DeLarla

Nice to see you pecking around here, cluuccckkkk CLUCCKKK brucckkkk. Gonna lay an egg now.

Nykee and Kendra, thank you SO much for your honest posts. I swear, I get really worried about people that boast and brag about Mexico without adding in the dangers. Many people are elated with their experiences, but like Kathy said, you give up all your rights when you go to a foreign country. This isn't a decision to be made lightly based on a few happy camper stories. Nykee, your IV story is common. I've heard a lot of stories with IV problems in Mexico. My IV was all bloody at one point, and Francesca's IV got all inflamed (I had Lopez, she had Ortiz.) During my port replacement the nurse couldn't even find my veins, and they only used gloves about half the time. I like to think that things will improve with so many American patients going there, but for now, the standards fall far below what we are used to in the United States. Great thread.

CRAP! Now we all have to boycot Idol. Ryan Seacrest made a fat joke. That's messed up. What the hell is wrong with people?

Well since you blew it for me, I'm going to blow it for everyone. Constantine will win. I know he will because I said he will win. And if he doesn't win I'm going to act like a big baby.

The only one geekier than me is YOU. I might be addicted to American Idol, but you are addicted 3 hours ahead of me. Here's your sign back.

P.s. You Suck.

Because I am gay and I have no life and all I do is sit in front of LBT and wait for American Idol. Please pass me a life.

I'm voting Penni off this island for blowing tonight's show. Penni is grounded. She's in the corner wearing a sign.

So far today is mostly good (except the large McFlurry that fell down my throat.) It's 8:23 and I'm here at LBT and not laying on the couch eating. I took the dogs to the park after work and did some weights. I'm here because I can't eat and type at the same time. I started this thread because an hour can ruin my life. All I need to do is stop eating for an hour. Is that so hard? YES. If I can make it till 9:30 without eating I'll be fine. Big friggen deal, less than 2 hours yet my head screams at me to eat when my Band is full and my belly isn't hungry. Any word on the Brain Band yet? Anyone else out there struggling to stay out of the kitchen. Kitchen.. Kitchen... that's a funny word, isn't it? We should go back to the old days where we keep our food in a root cellar. I doubt I'd drag my fat ass to the root cellar for a jar of pickled rutabagas right now, that's for sure. I'm trading the freezer in for a root cellar. Donali, is that something you could build?

Kathy, sorry I took so long to catch up. As far as the Band not changing me, Oh, yes it has! It just hasn't changed the way I think. Yep, I PB from time to time and you gave a really good description of it. My worst one was about a week ago when I stupidly popped an entire cold pill. It was horrifying, and it happened in my local convenience store where the clerks know me, and I scared the hell out of them as I ran to the bathroom. Sometimes there are things in my head that I want to say but I'm afraid to write them cause the words come out wrong, so I'm not saying this to be an ass, but I kinda feel better about my surgery after hearing your experience. You sound like you feel like crap the way I did. Some people are bouncing back to normal and making me feel like a big baby, but you are describing my healing and recovery process. I felt lousy, there's no way I could take care of a child or myself for that matter. I guess this means we are normal! YEAH! I didn't have my first PB for months, so I would be just as worried as you (just cuz I'm a worry wart) but you probably don't have anything to worry about. There were a couple girls in recovery that kept vomitting right after surgery. I guess anesthesia makes some people really ill. Having one PB shouldn't hurt you, but like everyone else says, just take it really easy. I swear, the stuff you wrote came right out of my head all the way to the Heavenly relief of tea and a heating pad! You should be feeling better soon. Hang in there girl.

CONSTANTINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sitting here 2 feet from the TV waiting for the results. But yes, I LOVED Carrie last night and was disappointed that she didn't get better reviews. So what if it wasn't perfect, she looked hot.

I bet you look hot in that Plain Jane getup. It was fun talking to you & can't wait till you finish this smelly trial. xoxo Peace, baby! Hi to Bill, too.

GRAM... It's WORTH IT! Please please please know that I adore my band. My band saved my life. My band restricts my eating, it really does. My whole problem stems from being a worry wart. I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, so I worry about everything, and I constantly worry that I will lose my mind over stupid food. I worry that I'm stretching my pouch and damaging my esophagus. I worry that I'll completely lose control and jump off a bridge. But it's all in my head. I started a thread called, "Why are you fat" awhile back. Turns out that each one of us is oversweight for different reasons. I fall into the category of night time binger. It stems back to childhood when I hid and ate. Oh my gosh, I'm rambling and can't get the words out as fast as my head is spinning right now, but I'm SO SO SO glad I posted this thread. Last night I suggested a Chat, but nobody was there at 5:00 or 5:30. But I came back later and found one of my favorite Bandster friends and two more new bandster buddies. They had suggestions up the ying-yang, but I didn't think anything could help me at this stage of the game. Teresa kept suggestiong healthy Snacks, as if I didn't already know that, but I refused to believe I had any willpower left. After I logged off Chat, I went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a candy bar - but then this shiney red apple twinkled from the counter, and I saw Teresa's face in it. So I put the candy down and ate the apple. Babs - the stupid apple nearly made me PB. Yep, my nightly Snicker's fix slides right down with the chips and ice cream, but an apple won't go down. The good news is that I did NOT eat the candy thanks to this support board. As far as the rumors and lies that kept me away, let's move past that now and drop it. I'm famous for editing and deleting my own words, but that's something I'm trying to stop doing, so I won't edit my original post, but I'm so glad I came back home. I'll be in Chat tonight. I'm not sure what time, but I WILL be there. LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks everyone for making LBT the safety net I need.

I guess what I was trying to say was that "They" say it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. First, who the heck are "they?" And have they ever broken a habit in 21 days? My point is I was hoping some of my old habits would have gotten a little easier. I tried a little experiment on myself last week. I tried counting how many times thoughts of food interupted my thought pattern, and I couldn't even keep up the count. Thoughts flood my brain at least every 2 minutes. I don't think anything is corny when we are trying to make a new life for myself. Guitarman, I wish you were closer cause I've been dying to pick up my guitar again and finally learn it, but I can't find a good instructor. I took a few classes here and there, but I sure wish I could make some decent noise come out of that thing. Yes, I can and SHOULD take night classes again. I adore school. I can even afford $25.00 these days but I need the push to get started (like a catalog needs to whack me upside the head.) Yes, I've come very far. I've learned enormous things. Most important I'm not letting anyone keep me from posting any more. I've dealt with the liars and will try to come to LBT every single night for support and wisdom. So I guess I have changed because I am like 90% better at getting all my Water in. I eat slower almost all the time. I finally chew my food. Eating slow and chewing food are definitely things the Band controls. It's almost 5:30 p.m., which would be 8:30 p.m. on the east coast, but nobody was in chat. And I'm 100% Polish so this thread accepts all Polish jokes! I was late for chat cuz my truck broke. It actually broke months ago but duct tape was keeping it together. I learned one more valuable lesson, that duct tape is only good during winter months cause the minute it gets warm it gets all gooey and stretchy. So I finally dropped it off for repair$. But finding all you guys right here is like when Dorothy finally wakes up and sees her loved ones standing over her bed. That's the feeling I have right now, and it ain't a bad feeling at all. Deep warm fuzzies you guys. The Food Monkey. That sounds like a book I should write!

Alex, I was holding my breathe reading your response. How can I say this without sounding cruel? But thank God I'm not alone. For some reason I figured you (particulary you) had come to terms with a new way of thinking. Like they say in OA, food is cunning, baffling, powerful. Kyleigh, I wish you could be on-line tonight because you seem so easy going about this whole thing, as if you found peace with food. I've tried finding other chat rooms at night since LBT is usually empty, but the other boards are flooded with Spammers, so it's nearly impossible to get a good chat going.

Now that the wound has finally closed, here's my plan. All I want to do is maintain my weight loss for one year. If I can manage to stay withing five pounds, I'll be happy. Then in another year or so I hope to get a new port. Once I have a port and a fill, it should be like having a brand new Band, so maybe I can lose some more another year. Today all I care about is keeping off what I lost.

I'm actually pretty impressed with him. I think you're lucky that it ended that way because most of us walk around for the rest of our lives with old straggling relationships in our heads and hearts that never ended with real closure. I'm not sure why closure is so important to women when men simply forget the whole thing ever happened, but I'd give anything to say goodbye to a couple "boys" from my past. I wish I knew what they were thinking. Was it me? Was it him? Was it another woman... another man? I'm sorry you had to go through all that pain, but at least it was with someone who had genuine feelings for you and didn't just use you and ignore you. Lessons learned the hard way - ugg. You being the cute young single one should update us married women on your next date so we can live vicariously through you. Hurry and post!

UGG. That means I've been lazy and lifeless. Major dusty wind storms here suck away my motivation. But when I do exercise I try to keep it really basic these days. If I try to do too much, I'll lose my spunk. So I walk rapidly for 45 minutes then straight into upper body weights for about 10 minutes of arms. I don't have the motivation to do the whole body like I used to so I'm happy if I get that done 3 times a week.

I'm with Megan on the mattresses! The squeaky wheel gets the oil. I read this earlier but was too disgusted with the whole thing to answer. How can you get a girl's hopes up like that just to smash them down? My belly is sick over it.

You might have gained a couple, but I doubt you gained 10. I bet you would weigh different on your own scale from one state till the next. It would be interesting to see you carry the same scale in your suit case. Hmmm. Food sucks.

"The first signs of erosion can be deteced under fluorscopy." I didn't word that very well. What I was trying to say is that a doctor can actually see something in the fluoroscopy that might make him believe you have erosion. The erosion process would have started earlier, but unless you have other signs or sypmtoms, you could walk around with erosion and not even know it. So on the pro-fluoro side, it's a good way to make sure the barium flows correctly, and it's also a good way to see how tight the fill makes it. But on the other side, even if the fill looks good under fluoro, there's no way to tell how the body will act in a couple days after the fill. Most people don't feel a fill right away as the body adjusts, which is why some doctors don't feel fluoro is 100% accurate. Do chemo patients get injected under fluoro? I don't think I'd want anyone poking at me that wasn't able to find my port easily. Fills seem so "text book" to me that a port shouldn't be a mystery.

Mike, the two people I know asked me not to post their problems, so I deleted what I wrote in respect of their wishes. Having a LapBand is just as dangerous as any other surgery. Hundreds of things can go wrong, from problems with anesthesia and drugs to band erosions. I've asked why Inamed claims Dr. Lopez has the lowest level of complications. Why do we hear every Lopez problem but we don't hear about other surgeons' complications? If Lopez has the lowest, that means all other surgeons are having a fair share of problems. So far all I am is frustrated with the lack of honesty because I don't know who to trust. Trust in a surgeon is very important to me, and when surgeons aren't reporting complications to Inamed, which they are required to do regardless of how menial they believe the complication to be, that's a huge breach in trust that should make people think twice. Even if the surgeon does everything immaculately, things can and do go wrong. It's not a reflection on the surgeon but the nature of practicing medicine. I would rather have a surgeon tell me he's had 10 complications than a surgeon that claims he's had zero because there's no such number as zero when it comes to practicing medicine.

If memory serves me well, ulcers can lead to erosion. My surgeon found a spot in my belly that he also biopsied. He put me on ulcer meds to, so thank God you got the endoscopy on time. Hopefully the meds will get the inflammation under control and you'll be on the road to No More Worries.

Glad you had a great experience, but you gotta admit it feels much better being back recovering at home in your own country. Welcome to the weird world of the banded! You went in so prepared and had so much knowledge that you'll do great. Do I remember correctly that you have local aftercare? Did Dr. Kuri wear the smiley face hat in surgery?

Alexandra & Alex, Lately LBT has been bombarded with so many new members that it's hard to keep up. I love my band regardless of the problems I've had, but I think some of the most important posts are getting lost. May I suggest adding a new forum for "Problems with the Band" specifically for erosions, port infections, etc? New people researching the band need to know how serious this procedure can be even though most people are very happy with the product. Thanks.