Alexandra

Congratulations, that is so cool!! :bounce: :high5: :whoo:

Pati, we'll miss you and hope you have a nice break! It's a good idea and I'm sure more than a few other people will read your post, recognize themselves, and say "hey, that sounds like a good idea!" Looking forward to seeing you back here soon with a totally UNparanoid outlook. Enjoy!! :couch2:

Patty, there is so much wisdom in your post! Thank you for sharing your insight. It's extremely valuable for beginners and veterans alike. :couch2:

I am never aware of a squeezing feeling. Not even when I'm lying on the table under the fluoroscope machine and the doctor temporarily has filled me up to the point of being completely closed. He does that so we'll know what being completely obstructed feels like, but it's only evident (to me) when I take a drink and it goes nowhere. Maybe there's a very vague sort of pressure deep inside me, but it's nothing at all like being pinched. Very interesting! Where do other people fall on this spectrum?

Dawg, I'm sure you realize that eroding isn't something that happens suddenly, right? It's probably impossible to tell when the erosion starts, in the vast majority of cases. So measuring the date the band was removed is sort of pointless, it would seem.

You know, that's an interesting theory. I've sat in on many pre-op seminars, and the LB lack of malabsorption is glossed over in a quick way and made to sound like a bad thing. I think it's a GOOD thing, of course, but it doesn't get the attention it deserves if it's only presented in an offhand way as a "negative" of the surgery. This may bear closer scrutiny. Hmmmm.....

96 for me, too. Cool!! (It's those two daughters, I KNEW I had them for a reason!) :laugh

Princess, where did you find this? I've been trying to get back to 2003 posts to see if MY attitudes have changed at all. But I can't seem to go back that far. What am I doing wrong? (Some moderator, huh? )

That's so sool, John! Now there's something to stick on your refrigerator for inspiration!!

Audra, go ahead and call member services and tell them you want to make sure that your doctor's request for precertification was received. Be prepared to be transferred to a department called medical management, care coordination, or something like that. But maybe member services can answer your question. It is your right to know if this request has been received and if the file is complete. Don't take "we can't tell you" for an answer. If the request is pending because something is missing, they must tell you that. Don't be intimidated. This is YOUR health at stake! Go ahead and call, and if they tell you they're waiting for "more information from the doctor," call the doctor and tell them you want to help get it completed. Find out what's missing and see if it's something you can provide. Be nice, but be a squeaky wheel! If your file is complete, there is likely a regulation somewhere dictating how long they have to respond. Ask when you're on the phone how long the turnaround time is for precerts. Whatever it is, they must abide by it. Good luck! Our fingers are crossed!

By "solid protein" I basically mean meat and fish. If chicken is difficult, try chicken salad. Use sauces to moisten dry meat, , use better cuts, and cook it very carefully better cuts so it's not dry. Fish is often a better bet for bandsters, and it's what I get all the time at restaurants. Cold cuts are my saving grace, as well, but go with better-quality stuff like ham, turkey, roast beef rather than bologna. Soup can be high in Protein, but check the label. Just think meat/fish/beans first at every meal, and you'll up your protein intake quickly!

NurseTeresa, it sounds like you have a large-group policy, the provisions of which may be dictated by your employer. Can you appeal to your HR departmanet? Or, barring that, if your hospital does banding is there some sort of employee dicsount? (That sounds funny, but I'm being serious.)

I use Firefox routinely at home, and IE at work. On IE I have no problem getting and senting pager messages, but they don't work with Firefox. It's not a popup-window problem, since I don't block them. But they don't show up at all. Any ideas? Anyone? Dawg? :help:

Kim, just a thought: is 800 calories a day enough? Have you thought about kicking it up to at least 1000? And you know what, Photo? Kim's post reminds me that another, very common type of post we see here is people bemoaning a "binge" of the night before. They'll post how much they ate and how horrible they feel about it. But then we'll say: "look at how much you DIDN'T eat! If you truly feel physically unwell after eating [insert comically-small-for-an-unbanded-person "binge" amount here], your band is absolutely working!" I mean, if people had ever told me that there would be a time in my life when one normal-sized hamburger looks--and feels--like a LOT of food, I'd have asked what planet they were on. A "binge" just ain't what it used to be, even for people who think they're out of control. Thank the band! :becky:

Congratulations on the fill, Nykee! I hope it helps! Erin, chips are one food that seem to be immune to the effects of the band. Just about every bandster I've ever met has remarked on how many chips they can get down, no matter what their restriction level is. Just bear in mind that they are taking up room where nutrition should go. Once in a while chips and salsa make a great meal (ask me how I know :laugh ), but Protein should come first as often as possible. Maybe that's the problem. Try concentrating more on solid Proteins and I'll bet you'll find you don't really get hungry too fast after a meal. Chips don't do it.

You are normal, please don't worry. 12 pounds in pretty short order had to stop sometime, didn't it? (SlimFast, by the way, is not a great choice of Protein drink since it has so much sugar. Try to find kinds with more protein and less sugar for this phase. There are some great high-quality ones available at GNC and other places.) Don't be alarmed but you may find your loss stalled completely and even reversing when you get on to mushy and then solid foods again. It's normal! Your body has been through something and is healing, your conserving your resources, and there's always a rebound effect to particularly rapid weight loss. Take a deep breath and just concentrate on healing. You may have heard a little mantra that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and there are many steps yet to take. :eek:

[derail] Am I missing something? This doesn't seem like a "heated" debate to me. :eek: This is a great, thought-provoking thread. Just a good discussion, as far as I can tell. (Sigh, I'll never be a good theater critic. I seem to see right past drama other people detect immediately.) :grouphug: [/derail]

If there's one thing my years at LBT have taught me, it's that there is a very broad spectrum of successful-bandster characteristics. Regular practice of what you describe here is, however, generally not among them. No argument here on that score. I've also learned that there are some people for whom banding was a wrong choice from the start. That's why self-understanding is so important going in: if we don't TRULY know what's wrong, there's no way to tell if being banded will help. Dawg, *snort*! :eek:

Not too long ago I said pretty much the same thing. (If I had the time I might even dig up the post.) I have always and still think that loving oneself is the foundation of happiness in this one short life we have. I'm not going to waste a second on self-flagellation. In the same post I allowed for the possibility that this attitude may be partly responsible for ending up where I did. :eek: I still don't think self-flagellation gets us anywhere. Self-understanding is the key to progress. As the infamous Dr. Phil says, we can't change what we don't acknowledge. And one thing I truly don't see a lot of on this board is denial.

There are people for whom pizza does hold attraction post-banding; surgery doesn't magically make that go away. And for many of us, eating "badly" doesn't always mean paying a price we are unwilling to pay, so why not do it from time to time? That's where I am, and happy to be here. :biggrin1: Working with the band doesn't necessarily mean forcing yourself to give up everything you love and live a life of deprivation and denial. It's about learning, and I think we can all agree that takes time.

Argh, Sunsett, what a drag! Was the band defective? I have heard of leaking bands before, you are not alone. I'm sorry you have to have another surgery, but you'll be good as new--BETTER!--when all is said and done. We're thinking of you. :hug:

:pound: Saying this kindly, it is a no-win situation if you expect everyone to have the same attitude that you have. Obviously. :eek: Photo, my approach to WLS was that I wanted a tool to help me get control of my weight for the rest of my life. This is, to me, in direct opposition to the idea of doing it overnight. Yes, habits and behaviors would have to change, but if it were easy to change habits I wouldn't have needed WLR. It's one of the primary reasons I chose the band--the time it would give me to help get used to my new reality. The other is that it would keep me honest through the really hard times...long after the excitement and novelty have worn off. Through the first fill I was eating almost normally, which helped me get through the first set of holidays feeling like a normal person. It wasn't until after the second fill, almost 6 months after surgery, that the band started doing its work in me in earnest. And I'd lost about 40 lbs already by that point, so no complaints. The band isn't the same as RNY, and that's the beauty of it. We can take the time we need to really assimilate the changes we need to make, and choose those we can really live with. Personally, as I've said before, a world without ice cream is not a world in which I want to live. And thankfully, I don't have to! Everyone has different demons and different goals. The only commonality on LBT is that in one way or another everyone here has a relationship with a band. And we're ALL eating less than we were before we got here. :whoo: :rockon:

Yay, Renebean! Congratulations and welcome to bandland. We were saving a spot for you!! Take things slow and don't overdo even if you feel great. You have some big-time healing to do. Sleep tight!!

Hi Kelli, I hope your doctor told you how important it is to stay on liquids for at least a couple of weeks after surgery. I don't know about clear liquids for all that time, necessarily, but it is VERY important that the stomach not be asked to work to pass food through the stoma while you're still healing. It could lead to trouble down the road. Most doctors allow people to go on to mushy foods by week 3 or so, but if your doc has a different protocol you should follow it. But I do wonder about the three weeks of clears; that sounds a bit more stringent than necessary. Is it possible that you were given the RNY postop diet by mistake? A typical bandster postop diet is more like one week of clears, two weeks of fulls (anything liquid or blenderized) and then on to soft foods. By the end of week 4 or 5 I think most bandsters are on regular food. In any event, it's really important not to push it. If you are truly starving, that's a good sign and means you're healing up. Clear it with your doctor first, but you can easily stay satisfied on milk-based Protein drinks and protein-rich soups. And when you actially do get to the mushy stage, think how wonderful that yogurt or hummus is going to taste! Congratulations on your banding!!

Oh Kathy, I wish the medical community would refrain from spitting out the C word until there is an actual test result with some certainty. It's horrible how scary it is when it's just one of MANY possibilities. BIG hugs to you, sweetie. Did they give you meds for the pneumonia? You'll be feeling better soon, if they did. Rest up and be good to yourself, you deserve it!