LynneB

Hey guys!! Missed u all so much!! How have things been for all of u? I got a bit off track during the holidays, but I didnt gain, just didnt lose anything either. I would love to get back in touch with everyone again, hopefully u guys are losing like crazy & doing great!

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1) I am at the VERY beginning of this journey, having just received my primary care dr's referral, and making an appointment at the Mass General Hospital Weight Loss Center (don't even have the date yet)... QUESTION: How long did it take for you when you were at the same point I am now until you were banded? I started my process in July of '07, it took me sevral appeals to get ins to cover me. Had I not had to fight w/ ins it would have taken me about a month from start to finish. I finally got banded 4/17/08. 2) I've started to read about post-op eating, etc. One thing that scares me is when you say you must be careful about fruits with skin and breads / fried foods. Now, I'm not a big eater of any of those, but people have mentioned "getting stuck"... what does that mean? Does that mean you'd choke? That confused/scared me. Getting "stuck" means you either took too big of a bite or didnt chew good enough or both. It feels like a lump in your chest or upper stomach, you can actually feel that the food is stuck above your band & will not go down. It makes you feel like you cant swallow your own spit & u end up over the toilet drooling like a mad dog till it comes back up. Some ppl say when they bend over it just flows right back up, but when I get stuck I actually heave & throw up. Not as bad as having the flu, but still miserable & it usually hurts for awhile after. You should really go back to liquids for a day or 2 after it. Though I am guilty of not always following that rule. It is important though so u dont slip your band. It is NOT like choking though, not at all so dont let it freak u out. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! I dont regret being banded at all! Also, dont apologize for asking questions, thats what we are all here for. We enjoy sharing our experiences!

I like wal mart chocolate(52grams in 2 scoops) , and vitalady.com has small sample packets for 1.99 with tons of different flavors ranging from 27g-39g per packet, my fav is chocolate peanut butter banana, I also like GNC vanilla cake batter flavor. Tonight I had chocolate ice cream flavor from vitalady w/ 33 grams of protein, added a lil caramel syrup milk & ice, blended it up & even my kids wont leave it alone!!

I am surprised your surgeon said yes. My gyn was willing but my surgeon said no way cuz lapband is considered a sterile procedure while tube tying is whats called a dirty procedure & it could introduce bacteria into the band site. Good luck & hope it goes well for you. I would have LOVED to get both done at the same time!

Last Tuesday I got my 3rd fill & I had 4cc in a 10cc band. I lost 7lbs in the last 6 days which was awesome, but I started feeling lightheaded & dizzy cuz I couldnt keep anything but liquids down. I gave in today & had 1 cc removed. My doc really let me have it for not coming back on Thurs or Fri when I knew I couldnt move to mushies like I was supposed to. I told him I was out of town & he said it didnt matter, I shoulda called him & he coulda got me in w/ a doc in the town I was visiting. He said liquids are too many empty calories & not enough nutrition & I was risking losing my band or having serious esophageal complications if I couldnt move to mushy & solids like I was supposed to. He did an ultrasound which showed major inflamation in my esophagus even though I only vomited about 4 times in the last 5 days (only 1 time a day when I would try to move on to mushies from liquids.) So I am now back to the 2 days liquids to get the inflamation down & then move to mushy on Wed, & if I cant move on then I have to come back right away. He also said this has now slowed down my fill schedule since I let it go too long. It isnt worth risking your band over the scale moving, eventually the scale will move as its supposed to (slowly) and it will be the correct and healthy way. Too fast is too dangerous. Please dont wait another week, call your doc TODAY!!

I had 1cc removed today. I had 4cc in a 10cc band & my last fill was 2cc which made me too tight. I was the same way as Kerry3, I could keep liquids down fine but no mushies at all, I was throwing up from anything that had any substance at all, I couldnt eat tuna salad or scrambled eggs and could barely eat 1/4 packet of runny cream of wheat. I lost 7lbs in 5 days which was awesome but I needed to have more than liquids. Now I am at 3cc so hopefully I will be able to eat but still lose too.

My Dr has me come back every 2 weeks. 1st fill was 1.5cc, 2nd fill was 1cc, a week from Thurs I go back again & this time he will prolly only do a 1/2 cc. I had to talk him into 1cc for the 2nd fill he only wanted to do 1/2 then. He will let me continue to come back every 2 weeks unless I am steadily losing 2-3 lbs a week then he wont do anymore till I quit losing again. I would hate to only go monthly for 1/2 cc.

When I went to the endocrinologist back in March, she told me that I would be put on cholesterol meds next visit and that insulin was also going to be a possibility. At that time I still hadnt gotten definite approval (after all my denials)for my surgery so I didnt say anything to her about it. Didnt want to jinx it before it was scheduled!! Well, today was my "next visit" and my cholesterol and triglycerides were now PERFECT!!!!! My A1C was 9.0 in March & today it is 7.7. When it gets to 6.5 I am officially no longer diabetic!! So no cholesterol meds, and I have gone from 4 glyburide a day to now only 1/4 of a 5mg tablet at bedtime only!! Thats it, a quarter of a pill 1 time a day!! That is for the next 2-3 weeks & then I can stop all diabetes meds completely!! In March I weighed 239, today I was 205!!!! Almost to ONEDERLAND!!! I am so psyched!! Finally I have a tool that is ging to help me be forever successful!!:cool2::w00t:

I am only about 25 mins from StPete so we will have to get together while u are here!! Hope to get to meet u!

I would love a ladies only forum. I cant think of any original names right now, all that comes to mind is "Ladies Only" , "Ladies Room" "No men allowed", nothing catchy comes to mind at the moment.

good luck & keep me posted! let me know if i can help you in any way

Good luck w/ the appeals process, it took me 3 appeals to get approved so dont give up!! Ins companies hope if they deny you that you will just give up & go away. Try sending them pics of yourself w/ a personal appeal letter. Let them know you are more than just a policy number. I can also send you copies of my appeal letters if you need them. Are you in west FL? What Dr are you going to? Let me know if I can do anything to help you in any way. Keep positive & be persistant, it will all work out in the end.

I'm here for anyone who needs a buddy. I am in Bradenton FL, but I am willing to go thru this all w/ anyone. It would be nice to encourage each other.