MacMadame

Yikes! Prolapse and twisted intestines. Sounds scary.

Are you guys participating in the Post-Op Support and General Support boards? Because what you are experiencing is not limited to the Realize band and there are a lot more people on those other boards who can help you because they've been there.

I'm having a sleeve too only done lap and I'm paying for it. :girl_hug: Actually, I know it will work. I'll lose the weight because I *always* lose the weight. It's keeping it off that scares me. Oh and giving up my control to eat what I want when I want it.

I talked to my mom today and she said "tell me this isn't one of the scary operations where I have to worry about you". Heh heh. Moms.

Interesting. On the VSG board I go to, most of the people have to do a BOWEL CLEANSE. Personally I think that's a bit crazy. We're not getting our bowels operated on, just our stomach. But I am supposed to be on clears the day before and also have to take some MoM -- it's to help prevent constipation from all the meds they'll end up giving us. I don't mind a day of clears. It beats a 2 week liquid diet.

Hi Kmann- Yes, it's normal to think that. And every week the scale doesn't move, the feelings often come up again. So be prepared .... because at various time the scales will stop moving. However, during those times, you still lose weight. It's just that you are retaining Water or building muscle so the scale doesn't move. But the inches continue to come off. I'm having surgery in 3 days and I'm totally freaked out about it and mostly for that reason.

Wow, not even clears the day before to make sure you were empty?

Speaking of football, my fantasy team is in the lead!

Oh, okay, that makes more sense. Families can be weird about WLS, can't they?

I say pray for sleep apnea. Neither arthritis, nor asthma will count. Hypertension does, but some insurance companies want it to be not controlled by medicine. If yours is borderline, then it probably could easily be controlled by medicine and won't be counted. UHC was vague about whether they'd count mine when I was looking into them. Can't help you on the bankruptcy issue. Sorry.

I have to do clear liquids the whole day! I'm thinking I might even start with the clear liquids the night before.

I'm curious why he thinks you'd lose more weight with a band? All the research I've seen shows that the sleeve has much better weight loss numbers. What size boughie does he use?

That's how my upper GI went. Well, I didn't go 360 on the table. The guy did shake my hips at one point. Okay...

Acid reflux?

Reposting the link to make life easier: www.bravenet.com - A Bravenet.com Vote

She'll probably lose weight as you do just because she'll have to change her cooking to accommodate your band. (or if you do the cooking, you'll change.) Plus, as you start being more active, she may join you.

It's Friday and I'm going to ride a train through the forest and have a free lunch.

Like FairyFacade said, self-pays pay a negotiated rate that is a lot less than what the insurance company is billed. I think it's often slightly more than the insurance company actually pays though. Of course, that's going to vary depending on the insurance company. I have to pay the anesthesiologist $1000 ... I hope that's for my whole surgery because with my hiatal hernia and scar tissue from my gallbladder removal, there is no way I'm getting out in the "average" time.

Okay, I've looked at some pictures and I think maybe it goes down the part of the tummy that's not cut but that maybe some of it's branches might be cut. Here's a picture: http://www.clinicalexams.co.uk/images/vagus_nerve_10.jpg But I doubt it's to scale. :biggrin:

I just voted for you too. Now I have two computers at work so I will try to vote from the other one too (it's busy right now updating itself with something or other).

I biked 5.75 miles today! (and I'm still sweating. Heh.)

I'm at work now. I haven't been here but a few hours and my machine is completely messed up. Stupid computers.

Interestingly enough, my surgeon does use the car analogy. He says Realize and LapBand® is like Ford vs. Chevy. That sounds about right to me based on my own research. The mechanism of both bands are the same. They give you a pouch or pre-stomach and a stoma. This allows your vagus nerve to stimulate your brain to tell you that you are full with a small amount of food. As long as you get proper restriction, this will happen. The idea that slight varations in design would have a dramatic impact on Excess Weight Loss is not sensible and is not born out by the scientific literature. These design changes may have a slight impact on complication rates but even that doesn't appear to be the case when you look at big studies and meta studies rather than hand picking one study for each band that supports your case. This is not true if you look at all the studies. A quick search of Medline shows that the Swedish band performed similarly to the LapBand in the FDA trials. In addition a meta-analysis of all studies of Swedish vs. LapBand came to the following conclusion: Note that in these studies, the mean EWL for the Swedish band was 56%, not 42%. Lapband was 50% (not 63%) but I don't think that's significant enough to scream from the roof-tops that Realize is better. :biggrin: There were more LapBand studies and the more studies you have, the more you see the impact of regression towards the mean. Btw, to make it clear where I am coming from: I do not have either band. (I am getting a gastric sleeve next week. Whee!) I started out thinking I wanted a band and did my research into both bands and concluded that they were 6 of one and half dozen of another. There are things I like about the Realize band and things I like about the LapBand (and things I don't like about either), but in the end there were things I liked even more about no band at all. :thumbup:

A shrink is not an expert on what the insurance companies will or will not approve. I'd just ignore him. :biggrin:

It was for kids who have a Nintendo DS of their own and a Wii for the family. They were talking about some new game. Mini-Mac has already spent part of her $75... on Nintendo DS stuff. So Nintendo made out on that one. I'm not at work and I should be. Hee.