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My doctor's office told me it would take 2 weeks to get an answer. But I needed to schedule my surgery during the December holiday break because I work at a school, So after 4 days I called my insurance company. They said the paperwork should have been submitted to my medical group not to them. So I called the doctor's office and asked for the medical group's phone number. They put me on hold for a while. Then they came back and gave me the number. I called the medical group and they looked through the faxes. They said they got the request that day. I think the doctor's office kept me on hold while they faxed it over. I asked how long it would be until a determination was made. The said 2 days. Hmmm. So had I not called, the request might have sat in my doctor's office a couple more days. Now, I was in a hurry, so I pushed it. But I'm glad it did. I am scheduled for 12-19-11.

LOL, you'll do fine. I think my post op day was hard on me cuz I didn't even get my morning coffee. I really can go without breakfast if I let myself, as long as I have my coffee. But, I truly did get hungry. But they didn't come get me to take me back until 2:00 pm and my surgery was scheduled for 10. I was there til they closed the doors.

Hello!! My name is Joy and I'm having surgery at Maine Medical Center in Portland probably in October or November. I joined the weight and wellness program there back in June and I've lost almost 20lbs, I have an appointment with the surgeon on 10/01 This is terrifying and awesome! I'm very happy about my decision to do this. How far along in your journey are you?

I have my first consultation with the Surgeon next thursday (9/10) and I am very excited! I have maine community health options for insurance so I'm hoping everything will go smoothly. I dont know what the requirements are yet, unfortunately, but hopefully I will find out then. I have been doing research on this for years, and finally am in a spot where i am eligible and able to do it. I refuse to wait longer than i absolutely have to. I want to change my life and eating habits NOW! I dont want to develop comorbitities. Heart problems run heavily in my family, too. I think it might be easier to do this while im young so I dont pick up more bad habits. Nice to talk to you, Joy!

Not sure about the sugar free hard candy. I will tell you that I have had a few sf butterscotch candy since surgery. I would think that as long as you are careful not to swallow them whole it would be the same as sf liquid. bone broth is also available at most grocery stores and will give you about 10 grams protein per serving. Warm liquids are easier for me to handle.

AMEN!! There is a huge physiological part to the whole obesity picture. Many, many people ignore it or continue to insist we are all lazy pigs. 20 years ago women's cramps were all in their heads, 10 years ago impotence was all in men's heads. It will take a while before it is accepted by the majority of people (including fat people) that it is more than our mental problems.

Yay!! Good for you! Good luck on your journey!! :confused1: I'm offically one week out today and down 10 lbs preop and 23 lbs all together!

I am new to this forum so I figured I would post a topic. I had lap band surgery in Jan of 2011, lost 30 pounds and now have gained it all back. I never had restriction with my band even with all the fills I had. I will be having the RNY on Sept 10th and am worried that the same thing will happen. I fallowed the guidelines for the first 4-5 months after the lap band but after gaining weight back I went back to old habits. I am worried I will do the same with this surgery. I was wondering how I can keep with the good habits after surgery and what you guys have done to stay focused and eating right? Especially with all the dieting I have done and failed at I am worried I will do the same with this surgery. I haven't had to do anything for my RNY surgery that I had to do with my lap band. I meet with the surgeon on Aug 27th and then 14 days later have surgery. I don't know what kind of diet I will need to follow up to surgery. I am an ER nurse and will be out of work for 4 weeks, and have no short-term disability, which is going to suck, but I know I need this surgery to live a healthier life and be there for my kids. I have a 10 and 3 year old boys who I never have enough energy to do anything with, and I don't cook so they loose out on healthy meals because I'm to lazy and I never really learned how to cook anything that didn't come in a box.

Hey Seattle, I'm sorry things are not going well for you. I agree that full liquids is tough, but please hang in there. I too had issues with losing. My problem was constipation, once that got under control the losing began. Keep us posted on how your doing. You may not be drinking enough calories to lose weight. I was told that by people here, so I just made sure I was drinking my slim at shakes. Can you have the Protein shakes? SD: 10/10/12, Converted from Lapband to RNY, HW (before band) 263, HW (RNY) 230, Preop 219, after surgery 223, current 203

It was the day before Thanksgiving and we’re packing up the car to go to go to Philly to my SIL/In-laws. We’re trying to get out the door by lunchtime because we know how bad the PA Turnpike gets this day. Side note: You pay a toll to take your life into your (white knuckled) hands to tailgate at 65 mph; :car::car:leave more then two car-lengths and someone darts in front of you (no turn signal, no smile, no wave…Happy Holidays to you too!), causing you to slam on the brakes and wonder if the car tailgating you will soon be in your backseat! :scared2: Back to the story…I finally got my three teens (DD is now 21 actually) out of bed and packing up their final items around 10am (this is early for some of them…teens!). My middle one (DS-18) comes up from the basement beaming.:biggrin: PAUSE right there! This alone is a holiday miracle…he’s going through that moody-teen:glare:Ask-your-teenager-now-while-they-still-know-everything phase:sneaky:…so moments of “beaming” are a rare commodity! He announces “I got accepted into the Engineering school at Penn State main campus!!! Whoo-Hoo!!”:party:(insert us jumping up and down here). Those of you that know PSU, know what a feat it is to get accepted to main campus your Freshman year (most go to a satellite their first 2 years). He’s a very smart kid (National Honor Society), but isn’t the best test taker (psyches himself out:scared2:). He took a course and studied for the SAT, 2 hours almost every day for months, and then took it several times. He thought he wanted to go to Ohio State “OH”… “IO”!!! (DH-Mr.SA and my alma-mater), but he missed the out-of-state scholarship by a mere 10 points on the SAT, so it was just too expensive to go there…He was crushed,:hurt:but I kept telling him things happen for a reason. Since then :pray2:we’ve been waiting:toetap05: for the acceptance letters online everyday, so this was welcome news indeed! He is totally thrilled (and we are too! He deserves this after all that hard work!...dilemma:confused3:...who will we root for at the PSU-OSU game next year?)! One of his best friends that he played on the soccer team and ref’d with got accepted as well (also engineering) so they’re making plans to room together. My niece is a junior there now, so she was thrilled when we got to her home for Thanksgiving and he told her. The chant around our house now is… :thumbup:“WE ARE” … “PENN STATE”:biggrin3:!!!

Hi, great to have you here! Welcome I love my band too! I wish that for december i will be a size 16. banded 11/08/05 286 01/13/06 255

I had surgery May 1 & down 19 lbs! I came home on puréed food. I'm not sure why you gained weight on puréed? Was it high fat? I think you're doing a GREAT job getting your protien in. I'm still struggling getting it all in. I lost 13 lbs the first week & it's leveled off to 3-4 week, which I think is more attainable. Don't be frustrated. It's not a quick fix. It will take time. Be strong.

I am 10 days out and I got on the scale this morning to a 2 lb gain from Monday. I am also in the week leading up to my time of the month, so it is probably related. Who knows what or why our bodies do what they do! All I know is I am eating exactly what I am supposed to, getting in my fluids, and walking almost every day. There is no way I am gaining weight and I am sure you are not either.

I want to know all about it when you are feeling better! I have 10 more days to go and I am anxiously waiting!!! Good luck

@Ken S. first off, the guy on the left is an imposter he is cute, but i am cuter pic changed about 10 days ago please change pic back to NORMAL I must be missing something on how to change/fix ticker my signature too i can't fix lots of spacing between lines it looks nicer when there is one common space between lines - in example some times it might look like above with big blanks (i did this one above on purpose just so you can see what i'm talking about other posts too big spaces/blanks between lines (yeach) it would be great if you could make Q&A page (pages) people being able to ask all their questions other people have shown similar problems, i might have missed them/answers i know this website info is here, still need help!! at least that's what hubby always says in general!! kathy thanx for your help

I have found it intersting, reading about how many of us are in the same boat. I was banded on 10/27 and have done well with weight loss so far, but I haven't done much since my diet has advanced. I am doing well with my food choices.....averaging right around 1000 calories/day and 70+g of Protein. I have no restriction and cannot wait for my first fill. I go the Monday after Thanksgiving. I do know I need to kick up my exercise (but honestly until the last few days, I was still too sore to do much.) I am thankful for this forum. I learn so much from each of you.

If it is helpful, my NUT at Swedish recommended eating like the induction phase on Atkins for the pre op diet. I did not have any trouble with that as lots of practice there. it is essentially a very low carb diet, no breads, starches, etc. You eat Proteins as much as possible with some low glycemic vegetables. This kind of diet actually works remarkably well post op to drop lbs until you are able to add back in good carbs. The surgeon stated that I had a super healthy and small liver because of doing this when he opened me up. Most people will end up losing 10 lb in a week by eating low carb before surgery. For example, I switched my diet one month before surgery to be like Atkins induction phase and lost about 30 lbs, probably reducing complications that might have been present had I been 30 lb heavier and still eating junk. I felt it also gave me a good kick start on learning to eat better *before* post op physical and mental struggles. Really important!! Maybe this simple suggestion will help you or others. I also like the idea from space dust regarding drinking Protein shakes before surgery. That will help you get used to the post op drinking of Protein Shakes. All we drink are protein shakes for up to 3 weeks post op, so the more you prepare yourself for this, the better. However, I do have to warn you that your favorite protein shake flavor pre op may no longer be your favorite protein shake flavor post op. Our tastes often change going over to the other side. For this reason, it is not a good idea to load up on tubs of Protein powder pre op thinking you will be also drinking that post op. MyBariatricPantry.com and other sites like this let you buy sample packets of protein shake flavors. Try some or all until you pick one or more that you do not mind drinking. Again, do this post op as your tastes may have changed after your stomach is removed. I happen to like nectar sweets (several flavors) both pre op and post op, but did not like Nectar fruits post op where others really like Nectar fruit flavors post op. i used to be big on Peach and banana flavors pre op, but hated them post op. Everyone will have different tastes. Water and milk will taste different post op, maybe even gross. I could not drink milk again due to lactose issues until month 5 post op and plain water again until month 6 post op. You may find an alternative like light soy or almond milk will work just as well as nonfat/low fat milk post op. it will be smoother on your stomach. Everyone is different. As for water, I could taste all the minerals and it sat heavy in my stomach post op. I am still flavoring my water today at month 9 post op, but can drink bottled and tap water again without flavor if the need arises.

That is all theory and sales pitch at this point. There are no long term studies to back that up. But I realize J&J is making those claims. Each time a new band comes out in the US or elsewhere the company has to sell their bands so they do tend to make claims. J&J has also claimed that people are less hungry and lose weight faster but they haven't proven those claims either. I hope it turns out to be true, when people are banded for long periods of time (10-20 years) with this band then we'll know one way or another. I really think it is the surgeon that is responsible for most erosion but I can't defend that claim anymore than J&J can claim fewer erosions since nobody knows for sure what causes erosion to begin with. If they knew what caused it they might be able to do something more to prevent it. If two surgeons use the same band and one has a 0.001% erosion stat and the other has a 20% erosion stat, one of them is doing something wrong. Same thing with one having a 0.001% vs. another surgeon who has 4% erosion stat. In all honesty the guy with the 20% erosion stat had a whole different problem going on. But still, since nobody knows what causes it how can a company claim their band has fewer erosions? Surgeon stats are the issue for the most part, not the band.

Just thought I'd say hi, now I'll spend some time reading.

Mine is constantly saying that my signature contains too many lines! Ever since I tried putting a signature on here it says that my signature is too long! The first time i tried it let me put a lot on there then everytime i try updating it says that my signature is too long! It says the max is 10 lines, but everytime I update it my lines have to become fewer and fewer! Today I had to take it off all together because it wouldn't even let me save one word! What's the deal?

My sugery is also February 23rd and I get to do the pre-op diet for 14 days prior to surgery. About the 3rd day into my protien shake diet I had a complete break down and was sobbing like a child. All I wanted was real food. And then I thought about it all. I told myself that I hadn't come 6 months through the pre-op work up to loose it all now. We are doing the shakes to shrink our liver to make the surgery easier and safer. I get to have 4 unjury shakes a day or the unjury broth for one of them and then I can have one unsweetened applesauce, 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese, 1 sugar free pudding per day and sugar free Jello. (The cottage cheese was a life saver.) The unjury gives you 20 gm protien per shake. After that rough day, things just got easier. The weight is coming off on the pre-op diet. 8 lbs in 10 days...so that helps too. I do agree with the previous two posts, if you can't do the liquids now....how are you going to do/cope post surgery? Best of luck to you!!

Hi all... Has anyone heard anything good or bad about belite and surgery in Tijuana? I have surgery scheduled in 10 days And wanted to see if anyone else was going to be around

So far I have lost 19 lbs so far and its day 12 of my preop diet. I have a really busy job, so I am on my feet and running around most of the day. I'm usually too tired to do a traditional workout (I know, I know...I will start after surgery) but I add things in my day like taking the stairs if its only 1 or 2 flights or parking far.

I cant believe you are trying to do any ab work less than 10 days out from surgery honestly. Take it easy on those and give your port area time to heal first. Did your doctor give you any instructions about this?

I think my hernia repair was more painful than the band. It hurt everytime I would take a breath. I think it lasted about 10 days for me. It did get better each day though. I think 9 lbs is ok for the first week. I wouldn't worry about it. The pulling pain maybe your port. Just give it all some time. it is just a little fragment compared to the rest of your life.