susieq321

Good luck and I hope you enjoy it as much as i do! Heather

Doddie, Once you get used to it, you might like it... I don't mind either forum style for posting I had to get used to this one after the canadian lapbanders forum on yahoo and disliked it forever. So there are different groups and all the postings originate in the group forums... On the right hand side select groups and then which group you want. If there is a group you want added email the admin. I did that for a general forum so we could discuss other things there. If you click on the group you want, fills, buddies, ask the nutritionist, general etc it will bring up all the active topics in that group. So then you can respond to the topic you want by clicking and reading similar to on here or start a new topic I think the add a post button is at the top. It is very similar to how this group works when you break down how the pages are designed and programmed... but as a general rule I know for me anyway I skip over the main forum and come right to the Canadian pages and then I can see all the posts and topics. The myslimband site has that same segration as we do here ie general, canadian, 40's, 50's and then postings underneath... it just doesn't seem that way to people who don't play on computers all day. So my slimband has the segration at the group name level and then you get into the postings similar to on here. I find the people on myslimband pretty cool and working towards their goals in my clinic's setting... and it is nice to read some positive stuff in there along with the not as positive stuff... and the other advantage I like is you get access to the slimband staff like Lina, Hanna, Jodi etc they check and post and will respond to questions so you are getting your clinic recommended answer rather than just the answer of another bandster. Both may work... but one may be more right with your dr... Does that help.. or did I get to technical? Heather

FWWAB, There is the myslimband.com forum that is for Slimband patients... you can join there and post. I am enjoying it more than i enjoyed the last TLBC board. It has a pretty active participation and they will email you about discussion and sessions etc once you join. I like both sets of forums but if you want slimbandsters specifically they are at the myslimband site. Good luck with losing Heather

Hanbe you have just discovered one of my favorite parts of fill meeting new people... it is how I met some of the bandsters at the beginning who I still keep in touch with today. It is interesting to meet people who are going through the same things you are and understand it on the same level. Glad you got your fill Heather

Thank you, I am ok, I miss my dad a great deal but I know he didn't suffer and his quality of life only degraded at the very end. My dad was a very strong man and I am proud to have some of his traits and I only hope I can be as dedicated as he was. I can say this Dr Yau was really helpful when he relocated my port we talked about where I was and how I was and his advice really helped at that point in time. I wasn't ready to take it right then, but it stayed with me. Heather

It was funny for all the times I ended up on liquids it was the one time I was never hungry... I mostly just drank, had some frozen juice etc but didn't care about eating solids and didn't suffer those hunger pangs. Not sure if it was the upset of surgery or the general but I guess I was lucky that way. Heather

Completely and totally normal... without fill you have no restriction. Keep drinking and follow the plan if you push your recovery and eating solid foods they may feel good going down but you are increasing your risk of complications because your stomach has not healed from the surgery. Keep drinking I know it isn't filling for some and keep trying and remember what you are working towards I know that may not be helpful but this is one of the hardest stages. Good luck Heather

I am not sure what the problem is it is a fill hotline so that you don't get lost in a voicemail if someone is on vacation... that was what happened to me the last time I called for a fill appt... I think it is a great step forward to have a dedicated line that is constantly checked over an employees voicemail which will only get checked when the employee is free now it is part of someone job just to check this hotline book you and call you back that is fantastic. Hanbe I know you aren't happy and I am not sure if that is just with the clinic or your success, but have you tried talking to any of the other staff to see if they can become your new Jill. I am on myslimband and Jodi et all seem pretty nice and responsive to questions and quite willing to help people. Have you talked to them? They might be able to help you. Heather

I looked up today and it has been a whole week since I munched on Cookies and candy etc it is an interesting time.... I have to say I do miss it sniff sniff but I will survive!

I know several bandsters who got the band for the express reason of getting preggers. If your clinic has a site you might post on there and see who on there as been banded and I know some of the girls on the Yahoo Canadian Lapbander groups have recently been preggers and have done well. Heather

I might hold off on the fill just in case you do not want to end up on vacation too tight to enjoy anything... if you are local to your clinic and can get back there with relative easy then it isn't so bad you can get a defill if you need it. Most people aren't to sensitive to a fill but some people are and you never know which you will be until you get one. Keep drinking and moving as much as you possibly can and take it easy! And enjoy your vacation! Heather

Mary congrats on doing it.... when I was in my losing stage I found that I would lose 1-7 lbs in a week plateau for about 3 weeks and then lose again for a week and then plateau... sometimes the body just needs to hold the weight and it comes off.... Keep going, and once I get the sugar out and I can go back to the moderation stage of my life... where I am more focused on being consistent I will let chocolate back in.... but I tend to go for the really good stuff it seems to satisfy me more than just the candy store bars... so I will have a piece or two and be happy with the richness etc and won't need more than that. Heather

I started in Dec ad I just did something every day for 20 days... mine was treadmill.. I know I need to move and I feel better when I am moving so as trite as it sounds I am just doing it. When I was talking to Dr Yau we were talking fitness and I was asking him about his running program... and he agreed it is the same thing... he just started doing what he was telling his patients to do and he ended up running more and more and he loves it... so it is finding something you enjoy and just getting up and saying no TV program is worth the sacrifice of your health... and besides you can tape it and watch it later . So I am trying to get into a mindset where nothing is as important as me and my fitness and my joy... so I am going and I enjoy working out while I am doing it and I have developed a love of the steam room as my reward and I don't get that unless I go and move! Good luck Doddie just do something for 5-10 mins and then increase it daily! Heather

Doddie, Thanks for the good wishes.... I love the gym while I am there, other than Jamal is going to kick my ass and push me hard again of that I am sure! I used to weigh daily and haven't in about 5 years since I was at goal for about 6 months and just after plastic surgery I stopped. It worked very well for me for a long time... but in this case I had my own reasons for not caring if I gained and weighing daily wouldn't have stopped me it would have just made some other things worse.... I think there are merits to judging your progress by the scale and by how you look and feel. I have to say sitting and talking to Dr Yau when he moved my port back in Oct helped a lot. Knowing he is there whenever I need him or call Slimband helps too... at the time Dr Yau and I were talking I just wasn't mentally ready to make any of the changes I knew were coming.... and I knew they were coming and exactly what they were because I had been here before.... that was prebanding so I knew how much work I had to go. I just didn't factor in the migraine headaches that were my body begging me for sugar. Heather

There are other options be prepared to be on a waiting list that may be months up to five years. I am unusual I at the time I was banded had US health coverage since I am a CDN who works in the US much of the time so I had several options covered under my US health care ironically none of those was the band since it had not been approved in the US yet. I saved and took the money out of what I had been saving for my house down payment. Others have done it many other ways. But I would put myself on the waiting list for the sleeve or RNY if I knew there was no way I could ever pay for the band. Heather

Doddie, I agree it is all about the eating. For years I maintained a consistent pattern post reaching goal weight. I ate out, I drank, I ate chocolate all in moderation. In the last several months I just said screw it... it was my way of dealing with my father dying I just didn't care about health or weight. I ate more chocolate than a small third world nation... I ate a lot of alfredo and drank more than the usual. And over all just did not care about anything.... so I have gained a few pounds but it is amazing how easy it is to fall into the habits that got me to 296 lbs (although eating much less) how easy it is to break 6+ years of conditioning my body and my mind about eating consistently and moving my body... old habits never die they are lurking right they to take you over. Fortunately I didn't gain that much and my clothes still fit so my goals are to get back into my better habits and consistent again. Take off the few lbs I gained... and ironically to honor my dad who watched what he ate till the end and who walked 5 kms a day even after a terminal cancer diagnosis right up until the last months of his life he was lifting weights, walking and do his exercise programs that he enjoyed. So if a man with nothing to live for, and every reason to indulge and just let it all go can be the healthiest terminal patient on his Drs role call, just because it worked for him so can I! Heather

Well I am not weighing but I should step on the scale at the gym tonight! I joined the gym signed up for a personal trainer went three times last week... I have a training session tonight again so that is going well. Now my sugar challenge.. I have been avoiding chocolate etc because I am seriously addicted and dependant... so last Tues I gave up the chocolate and I haven't had a cookie etc since. Now I have had sugar in the form of fruit and some booze... a glass of wine here and there and a margarita but compared to my norm as of late that is leaps and bounds from where I started a week ago. I can not tell you how hard this has been how many times I have idly picked up a chocolate bar or almost reached for a cookie in the last week just not even thinking. I can't tell you how much I wanted it when my body went into withdrawal and my head started pounding and didn't stop for days. I can understand how people relapse because mine issue is minor... I can't imagine being a drug addict or a smoker and going through this... So off to the gym to pay a lad to kick my butt into shape Heather

Now when you said lap band they may have confused it with the VGB which is covered and it is a banding but none adjustable and many of the people who have this find it difficult to maintain the loss long term without the adjustbility. As to why it isn't covered many many reasons the big one is you have to understand how OHIP works and why the legislature did what they did in voting to not have it covered. My understanding of OHIP is thus (I am not a Dr I am a software consultant so my knowledge may be wrong) OHIP has a committee that meets to discuss what is and is not covered a few times a year and that committee is made up of Drs, so this committee adds things to the fee schedules and takes them aways gives more money equating to time to procedures that are covered or less. So to get something covered you need to apply to this committee to get it covered only Docs can apply to the committee and none of the banding surgeons want the band covered for many reasons so none of them will ever apply. Some of the reasons they don't want the band covered is that it would be just another WLS so it be slotted under that umbrella and the wait for RNY is huge with some Drs less with others who work in WLS hospitals who dedicate more OR time to WLS. So part of the reason is their are afraid the wait would be huge There would be no post op clinic follow up they way we have now, no fill nurses etc because OHIP won't cover lectures, websites, etc. The docs also make a nice living from banding and OHIP would not pay nearly as much as private practice does so it would cost the private banding docs money. Now why the ON legislature voted not to cover it, there was a law suit which cost a lot of money and they wanted to avoid the possibility of another law suit so the voted to permanently exclude adjustable gastric banding (which is what you would need to ask about when you call) Heather

Lapband is exclusively excluded from the OHIP schedule from benefits with a vote in the Ontario legislature in Dec 07 I think. This means that it won't be considered for coverage etc. This was part of a article in the Globe and Mail back then where people were fighting to get partial coverage. Good thing if you are military I can think of two people the cdn forces have paid for the band for as part of a need for their position in the forces. Heather

I don't mind starting a new thread is everyone in agreement to let this one go and start a new thread?

It is funny since banding MSG makes me vomit instantly two bits of anything with MSG and I am hiking for the restroom... It never bothered me prebanding really now it is almost instant I know when something has MSG in it. Heather

Wanda, The question is how much are you eating and what are you eating and how much are you moving your body. If you are starving yourself you will stop losing you need to have food to lose weight... you need to have calories or your body will go into starvation mode. I think Doddie is right you may want to talk to your clinic and see what they can do to help and advise you. You should be getting in 1200-1500 cals at a min a day and be moving your body in some form. But if you are not getting enough in your body you won't lose even if you are exercising like a madman. Good luck I hope you start losing again and I not get a fill pre vacation because you might be stuck eating food that you aren't used to or that sticks a little more than usual. Heather

Mary, thank you for posting this I am in the US pretty much 300 days a year for my job so since we eat out a few times a week it is nice to know what is in things. I have been eating out since I was first banded much more than most people because I spend a lot of my life living in hotels and eating out. I have always used common sense, ordering things like french onion Soup with no cheese and no bread when I was on clear fluids because it is beef broth giving me some Protein. Other than that I learned that chicken, beef and lots of fish are my friends. I haven't been a calorie counter since my first 6 months post banding by then I had worked out protein counts in my head so I knew I was getting enough protein. Even now I think about what I am ordering and try to structure it based on what else I have eaten throughout the day, the time I am eating etc. But restaurants have a ton of hidden calories sauces done in butter, a quick flash fry in fat, and the dressings etc all laden with fat. As a general rule I never eat the bread or salad or soup that comes with my entree I can't eat that much food so I skip it. And I learned a long time ago I don't eat leftovers often so leaving them behind is much more practical for me... unless the friends or the dog want them. And the other thing I have learned is I am a high maintenance ordering machine... if I am paying for it I want it the way I want it, sauce on the side, substitutions etc...I am polite and never protest paying more when I ask for something different but if I am paying I am not afraid to ask for what I want and how I like it. Heather

Hanbe, I am friends with Kathy and I have a good relationship with Yau... two things I have learned in this life is that not everyone can like everyone else and they just may not be your cup of tea.. and that is ok. I get along with them and that is ok too, Kathy was one of the few resources for those who were banded way back when and she was amazing with people and her own research and I know from experience she does care but that is my relationship with her. Yau... first time I met him that I remembered I loathed him called him a bastard I do believe... I was going in for my first fill at Grace and after over an hour of Joffe and the radiologist freezing and poking me everywhere... they called Yau out of surgery he walked in found the only unfrozen spot on my stomach inserted the needle none to nicely said her tubing is disconnected she needs surgery and walked out... that was it I was like who is that bastard? I was told and I said well he is a total jerk. The moral of that story is Yau is a surgeon and as a general rule most surgeons I have met over the years aren't the most social creatures and like to cut people open and fix them, they don't always have a decent bedside manner. As I got to know Yau through my complications and helping a friend out who had complications I liked him, he became human with a sense of humour etc. That lesson took me a long time, and most of his patients won't ever get to see him the way I did because I spent that time with him and it is probably a good thing that they don't know him that way. Knowing him as a surgeon from other non banding patients there is not a surgeon I know that I trust more than Yau other than my plastic guy... and both of those two rank highly with me as people who care that they help you and are perfectionists and there is nothing more you can ask of a surgeon. I can honestly say this Dr Yau does care about his patients and if you are struggling and you aren't happy with your results or the help the nurses are providing you and at your wits end and you make an appt with Dr Yau he will sit there and go through things with you. He may tell you things you don't want to hear but he will take the time to work through issues and make suggestions etc. It isn't something he wants to do with every patient since there are well over 2000-3000 of us but if you do need him Hanbe he will make the time for you. The reason he hired all the staff he hired was so he could concentrate on surgery rather than on the patients and he arranged to hire people who had been banded and who could help in ways he may not be able to, but he will take the time for any patient who needs it and has exhausted the other options. And with that said even if you sat and talked to Yau you might not like him as I said I learned a long long time ago there are a lot of people who can't stand me and I am good with that not everyone can like all of us and we can't like everyone and that is ok. As for the pop you are welcome it is something I never believed until I watch that episode of Mythbusters it was eye opening. For liquids... I am a little different since I am at goal I do a lot of milk, water, some teas, wine, martinis and some fountain soda (the last three full of sugar and not the best choice but I do them in moderation and the soda I am trying to break that habit again)

You would throw up many times long before you burst your band. I have heard of the clips that hold the band shut breaking once in 7 years. Pain in the stomach is relative we don't have pain nerves in our stomach, pain nerves are closer to the surface we have the full receptors, gag reflex etc but deep where are organs are there aren't true pain receptor nerves. The dull pain sounds more like what I eat too fast and am over full slightly. It is an ache of fullness and my warning that I really shouldn't have eaten that much and if I take another bite I will vomit. Talk to your surgeon and get his opinion. Heather