Kryssa

I'm pretty sure I'm not too tight. I can gulp liquids with no problem. 20 oz in a minute, sure. My doc also said it's ok to drink before just not with or after meals. The fluid should go on down and not be there to mix with your food.

--Are you self pay, partial insurance covereage, or full/most insurance covered? Partial insurance coverage; I paid about $4500 --How long have you been banded? (in number of months) 3 3/4 months (17 weeks) --What is your AVERAGE weight loss since banding? (total weight loss divided by number of months banded) 1/2 a lb a week, total 9 lbs. --Have you had any complications? If so, what? First bite syndrome, lots of sliming, some Pbs. All since my last fill in January. --Have you had your band removed? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --What country was your band placed in? USA --What is your age? 30

Kathy, I'm just glad that you do post often, I will not question the how or why.

All day long though it's actually a bit worse at night. Oatmeal in the AM, lean cuisine for lunch, home-cooked for dinner most nights.

Everyone does not know this...I have this talk with mine too. He thinks ANY fried meat requires mashed potatoes and gravy. Should I have the audacity to pick up yellow rice to go with the porkchops he pouts! PBJ can NOT be made with wheat bread and ONLY with strawberry preserves. pumpkin pie will go bad if we are out of whipped cream. Everything has to have onions in it (thank goodness I like them). Brussel sprouts can't be made unless we are having ham (Yick! Hate brussel sprouts). Pork roast can be given to the dogs if we are out of BBQ sauce, even if I marinated it for hours, and pork roast night is the only time it is acceptable to serve sweet potatos. Cabbage must be accompanied by sausage, no chicken will do. Is this a man thing? I love food too much to be so picky about combinations...

The Pb got me last night on the way home from my second job. Unfortunately I was in my husband's van instead of my truck. I'm better prepared in my own vehicle, I have a little trash container with bags... Oops! His poor coffee mug! I washed it when I got home, I promise!

Ditto. How's that?

ooooo I think not too. I have a similar room in my house, I even have white on white couches (and 4 kids and 3 dogs). It's my little showplace with Japanese lanterns and dragons and water fountains and plants. All the Ozzy (Poison, Cinderella, Def Lepard, Bon Jovi, Match Box 20, Fuel, etc.) posters have to stay in the gameroom. Luckily, my man is very tolerant of hair bands even if he'd rather go to a Gretchen Wilson concert. Which was excellent BTW.

Allergies! oh my, I live in a swamp! SE Georgia, tidelands, marsh, low country, swamp, whatever you want to call it. I can't live without Zyrtec. I hadn't thought about that. Hmm... BTW, I had the mucus-makes-me-throw-up thing when I was pregnant with my daughter; could it be the same thing? She was very high and pushing on my stomach, same effect as the band? I lost 50 lbs while I was pregnant with her because I lost 1/2 of every meal I ever ate! My son, however was one of those nice, low, never caused any trouble at all pregnancy. It's been so long since I had the problems with my girl that I didn't even think about it until reading your posts reminded me. My DH is too finished with me, guys. I'm so glad you all are here because he's gotten to that "I don't want to talk about it anymore" stage. How can I not talk about something that is affecting me 3 times a day? I'd blow up and my stress level would go through the roof! Thanks so much!

What's wrong with Ozzy posters? Ok, perhaps not in the LIVINGROOM...

So do what we do: we order them online and they deliver. All of them take VISA and MasterCard, who will get you the best exchange rate they can negotiate at the time. Lane Bryant Store www.lanebryant.charmingshoppes.com Fredericks of Hollywood www.fredericks.com Enjoy!

I too did the six months diet and exercise thing. In addition I had to have a blood drug test, an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound), and a physical. You might want to call them and make sure that's ALL they are going to want. Oh the hoops we have to jump through. You'd think being 125 lbs overweight for 8 years would be good enough!

They pinched my nose closed with something that looked like a big clothespin and I had to breath in and out of this gadget that fit in my mouth. WAY comfortable! It's an analysis of the gases (oxygen in/carbon dioxide out) you are breathing.

I like mid-rise jeans and cheeky panties. Cheekies don't come as far down in the front as boy-shorts, but no panty lines either, Lane Bryant (store not catalog!)and Avenue have them on their website. Low rise jeans make my tummy stick out over them - just say NO to muffin look. Regular waist jeans dig into me when I'm sitting -not comfortable. I bet my midrise jeans are similar to Old Navy's just below the waist. Now if I could just get into any old navy clothes... Road Queen...try Wal-Mart. They have T-back thongs with or without tummy support from size 5 up to a 3X (22-24).

Are newbies invited? Me and hubby have 2 nights in Vegas we got to use before December '06. Sounds like a blast. Has a decision been made about a date yet?

I got mine done at the local hospital rehab center. It cost me $75 to find out I burn 40% fat/60% glucose and my resting metabolic rate was 1900 calories. Pretty cool.

I had pre-op terror the day before too. I shook and cried all night. All I could think about is that if I died my kids would have to go live with their Dad (yikes! not an option). I made my DH and my sister both promise to fight for custody! After surgery wasn't much better. I found this site by putting "mourning food + lapband" into Google. I was about 10 days post-op and thought I was going to die, or that my best friend (food) had died. The good news is that a few months after surgery you will most likely be perfectly normal. And losing weight. Congrats on your decision to have the surgery. One day at a time...

ROFL! I told my husband about the nickels on a stick too, His reaction was similar: OH! Cool! I could do that! Men are so weird! My hubby also makes out with the dogs (no, not literally). We have a german shepard (Tasha) and a beagle (Darcy) who both try to sit in his lap and give him kisses at the same time. Sometimes he crawls around on the floor with them before greeting me when he gets home! But I fixed that lil wagon. I have a 4 1/2 month old bulldog mutt puppy named Franklin whose greatest joy in life is to back up in front of me, place one of his back feet on each of my feet and growl at John if he comes near me. You can almost hear him: MY mommy! It may be a girl puppy/man and boy puppy/woman thing. Who knows? Men and dogs are weird! Speaking of weird...what's with the "Hey honey, I'm a towel rack" thing?

Thanks for making me laugh, ya'll. Tears are practically running down my face and some of my office mates think I've lost my mind. Why is my man weird? He hates sports, takes out the trash, changes lightbulbs, does laundry (yes, even down to putting my undies in a lingerie bag or air-drying my shirts), he does dishes (when asked) dusts (when asked), and cooks (without being asked!). He does not change the TP roll and forgets the toilet seat about half the time, but those are the only manifestations of testosterone I really have to deal with. He wants nothing to do with our finances and his favorite phrase is "whatever you think, baby". Why is he annoying? He grinds his teeth at night: REALLY REALLY loud, but I've gotten used to it and now the world's lightest sleeper (me) sleeps right through it. Oh, yeah, and he only wants sex once a week (note: THAT is NOT a good thing!). But why is he wonderful? Aside from the above, he wants me to buy a new wedding ring set for Valentine's Day. We couldn't afford anything nice when we got married and he is worrying about it. It's the first and only time he has "put his foot down" about money. I'm required to spend a minimum of $2000. I've been window shopping all week. All in all: he's a keeper!

I too have thought that throwing up once or twice a day was normal. Everyone on here recommended that I get an unfill. I saw my doc yesterday: he said I didn't need an unfill, I just needed to take smaller bites and chew better. (I'm in remedial bandster class!) Oh, and I should stop eating bread. You should see your doc for advice. He/She should ask lots of questions before making the decision to fill or unfill you. Good Luck!

Hey Dee! How's it going? I didn't get filled yesterday because I'm on the "remedial learn how to eat with the band" plan. No weight loss, no weight gain.

I like Viactiv: multis and calcium. Chocolate is always good. Glad you found something to work for you.

Poor baby, is it your turn for a meltdown? I had mine last week, as you know. My doc swears it's normal not to have lost after 4 months if you don't have good restriction. You are going to be fine! If you ned another fill to "get the train out of the station" then go for it. I wish you the very best of luck! BTW, I was not filled or unfilled yesterday because the Dr. is sending me back to basics i.e., I'm only in pain because I eat too fast and don't chew well enough. And I don't lose. I feel kind of stupid. I don't think you have that problem though, right?

Go for it! All safety warnings like that are required to err on the side of caution to avoid legal liability. I doubt that less than 20 extra lbs is that big a deal.

:update: The doctor decided not to fill or unfill me for now. He said I'm not overly restricted; I just haven't learned to work WITH my band. I admit, that's not what I wanted to hear. :lalala: Well! Don't I feel like an idiot! :doh: I went back and looked up all the bandster rules and decided to follow them zealously. What did I have to lose? It was hurting EVERY time I ate at this point. So yesterday at lunch I took tiny bites and chewed them forever. I felt ridiculous but what I didn't feel was pain. Could I really have been that stupid? At dinner I had a roll and the pain was instant. But instead of just attributing it to eating at all, I now know it was just the bread. I THOUGHT I had been following the rules. I didn't realize my idea of a small bite and my band's might not be the same. I don't know if I never learned to really really change my way of eating because it was my 4th fill before I felt anything, but I am going to do better from here on out. Thanks again to everyone who was concerned about me.