Wheetsin

Oh, I should mention that I'm GREEK. Half, anyway. And a small part Cherokee, and Welsh. And probably specks of other things. When we go to a family event, there's a distinct "one of these things is not like the others" aura about me. Because the people in my family who aren't Greek are Mexican. Lots of olive skin, deep brown eyes and hair, tanning at the flip of a lightswitch... I bet all these recessive Greek traits come out when I have a kid, and people will ask me things like, "Oh, are you babysitting?"

Are you kidding me? Me: really thick (before it started falling out 4 months post-op) curly red hair (a funky kind of goldish red that looks brown indoors and leprechaun's nightmare in the sun). Big buggy hazel eyes that tend toward the green side (I don't really know what people mean when they tell me I have "dough eyes". Or is it doe eyes?! But I'm a cliche internet redhead/green eyes, RSVP for my picture & profile hottie) While I could maintain a very nice tan when I was a CA native, I am now so white that I'm clear. Oh, and I'm between 5'10 and 5'11 with a large frame (are you kidding me? You can see my ribs when I stand and I've still got an extra 80ish lbs on me.) DH: somewhere between 6'3 and 6'5. Very light blond hair - light to the point that if he cuts it short, he just looks bald. Wavy when it's too long, straight when it's not. Thin, but lots of it. Which he's well on his way to anyhoo. Strawberry blond facial hair. Small (they're set deeply) steel blue eyes. And a forehead that doubles the overall size of his head. A perfect smile, and BIG lips. Tell me again why we think it would be anything but cruel to have a child...

I frequently eat Mexican food. There's no reason we can't have it. :welldoneclap: Unless you personally don't tolerate something... in which case, order it sans. :Banane20:

By virtue of how our banking is set up, that would be pretty much impossible in my situation. DH told me early on that he wanted me to handle all financial aspects. He doesn't care what I spend on on what I spend it, as long as bills are paid and he has his toys. Of course, we consult on large purchases. Our checks are deposited into a joint acccount and it's pretty much mine from there. DH has a rough ballpark of what his annual salary is, but he couldn't tell you what he nets each month. He's never bothered to memorize the password for our online banking, and the only time he's accessed it in the last year was when I've called him to go look at something and had to tell him the password on the phone. If he were lying about how much he made, honestly, I'd assume it was for a good reason. E.g. not wanting me to think he made more than me - maybe an ego issue or something (not that I would care, because he does make more than me). Or because he wanted to buy something that I wouldn't know about (in which case I'd assume it was a surprise for me, not assume it was anything bad). Maybe your husband had good intentions, but then felt attacked when you questioned him so he became defensive. Not that guys ever do that, or that we ever make them feel that way. :paranoid

I've missed yogurt. Too many carbs and the low carb ones have funky texture. I'm a texture person. Blue Bunny "Sweet Freedom" smoothie. strawberry Creme. 1.5g fat 5g carbohydrates 8g Protein 70 calories ...per 7 ounce bottle. Tastes just like strawberry yogurt, only with much better texture than the usual low carb products.

All the weights I had to wear really made it a serious workout to get to the dive site, and back out of the water. Especially ocean dives (ocean water = higher salinity = more bouyancy -- not what fat divers need). I did a cave dive once that I wasn't really supposed to do (:paranoid). I'm not claustrophobic, but I do like knowing I can go up if I have a problem. I've assisted on a few salvage dives, and accompanied more than assistted on one (body) recovery dive. :speechles I don't think I'll do that again. I thought about pursuing my instructor cert, but I just have no time.

I barely eat now, I can't imagine what it would be like if I took supressants on top. I've not seen the posts you're referring to, but I would guess that it's people trying to manage the time between their banding and first fill. You were banded 4 months ago, so I assume you've had a fill. Is your hunger still such that you feel you would need appetite suppressants to manage it without overeating? Cod liver oil pills vary in size. BTW, the fingernail analogy doesn't work for me. I can manage something the size of a BCP, or maybe 1/3 of a tic-tac, but I've had something the size of an aspirin (much smaller than my fingernail) get stuck. Good rule of thumb - just because others talk about it or take it, doesn't mean you need it or need to be concerned that you aren't taking it. If you have specific questions, talk to your surgeon about his/her recommendations. In general bandsters should take supplemental Protein (until count is high enough through food), a daily multi, and Calcium. Those are pretty much the staples, and anything else is a matter of personal preference.

Don't worry about "I know it's protien, greens,fruit,carbs,". As time goes on that will become more and more of a general guideline. (BTW, fruit - carbs). There's really no reason greens have to come before anything else, but Protein should come first because if you're going to get full, you want it to be full on something you really need anyway (Vitamins aren't going to replace your protein, but they'll take care of most others). As for why you aren't losing weight, who knows? That's between you and your body - no one else can answer that for you. I can tell you that your bosy can only maintain significant loss for so long. On most weightloss programs, including WLS, most people will see a stall after week 1 and somewhere around weeks 4 - 8. Sometimes your body just needs to catch up with everything that's going on, and to you this looks like no change on the scale. Also keep in mind that weight is not the same thing as fat. Very lean people can weigh a whole lot (look at bodybuilders). Don't focus on the scale because it's downright inaccurate. Look at your percentages, or changes in your clothing, FFM, etc. My weight can fluctuate about 15lb in a day. Do you see why I would be setting myself up for failure if that's what all I went by? BTW, this is why most people quit after just a few weeks on a diet plan. They reach one of these readjustment periods (commonly referred to as stalls, even though most dietary programs would not define something as a stall until you were 6+ weeks with no change in body fat composition), see the scale not move or even go up, and say "F it! I'm not going to give all this up and not lose weight, or gain weight!" They're making weight = fat. You just can't do that.

I think you'll find one of two realities in the near future. One is that more companies will begin to offer it as it transitions out of its current "experimental" status. This should be happening in the near future. Two is that fewer companies will offer it, because on a long term basis, they just don't see the ROI. (see previous thread for reasoning and numbers here). Good luck with your campaigning. :welldoneclap:

BTW, BSU as in Smurf Turf?

Hopping into your thread for a sec. My wait from submitting the paperwork to having my surgery was about 4 months. It is time you can spend well. There's lots of mental and physical prep to be done. E.g. start trying to eat bandster style, focus on lean Proteins, get the chewing and swallowing thing down. Retraining your behaviors now will make it SOOO much easier to do the right thing post-op. I wish I'd been a little more diligent about the behavioral changes pre-op. Good luck!

Yep, sounds like you got stuck and and enduring the residual irritation and swelling. Irritation would be the discomfort, and swelling would be feeling the Water go through. Be sure to take it easy for the next day or, in your case, two or three. Go back to basics if need be - living on Protein shakes and warm Soups for a few days won't kill you. Then you can do an accelerated progression back to normal foods. If you continue to irritate, you can swell shut (kind of) and that will put you in a bad spot, so take it easy. *ETA - none of us are doctors ( I think) and can only share our own advice and experiences. If you're truly concerned about something you have done or are feeling, consult your surgeon.

I have not had someone vacate this way, but I have done it to others. Ask her what's up. If she answers, you'll have that much more information. If she doesn't, you can't do much other than move on. If something has happened and you continue to pursue it, you may only push her away that much faster. If you already have asked and she hasn't replied, and you're sure she's getting the message, then let her know you're there is she needs you (if you want to), and move on from there.

Discuss the reflux/heartburn with your surgeon. If you're able to eat in moderation an unfill may be unnecessary. Your fills do not sound too aggressive to me. I've been at before, it was just too much for me. You can't compare your level of fill to someone else's. There are people who get restriction at 4ccs in a 10cc band, and there are people who get restriction at 10ccs in a 10cc band. That doesn't mean anything is wrong with either situation, just that the two people are different. IMO is you can still eat moderate meals, 3cc in a 4cc band is fine, and two fills in nearly a year is not on my radar for "aggressive" approaches. :welldoneclap:

I beileve my surgeon charges $150 to self-pays. That's without fluoro. With fluoro runs around $800. My insurance (supposedly, we'll say) retains through the life of the band, so I pay $20 copay per fill.

Complications from surgery and the band are very low. There are several medical publications that can give you numbers on lap-band complication rates. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed is one example. Query "lapband complication rates" or similar terms.

I really couldn't even begin to guess what you will or won't be able to eat, but I can tell you what I can or can't eat. My responses are in blue. First of all is a Mexi Melt at Taco bell - I don't know what this is. If it's a hard/taco type thing, I can eat them. If it's a soft/tortilla type thing, I personally can do them but I know several people who cannot. Second is Meatloaf - I opted to quit eating red meat. I have a really hard time chewing red meat to the point of feeling safe swallowing it. I've found that to me, ground beef especially never seems to really chew up. it gets to a certain point where it just won't go to goo. I can't think of any bandsters I personally know who eat ground beef without requiring some sort of constant sauce to go with it and make it go down. What else....Egg salad. - I eat egg salad (prefer tofu egg salad) and ate it frequently as part of my mushies stage. Potato salad. - I eat potato salad on occasion. I do watch carbs and fat, so I'm careful about it. I have to chew very well. CHinese food, - I have eaten both homemade Chinese and restaurant Chinese with no problems. I've even gotten brave and tried the rice. I've never had a problem. I eat chicken based dishes and try to avoid fried foods. Another thing is fettuccine alfredo - I can eat Pasta, but it just doesn't do much for mye anymore. I figure, if I'm only eating this handful of food each day, I was nutritious stuff, not starchy fat. But I so still eat it on rare occasion and I have no problems, but I know a lot of bandsters who cannot get pasta down. macaroni and cheese.... - Same as above. Right now it probably seems impossible to not eat these foods, but a LOT of bandsters find that, once banded, their tastes change. Whether it's a physiological change, or psychological - who knows. But -- how do I explain this. Once you have to chew your food so much, certain flavors and textures just aren't worth it. That's part of why I abandoned red meat. It just took so damn long to chew it up, it wasn't worth it. Same with most carbs. You have to be so careful eating them, it just isn't worth the risk. And maybe by virtue of that, they become less appealing to us. Long story short, to date there are no foods I *can't* eat. There are many foods I *choose* not to eat. And there are a small handful of foods that hurt, but I could eat them if I wanted to... but there's no way it's worth it.

As far as I know, not really - not without a significant amount of programming work, anyway. Caveat beging I'm much more familiar with the php environments than vb. First, you're actually talking about two unrelated issues. Whether or not something is on a main page has nothing to do with what shows when viewing new posts. With a sizeable amount of programming something could be removed from the main page - maybe -, but then users would have to "happen upon it" if they wanted to find it, or know where to look - which new users don't. Posts to it will still hit the new posts view, even if it's removed from the main page. Boards are structured so that forums appear on the first page as a table of contents type of notifier. It's a default behind how they're programmed. New posts goes by posts to hit the server, not topics displayed on the main page. I've probably not made that very clear. So to hit the other side of your question, I've looked and I don't see any kind of an "ignore thread" or "ignore forum" option. I don't know if we don't have it, or if I just can't find it -- I will defer to Alexandra for this. Ignoring a thread or forum is the only way I could think of to not see its replies listed under new posts... well, the only realistically do-able option, anyway.

I did have a close call last week - my own doing. Got wonky at a restaurant with co-workers, so I excused myself and yakked in the bathroom. Didn't have that instant relief so I knew chances were that I need another yak, so I stalled, asked for a box, etc... yakked again, and still didn't have that instant relief but one of the ladies I was with needed to get to the airport (a third lady drove all of us) and I felt bad for possibly making her late. And there was no way I was going to yak in the car, so I sat there trying to convince myself I could wait one more minute... one more minute... and it just kept hurting more and more. *sigh* It's not like vomitting when you better run or else. I just got to the point where there was no where else for my saliva to go. Fortunately my co-worker knew what was up & dropped me off at the door, and I made it, but I'm glad she had a lead foot because I would have had to ask her to pull off the interstate if we had been going any farther or slower. Which I've had to do three other times, btw -- ask someone to pull over so I can PB, that is. One was with my parents/husband after dinner on our way to a store, one was with a limo driver on the way to O'Hare (with a co-worker in the car), and one (unfortunately more like 13) with a co-worker who was driving me in for an emergency unfill. :tired Man, it's a good thing we can pull our dignity off the ground, brush it off, and start over!

Mine was lap and I've not heard of anyone in my program who had to be convereted to open. Part of that is going to revolve around good pre-op adherence. I *did* have to sign a waiver, that if for some reason he got in there and could not do it lap, I consented to being opened. I would imagine that's SOP.

I felt that way for the past 3 weeks, only not so adversely affected. I take it in stride. Get through today, tomorrow is probably going to be the same thing but that's one less day. Take a mental health day if you need it. I know time is a major force, but it's one day, and can do so much to help you get the rest of your work done. If all else fails, personally - I do my best when I procrastinate. Truly. I always score higher when I've just "whipped something out" than when I've gone through revisions and edits and planning. I know it's different with a thesis because you can't just write and that's the end of it, but... hmm... I assume you have some type of thesis committee or review board you will have to present to? Are you in the lucky situation of having it so that no one on your committee is an expert in your own area? Haha. I've let that influence my thesis topics before. Oh, door #1 that's what you did your dissertation on? Then I think I will go with door #2!!

We lived in an affluent neighborhood and I went to a school in an equally affluent area. And I mean - kids driving BMWs and Mercedes they got for their 16th birthday affluent. And then we moved and there really weren't particularly affluent areas, there were a few affluent people, mostly doctors at the local hospital, and a few nicer neighborhoods, and a few not so nice neighborhoods, but it was this great sea of middle class, for the most part. At least when I was in high school. Regardless of which school I was at, except for a very small handful (maybe 3) of classes I can think of, I always felt that learning was my responsibility and would occur outside of the class or teacher. The teachers told us what to learn, and that's all they did, but it was our job to go forth and learn it. In either school, except for the mentioned exceptions, I really can't remember learning occuring because of the teacher of because of the setting. I remember plenty of instances where I learned because I took the book home with me and read it and read it and asked my parents and kept at it until I understood what it was saying. Teachers just never held value, outside of "babysitter" for whatever hour I happened to be with them. They couldn't answer questions outside of what was printed in the text, they could not help me make connections or form new schema, or see some deeper insight in a superficial topic. We need to help our teachers learn to teach, not just to follow a curriculum or talk or instruct. I'm not a teacher so I don't have the first hand experience, but I have worked as a contractor hired to help schools fox this problem. And I know there's a huge deficit out there (can only speak for sure about schools in my state and two surrounding states) between what teachers are learning, how they're allowed to do their job, and the knowledge/skills someone really needs to teach effectively.

I would wonder if it's more an issue of not knowing he was never president, or of not knowing who the man is, and by the time you find out, you're so confused you really don't know any better. I'm like that when it comes to geography, which is probably my "weakest" of school type subjects. I'm pretty good with non-US geography, but don't ask me what states border what because unless I've lived there, there's a chance I couldn't tell you. But I'd know where to go to find the answer.

I agree with that, I am not either. But I do think that how people interpret their faith largely (if not completely) sets the rest of their value factors, which is going to drive their political persuasion. So indirectly, people vote largely of their faith. Not to be confused with people voting a certain way because someone of a higher ranking in the same faith tells them to.

I'm specifically leaving the author's name off because I don't want this to be seen as a reply directly to them, because it isn't. But it is using the words. It would be hard for me to disagree more with the logic above. That's like saying, "Someone told me that all dogs are blue, so I went and read the book titled All Dogs are Blue to test what I was taught, and sure enough - it said that all dogs are blue. Isn't that how most people learn that all dogs are blue?" If someone had heard all dogs were blue since - well - for their entire lives, in most cases, then they would probably accept that dogs were blue and seek something that would affirm that. At least before the years when we develop critical and differential thinking. And then, by the time they hit those years, they may not be so inclined (or they may - most certainly) because they "just know" that it's true, even if they haven't seen one. An alternative approach would be to hear that all dogs are blue, and then recognize that you've never seen a blue dog, so you read about all other dogs, and you start watching other dogs and looking for them, maybe even buy a few for yourself. Go rent some dog movies, check out the local AKC club, whatever it took to get some validity to the claim. And maybe you would find one blue dog and say, "Aha!" and maybe you wouldn't, and wonder, "Then what colors are they?" In other words, if you aren't sure all dogs are blue, you'd go to sources other than All Dogs are Blue to see if this is true. If you're fairly certain that all dogs are blue, then All Dogs are Blue affirms your thinking and you probably don't have any reason to look farther.