Alexandra

Thanks everyone!! It's still so hard to internalize sometimes; I still think of myself as morbidly obese even though my BMI is now below 35. Taking it slow is the way to go when working against 40 years of fat. But my brain is catching up, slowly. Happy New Year, everyone!! :D

Of course we get hungry--we're human, and all our wiring is fully intact, so when we're low on fuel our bodies send the "hunger" signal we need to stay alive. But hunger is a whole different animal post-band. I now know what it's like to be hungry in the same way that normal people get hungry--like when they haven't eaten in four or more hours, and truly want something nutritious to fill the small space inside their stomachs. Now when I get hungry I can eat only a small amount--a half a sandwich, one small piece of chicken--and the hunger really and truly goes away. No longer does it take two or three sandwiches or a plate FULL of dinner to make the pangs go away. THAT'S the miracle of the band.

Not to rain on everyone's parade, but BCBS in Illinois is not the same company as what you have in other states. Every state's Blue Cross is an independent entity, and there are good ones and not-so-good ones. Is there anyone else from Illinois who has BCBS PPO coverage who can share their experiences?

For the very first time in my life I'm happy with the pictures that were taken at Christmas. Wow. :) That's a size 16/18 blouse and size 18 slacks. Even my rings and shoes are smaller!

Normal, normal, normal, normal!! Mom, your body is not supposed to be "happy" dropping 21 lbs in four weeks. It's putting the brakes on especially because you're now taking in more solid food. This is absolutely what is supposed to be happening. This is not a race! Take your time to adjust to your new smaller size, let your body adjust to its new regimen of fewer calories, and work on not letting yourself get too hungry. Don't watch the scale for signs of success, just remember that you have made an amazing start and are well on your way. What's your ultimate goal weight? You're doing great!!

You look beautiful! What a great job!!

Mine are about money this year. We've had lots of unexpected expenses recently, and I've been too lax in the past about paying down credit card bills and so forth. So we start this year with too much debt and bad habits that need to be broken. NO MORE EATING OUT except on special occasions. More home meals. That's my #1 resolution until we're past this money crunch.

Sticky just means one of those threads that stays at the top of a forum all the time, the ones with the push-pin icon on them. They stay there for reference without people having to bump them. Nothing to do with banding, at least in that context.

Kim, "DH" is not specific to banding, it's just internet shorthand for "Dear Husband." The D can also stand for other adjectives as the case may suit... (darling, danged, use your imagination.)

Great idea, Lisa! I'm going to make this sticky and when it's perfect we can revise to be a permanent reference. PB - Productive Burp: There are many versions to the PB, but it's basically when slime comes back up often followed by the food you just ate after the food refuses to go down. NSV- Non scale Victory: Something fabulous that happens as a result of weight loss that doesn't have anything to do with numbers, like getting flirted with or picking up something off the floor without falling over. ESOPHAGITIS - Irritation of the esophagus to the point of inflammation. Can be caused or exacerbated by a too-tight band keeping food from passing through the stoma and "stacking up" in the esophagus. STICKY PM - Private Message: If you want to say something privately to another member, just click on their name for an option to send them a private message. ACID REFLUX FILL - Addition of saline to the band's reservoir to tighten it and create a smaller opening from the pouch into the stomach. Usually done for the first time no less than 6 weeks after surgery when stomach has fully healed and the band is firmly seated in place. Several fills may be needed to achieve the desired restriction. UNFILL - Removal of saline from the band's reservoir to loosen it, and create a larger opening from the pouch into the stomach. May be done to relieve symptoms of reflux or ease the passage of food for other reasons.

Thanks for the support, everyone! Things do seem to be looking up; now I'm just dealing with a regular cold and the strep seems to have escaped the other members of my family. Yesterday I couldn't find my wallet, and then just as I was getting ready to call the credit card companies, there it was on the floor of the car in the back. Thank goodness! These little hassles really can take it out of us, especially when we're not 100% healthy. I'm looking forward to a long weekend at home with nothing that has to get done except keeping the kids entertained. Best wishes for a calm and happy 2005 for all!!

Oh Ryan, what a nightmare! This is the sort of situation those futuristic imbedded chips with our medical records in them would help. Not in our lifetimes, I'm afraid. Good karma will come down on you for being so determined in caring for Patty. Between your shared love and insistence on good care, the medical establishment doesn't stand a chance! Now get some sleep. You deserve it, both of you.

Nancy, please know my thoughts are with you and your family too. What a devastating blow nature has dealt the world! I hope your brother is safe and sound.

Wow, life sure does have a way of keeping us hopping! The last month has been a rollercoaster of family and household hassles, some small and some not so small. Here's my tale of woe: The day before Thanksgiving I hit a deer with my car, which resulted in the deer bouncing happily away but not before doing $1500 worth of damage to my car. A week in the shop, a week's rental car, and it's nice and shiny again. So two days after the body work was done, the clutch goes out completely. Naturally, this is not related to the deer collision, so won't be covered by insurance. Another week in the shop, another rental, and another $1500. :rolleyes Early in the months my husband's car has a flat, which he changes and takes to be fixed. Yesterday he's driving along with our 3-year-old, who is home sick from daycare, and hits a pothole at full speed--another flat, a bent rim. He goes to change the tire and lo and behold! The "repaired" tire is also flat! Stranded on Route 80 with a sick child, he waits over an hour for help. :rolleyes Let's see...Early last week we had no heat in our house as the temperature plummeted well below freezing outside. Two weeks ago my older daughter was diagnosed with ringworm. On Christmas Eve morning both she and I were diagnosed with strep throat. (Oh, the PAIN!!) Yesterday I and my younger daughter woke up with terrible colds. :rolleyes So it's been quite a month, though there was good news too. My band checkup on the 23rd was excellent! In spite of my worries and my doc's dire description of the possibilities, I have no slippage at all! The doctor was able to re-fill me back to a good level of restriction. Now we're all on the mend, and I am driving a beautiful NEW car after deciding my broken clutch was the last straw on that vehicle. No more manual transmission for me! And then we see the devastation caused by tsunamis on the other side of the world, and it puts all my little hassles into perspective. I am PROFOUNDLY grateful to be safe, have my children safe, and my husband healthy to take care of his poor little sick girls. I LOVE my husband!!! Here's wishing the best to all of you this New Year. Thanks for all of you being here and supporting one another; it brings my heart great joy to know this community is here!!!

The thread was deleted by the starter, who has the right to do so with no questions asked.

One size does not fit all, that's all there is to it. And the amount of weight someone has to lose doesn't necessarily correspond to their inner anatomy, so there's no way to predict which size will be appropriate for a given patient until the doctor is inside and looking around. I'm glad they have options, but it's no more meaningful to one's success than one's shoe size is to the ability to walk. Your doctor makes the right choice for you at the time of surgery.

Victoria, when they did your fill were you in a radiology lab with a big machine aimed at your midsection? Or were you in the doctor's office with nothing but you, him, and a big needle? It's hard not to know if you're being x-rayed. Personally I don't worry too much about the actual amount of Fluid in my band at any given time. There's too much, not enough, and just right. There may be absolutely nothing wrong with your band and your doctor is deliberately filling it very slowly to give you time to adjust. Don't go all panicky on him before you find out what your ARE supposed to be feeling.

Hi Victoria, Have you had your fills under a fluoroscope or in your doc's office with no x-ray? Many doctors doing fills without the benefit of x-ray equipment like to give tiny, incremental amounts so as to "sneak up" on the proper restriction. This can be frustrating indeed for the patient, but it's probably the safest way to go if you're not able to see the effects of a fill under an x-ray machine. Have you asked your doctor what level of restriction he expects you to be at? This may be normal for his practice and methodology. Can you find out more for us?

I can't tell if y'all are kidding or not. Sometimes I'm a little shocked at what loose skin looks like on my 43-year-old body, and worry about what it will look like another 50 pounds from now. But the fear of going under general anaesthesia again for a cosmetic procedure just overwhelms me and I can't imagine actually having anything done about it. I remember my grandmother's saggy skin vividly, and with all the fondness that surround all my memories of her. My mother's boobs hung even when I was a small child and she weighed all of 160 lbs. My aunt's wrinkles were deep when she was in her 30s. None of these women were anything less than beautiful to me, and I see them in me more and more as time passes. Only one of them is left now, so I carry their faces in mine. I don't know...a little Botox here and there, maybe. But one thing's for sure: flying repeatedly to Costa Rica for major cosmetic surgery is not something I'll be thinking about in this lifetime.

I completely agree that at a certain point--and even before one becomes a "veteran" bandster--we all have to understand that filling the band too tightly is a risky thing to do. And I've been paying lip service all along to the idea that I'm all about maintenance and safety, and I still feel that way and won't take any steps that could increase the risk of additional surgery. But I can SO understand the desire to have a tighter fill, especially after months and months of relatively easy loss comes to an end and the challenge is ever greater. I'm at that point now, and am going for a barium test on Thursday. I find myself thinking about asking for a super-aggressive fill to get me back in the habit of nibbling (which I've almost totally lost), even though I know that is foolhardy and I won't follow through on it. But it's sure tempting.

Oh, Chrissy, what an ordeal! Infections are nasty, nasty, nasty and so much worse when the body is already trying to heal. I'm so glad you're doing better and hope you will progress to a quick and uneventful full recovery. Please do let us know how you're doing!

Happy Holidays to you and all of yours, Tellie! :) :D

Hi Sonia, I'm really sorry there was no one at that meeting to share their LapBand experience!! I'd done that myself back in October at the same meeting and told them I'd be happy to do it again if they needed. Banding really does get short shrift: At the meeting I was at, Marco actually neglected to mention that the band is adjustable at all. I had to say that when I got up to speak. There is indeed no question that the surgeons "prefer" RNY to banding, but if you look at it from their perspective it's easy to see why. It's the more complex surgery and gets faster results--they're surgeons, not social workers, and that's the sort of thing they like to do. Banding is more labor-intensive and less remunerative for them, so while it may well be the better treatment for the patient the surgeons are less likely to embrace it for their purposes. From where I sit there is no "superior" surgery, they are just differerent procedures and one will fit each person's needs better. When you go in to see the doctor he will not try to convince you one way or the other unless you have clear contraindications for one or the other--if you have a preference let him know up front and it will save you both the trouble of comparing/contrasting. Man, you've got me ticked now. I'm going to call the office and let them know, AGAIN, that I am willing to appear at any of those intro meetings. I've been told on several occasions that my talk in October was very helpful and many people mention it when they come to the office. Maybe I'll get a huge BEFORE picture of myself to take with me, since I'm not the skinny-mini they probably want for these meetings. Maybe that's why they didn't call me...hm...

We all feel the same way, so now what can we do about it? It's so hard now that I've discovered ways to recreate that stuffed-tummy feeling I used to love so much (with things like stew, chili, corn chowder), to tell myself that I can't do that anymore--tell myself again, I mean. Drinking more is one thing I know I can do and MUST do. liquid helps me feel full but ever since that one tiny reflux episode two months ago I've been shying away from drinking large amounts of Water at a time. And that's bad on several fronts, so I know I have to try harder to get that water in. New Year's resolution time is just around the corner, gang. Let's resolve to make our bands start working for us all over again. They haven't given up, right, so let's not do it either! Who's with me??? Let's hear it!!! Bandster rules RULE!!! :) :D

Mary, I think we do have a lot in common. Except I sure haven't lost 125 lbs!! Holy cow, lady, that's fantastic!! What's up with your band? I'm going to find out next Thursday if I have any problems that need correcting, or if I can get another fill or what. What you describe is a little concerning. Have you had it checked? What's the story? I think this is a head thing, though, too. We all have longstanding unhealthy relationships with food and every single diet in the past has been one that had ended at some point. This isn't a diet, we know that, and it isn't going to end. Eating around the band IS going to destroy what we have done, because it's not the band that is getting us there by itself and it can't keep us honest all by itself either. Sigh...