thenume

One last thing...... Focus on the positive things. Everything you mentioned are blessings; a new home, college bound children, weight loss and last but not least YOUR HEALTH! Relax! If you feel the need to binge, eat four apples, I'm sure that will help (sweet and crunchy)!

Congrats on the children going to college and the weight loss! You should be celebrating! Raising well rounded responsible children is not an easy task, you should be proud! One way to Celebrate is to go shopping, pick out a couple of sexy size 6 dresses and admire yourself in the mirror, then go out! You have so much to be thankful for!!!!! Oh yeah, I hope you enjoyed the apple (you never realize how good something was until it's gone). One more thing, SHAVE THOSE LEGS, you want them looking sexy when you wear those dresses!

OK ....so today was my office department's holiday lunch. The rule is you must try one or more of everything INCLUDING desserts! Uggghhhhh...... No one knows that I have the band. The food part was ok a tsb of this a tsb of that, but then there was cheesecake. Cheesecake from JUNIORS!!!! I have to admit I had a healthy slice. Now I have to hit the gym an extra hour all because of that slice of cheesecake. The one thing about the band that I absolutely love --- it allows you to make your own choices. There's no dumping syndrome or being stuck in the bathroom because of diarrhea. Maybe that's both a blessing and a curse....... Will you deny yourself over the Holidays? Let me know!

I'm eating a salad now....& I have no problems with it! I've been banded since 10/1/07 and I've probably had about 30 salads since then! Even after a 2cc fill I'm still able to eat them.

Aubrie, Swimming IS exercise! You get to exercise and enjoy it. Ask your G. P. doc about your arthritis meds. He may some other kind of meds that you can take.

SweetPea51, Every doctor is different. Your doctor's explantaion makes perfect sense to me. Because you are losing the 1-2lbs a week (which is what we are supposed to be losing), if he gave you a fill you would obviously lose more. Remember the band only hold a certain amount of cc's of liquid. If he filled the band while you were losing on your own, what would happen when your band reached its limit of fills and you stopped losing the 1-2lbs a week down the road. YOU would have to work on losing the weight solely without the help of fills. He would not be a ble to fill the band with more Fluid. While you are losing on your own, it sounds like he wants to wait until you actually need the help of a fill before he gives you one. FYI- there is a small percentage of people that NEVER need a fill. They just lose weight with the band sitting in place.

JarvisJ, How about telling your In-laws you have to go on a business trip (that the line I used and I swore my huband to secretcy); or you and your husband are just spending time together. I took personal days from work. Luckily for me my boss respects the PERSONAL in the words personal days, so she didn't ask. It's sad that we have to lie because of the negative reactions that we feel we may get from people.

I lied too. My mother in-law cooked a huge meal the evening before surgery and was trying to get me to eat, when I said no thankyou she was shocked. I told her that I had already eaten and that I am on I diet. She asks me every so often how the diet is going. I always want to LOL. I see her about once a week and she tells me that I am looking good. Lucky or unlucky ( I can't decide) I am losing slowly so the change is not too drastic in a short period of time. I just told my husband, mother and sister the truth and it was hard for me to tell my sis (she has a small frame) and mom(she's average). They are very supportive, but I notice how my mom looks on my plate to see how much I eat when we are all out together. Sometimes I chuckle at that too. My husband is very supportive and tells me that I am losing weight (which I love to hear!). I've wandered of the topic...but my solution is tell who YOU want to tell and find a sutible lie errr..I mean excuse.....for the others!

Chicken Mcnuggets and Pork Sausage, they don't get stuck but I get nauseaus like you wouldn't believe. Also no matter how hard I try, it won't come up; so I have to just deal with the nausea.

Miztrniceguy, I am sure you learned your lesson. Rest assure 85% of us bandsters have learned a "hard" lesson. You are not alone in a lapse of judgement. On the "plus" side you HAVE lost 21 pounds! Congrats on that. (We don't all chastize, for the most part we bandsters are pretty understanding). I think WASaBubbleButt is just trying to scare you into not going against your doc's advice. Congrats again.

By the way, my scale at home reflects that I lost 18 pounds, but the one at the doc's office says that I lost 13 pounds....geez!

I am annoyed! I went to my doctor yesterday for my first fill. He instructed his assistant to administer 2cc in a 10 cc band. 1cc goes into the "rim" that will inflate the band and the other cc will restrict. 1cc? 1cc? As you can imagine it doesn't feel any different, and I find that my stomach is grumbling VERY VERY loudly again. The grumbling stopped in my third week post-op. I have another appt. Dec. 13, but who wants to have to see the doctor every 4 weeks for a fill until I feel restriction! I didn't expect 6cc's right away, but 1cc? I can still eat like I ate two days ago (which by the way, was almost like I didn't have the band). I have only lost 13 pounds and have been banded since 10/1/07. I know this is a process.....but a jump start would help. OK - thanks for letting me rant.

You can call your insurance company and they will tell you how much your deductible will be for the hospital. Most hospitals will allow you to pay in increments until you are paid up after your surgery. To answer your question, I paid the hospital $500.00. To see my doctor BEFORE the surgery I paid $40 (because he is a specialist it wasn't the normal co-pay fee), and $100.00 for a psch evaluation (directly to the pyschologist because she didn't take my insurance). Now that I am post OP I don't pay anything for the next five follow-up visits.

Chris N J, You look GREAT!!!!!! Congrats. How did you lose 137lbs in six months?

laphappy40, You can get the ticker scale at tickerfactory.com. It will calculate your old bmi, ask you your current weight and your goal. weight. Once you are done, copy and paste it to you signature on lapbandtalk.com & it will show up everytime you reply or ask a question on a thread. PS- once you've created your ticker you can double click on your ticker from a previous or just posted thread and it will take you directly to your ticker so that you can update it.

I have the exact same thing going on. It seems that the amount that I eat, determines how painful my left side under my ribs will be. If eat a very small meal it's not painful at all. Then after the food digests (I guess) the pain goes away. I will only feel the pain when I breathe deeply after eating. It usually last about an hour or two at the most. I wonder if it is some indication that we are full. Very Strange. It doesn't hurt very badly, it's just uncomfortable.

Traveler, How long have you been banded and are you sure it's not head hunger as apposed to "hunger" "hunger". I agree with klpdbl, but once you distinguish the two it becomes a little easier.

Does anyone know if you can stretch your pouch if you've never had a fill? I have only lost 13 pounds since my bandin 10/1/07 and i can know eat almost a "normal" sized portion. Do you actually have a pouch if the band has no saline or flouro in it? HELP! I am worried.

Thundandlight, Wow a full liquid diet for ten days before the surgery?!! That will be hard. That means you'll be on liquids for about a month (counting before and after the band). You are sure to lose ALOT of weight during that time! Maybe you can have some egg nogg (that's kind of thick). Jello sounds good. How about low fat pudding? What are you going to do when everyone sits down to dinner? I know you can do it, Good Luck!

I was banded on 10/1/07 and for about 2 weeks I could feel the port when I rolled over and bent down as well. Once the swelling went down everything was o.k..

I hope you two are right! Thanks for the support, can't wait for the pound to "melt" away!

Danaclark2, Danaclark2, I see that u posted this band in May has it gotten any better? Currently I am 4 weeks post-banded and I realized two days ago that I can eat almost a "normal sized" meal. I thought something was wrong. I thought maybe I stretched something (even though I have no restriction yet). I am scheduled for a fill 11/16/07 and it feels like a lifetime away. I noticed that I havent lost any weight this week and I am worried. I have lost a total of 13 pounds and my surgery date was 10/1/07. I really hope things get better with the band because my will power is starting to wear down. I got the band because I need help. I know that I am resposible for what I eat and exercise, but I really feel like I need more help. I hope that after the fill I feel the restriction I felt the first week or so.

I also ate "not so mushy foods" at my mushies stage. I was banded on 10/1/07 and by 10/6/07, I was eating fish and a baked potato. I saw my doctor on 10/17/07 and he was surprised that I was able to tolerate the different foods without nasuea and/or vomiting. My doc told me not to overeat (I am also at no restriction, but I do eat less), to listen to my body and to chew really well. I seem to be losing 4 pounds a week and I don't think I stretched anything. Although I think (almost everyday) that if would have adhered to the "mushie" diet maybe I would be losing more. Oh well I can't go backwards so I just eat right and exercise. Slowly but surely I'm sure the weight will come off. Good Luck!

Thankyou all.

What kind of exercise or exercise machine is elliptical? Question: I was banded on 10/1/07, is it too early to do sit ups or to use a machine that has weights and helps with stomach exercises?