ElfiePoo

Weekends are always hard for me because I'm not as occupied as I am during the week. During the week my day is filled with activities (aka work) so I don't have a lot of time to think about food. Weekends though...hoo...lots of free time to get into food trouble. What I've tried to do is stick to a schedule even on weekends and just fill the time with activities. I took up the cello so I have that to practice an hour or so each day. I quilt and so I've started working on some of that again. Yesterday, I spent 3 hours planting peas in my garden and I think I'm going to expand my garden this year now that I can actually bend over without pain and bonus...it will keep me occupied. The trick is to find things that occupy our minds *and* our hands. I can't sit and read a book because I want to munch. So I get a book on tape and go for a walk or work in the garden or quilt or something that also occupies the hands. .

Neither was I. Doing ok, I think. I'm still trying to figure out whether I need to go in for a slight unfill. Today was perfect though so maybe I'll give it another week. How about you? Reached restriction yet?

Are we still talking about health care? I don't think the people working at McDonald's, cleaning the homes of the wealthy, or working at any other minimum wage job are sitting on their butts at all. In fact, these are some pretty hard working people. .

Whillow, I understand what you're saying. I also have excellent BCBS through my husband's employer and we also pay several hundred dollars a month for that coverage...but I look at it in a different way. I feel blessed that I have the opportunity to have that coverage because many employers have eliminated health coverage completely because they just can't afford it...even when it's subsidized by the employee. If my premium goes up next year because of this health bill, and I have no doubt it will, the difference will most likely mean we may have to eat one less meat meal each week. Or perhaps we'll drive less or any number of ways to cut our other expenses. Not the same type of hardship that occurs when someone has to choose between taking their child to the doctor and eating that 'week'. I'm not going to get into any arguments over this because none of us will change our mind. I believe we have a responsibility to society, not just ourselves. It's that same mentality that made me immunize my children despite the risks associated with the immunizations. This is just one more thing I/we do to make our society a better place. .

We are long past the time when something should have been done for the uninsured in this country. Nobody should have to die of something that could possibly have been avoided with preventative care. I have no doubt there will be bugs to work out in this system and, while I worry that they'll pull the money from programs that could ill afford to lose any funding (particularly when there are far more programs that could be completely shut down for the waste of money that they are), it is long past time for a national health care program in this country. We should be ashamed that we care so little about the working poor who make a minimum wage that barely pays for the rent and food. It's no wonder that many people making minimum wage are also getting food stamps. Some people would say, "well maybe they should've gone to college, yada yada." Gee...if everyone went to college, who would wash the dishes in the restaurant, clean the toilets in the schools and pick the vegetables that go onto your table? There will always be someone at the bottom. Count your blessings if you aren't one of them and help the less fortunate. I have to say that the posts here have been a pleasant surprise. On most of the forums I've been on, people are angry at the passage of this bill and nobody seems to care about those with no insurance. I was feeling decidedly in the minority. No longer. I am very glad to know you all. .

It's been awhile since you tried to buy health insurance, hasn't it? I know people who pay for their own health insurance and it's bare minimum coverage *and* they're fortunate enough to be able to afford the $350+ per month premium for their single coverage. Oh sure, there are companies advertising health care for $150 per month but when you read what they cover (and don't cover), buying their policy is a bit like throwing your money in the toilet. A good many of our citizens here in the U.S. make minimum wage. They are the working poor. They can barely afford to put a roof over their head and food on their table and God help them if they live in a part of the country where there is no public transportion because now they have the additional expense of car, etc. The opponents of national health care have done a very good job convincing people that if someone wanted health care, all they have to do is stop wasting their money on luxuries and pay for it. They've lied to the public. .

None of my fills have been under fluor and they never had a problem hitting the port and I have restriction. .

Take a deep breath. As the others said, when you get close, .25cc can mean the difference between eating your meals and only being able to drink them due to swelling. However, and here's the kicker, your doctor can't tell squat about whether or not you'll get restriction on the next fill. He can make an educated guess, but only you will know and only he knows by your actual experience with the fill and your feedback to him. Hang in there though...you're probably getting close. .

Without any fill, I could still eat as much and whatever I wanted although bread seemed to cause me some problems just by being banded. As Betsy said, the pouch does not disappear, but if you look at a diagram of a banded stomach, there is a slight bit of restriction which, depending on the person, may or may not give you problems.

The math doesn't add up. If you take the time to do the calculations for what she claims to have weighed, lost and then gained again, they do not compute. This woman has never been honest about what she weighed...or what she has lost. I don't know what the big deal is about how 'great' she looked and how wonderful she did when she went on Oprah in a bikini cuz...sorry...but she was still overweight and could probably have taken off another 40+ pounds. When she starts being honest, perhaps then I'll take her seriously as a weight loss spokesperson. Until then she should stop trying to milk money and publicity out of her eating addiction. <kicking my soapbox back under the counter> .

I'm about 4 1/2 months post op. Preop I'd read this forum and knew that many doctors take 6 months to a year to get their patients to restriction but from reading posts by those who had more aggressive fills, I knew this wasn't necessary. So I pushed my doctor to be aggressive in his fills. My first fill was 3cc (in a 12cc band) at 4 weeks post op. Two weeks later another 3 cc. Still no restriction so a week later they put in 2. Oops...now I had restriction so tight I couldn't eat solid food so they took 1 cc out a week later. Then 2 weeks later another .5cc put back in and then .5cc a week for the next two weeks. I had .25cc put in 3 weeks ago and it's been a challenge. I'm still debating whether I'm too full or just still swollen because Friday I was finally ready to give in and get .25cc taken out. Now today, I'm fine. So I may give it another week. The point is that I started getting at least temporary restriction by the end of 9 weeks and each time it lasted for a week to several weeks. I think this one may last me for awhile. Push your doctor for more aggressive fills. There's no need to wait 6 months to get restriction. .

Someone's comment in another thread reminded me of the NSV moment I had at my regular doc's office last week. The assistant started to put the large BP cuff on me, did a double take and then put it away and put the regular one on! Woot! This morning, I put my pants on and then proceeded to roll the waistband up several times...to the point where the pockets were rolled up out of sight! I've been wondering how I couldn't have lost anything in the past two weeks but I definitely look skinnier. My shirts are literally hanging. Then I made the connection with the pants. My body has been redistributing the fat and my belly is disappearing! Double Woot cuz that's even better than the scale numbers going down! .

ROFLMAO...ok, you've motivated me to go out and buy new undies...and bras. I'm actually looking forward to a smaller cup size. The women in my family have a serious problem with being big chested. Two of my aunts had reduction seriously and I know of at least 3 more who need it before they also have problems with their back...if they don't already. I'm fortunate... I've always had a Marilyn Monroe type figure (36-24-36) albeit large size so nothing majorly out of proportion...but still I find they've given me back problems over the years. I've always envied women who had enough to look womanly, but not so much they'd get black eyes from jogging. I told my husband that when I get the weight off, I will have a boob job...and they will be made a reasonable size. .

My husband of 20 years was ambivalent. Not one person in his entire extended family has a weight problem so he doesn't understand people who do. He feels that if I want to lose weight then it's a simple matter to just make up my mind to do it. It doesn't help that 7 years ago I did just that and lost 70 pounds...and have kept it off. I can't explain to him (or me) why I just can't keep doing that and take off the rest because I don't know why. Despite that, he has been very supportive of my decision to go ahead with the surgery and has continued to be supportive in the months since. .

I started looking at WLS 14 years ago when I was 39. I was my highest weight ever (330) and had a 4 year old I had difficulty keeping up with. At the time though, they were only doing gastric bypass and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Six years later, they approved the Lap Band in this country and once again I investigated, but my insurance company had all of these co-morbidities you had to have in order for them to pay for the surgery. At that time, it didn't matter that I was 330 pounds. All they cared about was the fact that I had no co-morbidities to go along with it. That did motivate me to go back on Atkins though and lose 70 pounds...which I kept off...but I just couldn't seem to stay on it longer and lose everything. So, flash forward another 8 years and now I have diabetes, sleep apnea and joint problems directly related to the excess weight. No cholesterol problems or heart related problems, thank God, but I knew it was only a matter of time. I realized that I'm not getting any younger and my youth is being stolen by my 'fat', so I went back to the same clinic, figuring now I had the necessary conditions so insurance would pay...and they did. .

Wanjiku, Unfortunately, it doesn't need to take 6 months and I have no clue why doctors make it take so long. They need to start listening to their patients 'needs' instead of just following some arbitrary schedule. On my last visit, I asked my doc about this and he said that there is no 'schedule' for filling his patients. When we come in, they ask us questions that helps them guage whether we might be ready for a fill. He said some of his patients do take 6 months or more before they get permanent (or what passes for permanent) restriction because after each small fill they are swollen enough from temporary restriction that they need to (and can) weight for 6 weeks or 2 months until another fill. In my case, I had 3cc put in 4 weeks post op, another 3cc 2 weeks later, another 2cc a week after that because I never had *any* restriction at all. This last 1.75cc has gone in slower (timewise and amount) because I have had restriction after each one. Don't be surprised if, after a week or so, you are able to once again eat more than you should. It just means that what you have now is temporary restriction due to swelling...but that you're getting close. .

I agree that some doctors are lacking in their bedside manner. Surgeons are pretty notorious for this and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they don't get the practice. Their main role is to do the surgery. Follow-up care is generally done by others. However, when you tell a physician, "No, I don't smoke" and he continues to snipe that he 'smells smoke', that's more than bad bedside manner. Now he's calling his patient a liar...and not very subtly. I'd confront him and if you don't get a satisfactory response, dump him and find a *better* doctor. As far as I'm concerned, anything a doctor 'knows' and is 'skilled at' is seriously compromised when they don't *see* me as anything more than the map they get to work their 'magic' on.

It's been a quiet couple of days here but I think I've come to the conclusion that I need that last .25cc (put in 3 weeks ago) back out. I'm PBing and sliming on an almost daily basis and I think my lack of weight loss is due to just not eating enough calories. I looked over my journal for the last few weeks and even with my Protein shakes, I'm lucky to get in 1000 calories a day because at some point in my two solid meals, I get stuck and that's all she wrote as far as eating. Lately, I get stuck with the first bite. It's possible I'm just swollen from all the stuck episodes. At any rate, I'm going to give them a call and see about getting that last fill taken out. Oops...my beeper just went off to remind me to check my bread dough so this will be a short one. Take care and have a good weekend! .

Bob: Isn't that just a marvelous feeling to be able to fit in a booth!? When I dropped from 330 to 260, it was such a wonderful feeling to be able to fit into a booth and to fit (barely) through those idiotic turnstyles they put in some stores (a la the amusement park turnstyle). Christie: Go ahead and whine about the massage. I paid for my sister's massage school and I'm *supposed* to get free massages for life, but everytime I visit her (she's 5 hours away), she's always too 'tired'. Whining hasn't gotten any more massages but oh well. HB: It is spring. The "S" word is no longer allowed. My brother lives in Chicago and said they had several inches today. I'm hoping by the time it makes it here that it will just be rain...but it's probably false hope. The temp has dropped about 10 degrees within hours and still falling. Dottie: Sorry to hear about the PB and sliming. I know that at some point I just don't feel the same sense of enjoyment at eating out because I never know what's going to go down wrong and send me to the bathroom...several times. Chickadee: Congrats on the 30# loss! Keep up the good work! Leigha: Not sure if I answered you or not about the arm pain. The doc's suggestion was pain meds or sleep meds...or just wait it out. I'm not much for either of the meds since I don't tolerate stuff like that well so I guess I'll just 'tuff it out'. After 4 days of little sleep, I finally crashed last night and slept for 5 solid hours although my husband said I'd groan a little in my sleep when I shifted my arm the wrong way. I told him to wear ear plugs. If it doesn't wake me up, it's all good. Betsy: Your party sounds like a lot of work but also a lot of fun! Hope it went well.

Everything in moderation. Even too much of the 'substitutes' are a bad thing. I use real butter but am just conscious of how much and how often I use it. No substitutes for me, please. .

Bob, this ones for you... After my son's doctor appointment, I took him out to lunch. We stopped in some local snooty restaurant (is there any other kind in Ann Arbor?) and I ordered a very interesting dish in a puff pastry crust. It was tender enough to cut with a fork (meaning they knew how to do it right and not turn it into chewy leather) and I took a smallllll bite...and then was distracted by something and swallowed it after only about 4 chews. Big big mistake. I was immediately stuck. All my other episodes of stuck...they weren't by comparison. This literally felt as if someone had taken a cork and stuffed it in the little opening...and there it sat for the last 3 hours! I've been in pain and nauseous and nothing I've tried would bring it back up or relieve it. So finally (shhh...I know I probably shouldn't have), I just stuck my finger down my throat figuring if I could throw up, whatever was below in my stomach might push it back up through and out...and it did on the first 'heave'. Which is when I learned that this wonderful dish with the odd flavor contained dried Michigan cherries and one of them apparently flattened out when I chewed on it, but didn't break it up and it must've solidly blocking that opening. OMG...I am not kidding when I say I have never felt such relief in my life! I told my husband he's on his own for dinner. I'm having a yoghurt because it's just too much effort to eat tonight, besides which I wouldn't doubt I've managed to swell the plumbing up with this idiocy and it could probably use the rest. I think I need a short nap. This whole thing has exhausted me. So I'm going to round up my doggie and go lie down. .

My Protein Shake is a whey protein...EAS chocolate (Sam's Club). I love it. .

Sorry but your doctor sounds like a horse's ass. 50 pounds lost is 50 pounds less than you weighed last year and most likely far less than you would've weighed a year later without the band. His little GI cannot tell him whether you have 'good' restriction. Only you can. Give two people the same 12cc band and give them both 8cc and I guarantee one will most likely not have enough and the other one may be too tight. If my surgeon acted this way, I'd most likely first confront him about it first and let him know I was less than pleased with his attitude and, unless he has a good explanation, I'd be looking for a new doctor. .

Morning peeps...I'm out of bed, but don't know about 'up'. The pain in my arm is back with a vengeance and nothing is helping. I have to take my son into the doc today since he's decided he wants to switch from his pediatrician to a 'grownup doc' and I think I'll ask her if there's anything she can do as a temporary measure. Otherwise everything is going along swimmingly. The swelling has apparently gone down from my last fill 2 weeks ago and I could probably use another .25cc fill but I think I'm going to hold off and see how it goes over the next week. I normally don't step on the scale except Monday but needed a boost yesterday and found I dropped another 2 lbs but I'm not going to make it official until next Monday...at which time it will probably disappear and tell me I haven't lost anything. Betsy: I wish I could 'shop' in a daughter's closet, but I guess my husband's will have to do. Although, while his sweatshirts are co-ed, I'll never fit into his jeans. They're typical flat hipped men's pants and my curves just laugh at them. Bob: You probably could chalk the weight gain up to female hormones...but then you'd have some 'splainin' to do, Lucy. Bob, love the pics of your home on facebook. Want a roommate? I refer to my little home as 'the house from hell'. Liz: Don't worry about the scale. My scale didn't move for weeks but I could tell from my clothes that I was definitely losing. Leigha: I think our priorities change...plus, as we lose the weight, we're physically *able* to do more. Christie: I wouldn't worry about the crackers. My doc is one of those who says 'eat what you can, drink if you can't'. I was able to eat after every single fill without any problems, although my list of foods changed. HB: I stopped at a McD's to pick up something to eat for my son one day a few weeks back and ate one of his fries. *Big Big mistake*. Not only did I learn that (a) they weren't as good as I remembered and (:cursing: french fries do stick...I also learned that eating 'on the run' is a big nono. There is nothing worse than being stuck and having to pull over until the episode passes. It's not like I could take a gulp of his drink and let it all come back up because 'oversploding' on the side of the road with cars whizzing by just was not an option in my book. Ok...need to get to work. Have a great day everyone! Oh, and welcome to the newbies! .

Exactly. :wub: .