hagerteresa

I recall that guy that was trying to sell his organs on ebay. I would happily sell the ones I could live without or have harvested. I would donate too but don't have the extra money to take the time off of work for recovery. It just seems like more people would happily offer their marrow or kidney or whatever if there was a little more incentive in it for them. People get paid for donating their eggs and sperm. How do they get out of "illegally selling their organs?" Curious... I am always amazed at what people come up with to sell on ebay.

I tried to do one once but since I am still a long ways from goal it really didn't look to far along. I will try to do it again. I basically got all the way designing my last one and went to my user cp and tried to paste the link into my signature. When I went to look at it, it just had the letters and numbers to the link but not the actual ticker. I knew I had done something wrong. I was astounded when I was off for a couple of weeks, came back and the forum was FULL of tickers. WOW! Anyway thanks for the info Marie. Best wishes, Teresa

I also loved the article. What an inspiration! Teresa

Hi Tony, Nice to meet you. I am a 30 year old, 5'2" female weighing 362 lbs when I got my band in Mexico. I was and am very happy with my surgery and my current progress. I liked my surgeon overall but he has also been subject to lots of issues regarding erosion and communications problems. I don't know if I would really refer people to him or not. His price is typically $7k-$8k and the hospital I had mine done in did have an ICU. The facility was called Oasis of Hope hospital. I found many of the hospitals down there have websites with pictures of their facilities. If I were to do it all over again I would have gone with Dr. Kuri but I know there are several other very good surgeons too. There are a few other Kuri patients on this forum so hopefully one of them will see this and get back to you. My surgeon was Dr. Lopez Corvalla. Best of luck to you, Teresa

Trish, I feel your pain. I was right in your shoes before I got the band. When I finally had surgery I was 30 years old, been heavy my entire life and weighed in at a mighty 362 lbs. 8 months out and 82 lbs later I feel better and better. I know what my goal weight should be but I'll be thrilled just to keep the scale going down. You'll get your chance one way or another girl. I remember doing my research and seeing everyones progress too and SOOO wanted to be there with them. You'll find a way. Teresa

I told you he was a nice fellow. I wish you would have sent him regards from me. I wonder if he remembers me and his experience in Oregon? I totally idolize him... I loved him on the show and was rooting for him on both episodes. Anyway cool that you got to meet him. What is going on with the get together at your place in March? Also I was wondering if you had any spare time to help me find good cheap travel tickets. I want to go somewhere warm and tropical for a week ANYTIME this year but on a budget. I don't really care where but was thinking Mexico (flight and hotel), Hawaii (just flight-we have family to stay with there), or Florida? I don't know... Just somewhere where we could relax enjoy the sun and have a good time with lots of Water and snorkeling. If your too busy, just say so. I am going to try to get in and chat with a travel agent tomorrow. I looked at all the websites I could find but nothing jumped out at me. I won't get the money in hand to pay for it for a couple of weeks anyway. I sure miss hanging out with you, Lisa and the Vegas gang. It seems so long ago... Best wishes, Teresa P.S. I tried to download one of those adorable tickers the other day but couldn't figure out how to get it in my signature. Any ideas?

Hey Ryan, Glad she is finally comfortable. My thoughts are with you both and I hope you have an uneventful trip home with her tomorrow. The poor thing... Best of luck to both of you and please get some sleep! Teresa

Hi Angela, I'm so sorry about your dilemma. I know how bummed you must feel but a baby is a wonderful thing too. My hubby and I would love to have one but just haven't yet. I have a friend who is banded and has been for over a year and is pregnant doing great but I don't think any surgeon would put an expecting woman under. Even my pregnant friend is having major gall bladder problems but they won't surgically fix it until after the baby is born. Definitely talk to your surgeon and insurance and make sure the plans are at most delayed but not cancelled. I personally get the depo shot and love it, no worries or forgettfulness for 3 months at a time. Let us know what happens and hope your feelings change about wanting a baby. If they don't I know there are a bizzilion people out there who would love to adopt including ourselves. Teresa

Hello, I weighed in at 362 when I got my band and 8 months out I've lost 82 lbs. I've been very happy with the procedure for the most part. Best wishes to you, Teresa

They are a United States business and I'm in the sueing mood too. I have heard too many complaints about the situation. Lisa works in the law firm, maybe they'll take us on. Ann Marie (I believe is the founder of belighter) either lives in Las Vegas or California now. All the information is on their website www.belighter.com. I'll pm Lisa about the possibility of class action suit or ask my attorney on wednesday when I see him again about my auto accident. Teresa

My husband and I had a couple of really cute pics taken of us over the holidays but it has been so hectic with me gone that we hadn't gotten them posted. I'll try to get him to do that this week. T

Hi everyone, It feels like forever since I have directly got to chat with all of you. I was inn-sitting at the bed and breakfast for a couple of weeks and their computer is ancient and slow. It never seemed worth my time to dink around with their dial up but since I have been home I felt behind in the whole forum. I also am taking an astronomy course for kicks mostly and my hubby just had his 2nd carpal tunnel surgery. Needless to say, I haven't really been able to catch up on lapbandtalk completely yet. Lisa, I really don't do anything specifically to lose weight. In fact, I feel like I have been pigging out all weekend with my hubby laying around wanting snacks every ten minutes. I do TRY to make some good choices in my snacks but also still allow my daily chocolate fix. One trick I do to make extra snacking less convenient is I dish up my serving and put ALL of the fixings away. That way if I do want to come back and have more, I have to get it all back out again. That sometimes really does deter me from having more. When I was inn-sitting I couldn't stay out of their fancy chocolate collection (we put them in the guest rooms when they don't go in my mouth) and I found havarti cheese and crackers made for a blissful meal. I don't think those incidences positively influenced my loss but ??? Otherwise I am not doing anything else much different. At my own home I cook more and like to think it is nutricious. I still eat on small plates, etc. I just seem to get on these long plateus and then BLAM... I finally get another decent loss. My best advice is to focus on the solid protein and let everything else be secondary. Best wishes, Teresa

I'm glad I am not the only one out there who feels this way about that company. I knew Anita Jordon (the first little email in response to Kristies) and she was a total die-hard support belighter and ann-marie fan. I have no idea why the email got sent to me. It seemed to be emailed to me from Anita but we had actually had a disagreement several months ago and had stopped all contact with each other at that time. I wonder what the unmentionable circumstance is? Oh-well, I just found the whole thing curious and knew some of you had used their services as well. I wonder what the possibility is for doing a class action suit against the company? Best wishes, Teresa

I was emailed this message regarding a couple of emails on a lapband yahoo board. Thought some of you might be interested... Welcome to a world free of AnnMarie. I know first hand about the unmentionable circumstances. People on these boards will have a field day with your post though. Anita kristie <krizzygirl2002@yahoo.com> wrote: I was a patient coordinator working with belighter. Due to unmentionable circumstances I am no longer affiliated with this company. Thank you Kristie Rivington Here is my response to the situation: That is very interesting to hear this from you, Anita and Kristie. As far as I am concerned belighter is nothing but a con-artist ploy. It is so nice and sweet of Ann Marie to help us poor obese people connect to Mexico doctors and offer us around the clock lifetime support but at a nice profit for her and her company. I know MANY people who are very angry at the lack of correspondence and concern from belighter once they have had surgery. It was a big THANKS FOR NOTHING. It is not difficult for prospective patients to find the contact information for individual surgeons directly without paying belighter anything. Glad you all finally saw the light but it won't help put extra money spent back in the pockets of victims. Teresa

Hi Lisa, Hope you finally heal this time. Glad you got a port back in temporary or not. Best wishes Teresa

Well, I finally got past the holiday plateau and lost 4 lbs since the last time I had weighed (it had been awhile) and am now down 82 lbs. I was pretty happy about that. Lisa, you got your new port? SWEET! Teresa

Hi Lyle, It does sound like great fun. I'll have to look at ticket prices though, Teresa

Hi Trish, Just look at what you have too look forward too, that is such a lovely pic of you at 230 lbs. You remind me of myself a little bit. I started my band journey at 30 years old and 362 lbs. I'm still a long ways from 230 but much closer than I was 8 months ago. Best of luck getting all the final approvals and would love to hear more from you as your band journey progresses. Teresa

Becca, I was starving during the liquids phase too but it will be a lot better once your on full mushies. They gave me Jello in the hospital after surgery so a few days after I got home I justified eating pudding. LOL... Don't know how the two correllated but it seemed justifiable to me at the time. Just do your best to follow the doctor's orders from here on out. We all make mistakes but don't do too many, you'll be on mushies very soon and your meals will finally take on new life. Teresa

Hi Patty, If Dr. Patterson doesn't take you try Dr. Eubanks. He has a wonderful bedside manner and seems to know what he is doing regarding the band. Dr. Flanagan never had anything to do with the bands. He only did open by-passes. There is also a fill doctor in Klamath falls but I haven't really heard much about them. Good luck, Teresa

I'll try it... My email address is hagerteresa@hotmail.com. Thanks for the invite, Teresa

You look absolutely lovely in your photos. It is very nice to meet you and glad you came back to join us. How was your cruise? I have always wanted to take one but feel kind of chicken about it too. Who would want to be on a nice vacation sick from the Norwalk virus or sea-sickness... Is it truly not bad? Anyway congrats on your fabulous job. Teresa

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into all of those sights. Teresa P.S. Where is Penni? She always says she gets good deals...

Hi Pat, I was curious about Kathy having paid that much since we had both used the same doctor within weeks of each other. Lisa had also used the same doctor just days before I had and she only paid $7500. It just amazes me about the variance in Dr. Lopez's pricing. I also get my fills from Dr. Eubanks in Portland Or. and pay the price Kathy quoted. Seems pretty reasonable compared to the rest of our states' prices. Teresa

Hi Seppi, Have you ever successfully lost weight on any diets in the past? Did it stay off or did you gain it back? This decision is totally up to you and your personal history with dieting. I have heard good things about the south beach diet but are you truly going to be able to follow it for a long time and maintain the loss? The surgery for the band is truly pretty minimal but your right, why have it done if you can do it on your own. You could always continue to try what your doing for awhile and decide later about the surgery but if your insurance is covering the surgery you might have to go thru the whole process of getting it re-approved. Best wishes to you, Teresa