SpecialK

Courtenay - check out Synchrony Health web site as they have both Columbus and Cincy locations where their doctors will do fills for patients who were banded elsewhere and now need a fill doctor in Ohio. I believe there is a one time fee (maybe $500) for the first appointment probably because they do a history & physical plus the fill and then I think they quoted about $100 per fill after. That would have to be cheaper and more convenient than flying somewhere for a fill.

The message about where the Fashion Show is said the MACY's Hayden Run Rd. entrance area. I'm pretty sure that is the original Macy's store (that's considered the back side of the mall which is NOT facing I-270).

I went to the website tonight to vote for Mark to continue on into the final 3 and found out that if you try to vote they want full name, phone #, zip code, and email address or you can't vote. Obviously collecting info for mailing lists to sell...the ultimate ugh! for me after being irritated with the product placement commercials stuff they kept putting in. I think I'm losing my taste for this show..LOL but I do hope one of the two girls wins!

On a happy note, because I really am a person who tries to see the glass half full, I had a Wendy's chili tonight put into the blender just a little and that tasted SOOO Good! Here's the nutrition info for the Large chili followed by the Nutrition info for the small chili. 25g of Protein in the Large and 17g Protein in the small. Nutrition Facts for Chili ~ Large Serving Size: 1 serving Amount per serving Calories 330 Total Fat9g Saturated Fat3.5g Trans Fat0.5g Cholesterol55mg Sodium1170mg Carbohydrate35g Dietary Fiber8g Sugars9g Protein25g Vitamin A 6%Vitamin C 6% Calcium 10% Iron 20% Nutrition Facts for Chili ~ Small Serving Size: 1 serving Amount Per Serving Calories 220 Total Fat6g Saturated Fat2.5g Trans Fat0g Cholesterol35mg Sodium780mg Carbohydrate23g Dietary Fiber5g Sugars6g Protein17g Vitamin A 4% Vitamin C 4% Calcium 8% Iron 15%

I'm all fixed back up now, just wanted to let others know to be careful and specify where your doctors' office can leave messages for you on phone #s.

I have a BIG BUTTERFLY helium balloon for Saturday. You shouldn't miss finding us!! Looking forward to it.

Here's a new one and I'm definitely going to share this with Dr. Price when I see him in person. His office supervisor Debbie called my WORK phone # and left a detailed message about "my lapband fill appt with Dr. Price is being cancelled for this Friday as he doesn't do the fills only Dr. Miller or Dr. Choban can do one so she was just going to cancel my appt that looks like it was scheduled in error (I have been waiting 3+ weeks for my first post op surgeon check up). Not good that they put the description of what the appt was for down incorrectly and I'm afraid they've given my appt now to someone else. She said "call the office to get a fill appt when you get a chance". OMG! I have called them back and got voicemail for this Debbie who left the first message and marked it urgent and explained she cancelled my appt in error and to please reinstate the appt ASAP. Debbie did call back about 2 hrs later and reinstated my appt with Dr. Price so all is back to where I was yesterday. I also told them not to leave private messages about health related matters on a work phone #. Duh! She said well any phone # we have for you is fair game to leave a message on unless you tell us specifically not to. I had her remove all phone #s except my cell # as ones they can contact me on. Like I said, Dr. Price will be told about this by me for sure. Actually I was given an option to now have Dr. Miller be my Fill Dr. and I took that offer. Will let you know more once I see Dr. Price and get my first fill appt. I'm going to try to do this by May 1 as I'm starting to feel more hungry as others have mentioned but I'm still keeping to about 800-1000 calories but its getting tougher.

I have a confession.... I've had a blast updating this thread with all the bandster dates on it since someone asked Gee, I wonder how many Shrinking Shamrocks there are?? The list is over 228 now! I'm only adding as I spy one I haven't seen before so if you're posting on the Master thread I'll pick up on it from here. Yes...I do have a life! LOL.... just started it for fun and now it keeps growing. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f114/march-2008-bandster-dates-57036/

Renee - they have ring guards that you can have put on a ring to temporarily change the size of it and it can be adjusted to keep making your ring work size-wise for you until you get to your goal and can have it sized and the permanent size settled. Good luck. I also have a couple loose rings and it feels great.

Greg - I missed hearing from you too. I have a ladies Bible study group I lead on Wednesdays and I will definitely raise your daughter and grandchild to these fabulous prayer warriors! We have one of our own members whose daughter was told that her pregnancy 2 years ago was at risk for Downs and she prayed daily and so did everyone who knew her and she had a wonderfully health little girl and now she is pregnant with her second baby and we're praying for her again. Add Tiffany & Jason to your prayers for the same as your daughter. I'm so proud of myself - went to the gym 3 times last week and took a 45-60 minute walk on my lunch hour for the last 2 days to burn some calories up. Hoping I'll have a good weigh in when I see Dr. Price for my first post op appt. I'm going to ask for the same Fill Date as you're getting GREG!! Your secret's safe with me! Take care.

Yea Sue! Cheering for you getting to go back to work!!

Susan - you are dead on center! I hate to throw food away..old mindset learned in growing up when family times were tough and we were told to sit there and eat what was on our plate and be grateful... and to boot they'd add that there are starving children in China who would be so thankful for half of what you had!" Guilt trip deluxe. So you are right, eat what I want and enjoy the nourishment and taste and then throw it away. Thanks

For the March bandsters, I tried ordering an omelette at Bob Evans' for dinner out last night and was able to eat about half of it without a problem with lots of chewing. It was a veggie type omellette with spinach and onions and some cheese no meat yet. I think that what I ate was about 2 eggs worth out of what was probably a 4 egg omelette if I have to estimate. It came with hash brown potatoes and I had the waitress change it to mashed potatoes - she looked at me a little funny but said, sure! So I ate maybe 1/4-1/2c mashed potatoes and took the leftovers home. Now I realize that wasn't the best thing because the other half of an omellette isn't going to be good heated up and I probably should have just ordered 2 eggs scrambled so I'm not throwing away food or wasting money. Anyway, it felt good to go to a restaurant and not just order soup! P.S. Mini non-scale victory -- the dinner came with delicious biscuits and I didn't touch them even though in the past I would have eaten both of those smothered with honey! I sent them home with my friend.

Okay, I'm upping the reservation to at least 10 chairs! Woo Hoo!!

I'll Bring a Baloon along to mark where we are sitting at Tuttle Mall for the fashion show and save 5-6 seats. I'll try to get there by 1:45 to stake a spot out for us.

Well I'm in the mushies stages now and it sure feels good to have a variety of foods to taste. I still have some mental image problems with only putting a 1/2Cup in a bowl and thinking it will be enough to satisfy. I've caught myself doing 1 Cup instead but then as I'm eating very slowly, thinking, I might have been able to just do 1/2Cup if I was 'trusting' myself more. Interesting mental journey here but I'm thankful to be down about another 1.5 lbs since the last weigh in. See my surgeon for my first post op appt this coming Friday. I did get to the gym 3 times in the past week. Started with just 15 minutes on a recumbent exercise bike, felt embarrassed and gave up. Then went back 2 days later, did a treadmill for 20 minutes and the recumbent bike for 10 minutes and was so proud of myself. Then overnight, felt sore and was going to give myself an excuse not to go back but said, I need to keep going, I need the exercise and was able to do 25 minutes on the treadmill at a little slower speed and 10 minutes on the recumbent bike so that is a big victory to me more than the 1.5 lbs is getting my butt into the gym three times this week. So for all of us big BMI folks, we just have to hold our head up and not worry about all those crazy fitness skinnies and weight lifters in the gym, those running on the treadmill, etc. and just start slow and do what we can and maybe one day we'll be the envy of the others in the gym! LOL

I put a Tablespoon of creamy peanut butter in a Chocolate Protein Shake and added ice to the Blender and that sure helped my craving for chocolate and peanut butter without doing something crazy.

AP band for me.

I'd recommend you try to go to the USA Local Support groups thread, under California and then see if there are any other folks in nearby areas that would chat with you and maybe they'd be support for you. Good luck!

Hi Rae! Come on over to the 2008 March Bandsters group and join in the chat on the MASTER thread where everyone banded in March is sharing their experience and progress!

Sufina - welcome. I have found it very helpful to be tied into the local lapband patients in my area so I went under USA Local support groups thread, to my Ohio thread, and then we have all kinds of various groups by the major cities and areas in Ohio and as a result of chatting in that area, we actually formed a local support group that meets at a mall once a month and involves only lapband patients since we found each of our surgery centers had about 90% Gastric Bypass and 10% lapband patients (or about that split) and we wanted to just have lapband support specifically so it has worked out great for us. The second group on the website I've found great support through is once you have a band surgery date, mine was March 17, I found tremendous support from the people having surgery at the same time as me, going through the same fears and cheers about going to the hospital, initial diet post op, etc. So that is under Band surgery dates and then it splits by Year and then by Month of surgery. Third group I've found some support through is whether you have alot to lose or just a certain amount to lose, there are groups for those by weight loss categories so if you have alot to lose, you'll need support from those who understand you're in it for the long haul because its not going to come off in just 6 months or even a year if your BMI is over 40 or 50. Hope this helps.

Christine -- now that you kicked yourself -- give yourself a hug because you've done something wonderful for yourself and its going to be fantastic in the long run, short run we'll all have bumps in the road. Have a good day and SMILE!

Just wanted to encourage everyone with a hug and say I wish I could be there in person to give you a hug but this will have to do until I can see you hopefully April 12. I hope all the payroll and work excuse/permission to return to work things get resolved ASAP! :cursing:

Melissa Webb RN 614-234-2052

Niki and Sue -- Not getting a paycheck due to paywork issues is major so I'm so sorry for you and not getting a call back when you are worried just adds to worry. I'll keep praying that things work out and get better from here. :cursing::redface::redface: Hugs to both of you!