Dave_NW

Something even more expensive: A tank of GAS for it? Actually, I've wanted a two-seater convertible sports car for years. I just used this as a convenent excuse. Well, that and the fact that I fit in one now. LOL! Dave

I'm nowhere near my goal, but well on my way. About a month ago I bought myself a Porsche convertible. Seriously. I never thought about buying a Louis Vuitton bag. Would it have been very much cheaper? LOL! Dave

Bandsters who have had their band longer than me will probably have a different opinion, but in my case: I currently have 7.2cc in a 14cc band. I feel some restriction some of the time, but I'm not cinched up tight like some folks report. I don't have any foods I can't eat, and I can certainly eat around the band, if I want to. If I eat fast, or take too large a bite, I get stuck for a few minutes, till the food passes through the band. If I take smaller bites, chew more thoroughly, and don't rush things, I can eat till the plate is empty. That may or may not be a lot of food. Even on those occasions where I stop eating because I feel I'm full, if the plate stays in front of me and I pick at it, I can eat everything on it. Nothing prevents me from eating all I want, if I want it bad enough. But what IS different is the sensation of being hungry, and of being full. For me, if I'm feeling hungry when I sit down, and if I eat as a bandster is supposed to (small bites, chew throughly, and take your time), after a normal band-sized portion (a cup or so of food), the hunger is gone. If I stop and assess what my body and band are telling me at that point, I have no hunger, and I can stop eating. If I DON'T stop and think about it, I can keep going. So in my opinion, the band doesn't prevent me from eating. My own awareness is what makes the difference. The trick for me is to remember that I'm banded, and eating is different for me now. This is especially true when going out with friends. Even if I order a small meal, I need to manage things, or I can easily eat more than I should. If I stop eating when I think I should, I'm good for several hours. The rest is only eating healthy, avoiding sweets, trigger foods, or empty calories. Dave

You might also consider going to Mexico for your surgery. You can have it done there for a fraction of the price of a US procedure. Lots of LBT readers were self-pay and banded in Mexico. Ask for recommendations. I just did a bit of creative web surfing on the Regence website for Idaho, and it sure sounds to me like they do, in fact, pay for lap band surgery. I don't know your stats, but if your BMI is at least 40 and you have any comorbidities, you should check a little closer. It may be a question of terminology, or the inexperience of the person you spoke with. I'd dig a bit deeper before giving up. Maybe ask your doctor's insurance coordinator to help you. I think the insurance code is 43775 - ask Regence specifically about that code, and see if they give you a different answer. The website www.obeseinfo.com says this: Regence Blue Shield: Per Policy Bulletin 58 insurance requires 6 month diet, psych and documentation of willingness to comply. Sleeve and StomaphyX are investigational and not covered. Secondly, a lot of people have appealed a turndown, and gotten surgery approval. Have you even asked for an approval for surgery? Good luck! Dave

Melody, I totally see your point, and wish you only the very best going forward. It must have been a real struggle to deal with ongoing pain from the band. I have no pain at all, so immediately wonder if it's possible your band may be slightly (or greatly) misplaced? Can a band be repositioned for a better fit? If you're experiencing nerve pain, can it be reversed? As to the underreported problems, or "I wish I had known" things, I don't have anything that leaps out at me. (But I admit I've had a pretty easy time wth this whole thing. All in all, it's been pretty smooth for me.) But I have a couple of "druthers" things: I do wish I had a nutritionist who was also a banding patient. My NUT is as kind a person as you'll ever meet, and she is as well-meaning as they come. But she is also a vegan skinny-mini person who eats like a bird, has probably never eaten a bad thing in her life, and I think she is patently clueless about how it is to BE obese, and what an obese person FEELS about eating. Her dietary recommendations are nutritionally sound, but I think the "one size fits all" eating recommendations are unrealistic. I had to feel my way along, adjusting what I was doing/eatig/experiencing, to find the methods that work best for me. She wasn't a lot of help in that regard. I also wish things hadn't been so sugar-coated by everyone along the way. The seminars I attended pre-surgery at three different weight loss organizations ALL made it sound like banding was a perfect answer. The "I have a band, and look at how well I've done" people who spoke at these seminars made it sound like life after banding was a walk in the park. Nobody discussed how much planning, effort, consistency, details, and out-and-out WORK it is to live with a band, and keep the band working properly. For all the reasons you've all posted, the rose-colored "take a nap and wake up slimmer" schmoozing of real life with a band was a disservice to people investigating whether it is right to get banded. I know their purpose was to sell the band to potential customers, but it seems a bit misleading. All in all, I have no regrets, because I'm working it out to my best result, but I wish it had been presented differently. Dave

I'd never be one to try and talk someone into having surgery. But I'd also never try to talk someone out of it, if it was something they felt would help them. Sometimes people just need to come to terms with their own reality. To the OP, all I can suggest is you take a step back and look at your life up to this point. How long have you been overweight? Are you morbidly obese? Do you have any comorbidities? Is your weight affecting your quality of life? Do you want it to be different? What exactly are you doing to change that? Every person on these forums has been down the "I promise I'll do better" road a thousand times. We're experts at fooling ourselves into thinking "This time it'll be different!" But it never is. We diet and diet and diet till we can recite the popular-diet-dujour litany verbatim, yet when the fuss is over, we're still standing there fat as ever (or MORE fat than ever) with nothing to show for the effort but less money in our pockets, lower self esteem, and another diet failure to feel badly about. When will you have had enough of that kind of failure to finally make a REAL difference in your life? As to your fears, face them: A sleep apnea test is nothing more than sleeping in a hospital bed while wearing a series of wires that monitor how good or bad your sleep is. It's painless. And it could save your life. Being "cut into, as in the operation" is almost a non-event. Most lap band surgeries leave five or six small puncture-type scars, and one about two inches long. There are even lap band procedures that go in through a single incision near the belly button, for those who don't want multiple incision sites. The days of wide-open zipper-scar surgeries are long gone. Things are done laparascopically now. You're "having a hard time writing down" what you eat. A food journal is easy to maintain, unless you're embarrassed to have a written record of your food intake. Using a phone app is fine, but there are limits, as you've seen. Websites like caloriecounter.com or livestrong.com can help you find the caloric amounts in restaurant foods, and even let you calculate your own recipes, so you can get a pretty good idea of what you're eating. If the "surgery only cuts down on food intake" and you can do that yourself, why haven't you? If dieting that results in long-term weight loss is SO easy, why isn't everyone skinny? Simple: Because as soon as the diet is over, or the person goes off that diet, the weight comes flooding right back. As for a "new technology that makes lap band obsolete," what's stopping you? Lap band surgery is removable and reversible. If something new and better comes along, you can have the band removed. But chances are you'll be pleased enough with it that you wouldn't want to, even if something else came along. And BTW, diet and exercise ARE the technologies that will make a lap band obsolete. If you get off your couch and exercise, then eat properly, you'll lose weight. But you haven't done that very well so far, or you wouldn't be here. Not judging, just saying. If you don't want anything inside you, all I can tell you is the band doesn't have a pulse, it doesn't weigh anything, and only rarely do I feel it. If anything, I feel the port, which is where they add or remove saline to adjust the band. But the band being there isn't being felt. I don't know your gender, but if you happen to be female, and if you have menstrual cycles and use tampons or birth control devices, I'd wager you've had something a lot more troublesome inside you. The band is a non-issue. My bottom line: After decades of fooling myself into thinking "This time it'll be different," I finally stood up to myself and made the decision to have surgery. I'm losing an easy average of about ten pounds a month so far. And I feel awesome. I look and feel years younger, I have tons of energy, I sleep better, I'm better at my job, and I'm delighted to feel this way after all these years. My only regret is that I wasted all those years lying to myself. I wish I had done this years ago. So those are my comments. I don't mean any of them to sound mean, only to give you some food for thought. Keep reading, keep researching whether banding is the right answer for you, and I sincerely hope you come to the decision that's right for you. There are other weight loss options, all of which require cutting and removing body parts. Banding is by far the least invasive. Wishing you the best of luck with your decision. Dave

Weight loss tends to be overall, and it's unrealistic to try and "spot reduce." If you look at before and after photos of people who have lost weight, you can see it most in their faces, but otherwise, their body shrinks equally. To maximize your new shape during your weight loss, try to tighten and tone the muscles that are in the area you want most to affect. So if your stomach area is the problem site, doing crunches, situps, whatever else for the benefit of muscles in that area will make sure your new body reflects the best possible muscle conditioning you can do. Good luck! Dave

Congratulations on your decision to improve your life. You won't regret the positive changes it'll make. My only regret for this surgery was that I didn't do it years ago. When you do tell others, be sure they understand that you're talking about lap band, and not gastric bypass surgery. I find it very hard to believe anyone would be "bedridden for life" with a lap band, since it's removable and reversible. You'll find a lot of folks confuse the two surgeries, and they are very different from each other. Continue to do your research, and educate yourself on the process of banding. The more you know, the more you can speak with authority to others about why you've chosen this surgery for yourself. At the end of the day, it's about you, and not about them. Those who are supporttive will accept your decision, and be "on your side." There will be some who will object regardless of what you say. In those cases, it's best to take a "wait and see" approach. Most folks come around when they see how well you're doing after surgery. Remember also, that you don't need to tell the world you're having surgery. it's a personal decision about a personal subject. Everyone else will just have to accept the truth after the fact. Wishing you the very best with your surgery. Good luck! Dave

I agree with Amber about adding more calories. I plateaued around the time of my first fill, and it seemed impossible to lose anything. Then I took my nutrition up from around 1000 calories a day to between 1200 and 1500, and the weight is now steadily moving downward. And Swan, one thing to remember is that muscle weighs more than fat, so you may not see the pounds coming off very much, but you may be losing fat, and gaining muscle. At my last fill I had a talk with the PA who does fills. She showed me a chart of my weight loss so far, and the fat percentages were moving downward, while the muscle percentages were moving upward. She said I was right on track for what they want to see. I'm probably sounding like a broken record, but I can't emphasize enough about how sold I am on the Bodymedia.com armband. There are several versions, one of which is the Bodybugg, the armband worn by contestants on The Biggest Loser. This awesome gadget will show you on your computer screen exactly where you are for the day, in terms of exercise, calories eaten, calories burned, and the calorie deficit you need to equal weight loss. It takes the guess work out of everything. It's incredible! Dave

Cliff, just to give you an idea that there are different schools of thought about this: I've been advised by my surgeon's team to eat small meals as often as I get hungry, as long as they're planned and nutritous meals. For me, that's about every four hours. So I eat about five times a day. Some meals are a bit heavier than others, but the goal for me is to maintain my blood sugar balance, and to get my nutrition in. I eat about 1200 to 1500 calories a day, about 100g of Protein, and about 60g of carbs. I work out 30 to 60 minutes a day. My goal is to have about 1000 calories a day deficit, which equals about 2 pounds a week weight loss. It's working very well for me. I think the minimal diet you're on is fine, as long as you're healthy and losing on it. It wasn't enough nutrition for me, and after I bumped my nutrition numbers up, my weight loss started moving downward again. I've found having the Bodymedia.com armband (aka Bodybugg) has been an excellent tool for me to track my meals, exercise, and sleeping habits. This is the same kind of band the contestants wear on The BIggest Loser. It really works. Good luck! Dave

Call it how you see it. I'm not taking sides. To me, it's obstructionary politics, and it is ALL game-playing, at the expense of the average citizen. I don't agree with any of it. Dave

You both are getting ahead of yourselves. For about four to six weeks after surgery, your goal should be to heal from your surgery. When you get your first fill, it will start to firm up the band in place, but one fill isn't likely to be enough to let you feel restriction. You may need several fills before you reach that point. The bigger thing to focus on is your eating plan, getting your nutrition in, learning how to eat with the band, and working toward your weight loss. When you go for your next fill, discuss things with the staff at your surgeon's office, and get the information you need to understand where you are in the overall process. One question to get answered is whether your surgeon put any Fluid in your band during surgery, in which case the fill you've had would add to that. You should know where you are, relative to the size of your band. Mommy, if you have only 2 CCs in a 10 or 14CC band, then there is no way you should be feeling restriction. And Rosey, if you have only 1/2 CC but you're feeling restriction AND sliming? Sounds like you have more in your band than you know about. You both need to find out the rest of the story. When I was banded, my surgeon put in 3.2 CCs in my 14 CC band during surgery. At my first fill I got 2 CCs, giving me 5.2 CCs. At my second fill I got another 2 CCs, so now I have 7.2 CCs. I only now feel some restriction. It feels much different than it did the first month after my surgery. Have you ever read the article "It's Not About Restriction?" The article is excellent: http://drsimpson.net...l#LETTER.BLOCK7 Hope this helps. Dave

Yeah, it's nothing at all like what the Republicans have been doing in DC since Obama took office. I guess cowardice comes in different colors - both blue AND red. Both sides should be ashamed. Dave

Welcome back, Joe. I know how difficult it can be to try and restart a derailed program. But you know there's a lot of support waiting for you here. I wish you lots of success, and decreasing pounds on your new scale - talking or otherwise. I'm pretty new at this, but if I can help in some way, give me a shout. There aren't enough guys here. Dave

A lot of self-pay folks have the surgery in Mexico. It's a whole lot cheaper there. Just a thought. Dave

I had a hiatal hernia and a ventral hernia repaired during my band surgery in December. I was sore like crazy for several weeks. If I felt the urge to cough, I found it was easier to stand up, and try to get "under" the cough. Once I got the excess lung fluids out (leftover from surgery), I had more control over coughing. Within a short time the hard pain stopped, and it was only a matter of the stitches healing up. I was back to normal within a relative few weeks. One very, VERY positive beneft: I have had ZERO acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion, GERD, or whatever you want to call it, since surgery. No matter what I eat, those days are gone. It's AWESOME! Hang in there. Sip liquids till you feel you're going to float, don't eat anything you shouldn't, and walk a lot. It's the best three things you can do for yourself in the first few days after surgery. Dave

Congratulations on your weight loss. Keep it up! I went for my second fill the other day, and I had a serious heart-to-heart with the PA who was working with me. i said I felt I should be losing faster than I am, because I'm doing everything right. Diet, exercise, hydration - whatever else. She pulled out a graph she had that showed my progress since being banded last December. There were percentage numbers, two of which were fat percentage vs. muscle percentage, or some such. I didn't understand all the numbers on her graph. She showed me that the numbers on the fat percentage are moving downward, while the other numbers are increasing. She explained that this showed my body is adjusting it's ratio of fat to muscle, and since muscle weighs more, I'm actually losing more weight than it shows. As muscle is added back, the pounds lost seems fewer, so even though the scale only showed I'd lost a few pounds in the last month, I'm actually getting healthier. She said I'm right on track for what they expect, and she was very proud of my efforts. One to two pounds a week net loss is what they want to see, and in the overall picture, that's what I'm doing. Then she gave me my second fill. I'm now feeling some restriction for the first time, and I've lost two pounds in the last four days. Yahoo! Dave

I'm not sure if you've seen it, but this is taken directly from the Triwest Benefits website pages: Gastric Bypass TRICARE covers gastric bypass, gastric stapling and gastroplasty to include vertical banded gastroplasty and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (Lap-Band surgery) is covered only when the beneficiary meets one of the following conditions: Is 100 pounds over ideal weight for height and bone structure and has one of these associated conditions: diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cholecystitis, narcolepsy, Pickwickian syndrome, hypothalamic disorders or severe arthritis of the weight-bearing joints Is 200 percent or more over ideal weight for height and bone structure Has had intestinal bypass or other surgery for obesity and because of complications, requires another surgery (takedown) TRICARE does not cover: Nonsurgical treatment of obesity, morbid obesity, dietary control or weight reduction Biliopancreatic bypass, gastric bubble or balloon for the treatment of morbid obesity ******************************* So maybe you need to evaluate your stats? A BMI of 40 isn't all that is required. If you want to use the 100 pounds over ideal weight ruling, then you need to have at least one of the listed comorbidities. Dave

After my surgery I lost steadily for several weeks, then as I was allowed more "normal" food, my weight loss slowed, until it finally just stopped. I was plateaued for several weeks. I finally sorted through what I was eating, how much exercise I was getting, and what I wasn't doing, then reached a balance for my system. I learned that increasing my nutrition a bit, exercising a few minutes more, and raising my calories just a litte put me over the edge, and the scale started moving again. This isn't rocket science, but it isn't a walk in the park, either. The more proactive you are in what is happening in your body, the better off you'll be. Good luck! Dave

And if you need WLS surgery and don't have it, what will they say when you DO die suddenly, tragically, and prematurely? Will they wring their hands and say, "Gosh. We always told her she needed to lose weight. But she never listened..." Seriously: If you feel it's the best option for you, have the surgery. For every one or two people who develop serious post-op problems, even those who die from those complications, there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of people who have no trouble at all. Choose your surgeon carefully (there is no substitute for experience) and follow your intuition. Chances are very, VERY good you'll be just fine. And then, after you've lost the weight, you can rub your family's noses in the fact that they didn't want you to do this good thing for yourself. My biggest regret about my surgery was that I didn't do it years ago. Good luck!

I had a similar appointment with my surgeon's office. I called it a "marathon appointment," since it was four or five consults back-to-back. It took about a half day. I first met with a Psychologist, who interviewed me, and talked about whether I knew what having band surgery was about, and whether I knew what I was getting into. (Some folks report the Psych had them fill out a long questionnaire, but mine didn't do that.) After the Psych I met with a Physician, who did a basic "Are you healthy enough for surgery" assessment. We also talked about the physicality of being banded, and what life is like after surgery. Then I met with the Nutritionist, who talked about how it is to eat with a band, and how my eating habits will change after surgery. Finally I met with the Surgeon himself, who talked with me about the surgical procedure, what to expect, and what would happen. After it was all done, the surgeon met with the other doctors, and they decided if they felt I was a candidate for the surgery. They agreed, and sent me on my way, to do lab work and a few other things. I did the lab work at another facility that was more convenient to my home, since I needed to be fasting before they drew blood. The blood draw was something like 13 tubes of blood, which got sent out for all sorts of different kinds of tests. It wasn't a big deal, but seemed like a lot of blood to draw all at once. Don't worry about the appointment. This is what the surgical staff is for, and they'll take good care of you. Good luck! Dave

I recently got the Bodymedia FIT BW version, and I'm finding it very helpful. I previously had the non-Bluetooth version, and found it inconvenient to have to sync with my home computer, only to find out my exercise for the day was too little. Now, with the Bluetooth version, I can track things on the fly through my Droid phone, so when I later sync the armband with my home computer, I know what to expect. It's helping, too - I've lost more weight with it than without it. Yahoo! Anyone else stepping onto this "band" wagon? (Lap band AND arm band. Gee - I always wanted to join a band... LOL!) Dave

Hang in there. Things will change. You've come a fair way in a very short time, and you deserve to give yourself a chance to adjust. After my surgery, once things adjusted to their new "normal," (surgery Fluid weight went away, I got off liquid diet, and such), my weight loss slowed, then plateaued. I didn't gain, but I couldn't seem to lose any, either. I kept up the daily routine, tried to balance calories in vs. calories out, and I played with the nutrition a bit. I discovered that if I boosted the nutrition while maintaining everything else, the weight shifted a bit, then started downward again. Granted, it was at a slower pace than it was initially, but it still continued downwards. From what I've read here and elsewhere, this is normal. The stalls are your body adjusting to the way it responds to what you're feeding it. I've since figured out how my metabolism works, (sort of), and I'm trying very hard to balance calories in vs. calories out, while increasing my daily exercise. The LBT threads about calculating caloric intake and how much it takes to lose weight were very helpful. I'm happy to report the scale for me in moving downwards again. Good luck with this. And above all, keep at it - it's worth it! Dave

Something about the not drinking with meals thing I don't understand: If the point is to prevent you from digesting too fast, and therefore help prevent you from overeating, is it still a problem if you drink with meals, and DON'T overeat? Am I missing something? I have trouble breathing through my nose (it's more than a deviated septum) so I'm forced to breathe through my mouth. As a result, my mouth and throat are always very dry. I drink liquids all the time. If I don't sip liquids while eating, I can't swallow. So I've been drinking all along. I don't overdo it, but I don't restrict fluids with meals. I eat till I begin to feel full, and I stop eating. In four or five hours I eat again. I don't get sick, I don't get stuck, I don't graze, I don't eat junk food or empty calories, and I feel fine. So to me, that's in keeping wth the larger point of being banded. They say everyone has a personal journey with their weight loss, and they have to learn how to work their band to their best advantage. I don't recommend others do as I do, but this seems to be working for me. My weight loss would seem to support that. :thumbup: Dave