argon

I feel your pain. I only got Vanilla, and it was horrrrible. I wish I'd got chocolate instead. I ended up with enough left over to sell one box, and I STILL have about 10 packets in my cupboard that I can't bear to throw away, even though I'll never drink them again!! How much longer does your surgeon want you on Optifast? We were supposed to keep taking it for a week or so after surgery, but I couldn't take it, and had maybe 2 !

Interesting... I don't think I've heard of him. But that's great to know. How long of a wait did you have to get surgery?

Can I guess!? Dr. Christou?

Us old ladies like to get together and gab over cheesecake and coffee, Rob... sheesh. :rolleyes (that's why I'm lucky that LBT is my support as well! hehe)

Congrats angel, we're all proud of you and I definitely will keep an eye out for when you post your 2 cents, and you do the same for me Take care, Mandi

Tracith, I was banded in ON by Dr. Cobourn. I would go to ON too, over Maine. Dr. Cobourn specifically, has a lady in Pictou, NS doing fills, who is FABULOUS, and another in Fredericton, which I haven't gone to see yet. Honestly, Freddie's only about half an hour closer to me than Pictou, so I'd probably opt to go see lady #1 for my fills. (If I were you) I'd probably go back to TO for my first initial fill, at about 6 weeks, but after that, going to see the closer-by fill people would be easier. I was living in SK when I had my first fill, and Dr. Cobourn happened to be going to Calgary at that time, so I drove there to see him. I had to fly to TO for a day trip fill once, and it wasn't bad. Feel free to PM me if you want to ask me anything else! (or right here is fine too!)

I eFiled also, the very first day we could... so... March 1st? So don't worry, they still have lots of time to hassle you for your receipts. Mine 'went through' without any problem that I knew of... I got my refund quickly and without any questions, until now. I'm sure it'll be fine. The amount I claimed is the exact amount I HAD receipts for, so I'm not worried. Lucky this thread keeps being brought up, cause I keep forgetting to send 'em away!

Congrats Cindy... that's great you're up and at 'em so quick

I'm sure you'll have had a hefty weight loss in 7 months... but whatever it is, it'll make your plane ride significantly more comfortable!

start paying attention to how close to going to bed you eat or drink, and stop everything a couple hours at least before bed... and if that doesn't work, try 3 hours, and longer til it does work. I had to get a defill because of this. You shouldn't live with it, and it's not good for you. You could get aspiration pneumonia from inhaling the stuff that comes up. That's why you're coughing right? You inhale and choke on whatever the liquid is that comes up? That's what it was for me. I'd get a defill. It would help it. I know it sucks, but you can't live with that... it's hell. Has it been like this since your last fill 5 months ago?

Ok, I have to do it... this thread being brought back up is a sign! I just got 2 kittens from the SPCA on friday... got a 'it's kind of ok' from our landlord, so we ran with it. The grey and white one is mine and her name is Muffin. The black and white one is Pan, and Dan named her that after a character in a book we just read. They're both girls... we wanted boys cause they're cheaper to 'fix', but oh well... we fell in love, what can ya do. I loooove cats so much, and I'm so happy to have one (two) again. I know it's going to make moving and finding another apartment difficult, but... I'm prepared to deal with that!

Awww Chickie... did you delete your scar pic?! I must see!

Just got my 'review' of my medical claim in the mail today! Lucky for me, I have all the receipts set aside for just such an event! Anyone know if you need to send the originals of the receipts?

That's incredibly ridiculous. Wow... maybe I should have Inamed sign me up for a course, and I can start doing it too. I've been playing video games for years, so I've got the hand-eye coordination. I guess all the training these surgeons do learning not to KILL US laparoscopically, doesn't count. WLS IS covered in Canada. RNY/bypass/DS, whatever you chose, whatever you want to call it, is free for all... just find someone to do it, and wait the 5+ years it's gonna take to get it done. Alberta has not set the precident. I don't know if there's any prov. doing it longer, but New Brunswick has been covering it (just not the cost of the band) for at least a couple years now.

Welcome, infamous Maral! I'm a big fan Not from Fort McMurray, but there's gotta be SOME lurking around here. Glad to see you posting... get your self a ticker! *wink wink* Mandi

Wine makes me feel 'funny'.... I get all hot and purple-faced splotchy, and it hits me WAY fast. I'm supposedly a Rosacean, and may come from that.... or maybe I'm allergic. I dunno. I wasn't always like that though. It's annoying, cause I like wine.

Hey guys! Guess who's at 20lbs to go!? 162 this morning. I don't know why, but it's like when I say "screw it, i hate this scale!" and seem to not care or think about it, I see scale movement! I'm not even thinking about a fill anymore. I can eat a fair amount, but I like it, and as long as I'm losing again, I don't mind.

Congrats sweet! You're well on your way to doing awesome!

I'm curious what reasons, besides the aftercare (I'd like to know what kind of aftercare he offers that's so great to a long-distance-er, like me), you had for choosing Dr. K? Also wondering how much he charges?

I'm sure you can... I have been saving receipts and will be claiming mine for sure.

Andrew said it all... but i want to add one thing. I'd be careful. I don't know how much you weigh or how tall you are, but if you've got "only" 75lbs to lose, don't be so sure the gov't is going to pay for it. They'll probably want it to be more than 40, and if you're lucky, 35 if you've got some co-morbitites. What's your BMI? Most likely this thing will go over like it did and still is, in Alberta... a handful of people will be the lucky ones who get to try it out first... and they'll probably only be able to do limited numbers for quite a while. If they don't take people who are currently on bypass waiting lists and move them to the lapband, the list is gonna get VERY long, very quickly... just like the bypass.

I can drink beer fine.... I could go to a restaurant and drink a glass of beer easier than I could a glass of pop, for some reason. But of course... I always get water! :heh: Same here, I drink about the same now that I ever did. I was on a big Caesar kick for a while, and rather than bring all the mix and such to parties, I'd buy the pre-made bottles. Nowadays, they're a little too iffy for me... quite often causing me heartburn = no more drinking. I'm not condoning anything, but last weekend, I saw a commercial for the Bailey's "SHIVER" (pretty much ice and Bailey's, blender-ized), and went out and bought some... man oh man... yummy. One thing, if you tend to drink TOO much, too the point of nausea, or hangovers with nausea, or there's the slight chance of it... I'd go get some Gravol suppositories. The last thing you want is to be puking your guts (and band!?) out the next day. They're a good thing to have around ANYway, just in case you are nauseous for whatever reason. It's really up to you (and your surgeon)... you might not be able to handle something like beer (Have you tried?) anymore, like I am with pop. I couldn't/wouldn't go to the parties we have around here without having a drink or few. It really is easy to say 'you dont need alchohol to have fun' when you don't drink, but if you're at a party where everyone IS drunk, it's not fun being the sober one.... I'm sure everyone would agree. That said, I, by no means am going to 'classy' parties. :phanvan

Congrats Andree! Good to hear you're doing so well

Thanks everyone! :eek: Dan whipped this up for us to email to people today:

Is there anyway to allow us to have 'more' to our profiles, such as a multiple pictures, and a large area in which to write about ourselves? Kind of like how ObesityHelp's profiles work... ?