riley4183

YAY Pam, so glad you called & went in! I am going to have to buck up and do it too. I just get so TIRED of this st!

Yay Chris, you are back! Holy brocolli, that's a LOT of birthdays! Happy birthday to you, AND happy anniversary! Hey what size are you in now? I am bringing clothes on the 25th . . . .

Wow Tina, what a great review on Dr. Baggs! I wish I had your way with words, he sounds great! And it is all true; I researched and chose him for the same reasons you did. I just wish I had wrote it! I'm ready to hire him & have surgery all over, lol! Good job :-) Found a much easier way to get there, click on "find a surgeon" in the little orange box on the top right of any page, then click on the bandsters tab at the top, THEN on create my profile. WHEW!

Candy I had the same thing, lost a bunch at first then gained back weight before my first fill! They put the band around the fat pad on the outside of your stomach, and when you lose weight that pad melts and yes, the band gets too loose! (Christine can explain this better!) So you lose some, they cinch you up, you lose some more, they cinch you up some more - it's a GREAT system when you think about it! Soft foods are better than purees - although I'm a puree rockstar, I'd put ANYthing in my magic bullet - and it will get easier, tofu is what worked best for me on softs. and egg salad! Then you will be ready for your fill!! When is you fill appt.?

I don't think Fisher has any ratings on there, just Dr. Baggs I think. I think he is the main lap-band guy, although I have friends who have had both Parks and Im for lap-bands and really liked them!. I had Dr. Fisher at my orientation.

Holy brocolli, did you know that this thread has over eighteen thousand views??? 18,000+!!!

oh crap "bandsters" is not at the top of this page, it is one of the tabs at the top of the surgeons pages. What a pain . . . .

Hey I found out how to rate our surgeons! It's round-about . . .click on "Bandsters" at the top of this page, to the right of the search screen click the button to create a profile for yourself, once you have done that and said who your surgeon is, a link appears on the right to "rate your surgeon!"

Candra I did read that recipe for rolls on our group site, YUMO!! I'm bummed that they limit us to 1,000 calories tho! Maybe you could put the ingredients in one post and instructions in the next one?

Oh Tina yay - i mean, i'm sorry this sucks for both of us, but it's so nice to know I'm not the only one feeling this way! The top part is full to hurting, but the bottom part where satiety lies just feels so . . . empty! Nonetheless, I managed to put away 900 calories today, drank some of it though. Hit the soy milk pretty hard trying to get the Protein up to 60 grams w/out meats. It's hard to do when I can eat so little!! Will we be ready for little baby fills in 3 weeks? Well, if we keep not being able to eat, you betcha! I am 2 days without PBing now, but I force myself to stop way before I want to! And honestly I'm not exactly starving . . . . as long as the PBing is gone, I think I will be able to take another .5 cc in 3 weeks. But if he comes in with 2cc's in that thing, I'm gonna flip!

Yummo, I want the recipe for that lentil loaf. It is SO nice to be transitioning back to veggie, and SO much sooner than I thought! Really hard to be lo-carb vegetarian tho, and that's the rub. I can't do wheat - not the amount in like bread, and definately not seitan - so it's even more of a challenge. But as long as I can have enough soy I'll be fine. I have to limit myself to 1/4 cup also right now, which just makes me eat 6 times a day instead of 3! For me, "full" - this new "full," which I DO NOT LIKE - feels like I am going to get stuck, just not as intense. Definately not the old full satisfied feeling down in my stomach, this is up near my throat!! The problem is that I usually have another bite chewed up & ready to swallow by the time I get that feeling, and it is HARD to not swallow that bite, but if I do, I am guaranteed to PB. Unfortunately, I can also drink a little something to move things through, and then eat several bites more, RATS! What does "full" (or "done") feel like to you? Do you have any signs, like burping or hiccuping or anything?

I was wondering the same thing . . . . some of them still have tickers that reflect a pre-surgery weight loss, but then I don't see any of those "not updated for 30 days" messages, either . . . it does make you wonder! I worry too much as it is . . . Hey I found something high protein (20 grams) that I cab consistently eat without PBing, and it sticks with me too! Robin got me started on lentils, I cook 2 tbs. dry (makes 1/4 cup cooked) in water on high in micro until almost done (8-9 minutes), take it out & nuke a Morningstar original veggie sausage patty for 1 minute, cut/crumble it up into the lentils and cook them the rest of the way, add salt & pepper, YUM! Talk about comfort food. I think lentils make the whole house smell good! Actually cookies make it smell better, but that's SO not gonna happen. I make ahead to take to work, too.

Ha ha, I was just reading back on page 8 of this thread, it was back in December and I was freaking out about fills, I did NOT want to do that, the videos were totally grossing me out! lol, Christine is telling me it's no big deal, just close my eyes, lol . . . Well ladies, we have come a long way and Christine you were so right! They are NOTHING! And I don't even close my eyes . . . I giggled through the last one . . . what would I ever have done back then without you girls?? THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your support since we began this journey! You have no idea how helpful and reassurring you all have been.

Lindsay, I TOTALLY hear you! I was very well prepared, months of classes, and i still freaked the week before surgery. The one thing that really, really helped was listening to the "Preparing for Successful Surgery" CD that Kaiser gives us, I think you can download it here Healthy Living To Go Audio Library or try something similar from a record store. I started listening to it 2 nights before surgery as I went to sleep, and there was a HUGE difference in my anxiety level! My the time surgery day rolled around, I was relaxed and smiling! They even let me listen to it during surgery on my MP3 player, and I had a super-easy time of it with a super-fast recovery and very little pain. I am sorry for your friend and I pray she comes around, but like everyone else has said, this is about YOU and you must make you the focus. Best of luck! Riley

Morning Candra! Goodness. I still forget my breakfast & lunch half the time, it seems. Safe bets for eating out pre-op: Breakfast: Starbucks for a decaf soy latte (or a skinny latte if you do milk). Or drop by a grocery store for a pint of berries - lowest carbs, highest fiber of the fruits. And of course, you do not have to eat breakfast foods for breakfast! Lunch, I would ask in any restaurant for a plain grilled chicken breast on a bed of lettuce, no dressing (I carried my own packets) or olive oil & basalmic on the side. Eat the chicken breast first! Or I would go to the salad bar at a round table pizza, fill my plate with 2 hard-boiled eggs, pickle spears, sliced cucumbers and sunflower seeds (I put the sunflower seeds on the cucumber slices and pretend I'm having pizza, lol!) Should be more ideas on here!

Good morning beautiful ladies!! Pam, I was just talking to the gal who led our Santa Rosa 14-week class for bariatric surgery patients yesterday, I told her I needed to have a refresher "mindful eating" lesson! She says that I can call psych & just tell them I want help & support with eating issues after bariatric surgery. I want to bring clothes to the Pinole meeting the 25th, do you think Robin would mind? I have 14/16 through 20/22, anybody interested? Mostly career stuff from Avenue, and mostly tops.

Tina, I didn't know there was a fill schedule . . . I know they told my PCP I would have follow-ups about monthly for the first year after surgery. Don't know if those are all fills, I know that Dr. Im had Pam come back in like 3 months, so ??I totally don't know! I think that because the whole beauty of the band is that it's fully customizable to each individual, they would be defeating the purpose if they had a set schedule and a set fill amount - clearly we are all different.

Cauliflower pizza crust, boy that sounds GOOD!! Please let me know, and send along the recipe if it's a fitting vehicle to carry yummy pizza toppings! Has anyone ever made that Hungry Girl no-potato potato salad? Sounds great, but a lot of ingredients . .

OMG. Just got back from this training hike with Team Thrive (all Kaiser weight loss patients), it was STRAIGHT UPHILL for like 4 miles, I about died! Now you guys know that I do a LOT of walking and hiking, but this was like, you have GOT to be KIDDING! I had done the first half before and it was bad but not TOO bad, this time we did the second half too and now I cannot MOVE. Seriously! Oh boy. Kicked my arse. Not feeling too addicted to this excercise crap right now! So we had a picnic afterwards, everyone brought pouch-friendly food and it was fine, I did not PB at all, YAY!. All I want now though is a popsicle, a hot tub and a nap!

Tina no WAY will I get 2cc! Don't scare me! I think I'm on .5's now

Oh you know he likes it! The first time i met him i told him he was practically a celebrity online, he totally did not believe me. I just hope we don't pump him up so much he gets 'the big head' & stops doing his own fills! But I think fills are pretty much over by a year or so, so this flush of fill patients will lose their weight & leave, then the next "generation" will come and fill & lose & leave . . . ah shucks, its beautiful man . . . .

Heather's got it exactly right! Our forum for Kaiser Richmond has been going since 2008 and you will find all kinds of pre-and post-op info specific to the Richmond program! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/kaiser-richmond-pre-op-82492/ Join us!

SO how do you do the actual ratings for the doctors in the new doctor forum? We need to bug him to get his stats in there, too . . . he's always saying "tell your friends!" and this is a great way for us to do just that! Is the new forum maybe just not all the way functional yet?

I'm in the Dr. Baggs fan club too! I find him to be very kind, capable and positive. Very professional but very funny too! It's always fun to go in to the office. Fills are great too! 5 stars! Riley

YES! Another up-and- coming exercise lover!! YAY US!! Remember ladies, Tahoe Marathon (10 K for Team Thrive) is coming in September, train train train! Let me know if you want to go, we are going to pick up more Thrive shirts this week. They are bright lime green and just say "Thrive" K going to go rate my wonderful surgeon now.