bitteroldhag

I am on my third fill and I'm still hungry and haven't lost more than a pound in the last two weeks. My fill person is very careful, but I only have 4.5 cc in a 10 cc band. When I get a fill, my nurse practitioner has me drink water to see if the band is tight. I can't really feel how tight it is so I go home (2 hour drive) and find I can eat soft food the next day. Am I weird or something? My friend had her band at around 7 cc and she had to have an unfill. I haven't managed to get really filled yet and it's costing me a lot. I have lost 24 pounds since May ll and have lost 1 pound in the last two weeks. Any advice on this? Thanks.

I finally got my lap band on May 11 and have been hungry as a bear for a week. I'm on mushies, but I find that I have to eat meat to get full. I don't eat as much as I did before the band, but I eat often because I get hungry. Does anybody in Oklahoma have any suggestions about this? I got an appointment to get my first fill on June 9. There is a nurse practitioner in Coffeyville, KS who does them pretty cheaply. My doctor, Dr. Rodriguez, sent me to her. That's about all for me.

You'll get less hungry after the first fill. After the 2nd fill, you will lose a whole lot of weight. Actually this will happen after the 1st fill. Relax.

I learned the trick to red meat. Cut the meat in chiclet size and chew a whole lot. That's for steak. I also steam meat a whole lot. I put pork chops in a pan with about 1/4 inch of Water and bake it for 1 1/2 hours and then just broil it to get it brown. This works well for me. For round steak, I brown it in fat and then add water and boil it for about 1 1/2 hours adding water as necessary. This is called smothered steak and it makes its own gravy. We eat this a lot. Put a whole lot of garlic powder, salt and pepper on it. It's good. Hope you like this. It's southern cooking.:biggrin2:

Hi. I'm going to go to Monterrey, Mexico, for the lapband surgery in May, so I'm trying to get as much info as possible from this site. I really hope the band works though I don't expect to lose a whole lot of weight overnight. I have a BMI of 35, but I have heart disease and diabetes, so the band seems like a good way to help fix those problems. I am also 58 years old. I was pleased to see some older people on the forums since I thought everyone would be young. I'm a teacher in Oklahoma so our insurance won't pay for the lapband which is why I'm going to Mexico. Our insurance doesn't pay for much. I hope this works out and I can avoid the problems reported on the problem forum. That makes me nervous. But I'm going to forge ahead because I'm sick, sick, sick of being this fat.

Laurend -- One of our students, who is very bright, got a job on the night shift at the local Holiday Inn. He doesn't have much to do so he could work on his thesis. He just finished an excellent thesis. So you might try finding something like that. He arranged his classes early in the morning when he was still awake and slept in the afternoon. It worked very well for him, and he could pay the bills. Also you might check on food stamps for grad. students. I understand that a lot of grad. students are getting food stamps these days. We are going to suggest this to our grad. students.

As an English professor for 20+ years, I have a lot of students who think they deserve A's and get really bent out of shape if they don't get them. In my classes, students have to earn an A by doing superior work. Without superior work, the student earns a lesser grade. But I always tell my students that they are fools if they are only interested in grades. When you get out of school your employer won't give a poop what your grades were. He/she will be interested in what you can do. Because you can memorize material doesn't make you a good employment prospect. If you can't put a really good essay together, it indicates several things: you don't pay attention to details, you can't understand the overall thesis, you are not very good at critical thinking, you are bad at organizing an argument, you fail to provide adequate examples for your points, etc. Blaming a teacher for your own inadequacies is very immature. I don't think I know of any professor who doesn't give A's. I suspect some students in your class have gotten A's. So the trick is to figure out what you are doing wrong and I'll bet you can get an A. But thank God I am going to retire in about a year and a half. I'm getting sick of students who just don't understand why they don't get an A just because they worked really hard on an assignment. The way to get good grades is to understand the assignment and deliver what is required. Personally, I think you should appreciate a professor who maintains high expectations. They are usually the best.

Laurend -- I haven't been on this site for awhile and you were preparing for surgery the last time I was here. Now you weigh 165 pounds! Congratulations. I wish I weighed 165 pounds.

But if I had, it would be pro-choice. However, I have a plan for those folks who think they can control a woman's body. If you force a pregnant woman to have a baby, then I think she should be treated as a surrogate mother and she should be paid. My price would be One Million Dollars plus pre and post natal care. Then when the baby is born, the right-to-lifers should adopt the baby and raise it. This makes forcing women to have babies a simple business deal and removes all the moral problems. No one seems to take my plan seriously but it would do away with a lot of the crap involved in people who think they have the right to determine what others do with their bodies. Of course, I have long agreed that if men could get pregnant, abortion would be available on every street corner.

I am almost 2 years out and I have had the pb's and other irritations, but lately it hurts when I eat. I cook meat so long that it falls apart, but it still hurts. I chew until the food is mush, but still have trouble getting it to go through the hole. I'm afraid I have an esophageal ulcer or something is wrong with my band. If I have an ulcer, could it be because the band is too tight? I have 4.5 cc in the 11 cc band, but my friend who had the same size says there should never be more than 7.5 cc in this type of band. Her fill doc put 16 cc in an 11 cc band and it nearly killed her. She gave up and got gastric bypass. Is it possible that if food gets stuck in the esophagus, esophageal ulcers can result? I had a some esophageal ulcers before I got the band despite taking reflux pills for years. They cleared up quickly with treatment. I would like to go to my regular doctor since I had the band done in Mexico and have to drive 100 miles to see the nurse practitioner. What do you all think I should do?

My friend got the 16 cc. Her doc was incompetent. But I will see a doc about this problem. Thanks for replying so soon.

I thought you meant the F-word. I use that a lot. I never use the N-word. How nasty. I think only uneducated people use the n-word. Shame on me for getting it wrong. But I use the F-word a lot.

Lord, I hate you people. I have only lost 40 pounds but have maintained it for 2 years. Okay, two and a half years. I'm glad to know there are more bandsters who are 60. I turned 60 about 6 months ago and I'm not enjoying it. I don't want to exercise. I don't want to pretend I'm twenty. I'm 60 and grouchy because I have a bad back and it's been killing me. I also take care of my mother who is 87 1/2 and doesn't appear to be dying yet. I think a person who is 60 ought not to have to worry about what one's mother thinks. Clearly I'm grouchy, but I got to the eldercare website and they are all such wonderful people that I feel like a heel. I'm glad this site is here so I can gripe. I have to stay up most of the night to get some time alone. Tonight, Mother went to bed at midnight. Lord, will I ever get some sleep? I apologize, but I'm grumpy.

I have many customer service stories, but as a teacher, I have had a couple of students just lay me out verbally. I was so upset the 2nd time that I was on my way home and saw a couple of guys who had a flat. I decided I might just as well die then since I was scum according to my student, so I stopped and offered to help the guys. They were afraid of me! I have never scared men before or since, but I was so distraught that I scared those guys. Hahahaha!

I have a bulging disc which is causing extreme pain. I have been sitting on the floor for almost a month and have taken a whole bunch of pain pills. I've had open heart surgery and :confused:it wasn't this bad. I started with hydrocodone but when my doc heard I was taking them every two hours, she gave me Percocet. It knocks me completely out. I have missed a whole lot of work and my next step is to visit a pain doc who will shoot cortisone into my spine. I'm really worried about this. Anyone have any advice or experience?

Thanks, folks. My back has suddenly gotten better. I suspect it knew that I as going to have cortisone shot into it and it decided to get better fast. But I have never had such pain. God, it was awful. Green, I'm keeping my Percocet.

Hey, I live in eastern Oklahoma and we have all four seasons, Currently the leaves are red and gold and beautiful, and the high temps are in the 60s. It's November and everything is beautiful. Don't believe those travel photos. Oklahoma and Arkansas are just as beautiful as other parts of the country in the fall and, while we have snow, it doesn't last forever. New England does not have a lock on beautiful fall trees. But it's colder there.

I lived in Illinois but went to beauty school in Indiana which was about 30 miles from my home. I used to get home before I left in Indiana. It was quite a trip.

I think I'm behind on this thread, but kneejerk patriotism seems stupid to me. I don't care if someone salutes the flag. I care if someone has good ideas. I note that Republicans seem to cotton on to ridiculous things rather than look for the truth. I'm sick of that. Look what the Republican party has done. It has moved the U.S. toward fascism, not that I'd expect you to understand that term. This is not the America I grew up in. I'm in severe pain due to my back, so I'm cranky. But this sort of thing really irritates me. I wonder why people don't study the Constitution instead of going for stupid pictures like this.

I'm a lover of paleolithic art. I have studied it for over 20 years, trying to make sense of the paintings and signs. I haven't succeeded yet, but who knows? I am also a massive fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. Luckily, he just wrote a new one and I'm thrilled. I have read and reread them a jillion times.

I did the greatest thing in the world for myself. I got a housekeeper. Our current housekeeper comes once a week and it's wonderful. I don't have to clean the house. And the good part is that mother pays for it. Lord, it's wonderful. She may not clean to my exact standards, but I don't care. I don't have to do it. I've had various housekeepers for about 15 years and I've enjoyed it every day. My doctor said it is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. I recommend a housekeeper for anyone who is stressed. It's great.

Ho, ho, ho. We don't have any codes in the county here. I can set up a junk yard and no one except the neighbors will care. I think I'll go for the drain but it will no doubt cost the earth. I'm also getting news windows the house since the current windows have to be propped up if I open them. But thanks for your help.

As an English prof, I have to say that I only correct the grammar of my students, so that they will have a shot at a good job. I never, never correct the grammar of anyone else. As to pronunciation, I read a lot and don't know how to pronounce all the words I read. My friend, who is British, pointed out that we are always mispronouncing words that we read. Frankly, I'd rather have people read and mispronounce the words than not read at all. But I do have to tell my students that says things like "It don't matter no way" or "I done done it" is likely to impact their employment interviews. My aunt once said, "I done done it" and was very interested that "done done" went together like that. I had the class not to tell her that it should have been "have done it." People speak different dialects and we should cut them some slack for that. I speak eastern Okie so I "make" a soft drink and I'm always "fixing" to do something. But correcting other people's speech is a sign of bad manners and a tendency to be pedantic. I just hate pedants.

Though I turned 60 in late July, I'm still depressed. I been noting things about myself that are generally problems of old people. First, my nose hairs seem to grow an inch or two overnight. This may not be so bad since I can blend them in with my beard which is heavier than most of my male students. True, I noticed the nose hair problem at age 55, but it seems to be worse. At least I don't have hair in my ears. My brother who is 58 worries about hair in his ears. I had a neighbor who had a whole tuft of hair in each ear. He looked like a Hobbit or something. But he got sent to the pen for raping a 14 year old girl when he was 69 and barely able to walk. I never did believe that story. I don't think Homer was capable of raping a street sign, much less a 14 year old girl. But he did take care of his retirement with good medical care. But I digress. In addition to nose hairs, I have a bad back, a bad heart, allergies, and a balding pubic area. I suspect there are some more bad physical problems, but I don't want to know. But the worst thing is that I have started reminiscing. I have actually started thinking about how things were better when I was a kid. Naturally, things were better. I didn't have to work and support the dogs, cats and mother. I was thin and attractive. We had a big old Buick which weighed the earth and used gas like crazy. It also overheated when we ran the air conditioner, and we lived in East Texas. But I had some good times in that Buick. I do things like think about the clothes we wore in high school (everything matched -- sweater, skirt and socks). I actually had a dream about people's noses. Is this strange or what? I think I may be put in the nursing home sooner than I had planned. I plan to die at age 72 which will give me 8 years of boring retirement before I go over the rainbow bridge. But my nightmare is being put in a nursing home where people beat me up, and I don't have any kids to protect me! My students have promised to protect me, but I suspect that means a more brutal nursing home. So things are looking bleak for me. I hope you all are younger and have kids. Be nice to them. They may save you from being beat up in the nursing home. For myself, it's all over because I'm officially old. God!!!

Boy, I can tell a bunch of you guys are young. I'd have perfect teeth and wouldn't have all those bruises and weird things on my arms from medication. I'd also have dark hair instead of dishwater blonde and I have to dye it that color. It's really white. Gross! I'd also like to be 2 inches taller. I'm 5'6" and I think I'd look thinner if I were taller. I would also like to quit adopting every dog I see. I have 5 dogs, counting the neighbor dog, and two cats. I am going to try to go cold turkey when my older dogs die and not get anymore dogs. Regarding pants. I just don't understand the way the kids are wearing their pants. They drag the ground! On What Not to Wear they have the lady get fancy shoes and then cover them up with very long jeans. The kids' jeans are all frayed around the hems and when it rains, their jeans wick up the rain so that their whole legs are wet. I hate long pants. I think most of mine are too short but at my age, I don't care. At least the jeans today are better than the pegged pants in the 60s. We had one guy with really skinny legs who had his pants pegged so close that you could count the hairs on his legs. I liked bell bottoms. They were comfortable, especially if they were very wide bell bottoms. I had a pair like that and I wore them constantly. I was so cool.