peaches9

Just for the record.... I love all my bandster friends be they Canadian, American &/or Mexican travelled.... But going into this procedure, I think it is valuable for people to read ALL points of view... Nothing is meant to be scary, just EDUCATED... unles you know all the pros and cons concerning lapband you are letting someone make a life changing decision without all the facts. p.s. I do have my Toronto Surgeon's Cell phone no. in case of emergencies... He gave it to me the day of my procedure!

Looks like I got my BAND one year too soon (Ontario)

No one is Anti-American or Anti-Mexican... Posters are just posing considered opinions... out of genuine and CARING concern. Some of us are close to our banding clinics and have had complications... I for one can't imagine having to drive 8 hours into a foreign country or fly somewhere at great expense to have my issues dealt with. Convenience vs. price????

But you can cook the spaghetti squash and eat it over a couple of days.... or you can freeze the leftovers and use it at another time... we have learned to LOVE it at our house, in fact its the only Squash member that my DH will touch.

Hi Ruby; Have you tried CANESTEN cream?? It's an anti-fungal available over the counter... or anything for JOCK ITCH... don't laugh. It really helps clear up the crease rash as it is usually YEAST infection. Just my 2 cents:thumbup:

Hello everyone; I've been missing in action for a couple weeks. I was trying to catch up tonight on my 'reading' of our thread... I am so far behind... don't know If I'll catch up. But I did notice that Lynnette was here!!! YEAH! Although I am sorry to hear about your sons diagnosis... 4 Years old, I think that it is hopeful that you can address his concerns now rather than later. He may not need to be on meds forever. Take it one step at a time. Something you said about being a failure as a MOm and Dad... Honey that is just rubbish. I can tell by the way you speak of your son that YOU'd DO anything for him... This is in no way your fault... sometimes bad things happen to good people. Try and not be hard on yourself. My Mom has been very ill and in hospital for 2 wks. She is in Congestive Heart Failure and also had pneumonia... she is doing better tonight and they are talking of releasing her home Mon or Tues. she still needs to go back to hospital as an outpatient to get an Angiogram.. don't know when that will happen yet. Its been a stressfull "family' time as well, I am the primary care person for my Mom. My sister is in Mexico, by Dbrother is in Florida... and he and I don't always have the best relationship. I went for another fill today, I'm up to 10.3 cc's in a 10 cc band so I should be getting VERY tight now.... We'll see. Dr. insists that I have a 3rd fluro before he decides if I need surgery to replace band. What a long drawn out mess... I just want restricton like everyone else... and to lose some weight. I've been stuck in the 180's Nov, Dec, Jan & Feb... its driving me nuts. For Breakfast I had Egg McMuffin/Bacon, coffee, FILL, then Water, coffee, "1" choc chip cookie from Tim Hortons, Pro. shake, Pork Chop for supper and tea... thats it for me. Not the best menu day, but I felt restricted at least when I ate the pork chop... Night night eveyone!

You lucky bug.... hey why not SWIM while you are there, Pools, and oceans too....:tt2:

Stephanie Re SUNLAMPS Its called LIGHT THERAPY, and it DOES work for Mild to Moderate Depression. But you have to get a very specific light. Northern Technologies makes one... You MUST sit under their lamp 30 mins each day at 6:30 or 7 a.m.... this intense light FALLS on your face, you don't stare into it... You can use the time to put on makeup, read a book, eat your oatmeal...whatever... but you have to let the light fall over your face at about 6 -10" away. You could NOT just sit under it all day at work, that would be too much exposure. It is a special flurescent and special strength for a specific purpose. Try googleing it if you are interested. My Psychiatric had Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) and he preferred the Light Box therapy to taking medications... there are no side effects as in pills. Personal note: I had a pretty good day, ate o.k. no pigging out on anything, and I still have restriction since my fill 9 days ago.... Yeah!!! No weight chg to report

Part of me is jealous, caus I'd love to be considering maintenance.... I think it is fear of the unknown that is getting to you. We all know how to lose weight (ha, we've done it so many time before :wink2:) but being at GOAL weight? Well now that quite another story. Excersise is an awesome way to manage your goal, I once was on WW and got to goal and their mtce plan was to add back 100 cals per day for 1 week, then weight yourself, if the same # then add 50 more cals per day for one week. then again monitor your weight. You will probably only need 200 cals more per day to maintain... depending on how active you are... You are any crazier than the rest of us, trust me... some of us are Card Carrying Members of the Out to Lunch Bunch, some of us are just trying REALLY hard ....LOL Just hang in there, we loveyou just the way you are :tt1:

I am sorry to hear your Aunt is so ill. I'll keep possitive thoughts for her o.k.? Buffalo is not too far from where I live, we have very similar weather to them there. I live on Georgian Bay/Lake Huron, just 1 1/2 hrs north of Toronto.

Oh Phyll, I am so jealous of you... I am sitting here in 2 feet of snow, its piled on the roof so much that DH had to go out and "rake' it off because it was weighing too much on the house. My doggies don't even want to go outside to "P" I have to give them a little lift in the rear. I am mentally transporting myself into your HOT R.V. .... you don't need a/c just come up here to Canada for a visit LOL. Janet; I agree with the others. It would be too horrible to think that you ate brownie slop.... although it peeked my interest some(?) If I count all the days since banding, and subtract all my days of binging since I am still WAY ahead of the curve. (pardon the pun) 213 total days, 44 days of not eating completely legal. This trend is going to stop

THANKS gals; I just took the last bag of the M&M's and threw them into the trash then I dumped old tea bags on top of them and gave a good squirt of ketchup to boot. This way, I can't even go back into the trash to eat them that feels much better, now I can forget about them, they won't be talking to me from my Hidey-hole where I kept the crap. The only snacks I have left in the house are: Fruit cups, cottage cheese/fruit cups, allbran bars, bananas, nectarines, whole wheat saltine crackers, non fat yogurt, sf/ff pudding.:biggrin2: I don't know what gets into me, boredom? lonliness? will I ever figure this head thing out???? Sorry, don't mean to sound so whiney, I am just venting.

hopefully they get in here

I still wonder what all the debate is about... its simple, its between a Woman and her Doctor, end of story.... Everyone else, especially Men should mind their own business.

o.k. # 7 applies today. Like Janet, I am a closet eater... I confess... but then you all new that already right??? Anyways, for the past wk I have had restriction and been eating HEALTHY, counting everything in my SparkPeople plan and staying betwee 800--1200 cals per day, tracking my protien etc. I even survived the weekend!! which is normally my bad time to control my evening eating. I can do really well all day and eat the right sized portions then after supper..... the grazing mentalily starts in. This aft. watching Oprah (dah!) I ate 2 cups of Peanut M & M's, this was after my lunch of 300 Lean cuisine & banana.... FLICK I've gotten it out of my system, don't want anymore... How do others cope with their Evening or otherwise URGES.... not quite Peachy today:thumbdown:

OH Phyl you are too funny, but I am HAPPY for you... It is sometimes impossible to hoist up the "girls" and get them into appropriate garments. And then find a GOOD store... You lucked out for sure! It is important to look after our FOUNDATION garments as we loose. Getting a good fit can make YOU look 10 years younger... Hoist away me matie...argh! p.s. have you ever tryed fastening the bra hooks in the front and then swinging the bra around???? This works for me. :-)))

I agree with Doddie, research- research-research... If you have over 100 lbs to lose and have some co-morbidities you could qualify for PROVINCIAL MEDICAL to pay for your proceedure.. You may have to go to US Have you considered the Gastric Sleeve? Surgery is avail in Mexico... With the lap band you have to gtravel back and forth for fills and checkups if anything goes wrong, so being close to a clinic or afford the travel costs? So that being said, Roux-n-Y or Gastric sleeve may be a more appropriate option....Because once the surgery is done you have Immediate restriction, unlike with the band which may take 6 months of fills to get to restriction (3-9 fills) As my dear friend Doddie said, Good luck in whatever you decide. Oh just forgot, there is a gal on LBT who has gotten her PRovince to pay for her BAND.. Yukon, but she was operated on in Alberta and Yukon Health paid for the proceedure( about 1/2 anyways $8200)

Do you realize what you've done??? I mean you have now set a precident that all other would be Canadian Bandster wanna-bee's can follow... THANK YOU FROM ALL THE PEOPLE YET TO BE BANDED IN CANADA... Most of us here were fortunate enough to scrap up, borrow (Steal?) the money for our lapbands. This gives some hope.

I just went over to the PICTURES page... your befores and afters look amazing...!!!! How do I accomplish the Colage effect... haven't figured that one out yet!!:thumbdown:

Hope this second one shows up

I think CRAZY person #2 beats CRAZY person#1 hands down.. Was sure an interesting read though.

But why would consider a 2nd surgery??? Yikes. The sleeve does sound less complicated than the Roux-n-Y . Can it be done laproscopically??? What is the recovery time, surely is longer than LapBand as they do remove most of your stomach, therefore more stitching and healing to be done. None of your internal organs are CUT in Lapband, making recovery time mininal and very painless... I was out walking around the block the same evening as surgery and hiking in the woods the second day. Only took tylenol for pain for a couple of days. Pretty good I'd say... But the advantage with the Sleeve is you don't have to have repeat visits to the Doc's for fills.... Pros and Cons to both.. What are the COST differences?

Gotten a tad quiet eh?:thumbdown:

I got my band in Canada in July 07, I have had 9 fills to date, not had considerable weight loss like everyone else in the same time line....because I keep losing the FILL... Suspected leak, so that being said I MAY have to have a re-surgery to replace the malfuntioning BAND. THIS WILL BE COVERED by my Surgeon... he will do all fills, and emergencies for life... this was included in the price $16,000 I did contemplate Mexico too initially, then I thought gee what about fills and aftercare??? Its a long way to go if you have problems... And the problems are RARE... but still you must think of every possibility. Is your Mexico Dr. going to look after you for life??? probably not, even if they are top notch surgeons (many have Excellent reps. so I am not dissing them really) So consider very carefully before you take the plunge. Bandster life is the way to go for me, even with the setbacks that I've had. I was 240, 199 at surg. date, now 184.... but being left to my own devices (and lack of will power) I could easily have EATEN my way back up to 240 in 6 mos... I am being honest... I have regained my weight each time I dieted... Diets just don't work for the long haul.... And I am NEVER going to go thru this diet bullsh_t ever again. Good luck to you in what ever you decide. :thumbdown: