange in the lives of the 100 or so who do get a AHC band. I dont think I will need a fill for a little while. I have pretty good restriction with my second fill for a total off 5CC in my 14CC band, but it could be nice to have the option of filling about .5CC to see how it goes. I just dont want to pay the $100 only to have the fill taken out. Sorry to hear about you stuck incident. If I see a woman walking around the streets of Calgary with 2 black eyes I will introduce myself. Andrew

Sadly as I am getting older I am having those sprout up in my ears too. Andrew

Yes I have been exercising since 2 weeks post op. I credit it with much of my sucess. I go at least 3 but more often 4-5 times a week and spend an intense 50 minutes on the eliptical (Level 8-9 Speed 9-10, HR ~150 BPM, ~850 calories burned per session) I am going to start lifting weights again soon, but I dont know when I can find time. Working full-time, business on the side and a young family can eat away at my time pretty quickly. Thanks for the compliments guys. Andrew

I have more, but these are sort of the most recent significant ones. 1. I had to take my wedding band in to be made smaller. It slipped off in the shower today and almost went down the drain. 2. As of today I am severly obese on the BMI scale (Yeh...I think) which is am improvement from the Almost super obese and the mobidly obese I was. Andrew

I cant make it on the 27th. Andrew

Don't drag it into a "well you dont know what you are talking about arguement", that will get you nowhere and they will just write you off as some sort of trouble maker, where they will ignore you calls and letters. What I would do is talk to the person who you are dealing with and say to them that they are covering the stomach stapleing/VGB which no one is doing and is not that effective. Would it not make more sense to cover the lapband. Tell them they need to upgrade thier criteria to include surgeries that are still being performed. Remember you cacth more flies with honey than with vinegar, especially when you are dealing with government beurecrats. Andrew

I advise you to wait a couple of weeks for the Demerol Tequlilla shooters. Here are the instructions: 1. Suck the juice out of a lemon wedge 2. Lick the crushed demerol off your favorite body part of Mrs. Yoda 3. Shoot the tequilla. 4. Find a place to sit down. Andrew

Great pictures Yodas. I cant wait to see a couples before & after. Maybe in the new ones you could smile though. God, do you Jedi masters have to be so damn solemn? :biggrin1: Great work. Andrew

Ignore what the nurse is telling you. It is apparent that she does not know what she is talking about. Studies are showing that 5 years out there is not a significant differance between bypass vs. band. If she know what she was talking about she would also direct you to the lap-band which has far fewer longterm complications, shorter recovery and fewer complications from surgery. In terms of my GP, he was really the one that brought up surgery as an option for me, and we had origionally applied to get a health care covered band here in Alberta. I loooked into the self pay option, and he was really supportive. He is so supportive that he wants me to come in every month so he can see how I am doing and track the results for himself. He has asked me if I would be willing to talk to other people in his practice about it. Andrew

Today is your day. Good luck with everything. Andrew

I dont know if you will be 100% in a week but you will be feeling a hell of a lot better. It really took me about 4 weeks to feel to the point where the incisions we not tender and I felt like working out, going for walks etc. Andrew

Janice, You will do fine, and you will be in here in no time saying things like it was a peice of cake. Andrew

That should be enough, mine was not very detailed either. You also need to do the following: Have your surgeon fill out this form, and you complete the rest. http://www.health.gov.ab.ca/ahcip/693.pdf Take the forms, your itemized reciept and your invoice and fax it to 1-780-422-1958. Mine took about 4 weeks to come back, and I got $1036. Andrew

Okay, I remember seeing a March goals, but we seemed to have skipped that for April so I am bringing it back for May. I will start with mine. - Clean up my diet, I have not been too good lately - Work out AT LEAST 3 days a week and strive for 4 or 5 - Get my weight down to 285lbs or my body fat down to 35%. I may add others as I think of them, but I need to get these out there to refocus myself. Canadian banders feel free to post your May goals here for all the world to see. Andrew

Becca, Sorry to hear about your situation. I was scheduled for my third fill on Friday as well, but cancelled it because I could feel some swelling/restriction. Hopefully it will loosen up. Andrew

I would call each of the clinics to get a definative answer. Andrew

I thought it was Rachel Ray. I thought she was here to do some cooking for us. Oh well, maybe just a chick, but I like the mix of her meds. She seems pretty happy to be hanging out there. How about a new contest? Name the LBT Chick. Andrew

I'll be interested to see if you can "feel" a difference with between the 2 bands. I have had mine since Feb. and I think it is the best thing in the world. Andrew

Best of luck guys, I am sure that you will all do great. Andrew

Trust me you are going to want all of these. For me I was taking crushed demerol & I always chased it with a chewable gravol. Gas-ex was like candy. It was something with flavor and I found it helped with the gas (imagine that). The minty flavor of the strips also helped with my dragon breath. I was not able to brush my teeth for the first 48hours. You may want to get yourself a heating pad also. I found it to be heavenly on my shoulders with the gas pain that I was having. It really helped me sleep. Also, when you guys are out, walk, walk, walk. It really helps with the gas pain. Good luck and I am dure that you will all do fine. Andrew