Cocoabean

I don't have UHC, but I appealed my company's 6 month requirement with past Weight Watchers records and personal diet journal entries. The National Istitutes of Health's 1991 Consensus on Bariatric Surgery does not stipulate that a person follow a 6 month program to be a candidate for WLS. I won the appeal. Best wishes.

Glad you are feeling better! That makes the unfill worthwhile. 4cc is quite a bit! Take it slow and steady! You'll do great.

Hi there!! Stuck happens when something you swallowed blocks the stoma (the hole created by the band between your new little stomach and the larger portion of your old stomach). This is often because we did not chew the item enough or took to big of a bite. Or perhaps it is too fibrous. It cal also happen with a soft, doughy item like bread or Pasta that I swear you can chew and chew but will reform once in the stomach. What gets me the most are dry meats like chicken breast and soft breads. I get a pain right beneath my sternum to let me know something is wrong. It feels like I swallowed a rock. As the stomach tries to make the offending item go down, you feel pain and pressure. During this process, the body makes mucous to help aid the item to go down. Only problem is that the item is often too large to go down and the mucous cannot go down either as the stoma is blocked. So it has no where else to go but up, and therefore, out the mouth. This is what we call sliming. Walking helps the pain of being stuck, and sometimes the body can grind the item enough to get it to go down. Sometimes not, and the item will come back up with the slime. It is not really vomitting, to me, it is more of a reverse gravity thing. I lean over and up it comes. Once the item is out, I feel MUCH better. If the episode has gone on for an extended period of time, I'll do fluids or mushies for a day or two, depending on how my stomach is feeling. This can be a pretty traumatic event, and there can be some swelling. Over time, you'll find your best way of dealing with these episodes, and your doctor may have suggestions, too. Now that I am two years out, I rarely get stuck these days. Many stuck episodes are due to operator error, but not all. Best wishes in your journey!!

So sorry you had to go through all that! Are you at least feeling better as far as your stomach goes? I was overfilled once, it is no fun at all. My surgeon has done all my fills and one unfill. He hasn't had a problem finding my port, but I do feel a 'pop' when the needle goes in. Take it easy for a few days and feel better! You might just be very sensitive to fills and need to take them very slowly. My surgeon is very conservative when it comes to fills, and likes to sneak up on the sweet spot. But I still ended up needing a bit taken out. I was able to go back a month later and have it put back in, plus a little bit more. Our bodies are all different as to how they adjust to the fills. Hope you are up to snuff soon!!

Leigha, yay!!! Woohoo!!! Ok, I am down to 150! Anyone wanna buy my used tissues??? :frown: Maybe I should list them on ebay as a weight loss method! I know...groooooooooosssssss! I have had zero appetite. That is a new experience for me. I went to the doctor yesterday. I was worried because the gunk coming out of my nose is brown, and my ears are plugged. We are flying out on Sunday. I have a bacterial infection in my sinuses, so he started me on antibiotics. Hopefully they'll kick in by tomorrow and I'll be right as rain by the time we leave. Just so long as I stay sick long enough to lose one more pound and have a normal BMI! Tee hee!!! Elfie, glad your doc is happy with your loss! I like not being ashamed to get on the scale at the docs office. To all you gardeners, grow something for me, ok? I can barely grow a dandelion! :frown:

Another happy dance!!!! I'm burning calories dancing for you two!!

Oh tuna....yum.... Also, the hand rolls work out well. They are easier to handle when aiming for smaller bites. But be careful not to shove half the thing into your mouth at once. :frown:

Yay!!! (Doing the happy dance for you!!) Keep up the good work!

Taking small bites and chewing a lot is the way of banded life. If you do that and still cannot eat any type of meat, you might be too tight. A slight unfill can do wonders. Some meats are harder to eat than others. I have a big problem with chicken breast meat. I don't even try any more. Being too tight can be dangerous for your band, it can lead to a slip. Also, if you cannot get in enough calories your weight loss will stop as your body goes into starvation mode.

Way to go!! You look awesome!

7 pounds in one week for someone your weight is a lot of weight. Also, if cannot eat solids, you are too tight, in my opinion. You can get half what you had put in taken out. If things go well, you can get it put back in later. That is what I did when I was overfilled.

Congrats!! Walking really helps the shoulder pain. I wore a path in the carpet of my hallway. Keep sipping the fluids and you'll feel better in no time!

14 pounds in 6 weeks is a great weight loss! Keep up the good work!

Forewarned is forearmed! You are doing well by reading here and learning all you can about what to expect. Take it nice and slow. Experience has been a good teacher for me. I learn by doing, ouch! I rarely get stuck these days.

Plateaus totally suck! And you are doing all the right things to combat it. You are already doing everything I had in my suggestion arsenal. How did you change up your work outs? Maybe try changing from weights to all cardio? Or vice versa. Or you could go with my latest method of weight loss, catch a cold and have it turn into a sinus infection. Down 3#s! My bet is that sometime soon you will break through it and you'll show a big loss when you least expect it. Like you'll take an exercise break for some reason and bam! Maybe go ahead and get that fill and do softs/mushies for a few days to see what happens. The closer we are to goal, the harder the fight it seems! Best wishes!

I have read of others being successful at losing without getting a fill. Sometimes just the band provides enough restriction. Or perhaps its just being there serves as a reminder to you to watch your portions. Either way, congrats! Well done on the loss.

Beautiful Leigha!! Ok, I found the silver lining in being sick...... Dun dun duuuuunnn... 151!!!!!! And that was after coffee, breakfast, and water!!! Now if I can keep it off, life is good! Woohoo!!!! 2 pounds to normal BMI!

Oh my goodness, what a story! Most of us can totally relate! Glad it came up in the car and not the booth! I had to urp into my trash can at work one time. Fortuantely my cubicle mate was gone that day.

I had my surgery on 2-15-08. My doctor will do the first fill at 6 weeks, but because I was going out of the country I decided to postpone until the first part of May for my first fill. Doing so will not hurt your band or your pouch. Since you have little to no restriction, things pass through easily. I did not lose much weight during that time, it's true, but my goal was to heal. I'd suggest making your appoint for May now, before the doctor's schedule fills up. I also like the idea of asking the insurance company why they don't follow the doctor's recommendations.

Yikes! No lean and green? Sowwy! My surgeon said to follow Medifast. He gave no restrictions. I was doing soups, shakes, and bars for a couple of days before I read the thing and saw the lean and green. I about did back flips when I saw it! But I am jealous of your post-op. My first meal of mashed potatoes was the best thing EVER!!! It is amazing how different doctors are in their orders, isn't it?

:thumbup: Welcome. My surgeon measured my height. He took my weight in clothes, though. So, I did have a little bit of fudge factor there. Not that I needed it.

THAT is a great idea, Leigha! Now you tell me!! hee hee! I usually hold a towel or a paper towel. The paper ones don't absorb enough and can chafe the skin during a long episode. As to pills...I was able to come off of blood pressure and cholesterol meds at surgery time, yay! I've only had a couple of pills get stuck. You can crush them if not extended release. And if they are extended release, you can ask your doc to change you to regular that you can crush. I understand that applesauce is not the best thing to mix the crushed stuff with. Yogurt is better I have read. If you swallow them with as big a drink of Water that you can, it will help. Lisa, to minimize stuck episodes, eat slowly, take small bites, and chew very well. There is no guarantee, but most of my stuck episodes have been pilot error. After 20 years of 30 minute lunch breaks, I was in the habit of eating very quickly. It was hard for me to adjust to eating slowly. I do much better now, but it was not easy. Also, don't let yourself get too hungry, that is when I tend to take too big of a bite or I don't chew well enough. I am also more tempted to make poor choices then. I believe that sometimes you get stuck with no help from yourself, but you can do a lot to have fewer episodes.

OMG!! I am laughing WITH you here! There's no swallowing it for me, no way, not gonna happen. I did the plop into the toilet with the splash into the eye thing! Only mine, it was a PUBLIC TOILET!! Yeah, that was awesome!! I was rinsing my eyes for about 5 minutes. That was after getting stuck on fish. I am not much of fish fan anyway (except sushi--go figure), so it just made it all the more special. DH and I were at a local pub. I had just been telling him how I could not understand how so many people get stuck on fish, it is so soft. Then I get that far away look in my eye..he says, "do you now know how they get stuck on fish?" "Darn you! Excuse me!"....Good times! Then I had the unexpected PB where I was sliming into my paper towel. Thought all was well, then I burped and out came all the slime and the food with such force it hit the paper towel and shot back all over my face! Talk about the Alien movie! I was pulling goo off my face for 10 minutes.

Britbrit, Something to ponder for you. You say you are losing your insurance in March of 2011 and you are in college. I am taking a leap that you are not rolling in money. With the band, it is not a set it and forget it procedure. You will need fills after the surgery. If you don't have insurance, these fees will be out of pocket, have you taken this into consideration? Fills are not inexpensive. If you get the band in December, your first fill would not be until February at the earliest. Many people take 3 fills before they get any restriction, often more. I have had 4 or 5 fills and one unfill. If I had paid $250 for each fill/unfill that would be $1500. Gastric bypass is a much more complicated procedure and the recovery takes longer, but might be a better fit. However, you'd have the expense of prescription strength Vitamins, and bloodwork to check nutrition levels (I think that happens every 6 months, but am not sure). Please don't take this as trying to talk you out of the band. Just a word of caution that if you cannot afford proper after care you will just have an expensive piece of plastic inside of you. Without proper restriction, the band is pretty much useless. Best wishes to you!

Hi SBeth, The pre-op does suck. But it is time-limited, and totally worth it. Mine was two weeks of Medifast. The stuff is not my favorite, but it does allow one "lean and green" meal each day, so I got to chew. I lost 8 pounds during that time. Not all doctors require a pre-op. Does yours? After my surgery my doctor said he could tell I had followed my pre-op very closely because my liver was nice and small and pliable. I was very pleased to hear that! The post-op diet was not much easier. I was starving! I was to be on Clear liquids for a week, then full liquids for a week, then on to mushies. My surgery was on a Friday. By Sunday I was ready to eat my dog. Had he not been able to move faster than I, he'd be gone. When my surgeon called me on Monday morning and I told him this, he let me move to full liquids. At my 1 week post-op appointment, I was able to move to mushies as I was doing very well. The rest is history :thumbup: I am two years post-op and don't regret my decision. Best wishes in your journey!!