Alexandra

That is HILARIOUS!! Thanks for the laugh, I needed it this morning.

Desiree, how old are you? From what I'm hearing, peri-menopause is being blamed for all sorts of hormonal symptoms. Women as young as 35 can experience changes that might be attributable to aging. But I agree, a visit to your GYN is in order if you're worried.

Hey, it's always better to know what's wrong so you can get it taken care of! Best wishes for (another) quick procedure and (another) rapid recovery. And here's to lots more pain-free days!!

Hey Cathy!! How's da feet? There's another thread on this story already. (I think all the WLS boards are buzzing about it.) I have a very hard time identifying with any of what these other women have experienced, but maybe I'm just not there yet. It doesn't serve as a cautionary tale, which is what it seems intended to be, because I think all those case studies have much more to say about the people involved than in the process they went through. Does that make sense? Those who were vain and self-involved afterwards are those who were that way before. And those with level heads kept them in the aftermath.

I don't know about that, Flower. I found pain meds to be VERY disorienting, so though I had a prescription I went without from day 2. On Friday after my Wednesday surgery I was pretty beat, but able to move around fairly well without too much discomfort. I think I spent most of the day in a recliner and just walking around the house. Sitting in one position for any more than 30 minutes or so might be very uncomfortable. If you have freedom of movement or can take breaks, you should be OK.

Thank heavens my doctors never uttered the word "goal" in my hearing! I'd have been finished before I started if I had ever been told weighing 150 was the only way I'd be a success. As for having your charts changed, what's the difference? Those charts aren't what measure your success. They only measure the doctor's version of success, for his statistical records. YOU make your own chart--use fitday.com or something like that--and put in what YOU think is a realistic, achievable, and MAINTAINABLE goal. Whether it's a size or a measurement or a weight, whatever YOU think is your objective is all that matters. My objective was to get healthier and have more energy and be more comfortable in the world PERMANENTLY. That I've done and am doing. Under no circumstances would it be helpful to be told I still have miles to go after losing 120 lbs. According to those absurd charts I'm still a good 60-75 lbs from a "goal" weight, but I know what is meaningful to me. And that's not it.

I thought this was an interesting read as well. However, I think it says much more about the people involved than about weight-loss surgery. They could just as easily have done a story (and I know they have) about sudden lottery winners losing their minds. The point in stories like this seems to be that there's a dark side to having your dreams come true. Well, of course there CAN be, but it's by no means a given.

Megan, this totally rocks. That's exactly the way I felt about bypass when I thought about it. It just seemed like everyone goes from complication to hurdle to scary next out-of-control thing, whereas with banding it's slower and saner. I have absolutely NO regrets. I'm not even sorry I couldn't do it sooner, because I believe there are no accidents and things unfold the way they're meant to. The band came into my life at exactly the right time and it's been an absolute godsend all the way.

Hi Rena, Glad to see you found the section and how to start a thread! It heartens me so to see so many nurses choosing banding over bypass. I think eventually banding will be the preferred WLS and the medical community will be the reason why. There is just no sense to going for the most invasive and damaging procedure first when there is this to try for people who are not at death's door due to obesity. Once again, welcome to LBT!!

Scroll up to the top of this page and find the link that says Lap Band Talk Forum. Click on that and you'll see all the various forums here, divided into Main LapBand Forums and LapBand Talk Community Center. The Intro section is in the Community Center. You might want to bookmark the page with the forum listing so you can get back there whenever. Good luck!!

HI Rena, Welcome to LBT! To get back to the main page of the section you're in, or the parent section, just follow the links at the top of the page. As far as this story being scary, please know that it is NOT AT ALL the usual post-op experience. Most people experience only a few days of pain and very little if any problems with the liquid diet. Go to the Introductions section and post a little about yourself if you like, otherwise please feel free to start a new thread in any section with whatever questions you have. Not many people are going to see your questions here, I don't think.

Welcome to LBT, Heather! Nice to meet you! :D

Hi CathyRN, welcome!! I'm so glad you found your way here, you'll be amazed at the difference a little support-and-vent area can make. I hope you'll come here often and feel free to express whatever is on your mind. It is indeed EXTREMELY hard to change your behavior, especially when the band isn't properly adjusted. That should be first on your list of things to address, that fill level. So get that scheduled. And in the meantime, if you change nothing else about your behavior try to do the protein-first thing as often as you can. It really does work to satisfy your hunger and keep you full longer, which is what it's ALL about. Nice to meet you and hope to see you here at the virtual water cooler often! Drink, drink, drink!! :D

Hi Kelly, I think your best source of definitive information would be your state's insurance department or department of health (whichever has jurisdiction over HMOs in your state). The state may have laws that override what your carrier says, and in any event I'd never take the word of a customer service rep for the final say on anything. IN GENERAL, complications down the road should be covered as separate medical events. It doesn't matter what the source of that medical event is--if you had a tattoo that got infected they're not going to deny you the coverage for that. Or if you had a hair-dye accident they couldn't deny you coverage for that. Unless state law specifically allows them to do so, it's unlikely that insurance carriers can exclude treatment for medical conditions brought about by voluntary acts (like banding). But it is possible, so check with your state for the situation where you live. Other people's experiences are going to be no help at all with respect to your situation. This doesn't address whether fills would be covered by your carrier. If they exclude banding, they'd also most likely exclude fills or routine followup visits.

Teresa, thanks for the updated pics. You are ADORABLE!! Congratulations on a great first year and thank you so much for sharing it with us. Best wishes for lots of continued success!! :D

I'm glad it's over--I can't take all that togetherness!! :D Today is my younger daughter's birthday so Mother's day kind of got swallowed up in the mix. But it STILL feels weird to be on the receiving end of that holiday. Will I ever get used to it?

If hot cereals are on your list, then you're on full liquids. Yes, go ahead and blend fruit up into your smoothies! Just avoid chunks and you'll be fine. As far as milkshakes go, you can have any kind you want! You don't "have" to use fat free ice cream/syrup if you don't want to--personally, if I'm going to have a milkshake I want it to be the real thing. The idea now is just to avoid getting too hungry so you don't feel the need to move on to solids before you're ready. Anything that fits through a straw is OK to have. This healing phase is not for weight loss, it's for healing and that means keeping your diet strictly to liquids. After you're on solid foods there will be plenty of time for calorie-counting and avoiding liquid calories. I don't know why your doctor would want you to avoid creamy soups, unless it's for calorie reasons. I'd think all kinds of soup would be fair game, as long as you avoided chunks of meat. Go check out the soup aisle in your supermarket! I loved seafood bisques and just about everything else during this time.

Hi Beverly, Welcome to LBT! Of course the answer to your question is "follow your doctor's instructions"! In my experience, though, if you're already on protein shakes that means you're in the "full liquids" phase. That would include pretty much anything that goes through a straw--soups, smoothies, yogurt, puddings--things like that. To my mind that definitely allows for putting a banana in a blender with liquid. So what do your doctor's instructions say?

What's an OM egg? Leatha, I think I'm getting to the same point you are. I've noticed recently that I can eat faster than I've been able to for a long time, and before I know it I've eaten too much and have definite discomfort. The feelings that used to stop me from eating too fast are much less evident now. Naturally my thoughts stray first toward wanting a tighter fill, but I worry that my esophagus isn't as reactive as it used to be and that's the problem, not the restriction level. My doctor says he expects to see more and more examples of reduced esophageal sensitivity as time goes on, and I don't want to be one of them. It's SO HARD to break those habits!! Even 21 months out and I still have a tendency to eat too darned fast!!!

Hi catfanlover, So sorry to hear about your travails! Did you have your initial banding in the U.S., and did insurance pay for it? I don't think you're going to have any luck talking an insurance carrier into paying for banding at your current weight on the strength of the argument that you would have still had one if it didn't erode, sad to say. The band is prescribed in the U.S. for the purposes of weight loss, not maintenance, so it would not be considered medically necessary at this point. You might be able to find a doctor to do it elsewhere, though. But are you seriously considering RNY at your current weight? I have to say that I think that would be an extreme step, and if any doctor would do it on you that would be very surprising.

Good luck tomorrow!! It's a great day for banding, and you'll always have a personal holiday in the spring.

Do a search for "seroma" and you'll find a thread on this kind of thing. If that's what you have it's not serious and may go away on its own. Good luck!

Better late than never for me, too, Lisa. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to post here sooner. It's been an extraordinary year for you and I've been in awe of your fortitude in the face of obstacle after obstacle. Congratulations on making it through the first year (which, in banding like marriage, is the hardest!) and here's hoping the rest of your banded life will be tranquil and very successful.

www.fitday.com is a great site that has a food diary and also a personal diary section. I liked it so much I downloaded their desktop version and use it that way, but online it's free. Have fun!

No less than 6 weeks, according to Inamed, to allow for complete healing. You should be on solid foods and have no discomfort while eating.