reeces5

I just got banded in August. I get my first fill next week. The doctor made it sound like it was going to be completely painless but I was actually in some pain for about a week from where the port was stitched to my abdominal muscle. It was hard to get up from a low chair, go to the bathroom, bend over, etc. After about the first week I didn't really have too much pain and now it is completely fine. The only real problem I am having (besides learning to eat slowly so I don't get sick) is burping. I burp constantly, sometimes loud burps that I can't stop (can be quit embarrassing).:embarassed:

I was banded about a month ago and my surgeon told me I only had to eat 1 week of liquids, 1 week of soft foods, and then I could eat solid foods, so I would assume you should be alright. Have you had a followup with your surgeon yet? I would think they would have given you all this information in writing after your surgery.

Do you know for sure that your insurance will pay for your band and what things are required (I paid for mine outright because my insurance did not pay for any type of weight loss surgery regardless of your health situation)? My friend is having surgery next week and she has good insurance and they were supposed to pay about 50% of the surgery costs and supposedly all they wanted was 5 different clinic notes from 5 different years so she could "prove" she had been overweight for at least 5 years (ok...obese...but I hate that word). Well, she did that but they denied her anyway, so now she has to either sue them (which could take forever) or she has to just pay out of her pocket. I don't want to be a bummer, so don't get depressed about it. Hopefully your insurance company will come through without too much hassle! Good luck!

It is a powder that is sugar free that you add to water--it comes in all sorts of flavors, the most popular is probably lemonade. It just flavors water. Do you have something similar?

No, no--I found a vanilla protein shake mix that only had 90 calories in it and used half water and half milk. I didn't like the taste, so I added a single serving of crystal light (any flavor works but orange made it taste like an orangecicle ice cream--yummy). I had those twice a day and then for dinner ate a Lean Cuisine (you have to look at the calories on the box and try just to buy the ones that are 200 calories or less). With all that and the eggs and pickles I was able to make it through the week without feeling like I was starving.

I was on an 800-calorie-a-day diet if you can believe that! I thought I was going to starve but the receptionist at the doctor's office gave me a website CalorieKing - Diet and weight loss. Calorie Counter and more. that lists calories of just about anything you want--including restaurant food. On that site I found out that hard boiled eggs are only 13 calories each!! Pickled asparagus has 10 calories in 3 spears and dill pickles have 0 calories! I stocked up on these 3 items and never felt hungry the entire week.

I was just banded August 13. From what I learned at the seminar I went to insurances companies all differ, so it is hard to say what they will require to approve you. As far as your BMI, that may be good enough for the surgeon to do the surgery but not for the insurance. I think a lot of them require other health issues or they just don't cover weight loss surgery for any reason (which was my problem). I had to refinance my house in order to pay for the surgery, but anyway you do it it's worth it! My friend is also having the surgery done and she thought her insurance would pay for at least part of her surgery but after waiting 6 weeks her insurance denied her claim and so her only choices were to sue the insurance (who knows how long that could take!! you could gain another 100 pounds by then), pay for it herself, or just forget the whole thing. She decided just to pay for it, as she already waited for a long time. Hopefully your insurance company will be better at paying. Hope I'm not discouraging you, but it might need to be something you should think about--what are you going to do if your insurance will not pay for it?

Hello Alex, my name is Dana. I was banded August 13. The only actual scary thing for me before I got banded was that my doctor required that I lose 10 pounds the week before surgery in order to "remove fat from my liver" or so he told me. The receptionists that work in the office said that if I didn't lose the 10 pounds he would not do the surgery and I would have to reschedule it. I was so freaked out by that that when I got on the scale at the surgery clinic the morning of my surgery I was relieved to have lost my 10 pounds that nothing else mattered! The surgery is really fine. I have a sit-down job (I am a medical transcriptionist) and could have actually gone back to work the next day, though I have a lot of sick leave and took 2 weeks of it just to lay around and do nothing for once! I will be getting my first fill next week (they don't fill it for at least 4 weeks from your date of surgery), though right away you have to eat slow and once you get to solid foods you have to chew meat (especially tougher meats like steak and pork) very well. You get used to it pretty fast and how can it not work??? If you start gaining weight that means you have to get a fill--no problem!

I burp like crazy!!! Sometimes it is very loud and I can't even control it! What's the deal with that?:embarassed:

Reeces5....Dr. Michaelson in Everett, Washington...August 13