faithmd

YEAH Kirsten!!!!

Thank you, DrLo!

See my post about this about five below this thread: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f5/aaaahhhhh-where-heck-new-posts-49846/ Alex provided a link to use in the meantime

I have tried, really tried to watch AI, I just can't do it. (Last time I could make it through an entire episode was the one where Tamyra got voted off. I can't stand that show. But I think that might be because I'm not a "reality" TV fan, either.

Here's a link to search for new posts: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/search.php?do=getnew

On the home page, the last group of Forums is the LBT Community Center. It's in there. LBT Forum Suggestions, Feedback & Questions - Lap Band Talk Forum - The largest forum for Lap Band Surgery Discussion and Lap Band Surgery Support

Dang it! The Welcome banner doesn't work anymore! That should have been a neat flashing rainbow colored banner that said welcome. I think you get the idea. Glad to have you here!

:welcomeB: to LBT!!!! I worked with Garth for years at UM (his residency) and miss him like the dickens! Please tell him Faith the rotund redhead from Trauma Burn says hi! That is, if you see him. (I admit I don't watch Big Medicine so I don't know if you ever work together or not-not home at night much.)

PLEASE go to the LBT suggestions forum, I started a thread there about it and Alex provides a link for us to use for now. He said it's expected back later tonight (New Posts) and User CP is supposed to be in the My Account link. (I haven't tried it yet).

See my thread about this about two below this one. Alex provides a link for now.

I really dig this skin!

And User CP?????

That's the ONLY way I read this forum, where did the "New Posts" button go??

Os is the opening or stoma created by the band. I'd call your doc.

Brandy and Brandi: Ack!!!! Basically, it all SUCKS! Brandy: Tequila, tequila is a friend for a day, and you can use the empty bottle on D's head... Brandi: Eeeegads, what rotten string of bad luck! And that's all it looks like to me, a rotten, awful string of bad luck. I would never have thought of the term "drama" at all. Just rotten luck. You both have NO idea how VERY VERY much I wish I had magic wands and could wave them for both of you wonderful women. Brandi(y)'s, you WILL have the last laugh! Things WILL get better. They really, really will. When? I do not know, but I am certain they will. You two deserve so much fabulousness in your lives.

I love you Jack! I love you, too Derick! GREAT posts, gentlemen!

Absolutely agree with those above. Also, the longer you are chewing and chewing, your stomach is churning and churning and producing acid and enzymes in anticipation of the food that is in your mouth. Okay, so it's not like your stomach is doing a 440, but it is working and moving in preparation of food coming down. (Notice how your mouth waters when you smell something yummy?) Any extra movement you don't have to have in the early stages of healing is good to avoid. The band is held in place on the front with sutures, but the back has to scar into place, the scars take longer to heal with the more the stomach moves.

Green, I'm making my grocery list now! DH's 45th b-day is this coming week, he loves a good slab of red meat and garlic mashed potatoes.

Suzanne, while it is true that in general calories in vs calories out usually results in weight loss, please remember that when you were on Clear liquids or full liquids you were eating very few calories. Those few calories were and are being held onto by your body while you are healing. Now that you are on mushies you are likely eating more carbs as well. Some folks' bodies react differently to different types of calories. I know that if I eat 2000 calories of mostly carbs, I'm not going to lose a thing, but if I am eating 2000 calories and it's heavy on the Protein, I'll still lose. The body in it's healing phase requires calories for rebuilding tissues, blood, etc. So it hangs onto every calorie it gets. Hang in there, this is normal (frustrating, but normal). As I said before, you *will* get there.

I just read on another thread where you haven't been banded yet. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't worry about any of this until you are closer to your goal weight. I would hate for you to get married to what you may find out now about coverage and have it totally change just as you are getting ready to apply for your TT. Who knows, you may not have UHC by then. Seriously, make your life much less complicated and don't worry about this now. I was excited about what I had learned about coverage when I changed ins co's to get the band in the first place, then I discovered my information had been wrong. Had to wait another year to change to another ins co that did cover the band. In that year they went from a six month MD supervised diet requirement to a TWELVE month requirement. Needless to say, I was livid and depressed. So please don't put too much time or trouble into finding this out now.

Wait, didn't I just read this same thread someplace else? Here's what I wrote over there: The first six weeks or so after the band is placed are for HEALING. NOT weight loss. If you lose, great. But most people do not lose, most gain. This is a very common topic around here. There have been threads and polls galore and the answer most folks give is that they gain some of their weight back. It WILL go away. Just hang in there, you are about to enter Bandster Hell, and that is worse, but eventually it gets better. It's just a few weeks out of your life. If you are like me you've been fat for years, a few more weeks/months aren't going to hurt me in order to be healthier down the line. Hang in there folks, it's not your fault!

The first six weeks or so after the band is placed are for HEALING. NOT weight loss. If you lose, great. But most people do not lose, most gain. This is a very common topic around here. There have been threads and polls galore and the answer most folks give is that they gain some of their weight back. It WILL go away. Just hang in there, you are about to enter Bandster Hell, and that is worse, but eventually it gets better. It's just a few weeks out of your life. If you are like me you've been fat for years, a few more weeks/months aren't going to hurt me in order to be healthier down the line. Hang in there folks, it's not your fault!

You should call them and ask, that's the ONLY way to know FOR SURE. Someone else may have UHC, but plans differ from employer to employer. Employers have the ability to buy (or not) riders for various things like bariatric surgery or cosmetic surgery. And what may be considered cosmetic to one ins co may not be cosmetic to another. You need to have them send you a hard copy of what the requirements are if they say tey cover certain things if "medically necessary." You need to know what that exactly means.

I wish you all the luck in the world! Thanks for mentioning the book, I have some head work to do around eating, perhaps I'll order it. I take it that it is a UK author?

Very VERY VERRRRY rarely are these operations completely free. I did burn for several years and many people would come to us and ask about donation for free surgery. You can certainly donate the excess skin that is removed in the course of a planned TT or LBL, etc. But as far as having that operation for free, that is beyond rare. Burn surgeons are not always plastic surgeons. Their surgical specialty is not in reconstructing someone after they have lost a large amount of weight, they reconstruct someone after a trauma or a fire. Very different approaches. In the OR after a burn, we didn't use lipo to shape and contour or tighten abdominal muscles, etc. We didn't care about perfect scar placement when grafting a burned area. You simply can't. Burn surgery (at the time of the burn) is about covering the exposed tissues and preventing infection and promoting wound healing. I wouldn't want most burn surgeons doing my TT or LBL. I have read and heard where a portion of the surgical fee was waived for a donation. But that is a PORTION, not the whole thing for free.