dancinglamb

I brought all my meds to my surgeon's office and he said that every one of them with the exception of the generic Wellbutrin XL would be fine to swallow after 6w. So.... guess I'll have to take the regular generic version of that one. :eek: Got a pill crusher in the meantime. I'm not looking forward to the swallowing nastiness that will ensue. Gah!!!!!!!!!:thumbup::eek: -m

Still, not that far! :thumbup: -m

Theresa- If you have EBCBS you've got to be in NY.... Where are ya, Girlie? I'm in Northern NJ -m

Does your surgeon actually sanction this? I mean, it's downright cruel and not healthy from any perspective. Hell, since they're asking you to demonstrate such crazy feats of will power, they can freaking send you to audition for Survivor! Even those guys are given a sack of rice. :smile: It's one thing to make you jump through the hoops of 6m of supervised dieting, and all the tests/approvals that go with the prebanding stuff (psych consults, gallbladder ultrasounds, apnea tests, etc. etc.). But seriously, this just seems like somebody is pulling a 'hey, lets see if the fatty really wants this bad enough scenario', kwim? Girlie, I know that you're less than 24hrs from being done with this crap, but I would give some long hard thought to whether this is the right doctor/nutritionist group for you. If this particular nutritionist (dunno if this is the only one available to you or if there's another one there) is being this evil so early in the game, I'd be scared as shit as to how mean she might be once you have the band and are having a rough time of it (as I expect we all do/will) early on. hugs! -m

Hey! I went to Target today and found these. They were less than $3. Funny thing is, they're exactly like Lilliputan-sized versions of beer cups from BBQs/college parties. D'oh! :tongue_smilie: I then went around to the baby section and they had these little spoons (also come as forks, too), which would go perfectly with the mushy stage (I actually already have some leftover from my kiddos). They're less than $3 for 12 and they last *forever* -- you can put them in the top of the dishwasher. The whole Take and Toss line (the spoons) has all kind of cool stuff -- little cups/bowls, etc. with lids in small sizes. It's not really obvious from the photo, but the spoons are only about 4" long. They're disposable, but you can also reuse them for quite a while before you end up having to ditch them. Target has them, so do most CVS/Walgreens, etc. I don't shop Walmart, but I assume they stock them as well. HTH -m

Just trying to get a broad view of popular, effective insurance plans... 1.) Who's you're insurance company? Aetna POS 2.) What state do you live in? New Jersey 3.) Was your plan provided by your employer or do you pay for it out of your own pocket? My Husband's employer 4.) Are you banded yet, waiting for approval, denied...etc? Surgery is scheduled for 4/21/08 -m

I think Nikki said that she measured out 2oz the first time around and then marked it on the rest of them. I would guess that you'd get pretty good at eyeballing it after a while. :ohmy: -m

Cool. I'm actually hitting costco and Target tomorrow, so I'll keep and eye out. Thanks! :ohmy: -m

It does. I got my 'food list' today. 1oz every 15 min?! Feh.... I have those little tiny Dixie cups, but even they get a little soggy after a few minutes. I looked online for 2oz plastic cups and what came up are those little containers sour cream comes in with burritos !!!:sneaky: I'm thinking I"m going to cruise on over to ebay and see what I might find. This should be interesting. -m

Nikki- Can you explain how the little cups work - or more specifically - how you're using them? I have a whole bunch of the Ikea kid bowls, but I'm fairly certain they're larger than 2oz (I've not measured them out yet). I bookmarked the spoon link (thanks!). -m

LOL Mindy. I'm fully anticipating that. I've gotten a taste of it on my tongue when I've not swallowed the pills fast enough. ICKIES! I think the basic rule of thumb with him is that you can swallow whole anything smaller than an M&M after the 6w initial period. The generic WellbutrinXR is gianormous, though. So either I switch to something else (not planning on switching my Happy Cat Pills, dammit!), or go to the regular non-extended release formula. I'm seeing the surgeon tomorrow, so we'll have to go through the meds and see what he says. Hmmm. Maybe I should bring them with me so he can see them IRL... Thanks -m

I'm fitting in the surgery during a 10 day window between semesters at school (I recently returned to work toward a degree in nursing). Am I kidding myself in thinking that I'll be able to sit for 3hr classes Mon-Thurs 10 days after surgery? Technically, I guess I can skip this summer session and give myself a six week reprieve to heal. Though, I kind of hate to lose that time in getting the credits I need. I think I'm probably most worried about the whole 'liquids in/liquids out' scenario more than anything else. Any insight, experience would be most helpful/appreciated. Thanks! -m

What sort of preparations did you have to go through the day/night before surgery? I'm seeing my surgeon tomorrow and will ask about specifics, but looking at his generalised list, it's looking most, uh, unpleasant (to put it mildly). I can understand the need for complete lower intestinal cleansing for gastric bypass, but why for banding as well? Guess I'll be stocking up on the Charmin and trashy magazines -m

Congrats Gordon! How are you feeling? Do you deal with your own shoulder pain or do you just blog about it? Are you experiencing any P/S? -m

I was told by my surgeon that I'm going to have to crush my meds for the first 6-8w post op. I take a nice variety of them- Metoprolol for tachycardia Singulair for asthma Nexium for reflux/asthma Topamax for migraines Wellbutrin XL for, well, sanity :shades_smile: Singulair, Topamax and Nexium are all available in granule form, and I have scripts written to switch over to those. I'm going to have to switch over to non-extended Wellbutrin (you can't crush extended release meds) and take it a couple times a day. Besides the current XL is an absolute horse pill... So, that leaves me with having to crush the Metoprolol, and Wellbutrin, as I assume any pain meds I get post op will be liquid (icky!). Are there any tricks to crushing meds? Any pill crushers that are better than others? Anything better than applesauce to take the meds with? Thanks! -m

What about *little* kids? I have a 5 and 3yo. My 5yo wanted to know what came in the boxes today from UPS. They were the Optifast powder mixes and Vitamins for the 2w preop liquid Diet Fest. I'm wondering how I'm going to go about explaining all this food/diet/weight stuff to her. The surgery/recovery thing I'm not so worried about - I had ankle reconstruction and Achilles tendon surgery last year, so she's not so freaked out about 'big owies'. The food thing though - that's a whole different story. -m ETA - Both kiddos are thin/normal in size and don't have food issues. Yet. (thank God)

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Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Marisa. I live in New Jersey with my 5 and 3yo daughters, husband and three French Bulldogs. I'm scheduled for 4/21 to be banded by Dr. Feteiha at Overlook Hospital in Summit. The surgery is being covered by Aetna (thank God!), but I had to do the six month supervised wait. During that time, I've gone down from 253lbs to 235lbs. In the spirit of full disclosure, not sure how that happened, since I've not really done any hardcore dieting.... (Long winter with three bouts of asthmatic bronchitis and then a bonus round of the flu). I recently returned to school to pursue a degree in Nursing, so I'm actually working the surgery in between semesters (I need to finish a couple pre-req courses before December so I can apply to the Nursing Program). Deadlines, deadlines!! My husband is on-board, as are my friends, though my in-laws are somewhat hesitant (the admittedly don't understand the procedure or why I would want to 'do something like that to my body'). I don't have any immediate family in the area, so I'm a little leery about the recovery time. I went through two c-sections, and I hear the lap band is a breeze in comparison... (fingers crossed!) I just ordered the Optifast stuff for the 2w liquid pre-surgical diet, along with the post-surg Vitamins. I now need to figure out how to crush my meds for the post op duration. Looking forward to the camaraderie of the other Bandsters -m