RestlessMonkey

I went up 14 pounds. It was just fluid retention It goes away. Chill! :thumbup:

I started a lot higher than some of you (most of you? all of you? LOL) but just couldn't do bypass. I picked my goal because it's what I weighed in my early 30's; I felt good, fit into most "normal sized" clothing, and so on. My PCP told me if I got under 200 pounds he would cry happy tears of joy and could keep me healthy for years to come! So my main motivator for this isn't to look hot like many of you younger ladies (and maybe some of the gents) but to be able to be more active, mobile, and fit in the world. I hope to prevent development of DM II ('i'm borderline) to keep from developing hypertension (I"m borderline) to prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (borderline) ... to quit being "borderline" ! Once I get under 200 (2 years? maybe?) I'll reassess!

Skin is an organ, you know. Exercise tightens muscle which lies UNDER the skin, but can't tighten skin. Whether you will have oodles of skin depends on many different factors: How heavy you were, how fast you gained, how long you were very heavy, how stretched WAS your skin, your genetics, your skin type, your age, and so on. The best you can do is exercise per your surgeon's advice, eat as healthy as you can, take your Vitamins, drink Water, and wait to see how things "settle". Just remember saggy skin is better than fat! If you have to have plastic surgery in some areas (or if you want it, I should say) that's better than, say open heart surgery. So hope for the best, expect you may have some saggy skin, and realize it beats the alternative.

And you know fills don't make us lose weight. Eating less and exercising make the weight go. Fills just make the "eating less" easier.

Water and fat are two different things, of course. But I think you're getting too much water. Shoot for 64 ounces and see how you do. And don't drink with your meals, or before or after, per your surgeon's directions. Water shouldn't make you retain water unless you have an issue with your heart or kidneys. SALT can make you retain water and more water will flush it. But rather than tinker with all that (it can get obsessive)....what diet are you on and when are you "allowed" to drink?

Hi Becky! Good point! Plus, lots of surgeons/fill centers use fluoroscopy... it helps hit the port right away and you can see how much fill is in there (which you could measure anyway) but not sure how it will help with "sweet spot" because everyone is very different. Depending on how well we chew and how strong our swallow reflex there would be some variance. So I'd think you can't go just on "stoma size" which is optimum all a fluoro will tell them. They can't know psychologically how well the patient will tolerate BAM being that restricted etc. Can you tell I'm a student in a medical field? I'd love to know the answers to all this!

I agree with KimmyV call your doc NOW NOW NOW. Don't wait. Lortab/Vicodin/Hydrocodone (same drug) makes me nauseated but surely if it had that effect on you, they'd have discovered it in the hospital. Either way, move now, call your doc. please!

Even if someone else has CIGNA it doesn't mean their coverage is the same as yours. You can wait and see, or call Cigna and ask the requirements for Lap band surgery! Good luck!

I am truly glad you are happy and I'm sure this will work for you! I read that aggressive fills at the start give a person a higher chance of esophageal spasms and subsequent slippage and/or erosion SO what they are trying isn't new and it didn't work in the past; but I'm sure they are trying it differently. I'd be scared to do what they say but you are apparently a pathbreaker! good luck. Let us know how you do!

Personally I'm in this for LIFE. If I'd HAD to have fast WL, I'd have gotten bypass. No thank you. 10 years down the road, 20, I want to still be successful. I assume we ALL want that. The point isn't "couldn't I lose this without the band", for me, but "could I EVER keep it off without the band?" answer for me is NO NO NO. I got 1 1/2 cc in a 14 cc band. My doctor explained his philosophy once I gasped in horror (LOL) and I have to say I agree with him. He feels he is setting me up for success years down the road, He wants me to eat only 3 meals a day, no Snacks, NO CALORIES in between. I go back in 4 weeks and if I've mastered that (regardless of what I am eating during meals) then he'll fill more. He did tell me he'd give me more right now but in his experience his patients are very successful doing it his way. I trusted the man with my life, twice. I trust him on this. SO just remember you trust your surgeon. It is a long process but 5 years from now when you are (still) trim and healthy, this wait for restriction will not even be a dim memory. Hang in there.

Tricare standard has a catastrophic cap of $3000 per family per year so if her doc is covered that's the MAX out of pocket she'd pay even if she had no other bills (yet) against tricare. Her doctor supposedly IS an in network doctor with tricare. She confirmed that. She is supposed to pay, if Standard, only 20% of the fee tricare approves, on each service, after paying a $150 deductible. Once she reaches the cap, tricare covers at 100%. So you can see even if tricare standard, since he IS in network, he's at the least trying to overbill her.

I may be misreading but I understand your surgery will be Monday Oct 13. If I'm right, here's a link to bunches and oodles of surgery day stories that will more than answer your questions! I will say to take shoes that are easy on/easy off that are good to walk in because you will need to walk around a lot. AND take lip balm because they give you an anticholinergic and that dries up "secretions" and your lips! After you nose around; please post if you have more questions and we'll try to help! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f178/surgery-day-stories-64287/ good luck!

Just wanted to reiterate Meschultz makes good points! BUT If your pain is truly unbearable and you need to cry out when you move, PLEASE call your doc's office. Either something is wrong or you need a new pain med. Pain at that level is contradictory to healing etc. You need to be walking to keep from gettng clots etc. So please call NOW!

I suggest talking with her, but I wouldn't accuse her of jealousy. You may be coming across as demanding, because the band IS "all about you". Of course it is; you are the one getting surgery etc. But her life has changed a lot too with you and grand daughter back at home. You've made it sound like she forced you into the surgery; do you resent that? Is it spilling over into how you ask her for help? You may have issues you aren't aware of, and so might she. Does she know you are proud of how well she's doing? Have you told her you wish she could get the surgery too if she wants it? It may not be jealousy, it may be exasperation. She may miss her more uncomplicated life when you weren't home. Maybe not! I can't read her mind! LOL BUT then, you can't read hers and even is she is a mother she can't read yours. You two need to talk. Good luck with the band, by the way!

You both are. I was more like your husband, but many people have a harder time bouncing back after surgery. If your pain meds weren't helping you should've called your doctor! Dont' judge yourself by your husband, nor he by you. You're both individuals with different experiences. If your doc has an emergency line, call it and tell them you are in unbearable pain.

Hello Terri and welcome! Your insurance sounds like mine; just about the time my husband and I decided to self pay, I discovered that my insurance did indeed cover lap band (I'd called them twice already this year and was told no; apparently I was misinformed each time!) Sounds like you are off to a wonderful start!

I'm just at 6 weeks and in all honesty I haven't had any problems. No restriction. No nausea. If anything, I feel like I don't even have the band and THAT is a problem because I can (and have, once I was on "solids again) eat anything. The 2 weeks post op where I had to be on liquids (and week 1 was just water, SF jello, SF Popsicles, and broth. no protein shakes no nothing) was hard, but I've done diets in the past that were as hard or harder. Everyone IS different. I've taken to this as if I were born to it. I got a fill today and still no restriction but the band IS there. Doc said we'd take it slow and hopes I won't have the issues of PB'ing etc.... So for me there is no downside. I feel happy and hopeful. Some people are depressed. I haven't been at all. I feel optimistic. I know I can probably eat anything I ever could, but once I've lost what I want to, I'll be satisfied on way way less. To me, that sounds wonderful. I'd rather eat a junior burger and a few fries than a double, large fries and a shake. So for me, there's no downside so far.

Are you sure? could it be water? Or are you weighing at different times/different scales/different clothes? How many calories a day are you getting? Could it be monthly bloating?

I'm sure it's not fun, but in a way you're lucky. no countless fills etc etc. You'll start losing faster! :smile2:

Mine didn't. HOWEVER at my annual check up (not my ob/gyn, but my pcp) he always writes morbid obesity as a diagnosis. You should check; your doc may have that. However, I agree; they are just being pizzy.

I'm with MYTURN0421. I had to shower with Hibiclens. They've found that having patients do some type of anti-infective scrub at home (with a product like hibiclens) helps reduce the chance of contacting MRSA. It's good that your surgeon had you do that! :smile2: They will still clean you, too.... but even after a time or 2 using an antibacterial, some remain. So the more you scrubba dub the op site (and adjacent areas) the better your odds of remaining free of those nasty opportunistic infections like MRSA. :wub:

Just wanted to welcome you, Trench123. I'm a female resident of San Antonio; a Texas native and married to a retired Army man...I'm a nursing student at UTHSCSA and my husband was a nurse. You got good care at Wilford Hall! If you need any help that can come from a rational female perspective (LOL that Is NOT an oxymoron) I'll be glad to help!

Right now credit is really tight. Can you clean up your credit? That would help you.

You'd think that he would know about Tricare. In order to be part of a PPO you accept that what they pay you is what you get. Even I know that and I'm not a surgeon. It's his income; I'd bet dollars to donuts (ok make that protein shakes LOL) that he knows. He is just trying to get more $$ out of you. Sorry, but that's how I see it.

Don't they make you drink before you leave? Mine does.....