Wheetsin

It's either in the water, spring fever, or 2 or 3 people sharing about 275 logins. I'm not sure which... but it makes me want to cry. Not really, but really.

Just some food for thought -- think twice before you cancel your in-force UHC coverage. I think you mentioned already being told this, but picking up a private pay policy can be hard to do when you're obese, have existing health issues, etc. When people can actually find a carrier, they often learn it's more expensive than they would have ever thought. More info in my 3rd paragraph. Answering whomever asked this (I don't remeber now) -- you can't really fight an employer-enforced exclusion because there's nothing to fight. They opted out of some options to save money, that's all it is on the business end. There's nothing there to fight because it's like asking for something from UHC that no one is paying for or agreed to purchase. Really the only thing you can do with an employer-enforced exclusion is ask the company to make the exception. BUT, they can't just make an exception for one person. With group coverage everything has to apply to everyone, except for MAYBE cases of extreme disability. MAYBE. And this wouldn't be one of them. Kimmie - you will probably have to start from scratch. This is because UHC doesn't sell "X insurance product" it sells many, many different products. My company has UHC as one of the insurance options, and I think we have 9 plans to choose from - and that's not even the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes they will sell package deals (like a gift bag that's already assembled), sometimes customers (you're not the customer, your employer is) can pick the individual items to make their own gift bags but that's increasingly rare because of the cost. On top of that, each plan can have completely different requirements for approval, testing, facilities, etc. So being approved with UHC "plan x" doesn't mean you will be approved with plan y, z, a, b, c, d, e.... nor does it mean approval requirements, coverage rates, copays, OOP maxes, etc. will be the same. I do understand what you're saying -- I hope this makes sense. :thumbup:

BTW, with a banded BMI near 50 you're in the upper percentile of BMI to get banded. I'm not sure why your surgeon would say that you're smaller, or even if you were a lower BMI (generally around 35 or less) what that would have to do with your fills... unless he's referring to organ fat pad. *shrug* Maybe that's his way of answering a question he can't otherwise answer.

Restriction can definitely be random by week, day, even time of day. Go slow with your fills, if you even need one right now. My first fill was only .5 cc and at the time it was all I needed. I've been too tight also, and had to seek an emergency unfill (caught during regular Dr. hours, but had to be done by someone who had never done a fill/unfill before). It's not a happy place.

I would say just give it time as long as you can get fluids down (Water consistency). If you cannot get fluids down, that's too tight. Often with fills I may have had pressure up or even slimed over thick liquids (e.g. prptein drink) for a day or two, only to feel fine afterwards. I am not super tight, IMO I'm just right, and I cannot do solids nor sometimes even water consistency liquids in the morning. The liquids never get stuck, but I know they're there. However, come evening it's a different story. So it may be a matter of two things -- letting the fill "take", and then learning and adapting to your personal pattern of restriction.

You know when enough is enough much better than any of us do. When it's enough, tell him about it. Nothing gets better if the problem isn't made common knowledge. You've done well, best of luck.

Answered this on your other thread.

Allergan has the "old" bands which held 4cc (2 options) and 10cc. Their new AP bands hold 10cc and 14cc. I've never heard of a Lap-Band brand band that held 12cc unless it was in reference to a VG (10cc band) that had been overfilled, which does happen. Saline can be lost of there is a leak, some surgeons may subtract some to compensate for what's in the tubing, and there's a theory of diffusion that I've not yet seen any documentation to support (it may be out there, I've just never seen it personally).

It pretty much doesn't happen that someone has 200 lbs to lose and ISN'T depressed, at least situationally. We also have "funks" and it sounds like you're in one. How far out is your surgery? I see about a month until your 2nd nutritionist appt, but how far out does surgery look like? If you need work as validation (MANY people do) then you could always get a temp job, or one you wouldn't mind walking away from, until your surgery comes up. If it's significantly far away, your benefits will likely have kicked in my surgery time and being out a week won't matter. If you won't work, find something to busy yourself with. Hobbies? Crafts? Volunteer work? It sounds like your husband is a good guy. He's "ok" with you not working (that says more than most husbands out there), it sounds like he's trying to be supportive, etc. Just really try to stop and think before you speak. Crabiness makes us snappy, and all that really does is give us more to apologize for later on, and cause lots of hurt feelings in the meantime. Maybe just sit him down ad tell him -- I'm sorry, I'm in this funk and I'm not sure why, I know I've been bitchy, please help me. You'll probably get good results.

Wheetsin's #1 solution to "I need some crunch": Buy turkey pepperoni, I use "Hormel" brand. Place it on paper towels on a paper plate and microwave it for about 3 minutes. You're looking for the grease to stop bubbling up and the overall color to darken, but NOT for the pepperonis to start to blacken. Just a darker red. At work this is about 2 mins, and at home it's about 3. mins, so you just need to pay attention until you get a feel for how much time it will take. As soon as the micro is off, remove and blot dry with additional paper towels. Between what's caught during cooking and what you remove by blotting, I'd guess 90% or more of the fat is removed. Let them cool to room temp, just takes a minute or so. They're now crunchier than most chips (because they're thicker), low fat, low cal, high Protein, high flavor. They pack well in a baggie for on-the-go. They go down easy. They make perfect scoops for: cream cheese (they're really good with the garden vegetable flavor), cottage cheese, tuna salad, etc. Another solution to crunch -- I've posted a how-to on this before and can't find it, so bear with me. It will be a bit sketchy. Buy some good quality parmesan cheese. Not the powdery kind like you put on pizza, but either a wedge or the long shreds you can get in a bag. Line a baking pan with wax or parchment paper. Preheat the oven to about 350, I think (been a while since I made this). Grate the cheese and form little piles of either 1 or 2 tbl - I do it by eye. Leave a few inches between piles. Put it in the oven and watch for it to melt and start to brown, them remove and let cool. When the cheese cools it will hold the flat shape and crunch and be kind of liek a cheese chip. I lived Atkins for a while, and I would make larger versions of these, then before they cooled completely I would lay them over a taco form and when the cheese cooled the rest of the way it would hold the taco shape and = tasty 0 carb taco shells. I saw that the small chips are actually for sale in some health food stores, REALLY expensive, like $4 for the size bag you'd buy to go in a kid's lunchbox. This is much cheaper. Have to take it easy with these b/c they are cheese, but parmesan is usually not as fattening as softer cheeses, and some of the fat bakes out. As for fills, for a long time I erred on the side of "looser over tighter" trusting my willpower to make up the difference. I'm glad I went this route. I know people who like to be so tight that they slime over a thick liquid, but that's not me.

In real life as with internet communication, I often speak in analogy -- without even realizing I'm doing it. Fine and dandy, until I remember that most people don't make connections through analogy, so to them -- all I'm doing is now talking about a traffic light instead of cooking... or some such shite. I realized how much I rely on expressions when my in-laws were here last/this month (they're not native English speakers) and had to constantly re-think how to get some point across. It's interesting, how little we notice it until something situational forces us to look a little more closely. (Green, I'm an f-bomber too, or "sailor mouth" as my mom calls it... but you have to take the good with the bad, no?)

I was just ready to be done eating, so mine had no pomp or circumstance. I think it was something stupid like BLTs and cottage cheese in front of the TV watching Jackie Chan's "Around the World in 80 Days" (DH picked it).

Time has been the best fader so far.

Cramping didn't concern me, it wasn't terrible... it was actually a lot more mild than menstrual cramping. Bleeding has stopped (nothing for 4 days now). OB appt on the 19th -- they did an ultrasound to follow-up on the subchorionic hemmorhage that had been noted at 3cm. The OB uiltrasound showed a heartbeat @ about 170, expected sizing, and no more sign of the hemmorhage. It was a big relief to hear the heartbeat. Today I go from "embryo" to "fetus" -- hehe. Weight on the 19th was down something like 10 - 15 lbs from weight when I had the doctor do the preggo test (start of the month). The OB wasn't too concerned about it, told me "you have plenty of reserves, the baby will still get what it needs." Thanks, I think??

Cute. I've lost an average-sized American female and an automobile tire. Or 4 legs and a chihuahua. Or 2 elephant penii and an elephant heart. Interesting.

If steak and lobster are part of your 7th week post-op diet, and you personally are able to tolerate them (assuming you'll have at least one fill by then), then go for it. Unless you'd rather wait until you have a better feel for what foods you do well with, a better feel for how your fill reacts to different foods, etc. -- in which case you can get steak & lobster any day, and don't have to do it "right now".

I don't think they're necessarily video-taped by default. The camera is more so the surgeon can see what's going on than for "souvenirs". I think it's surgeon's discretion. I never asked, I didn't care to see it. If you're curious, ask your surgeon. If they don't/won't tape it, ask why. All well within your rights as a patient.

Did someone tell them your cousin's coma was related to the band, or is it just something they pieced together, like maybe if she'd had pudding for dinner that could also be why? 30 lbs in 5 weeks, unless she was like underweight when she had her band, is nothing terrible. I lost over 30 in my first 1 week. Sorry to heara bout your loss, and sorry your family is reacting in such a knee-jerk reaction. It's easy to point your finger at "the only thing different," even if it has no connections to what's going on. Hopefully they will ease up on you a bit.

Bulging could be anything from swelling to -- well, anything. If you feel you're in excessive pain and not recovering as you would expect, call surgeon first, post here fifth or sixth.

I have no idea what all those abbreviations mean, and if there are pics attached to your post I don't see them, but if you think you're preggo & can't get consistency on test results, just go to the doctor and have them do it. There was a lot of (happy) surprise around my pregnancy, and I was in a bit of disbelief -- the corcumstances around it. I ended up taking 9 tests over 3 days, all different brands. Not any from the dollar store though. They were all undoubtedly positive. If I had doubted it, I would have gone straight to the doctor. Which I ended up doing anyway, just as a formailty and to get a rec on an OB.

Appanretly my state is one the few where your health insurance provider is the primary provider, regardless of who is at fault. I had to go through way too much subrogation process to find that out. So in other words, even though he hit me, my insurance company pays for my bills, meaning I'm charged copays, out-of-network fees if applicable, etc. Then I submit my expenses to the at-fault driver's insurance and they reimburse what I paid out-of-pocket. My point being - it's an annoying concept, because I'm out the costs until I file with his insurance company, which I wouldn't do until my treatment is complete (which it isn't). From there, it's the whole idea of them telling me "our goal is to ensure you have no change or interruption in your life because of this." But I have paid out money I wouldn't have had to pay if their customer had not hit me, so that's not a true statement. Maybe in a year it will be true, but right now it is not. Right now I have ~8k of money "in limbo" -- that's reimbursable, but not yet, but that also is not in an account drawing the interest I'd otherwise be drawing. I happened to have the money on hand, but if I hadn't, I would have had to charge these expenses or seek some kind of loan for them, and I'm pretty damn sure the guy's insurance company wouldn't be paying my finance or origination costs, at least not voluntarily. So I was just wondering out loud how situations like that are handled. Really it's just the absurdity of the whole idea that no matter what, being the victim of an idiot costs you money in some way, shape or form. :thumbup: I know I don't have to settle, etc. It's just the concept of what insurance is supposed to do for you, versus the reality of this (and other) situations. It's so annoying. (Hence I'm venting)

There's the obvious difference in capacity there are also differences in inner diameters, balloon construction, etc. I'm not sure I've heard of a 5cc band, perhaps he said 4cc? (Then again I've not paid much attention to non-Allergan bands). 4cc and 10cc are the Inamed/Allergan old standards. Their new ones are 10cc and 14cc. In the pic below, 10cm = 4cc and VG = 10cc.

How long I wait depends on how the food feels. Sometimes it goes on through, so drinking isn't an issue. Sometimes I may have a few hours of pressure, in which case I don't drink until it's gone. I think if you drink too soon, you know it (I do, anyway). I think my surgeon's guidelines used to be to wait 2 hours, and now have been changed to 45-60 mins, so best advice is to follow whatever your surgeon's guidelines are.

Make sure your meds aren't enteric coated. You don't want to crush coated meds. I use the screw down type crusher. Sometimes it's a bit of work. I find it's suually easier to just use two spoons ("spoon" them with the pill between the two). As for getting stuff down, I've had to crush & take some nasty shite. Don't mix it into something that you then have to taste, or the entire something will taste like crap. What I do is fill l arge spoon partway with drinkable yogurt, addpowder, top with yogurt, and pretty much pour down the back of my throat. Any taste I get that way is short lived and insignificant.

At mine they did labwork, chest x-ray and EKG. I've heard of others needing different tests, I think this is a bare minimum. You'll have to ask your surgeon or admitting nurse whether or not you should reschedule.