pennyt

Which surgeon are you seeing? My surgery was with Dr. Clark out of St. Francis hospital on the southside.

So did the swallow show Crohn's? I've had it (diagnosed) for 17 years now.

I wear a panty girdle, brand name "Control It" bought at Kohl's, everyday for work. It just makes me look better in my clothes, and I like the feeling of being pulled in that it gives me. I have a huge surgical hernia going down the lower abdomen from three previous surgeries (they always cut in the same place), and it helps it not hurt as much. I was also sent home from the lapband surgery with an abdominal binder, and I put that on sometimes at home for extra support. I've worn the binders off and on around the house for several years, since I get one every time they cut into my abdomen. As soon as I lose a bit more weight, the hernia is getting fixed as part of an "abdominal wall reconstruction". It'll be better than a tummy tuck, since insurance should pay.

I didn't get an On-Q system for the lapband surgery, but have had one before for a major abdominal surgery. To me, the lapband was a little surgery, since I've had three major surgeries that cut me from just above the navel to 5 inches below the navel. They took out part of my small intestine in each surgery. This is not to minimalize the lapband surgery. This is just to compare it to my previous surgeries, so I hope no one thinks I'm belittling them by calling it a little surgery. Anyway, after my first two abdominal surgeries, I was put on a morphine pump, and I worked that thing for several days for pain relief. Because of the morphine, my incision didn't hurt, but I was in a major fog. Actually the incision did hurt because I had to wait until it was time for the next press of the button that would bring me pain relief. I would be in pain, then press the button and go into a fog until the pain would return. I'd have to endure pain until the button allowed more morphine, then the fog would return. Vicious cycle. During the last major abdominal surgery, the doctor opted for On-Q instead of the morphine pump. My head was clear, since I wasn't given a systemic dose of the morphine. The constant stream of morphine going right to the source of the pain kept me from feeling pain. I didn't have that pain/fog cycle going on like in my previous surgeries. I was able to be up and doing so much faster than in my previous operations. I describe the On-Q system as sort of like the soaker hoses that are used in the garden. They seep out the morphine at a slow continuous rate. I didn't use nearly as much morphine as I did when I was on the pump, but it was enough to stop the pain. That's the beauty of On-Q. Gee whiz, I sound like a salesman! Nope, just someone who thought it was great for the pain relief.

I didn't have issues with sleep apnea and diabetes, although there is a family history of diabetes. My fasting blood sugar did tend to run high, so I was on my way there. Before surgery, my blood pressure was starting to get into the borderline range. Friday at the doctor's office, it was 25 points lower on the top number. That shows me that the little bit of weight loss so far is already making me healthier.

Protein is a building block for your body, and will help you heal after surgery. In addition, it's a necessity for healthy life. Without adequate protein, there could be fatigue, hair loss, muscle wasting, poor wound healing, dry & scaly skin, and poor resistance to infection. My surgeon told me that he wants 70-80 grams of protein minimum daily. I haven't had a problem getting that in at all.

I got the same letter before my surgery saying "it was an approved procedure assuming I met medical necessity." I got my EOB last week, and BC FEP paid all but $100 of the surgeon's fee. I haven't received the EOB for the hospital portion yet. My surgery was out-patient, although I had the opportunity to stay overnight if I wanted. DH wanted to go home, so we went home.

I had a 1 1/2 hour drive to the surgery center, and had to be there at 7 am. We drove home that afternoon after the surgery, and had no problems. Heck, I'm the weirdo that went and looked at cars on the way home from the hospital. (My daughter needed a car, and since there were several car lots near the route home, why not!) I had no problems what-so-ever. I just made sure I had my bottle of Fiji Water to sip every little bit, and I spent most of the time looking out the window at the vehicles. I did walk some since it was encouraged at the hospital.

No, he's not a killer. As a drunk driver, he had the potential to be a killer, but he never killed anyone. He might have, but thank goodness he never did. Once he gets out, he'll be on probation with one of the other officers in my department. I want him to do well, but I hate the thought that he was on the same streets where my kids and their friends drive.

Well, I'm for Obama, but if he picks Clinton as a running mate, I'll vote for McCain as the lesser of two evils (the other evil being Hillary Clinton.) I think Rupaul (not Ron Paul, Rupaul) would be a better candidate than Hillary Clinton.

I absolutely detest the ready made drinks because of the gross nasty after-taste. The only way you're going to find what works for you is to try all kinds until you find what you like. If you have a natural food store, you might be able to find individual single-serving packets so you can try lots of different kinds.

I was expecting one of those "I had LB, and it sucks" kind of posts, so it was great to read about someone who is doing so well. You're an inspiration!

I had my first PB earlier this week. I'm allowed mushies, but didn't bring anything to work. Rather than run to the grocery for cottage cheese or similar, I decided that I'd get chicken at subway, take small bites, chew well, and throw most of it away. Well, I must not have chewed well enough, because it happened. Fortunately, I was eating in my office with the door closed, so no one saw me. I sipped some Water, and then waited until I got home that afternoon to try anything else. The cottage cheese went down all right, and no problems since.

I had surgery on a Wednesday, and I had to drive 15 minutes each way on Friday since that was my day to sit with an elderly relative with Alzheimer's.

We've got a break room with a refrigerator, so I just bought little individual sized containers of cottage cheese to keep in there. It was easy to just grab one of those. When I first came back to work, I was eating at my desk while reading Lapbandtalk. We've also got a blender in the break room that the body builder guys in the office use to mix their Protein drinks. I used it to mix my drinks also, telling them I was just trying to increase my protein consumption. If I hadn't had a blender at work, I would have bought a stick blender and used it for the drinks. I love the stick blender I have at home, and use it way more than the regular blender.

Why do you not worship Buddha? Why do you not worship K'nisha? Why do you not worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Why do you not worship the Pink Unicorn? You have reasons why you do not worship those entities, right? Well, those of us who reject the idea of your god as a real entity have reasons why we do not believe. Why can't you accept that we have the freedom to worship or not worship as we choose? Why are you so concerned that you care about who why we don't worship as you do? You seem to want the freedom to worship as you wish, but yet you seem to be offended that we want the freedom to worship (or not) as we wish. I sure hope you don't consider yourself a good American, because you seem to be against one of the major freedoms upon which this country was founded. My ancestors fought in the American Revolution, the French-Indian War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, and World War II. They fought for this country to protect our rights as Americans; rights which include freedom to worship as we choose. I have family fighting in the bondoggle in the Middle East right now. Unfortunately, they seem to be fighting to keep people from worshiping as they wish.

Go to the doctor before the incision gets infected, or heals badly. It it isn't taken care of, it might not heal right, and you could risk needing additional procedures to fix the spot. It's not a big deal to get it taken care of. On my last open abdominal surgery, I had staples to close the incision, but two of them popped out. It oozed that liquid out of it, and when I stood up, it gushed out like someone had turned on a faucet. I had to have the wounds packed with gauze to aid in the healing. After it was in the wound for several hours, I (actually my DH) would pull the gauze out. I had to do this several times. This allowed the wound to heal from the inside out. My daughter's friend had a similar problem, and her doctor had her mother take a q-tip with silver something on it and swab it around inside the wound. Again, this helped the wound to heal properly. My wounds were exceptionally deep, which is why I had the packing gauze. It didn't hurt to have it packed, or pulled out. It was just a weird "wooshy" feeling as I felt the gauze come out. It just gave me the heebie-jeebies cause it felt "wooshy".

There's a thread on here somewhere that gives step by step direction on how to add the weight loss/BMI tickers to your signature. You can get them at Graphical Tickers and Trackers: Weight Loss, Trying To Conceive, Pregnancy... as well as at some other sites. Open a new window to go to Ticker Factory, and then after you design your ticker, you can copy it by right clicking on it. Then go to the "User CP" on this site (it's over to the right on this screen) and then to edit signature on the left side of that screen. Then paste in what you just copied into the signature box. Hopefully that will work. Bookmark the Ticker Factory page when you get done designing your ticker, and then you can go back and edit it as you lose weight.

Welcome to the group Syd. This is a great place for info and support!

It really depends upon your location. Here, in Indiana, for a first offense it's a Class C Misdemeanor if the BAC is between 0.08 or 0.15, and a Class A Misdemeanor if the BAC is above 0.15. The person can lose their license between 6 months and 2 years, pay a countermeasures fee of between $200 and $1000, and could face up to 60 days in jail for the class C Misdemeanor, and up to 1 year in jail for the Class A. Usually, it results in probation and not a long jail sentence for a first offense. As part of the probation, there will be Community Service Work, which in my county would be Road Crew. I've got a friend who just got his third DUI. He's been sitting in jail for over a month so far, and has another 6 weeks to go before his trial date. He won't have a license at all when he gets out. Ever again. I like the guy, but he has a definite problem. He's now lost his $100,000 a year job as a result of this arrest.

I gotta remember way back to my 4-H days for this. Hopefully this will make sense. When fabric is woven all the threads run at 90 degree angles to one another, like this "+" Instead of cutting the fabric so that the cross lines are parallel to the floor and the up and down lines are perpendicular to the floor, cutting on the bias means that the are turned 45 degrees before cutting. So instead of the threads running like this: "+" on your body, the threads are like this "X" or this "^" on your body. It allows the fabric to drape better, and is so much more flattering and softer looking. (Some of that 10 years in 4-H comes in handy sometimes. I still haven't figured out the usefulness of any skills I learned from showing those steers and pigs. Yeah, I was the farmer's daughter.)

A study was just released that showed that alcohol drinkers are less likely to have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Tell her your friends drink to help their health, unlike smokers, who smoke to kill themselves. Nahh, just ignore her. She'll never change her opinion, or admit that she has a vice.

Holly, I just had my surgery on May 21st with Dr. Clark. I really like him and Julie (the PA) as well as the entire staff on Southport Road. The hospital staff at St. Francis was really great, too.

When I did my seminar, they asked if anyone had Fed BC/BS, and said we pretty much get approved for showing up, especially if we have a BMI over 40. My approval came in after less than two weeks from when the doctor's office sent it off. It's been almost two weeks, and I keep checking the BC customer service site on-line, but so far it appears that the bills haven't been submitted yet. Dodgergirl, did you have surgery in-patient or out-patient? I heard that it makes a difference as to how much our plan pays for the actual band. Also, are you standard or basic coverage? I'm basic.

I get the fun of making recommendations to the Court for sentencing for criminal offenders, including drunk drivers. I want to put in a pre-sentence report that some of them deserve to be drawn and quartered, but I don't think the judge would be amused.