Alexandra

Welcome to LBT, Vanna! Stick around and you'll find all the support you need to get through surgery and the first 6 weeks. And beyond! :biggrin1:

Hi Bret, welcome to LBT!! The itching is annoying, but it's a good sign and doesn't last long. It means you're healing! Take care of yourself and prepare for the hard part ahead--when your hunger returns. Don't worry, it happens to everyone, and once again it's a good sign that means you're healing. Eat what you need to stem the hunger; don't overdo it but definitely don't let yourself get too hungry between meals. Good luck and once again, welcome!!

That is great advice, Faybie, and it really does make a difference. I notice it most on weekend mornings, when I am deciding what to wear. Jeans and clogs, and the most I will do that day is shop. But if I put on leggings and sneakers, sooner or later I know I'm going to do something active. It's a total mindset-shift!

Let's keep it civil, people. It'd be a shame to lock such a lively thread.

Congratulations!! That's a lot to be proud of. :clap2:

It seems to me that the best choice for each of us is clearly revealed if we really examine our own situation. The two surgeries work VERY differently in our bodies, and each addresses different needs. Basically, if you eat too much and think all you need is help in controlling your portions, have patience and persistence, and want to change your behavior more than change your body, the band is probably better for you. If, on the other hand, you feel like you can't possibly control your portions enough and want to absorb less of the food you do eat, need to lose a lot of weight right away, and are not bothered by the invasiveness of the surgery and the need for long-term nutritional supplementation, RNY may be right for you. My personal decision was absolutely clear from moment one: I have two small children and was healthy (aside from the extra weight) and was absolutely not willing to take the risks of RNY or DS. I ate too much, too fast, and too often, but knew that the band's actions of reducing capacity and dampening hunger would create the environment I need to learn how to control my own behavior. To my way of thinking, one size does NOT fit all and the adjustability of the band was a huge attraction. It just made better medical sense to me to try the less-invasive thing first.

No, it's not OK for people to kill their infants by starvation. No, it's not OK to abandon them to simply die without care. It's also not OK to throw newborns out of windows (as I just this second heard that a 14-year-old--the baby's "mother"--did yesterday in the Bronx). I do not equate babies with nonviable fetuses, though. And no, I can't firmly define "nonviable" for you. But--to me and so far to the law--a fetus in an early stage of development is simply not a person (yet) and as such does not have rights (yet). And once again, we're back to the "where does personhood begin" discussion, to which there is no one answer that makes sense to everyone. It absolutely breaks my heart that that 14-year-old was so scared, so uneducated, and so unsupported that she felt a window was her best option. Unless we can fix ALL the problems she faced, making girls and women with unwanted pregnancies into captive, unwilling incubators will improve exactly nothing.

Again, this sort of thing MUST be decided on a case-by-case basis. Was your aunt brain-dead? Did she have any thoughts on the matter? If she did, the right and moral thing would be to take her desires into account and act accordingly. As an adult, she has a say in the matter. Generalizations are extremely hard to make and exceptions can always be found, which is why I believe the government has no place in these decisions.

To my mind, it's analogous to removing a patient from life-support machines. If it's unable to maintain life on its own for any length of time, it will die in very short order if left alone. Society should not be in the position of picking up the cost of assisting unwanted, undeveloped babies to "live" in these situations. But the way to prevent these things from happening is to allow MORE access to abortion, not less. It's the people who wait too long, who don't tell anyone about their pregnancies, who are scared to pick up the phone and DO SOMETHING about their pregnancy until it's too late that create these situations.

I was thinking more along the lines of following proper procedure for disposal of medical waste, whatever that is. Since any facility performing abortions has to deal with the complication of live births (failed abortions), a reputable one would have actual procedures to handle it that don't involve the laundry room.

Well that's my point. What sort of hospital puts aborted fetuses (alive or dead) in the Soiled Linen Room? One that doesn't want to own up to doing abortions.

Unless you need a procedure to remove an already-dead fetus. That's who's likely using the "Comfort Room."

Lovely practice for a religious institution, NOT. Does that sound like something that would happen in a reputable hospital? If it did happen, it was probably to hide the fact that a doctor was performing a procedure frowned upon by management, and that couldn't be done in the light of day and under normal hospital procedure. Ugh, all around.

This room is probably used MOSTLY for the comfort of parents who lost a child in utero, which was "aborted" (i.e., delivered stillborn) to save the life of the mother, or was delivered and allowed to die due to birth defects. I can't even fathom the mind of a person who would voluntarily and purposefully terminate an unwanted pregnancy and then want keepsakes or mementos of that baby. The institution where this room is clearly has an agenda, and so the facility is presented in the most appalling light imaginable to make its point.

I have two children now, who were planned. The experience of being pregnant only solidified my belief that women must have control over their own bodies. Whether I could have another abortion in the future depends solely on MY personal circumstances, and while I might make a different decision in the future it is still MY decision to make. One problem is that if we grant the state the right to intervene in pregnancy to "protect" the fetus, we must also grant the right to intervene for other reasons. Forcible abortion sound good to anyone? That's the logical extension of pro-life laws, just with a change of direction. Adding into the equation the "value" of the fetus may be an obvious reaction to some, but it's by no means a universally held belief. Science--not religion--has to hold sway here, since we're talking about medical standards of care. I do believe that there is a point during the development of a fetus when it becomes viable outside the woman's body, and if there is a way to deliver a live baby then reasonable efforts should be made to do so. (That does not include removing 20-week micro-, micropreemies to live out their short, painful lives in incubators at vast taxpayer expense.) However, those decisions MUST be made at the patient level, on a case-by-case basis, by the mother and her doctor. No. One. Else. Adoption is a wonderful alternative, sure, but it's just not right for everyone. I know women who remain far more regretful of having given babies up for adoption than they are of having had abortions.

I'm sure this is a sad story and it's a shame this woman went through it. The question I have is why did she wait so long? (I'm sorry, but I can't watch the video right now--maybe the question is answered in the report?) But in any event, why, no matter how awful this experience is for her or any other woman (and I had an abortion myself, so I know whereof I speak), does anyone conclude that it should therefore be someone ELSE'S decision? I'm not picking on you, gadgetlady--you may not think this way at all, I don't know--I just don't understand the leap from "abortion is sad and painful and hard" to "let's outlaw it." The only way to decrease the incidence of abortion is to decrease the incidence of unwanted pregnancy. Period. Leatha, what that doctor did to you was unconscionable. THAT, of course, was and is illegal. I'm so sorry you have to remember that. My abortion was early, reasoned, safe, and I have never felt any negative emotional repercussions. The alternatives would have been much worse.

Kathy's exactly right. When you click on the exclamation point to report inappropriate posts, and e-mail is sent to the moderators. One of us usually comes running to delete the threads entirely. It is annoying, but I admit I get a little jolt of glee when I send these things to oblivion!

Bev, you really have to call your insurer to find out if they cover bariatric surgery in general, and then lap-banding specifically. You are medically qualified, with a BMI of 44, but every policy is different and we can't say whether yours will pay.

ShayShay, each state has its own rules about whether individuals can apply for health insurance. Where do you live? In states with "guaranteed issue" individual policies, you can buy individual policies that might cover bariatric surgery, but they're expensive. Many other states allow insurance carriers to base their coverage decisions on medical underwriting--which means coverage for people who are morbidly obese is extremely expensive if not completely impossible to get. If you live in NJ I can help you out, but otherwise you should start with ehealthinsurance.com and you can find out what options there are for individuals in your state.

And thanks, everyone, for the good wishes for my husband. He went to work today and was able to spend the day effectively. He's happy--the worst thing about this whole ordeal was, for him, the time he had to take off from work!

Today was not really a better day, I'm afraid. I had fish and cheese for Breakfast (good intentions), skipped lunch and then spent the afternoon eating popcorn. I have absolutely no restriction and I'm just glad it was only popcorn on offer! But I learned a painful lesson this evening, when I went to volleyball on just a bellyful of very salty popcorn. After a half hour, I had a VERY painful cramp in my calf that benched me completely! My theory is that it was due to the amount of salt in the popcorn--and the fact that I hadn't had anywhere near enough Water to counteract it. This was two hours ago and I can still feel the cramp! Sigh. I am really punishing myself and there's no good reason for it. What am I doing?

IrishGirl, this isn't a question of a pre-existing condition exclusion, so don't let anyone try to tell you it is. I think whether they cover this will depend on how your doctor "codes" the procedure. If there's any way they can categorize the surgery without referencing the band they should try to do that. From the language you copied above it's clearly the intent to exclude this procedure based on it being related to your earlier bariatric surgery. Even though you may not be trying to lose weight any longer (congratulations on your success, btw!!), the lap-band is clearly a bariatric procedure and as such, anything related to it would be excluded. The other problem is the reason for the port being moved at all. If it's being moved because there is a "risk" of erosion in the future, they won't cover that just based on its not being a treatment of any kind. At this point, this procedure is purely elective, there's no diagnosis at hand. If, on the other hand, the port has already begun to cause damage to your tissues, the surgeon might be able to code the surgery as a treatment for that. I'm sure there are patients who have subcutaneous ports for other reasons who need this procedure done, so maybe there's a generic code for "subcutaneous portocatheter relocation due to skin damage" or something like that. Good luck!!

The insurance hurdle can't be generalized, Stacy; it's completely dependent on your situation. Mine took almost a year to square away. If everything in your situation is a go, and you don't need a lot of pre-op testing, you get green lights all the way and your insurer approves within a week (which is very fast), it will still likely be several weeks between meeting with the doctor for the first time and actual surgery.

I lost 70 lbs in the first year, and a bit less than 50 in the second year. (I hope that answers your question--it wasn't very clear.)

Abso-effing-LUTELY!! Thanks, everyone, for your words. It's SO TRUE what Jack says. Today I'm still overdoing it, a little, but have managed to do so on healthy foods (so far). And I'm busier today, which helps. I also managed to get to the gym and 5-miles-on-the-bike later, I'm feeling almost human!!