faithmd

I prefer Trader Joe's to Whole Foods. Though the selection is smaller, the prices are MUCHO better. I also love Central Market, but they don't have any up here in MI, I only can shop those when I am in the DFW area.

That's interesting. Most bands come in small and large sizes (or some other name variant). I am uncertain if the Realize band comes in two sizes, though.

Here's a link to another thread about it: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/crud-i-swallowed-piece-gum-48277/

Jack, I was a flaming, tree-hugging, granola eating, skate board riding liberal...until the Clintons. i was such a liberal that I even skipped school in the 1980's to go to a Mondale-Ferraro rally. And when I discovered my mother voted for Reagan, I didn't speak to her for two solid months, not a word. My father didn't speak to her for almost a month. I finally woke up. It was a serious haze I was in, that liberal smoke. And I DID inhale. I would never call myself a conservative, nor would I ever say I was a liberal. I think there are pieces of both platforms I agree with. For me it is a question of issues. And who will "scare" the world into acting right. Let's face it, the role of President of the United States is a figurehead position, it's a high-stakes game of poker, and if the President doesn't have the best hand, s/he better be intimidating enough to bluff their way out of it, or ready to stand behind their words. (Though Hill has some balls that are probably harder and bigger than most of the men she's running against-save McCain.) The biggest issues globally right now for us seem to be this "War on Terror" and to be realistic, radical Muslims think less of blacks, and even less of women. While the US may finally be ready for a woman or black male as President of the United States (I am talking about leading the US, not a smaller country), I am sorry to say I don't think the world is. The world is rife with conflict, and while it would be soooo nice to say we can sit down and talk about our differences and work them out, it WON'T happen. That is NOT human nature. Being that the world is full of wars and skirmishes and "military actions" I am of a firm belief that our President, nee our COMMANDER IN CHIEF absolutely MUST have military service in their past. And not the fake crap they passed off on us with W. Of the group running today, the only one that fits the bill of all the above for me is McCain. Bob Dole would have kicked butt as President, but I couldn't stand his wife. Colin Powell would have made an excellent President as well, and should never have been made Sec'y of State, he should have been Sec'y of Defense.

Remember the higher the watts, the more power, the more power, the better able it is to crush ice (for mixing protein shakes) and chop up food for the pureed stage. I had no problems fully pureeing chicken or beef. then I realized it was just sooo much easier to go to the grocery store and buy baby food and mix that with stuff. No sodium, no preservatives, etc...

Here's a link to another thread that shows the different ALLERGAN bands and sizes: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/does-14cc-band-give-same-restriction-10cc-band-50248/

and I second what snowbird said, emphatically

The different sizes are for different types and ages of bands. Just as we all do not wear the same size of jeans, our internal structure does not wear the same size of band. Check out the FAQ and References section for a thread about Technical LapBand reference. The info there is a bit old, but still will address your question about the different sizes.

Every surgeon seems to be different, some require a recent sleep study, some an EKG, some require a psych evaluation (that's mostly an insurance requirement). Some wand to do an upper GI, it is impossible to tell you what you absolutely will have to have. I had some other issues in the year prior to my banding, so I had EKG's and lab work and the surgeon accepted those. I did still have to have lab work down right before the surgery, though (electrolytes, blood count, blood type, etc). My surgeon did not require an upper GI, nor a sleep study, nor anything like that.

If you are going to rely on insurance to pay for the band your VERY first call should be to them. You need to know if they even pay for adjustable gastric banding ON YOUR POLICY (some policies have different riders and exclusions than others). If they do, then you want to get a copy of their requirements and have them in hand. You also need to know who they will pay for you to be banded by. I would not go pick a surgeon or go to an information session until I knew my insurance would pay for me to see that surgeon. Once you have a list, then do some research about those surgeons. There are many threads here about surgeons, but I think the largest board for surgeon reviews is on obesityhelp.com. Then based on the requirements given to you by your insurance company, if you need a certain length supervised diet or a referral by your PCP, call and make an appointment to get that started. At the same time, schedule some information sessions with the surgeons you have chosen. Good luck!

Isn't PB peanut butter? Can they make it with fish?

The news I read this morning said it is not her... Hopefully they find her soon.

Here's a post I've written before: I know many are fond of the Magic Bullet, but I am just not impressed with it's power (or lack of) compared to other blenders out there. Plus it's pretty expensive at $50-$60, the cheapest I've seen it was at Kohl's at Xmas and that was a four hour day after Thanksgiving sale price for $36. The Magic Bullet has *only* 225W of power. There is a personal sized blender at Walmart that you can get online that is 350W and is only $18ish, here's the link: Back to Basics 3-Speed Brushed Chrome Personal Blender Express, BPE3BR - Wal-Mart I can't find it in the stores, but I did find it online at Walmart and if you're not a Wallyworld fan, here's an msn link with more estores that carry it: Back to Basics 350-Watt Personal Blender Express price comparison I just ended up buying a new blender (I needed one anyway) from Walmart, it's an Oster that came with a food processer attachment and a free personal size mix mug (not all the boxes had that, but they do sell those for about $13 or so) and it was $40 (now less than that). It has 450 watts. I do really like it. This is it: Oster 12-Speed Osterizer Blender With Food Processor Attachment - Wal-Mart Here's the link to the personal mixer cup: Oster Blend-n-Go Cup - Wal-Mart But did you know that if you have a blender that has the screw-off base with the removable blades (screw the base off the jar and take the blade assembly and a gasket ring out for cleaning) that that ring actually fits on canning jars? Talk about nice and small, you could use half pint or pint size jars and not have to worry about buying another blender/mixer at all. I have a bunch of those old glass canning jars with the handle on them they used to sell in the dollar stores, those work great.

I am so sorry you lost your band! And it seems sort of odd they didn't culture the band, but if you didn't have a fever or increased white blood cell count, or if the operative field didn't look suggestive of infection when they got in there, then perhaps that's why they didn't send anything for a culture? It is all supposition at this point. You got you band on 12/18 and I noticed you posted this on 12/29: Yeah, i knew i was gonna lose restriction before my first fill when i healed. Just thought it ironic that i lost restriction the day i started the ibuprofen regime for my knee. Later that same day: I have been having problems with the side of my knee, finally went to the doctor yesterday and she told me to take 600mg of ibuprofen every 6-8 hours until i go see the orthopedic doctor on wednesday. Now, since i started this regime, i havent felt full at ALL.. you think that all this ibuprofen to make the swelling in my leg go down has made my stomach swelling go back down to normal so i have like 0 restriction? I was just wondering if your band surgeon was in approval of the ibuprofen therapy? I was told that I was not EVER to take NSAIDS. I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

If your insurance company has a written policy for a six month diet requirement, then you're stuck. We'd all love to get it sooner than what our insurance wants us to. But when you use insurance to pay, you are bound by their rules. I was stuck with a TWELVE month diet requirement. Dang, that sucked! A word of caution, please make sure you do not miss a single monthly appointment to your MD (or whatever your diet requirement states). It would stink to be almost there and have to start all over again. Good luck!!!!

Not being Canadian, I am unsure, but I recall seeing a couple of threads about this subject in the Canada Forum before. Here's a couple of links to those threads, I hope it helps you! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f76/tax-claim-being-audited-37462/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f76/claiming-taxes-32946/

Absolutely take the COBRA if you can, AND please continue to go to your monthly MD appointments. Even without COBRA, a monthly office visit with you PCP can't be more than $85-100. For three months that would be less than $300. Do not think you have to start all over! No reason if the insurance is still Aetna that you wouldn't be able to use the monthly visits you are already working on! Also, please make get your DH to get with his new employer's HR and find out more specifics about his new company's Aetna plan, then call Aetna YOURSELF and ask if the new plan you will have also covers adjustable gastric banding. It is possible that his new employer may have an exclusion to their policy for bariatric surgery.

Page down to the bottom of this page, you will find several thread links where this question has been answered in abundance. I'm not picking on you, but I wanted you to have responses from a large cross-section of folks. By viewing the posts below, you'll be able to read about the experience from folks that sit at a desk, folks that walk all day, folks that do physical labor, etc... The Poll thread is a good one, you get a nice idea of what the average is. Here's a few more links, and a couple more polls. Hope this helps you! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/poll-time-off-between-surgery-work-24060/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/how-long-did-you-take-off-work-42551/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/how-soon-after-surgery-have-u-returned-work-31539/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/how-long-return-work-34950/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f76/how-soon-before-returning-work-24059/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/how-long-were-you-out-work-after-surgery-23996/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/how-long-after-surgery-before-returning-work-22355/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/how-long-until-you-were-able-work-19585/

I agree, LJM!

What Green said. And that is spoken as a woman who considers herself a Christian. (Rose your opening post was eloquent!)

I'm also in the 200+ category. My high was 371, with a goal weight of 165ish. So barely over 200#, but still a challenge. I'm sitting (since September) at about 300! But doggone it, I'm getting back in the groove! I would LOVE to be at about 251 by my Bandiversary which is June 21st. That would mean I'd have lost 76lbs in the first year, but 120lbs from my start. Not impressive, but it would be nice in my mind.

I've sort of been off plan already today. I ate five mini eclairs, but I'm including it in my fitday.com totals and then modifying what I eat later. I have GOT to do something! Perhaps joining in on this thread will help. LJM: thank you for starting it!

Bearcatgirl, you might want to check out the subforum just for Teens in the Lap band by age forums. Good luck!

pipp, I'd be furious as well. For the same reason you outlined, they had EVERYTHING else ans were waiting on one little thing. I hand carried EVERYTHING to my surgeon's office (other than the psych eval) and the day I received a copy of that, I called them to make sure they had gotten it, too. Then I faxed them another copy, just in case. They faxed my stuff over to the insurance company that same day. No reason if they have everything needed that they don't do it right then. That's what they get paid for. That's their job. I as denied the first time around because I hadn't lost my 5% excess weight required by my insurance company. So the next month when I had lost it, I submitted my new MD note with the new weight on it to them and they faxed the WHOLE package over again the next day. They apparently have to resubmit the entire package again after a denial (my ins co that is). I was fortunate, I had an answer in a couple of days. I understand for some folks it can be months for an approval or a denial. Hang in there!

If you are not hungry for them, don't eat them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking the post-op diet SLOWER than prescribed. The problems come when one takes it faster than what the doc or nut told you to. Congrats on the loss, congrats on not feeling hungry and if you don't want to eat a mushy, don't. Just make sure you are getting in enough Fluid and Protein (protein drinks, etc.).