Alexandra

If what you, Dawg and Photonut, are displaying is insanity, I want more of it.

That's Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, lady!! Dincha see Pirates of the Caribbean?

Sounds like you just had a spasm. I can still have those everyone once in a while, and it's usually cold water that does it. Don't worry, it's nothing harmful and nothing to worry about unless it leaves residual symptoms or gets worse. Take it easy for the day, maybe have soup for lunch and something soft for dinner, and you'll be fine.

You are BAD!!! :heh: :heh: :D

Hey Ali, what's the D stand for? :puke: :biggrin1:

Hi Luci! I hope you can work through the insurance issues, because the more and more carriers who pay for it, and the larger the banded-in-the-USA population gets, the better chance that it will be more readily approved for others in the future. Whatever you decide and however it shakes out for you, I'm glad you found us and we look forward to getting to know you. :puke:

Hi Stina! Welcome to LBT and we're glad you're here. Not all docs require a pre-op diet, no. And those who do don't necessarily do so routinely. But if it's been prescribed to you it's important to do it because it can significantly lessen the fat in (around?) your liver, which makes the surgery safer and easier. It's not just a power play on the part of the surgeon, but the reasons are not always explained well. Just think, though, you'll be so far ahead of the game! You'll likely lose a good bit of weight on this preop regimen. Keep to it--you'll be so proud of yourself! :puke:

Yikes, Wheetsin, are you suggesting I program the browser??? Scary... If you can define "sys configs" I might take you up on your offer. Maybe. :puke: Thanks, Dawg. An easier workaround is just to open my IE and see what the message is.

That's why everyone is a little freaked out, Eileen. We obviously can't consider this any kind of objective sample, though. There are more than 5000 members of this board, for one thing. People who were banded elsewhere, who don't have local support groups to meet with, and who have had problems are ALL more likely to post online than the general bandster population. I dare say we may be hearing about more in the future--2% of 5000 is 100, and I'd guess eroders would be a lot more likely to speak up when the problem occurs. If any given surgeon had a higher rate than the 1-3% we keep hearing about, that would be reason to avoid that surgeon. But the "cluster" we see here signifies nothing meaningful to any prebandsters--other than being extremely informative about what it's like to go through. If you're going to worry about statistics, it's only YOUR doctor's experience that counts.

Dawg, you are a dedicated Dawg!! You can see my stats in my sig, and I've had no significant problems. As for eroded or not? Not so far as I know. Do you want me to delete the posts once you've compiled them in? Just PM me when they're ready to come off. Otherwise this thread will get HUGE in short order.

After events like that, there is nothing fraudulent at all about having an endoscopy. The endoscopy isn't the fraud, but making up symptoms to get one is. Not exactly. Dental insurance is nothing more than a pre-paid discount plan. The dentists get more patients, and they are amply compensated by what they get from the carriers for their 2x/year cleanings. Believe me, no one is getting anything more than what they pay for with dental. If you add up your premiums you are more than paying for what the cleanings cost. There's no "insurance" involved, since no matter what the case there is a cap on the maximum annual benefit. Very true. But the cost of tens of thousands of endoscopies far outweighs the cost of hundreds of band removal operations. That's what the insurance carriers are considering.

Kathy, just so you know just about any medical provider will work with you on payments if your necessary medical treatment isn't covered. I think Dr. Neal is right, having had bronchitis myself last fall, twice. It really does mess you up all over the place, and it's really easy to think there's something wrong with the band. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. If your symptoms clear up the preponderance of statistical evidence would seem to indicate that there isn't anything wrong with your band. You'll know more after your fluoroscopy, and until then there's no point in worrying. Glad to hear you're feeling better!!

Yep, Dawg, that's exactly what happens to me. But it does seem that I can consistently get and send pager messages in IE but not in Firefox (Firefox, Firefox, FIREFOX). Guess I'll just have to work with it. Thanks!!

OOPS! I always get the name wrong. How embarrassing!! I'm going to fix the name of this thread so it's not laughing at me anymore. :puke:

But I don't know what it is that it's not doing for me. I thought I had all the plugins I needed, since I don't have any trouble elsewhere. Do you get pager messages?

Those are hilarious! The real ones are almost as funny. My best friend has a Schnoodle (schnauzer + poodle). Cute!!

I'll Suceed, thanks for the nice words!! I'll let you know when I need a campaign manager, K? :clock:

LOL!! I'm with you, leenerbups. I don't know what's so hard about punctuation when it's SO hard to read without it. As for the shorthand, I think we're just too old for it. And something I don't understand: Sometimes People Post With Every Word Capitalized. What's Up With That? It Doesn't Bother Me So Much As I Just Don't Get Why They Do It.

I use Firefox routinely at home, and IE at work. On IE I have no problem getting and senting pager messages, but they don't work with Firefox. It's not a popup-window problem, since I don't block them. But they don't show up at all. Any ideas? Anyone? Dawg? :help:

I'm very reassured by Dr. Pleatman's reply, since it closely echoes what the surgeons I have spoken to have to say. Thank you!

Hi Roger, (I deleted the duplicate thread you posted, to keep comments in one place.) Sounds perfectly normal to me, you're doing great! If full liquids are a little uncomfortable still, you might want to ease off and stick to thinner fluids for a few days. Just because your doctor says you can, doesn't mean your BODY is ready for it. I had the same thing happen when I moved to Soups at 6 days out. Take it slow and listen to your body. You won't starve or hurt yourself by taking a couple of extra days to heal. Congratulations on your banding! :biggrin1:

She's not home. :lalala: I know, how did I get to be such a poophead, Donali? I need some happy juice or something. I used to be fun! :hippie: :peace: :clock: All I can say about cliques is this: there are THOUSANDS of users reading this board. Some of them have formed close friendships, on and off the board. But the VAST majority have not. Don't ever feel put out by that sort of thing...just start a new thread if you want. We are here for everyone, and the primary role of this board is to provide a place for ALL bandsters--pre, current, and post--to share information and support and advice. It's been VERY important to me in my journey, and I know we ALL want it to stay right here. So be nice!! Last, I want to phrase my caution about taking things personally even more strongly. Even if you (speaking generally, now), strongly suspect some comment IS meant personally, you can make a decision to pretend that it's not. Taking the high road is always the better way to go, online and off.

If taking a deep breath hurts it could indeed be a muscle strain, perhaps your diaphagm. It might also be an aftereffect of reflux, if you aspirated any material into your lungs. we all know that could lead to aspiration pneumonia, but I think it's happened to me with a similar kind of lingering effect without getting pneumonia. Jenna, that's probably what happened to you. It's like aspiration pneumonia is a disease that might follow aspiration, but even if you don't get the disease the physical fact of having aspirated material causes discomfort, from mild to severe. Robyn, have you had any nighttime reflux? Even if it's very mild, you might be aspirating in your sleep. PARTICULARLY if it's very mild, you could be doing it and not knowing you are. And Jenna, sudden reflux could indeed be a sign of slippage but it isn't necessarily. I had an unfill this summer due to sudden and severe reflux which the doctors were fairly sure indicated slippage, but all was in order. Try to baby yourself with soft, soft foods and decrease the quantity you're eating, especially before bed. You may have to sleep in a reclining chair or on many pillows for a few nights. Be extremely gentle with your system, cut out caffeine as much as you can, things like that. You may need an unfill but try this first. Good luck, both of you!

Hi and welcome to LBT! There are several patients of Dr. Billy's here--we hear nothing but good things about him! Yes, this site is primarily about lapbanding, but you're welcome to stay and participate. Weight loss surgery is transformative no matter what kind you have, and you might find there's lots of common ground. Good luck with your procedure, whatever it is!

Funny how these things work out. On my very first foray online to get information on the band, the name of Dr. Nicholas Bertha was front and center. He was one of the American physicians who participated in the FDA trials back in 2000. And he was the first to be doing bands in New Jersey. Everything I read just reinforced my impression that he was THE person to see. Lo and behold, his office was only 15 miles from my house and he participated in my insurance plan! But knowing that Aetna was not covering bands, I explored other insurance options and spoke with another surgeon elsewhere. And when I went to have a consult with Dr. Bertha's practice, scheduling dictated that I meet with his partner, Alexander Abkin. No matter what, their practice remained my first choice. 18 months later, I won my insurance battle and was able to be banded by Dr. Abkin. Dr. Bertha is the one who has done my fills since then. Both of these doctors are among the most experienced in the country and I know I am lucky to have them so close. The first banding doctor I heard of was the one I wanted from the start.