Wheetsin

What's allowed for you at 2 weeks post-op? Can you do mushies? If so, kick that soup to the curb. </Ricki Lake> How about some wet salads - tuna salad, chicken salad, etc? Refried Beans with a little spiciness and cheesy goodness. How about *other* Soups? Or meatless chili? Is chili a soup? I don't know! How about cottage cheese? I'm a success story in waiting.

That's along the same lines as what I was thinking. If they pay 50% regardless, then perhaps you could have some leverage for negotiation - e.g. I could have this done for $40,000 and you'd have to pay $20,000, but I'm willing to go to this place that charges $9,000... And usually when there's a percentage pay involved, it's a percentage of what the insurance company is billed. So if 50% is an in-network rate, you pay 50% of the network negotiated charges. If that's the case, you could be looking at a very reasonable out-of-pocket in the neighborhood of $500 - $1000. (the network negotiated amount for my surgery ended up being something like $1600 ... it makes a BIG difference what 50% they're talking about!) But do check, an insurance expert I am not.

A little levity, Wheetsin style. And warning - there's also some mild adult content. As some of you know, I met my husband 6,000 miles away from home... so a lot of our communication had to happen indirectly -- at first through phone calls and letters, but then when my college brought on e-mail (and I realized I could send messages to people outside of my school) and chat, a whole new way of communicating (for free!) opened up to us. Keep in mind this is early 90s, and I'm not talking about a spruced of chat client complete with emoticons and spellcheck. I'm talking about medieval tools like ytalk and the original beta ICQ. And once upon a time his parents were visiting (I had already met his parents in person by this time) and my husband had to run an errand, so he says "Here, chat with my parents." Which is kind of impossible. So I'm stammering on about something generic and flame retardant and, intending to tell them a story about a time I was blowing a bubble (bubble gum, not soapy bubbles), blew too hard, and it landed in my cousin's hair. Only by the time I'd fat-fingered it all up, what I ended up messaging to my future father-in-law was: He came to close, I blew too hard, and I ended up spitting cum in her hair. Curses to Mr. Qwerty. That "c" and "g" are just a little too close. I really don't understand why their aversion is there... :rolleyes :heh:

I've not heard of e-pen (I thought you were looking for one of those pen-shaped zip drives or something!), but my mother had a home electrolosis kit when I was a kid. She had to mix up saltwater, do a bunch of hooey... and she said it hurt like crap! I'm consdering laser hair removal, but I want some of my friends to go do it first so I can see if it works or not. :guess

I've never been under the impression that bandsters can't vomit. Otherwise we wouldn't pursue liquid antiemitics like Lotto tickets! My understanding is simply that vomitting can cause band complications including slips, so should be avoided. I'm no doctor, but my best guess is that one's ability to vomit when unfilled would depend on the level of natural restriction received from the unfilled band. Some people have a large amount of restriction from empty bands.

Hi Laurend, are there any considerations around the 50% coverage? Meaning -- if you went to a surgeon who charged $100,000, and a surgeon who charged $5,000, would they pay half of either regardless? Or is the 50% capped by some amount?

I've been known to chew gum. :confused: ...but I do try to be careful, and I only do it when my ketsosi breath is kicking in and I don't have any mints handy. I *try* to stick with the liquid mints, or the dissolvable strip mints, but a carefully chewed piece of gum is better than melting someone's eyeballs out.

I don't want to answer the wrong question, so forgive but are you looking for the perspectives of SUPPORTIVE bandsters who have UNSUPPORTIVE spouses? Or the perspective of UNSUPPORTIVE spouses who have banded SOs? Or something else? :help:

I came here looking for a man, but no matter how hard I try to woo you, you keep bringing up your wife.

I agree about the spelling errors. I've always agreed with that one - it has come up many many times - on boards far, far away. It's a peeve of mine, but I try not to point it out unless I legitimately cannot understand what the person is saying (and that DOES happen!). And occasionally because I think the person really doesn't know, and it's an opportunity to honestly help someone. But I don't do it as a jab. (I know you weren't referring to me, but wanted to explain that anyway). It's the how that makes it a jab, not the what. True for most things in life, no? To me, and this is just me, and is only a general statement, it seems like people will often move to spelling when they're approaching "attack you not the idea" mode. Or to point out an apparent lack of intelligence, which is really no different from the latter.

I'll take a pooty cigar over thousands of dead citizens any day.

That's the double standard I see, though perhaps it could lay elsewhere. Ron calls me "darling", but calls foul when he's called "sweety" by someone else. As I said before, if I had called you sweety, it would be a double standard.

I was the one you called "darling", and I was the one who protested it. Laurend is the one who said (paraphrasing) "it would take an idiot to believe that". Laurend is not the one you called "darling". Had I called you "sweety", then it would be a double standard. You also thought Laurend was a moderator. Perhaps you're confusing the two of us?

My surgeon's/program's psychologist has what he called the "Oh shit" period, where it's normal for people to wonder, "Oh shit, what did I just do to myself?" I really worried about the size of my bites and sips and tastes in the beginning. I would want to drink, but be too worried I would do something wrong if I did any more than moisten my tongue, or ate any more than what fit on the very tip of a baby spoon. The best advice I have is - this goes away, but you probably won't see it go away overnight. For me, I "accidentally" took too big of a drink of water one day, and realized - hey, that went down just fine! So my drinks got a little bigger, and a little bigger. I don't remember worrying about too much of anything after the first month or so, but I was a bit of a nervous wreck before then, trying to do everything exactly right.

I sleep naked! Even in hotels, which I'm in frequently for work travel. I used to try wearing a nightgown at hotels, but I'd tear them off during the night, so I figured - why waste my time.

I enjoy my Protein drinks and look forward to them. They're my "treat". I use "Six Star" whey protein isolate. As a base, try "Carb Countdown" milk. I can't remember who makes it, but it has GREATLY reduced carbs, even fewer than soy milk.

My burps changed. I rarely burp now, but when I do, they just kind of keep coming, and it feels like they're coming from deeper than before.

Honestly, and I get nothing for saying this (except grief if the wrong person reads it) - Dr. Hoehn and Billie (the LB coordinator) are awesome. And Becky (receptionist) is a peach. Enough so that it's (IMO) worth dealing with the others. They aren't all bad. But there are two or three bad apples, and one in particular. (And a LOT of people see this, band and RNY, so don't think it's ever "just you").

Swelling going down would explain less restriction, but not more. I know for me, I typically feel the restriction the evening I get the fill, then not for a few days, then kapowie - it will hit me out of the blue, about 3 or 4 days later. Why? No idea! There are a lot of things that just don't make sense with the band. :rose:

I'm pretty sure the inside of the port is lined with a metal curve, to keep the needle from penetrating the back of it. Perhaps that's what you heard? My surgeon is really good about hitting the port (I've never had a fluoroscope fill). Once he's needed me to hold a situp position to fid it (just when marking, not when poking) and once it took him two pokes. Other than that he drops right in and right back out. When I needed an unfill about 2 weeks ago, he was out and a different surgeon had to take care of it. One who didn't have much experience. And I (as always) declined the local. That was about 10 minutes of laying there with a needle sticking out of my abdomen while he tried to line it up with the port. Line up meaning hes pulling the top part of my abdomen one way, and pushing the other part of it the other... confident he's found the port, but unable to get the needle to puncture the membrane. I had a few ouchies, but man - was I sore the next day. Do nurses typically do the fills at your office? Does the surgeon not do them?

I thought your handle was familiar, but there are just a few too hundred names here for me to be sure. :faint: :heh: Dr. Hoehn did my surgery. I think he's a wonderful surgeon, but I've had some challenges with some of his staff. But I'd still go back to him. Dr. Hitchcock did the last info night so Dr. Hoehn *I think* would do the next one. I've been to Leavenworth - kind of. I've been to the military base. And a relative is a big wig at the big house. But I've never been there. :heh:

Thw two I invested the most in were (I may get the names slightly off) Isopure Zero Carb (or maybe it was perfect carb, don't remember) card free, low fat, low cal. Wasn't the best tasting. Since about 2 months post-op I've been faithful to "Six Star" brand whey Protein isolate. IMO it tastes the best, has the least aftertaste, and if you mix it with milk it blends nicely with flavorings. Low carb/fat/cal, a little over 20gm per scoop - I do double scoops.

Text him: How about pizza and sex? Doh! You're moving away from that. And I'm being a bad influence. But it would at least get you a response.

A cup of muscle weighs more than a cup of fat. When you're starting to build muscle, it's easy to go through a period of not losing weight because the fat weight is being replaced (and sometimes added to!) by muscle weight. But remember that fat does not equal weight, and gaining weight does not mean you're fatter. Do you mean the process? Long story short - muscle needs calories. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn. This is why bodybuilders can eat thousands of calories a day and maintain insanely low body fat percentages. If you maintain a healthy or restricted caloris intake, and bulk up for muscle mass, you will burn (at rested state) more calories than before the muscle was added. Burning more calories than you're eating = breaking down fatty reserves to "fill in the gaps". That's WAY simplified.

I guess what really burns me is they don't tell you all the negative things that go with this surgery and what you might have to deal with and learn to live with. Part of the onus should be on the medical staff to tell both sides of the story, but there is also onus on behalf of the patient to ask and to educate themselves as much as possible. I agree "they" should tell you, especially if you ask. And I don't mean "your fault", I just mean - it's a two way street. Such as, several people I know can only eat 3-4 bites of something and then that's it. That's not something that's really a bad thing, is it? I mean - the whole point was restricted intake. I know a lot of people who are thrilled that 3 or 4 bites into their meal, they're full. But 3 - 4 bites sustained makes me think there's a possible slight overfill, or not enough chewing. Such as the choking and the vomiting. Choking? Serious choking as in can't get air in?? When you eat?? Or are you describing something else? And vomitting is abnormal when you're relating it to the band. But if you're referring to bringing up food that's stuck (which is not vomitting), that's part of the deal, and if you - at no point in the process - were told that stuck food sometimes has to come up, then - wow, bad planning and educational process on your surgeon's behalf. The biggest percentage of bandsters have this problem, if they tell you otherwise(the doctors that is) then they're lying. Hmm, where do you get this statistic? That most bandsters choke and vomit? Because that's not typical. Imagine eating 3-4 bites and then the choking starts. Pretty hard to accept a the rest of your life doing that I think. That choking thing - honestly - kind of new. If you're choking when you eat, something is wrong. That's why I asked for clarification earlier. I can understand not wanting to pay for tests, but the $ would certainly be worth your health, wouldn't it? Moving beyond that - meat is a source of Protein but there are LOTS of other sources out there. Milk has a fair amount, and when you combine it with a good whey protein, can easily provide the 60gm. There are little bottles of a drink that are 20gn protein each - can't remember the name, but it's only a few oz of liquid. Granted it's not hard protein, but it's better than no protein. Tofu and Beans are decent protein sources. Fish is a great one, and if you find meat hard to eat, can you do salads - e.g. tuna salad? What are your eating habits? How are you chewing? How long do meals take you to eat? What types of foods are you eating? Perhaps we can help, with a little more info. You've already made a large investment - you just need some help getting the dividends.