ParrotheadCathy

BIG rip-off! For most of us, all that is includeded in the fee for the surgery. I'd shop around before I committed to that. They're just looking at you as a paycheck and that's their way of increasing the paycheck.

Chew it up like anything else and you should be fine. Eat the darker greens instead of iceberg lettuce since iceberg lettuce pretty much doesn't offer any nutrition at all. There are lots of other lettuces that are better for you (and actually have some taste, as opposed to iceberg, LOL). And not all salads have lettuces of any kind. Dice up a nice tomato, seed a cucumber and dice some of that. Add a little onion, some chopped basil and a really good vinagrette (forget light; go for the "real" stuff because you don't need but just a drizzle. Now, that's a salad. Want to add a little Protein to it? Add some fresh mozzarella, which is nothing like the mozzarella they put on pizza....it's soft and tasty. If you can find it, buy the "buffalo" mozzarella which is really made from buffalo milk and that's really good stuff. And, yeah, love that greek salad. Kalamata olives, feta, some slivers of pepperoncini....I can taste it now.

Glad to hear you're feeling better finally, Erin!! A little secret. Some (a lot of) people are kind of weird about commenting on someone else losing weight ..... Some of them are afraid that if they say "have you lost weight?" and you haven't that they will hurt your feelings. I'm down 75 pounds for pete's sake! I went to a meeting the other night and there were people there who haven't seen me since before the surgery. And nobody said anything for the longest time. So I'm thinking 'what, you can't tell??!!' THEN, finally, my friend Roxy said "Wow, Cathy, you are really looking great!" And when I acknowledged that with a happy face and a quick spin to show off, THEN and only then did anybody else say anything. Weird, but it's happened that way a couple of other times. So, like your teacher, they say things like did you cut your hair? Anyway, enjoy every minute of your senior year! You rock the school, okay? Do everything they plan for the senior class. Every party, dance, football game, bonfire, whatever. I want you to look back on your senior as the best year ever of school. I want you to tell your children how much fun you had, all the things you did ... and you can remember how wonderful you felt as the pounds fell away. Good luck!!

Gallstones after weight loss is a very common occurrence. I lost 124 pounds many years ago and developed gallstones. Had my gallbladder removed back in 1983 -- when they cut you from your sternum to your appendix (and took that out while they were there). Today's surgery is nothing by comparison. On the average, the surgery I had meant 10 days in the hospital and out of work 4-6 weeks. That was the average, and I did much better but THAT compared to outpatient? Just go get it taken care of and feel sooooo much better. Wishing you a quick recovery.

SandyGoKate and others nailed it .... we're talking about a guy. Frankly, guys are pretty simple once it gets to naked. I mean, really. Example? I'm in a very long-term relationship (no desire to get married or live togethero. He knows me pretty darned well after all these years. I almost lost my leg 2 years ago because of a beta strep infection that followed up an achilles tendon rupturing and being repaired. I had an OPEN WOUND on the back of my right leg with a copious amount of bandages and he didn't even notice until WAAAYYY later, LOL. Guys! If he actually notices AND comments. You always have the option of "oh, it was no big deal, just a _______" fill in with cyst, hernia, or gallbladder problem. I'm all for honesty but that's me.

Bob, don't read opinions into your significant other. You may be projecting your own feelings onto her. TALK to her. If you feel comfortable doing so, let her know what you have to do to get back on track and lose the weight you've recently gained. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that she is more understanding than you give her credit for and she may be more than willing to stand by you in this endeavor...and maybe even help you out.

There may be specific reasons related to the specifics of the original surgery. But gastric bypass may not be your only option. Talk to someone about a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. VSG is sort of an in-between lap band and GB -- no fills but no intestinal bypass either. A good surgeon is the authority on your potential as a patient for any procedure.

There are SOOOOO many cookbooks for dieters. You could go broke, LOL. Pork chops. I would season them (i'm partial to pepper seasoning, like McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning) and grill them. Make a spinach salad (unlike iceberg lettuce, which has pretty much NO nutritional value, raw spinach is packed with good stuff) with a little diced boiled egg, a little onion and light raspberry vinagrette dressing (there are a couple of different brands of this on the market, but I like Ken's Steakhouse version best). Don't be afraid to steam some carrots and put a little bit of light margarine or butter on them and a little Sugar Twin brown sugar. This makes a great treat. Buy an acorn squash. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and put the halves face down in a baking dish and put just a little Water in the pan. Bake at 350 until done (time will depend on the size a bit, but about 30 minutes). A little light margarine and this is yummy. Spaghetti squash .... bigger but you cook it the same way. When it's done, drag a fork from one end to the other and it will break the squash up into something that looks like spaghetti. Put your spaghetti sauce on it.....tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, garlic (lots of garlic, LOL) ... you won't be thinking that it's not Pasta.

Nope, I took 3. Wouldn't be the first time, but then again, I take a dose of Tylenol about once every year or two. Buy the smallest "pocket" packaging they offer because most of it gets thrown away. My doc knows I do that. Heck, when I got a beta strep infection and damn near lost my leg, I took four at once before I went to the emergency room (I was in Key West and had to get someone who actually had a car drive me to Stock Island where the hospital is because I couldn't ride my scooter off the island). Still had a fever of 106 when I got there. Nobody in the ER said a word about the 4 Tylenol ... maybe because they were all focusing on the fact the the infection was in the bone. That was the last time I took Tylenol....November 2007. But whatever. And I didn't tell the OP to take 3... I said "take a couple of Tylenol". But thanks for looking out for me; Lord knows I need a keeper most of the time!!

A lot of us have had a fill and thought "hmmm, did they actually put anything in?" .... and a week or ever longer later you suddenly feel that fill and think "oh wow". Don't know why that is, but you're not alone.

My suggestions are simple. 1. When at home, cut your food up all at one time. Make sure the individual bites are no larger than a nickel. 2. Take a bite and PUT YOUR FORK/SPOON DOWN. Chew the bite. You don't have to chew it to a liquid state as I read someone suggest one time. You just have to actually chew it. Most of us who ate fast hardly chewed our food at all, so just actually chewing it up is all you really have to do, but it will seem like a lot of chewing compared to the inhaling we were used to. 3. Talk with your table mates, be it your spouse, significant other, toddlers or stuffed animals. This will slow you down, giving that reasonably well-chewed bite a chance to traverse your esophagus and get into your stomach. 4. Pick up your fork/spoon and take another bite, and repeat #2 and #3. In short, make your meals a pleasant time. Enjoy your food! Marvel at the taste and texture (something you probably didn't do much prior to surgery). And if you don't chew well enough or eat too fast, you will know it very quickly. It's a learning experience but it doesn't take much to make you eat "correctly".

I never went to a seminar until I went to serve as a patient to answer questions for potential questions. I went through True Results and they offer the option of a "one-on-one" just by calling and scheduling. Because I went in having obviously done my research, that ended up being my first appointment and I started the process that day. That was 1/2/09 and I had surgery just over a month later on 2/10/09.

I don't live alone .... and the issues are more difficult under those circumstances, but they are still controllable! My granddaughter Skye (who is 21 and weighed 106 when she moved in) and her daughter, who is 17 months old live with me. Skye is working hard to GAIN weight, so yes, I buy snacky sort of stuff that I absolutely cannot eat; I bake brownies even! BUT that stuff is in her room. It is NEVER allowed to stay in my kitchen and, for whatever reason, I would never consider going into her room and getting a brownie or whatever. Rini, bless her heart, wants to eat whatever Mimi (that's me) eats -- so she has developed a strong affection for cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, Cheerios and fresh fruit. Her mom doesn't give her much sweet stuff, so fresh fruit with all that natural sweetness is a BIG treat regardless of how much she gets at one time or how often she gets it. Lessons here? (1) Don't have the bad stuff where you can get it and (2) learn to be like Rini -- let the really good stuff be your treats. The other thing....WHY are you sitting in front of the TV watching old reruns? That's a deadly set-up for a visit to the kitchen to eat just because you can. Don't turn the TV on in the first place. Come home from school and change clothes and go work in the yard, take a LONG walk, anything productive that is active. And, lastly, THERAPY. I believe that every person on the planet could benefit from at least some therapy. Some need more than others. Therapy can give you insight and coping skills that focus directly on your food issues.

I was banded in March '09 and, yes, I do get random pain at my port. It seems related to my activity level. For example, over the holiday weekend, since I didn't go anywhere, I mowed the lawn (I have an acre), cleaned house like crazy, cleaned out my closet (I mean, seriously .. I can walk into my closet for the first time in something like 3 years, LOL), did a ton of laundry..... and Sunday night, it just plain hurt. I never take any kind of any medicine since I had the surgery, but I took 3 Tylenol and went to bed. It's happened that same way a few other times, like when I steamed 5 rooms of carpet in 2 days on top of regular cleaning, and situations like that. Try a couple of Tylenol and see if it relieves it...and look at what you really did for the 3 or so days before the pain became apparent. You may see a pattern. Remember, if you have the Lap Band AP, the port it stitched to muscle and can pull; if you have the Realize Band, it has metal crimps that they squeeze into the muscle and consistent pulling on the area that you don't even think about at the time can cause the result we're discussing

No more kitchen gadgets that are bigger than a potato peeler! I just don't have room for them. But I will say that I use the gas grill in the back yard A LOT and what I usually do is when I grill a meal for the family, I will grill 2-3 extra chicken breasts/chopped steaks or whatever for my lunches.

Heck, I told EVERYBODY. Strangers, even, LOL. I must live in rarified air because I have not heard even one vaguely negataive comment from anyone. I've gotten a lot of curious questions. But if anybody ever says you're cheating consider telling them this: If I had a heart condition and a mechanical device or a valve transplant would help my heart keep working you wouldn't say I cheated. If I lost a leg and wore a prosthetic, you wouldn't say I cheated. How can doing something that HELPS me to not suffer be cheating? Remember that I still have the responsibility for what goes into my mouth .... bad choices or good ones. I still have to decide whether or not to get out of the bed at 5:00 AM to walk/run/skip 4 miles before I get ready for work. Explain to me how that is cheating.

I drink around 16 GLASSES of water a day but I'm still tight in the mornings. Hot tea (or hot coffee, if you're a coffee drinker) may help -- I find the hot beverage is the only thing I can do to start my day that makes any difference. But I still am just having mushy cereal or Greek Yogurt for breakfast.

Erin, the #2 problem......If you don't get relief very soon, buy a Fleet enema. It will instantly fix the problem. It happened to me a couple of weeks after surgery. After that, I mix a spoon of Benefiber in a glass of Crystal Light to make sure I'm getting some extra fiber and I haven't had a problem since. I do eat some cheese every day and it doesn't seem to be causing a problem.

Go to www.tickerfactory.com, create your ticker, MAKE A NOTE OF THE PIN NUMBER YOU CHOOSE, copy the URL as instructed and paste it into the signature you create on LBT. Then, as you lose, you can double click your ticker in any post, enter your PIN and update your weight/BMI, whatever you're tracking. That's why keeping track of your PIN is important.

Reconciler, it soulds like you have the old 4cc band. You could be just a little too tight. I recently had a slight unfill of .2cc from a 10cc band. Ask your doc to take out a very slight amount. It amazed me that such a small amount could make a difference. I went from getting stuck at least once every meal to only twice in the past month. With a 4cc band, a very small amount represents a higher percentage change than it does for us 10cc and 14cc banders, so I would emphasize the SLIGHT aspect of such a request. My doctor told me that in a month or two, he could take me back to where I was too tight and it would likely be fine. No, I don't understand, but he's always right on the money when I have questions. I just know that the very small unfill made all the difference in the world.

My doc took me of ALL my medications starting the day of surgery and said he would re-evaluate me at 90 days. At 90 days, I'd lost a good amount of weight and didn't know what to expect. Well, surprise, surprise! My hba1c was near normal, so close that he didn't re-prescribe any diabetes medications AND my blood pressure was normal. Ditto on cholesterol so I never restarted any of my meds. So, here I am having financed $10,000 of my surgery and my monthly payment for that is actually less than my drug co-pays were running pre-surgery.

There is a vaccine against shingles now. It's called "Zoztravax" as I recall. I believe it is recommended for patients 60 and older ... shingles can, apparently be a serious problem for older adults.

I'm in Atlanta, GA. I was self-pay -- $15,00 covered everything, including fills for one year. I was out-patient and I gather that barring a problem, all his patients are out-patient surgeries

Fluroscopy is basically a "real time" xray with contrast. You drink something and the doctor can see it go down your esophagus and into your stomach ... and pass through the band area. He can also see your port, which might make it easier for him to get it on the first try. I've never had a fill under fluroscope but plenty of doctors do it all the time. I know my doc has the equipment because I've seen it.

Julie, try tracking all your food every day. www.livestrong.com has a free service. I think it's called the Daily Plate. There are quite a few others online. For me, when I got stuck, I started just writing down what I ate at what time of day .... no complicated calorie/protein/carb counting....and I discovered a pattern of coming home hungry in the evenings, grazing while I cooked and then eating at least part of my dinner. So, once I knew the problem time of day, I could make some adjustments. I'm just starting to see some positive scale action again. Good luck and keep us posted!