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I think some doctors/nurses are just better or more experienced than others. I was told by my surgeon's assistant that my port was super easy to find and fill. For my first fill, she got the needle right in and said I'd be a great person to train others on. So, when I called to make an appointment for a second fill and she wasn't available, I said they could schedule me with anyone cause I should be an easy fill. Well, I think the person they scheduled me with had not done it much at all. You could tell she was a little nervous and talking through the process the whole time (like, oh I'm hitting the side of it, then poke, poke, poke, there it is, now I gotta make sure I can feel the metal in the back). Ok, lucky I'm not squeamish. It didn't bother me at all and because it doesn't bother me, I really don't mind if they send me to the people in their office that are newer at it. It means I can get my appointments quicker. Anyway, it could be that your surgeon is not used to doing the actual fills. There is usually one person in each office that is the ultimate expert at doing fills for those that might be a more difficult stick. And, usually that would be an assistant (someone who does more fills than anything else).

Aetna has always required a nutrition program. There were some very minor changes made to their Clinical Policy Bulletin for Obesity surgery on 12/18/09. The only changes were: "This CPB has been revised to state that the StomaphyX device for bariatric surgery repair or revision is considered experimental and investigational. This CPB is revised to state that a multidisciplinary preoperative surgical preparatory regimen or a physician-supervised nutrition and exercise program must have a substantial face-to-face component. This CPB is revised to state that the preoperative surgical preparatory regimen must be for three consecutive months, and must be provided proximate (within 6 months) prior to the date of surgery." The full CPB can be found at Obesity Surgery I highly recommend for anyone considering WLS to thoroughly review your insurance company's policy yourself. Its important to verify that you meet the requirements, but also to argue your case if it goes to appeal. I had to do two appeals w/Aetna to get approved. The way I was approved was by arguing that I met the intention of the requirement as stated in the background. So, it helps to read the whole thing, not just the summary.

I think I am finally feeling it since my second fill on Wednesday. I was on liquids the first day of this fill and mushies/soup the second day so I couldn't really feel it. But, yesterday, I tried veggie burgers, chicken, fish, vegies, and a teensy tiny bite of garlic bread. I was happy to find that I felt good and satisfied all day on less food and I could feel that I actually had a pouch. And, with dinner (fish, vegies, and garlic bread), I had to be super careful and chew my food really well. At first, I started eating the green beans like normal (not chewing well enough) and I could feel them going down not so well. So, I had to slow down and chew, chew, chew. I had put a piece of garlic bread on my plate in case I wanted it (otherwise my family would gobble it all up before I'd even get to try it). I ended up taking just a tiny corner off of it because I wanted the taste, but I gave the rest to my son because I knew there was just no way I could eat it. Wow, I LOVE that! Really, a taste is all I NEED. I know on other diets, I'd do so good through the whole meal (just eat the fish and veggies), but then could undo all my good intentions by eating two whole pieces of garlic bread as I cleared the table and put food away. Now, I know I don't have the full restriction that I need long-term because I was still looking for food a few hours later. But, I was able to avoid any additional late night calories by having some caffeine free Stash Chocolate Hazelnut tea w/a splash of soy milk and some agave nectar. I guess I almost bit my DH's head off, though, when he asked me if it was hot chocolate. He said I gave him a really mean look. LOL I didn't mean to, but I guess that was the dessert monster in me that was not so happy about having the tea. But, it worked... kept my mouth busy and warmed up my belly so I could fall asleep. Oh, I'm also happy to see that I am finally down one more pound now. So, the scale is moving again! Lately, I've been slacking on exercise so my goal today is to get out and do SOMETHING... maybe I will load up my iPod w/some new songs and go for a walk. :confused:

I think I am finally feeling it since my second fill on Wednesday. I was on liquids the first day of this fill and mushies/soup the second day so I couldn't really feel it. But, yesterday, I tried veggie burgers, chicken, fish, vegies, and a teensy tiny bite of garlic bread. I was happy to find that I felt good and satisfied all day on less food and I could feel that I actually had a pouch. And, with dinner (fish, vegies, and garlic bread), I had to be super careful and chew my food really well. At first, I started eating the green beans like normal (not chewing well enough) and I could feel them going down not so well. So, I had to slow down and chew, chew, chew. I had put a piece of garlic bread on my plate in case I wanted it (otherwise my family would gobble it all up before I'd even get to try it). I ended up taking just a tiny corner off of it because I wanted the taste, but I gave the rest to my son because I knew there was just no way I could eat it. Wow, I LOVE that! Really, a taste is all I NEED. I know on other diets, I'd do so good through the whole meal (just eat the fish and veggies), but then could undo all my good intentions by eating two whole pieces of garlic bread as I cleared the table and put food away. Now, I know I don't have the full restriction that I need long-term because I was still looking for food a few hours later. But, I was able to avoid any additional late night calories by having some caffeine free Stash Chocolate Hazelnut tea w/a splash of soy milk and some agave nectar. I guess I almost bit my DH's head off, though, when he asked me if it was hot chocolate. He said I gave him a really mean look. LOL I didn't mean to, but I guess that was the dessert monster in me that was not so happy about having the tea. But, it worked... kept my mouth busy and warmed up my belly so I could fall asleep. Oh, I'm also happy to see that I am finally down one more pound now. So, the scale is moving again! Lately, I've been slacking on exercise so my goal today is to get out and do SOMETHING... maybe I will load up my iPod w/some new songs and go for a walk. :frown:

Woohoo!!! Your post prompted me to go dig out the next size down of jeans that I have as the ones I've been wearing are getting loose. And, by golly, they fit! The only thing I am bummed about is the old smaller jeans are not as cute as the ones in the baggy bigger size I've been wearing. I had gone through a faze where I only bought Target jeans because I had gained weight and was gonna lose it fast. Yeah, right! Bummer, I have to wear them again, but maybe it will make me want to race through to the next smaller size faster. LOL

Vegie burgers have been one of my favorite fast high protein meals since being banded. I like Morningstar Farms better than Boca, but they are very different from each other so worth it to try both. Even though I like MF better, I also like the Boca ones, just in a different way (they have more of a smoky flavor). Now, I don't know how well they will go down when I have full restriction. I just had my second fill today and haven't eaten solids yet since that fill. But, they worked for me after my first fill no problem. I do like to melt a little cheese on them and also dip in ketchup and that probably helps them slide down. And, you gotta be careful not to overcook them because they can become rubbery. But, so far, I have not had any trouble eating the veggie burgers. I do not eat them w/a bun because the few times I have tried bread (even w/very little restriction), it has not felt good going down.

My hubby works for P.F. Chang's Corporate in their IT dept. He wrote the online ordering system for Pei Wei (which is the fast food version of P.F. Chang's). My favorite band friendly items at Pei Wei are the hot and sour soup (28 grams of Protein per serving!), lettuce wraps, and chopped chicken salad. Mmmmmmmm.... so good! My favorite at P.F. Chang's is the sea bass. Granted, many of the items at either place are too high calorie to be considered good on any diet. But, if you take the time to check the nutritional info ahead of time, there are also a lot of great choices. :rolleyes2:

I am new to this blog stuff too. I just saw that I could add a description to the top so I put all that info in there. I know I am always curious when I read people's blog entries. When you post to a thread, your signature shows up, but not on the blog.

My 2nd fill appointment went quick and easy today. I was so glad to see the waiting room empty when I got there. Usually there is ALWAYS a wait. But, this time they took me back right away. I was a little surprised that they switched my appointment to someone else to do the fill, but I was gonna see someone who I hadn't seen before anyway so it really didn't make any difference to me. You could tell she was newer at it, though, and had to poke around a little bit. Lucky for me, needles don't bother me at all and my port is really pretty easy to access even for a newbie. In fact, a part of me thinks they may have had her do me since they know my port is easy to get at it. I remember Melissa saying I would be a good person to teach others on. LOL Anyway, she added one more cc first, sat me back up, drank some water, went down fine. Then, she added a second cc, sat me back up, drank some water, and some burpy bubbles came up. So, she took back out 0.5 cc, drank again, water went down fine. So, now my total comes to 4.5cc (in a 10cc lapband aps). I'm on liquids now so I don't know for sure if this gave me much restriction, but I am noticing that I can't guzzle water as fast as I could before. So, I'm hoping that is a good sign that I'll have better portion control after this fill. Oh, and I still lost 2 pounds even w/the bad Big Mac attack. And, she said it was all fat so my fat percentage went down too. Woohoo!!! :w00t: I drank a ton of water this morning to make sure I was well hydrated so I'm sure the weight would've been even lower if I went in empty. I'm trying not to play those games w/the scale, though, like I used to when I'd weigh in for Weight Watchers. I would go in starving and totally dehydrated just to see a loss. :tongue_smilie:

My 2nd fill appointment went quick and easy today. I was so glad to see the waiting room empty when I got there. Usually there is ALWAYS a wait. But, this time they took me back right away. I was a little surprised that they switched my appointment to someone else to do the fill, but I was gonna see someone who I hadn't seen before anyway so it really didn't make any difference to me. You could tell she was newer at it, though, and had to poke around a little bit. Lucky for me, needles don't bother me at all and my port is really pretty easy to access even for a newbie. In fact, a part of me thinks they may have had her do me since they know my port is easy to get at it. I remember Melissa saying I would be a good person to teach others on. LOL Anyway, she added one more cc first, sat me back up, drank some water, went down fine. Then, she added a second cc, sat me back up, drank some water, and some burpy bubbles came up. So, she took back out 0.5 cc, drank again, water went down fine. So, now my total comes to 4.5cc (in a 10cc lapband aps). I'm on liquids now so I don't know for sure if this gave me much restriction, but I am noticing that I can't guzzle water as fast as I could before. So, I'm hoping that is a good sign that I'll have better portion control after this fill. Oh, and I still lost 2 pounds even w/the bad Big Mac attack. And, she said it was all fat so my fat percentage went down too. Woohoo!!! :thumbdown: I drank a ton of water this morning to make sure I was well hydrated so I'm sure the weight would've been even lower if I went in empty. I'm trying not to play those games w/the scale, though, like I used to when I'd weigh in for Weight Watchers. I would go in starving and totally dehydrated just to see a loss. :thumbup:

Ok, just got on the scale and it is definitely up, but I'm hoping it is mostly water weight. My rings are really tight today. I don't feel that bad if the scale at the doctor's doesn't show any weightloss on Wednesday because I do need a fill and, of all people, they should understand that. Now, just need to get back on track today... water, protein, exercise!!!

I had a bad bad weekend. Actually, if I am to be perfectly honest, a bad five days. Everything went downhill as of last Wednesday. I've just been feeling blah and unmotivated. My friend had her bday party last night and got a private cabana, bottle service, etc. Today, DH got McD's for the kids and I had a Big Mac. I can't even remember the last time I had a Big Mac. Oh well, I gotta pick myself back up, weigh myself tomorrow, and get back on the program. I'm so glad I have my second fill scheduled for Wednesday. I so NEED it! And, I need to do my part too, but it will certainly help when the band will say no to the Big Mac even when I say yes. LOL

I had a bad bad weekend. Actually, if I am to be perfectly honest, a bad five days. Everything went downhill as of last Wednesday. I've just been feeling blah and unmotivated. My friend had her bday party last night and got a private cabana, bottle service, etc. Today, DH got McD's for the kids and I had a Big Mac. I can't even remember the last time I had a Big Mac. Oh well, I gotta pick myself back up, weigh myself tomorrow, and get back on the program. I'm so glad I have my second fill scheduled for Wednesday. I so NEED it! And, I need to do my part too, but it will certainly help when the band will say no to the Big Mac even when I say yes. LOL

One of the things that really stuck w/me during the pre-op education class is when the psychologist explained that the only consistent difference they've found between those who lose 100% of their excess weight and those who plateau at 60-70% is that the ones who go all the way to goal exercise every day or almost every day (6-7 days per week). I suspect that this is the case because muscle is metabolically active and helps you burn more calories (even at rest). But, even if you can get to your goal weight without exercising, you probably aren't going to be happy w/the results if you still have a high percentage of body fat. Mine is 51% right now and my goal is to get to 30% (or less) by the time I reach my goal weight.

You don't need to cut back carbs w/the band so much that you are in kitosis (like on Atkins). Why not just add some fruit, starchy vegies, or whole grains to your diet so you are not in kitosis.

Hey, I just got my lapband at Scottsdale Bariatric on 12/17! They told me that they will always use assistants, anaesthesiologists, etc. that are under your same insurance or let you know ahead of time. I had no surprises. Between everything, I ended up paying $2k because that is my 'max coinsurance' (aka 'max out of pocket') for the year. So, that includes two sleep studies, all the pre-op testing, dietician visits, etc.). Just gotta make sure they take your insurance. I was lucky that they took Aetna last year (that is what I have), but I just got a notice that Blackstone dropped Aetna as of this January. I don't know if the other surgeons she works with (Sprunger and Hondanas) take Aetna, though... something I still have to follow up on. The price at SBC includes 1 year of aftercare (all the dietician visits and fills you need) so I won't have to worry about this until the end of 2010. Then, if none of them take Aetna, I gotta decide whether to pay the 'out of network' rate or find someplace else to get my fills done. I love SBC, though, so I would probably pay the 'out of network' charges at that time (seeing as I shouldn't be needing a lot of additional fills after a year anyway - hopefully!). BTW, I had a great experience w/SBC. I could go on and on. I love Dr. Blackstone and her assistant Melissa, the dieticians, psychologists that run the support groups, etc. I love that there is no long pre-op or post-op liquid diet... you eat real food up until the day before surgery and are back on real food 4 days post-op. The hospital (SHC Shea) is great and has its own bariatric wing so all the nurses are very experienced w/taking care of WLS patients and they have all the proper large size equipment.

I would definitely talk to your dietician or surgeon about this. I would think you should be able to do a low carb/high Protein diet w/real foods instead of shakes in this case. Or, use a Protein powder that does not contain artificial sweeteners. As it turns out, those artificial sweeteners are not very good for you anyway. The dieticians at my surgeon's office do not recommend any artificial sweeteners nor do they recommend shakes. I ate real food up until the day before surgery and resumed to real food 4 days after. So, this whole process certainly can be done without artificial sweeteners. Personally, I always LOVED artificial sweeteners and never saw any need to reduce or stop using them until these dieticians told me that studies show that they actually drive your craving for sweets. And, they said that their experience has been that patients who do not give up artificial sweeteners do not lose as much weight (particularly crystal light). After I got off of the artificial sweeteners, I realized just how dramatic an impact they have on me. I was always craving sweets before. Now that I got rid of the artificial sweeteners, I don't crave sweets at all. I still enjoy them occasionally and in moderation, but I don't feel driven to eat them every single day like I used to be.

For me, by the end of one week, most of the pain and bloating was gone. By the end of the second week, functioning normally to every one else, but personally felt tired/drained trying to keep up my normal activity level. By the end of the third week, 100%. I was worried that my port site would remain sore/tender for a long time after (cause I read that on here sometimes), but even my port site felt fine by the end of the third week.

Just remember that the most important relationship is w/yourself and you can't be much of a friend, sister, wife, etc. if you are sick from obesity. Take care of yourself first and the rest will follow.

My dietician says pasta is fine, but to try not to have starch more than 4 times per week.

When I got my first fill last week (1/27), I was told I could have another fill in two weeks if I still felt I was in the yellow zone (hungry between meals, eating large portions, etc.). They just told me to wait one week to see how I feel first and then I could call and schedule the next fill for the next week. Yesterday, I was crazy hungry all day... may have something to do w/starting back at Jazzercise. So, I called this morning to schedule my second fill (thinking it would probably take them at least another two weeks to get me in). Well, I was very pleasantly surprised that they can do my fill next Wednesday, 2/10 (so exactly 2 weeks after my first). Yay!!! :biggrin: Its funny, when I tell my friends how I get stuck w/a needle and aren't supposed to eat for 72 hours after, they figure I would want to postpone as long as possible between fills. And, personally, I was a teensy weensy bit tempted to schedule this fill AFTER Valentine's Day since DH and I have reservations for a very nice dinner out. But, above anything else, I just want to get this show on the road. And, ultimately, this will be my life. I can still enjoy our V-Day dinner out, but savoring a small amount of food (maybe just getting an appetizer for my meal) rather than stuffing myself w/a 4 course meal. I am ready!!! :confused: I've been so happy w/what the band has done for me already, but I am eager to get it working to its full potential. :drool:

When I got my first fill last week (1/27), I was told I could have another fill in two weeks if I still felt I was in the yellow zone (hungry between meals, eating large portions, etc.). They just told me to wait one week to see how I feel first and then I could call and schedule the next fill for the next week. Yesterday, I was crazy hungry all day... may have something to do w/starting back at Jazzercise. So, I called this morning to schedule my second fill (thinking it would probably take them at least another two weeks to get me in). Well, I was very pleasantly surprised that they can do my fill next Wednesday, 2/10 (so exactly 2 weeks after my first). Yay!!! Its funny, when I tell my friends how I get stuck w/a needle and aren't supposed to eat for 72 hours after, they figure I would want to postpone as long as possible between fills. And, personally, I was a teensy weensy bit tempted to schedule this fill AFTER Valentine's Day since DH and I have reservations for a very nice dinner out. But, above anything else, I just want to get this show on the road. And, ultimately, this will be my life. I can still enjoy our V-Day dinner out, but savoring a small amount of food (maybe just getting an appetizer for my meal) rather than stuffing myself w/a 4 course meal. I am ready!!! I've been so happy w/what the band has done for me already, but I am eager to get it working to its full potential. :smile2:

My surgeon did not require it and she is one of the best. I think it may depend on how much experience the surgeon has w/laparascopic surgery. The more experienced, the more capable they are of working around anything that could be a problem. My surgeon also does RNY and the sleeve and surgery on the super obese (70+ BMI). I was instructed to eat light the morning before, Soup for lunch, Clear liquids for the rest of the day, then nothing after midnight. But, I was not required to do a 2-4 week liquid diet in advance of surgery. For me, I'm so glad I did not have to do the liquid diet beforehand. I've already done so many diets and am so over starvation! LOL

If you have a Pei Wei near you, I recommend the Hot & Sour Soup (27 grams of protein per serving!), Lettuce Wraps, and Chopped Chicken Salad. Yum!!!

The band is designed to work best on solid food and, theoretically, you should be able to eat anything after you are banded. From this site and support group mtgs I have been to, though, it seems that the majority of people do have trouble eating bread and red meat. My dietician made it clear to me, though, that this is a choice... that they CAN eat those things, but a lot of people just don't want to cut it small enough or chew it long enough. Personally, I have had bread get stuck once. It wasn't a horrible experience, but not something I would want to repeat. I realize I could probably still eat bread if I nibbled smaller pieces off of it, but I've decided bread is just not that great for my diet anyway (simple carb) so I don't mind just avoiding it for now. As for those who just consume Protein shakes and soft foods, that is a sign that your band is too tight (the red zone on the lapband chart). Technically, they should not keep their band that tight, but some people prefer it that way and they feel it works better for them that way. How tight you get your band is up to you, though. A lot of people on here make it sound like you either have restriction or you don't. Well, I don't think its that simple. I do believe there are different degrees of restriction. And, if you are losing 1-2 pounds per week, you do not HAVE to get your band tightened. For me, I'm still losing that, but I'm getting hungry between meals so I want it tightened more. But, it is my choice. I could leave it as it is until I stopped losing if I want.