Alexandra

Hi Dlynn! Sounds like you're well on your way and have things in good order. But I'd definitely ask again about having major surgery done in the doctor's office. That's HIGHLY unusual. General anaesthesia is nothing to fool around with, and that's what this involves. I had mine done as an outpatient procedure but it was in the hospital. The surgery started at about 8:00 a.m. and I was home by 2:00 p.m. Your surgeon may have been talking about having adjustments done in the office, which is a whole different thing. The initial surgery really must be done in a hospital setting.

Whoa, slow down!! You have a lot of research to do before deciding whether this is for you. You just discovered it yesterday? Have you ever considered weight-loss surgery before that? I can understand your enthusiasm but this is a very big step and not one just to take lightly. But to answer your questions, how you proceed depends on your situation. If you want insurance to cover it the usual place to start is with a physical at your primary care doctor. Make sure you get the diagnosis of Morbid Obesity into your record. Then see a bariatric surgeon who performs the surgery (visit www.inamed.com for names in your area). Whether you need a referral from your PCP or not depends on your insurance plan. The surgeon will examine you and let you know what pre-op testing or procedures are necessary, and will make the request for precertification from your insurer. If all signals are go you'll be on your way. If you're not going through insurance you just call an appropriate surgeon and make an appointment. Good luck!!

I used to do Protein drinks until I realized that the amount it took to fill me up was way more than I needed. 8 ozs just wouldn't have done it for me, so I was drinking 24-32 ozs at a cost of hundreds and hundreds of calories. Protein Bars work way better for me, and the Atkins ones also have 10 grams of Fiber, which is a big plus. I don't eat bread, no. If I am really hungry I might have a bite or two of the bread or wrap my sandwich came in, but most of the time I just toss it out. It's not that it gets stuck for me, but it fills me up too fast and I can't eat anything else. At this point I've had four fills and two unfills, putting me at a level of restriction I can live with. The last adjustment was an unfill in response to reflux I was having at night. I don't actually know how much saline I have in my band, just that I like the level of restriction I have right now. I live in Morris County. Sure wish I was closer to the shore!!

Hi Mandy, Banding doesn't affect your physical exams in any way, except that your doctors will be thrilled with your weight loss. At my recent physical I had to remind my PCP what that hard thing was in my abdomen, but it wasn't in the way or anything. How long you'll be sore is hard to answer--a few weeks? Whether you want to wear a medical ID bracelet or carry around a card post-banding is a personal decision. I don't. My thinking is just that if I'm not conscious I'd have bigger worries than whether anyone is putting a scope down my stomach. Wearing a bracelet would be a constant irritant to me--a reminder that I'm not "normal"--and it just doesn't seem worth it.

Hi Kirsten, Ahhh, the "half-cup per meal" myth rears its head again. You'll hear lots of people saying they eat way more than that, and lots of others saying that they have no trouble surviving on less than that. My POV is that we should eat as much as it takes to make us feel satisfied, and that amount will vary depending on where you are in your restriction. There's nothing to be gained by agonizing over whether a half-cup is measured by weight or volume, or whether six grapes take up the entire thing, or whatever, if the end result is that you're still hungry. I think the rule should be re-stated as: Eat slowly and carefully until you are not hungry anymore. And pay attention--it will happen a lot sooner than you think! My typical day starts with a Protein bar or a cheese snack. Something that dissolves pretty readily. If I'm able I sometimes will eat some raisin bran, but it just doesn't stick with me as long as a protein meal will. lunch is the insides of a deli sandwich or a chef salad. Eating the protein first means I usually don't eat much else. At most I'll eat a bite or two of the bread or wrap the sandwich came in. When I'm very restricted I only eat half the sandwich's guts. If I need a snack it's typically a handful of nuts. dinner is usually a piece of whatever meat my husband has made, and a small amount of vegetables. Dessert is almost always ice cream. (I'm an addict.)

Hmmm... sounds to me like you're learning the realities of restriction, and the limited real estate in your tummy. That meal you had of mashed potatoes, cabbage, hard roll, and pudding--notice something missing? PROTEIN!! All of those things just take up room in your pouch and before you know it you're too full for any real food. Eating the Protein first is important for just this reason. If you'd started with, say, a piece of chicken, you might have been able to eat most of it. Then wait a while, see if there's room for anything else, and go for the vegetables. Potatoes, Pasta, and bread are guaranteed meal-killers for me because all it takes is a bite or two to completely fill me up. You can swallow without incident but can't hold much? Yep, you're normal!!

What I do when I don't want to lose the "New Posts" screen is this: I right-click on whatever thread I'm interested in and when the menu pops up I select "Open in New Window." Then I can read and reply to a thread and when I'm done, close that window and go back to the other one where the New Posts screen is still waiting for me.

Hi Pen, Somehow I don't think abdominal cramps can be related to your pantyhose, especially since you've presumably been wearing them all along. Did this just start now? Sounds to me like there is something else going on and perhaps the pantyhose is just irritating it so you're more aware of it. Have you pulled a muscle through exercise? Or maybe it is gas or constipation. You've been banded long enough so you know what things are supposed to feel like. Call your doctor if you're worried!!

Looking forward to an update, lady. Hope you're resting and not worrying about us!!

The 'new posts' function shows new posts that have been added since the last time you visited the board. It doesn't show only posts you have not yet read. That's the way it's always worked. Traffic has dropped somewhat, but if you last clicked on "new posts" at, say, 6:00 p.m. and then try it again at 8:00, you'll only see the threads that have been added to in the intervening two hours. In the old incarnation of this software there was a button with "today's posts" but that's been gone a while. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

Congratulations and welcome to Bandland!! We're happy to have you here on this side. Here's hoping you have a quick and SMOOTH recovery.

Alice, been there, done that too. That's a classic sliming episode, and it sure can be scary! What a relief when it resolves, though, huh? You'll have to be way more careful, eat slower and explore the concept of "food lube." Anything that's dry should be dipped or moistened in something before you try to eat it, at least in the early days of learning about restriction. Good luck!! (Oh, and Pat was saying that when she was too tight, she couldn't keep anything down. That is really too tight. That's why she had the unfill.)

I hate to cook. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Normally my hubby does all the cooking around here, but on Sundays he works until 4:00 so I have to start dinner. Which means we always have leftovers or takeout. So last night it was a free-for-all. I ended up eating a leftover piece of chicken from one meal, and a different leftover piece of chicken from another meal. And I had four little chocolate Hershey minibars for dessert. :rolleyes

Nykee, I agree that you should call you doctor if you are worried about anything. But you say this pain is 8 inches lower than your port incision? That probably has absolutely nothing to do with your band, since your band itself is HIGHER than your port. You may have pulled an abdominal or groin muscle. Or it may be something intestinal--are you constipated? Call your doctor! If a pain concerns you enough to worry about it, it's worth asking him. If you really don't want to call your surgeon, call your PCP! As I say, this is very likely not band-related at all, it's nowhere near your port or your band.

Hi Kirsten, While it's unusual not to lose some weight immediately after banding, it's not at all a measure of eventual banding success. Are you still on a liquid diet? Can you tell us what you're eating/drinking and how many calories you're taking in? How far are you from starting solids? Do you have any sense of restriction at all? If you've been banded three weeks it may be only three more weeks till your first fill. And that's when your real banding journey will begin. Don't lose heart--you're barely out of the gate and this is a long-distance haul.

The date is set--the weekend of September 23 - 25. But no particular place has been settled on. Don't worry, there will be a sticky thread when there's anything concrete to announce..

Shopping through our closets--great description! Isn't it fun? I've found several cool items on a shelf in the closet that I bought at the start of one diet or another as motivation, that have never been worn. The trick now is finding them before they get too big!

I've tried carbonated beverages and just find them to be terribly uncomfortable. So between that and the possibility of the bubbles stretching my pouch I find reason enough to avoid them completely. Thank goodness I suffer no ill effects from coffee, though! I'd never be able to face the day, half the time. :rolleyes

Hi Holly, I'm glad you found us, and am sure we can help you see the band clearly so you can decide if it's something you want to do. After reading some of the problems that can occur, I don't want to end up spending a fortune replacing ports, tubing, or the entire band. Do you think these issue sare product or physician related? It's a message-board truism that people with problems post more than those without. MOST people don't have the sorts of problems you are worried about. MOST people do have multiple adjustments, but that's normal and should be in your budget for banding. Problems are possible, sure, but not likely. The real question is will the band give me the control that I seem to be missing----to stop at only 1 cookie? -- For me, the answer is a resounding YES. Maybe it's two Cookies, sometimes three, but whatever it is it's not going to derail me. The actual sensation of FULLNESS is what's new and different. So it's definitely possible to stop before I've undone all the work I've done. That was never possible before.

NSV means "non-scale victory." These are the successes we all experience that are not tied to the numbers on the scale. It's very important to observe and celebrate these, because as we all know the numbers LIE. Smaller clothes and new physical achievements are more important than the simple dropping of pounds. You'll be celebrating yours before you know it!

Um, well, not really, I guess. I do notice that if I don't take any Vitamins for several days in a row I start to drag, but I can't isolate the effect of any of them in particular. I've always taken E but started adding the B when last summer my surgeon noticed my levels were borderline-low. And since insufficiencies can lead to irreversible neurological problems, he suggested a supplement. I agreed.

Tina, now I get it. Sorry for misunderstanding. Personally, if I didn't eat meat I'd still do fine with fish, eggs, and Beans. These things satisfy me just as well as mean--and in the case of eggs are actually difficult to eat. (I can't handle scrambled eggs, for some reason.) It seems to me that anyone who's already been living on a non-meat diet and who gets banded will do fine, as long as they do what every other bandster does and concentrate on getting the Protein FIRST. You've been eating protein all along, now it's just a matter of re-prioritizing your foods. The first order of business is no longer getting full, it's getting nutrition. So eat what you've been eating, just save the veggies for last.

Welcome to bandland!! Congratulations on your surgery.

My doctor just said two of whatever children's brand I like, or one adult chewable. I get mine at Costco. I also take additional Vitamin E and a B-complex, both of which are easy to swallow.

Melanie, it sounds like you're taking a lot of great steps! Walking more is definitely going to give your metabolism a boost. And you've identified the behaviors that are your downfall so now you can target and eliminate them. Good work!! You'll find that a fill really will help, too. Don't worry about what the doctor says--you're doing absolutely wonderfully and are very much on track! He'll be as proud of you as we are.