Alexandra

:spit: Yeah, Donali, I'm talking about you. :pound: A new language is, um, an interesting idea. :fear: Can't we just speak good ol' Englitch?

Babs, my doctors agree with you, and so do I. I've asked repeatedly about the need for an endoscopy in the absence of symptoms, and the surgeons always say it's not a "screening" test to catch the small percentage of people who might have erosion with no symptoms. If there is an indication or need of some kind, absolutely. But it's an expensive test and doing it on 100 bandsters without symptoms to catch the very fractional few who might have erosion without symptoms is a waste of everyone's money. If anyone wants one badly enough, one can always pay for it oneself. But making up symptoms where none actually exist so that a carrier will approve an expensive test has another name: insurance fraud.

Hi Anitalynn, I had all the same questions going in, and I'll bet most of us do. What the band does for people who eat too much is ... make it possible for them to CONSISTENTLY eat less. If you are determined to foil its effects, it is of course possible to take in too many calories by overdoing it on soft foods, liquids, candy etc. But if you're considering surgery, my guess is that you want to work WITH the band, not against it. You have to take a close look at your habits. If you simply eat too much or too fast, the band will force you to slow down, which will in turn allow you to take another look at your intake. That's what it has done and is doing for me, and it's exactly what I wanted it to do. I was big because through my life I'd always eaten too much, and with the arrival of my kids I added the second whammy of eating too fast. The band has changed all that, and as a result I've lost 125 lbs and am keeping it off with very little trouble. So what are YOUR issues surrounding healthy eating and exercise? You have to be brutally honest with yourself. Are you obsessed with food? Do you think you will invent ways to get in more calories than you need by concentrating on soft high-calorie foods? Will you be able to accept the fact that food is nutrition and health, not comfort and treats? (Not, of course, that food completely stops playing those roles in our lives, but the band lets US be in control, not the impulses.) The band cuts the effort required to eat healthfully in half, not only because you have a limited capacity but because you truly are not hungry between meals when properly restricted. As far as exercise goes, I only started after a loss of 50 lbs, and it was a whole different thing than I expected. Being smaller really does make exercise fun, so it's a lot easier to stick with it. Welcome to LBT, and keep asking questions!

My man is perfect too. I'm not kidding. He lived alone for several years before we met so he knows how to take care of himself (toilet paper, laundry, towels). He knows he married a woman, not a housekeeper. He was born without the genes that attract other men to bachelor parties and football games. He's a professional cook, too, and likes to shop! Best of all: he's congenitally unable to lie, about anything. :clap2: It'll be 11 years for us in June, and I have never once thought he was weird. I am the luckiest woman in the world! :kiss2: :kiss2: :biggrin1:

ALL implanted devices have the chance of eroding tissue. This is a known risk of any foreign object in the body. Would you take out an artificial joint on the off chance that it might erode? Of course not. The quality of life that the band has allowed me to attain is valuable enough to me that I will keep my band until/unless it has to come out for some medical reason. Removing it while it works would just be a U-turn for me, besides not being covered by my insurance as medically necessary. It'd be expensive and probably put me right back into a life of constant dieting and worry. No thanks.

Your doctor's approach is quite perplexing, to say the least. It's one thing to think someone doesn't need a fill--that's an opinion expressed all the time. And I know there is a point at which doctors may say that the band has done all it can do; perhaps additional adjustments could cause esophageal damage, or there's a reflux issue evident. But to tell a patient that she won't lose more weight? That's bizarre. And a certified letter severing the relationship? That seems even more bizarre. Is there something more going on here? FWIW, you are NOT a "professional fiasco." A BMI of 30 is not unhealthy if you're in good shape. My BMI is higher than that and I'm held up to preop patients as a surgical success. So don't think he's embarrassed by your progress. This is probably a result of some specific issue or personality clash that he felt couldn't be resolved. It doesn't mean that another doctor would feel the same way. But it is VERY unlikely that you'll be able to get an RNY revision with a BMI of 30. That is not, by any measure, obese enough to merit a gastric bypass.

Hey, sometimes we can tell things about others that they can't see for themselves. How many times have you thought that about yourself and other people, even strangers? And psychologists are trained to ask the right questions and read the truths behind the answers. I definitely believe it's a very important step that we all should take when contemplating something as life-altering as weight-loss surgery. Not necessarily ongoing therapy, but at least one additional conversation with someone who (we hope) has no vested interest in the outcome.

Big hugs and best wishes, Bubbame. This is a rough thing to go through but if it's time, it's time. Strong vibes of strength and peace to you and your boys. :hug:

Fair enough. But until we've met him in person we shouldn't see anything other than a message-board-induced disconnect. Not everyone can be eloquent and expressive online. :bananajump:

OK, Penni, try this: "If anyone's band has eroded, they should get on with their lives. Stop obsessing about their band. They might consider having a gastric bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy." Or this: "If anyone's band has eroded, the best thing they can do is to get on with their lives since obsessing about their lost band is purely negative. If they're still concerned about weight loss, they might consider having a gastic bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy." I prefer the second one, of course, but the first one is the same thing without the "nice" parts. Do either of those offend?

Oh, that's just charming. :bananajump:

What about fills? You certainly didn't expect to be banded and never see the doctor (any banding doctor, that is) again. That's what I'm talking about. It shocks me when someone who is already banded wants to know what a fill is. I COMPLETELY agree with you on this point. I was talking about a psychological evaluation as a preop screening tool. I do think that's important and yes, will absolutely help in people selecting the right procedure for themselves. My screening exam was irrelevant because my mind was already made up--I'd already asked myself all the tough questions and been brutally honest with myself. MANY people don't do any such thing and can end up going in with unrealistic expectations, set up for disappointment and failure. I definitely think more than one conversation with a surgeon is important to the preop process, for MOST people. (You and me excepted, of course.) :becky: :cheeky :bananajump: I'm not suggesting that any of us should take what a surgeon says at face value, but obviously respect and courtesy should rule the roost online. And online, unless one is confronting one's OWN surgeon about one's OWN health questions, everything has to be taken for what is it--a complete generalization. And FWIW, I don't think Dr. Pleatman's comment was directed to you personally. It's very easy for us to assume the comments directly following a post we make are personal, but I certainly didn't read his that way. I took it to mean he was talking to ALL people who have had their bands removed.

Kare, I'm with you in NEVER needing another diet lecture. But there's no question that people being banded need their hands held through the initial stages at least, and even on through the first couple of years. It's not about being told to eat vegetables as much as it's about being told that PBing can really hurt you. And being responded to when you need a fill or an unfill. There's nothing intuitive about learning how to eat again once your normal capacity has been so totally changed. That's why it's unnerving when people who have already been banded are asking "why does this hurt" and "what's a fill?" I agree, thank goodness there are choices. But no one, no matter how educated, should think that the doctor's role is limited to putting the band in place. Sadly, there are many doctors who do think that, and their patients are being very ill-served. And I'm with you too on thinking that insurance companies have anything BUT our health in their interests. But I do think there's a lot of sense in having candidates meet with a psychologist. We've seen many times that if someone isn't ready for the changes banding makes us embrace, they are going to fail or worse. An objective eye is very important, for everyone's sake but for the patient most of all. The hoop I hate is the 6-month pre-op diet. That's just a hoop, no benefit at all. :bananajump:

Gotta add my kudos to Big Paul, too. I completely agree with every word of the above comment. And it has nothing to do with US vs Mexico or erosion percentages or anything else. This is a PROCESS, not just a PROCEDURE, and we should look at it that way from day one.

Penni, I can't give you any diet advice because I'm the worst dieter that ever existed. I hear you--it sucks and we ALL know it. The good news is that you're healthy, and as time goes on perhaps other options will present themselves. Be good to yourself and in time, you'll be able to see without grief and find the path forward. :hug:

Whew! I'm sorry I went to bed early last night. This thread has a lot of valuable information and...interesting...opinions in it, but it has come perilously close to crossing the line on personal attacks. If that continues we will have to lock it. Megan has an excellent point. Any surgeon who comes here to express opinions or share his experience should be welcomed, not jumped on. How many of us have had doctors suggest alternate procedures to us to our faces? Do we jump on them then? No. Surgeons have a different point of view than their patients, that's perfectly understandable. People cut their surgeons slack on the "bedside manner" thing ALL THE TIME in face-to-face encounters, and I hope we'd do the same thing online. Obviously compassion and understanding are valuable qualities in a healthcare provider, and I've seen nothing that indicates any surgeon here is devoid of those qualities. Perhaps the suggestion could have been worded differently, but the advice is sound. As has been said on several other threads, erosion is not the end of the world. My surgeon's office doesn't even consider it an emergency, since the process is so slow and it doesn't automatically mean there will be a leak of gastric contents. The stomach is healing itself at the same rate that the band is doing the damage, which is why it's often asymptomatic. Yes, the band will need to be removed because if it's not, it will eventually end up inside the stomach doing nothing. But it's not a life-threatening emergency and having it removed is, thankfully, a complete fix. Personally, I'm very glad that other options will still be there in that case, and I'm not at all insulted by someone suggesting a different procedure if someday the band no longer does the job for me. It will be up to ME to decide what the next move is--no one else's opinion matters in the least.

Hi Randy, Look on the explanation of benefits and see if there's a line that says "patient responsibility." It's not terribly surprising that BCBS is only paying the providers pennies on the dollar, but if they're in-network and everything was correctly precertified, this should NOT affect the amount YOU will have to pay. Your expenses are dictated by your contract, not the amount the hospital or doctor has charged. The providers have negotiated rates with the carrier, and while we may think they're shockingly low, that's what the agreement is. Don't worry unless the "patient responsibility" section of the EOB says something other than what you expected to pay. And if it does, YOU call BCBS and see what's going on. But what the provider receives is really not your concern, heartless as that may sound.

I have a desk job too, and was back at work on Monday after a Wednesday outpatient surgery. I was tired, but not in any real pain, and I survived just fine.

Hi Sherri, First, there is NO dumping syndrome with banding. Our anatomy and digestive processed are not altered, so there is no way anything like that could occur. There are certainly foods that people have trouble tolerating for one reason or another, and one thing I've found is that with weight loss I'm more sensitive to the ingredients in things (such as caffeine, and especially the MSG in Chinese food). I've just had to cut down a little. It is NOT the same thing as dumping syndrome. As for slippage, usually the symptoms are a dramatic change in restriction. Slippage can be severe or slight, and sometimes a slight slippage has no detectable symptoms. But a severe slippage can make it impossible to eat or drink, or can cause serious reflux. When that happens, the first line of defense is an unfill, which can sometimes fix the problem completely.

Ali, I have that scale too! I'll never go back to the cheapies. Of course, I didn't buy it--I sort of inherited it from a former roommate--but if I had to I probably would. It's great for all members of the family; my kids love it!

Actually, there have been threads in the past with bra photos, so I don't think there's anything particularly provocative posted here. I will agree that posting ANY photos on the web should be done with the complete understanding that one has no idea where they will end up. And that's each person's own responsibility to accept.

Barbara's right, Ali, it will come with time. Although I still do the pants thing in the morning, Trish. I never think those size 16s will fit me, while in fact several of my 16s are too big! It's a hard thing to wrap my mind around, but every so often I'll be sitting next to someone in an audience or something and s/he will be BIGGER than I. That is always an eye-opening experience.

At one point I was told my B levels were pretty low, borderline deficient. Since then I've been taking a B complex in addition to my multivitamin. Nothing to worry about--just do it!

Priceless! I wuv wuv wuv little girls. :biggrin1:

I shocked myself recently while rubbing up against a door jamb to scratch an itch. (What, doesn't everyone do that? ) These two big hard things were getting stuck on the jamb every time I moved back and forth. I was laughing when I realized they were my own shoulder blades! Not bones I'm very familiar with, sad to say.