Alexandra

Good luck!!! :biggrin1: :clap2:

Jodie, it is possible to stretch your pouch and actually even use the esophagus to hold food if your nerves are not responding anymore. But if you're pregnant, I'm assuming you've had an unfill? If that's the case food is likely going through the stoma at a good clip, meaning your pouch is emptying faster than you think. What's your fill status, and what did you expect to be feeling now?

I'm not touching any of these with a 10-foot pole. This smells like trouble to me. But I have no reason to delete the post, so it's staying. In the meantime, Mikey, if you really want to talk with bandsters why not come back and start a conversation? This is really no way to "break the ice."

Hey, sounds like a GREAT way to start the year!! Too bad about the car, but who cares? You have bigger fish to fry...in smaller pants!!!

Holy cow!!! Are they sure that starting weight was correct?

My insurance paid for everything except the psych evaluation, too. Even though they excluded banding (at the time) all the pre-op evaluations and testing wasn't necessarily related to banding, so they covered it. My plan covered treatment for morbid obesity so anything coded with that diagnosis was a covered item.

Renebean, I know EXACTLY how you feel. It's mindbendingly wonderful to succeed in this way!! In June of 2003 I got a letter just like the one you opened. CONGRATULATIONS!!! You've struck a blow not only for your own health, but for patients everywhere. Every time one of those external reviews overturns the denial, a tiny chip is made in the insurance-industry fortifications. You've done a great thing, and I know you'll be a terrifically successful bandster. YAY!!!!! :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :confused: :) :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

Nancy, are you an actor? Good luck!!

Post-surgery some people do feel restriction just with the band itself. It's not a sure thing, though; some people feel almost completely normal once they are fully healed from the surgery itself. That's the beauty of the band! It's adjustable for YOU, so that you get the custom fit you need. One size does NOT fit all.

I don't think that on its own an ability to gulp 6-8 ounces means you need a fill. For me, NOT being able to drink that much at once means I'm too tight. If you can eat most anything, but slowly, that sounds like perfection to me. Two weeks without weight loss was never enough time for me to consider it a "plateau." My body just works more slowly; I'd always give it at LEAST a month of no loss, combined with more-frequent hunger and larger meals to satisfy before I'd consider getting a fill.

Hey, every practice is different. The professionals that Abkin/Bertha refer you to are not part of their practice so their fees are separate. Perhaps the Princeton outfit has a nutritionist and psychologist on their payroll? Who knows. I do know that Abkin/Bertha's office will work with anyone who needs help with payment plans, etc. Money shouldn't be the primary factor in this crucial decision.

Kelly, there's no question that a fill will help you get full faster and stay full longer. But if all you're eating is two eggs and a piece of toast (otherwise known as "breakfast"), and you're staying full for three or four hours (or until the time otherwise known as "lunchtime"), it sounds to me like you're doing just fine! If you're comfortable and losing weight where you are you may not need a fill just yet. Our expectations are often out of whack. If certain foods are causing you trouble now, chances are very good that they will cause you MORE trouble when you're tighter. Things getting stuck is a sign that you have not yet mastered the chew-till-pulverized technique, or the take-mouse-bites technique. By all means get a fill if you need one. But your description of what you're eating and how hungry you get doesn't indicate to me that anything is at all wrong. You don't WANT to get overly full. Maybe you can try eating just the two eggs now and see if that keeps you until lunchtime. Practice more on the meats that cause you trouble and see if you can master eating them without difficulty. Then when you do get a fill you can proceed without fear. You wouldn't be human if you didn't get hungry after several hours--that's perfectly normal and means you're still alive. :confused:

:pound: :pound: :pound: :confused: :) Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS, MARGO!!

Great photos, principessa!! Are you telling me you went on a spur-of-the-moment cruise? What are you, a Rockefeller? And on this cruise you met 4 bandsters??? Wow! You live a charmed life. Welcome back!

Leener, any doctor is going to require that you meet with a nutritionist and have a psychological evaluation. You don't have to use the professionals they refer you to; you can use your own as long as Dr. Abkin & Co. are comfortable with their credentials. Maybe they can refer you to someone closer to your home, for example, or you can find someone who takes your insurance.

My doctor's office has monthly band support meetings, and I'm so glad they do. Even more than 2.5 years out I find it really helpful to go to these meetings, though I know I wouldn't if it were a combined group with bypass people. Our meeting is all about the band and led by the nurse practitioner who is extremely helpful with all the technical questions people have as well as helping people understand what's normal. I think talking face to face with other bandsters is the MOST helpful thing any of us can do. Monthly is great, more often would be better. But if you can do it, DO IT.

So glad to hear you're feeling better! You can up that Protein with some Protein drinks or bars, can't you? Now that you're eating real food, go for fish. That's the best possible kind of protein, with no fat and nice and soft. Enjoy your show!

Sashimi GOOD!! Sushi, not good. Seaweed wrappers, the devil!!! The very worst banding-related experience I had was due to some seaweed I didn't chew well enough -- hah, like you can chew seaweed. Sashimi is perfect bandster food, though, so go to your favorite restaurant and pig out!!

So far all I've had to pay were copays, plus the filing costs associated with my appeals. But now my doctors are no longer in my insurance network so from here on out I'm on my own. I'm hoping not to have to spend anything anytime soon.

Good! I hope Inamed gets their hands on whoever did it. Gray market medical supplies should NEVER be listed on ebay.

Fay, that's a nice idea but imagine how quickly we'd be overwhelmed with sub-forums! I think it's cool that your month is so tightly-knit, and you can maintain that by using the structure we already have. You can label all your threads 12/05 or something like that for easy identification by members.

I think that's how you can tell who your true friends are. I had various responses to the news from different people, and the ones who reacted like your friend are the ones who have been true friends all along. Hang on to this one!

Another reason to buy the program. I imagine buying it for home use keeps your identity separate from those of the website users--after all, you won't be seeing the online advertising and won't count in their webview stats.

BRIGHT!!! Great to see you, girlie girl!! You too, Teresa!! It's old home week here at LBT, ladies and gentlemen. :) Maintaining IS success, ladies. Don't you ever think otherwise. Think back on all the past diets and failed weight-loss attempts and realize you are in the middle of the most successful project you have ever undertaken on this score. If you want to lose more weight someday, you will, but in the meantime relish the fact that you are STABLE!! What a revelation! To be not worrying every single day that two Cookies will increase your weight by a pound, never to come off. This is a new world, people, and we're living it! I'm so glad to see the two of you; there aren't enough long-termers here and I hope you come back and post again. I miss you!!!

I am a member but got turned off by a few people who are obviously surfing for things to sell in our local group. I did unload lots of my too-big clothes, but the idea that someone else is selling them and making money bugged me. Not that it was happening, so much, but that the person was deceitful about it. Like everything else, Freecycle is as good as the people in it. My local group ain't what it could be.