Unforgettable

Well said!! It's the thought of keeping it off that makes me so happy with my decision.

As in RestlessMonkey's case, even when it's followed there can still be a chance of the liver being too enlarged. Typically, the more you weigh, the bigger the chance of your liver being enlarged. Some surgeons base the length of your pre-op diet on your BMI. Since my BMI was 37, I only had to do a 3-day pre-op diet versus his standard 2 week diet and was fine. There were other women in my class that ranged from 350-450 pounds, and they were required to do a 4 week diet. There is a reason they make us do those nasty pre-op diets, not just to torture us lol

It's possible. You need to base your decision not off of how much weight you want to lose necessarily, but rather what surgery is going to fit your needs BEST. Research research research, and talk with different surgeons. Find out what makes you want lapband versus other WLS, and what scares you about other WLS. Bring these up to your doctor - you may find that the "scary" things aren't so scary, and your vision of lapband surgery may not be what you thought it was. Try to think about what has caused previous attempts at weight loss to fail - was it no portion control? eating junky or sugary foods? Bring this up to a surgeon as well. Don't listen to what other people think, what surgery they think you should have. You know you better than any of us can. Just remember that this is a huge decision you are making, so don't rush into it, do your research, and if it doesn't feel 100% right, wait until it does. Good luck!

I would check with your doctor with this concern. I had bruising around the incisions only. You had me laughing, imagining the doc throwing a brief case at you while you were knocked out :crying:

I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time. We were banded on the same day. As violinist said, it's common to gain weight once you go from the preop diet which had very limited calorie intake, to increasing your calorie intake. Also, from what it sounds like you may not be getting enough calories in since you seem to be doing some good exercise, so your body might be holding on ot every last calorie thinking it's starving. I just don't think that this is enough time to really let the band help you. This is time for healing. I agree that the scale should be put away for a while. As many have said before, it takes a few fills before finding your sweet spot, and until you are there, it can be a rough ride. Hang in there, it sounds like you are doing the right things, but maybe your body has other focuses right now like healing rather than losing weight. Good luck!

That's been my problem as well - I've tried about 5 different types and they were all too gritty for my liking. Yes, I liked the Muscle Milk enough to go spend the money on a full-sized container.

Sorry to hear about your father! I do believe everything happens for a reason. If you were banded, you would probably be so focused on how your father is recovering rather than making sure you yourself are recovering. Just try to remember that you WILL get the surgery! Patience really is a virtue, it's just hard to obtain lol An extra week or two will seem like nothing once you're done with surgery and on your way to a healthier you.

I'm not sure if they mention that they give away free samples - I happened to find out from a bodybuilding forum when I searched for reviews on muscle milk. Anywho just go to CytoSport, and at the bottom left corner there is a tiny link for "contact." I just sent them an email telling them I'm incorporating Protein Shakes into my daily routine and was wondering if they could send samples. I also told them I'm specifically looking for high Protein, low carb drinks. I included my address in my signature, and within 2 days a representative wrote me back saying they would send samples. They sent 4 big packets of different kinds of protein shakes, and each packet I split in 2 because it was too much to drink at once. If I wouldn't have got the sample, I really don't know if I would have paid the money otherwise to buy it and try it.

Jason - it's been very entertaining to read through your progression in these posts. May I suggest starting a blog to document the rest of the journey? I'd love to read it and think many others would too!

Derek - Hang in there. It is really hard to get into a mental mind frame to not "cheat" since that's the way we've been our whole lives. All judgement aside, please stick with what your doctor says. Even if it seemed to go down fine, it could still have caused damage or may cause damage down the road. The reason they want you on the shakes and mushies and not great tasting stuff is to give your stomach time to heal. When you eat things other than this, your stomach has to work harder to digest it which means more turning churning and moving which could lead to the band slipping, or a stitch coming loose which could cause the band to slip months down the road. Just try to hang in there! Remember why you did this. Look around the message boards for great suggestions of stuff to eat in the diet stage that you're in. And if you haven't done it already, make sure your surgeon is aware of this cheat just to make sure nothing is wrong. Good luck to you!!

I've always thought about going into home health! I'm on a peds surgical floor that I absolutely love, but home health is something I think I may venture into in the future.

I agree that the fluoroscope seems to really help and make the process a loooot easier. Luckily my doctor invested in a machine to have in his office. I will say though, that having someone OTHER than the doctor doing the fills is not necessarily the problem. Both the MD and the NPs at my office do the fills, and my doc will tell you that the NPs are amazing at getting the port on the first try, to the point where a lot of people request them rather than the doc. Thankfully he has a sense of humor about this lol So it's not necessarily about the title of the person doing the fills, but rather the experience.

I was always told dessert had more s's because you always want more of dessert. Perhaps that's where my food issues came from:lol: :biggrin:

I finally tried the Muscle Milk. It was the cookies n'cream flavor which I was a little unsure about - usually the more tasty they try to make things, the nastier - but this was absolutely delicious! I tried it with both skim milk mixed in, and once with just water and it tasted fabulous. It tasted more like a milkshake than a protein shake, and I couldn't taste the protein granules that usually turn me off. Plus it has tooooons of protein. If you go to cytosport.com and send them an email requesting samples, they will send you free samples in the mail and even pay the shipping. I'm going to buy a big thing of it next time I go to GNC.

For me, once a week is perfect. I weigh myself on the professional scale at work, on the same day at the same time when I first get to work and haven't ate anything yet. If I feel I'm doing particularly good or bad, I may weigh myself one other time that week. Day to day doesn't work for me, my weight fluctuates too much day-to-day because of kidney problems so it can be very discouraging, and also give me false-hope thinking I lost tons of weight lol Plus, I've never been big on daily weigh ins because most people's weight fluctuates 2-3 pounds a day typically.

For me, the lap band has been about helping with portion control. Of course you can overeat or eat the wrong things with the lap band. Thankfully, for the most part I have the willpower to make the right food choices most of the time. My problem was not eating the right size portions, and not understanding what it meant to be comfortable vs full vs stuffed. The lapband has helped with this because I eat whatever amount of food I'm supposed to eat (right now, about 3/4 cup every 3 hours), and it fills up the top "pouch" of my stomach that the lapband has created. This is where the nerves are that send messages to your brain to let you know that you are full - at the top of your stomach. My brain tells me I'm full, and then I feel pretty full for 3 hours until it's time to eat again. All with only eating 3/4 cup of food. Before the lapband, I could eat a full dinner plate or two before I realize I wasn't hungry anymore. The lap band isn't for everybody. Do some more research, talk one-on-one with some professional, think about what's keep you from losing weight now, work it through your mind a few times and then decide what's best for you. Good luck!

They call me the spelling bee queen at work, I always laugh at the spelling errors especially on patient charts because it is medical words that are just jacked up. I understand typos happen and have had more than my share of typos, but it's the repeat offenders that bug me. Yes I'm a nazi about using there/they're/their...it's not that hard to know the difference! Also, the people that just leave out entire words from sentences to the point that you have no freaking clue what they're taking about. And the people who don't just misspell a word, but completely butcher it to the point that it's not recognizable. Dictionary.com should be your best friend.

Isn't it crazy the hoops we have to jump through for insurance approval? Best of luck to you

Like RestlessMonkey said, it all depends on your insurance company. Each company has very strict guidelines as to what qualifies for approval, and some just don't cover it no matter what. I have Humana, and originally I had to do a 6-month supervised diet before going any further. Thankfully, 4 months into that diet, they stopped making that a requirement. Since my BMI was under 40, I also had to have 2 co-morbidities related to weight in order to qualify. Call your insurance company, they should be able to tell you what you need. Also check with the doctor's office - my office has an insurance specialist that was very knowledgeable when it came to the different insurance requirements. Good luck to you!

I agree! Sure there are good surgeons who haven't been banded, but I really do think that having that insider's perspective is totally priceless. I'm thankful my doc was banded, as well as like 90% of his entire office staff. It's nice to know that someone else understands.

Like the previous poster said, even if it isn't 100% accurate and in-sync with your doctor's scale, you can still track your weight loss. I work at a hospital, so I use the big "professional" scale there...it's always about 3 pounds off compared to my doctors. But this way I know if it says I weight 214, then my doctor's office will show 217.

To me, this surgery is just like any other surgery - a personal and private decision. I wouldn't necessarily go telling the world that I had a hysterectomy, or bunion removed or whatever. But I am also a very private person as well, so it goes with my personality. I've told my immediate family and a handful of friends. When I'm losing weight and really feeling good about everything, will I tell more people? Probably. I didn't want to tell people before surgery because I didn't want to hear all the reasons why I shouldn't do it. Now after surgery I find myself telling people easier because they can't try to change a decision I've already made lol It's just not worth the headache for me I've decided that if people were to ask me if I've had surgery, I'm not going to come up with an elaborate lie about gallbladder surgery, blah blah, but I'm not going to announce my personal medial details to the world either. I don't want to outright lie about it. I've had one or two people ask what I've been doing and I've said portion control, eating healthier choices, exercising, and magic :crying:

I give props to everyone who cooks delicious dinners but can't really eat them...thankfully I live by myself, because I can't imagine cooking like a turkey dinner and then watching everyone else eat it lol

Wow I don't know how I would have been pre-band being on a plane for 12 hours, so props to you for doing it with the band!! Did you just sip on fluids the whole ride?

Glad to hear things are going well for you. Good luck on your trip tomorrow!