faithmd

Congrats on your appointment!! You titled the thread in such a way that you might not have gotten many looks. A suggestion for the future would be to title the threads so that they let the reader know what's in it. Like: First appointment tomorrow, what to expect? Or somethinglike that. Since you haven't gotten a lot of responses (or to use anytime), I would suggest you use the wonderful Search function found on the blue toolbar on the upper part of the page. It's been a great help to me. Many of the questions you have asked have loads of good answers out there. First, I don't think any of us can tell you how long it will be until surgery. Boy, how I wish we could! Certainly since you are self pay and you've gotten things done already (in terms of testing, etc) it should take much less time. It will depend on some factors: Does your surgeon require a pre-op diet? Will you have to order it? What is the surgeon's schedule? How far ahead are they scheduling OR's? Will you have to meet with a dietician (you probably will tomorrow)? You may need an appointment for things like blood draws, EKG, etc. just before surgery. In terms of what to ask your surgeon, there's a few threads about that, and here's a link to a whole forum that's helpful: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/lap-band-faqs-f73.html

And use the search function here and look up UHC, I've read some nightmares about them, and others where it's been totally excluded.

You might want to join the Yahoo group:bandstersinsurance It's all about insurance and being banded. But remember, your policy may be very different from mine, even though we may both have the same insurance company because of exclusions and riders.

The nutritionist I saw last week didn't say a thing about giving up carbs (though I already have given up simple sugars and enriched flours, etc.). they do caution you about the possibility that breads and rice may get "stuck" (may not, it's different from person to person). The thing about simple carbs is that they are really awful. They only provide calories, without nutritional value. Now if you are talking complex carbs, whole grain breads, sweet potatoes, etc...then you are getting more bang for your buck. You will be taking in so many fewer calories, I think the thought is to make every one of them count.

Hello and congrats on being banded! Just above your thread in the very forum this was posted in (Food) there is a sticky with mushy stage recipes, here's the link: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/mushies-stage-recipes-t17637.html You may also want to use the search function found on the blue toolbar about 1/3 way down from the top of the page, click on "Search" and then advanced search, and type mushies, then use the pull-down menu and select titles only. You will then get a listing of alllllll the other threads (and there are many, so I hope you can get some good info) whose title has mushies in it. Good luck!

Welcome to LBT, look around and have fun. There is a Search function on the blue toolbar about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the page. You can search for lots of things. There's many, many threads about carbonation around here. The latest take on it is: still no carbonation, at least not for the first year or so. Some surgeons are now saying that you can have a little in moderation after the band is well seated and healed ( I have read six months I have read a year). But it has to depend on what your surgeon says. You can leave it out and let it go flat and drink it. The thought is that the carbonation could possibly stretch your pouch. Many banded folks say that they don't even want any after being banded. Yes, that's from the formerly die-hard addicts, too Here's some links to other threads about it (and these are just a FEW I've found): http://www.lapbandtalk.com/drinks-soda-t32110.html?t=32110 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/miss-my-pop-t32106.html?t=32106 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/do-you-drink-t32043.html?t=32043 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/diet-coke-lovers-t31005.html?t=31005 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/coke-drinking-poll-t22906.html?t=22906 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/do-really-have-t30646.html?t=30646 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/coke-really-off-t30277.html?t=30277 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/soda-pop-t30051.html?t=30051 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/dr-c-question-t26776.html?t=26776 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/pop-not-t25715.html?t=25715 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/soda-forbidden-fruit-t22606.html?t=22606

There have been a few folks who have used baby foods. I plan to. I went out and bought one jar of each type of food that interested me (meats, veggies, fruits) and have been trying them. They're really not bad. And VERY convenient. You don't have to clean up the processor/chopper after grinding up something you cooked. It can get pricey, though. I have found Walmart and Target run just about neck and neck in pricing. I also have heard the baby juices are in perfect sized bottles for drinking if need be to get things "going" (i.e. baby prune juice)

At least one other person... But if you want to get creative, you could add more than that, I think. I've seen pictures somewhere Here's the bad part...I'm married!! And it's not me... :omg:

Here's the link to the whole forum about FAQ's and technical issues, you'll find questions to ask the surgeon there as well as checklists for items to have. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/lap-band-faqs-f73.html?s=&daysprune=&f=73 And here's some of the many other threads that are similar to yours, I thought you might like to check some of them out, too. The Search function along the blue toolbar about 1/3 way down from the top of every page is invaluable. Welcome and best of luck, hope these all help! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/questions-ask-consultation-t32224.html?t=32224 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/pre-op-questions-t31866.html?t=31866 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/pre-op-questions-t31865.html?t=31865 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/questions-ask-t28945.html?t=28945 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/some-questions-ask-t12541.html?t=12541 http://www.lapbandtalk.com/questions-ask-your-t20287.html?t=20287

Glad you are home! And Stephs right, it's not that we don't like your thread, but I do think that wearing a bikini is sooooo foreign to so many of us, we just don't know what to say. I do wear a one piece without the skirt already, but then again, I don't embarrass easily. I figure a skirt isn't going to hide much, it may just draw attention to my fat butt and stomach, but then again, at 3 and a half bills, I'm really big.

You're very welcome! I am going to PM you with my list of questions to ask the surgeon and the center. There are a few duplicates in the three documents, but you can pick out the ones you want to ask. Good Luck!

Welcome Shermy! This is a great place to be. I hope your appointment tomorrow goes well!

You still need to call NJ Plus yourself and ask about YOUR specific policy. Different companies can take different riders on their policies. You may or may not have a weight loss surgery exclusion. I'd hate to have you get excited about it and find out your company just started excluding it. Call tomorrow morning, then get them to send you the requirements and policy statement so you have it in writing. Good luck!

Arabic is tough, it was my language in college. I was engaged to a Jordanian and hung around exclusively Middle Eastern men (most of whom would call themselves Palestinian) for a couple of years. Today i'm lucky if I can order food in a restaurant. It's one of those very tough languages that if you don't use, you truly lose. And it doesn't come flooding back like Spanish or French did for me.

I have not yet had surgery, but they also pump your abdominal cavity full of gas so that they are able to visualize what they are doing in there. Did this not get explained to you?

And have them mail that part of the policy (with the requirements) to her so that she has it in writing.

Another question to ask is what he means by places the band at an angle to reduce slippage? The acceptable technique is the pars flaccida technique/approach. I would ask specifically if this is the approach he uses. This approach has been documented in the literature: http://thinforlife.med.nyu.edu/asset...pdf?RCD=J53039 to be a very successful surgical technique. If he is doing something different, I would have to question how he came to doing it that way, and if it was approved by studies or Allergan. If he meant he uses the PF approach, then I kind of wonder why he'd say he places it on an angle to reduce slippage. He should have said something like he uses the approved and proven best surgical technique for placement that we have today. It all has to boil down to if you are comfortable with him. I'd also ask him some very pointed questions and see if he squirms or dodges them. Things like: How many LapBands have YOU personally placed? What is YOUR rate of slippages, erosions, infections? How many complications have you encountered? What do you do about them? What if you get in and for some reason have to open me, will you just choose to convert me to a RNY? (If you dont want one, you need to make sure this is discussed up front, especially if he is very RNY positive.) How many infected bands have you had? Have you had to remove any bands, and why? Would you always choose to remove an infected band, or would you attempt to determine the severity of the infection and then perhaps just treat that aspect (antibiotics, perhaps port removal only, etc)? Remember you are hiring him to do work on your most valuable asset, your body. You wouldn't hire a contractor to work on your house without checking him or her out fully, first. So try not to feel funny about asking these questions, it's you that you are protecting.

You have some natural restriction from surgery and simply from the band being in place, so it would follow (to me) that you certainly could have a PB before a fill.

You could always also go over to Dr. C's site and ask there. He is always encouraging us to do that if he's not around. http://www.thebanddoctor.com

Gosh, I'm not banded yet and am struggling with this same feeling. I've changed my eating habits about six weeks ago and though I have lost about 22 lbs, I have only lost 13 lbs in the past month. Now I KNOW that is a very good loss. better than 2# per week. But I'm doing everything right, I'm exercising, I'm logging every bite on fitday.com, I have found I'm averaging about 1700-1900 calories a day (again, pre-band), my basal rate should be about 3800 according to fitday. I know that is just an estimate, I'm probably much closer to about 3000 as my fat % is 55.4, I think I'll ask my exercise physiologist to work my real basal rate out for me this week at rehab. In any case, I am finding it difficult even losing 2# a week because I feel like it should be so much faster, given my significant lifestyle and eating changes. I do keep reminding myself that I did not put it all on in one year, it's been over a lifetime. I just don't want to wait a lifetime to get it off. I guess I'm glad that I am experiencing these feelings now, so that I will know what is coming post-band when the weight loss is slow (but hopefully steady). I tell myself that every authority says slow and steady (1-2# per week) is the safest and most successful way to lose weight...but still! I think, then it will be 200 weeks, that's four YEARS! The flip side of that is it took well more than four years to put it on... So I hear ya, and I concur.

You are not supposed to expose surgical incisions to sunlight (UV rays) for a year. They will get reddened and sometimes raised. Efricka mentions it from time to time. she exposed her incisions to the sun and got reddened scars.

So what you're saying is that the US wanted Saddam in power in order for him to commit mass murder and genocide and steal money from his people? We wanted him in power because we knew he was capable of attempting to dominate the world, one country at a time? Because you say we knew all this, you think that's "WHY" we wanted him power? Sorry, don't buy it. We believed he was the lesser of two evils at the time, and he made certain promises. We f*ked up, we trusted him, and so we made the choice to help install him. That situation was rectified in 1990, and again we chose to go the diplomatic route (as touted by so many of you) and believe him again. Look where that got us and his people. First, we did not ONLY join WW II because we were attacked by Japan. We were actively supporting Great Britain from early on. Had we not supplied money, pilots, aircraft, ships and supplies to GB, they would have lost the slim toehold they had and we would all be speaking German or Japanese right now. To be technical, we declared war on JAPAN after they attacked us, Germany then declared war on us, three days later because of our declaration on Japan. Why do you think Japan attacked us in the first place? We weren't just sitting on our hands, we were involved already, just not with ground troops and personnel (other than American pilots who volunteered to fly for the RAF). Roosevelt pretty much was going it alone supporting GB, Congress didn't want to be involved, the political infighting game was going on. In the meantime, Europe was falling fast to Hitler. Roosevelt had to go it essentially alone, against what Congress wanted to do and because of that, we were able to defeat the Axis powers. If we had ignored it all, GB would certainly have fallen, and we would have been fighting (more than the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor) on our soil. Deja Vu?? Now, I'm NOT saying Bush is ANYWHERE in the same league as FDR, I am merely drawing some loose parallels between Hitler and Saddam. Both madmen who would stop at nothing to take over the world. So if we should have stuck our nose in and helped the Jews (and we admit that we made a big mistake by not helping), why shouldn't the innocent civilians in the Middle East, and those of us who do not believe as the extremists do, deserve help? Hitler was killing his own countrymen, declaring war on his own people, which basically is a civil war. Saddam was commiting genocide as Hitler was. We turned away Jews who were fleeing from Hitler, should we have repeated the mistake that our grandparents made and ignored the plight of the Iraqi's? So you're saying we should be the world's police? I thought the liberal view was that we can't keep being the world's police forces. At any rate, no matter what you think or believe to be true: Yep, wecome to politics. Certainly you can't look at the world with such rosy glasses as to think we can all sit at one metaphoric table and break bread. Just as we on LBT can't agree on this (and that's fine, it's what makes this interesting), can you really imagine that world powers and those wanting to be world powers can come to an accord? How about extremists who want everyone to conform to their views? Can we extend the olive branch and by leaving, will they stop killing those who do not believe as they do? If we leave, they'll behead someone else. I'm very willing to read anything about this that you can find. I cannot say enough that I am NOT a Bush lover, and I would be very interested in reading the statements you mention: "It was stated when he first came into office that that was what he wanted. He saw 9/11 and took advantage of it to get what he wanted" Who stated it? It was stated, but stated by who and what did they say? I will accept that his whole impetus was to go in if you can find where GWB actually stated it. Just because somebody said he said it, isn't good enough for me.

:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: My former military (11 years) husband (who spent time shaking Iraqi soil out of his boots in 1990-91, and some before that) and I completely concur. You summed it up VERY well.

Yep, I did in fact mean that in the case of attempting to change someone's mind it is fruitless (not pointless). "...It's fruitless, one is not likely to change the other's mind. And that's okay. Differences is what makes the world go 'round." I agree with you completely, I think it is good to exercise our minds, like you said, even if just killing some time :clap2:

So here it appears you are saying that you agree they should not have to remove thier hijab/abaya/burka/burqa/veils? Yet here it appears you are saying that when we are in their country, we shouldn't have to abide by their laws. And here it looks like you are making the point that in their country, we are asked to abide (or told to abide) by their acceptable and usual laws and customs, even if they are not our own. So go back to the Muslim women who would not remove their face piece for ther DL photos, and the woman in Michigan who is suing a judge because he threw her small claims case out of court for refusing to remove her veil so he could see her face to ascertain if she was telling the truth or not: Aren't these women IN OUR COUNTRY? And if we were in their country, wouldn't we be compelled to follow their cultural and societal norms? So why is it then okay for them to NOT follow ours???????