Carlene

I know someone who went to Mexico by herself, got banded, and then flew home alone. I think she spent the first night in the hospital.

My doctor wouldn't let me drive for a week, post-op. Yours might be different. I would ask before hand. PS...Welcome to our tree.

Thanks, Donna (DOC)... My gifts arrived today... Miami Heat tee shirt, candle, cute little basket, sea shell 'fridge magnet, set of kitchen towels, and a super cute Florida picture frame.

I'm not sure I would consider that unethical. I think it's more of a trade-off. People job shop to find one that has insurance that will cover WLS, so what's the difference? Now...sewing lead weights into your undies is a different matter. I think that's cheating, and a little strange. I would be afraid of being caught and feeling absolutely mortified!

You have the right attitude. I gained 5 pounds between my initial consult and surgery date. ONE "last supper" is okay, but I think I pushed the envelope a bit.

Lynda... I think a 40 pound loss in 7 months is GREAT. It took me 9 months to lose the first 50 pounds and I was darned proud of myself! My initial plan was to lose 100 pounds in a year. Well....that didn't happen. So I lowered the bar to 75 pounds, which was also a no-go. I'm glad you aren't giving up on the band. I've had 3 unfills myself and I know how frustrating that is. I still have to be careful to avoid the reflux - no eating after 6 PM and take Nexium every day, plus I sleep with my bed elevated. I could get another unfill and not have to deal with it, but I don't want to sabotage my last few pounds of weight loss. PS...I can't "eat everything", however. Because I keep my band on the tight side, I can't eat Pasta, pizza, bread, rice, red meat (except ground beef), pork (except crisp bacon), and some other stuff. salad is a "maybe" - I just never know from one day to the next. I was the queen of carbs and the band has put a screeching halt to most of my carb consumption (some exceptions - see Cheetos remarks from earlier post). I have mixed feelings about that....especially when I smell fresh bread baking.

This is sooooooooo not true. I have lost 98 pounds (19 months post-op now) I ate ice cream yesterday and the day before. I ate chips last week - probably 6 days out of 7. I ate cream of potato cheese Soup, shrimp in garlic and butter sauce, and cheesecake. Does that sound like I'm "totally compliant"????? I just eat a lot less of everything than I did before. I had one scoop of ice cream, only 6 shrimp, a cup of soup, and a tiny piece of cheesecake. The chips....well, we wont talk about the chips. I'm trying to wean myself off Cheetos by substituting something similar that I like a whole lot less. So far, it isn't working very well.

My husband's port has been very visible since day one. Even thru his clothes, it kind of looks like a little alien poking out. The surgeon says it's because he had very little fat under the skin....plenty of deep belly fat, however. He was banded at 287 pounds and now weighs 213.

Acid reflux is bad...aspiration is worse. It can lead to pneumonia and/or an abscess in the lungs. When you say "revision", do you mean another band, or a whole different surgery?

I walk 3.5 miles per trip - that's my route and I'm stickin' to it. I used to walk it twice a day but it's too hot now, unless I do the first one really early. It was cloudy and breezy today, so I walked about 7:30. Hopefully I will get my butt out there again tonight. I used to walk with my neighbor and that was great...made the time pass really fast. But she joined a gym and doesn't walk any more, so I bought an MP3 player and downloaded some music to walk to. It helps a bunch.

I resorted to a Dermi, too - after I had had my thyroid tested and upped my Protein and Vitamins etc to the max. He didn't do me much good...just said it's the weight loss (not lack of protein or vitamins or anything I am doing/not doing) and he sees quite a bit of it in WLS patients. Be glad you didn't have the bypass, he said. They lose a lot more hair. My guy said the hair will PROBABLY come back, but might take up to a year. He promised I would not go bald...LOL. Hair has three cycles - growing, resting, and shedding. Ours is shedding when it ought to be resting or growing.

Dear Sherri... I'm so sorry this is happening to you right on the eve of your surgery. Who understands men? Certainly not me. This may be about money, and maybe not. Your hubby probably loves you just the way you are and doesn't see the need to spend 10K on LB surgery. My husband doesn't understand about me wanting to spend that much on plastic surgery, either. But $400 for a golf club isn't too much...LOL. But you aren't worthless. He's just being mean spirited. Tell him to knock it off or all the women from Lap Band Talk are gonna come over there and open up a whole can of whip ass on him.

I have the all time best penis story. I have 3 sons (all grown now) and they were about 12,14 and 16 when the younger two were watching a movie that included a Jewish circumcision ritual. Number 3 son ran into the kitchen yelling, "Mom, mom...you're not gonna believe this. There's a priest in this movie and he just cut off the end of this baby's penis - with a sword!" I explained that the "priest" (we're Catholic), was actually a Jewish Rabbi and in their religion, circumcision is a very sacred and important event. I told him it wasn't the end of the baby's penis that got cut off, but just the foreskin, etc, etc, etc. And since the opportunity had presented itself (I couldn't believe that in all this time, it had never occurred to me to explain circumcision), I mentioned that little Protestant babies, and little Catholic babies, were also circumcised, but in the hospital - by a doctor. It took a few seconds for THAT to sink in, but he finally asked if he had been circumcised and I said, "Yes, and so were your brothers." Youngest son ran back into the den, where I heard him enlightening his older brother. "...and you and me and Tommy were circumcised in the hospital right after we were born." Middle son's response was to roll on the floor laughing, "You are sooooooooo dumb. I can't believe you fell for that. Mom is just pulling your leg." So I had to call him into the kitchen and go thru the whole circumcision talk again. Like his brother, this one was absolutely appalled by the whole idea. In retrospect, I'm not sure I would have them circumcised if I gave birth today. My daughter left her son "intact" on the advice of her pediatrician, and I think I'm inclined to agree with them.

Sally Jo... You will be receiving a series of packages. The first one should arrive next week. Let me know when you get it.

Acid reflux is bad for the band and for your health in general. There is a good chance you are aspirating stuff during your sleep and the cough is your body's reflex mechanism, trying to clear your lungs of foreign matter. You should consult your doctor about this.

I have a couple of stories....here's the first one. I have three sons - Thomas, Patrick, and Kelly (can't tell I'm Irish Catholic, can you?). When I discovered I was pregnant with Kelly, number one son was 4 and number two was 2. We waited a few months and then sat the oldest brother down, ready to deliver THE news. "Tommy", I said, "I have something to tell you. We are going to get a new baby." Tommy didn't say a word, but big tears welled up in his eyes and silently slid down his cheeks. "What's the matter?" I asked, "Don't you want a new baby brother or sister?" Still trying his best to hold back the tears, my heartbroken little boy said, "No, Mama.....I like Patrick".

I have multiple fusions in my spine and the last time I went to my ortho guy, I saw my band and tubing on the x-rays. It was cool! Sometimes a doctor will be poking around on my stomach and come across my port. They jump back like they've touched a live wire. Too funny!

It IS a rhetorical question because all three of those kids are alive - none of them were "gotten rid of". And it IS a dumb question, because I have already said I could not/would not choose one child to live and another to die. I do not like the whole idea of abortion. I don't think I would ever consider it an option FOR ME. I hate that sometimes abortion is used as retroactive birth control, and I hate that it is sometimes a choice of convenience, rather than a course of last resort. But nobody died and made me the boss. I don't have the right to browbeat other people for making choices that are - whether I like it or not - perfectly legal. And neither do you. This is, by the way, my last post on this subject. I can almost hear the applause...:clap2:

As good a way as any, I guess. Except there is no redhead. LOL When my daughter was very small, she used to ask me the most impossible questions. Like..."Mommy, if the house caught on fire and you could only save one of us, which one would it be?" I tried telling her that I would try to save ALL of them (there are 4, her and 3 older boys), that I could not choose, etc. She was relentless. "But if you HAD to choose, which one would you save?" Finally, I told her I would save whichever child I came across first. Blind luck seemed a better/more fair way to pick than anything else. I guess with the grandchildren, I would say the same thing. Get rid of the one in "front" - the first one you come across. Both are dumb, rhetorical questions, but you expect stuff like that from a four year-old.

Yes...but that doesn't mean you need a fill. If you are losing steadily - 1 -2 pounds per week - you don't need a fill. Count your blessings if you are still losing AND eating bread. I LOVE bread, but I can't eat it. I wish I could....no, I'm glad I can't...no, I really wish I could...no, I don't want to eat bread again. Can't make up my mind...

Not always. Sometimes doctors go into the surgery knowing that only one child can be saved. Doctors are not nearly as emotional about this stuff as you and I. An abortion that results in a living, breathing baby is considered a "complication" and generally there is no attempt to save the infant. I had no part in making this choice, nor would I have wanted any. And none of them (two boys and a girl) are more "worthy" than their siblings. I never gave a moment's thought to whether this young couple did the right thing by choosing not to "reduce" their pregnancy. It was THEIR choice - not mine. I prayed that the Lord would give them the strength and wisdom to make the right decision - that's all. And I think He did...but I would not have beat them over the head with my own values and beliefs had they chosen otherwise.

Sadly, one cojoined twin is often sacrificed so that the other can lead a normal life. I say "sadly" not because I disagree with the decision, but because I hate that any parent has to face such a thing. My stepson and his wife did in vitro fertilization and the doctor implanted a number of embryos. Three survived. It was suggested to them that they should "reduce the pregnancy", at least by one, so as to give the remaining baby/babies a better chance. My DIL could not bring herself to do it, but for nine months, part of her wondered if she had made the right choice. The kids, by the way, are fine. One has some neuro issues but they are minor.

Quite possibly the only thing ever written by TOM that I totally agree with. I consider this absolute proof that no one is totally wrong all the time. (LOL) For the record...I don't like the whole idea of abortion, legalized or not, and would never consider it an option for myself. I am Catholic, and I am also the former director of a social services agency (15 years), where I learned that "good" laws often make for bad outcomes. The very people who campaign against abortions are, sadly, the first ones to propose cut-backs in every single subsidy/assistance program at both state and federal levels. Their solution is just don't get pregnant in the first place. Well, guess what....stuff happens. And the consequences are not laid on the mothers....in the end, it's the child who gets punished.

You are too sweet, Dawn! One of the reasons I still hang out on the message boards is because of all the people who gave me support and encouragement when I first started. I found an old post of mine the other day (on another board) where I had lost the first 9 pounds. The journey of a thousand miles (or a hundred pounds) really does begin with a single step/ounce. Just keep telling yourself, "This time next year"... that was my mantra.

Don't throw those jeans out yet - except the biggest ones. You will get there and you will be totally surprised that you are wearing those teeny tiny things again. Sometimes I hold up my pants when I take them out of the dryer and marvel at the fact that they actually fit. I recently found a great pair of Ralph Lauren slacks on clearance for $15.00 and almost didn't try them on because they were a size 2. To my great surprise (and immense joy) they fit perfectly.