ParrotheadCathy

Stitches are tough. You probably didn't break a stitch but one probably did pull and cut into skin which caused the bleeding. That, in turn created the hematoma under the skin. I'm betting your doc is going to want to see it to make sure all is okay, so call him!

Well, Neesh, there IS full liquid post-op. So if you cheat pre-op you may only (only??) wake up to find your banding has been postponed. Post-op, if you cheat with solid food you more than souble your chances of your band slipping. Almost all of us had to do a pre-op diet. I was lucky in that mine wasn't all liquid, but I did exactly what my doc said, including drinking 2 nasty whey Protein shakes a day that tasted like crap no matter what I did to them. I was never told my pre-op diet was to lose weight. It was to shrink my liver to give the doc more room to work in. So get your head in the right place and do it fast! Good luck

Nandra, the bottom line is obvious once you think about it. Youve been on liquids. liquid digests very quickly and passes right through your body. solid food takes a bit of time to traverse digestion in the stomach and then absorbtion in the intestines and then out of the body. So the physical weight of your food increases when you start eating mushy and then solid food. Then you will start losing. Remember having a stomach virus, how you lost a bunch of weight? Same principle.

I definitely agree with Stacy!! People are hoping you will say that some product that's been advertised really works so that they can lose weight without dieting. If you don't want them to know you had the surgery, that's your business! I had no problem telling, but that's just me. When you tell them you're making the right food choices and exercising, they lose interest because that's not some magic, secret solution to the problem of obesity. And, truthfully, there aren't any magic, secret solutions and they KNOW that. So just keep saying what you're saying because it's the truth. And if they watch what you eat, they'll see the truth of the statement.

Sammy, if the meat is dry it is many times more likely to get stuck. With steak, I order it rare (which means I get around medium rare) and with chicken I don't order it unless there is some sort of a sauce involved like salsa or whatever or unless it's cooked in a style that have broth. At home, I cook my chicken in a piece of foil with a tablespoon or so of chicken broth, some veggies on top, season the whole thing. Wrap the foil up tight, put the package on a pan and bake at 375 until the chicken is done. You get two things .... all your food is cooked together and you get to throw away the means of cooking. And, yeah, that chicken will be really moist!

I'd been on depression meds for about 10 years. My doc stopped them as of the day of surgery and I haven't taken any since. I feel better than I've felt in many years and, yeah, a lot of it is from the weight loss itself but a lot is also in the change the weight loss brought to my self image.

I'm with 123crod! I could never chew anything 40 times, LOL. Just chew it up so that it's not chunky, so that you're not on the verge of inhaling your food and swallowing it nearly whole. Exercise. Google "chair exercise" You will get a lot of stuff and some of it will be good stuff. No, it's not a substitute for whole body efforts like walking, but it can be a workout. Do you swim? If so, go to the Y and swim! That is 100% nonload bearing, will not impact your knees at all. I have a friend in Chattanooga who was in the same boat as you pretty much. She'd had 1 knee replaced but had continued to gain weight and the ortho surgeon told her he wouldn't do the other knee unless she lost weight. So she gets approved for lap band surgery BUT the hospital said they don't do surgery on anybody with a BMI above 50. So she had to diet and exercise to lose 24 pounds. This is a woman who was walking with a walker, for pete's sake, LOL. But her daughter, who is a body builder, found "chair exercises" for her and got her some good Protein shakes and succeed she did. Had her surgery in April. No more walker, and she's getting really close to the knee surgery now. She walks some, on level ground but she is still doing her chair exercises and goes to the gym to lift weights and swim.

Grazing is doing you in! I hate to say it, but that has to stop in order for you to be successful. You should be eating three meals a day, at least 60 grams of Protein per day. Limited carbs, and those carbs should be whole grain carbs. If you graze, you never, ever get full. "Full" should have you satisfied and with little or no desire to snack for at least 4 hours or so. By eating whatever, whenever, your band cannot do its job. You need to track every bite that goes in your mouth and I suggest that you note the time of day because you are not abiding by an appropriate eating plan. You have to be honest with yourself. Nobody else is going to see your journal ... but you have to admit to yourself what you are actually eating. I suggest a couple of things. You need to discuss your problems with your doctor. blood in acid reflux cannot be good. Mispositioning of your band? Again, that can't be good. Was it misplaced at surgery or has it slipped? Do you need an unfill of some small amount? Next, I suggest counseling. Yes, counseling. Find someone who deals with eating disorders/issues. You need to get to the bottom of the WHY you have continued to eat this way rather than the way you were supposed to be eating. Counseling NEVER hurt anybody. There's a lot to be learned and perhaps some enlightenment about the whys of your current (and long standing) issues. No matter what route you pursue, stay in touch and perhaps others have some other good suggestions.

The denial letter should state clearly the basis for the denial. If not, there should be a number on the letter that you can call and ask for an explanation. It could something as simple as something was left out of the package by the doctor's office or something as difficult as for whatever reason you don't meet one of their requirements. But you're not going to know unless you re-read the letter and, probably, make a phone call. Let us know what the results are and maybe someone will have some suggestions when we have more information.

The vanilla, when ice cold is pretty good. I like it on cereal ...

Cassie, go to www.tickerfactory.com It's pretty self-explanatory. Pick weight loss ticker, select the "stripe" and then the indicator. You will have to select a PIN. Make sure it's something you can remember because to update your ticker, you can double click on it in any message you've posted, enter your PIN and update your current weight. When you're done, there is a window that you must copy the URL and paste it into a signature block here on LBT.

With most insurance policies, there is a requirement of a BMI of 40 if there are no comorbidities and a BMI of 35 with at least 2 comorbidities. The "accepted" comorbidities are high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and maybe high cholesterol (I can't remember for sure on that one). Some insurance policies do require a supervised pre-op diet, but I had heard than many of the insurers have dropped that now. Only a few are left. Some do require a history of being overweight for 5 years prior to surgery but if you've been going to your doctor (like the OB-GYN every year), there is a written record of weight, and as long as there are no gaps you could take care of that if it were a requirement. Time line for approval? That will depend in large part upon what pre-op testing the surgeon requires. Note that if they require a sleep study to absolutely rule out sleep apnea, schedule that as quick as you can. That held me up for 2 extra weeks because the doctor didn't have an opening for me right way.

food allergies are pretty obvious usually. An allergy to, say, strawberries or whatever can and often does result in anaphalactic shock. I've been through immunotherapy for environmental allergies (yes, it works!) but I'm not so sure it works for food allergies. But even if it does, the reality is that immunotherapy requires a HUGE commitment on your part. I had to get shots (three injections per visit) once a week for almost 2 years, then every other week for another year, then once a month for YEARS. I was being immunized against cats, dogs, birds, dust mites, several common molds, dust, oak, elm, ragweed ... Interestingly, they would not inject me for cats and dogs in the same arm?!?!? I thought that was funny. Intolerance, like lactose , is a little harder because that cannot be treated like an allergy. Lactose intolerance is the result of maturing. As you grow older, your body actually loses the ability to produce the enzyme needed to process lactose, which is a milk sugar. The loss of this ability varies from person to person. LactAid is an oral replacement for that enzyme. And that's what I know about allergies. I'd be interested to know if immunotherapy actually applies to foods, though!

The pre-op diet differs dramatically from doctor to doctor. Some require NONE. Others require as much as a month of liquid only. And there's every combination you can imagine in between. My pre-op diet consisted of two whey-protein shakes per day and two lean meal that consisted ONLY of 3 oz of lean Protein and a steamed or raw vegetable. No carbs like bread or potatoes or whatever. And the shakes were a product that I bought from my doctor's office. The goal is not necessarily lose weight but to shrink your liver before surgery so that the doctor has as much room as possible in which to maneuver when he is putting the band in place. My pre-op diet reallyl wasn't bad at all. I had a protein shake for breakfast, food for lunch and dinner, and a protein shake late in the afternoon as a snack.

The only reason it would be a problem is if the antibiotics are large pills. You could ask (1) if the pills can be crushed (some medications do not work properly if crushed, so always ask) or (2) for a liquid antibiotic.

Actually, a large percentage of adults have at least some degree of lactose intolerance! You might buy some LactAid and see if taking that solves the problem. If not, then it's not lactose intolerance. Sounds like an easy rule-out to me, and LactAid is more than likely even available in a store brand version that would be fairly cheap.

I buy my Greek yogurt at Kroger. "Greek Gods Greek Yogurt" It comes with honey in it. I love it!

Pain around your port is going to be unrelated to your eating habits. But, remember that your port it either stitched to muscle (the Lap Band brand port) or crimped onto the muscle with metal crimps (the Realize brand port). If you are exercising in a way that pulls on your abdominal muscles, that can be to blame. I would suggest that you do a couple of things. 1. Cut your all the food on your plate into small bites ... about the size of a nickel. 2. Now it's time to learn how to slow down by taking a bite, putting your fork down, chewing well, swallowing and then and only then should you pick up your fork again. I burp or hiccup once I am full. It's a big "stop eating" sign. Even if you've eaten what you consider less than you want/need, stop. I was not told I could eat a cup of food or 3/4 cup or whatever. I was told a meal should be 3 oz of lean Protein, which is about the size of a deck of cards, a steamed or raw vegetable choice and a single serving of a whole grain carb. So maybe try that instead. I also can burp like nobody's business when I am hungry, so usually my drive home in the evenings is punctuated by "sound effects" LOL.

I heard this comment in a professional discussion about addiction the other day: You can't reason with it and you can't make demands about it. food is an addiction. What you can do is what you've done here. Express to your Mom your concerns about her health and future well-being. Tell her that you want her to be around as a grandmother and great-grandmother instead of as a loving memory shared at a family dinner. Tell her you (and your brothers) will help all you can and that you would like for her to consider the lap band. Explain to her why. Tell her that it's not at all like gastric bypass and that she will still be in control, that the band is a tool to help her lose weight BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY to keep it off. Most of us have been pretty good at losing but really crappy at keeping it off. And it sounds like that's happened to her as well. You might consider talking to your stepdad. Perhaps she's expressed concern about her burgeoning weight to him. And having him on board as part of the support team will be very important as well. His support could make or break the decision for your Mom. And feel free to email me at parr0thd51@aol.com if I can help in any way.

They are young enough to be happy with simple answers. You could probably just tell them that you are getting your tummy fixed and that will satisfy them. Tell them you'll be sore for a few days and won't be able to pick them up but that they can always climb into your lap. A poster on another site tried to give her daugher (who was 6 or maybe 7 at the time) a simple description of what she was having done....only to hear her daughter tell a neighbor (very loudly) "My Mommy had a rubber band put around her tummy so she won't be fat!" My great-granddaugher lives with me. She's 18 months old. She loves to eat whatever I'm eating.....Greek yogurt with honey, Soup, and Kelloggs whole grain crackers are her favorites, LOL. Oh, yeah, and cottage cheese. She sees that carton and after saying 'mmmmmmmm' she opens her mouth.

Kimberly, call Aetna. There should be a customer service phone number on your insurance card. They will need your policy number and they can tell you if you have coverage for weight loss surgery. If you do, ASK some questions: 1. Is there a minimum BMI I must reach? 2. Must my BMI have been at that level for a specific period of time? 3. Do you require a pre-op diet? If yes, for what period of time? 4. What doctors/hospitals/surgery centers are approved for this surgery? If you DO NOT have coverage, pick a surgeon (there are threads on here about surgerons and you can get an idea about different docs in your area). When you go for the first consultation (not seminar), find out what pre-operative testing they require. Then go to your PCP and have him/her make the referrals for those tests and have the results sent to your PCP and have your PCP forward the results to the surgeon. This way, at least all the testing will be covered by insurance. One suggestion -- if a sleep study is required, schedule that as soon as possible! Because it involves spending the night at the doc's facility, the availability is tight. I had a hard time getting an appointment and that actually postponed my surgery by almost 2 weeks.

I would say that everybody on here has made some attempt(s) to lose weight. Lots of us lost and then regained multiple times. So, OF COURSE, it should cause a bit of leave-taking as part of the thought process. Like, "why should this time be any different?" or "why should I think I could finally be successful?" or simply, "why waste my money?" Well, here's my personal truth, and most of the others on here have their own version. I'm down 79 pounds. I have a ways to go but I haven't been this small in about 20 years. In that 20 years, I've dieted and ALWAYS fallen off the wagon, gotten discouraged and given up countless times. And I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT without this band, I would have given up a good while ago and started with the regaining. But after a couple of days of a pity party, I realized my band wasn't letting me eat my misery. Not everybody loses as fast as 2Fly and not everybody is willing to post a picture in a bikini like Jachut ... BUT success is there in the future as long as you are willing to start the journey and use your band for the tool that it is.

After you've healed, it shouldn't be a problem. I was sleeping on my side the same day as surgery and often wake up lying on my stomach....

LOL, that brought a memory back! I'm an AOL user. A few years ago, I was IMing with a friend who lives in Virginia when another instant message popped up -- from an absolute stranger. The message said "Hi, my name is Steve and my dick is pierced" and went on to ask if I was interested in sex with a stranger. After I stopped laughing, I answered him "OUCH". No more messages, LOL.

Most of us (since we were all overweight) had food issues...and ate until we were stuffed. Not full, but stuffed. We don't know any different, so post-banding we have to learn what full really feels like. My doc told me that to first figure it out, eat according to the plan .... 3 oz of lean Protein (looks like the same size as a deck of cards), a steamed or raw vegetable and stop. Then keep track of when I started to feel hungry again. If it was less than 4 hours, I could have a small protein snack but the goals was to get where I didn't get hungry again for 4 housr. As I got more restriction from my band, I've discovered I can now stay satisfied for about 5 hours or so. I normally eat about 3/4 of a cup of food (sometimes a cup or so if Soup or salad is involved). So, knowing that, I went back to how I truly feel. By eating more slowly, I reach a point where I am aware that I am no longer craving the food on my plate and I often leave a little bit behind now. If I should get the hiccups, I know I've gone too far and must stop immediately.