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Have you received the e-mail that starts of with(?): You gotta love Robin Williams...... Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect Plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and Repeat this message. "I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for Peace. So, here's one plan." It Is Another HOAX But even if Robin Williams had said it, it is still BS. 1) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those "good 'ole' boys", we will never "interfere" again. Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the US. We did not defeat Stalin. Noriega and Hussein were tools of the USA who had outlived their usefulness to the USA and most of the rest of the world was not concerned about them. The USA only did themselves a favor by ousting them. Oh, they also did Iran a big favor, by disposing of Hussein. Now Shiites dominate the region. Maybe if BuSh had read his father's book, instead of blaming his father for 911, Iran wouldn't be in such a strong position. 2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence. I wish we would withdraw our troops. The USA has troops in over 130 nations. Can you name 130 nations? Can you name even 100? But your tax dollars are going there. If we stop the Mexicans from coming in, who is going to pick your fruits and vegetables? Either we will be faced with tripling of produce prices or we will get our produce from overseas, putting farmers out of business. That also goes for chicken and other meat-packing operations. 3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them. It is estimated that it would cost $20,000,000,000 (that's 20 billion dollars to deport all the illegal aliens). I would rather see that 20 billion TAX DOLLARS used for rebuilding New Orleans or so many other important projects. And what do we do with illegal alien mothers who have American children? Do we split the family up and put the children into our overtaxed foster care system or do we send these American children to a live of poverty in Mexico? Punish the children? 4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers. I guess the person who wrote this had not been in an hospital lately or else he would know that the USA does not produce enough doctors, so many of our doctors are now from terrorist countries and many other countries. The USA is also raiding other countries to get nurses to move here to relieve the nursing shortage. I guess the author also did not know that because the USA does not graduate enough nuclear engineers, that the USA imports over a quarter of a million people from (terrorist) Pakistan every year to do our nuclear engineering. As far as cab-drivers and 7-11's are concerned, the next time you need a cab or want something late at night, I bet you would rather have a cab with a driver of any nationality than to stand waiting for hours. Same goes for 7-11; better to have a foreign clerk than find the 7-11 with a sign, "Closed". Not many "real" Americans want to ruin there health staying up all night for minimum wage. 5) No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby. #5 is too stupid to even comment on. 6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while. The USA was making an effort to become energy self-sufficient under under Jimmy Carter, but Ronald Reagan canceled all of Carter's programs. Drilling in Alaska will not produce enough oil to make a dent in our energy problem and it will be 10 years before that oil will reach the market. There are ways to start becoming energy self-sufficient today. People do not need 300 horse-power trucks to drive around in for pleasure. Brazille is energy self-sufficient, because it's government had the gumption to pass laws to push business in the right direction. Using vegetation to make fuel can help make the USA energy self-sufficient and it will reduce the green-houses gases causing global warming. 7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.) This e-mail must have been written by a man from China or India. China and India would love the USA to do that. Hey, I have a way to put drug dealers out of business. Tell all the junkies to offer their dealer $1.00 for a dime bag. When I stop laughing, I will refute #8. 8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything. I guess no one read the news about all the countries that contributed money to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Mexicans were helping before FEMA got there. The author should not be so flippant about Allah. Allah is the same God as the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament (the Bible, to those less informed). Allah is the Arabic translation of "God". If you travel to Italy and land at Rome's airport, you will not see signs saying Rome. The signs will say Roma. If you travel to Venice, you will not see signs saying Venice. The signs will say Venezia. If you are in Spain, and are thirsty, and someone offers you aqua, do you refuse it and say, "No thanks, give me some water"? Aqua is water, Roma is Rome, Venezia is Venice and Allah is God. 9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens. Then why was BuSh so adamant about enforcing UN resolutions against Hussein in 2003 that he invaded Iraq? Then why was BuSh so adamant about enforcing the UN's Gulf-War treaty against Hussein? 10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH...learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan? "The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses." She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, "you want a piece of me?" If you agree with the above forward it to friends...If not, and I would be amazed, DELETE it!! No, the language of this country is not English. It could have been if the original 13 colonies had not stolen so much land from Spain and Mexico. Did you ever wonder why so many cities have names like San Fransisco, Las Angeles, Las Vegas? Because we took them from Spanish speaking countries and they were full of Spanish speaking people. Maybe if we hadn't brought so many Chinese to the USA to build our railroads, we could be a English speaking country. Maybe the Statue of Liberty should also say, "No WOP's allowed". Isn't WOP (With-Out Papers) the same thing as an illegal alien? WOP is what my Italian ancestors were nick-named. How soon we forget. I saw a border guard complaining on TV about the "illegals" coming over the border. His name was Gonzales. I wonder how his ancestors got here. Maybe, instead of forwarding this e-mail, the people who are so dissatisfied with the problems in the USA should have just packed up their belongings to go back to where there ancestors came from. If you are Irish/Italian-American, well then cut your head off and send it to Ireland and send your body to Italy. Sounds stupid? Not much more than the e-mail being forwarded. Love to all, TOM PS: BS means Balogna Sandwich

Have you both tried checking your temperature? I we sent home with the breathing machine and a thermometer to check my temperature twice a day for the first 2 weeks to ensure that I didn’t get a fever or infection.

I waited till 2 years to start trying, per my doctors advice and wanting to lose as much as I could. I got pregnant on the 4th cycle. I can't believe she will be 2 weeks old tomorrow!!

The goal is three meals no Snacks but they told me until green zone I would need to eat snacks. It was recommended to yogart cottage cheese, string cheese. Small but filling protien snacks. It will get better

Hey everyone! I am just so excited that I had to share! Tomorrow I will be two weeks post op. I go to my follow up at 10. I am getting my staples removed ( thank God!) and I will be graduating to my mushies! I can't wait!

I'm sure it's no fun, but hearing you've had three makes me chuckle, as my older brother has had three hip replacements. Whenever I tell someone how many he's had I can see the math going on in their heads. Good luck and I hope this time the sleeve does help.

What did your surgeon and team tell you? You should follow their advice...that's usually no alcohol? Just my opinion, but I don't think you should be considering alcohol only 7 weeks out. Take care x

So I will call my surgeon in the morning. I was banded on Feb 28 and was feeling great. Lost 19lbs. I was feeling hungry after like 3 hrs. But when I ate I felt full fast. So the band was doing what I want and need it to do. Then last week I went in for my first fill (last Wednesday). She took all the saline out and it was just under 5ccs, then she added it plus 1 cc back in. Since then I felt like crap every time I drink or eat. My stomach hurts, my back hurt, even my sternum hurts. I feel this way with water! Is this a too tight feeling? I did get what I guess is stuck yesterday in ham. This is the second time I tried ham and it is not good for me. It did cause me to throw up yesterday. And now those back, sternum, and stomach feeling are worse. I want her to take the 1cc out. I was doing great before it!

You're too tight. I'm going through the same thing right now, been about a week. Have been on liquids for 2 days now. I kept waking up everyday hoping that the pain would be gone...nope! So my alarm is set and I will be at my drs office as soon as they open for an unfill. You should probably do the same. It will only get worse! Good luck!

I'm doing well .thanks for asking :-) I have lost 25 lbs since my 2 week pre op diet started in 3/23.I was banded 4/6

As much as I love my band, I have to say that it's a fickle mistress. It can take several fills to achieve optimal restriction, and then as you lose weight and the fat surrounding your inner organs (including your stomach) shrinks, your band will feel looser so you'll need more fill. Also, restriction can be affected by the time of day, the climate, medications, allergies, hormones, and the position of Mars in the sky. You'll feel more restriction when you're making healthy food choices of SOLID foods, less restriction when you're choosing to eat soft and slider foods (some of which are healthy, like yogurt, but a lot of them are high-calorie and nutrient-poor, like ice cream and potato chips). We're all sick of dieting by the time we have WLS, but in a sense success with the band does involve dieting. Your band can't make good food choices for you, it can't make you exercise, it can't make you say no to trigger foods. That's all up to you. I'm over 4 years post op, 2 lbs. below my goal weight, with excellent restriction, and I still have to work on all of that in order to maintain my weight loss. It's a lifetime project. Finally I have to say: just because you can eat anything or overeat doesn't mean you should. Overeating can indeed stretch your pouch and/or esophagus and it can indeed cause your band to slip. Nowadays self-control seems to be a no-no word, but portion control is up to you, at least until you learn your soft stops. Your band won't ring a bell or flash some lights when it's time for you to stop eating. You have to eat slowly and pay close attention to how you feel as you eat. Soft stops are usually subtle - a hiccup, a sneeze, a sigh, a burp, an urge to clear your throat. If you eat through that kind of signal, looking for your pre-op sense of satiety (what I call "Thanksgiving dinner Full"), you'll go on struggling indefinitely. Success with the band is a lot of work. Although it's possible that you've stretched your pouch, only an upper GI study can prove that. If you go on overeating, it'll just make the situation worse. So I suggest that you make yourself do the evil D word (diet) for a week, pay very close attention to your satiety signals, keep a food log including the times of your meals or Snacks so you can get a handle on how long your satiety lasts, and only then go back to your bariatric surgeon to discuss another fill. Jean

I am two weeks post opt. I have lost 20.5 pounds including pre-opt diet (10). That has dropped me one size in pants. This is great b/c most of my clothes are at this size, especially summer stuff. I had very little stuff that fit at 20 lbs heavier so I was wearing workout clothes almost all the time when I was not at work. I pulled a pile of clothes off the top shelf in the closet to see if any fit again and every single piece fit! So I immediately got a bag and threw away the very few things I had in the larger size. I have always saved clothes thinking I may gain again but this time I wont do it. I am going down and not up again! Also, someone at work told me "what ever you are doing, keep it up, you are looking good". It is nice to get this recognition only 20 lbs down. I am very excited. I cannot wait for me! I needed this boost to keep me on track now that Iam in bandster hell waiting for first fill. That is all, best wishes to all my banded buddies. Oh, my friend that had surgery the same day as me, she has already been taken off her High Blood Pressure medicine completely! It is amazing what losing weight can do for our bodies.

I was in the situation. I felt all along the sleeve is the way I wanted to go. But after talking with my doctor, I chose gastric bypass for a few different reasons. I was diagnosed with Barretts, which was caused by gerd. .Also I do not have the disipline to control what I eat. As of today I am down 19 pounds in 2 weeks. The surgery itself went very smooth and with little discomfort. I am in the 60+generation and I felt it would be hard to break all these bad habits I had for years. So far the gastric surgery is making it much easier. .But it all depends on your health and what your doctor feels is right for you. Either way, I wish you the best of luck ambpete

Less than 6 weeks post-op my PCP took me off one of my blood pressure meds! I am so excited - can't wait to rid myself of those puppies. What a great NSV!

I'm eight weeks out and mine itch all day every day. It's driving me up a wall lol. All my stitches have come off or fallen out at this point so it must be internal healing, which is probably why no matter how hard I itch.. I just can't seem to get to the source lol. I'll take a little itchiness as long as I keep loosing this weight though

I have been in a stall since two and a half months myself. I can't wait to see dr and nut this Monday! Some is of my own doing and some just a stall. I too appreciate the comments.!!

How far out are you? Interior sutures burn and hurt for 4 weeks.

Hang in there all of you new bandsters...it will get better...the first couple of weeks are kinda tough....but once the sorness has left you will feel much better...

I posted about this in the October Bandsters thread and thought I would post about it here as well... My wife and I had our first fills today. The process was interesting. The PA injected the needle and asked me to stand up with the needle still in my stomach. He completely filled my band with fluid and asked me to take sips of water. I could feel the water fill up in my chest. He then took fluid out until I could consistently swallow water comfortably. The amount of the fluid that was left in the band at this point was 3.8cc. He said I'd feel restriction for about 6-10 days. I'm scheduled for my second fill in 3 1/2 weeks. I was unaware of this as a process. Has anyone else experienced this method? The logic of it makes a lot of sense to me. I'm cleared to keep getting fills this way every four weeks until I find my green zone.

ABSOLUTELY THE BEST WAY TO GET A FILL!! You are lucky as am I, that we have doc's / PA's that do it in this fashion. I passed EVERYONE I know in reaching my goal in less than one year because of this method. Other doc's give whatever they give regardless of how much restriction you get out of it and then won't see you for 4-6 weeks, no matter what. It slows down the weight loss process and fills the doc's pockets. I know several people, including family members who have lap band, all of which get the...you get what you get method and they are still, years later working towards reaching their goal. I feel so bad when they see me and their jaws hit the floor knowing I had surgery years later and now I am done and they are still struggling. FEEL LUCKY MY FRIEND!!

I have to vent. I started my pre-op liquid diet this morning.... SO naturally I ate whatever and how much ever I wanted to this weekend. My grandmother was with me Saturday. I have something like 3 candy bars (the bite side Halloweenesque ones) and then dinner. So she goes to my mother on Sunday and says... Kelly ate so much on Saturday and I don't think she is serious about this. She should have been eating less (which I have done the 5 weeks prior to this since finding out about my surgery) and that would make the transition into the pre-op diet so much easier. I don't think she is serious and can do this. WHAT THE HELL. I love my grandmother... but right now I could drop kick her. This is the first time I have received any resistance from anybody and frankly it pi$&)$ me off. :heh::scared: Vent over.

It started about 3 years ago, My sister, then, a 21 year old young woman was living her life normally when she was overtaken by a horrible pain in her abdomen, followed by throwing up and not even being able to keep water down for days we decided it's time to take her to the emergency room, the doctors wrote it off as a stomach virus and said it would pass. Months go by without a trace of another "attack" when again same scenario, back to the E.R- again told it was a stomach virus, not one doctor did a test, MRI, CAT anything.. this happened more times than I can really count in the years to follow, when finally she had the worse "attack" ever which lasted for weeks, no one had a clue what was going on "could this really be a virus?" It got to the point where, her face had sunken in at her cheek bones, she looked sick, I thought I was going to lose my sister and I was terrified. After the last episode we met with our family doctor yet once again, he sat and brainstormed with us for what seemed like forever, then finally he thought "it's a long shot but let's check your pancreas" – A long shot because not only was she a 22 year old otherwise healthy young woman, but she wasn't an alcoholic. He performed the necessary testing and made the astounding discoveries, not only were her triglycerides at alarming numbers, (normal triglycerides levels should be 130 or under) hers were at 5000, but my sister, my best friend, was suffering from pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) causing the "attacks "of dehydration, excruciatingly painful episodes and constant vomiting. Now you can imagine how angry we were with the hospitals and previous doctors that not one of them thought to check her levels, not one of them cared enough to get to the bottom of why my sister was withering away slowly and in such pain. Once we knew this info we thought "ok, give her some medication and let her get back to her life" They experimented on her as if she was the poster child for narcotic exploration, she tried it all from high doses of Niacin, Omega 3 fats (which spiked her triglycerides even more) to Trilipix, Nothing helped, Now it was starting to become an issue of just when her body was going to give up the fight because she was tired, fed up and sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I had been researching the Lap-Band®®® procedure for myself and brought it to her attention, "Well it's known for helping with diabetes.. maybe it will help with this too". She searched for a surgeon right away, we didn't need any surgeon, what we needed was someone experienced and had a "clue" about this monster inside her. She came across Dr. George Fielding at NYU Langone Medical Center, when reading his bio we thought maybe this is the guy to help, we hoped that finally our prayers would be answered and within the month had an appointment to meet with him. Now let me get into why I wrote this, This isn't one of those writings of mumbo jumbo or blah blah hear my story blah.. No, this is for you, the reader to understand the extent of the situation before any action was taken, and for you all to know that without Dr. Fielding, my best friend would not be here with me today. During the consult he was what some would call brutally honest, but coming from all the flakey sugar coating doctors we came from, this brutality was utterly refreshing. He told her that while the band would help lower her triglycerides, at her severity, it wouldn't have made much of a difference and she was a ticking time bomb. So here we thought "back to square one" When Dr. Fielding mentioned there was another option called the Biliopancreatic Diversion where he would by-pass the pancreas so that she would only be using a small percentage of it, It was a dangerous procedure but considering that by the time she'd be 30 we were looking at heart attacks, strokes or even worse, this was our best bet. I must mention that both my sister and I have medical backgrounds, both went to medical institutes and both have an above "average" knowledge of medical terminology and physiology but this, was foreign to us. We had no idea what it would entail, was it going to work? So the researching data started. This was it! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Why didn't any of the doctors we saw in the past even mention the option? The answer, we shall never know but one did, and for that, and I speak for my entire family, are eternally grateful. Dr. Fielding performed the procedure within 2 months of her initial consult, The procedure itself took less than 2 hours and here I am writing this over 2 months later and she is doing fantastic. Her triglycerides are down to numbers I am even to scared to mention because they are so good and she is finally able to eat normally, just live. Without him, I don't know what Id be writing about today, but chances are, nothing good. I'd like to express my gratitude, my appreciation to him and his staff for letting me keep my sister, We could never express it accurately or enough but, know, that he saved my sister's life and I can never repay him for the gift of a normal life he gave her. Thank You so much for everything, we are forever grateful from the bottom of our hearts. -Jasmine (scheduled for the band with Dr. Fielding 6/14)

Thank you MissyMS you def made me feel better...Problem is I havnt seen my doctor since the surgery and i called a few weeks ago with a question and he never answered.My next appt is the 17th of this month.:cursing:

kiwimitts i had the same question and i am being told it all depends on your body and how well you recover. some said they were off a week, one menber said she had surgery on a wednesday and was cleared for work the following monday. i guess how well your body responds to what happen to it. me personally, i am taking two weeks off just to be on the safe side and like you i do office work nothing too physical but i want to make sure i give myself enough time to adjust to what has happen to my body. your are a little further in the process. i,m only three months in and my insurance company has a six month waiting period. i done most of my testing. i have my sleep study at the end of the month.

I had this pain. And my surgeon said it is muscle. I said, no way, it hurts worse than the surgery did. But he promised me it was. He said they pull and move and push and shove EVERYTHING on your mid section (includes left side too) I said, ok, how long can it go on (still thinking, I am a month out, it can't still hurt) and he told me some people have to deal with it for 2 months. Then he showed me some stretches, told me to ice/heat it. I am 6 weeks out now and the pain is gone. Trust me I felt like I was getting a b.s. Answer but, turned out, the stretching helped. And now I feel better. You still need to see your doc asap just to ease your mind, but start stretching your side and I bet you will feel better. Plus I would assume its a muscle until otherwise told. I understand the pain, trust me, but it does get better!