Alexandra

Welcome, Shireen! It's nice to meet you.

Your post got me right where I live. There was a day about 18 months ago when I dropped my daughter off at her preschool, and one of her little "friends" made a crack about how big I was. Even though I didn't show it, that 3-year-old ruined my entire day. I was already working on getting banded, and that sure helped keep me motivated. My daughter said to me recently, "Mom, you're not fat. You're medium!" Out of the mouths of babes...

Hi Shireen, Congratulations on your banding!! I'm sure your soreness will pass quickly. As you may have heard, walking is a good thing to do as it will help dissipate the gas and keep your muscles limber as well. Good luck, and take care!

Hi Suzy, Water loading is just a fancy term for drinking a lot of water before you're planning on eating. I guess the idea is that it makes your lower stomach feel fuller, so when you've eaten your meal you are completely satisfied. This is something I've done sub- or unconsciously for decades; it's an age-old dieter's habit. Now it has a name, that's all.

Heather, sweetie, I can hear the fear in your post!! Take a deep breath, relax, and exhale. Now, again. There, feel better? OK. Now. You say you can handle the pain of childbirth but are scared of surgery? Believe me, cupcake, lapband surgery is NOTHING compared to the pain of childbirth. Having children stretches apart your entire body so you can pass something the size of a watermelon. IN NO WAY does banding compare! In fact, with the surgery itself I have virtually no memory of pain. I got home the same day as the operation and took a pain pill that afternoon, and what sticks with me the most is the number of days it took to feel mentally complete again. Anaesthesia and I don't really get along, I guess. The pain in the days after surgery is easy to handle. In my case it was a soreness that faded with each passing day, and after that first day I didn't need any pain relief. I was able to take care of myself the next day. (Months? Why wouldn't you be able to take care of yourself for months? This can be outpatient surgery and I was driving the day after it.) Your last question about weight loss is one that only you can answer. People use their bands in different ways, but there's no question that it helps with hunger and feeling satisfied. That's what it's there for. Only you can decide if having such a tool would help you lose weight. You're in the right place to hear personal stories, though! Poke around here and ask questions and you'll get lots of great information.

Amy, Marie is right and you will be much better able to deal with this once you have some hard facts to go on. I'm sure it is extremely frustrating but you're taking the right steps to get it sorted out. Sticking with liquids is a good idea, hard as it may be. Protein shakes, Soups, puddings, spreads, yogurts all of these are "liquids" and will not irritate your stomach more. Please try to be good to yourself until you know exactly what is going on and can take steps to resolve the situation. You may have an ulcer or something that will respond to medication, or maybe it's something else. Take care, and keep us posted!

Robin, I don't see why anything should be avoided because it's "hard to digest," since with banding there's nothing changed about the way we digest food. I think you may have been given something written for RNY patients, or at least adapted from such. Fibrous foods can present problems going down, sure, but if they do go down (such as at a time of little restriction) there's no reason not to eat them.

It is confusing, I know, but I'm not the Alex who founded this board. I saw that posting Sue mentions and just followed him over here to what I think is a MUCH better user interface than anything else currently used for bandster groups. Including that of the new Spotlight, which I hate more than the old one! I'm a girl, and he's a boy. That's one sure way to tell us apart.

A year ago right now I was recovering from surgery, trying to explain to my girls why they couldn't jump on Mommy. I'd made the decision to take this step so I could be there for them, but in the short term I had to push them away. Hey, they got over it. Things have always happened slowly in my life. I didn't learn to drive until I was 28, and got married at 33. My two children took their sweet time about coming, both at conception and delivery. (Can anyone say induced at 42 weeks? Twice? And in labor for 24 and 72 hours respectively??) It takes a long time for me to get numb in the dentist's chair and just as long for the feeling to come back. So when it took almost a year for my fight with the insurance company to resolve, I found patience in my belief that things happen in their own good time. If Providence wanted me to wait so I could learn more in the interim, that's what I'd do. This year has been exactly what I wanted. EXACTLY. I remember the giddy feeling of losing three and four pounds a week while fasting twelve years ago, and sure that was fun but it was never REAL. And it sure as hell wasn't permanent. What's happening now is a loss of a little more than 1 pound a week consistently for a whole year, and it's REAL. This pace is absolutely right for me, allowing my whole being to embrace the idea that my lifelong truth of being very obese may actually become a piece of history. Not tomorrow, but someday. What I worried about the most before banding was whether I'd ever be able to feel "normal" -- would I always self-identify as a WLS patient? Would I have to make excuses, feel deprived, sit things out, sacrifice in order to accommodate the band in my body? The answer to that is a resounding NO, I'm happy to say. Sure, there's a learning curve that can be steep sometimes, but a year out finds me confidently handling whatever culinary obstacles life throws my way. Now I'm sitting here recovering from another session with my personal trainer (I STILL can't believe it's me saying that), and pondering how I'm going to get in a workout over the next two weeks when the gym is closed. Huh? What happened to worrying about whether one box of fried chicken was enough for dinner? All I've lost is the ability to gorge. And that ability isn't one I needed to have. I. Love. My. Band. :( Someday I'll figure out how to do a fancy side-by-side montage of before and after, but in the meantime anyone who's interested in my photos can check out this thread: http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2681

We're not going anyplace as hot and steamy as Jamaica in August, that's for sure! We're going to Cape Cod, where I've been going at least annually since 1983 to visit a college friend. THIS time, though, we finally decided to do it up right and are renting our own digs. Much as my friend loves me and my family, we couldn't as her to put all five of us up on her couch. Five, I hear you ask? Yep, my 15 y.o. stepson will be joining us for the week. He's bigger than my husband and the girls adore him to pieces. This is actually going to work out to my advantage -- with both Peter and Michael for the girls to tortur...um, I mean, play with, I might get a little peace and quiet!

Hey Penni, have a great time!! I'm right behind ya, going on vacation from the 28th through the 5th, but I won't have any computer access at all. (Oh NO!! How will I make it???) What takes you to Jamaica so often? Do you or someone you know own property there? Or do you just love the Rasta men?

Bright, you are so beautiful!! Your name really, really fits.

Bright, thank you so much!! I've grabbed that photo and saved it for posterity. How did you do it? I have lots of software but every time I start trying to figure it out it just starts looking like it will take forever so I give up. Is there some easy thing that I can use? Anyway, thanks so much!! And thanks, everyone, for the pats on the back. I've read so many bandiversary messages from people who seem to be realizing new abilities and achievements and even new personalities. But when I sat down to think about it I really didn't have anything totally transformational on that level to share. I've been big so long that whatever effect it's had on my personality is probably permanent. And I won't be running any marathons anytime soon. Of course, I'm not done yet. Who knows what sort of loudmouth smartass triathlete I might be at 200 lbs? But one thing is new, as Anne pointed out, and it's hope. That's what I have now that I never had before. The other thing I forgot to mention is that I now have a completely new appreciation for the Internet. It came to my aid when I was looking for an answer, and now I have real friends I may never meet face to face. We live in amazing times, people. I for one am very appreciative of it and especially of all of you for being here. This is an amazing band of bandsters!!!

Hi Julie, Like Michele, I'm thinking that your total fill is now 5 ccs, not 9--even in a Swedish band 9ccs would be a lot right out of the gate. You've only been banded a short time and there is plenty of time to find the right level of restriction that will work for you. I agree that 18 lbs since early June is wonderful! That is very quick loss and while it may seem to you like it's stopped what's happening is that your body is taking a breather. It's not natural to drop 9 pounds a month and that pace can't be sustained safely. And last, may I point out that you're what is called, in our circles, a "lightweight." You may very well lose weight slower than someone who started out at 300+, and that's normal, natural, and nothing to be worried about. Just work on not comparing yourself to others and appreciating your journey as the unique one that it is. Relax, you're doing great!!

Hi there, BCBS is not one company, it's 52 separate entities and the plan that applies to Federal employees is something else. What one does has no bearing on what any others do, although they often mirror one another's policies. But the answer to your second question is OF COURSE you can appeal!! The specific steps you will take depend on your carrier, employer, state, and so on, but you absolutely can appeal any decision. The letter you received should give you some information as to an appeal procedure. If not, your employee benefits handbook or insurace contract (certificate of benefits) should have it. From what you say it sounds like the denial was not based on medical reasons, which to me says you have a better chance than might otherwise be the case. Good luck!!

Today I had the chance to have a photo taken in exactly the same place as one of my "before" pictures had been taken. You know how it goes--for years and years you don't let anyone take pictures of you, until you get a surgery date and suddenly realize you won't have any pictures to prove you did it. So last summer, at a birthday party for a cousin's child, I had someone take this picture of me and my girls (imagine trying to cross those legs!):

It's unfortunate that your doctors are using a standard protocol for fills rather than individualizing it for each person, but if you know that in advance you can work with it. In my opnion, there is no advantage in being hungry, and it works against you because it can lead to bad episodes if you eat too quickly. If you don't lose wny weight now it's not the end of the world, of course; you'll have the rest of your life after getting proper restriction to work with the band and lose weight. The band is designed to work when it's properly adjusted, and you can't rely on it to help you without a fill. So don't torture yourself, and don't be mad at it. Try to be patient and make healthy choices in the meantime (concentrating on Protein will really help with hunger), and get an adjustment as soon as you can. You're on your way!

DH is a standard abbreviation for husband on parenting boards, and yeah, it stands for whatever one is thinking at the moment. You'll also see DD (d* daughter), DS (d*son), DSS (d* stepson) and so on. There are a million of 'em. The Internet has created its own language.

Happy Birthday indeed!! Who'd ever have thunk that there was a really good reason for keeping all those old clothes we never thought would fit again. My favorite thing to do now is go through the closet. Congratulations!!!

Audrey, what wonderful pix and how great you look! Congratulations on your fabulous progress. Let's be sure to check in this time next year, OK?? You go, girl!! :banana

Hi Saffy! Nice to see you, and that's a lovely picture! (Do you want it sized down to use as an avatar? It would work beautifully for one.) At this point, two months out from surgery, you should be eating regular food concentrating on Protein first. Don't get frustrated if you feel like you can eat "too much," since at this point you don't have a fill and your band isn't really working for you yet. But even if you don't feel any restriction to speak of, I'll bet that if you eat slowly you'll find that it takes MUCH less to fill you up than it did pre-banding. Welcome to the site, and ask away!!

Brianna, are we hearing you right that your mother is having surgery this coming Monday? I hope she'll spend the whole weekend on the Internet reading stories from people who have had the surgery. The doctor who said that, about 1 oz of food at a time, is he a banding doctor? Or was that a general doctor who maybe doesn't understand banding or maybe isn't a fan of WLS on the whole? It is absolutely not true and I can't imagine why someone would say that in all seriousness. The amount of food we can eat decreases as our restriction increases. That is one of the beauties of the band--we don't just wake up one morning unable to eat more than a few mouthfuls. It comes with time and adjustments and by the time our capacity is down to a few ounces that really might be all we need or want at a time. But that isn't for months, usually, and there's plenty of time to get used to the idea. Tell your mother about us...we're here!!

Oh, Candy, yikes!! I was job-hunting last winter and perusing all the want-ads for this area. It seems that unless you're an accountant or driver there's not much going on! But our unemployment rate keep going down, or so they tell us. Tell hubby to try Monster.com as well as all the local job banks. They really do have lots of listings. Good luck, my fingers are crossed for him!!

I don't recall any such device or anything. It's possible they put something like that on me while I was under, but whatever it was it was gone when I woke up.

Woo-hoo, Shelly!! Congratulations on an amazing year. What a fantastic achievement!! (I will not compare, I will not compare, I will not compare...grit my teeth...) Who would have thought in one short year such a change could come to be? YAY! :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny