Gaffer

Thanks Argon, it does not seem like it was not that long ago. I appreciate all your advice & support. You are doing awesome yourself. Look at you at your goal. It's all about paying if forward. Andrew

I have not had my initial plastics consult here in Calgary yet. I did see a surgeon in Mexico when I was there about getting put back together. Basically I am looking at a pannus removal, tummy tuck, male breast reduction, liposculpture and having some fat injected into my buttocks to fill them out since they are deflated. I was told that I would be looking at losing 20+lbs from the tissue removal. I am still going to see Dr. Perron for my consult in Calgary in June, but that would only be for the abdominoplasty. AHC would not cover the lipo, male breast reduction or the butt lift. I am sure that I could add it on with Dr. Perron while I was there for the abdominoplasty, but I would be willing to bet that it would be more than I was quoted for the whole job in Mexico. In terms of the wait, I have to wait over a year just to see the surgeon here in Calgary, adn then I dont know how long it will be before I see the actual surgery. The problem is that there are very few plastic surgoens performing work for the public system so the wait is long. Plus there is such a line up of other people with more pressing problems that putting fat guys back together does not rank high compared to surgeries that save people's lives. Andrew

Thanks Gang, you are making me blush here. I have been looking at a career change, but it does not involve modelling. Stay tuned for more. Andrew

There are no private clinic available for lap band in Alberta at this time. There are clinics that perform the procedure for the public health care system, but they are not availabel for people to self pay. This may change in the very near future, like after our provincial election. Andrew

So I am wondering if it is too soon for me to have PS. I am one year post op tommorow and have lost 135 pounds so far. I started at 360 and am at about 225. My body fat percentage was measured at 27% recently, but I have lost some weight & gained some muscle mass so I guess that I am at about 25%. I had a consult with a PS & he told me that I am ready for the surgery. What I need to have done is an abdominoplasty with a large pannus removal, lipo on my chest and lower back a gynecomastia (male breast reduction) and some fat injected into my buttocks to fill them out. The surgeon mentioned that when all was said & done that there would be about 20+ pounds of tissue & fat being removed. I figure that once that happens my body fat percentage would be around 20%. I would be looking at having he surgery this summer & I plan on losing some more weight before that time. Does this seem like a reasonable time frame? I'll post some picks later so you can get an idea of what things are looking like. Andrew

Here are somthings that have worked for me. I cant say that they will work for everyone. I start the day with a protien shake. I know many Dr.s will tell you not to because they are liquid calories but I find a quality protien shake (not SlimFast or something like that) gets me through to lunch. It is an automated meal that I dont have to think about in the morning. I will be the first to admit that my diet is not as clean as it can be. I dont eat the fast food that I used to and overall my diet consists of a lot less calories than before, but I know I could be doing better with it. I have had Dairy Queen treats pretty much every week since I was banded. For me it is the quantity of food and not so much what I eat. I basically try to the right thing more often that not. I personally dont crave the garbage food that I used to eat. I have said that they must have done brain surgery on me while I was out. The combination of calorie restriction caused by the band and working out hard had been the key for me. Find new food that you never knew you liked. Who new that I liked yams & sweet potatoes. I eat way more Beans than I used to. Use white beens that are smashed up instead of potatoes. I still hate vegitables, but I try to east them. I attribute much of my success to working out really hard and keeping the right level of restriction. I think that too many bandsters keep thier band too tight and then cant eat quality foods and resort to what I call soft calories. Things like mashed potatoes, sauces & ice cream rather than hard protiens that will keep you full. Eat you protien first, then veggies and carbs if you are still not full. Listen to your body and learn what being full feels like. Eatin slower will help with this. For me, I had a take no prisoners attitude and it seemed to work for me. I am by no means the biggest or the fastest loser around here. There are so many people on LBT that I drew inspiration from. Andrew

I will PM you the infomation. Andrew

I did some looking into the guy that started the clinic after I had heard that it started up. Tom Sarids, the founder of the clinic is the owner of Fabricare in Toronto. EBSCOhost Connection: Tom Saridis: Cockeyed optimist, or on to a good thing?. I am not saying that is a bad thing. They guy has a lapband, and has been successful himself with his weight loss. I have to give the guy some credit. He has the chops to start a new start a new lapband clinic in the most saturated market with the 2 most successful Canadian clinics. Andrew

That is why you dont book surgery at a clinic started my a dry cleaner. Andrew

Hello SphynxMomma, I am in Calgary too. Here is what I know about the CHR program. I was in the line to get one done in Calgary, but the wait was too long (about 3-4 years at that time). I decided to go pay for it myself. Based on my success with the Lapband, my boss has decided to go through the CHR program and here is what I can tell you based on his experience. Talk to you Dr. and they wil give you a referal to the weight management clinic. Your BMI will need be above 40. Once they get your referal, they will put you in the que and send you a letter whether you are accepted or not. The current time frame for this is about 8 month. Once you get the letter, and if you are accepted, then you will attend thier orientation about 6 months later. From thier you will be on another 6 month monitored diet pahase where you are expected to lose 10% of you body weight, attend thier classes, see their psychologist and meet with thier dieticians. If you accomplish all that, then they will triage you based on your BMI, co-morbidities (diabetes, sleep apnea, mobility problems) and how well they think you will do after you get the lapband. There is a group that looks at all these factors and then either reccomends you for the surgery. After that (couple more months) you will meet with the surgeon. Once you meet with the surgeon it depends on where you are in the triage. Worse off people go first. My boss who has sleep apenea and joint problems and a BMI of 47 meets with the surgeon next week, and he has been told it will be about a year before he gets the band. The CHR made a big deal out of the fact that they are doing 100 bands this year, but they are not going to get anywhere near that. There are just not the operating rooms and the staff to do all the neccesary pre-op and post-op care. I have it on good authority that they may only do 50 or so this year. I have also heard through the grapevine that they may be cancelling the program due to the CHR being $100 million over budget, and the Province not willing to cover that overage. Sorry if this sounds discouraging, but that is the truth of it. The CHR has made such a big deal about this but the reality is that the program is not that successful due to a lack of resources. You can see why I decided to go out on my own. I would still be sitting her 135 pounds heavier if i waited for the CHR. Andrew

I think that they like you to make sure you are out of the clinic before you go at it. :biggrin2: This is a good opportunity to let you lady take care of you for a bit. I think for me I was about a week after surgery. Just take it easy and you will know if you are over doing it. Once you start to lose the weight though, things will get even better. As your body gets smaller, other things get bigger if you catch my drift. They say about 30 pounds for an additional inch. Golf and sex you are a guy who has his priorities worked out. Andrew

I just got back from Tijuana not too long ago and I think that the problems with the drug cartels are exagerted. Unless you are a Mexican cop, judge, crime jouranlist or drug king pin, which I am assuming you are not, this wont really impact you. I was hesitant when I went there initially, but really by the end of my stay I felt safe. Travelling to TJ is just like going to any other large North American city. Stay in the tourist areas and try to stay out of the bad ones. The bell desk at the hotel where I stayed was really good fo getting cabs and giving me tips about how to get a cab back to the hotel. If you use a clinic in Mexico they all have hotels that they work with. At the hotel I stayed at all of the front desk staff spoke english and were very helpful. Andrew

Obviously he does not know what he is talking about. I also liked it when he was refering to the band going around your stomach and showing it with both hands, like it is the diameter of a grapefruit. I had some respect for him up until that point, but after that I lost it all. Oprah is the perfect candidate. Depsite all her money, personal trainers, chefs, spiritual advisers and her divine knowledge (because she acts like she knows everything about everything) she has not been able to maintain a stable weight. Here is my thought. Oprah has started her journey to the Lap-band. The seed has been planted in her mind. It will continue to grow to the point that she cant avoid it any more and she will be on her private jet to Tijuana to see Dr. Ortiz. You heard it here first. You local Soothsayer, Andrew

Hey Julie, It has been a while since I have seen you here. I still get the Calgary Lapbanders updates via email, although I dont post there at all. I just lurk around to see what is happening in Calgary. I dont think that I will be able to make it to the meeting as I am going to Lethbridge for my mother in laws birthday that weekend. Talk to you later, Andrew

This raises an interesting point. It sounds like you have had some negative reaction from others about your decision to have the Lapband. I can honestly say that no one has brought this up with me, at least to my face. How the hell is it anyone's business but your own what you do to yourself. Your results speak for themselves. What the hell is wrong with people out there. Taking the easy way out. I could walk to work 20km everyday, but I drive my car. Is this the easy way out, or the smart way. Like Green said, if you are diabetic you take insulin, if you have a headache you take a tylenol. All of us here who are banded have chosen to take that smart way out and get off the cylce of diets that had beat us down for too long. We have chosen to prolong our lives by losing the weight and empowering ourselves to take control of our weight and our health. If that is the easy way out, then yes I took it. But I will tell you all, I for one have taken control of my life, my weight my health and my happiness. If someone cannot handle that, then I dont need them around. Sorry if that seem like a bit of a rant, but it really bothers me when people crap on others for having WLS. Andrew

I think a friendly wager makes everything that much more interesting. Like I said, you will do great. Now go chokeback another Optifast and eat some lettuce. Andrew

I would personally consider Mexico a very viable option despite having mine done in Canada. My wife is considering having the band and I would not hesitate to visit one of the more reputable clinics like Dr.Ortiz. Andrew

As most of use here can attest to, diets dont work. I dont think that weight loss surgery is a cop-out, but rather a more effective means to solve the problem of excess weight. I could walk to work every day, but it is more efficient to drive. Same idea to me. Lets face it, the stats about diets are not in favour of people succeeding. Why is it that there are more diets out there than ever, yet the rates of obesity are growing at an alarming rate, especially among teens. I watched that show with great interest. I think that all in all it will be a positive thing for banding. Any exposure is good. Andrew

I have a consult coming up in June for an abdominoplasty to be paid for by Alberta Health Care. In certain cases, reconstructive surgery after weight loss is covered, such as mine. I am not sure what form it will take, but when I got the call about the consult they said it was abdominoplasty. Andrew

Congratulations, that must make you fell like a million dollars. Andrew

Very timely question... This article was in the news this week. "A new world-first study by Monash University researchers in Melbourne, Australia, found laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) to have a profound impact on one of society's biggest health issues - Type 2 diabetes." CNW Telbec | ALLERGAN | Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding 5x More Likely to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes than Diet and Exercise Andrew

We dont get liquid Tylenol in CANADA. Andrew

Yes, another side effect, and living in Canada it is a double whammy. All my jacket are too big and it is freezing cold here. My wife likes it though as we have the furnace turned up to where she wanted it all those years. Stay warm guys, Andrew

The liquid adult tylenol is not available in Canada. I bought some generic children's Aceteminaphin but never ended up using it. I would buy a couple of bottles to have on hand if you need it, and then buy more if you use it all. A pill crusher would be a better investment and then just bring some tylenol pills. My wife has to crush my demerol pills in the hotel with 2 spoons which was a PITA. Mix your pills with some low-acid apple juice or other acceptable liquid and you will be fine. I found the Gas-Ex strips to be a good thing too. They help with the gas as well as the terrible breathe that I has for some reason. Good luck, Andrew