BJean

Donna: I've been posting here for quite a while and most of the stories I've read about Dr. Ortiz have been very good. Haven't read anything about Dr. Aceves. The one thing I have learned is that before you schedule with a Mexican doctor, you need to be absolutely certain that you have a local doctor who can do the fills and any follow-up that you might need. I chose a doctor primarily based on his laproscopic surgical experience and someone who had plenty of Lap Band procedures under his belt. My surgery was supposed to be $18,000 out of pocket expense. However, it covered the surgery, hospital and all that (overnight), plus pre-surgical tests and all fills for 2 years, plus a dietician and exercise physiologist for 2 years, and a clinical psychologist profile and monthly psychologist's group lectures, and monthly dietician group meetings, a newsletter and all the phone calls and doctor's visits that I need for 2 years. It's a comprehensive package and I wouldn't have wanted to do this without it. I knew I had a hiatal hernia, but wasn't sure if I needed gallbladder surgery. The pre-surgical tests bore out the hernia, but ruled out the gallbladder removal necessity. Because I needed the hiatal hernia operation, my insurance, which also had a strong non-bariatric surgery clause, covered part of everything. They wound up paying us back almost $10,000. So that would make it close to what you're husband is willing to cough up. Pardon the expression. Some of the doctors in this area resent people going to Mexico for the initial procedure and they charge $1000 per fill. They don't offer much in the way of other surpport either to people who choose to go to Mexico. I've had 5 or 6 fills since my surgery in September. My doctor insists that we take this slowly and to never cause me the discomfort and possible anguish of an over-fill. When you are paying out of pocket each time for a fill, the conventional wisdom is to get as much as you think you can possibly need so that you don't have to go back soon (and pay again). Some doctors insist on doing floroscopy (like x-rays) during the fill to make sure you are properly adjusted because they are trying to cut down on the over-fill scenario. That machine's usage costs money, although I am not sure if these are the same doctors who charge $1000 per fill and the floroscope is how they justify it. Bottom line of what I'm saying is that you need to be absolutely certain that you have a local doctor who is amenable to doing your follow up care and your fills. And you need to know just exactly what that will cost you. If you have the band and have to go without the proper adjustment, you may as well not have the band. I've typed this quickly because I'm expecting company in a few minutes so I hope it makes sense. Your best feedback about the Mexican connection is from someone who's been there, done that. But I did want to share my personal experience with the outcome of my insurance company's willingness to pay for the hiatal hernia part of the surgery and how it put me in a position to get everything done locally, which is really great. Please keep us posted. I'll sure be thinking about you.

As far as special diets are concerned, no one has told me NOT to do them, but part of my "package" surgery deal is that I see a nutritionist/dietician every couple of weeks. She does not like any "fad" diets. She says that we must really work at getting the proper nutrition and that we should always eat Protein first. But we need fruits and vegetables as well. I have read that some of the other bandsters are going to Weight Watchers and even have read that some have been taking different over the counter diet pills. I know my doctor and dietician would probably not mind the Weight Watcher's meetings, but would be against diet pills of any kind. They emphasize that we need to re-learn all about food and nutrition and that if we use the band properly we can do that without other aids. This is not supposed to be a quick fix, like extreme diets most of us have gone on. It's supposed to be a lifestyle change. Gerbera: Good luck with the knees. I am in the same boat. I really, really wish I could get on a treadmill and go for long walks. We are at a disadvantage, but Water exercise is good for everybody so it will be good for us too, just not as convenient. I hope you're able to avoid knee surgery!

These are GREAT! More, more!

Denise: Sorry, I get in too big a hurry posting sometimes. What I meant to say is that if I take a long hot shower in the morning and try to eat a regular breakfast soon afterwards (like eggs & toast) I can only eat a bite or two before I feel full and don't want anymore. If I eat breakfast before my shower, I don't have a problem eating pretty much all I want at breakfast. Green said that if she has a nice warm drink before breakfast she can eat breakfast easier. I haven't necessarily found that to be true for me. Everyone is very different but we do notice some similarities sometimes. Like before the band, about the only meat-type protein I ate was baked chicken breast. Now I can almost just look at a chicken breast and feel all uncomfortable. I always choose something else like fish or turkey. I also have no trouble eating most kinds of beef, while some other bandsters say that they can't eat steak. I can't eat a whole filet mignon, but I have no trouble eating part or half of one. :hungry: I may not be as restricted as they are though. You can't depend completely on what any other bandster tells you about amounts of food or what kinds. Except for a few things, it's pretty much individual trial and error. :rolleyes Before surgery all this sounds a little ominous, but it really isn't awful. The benefits of having a reminder to slow down and don't eat so much is great. The further I get on my journey, the easier it gets to figure it all out.

Bitter: You go, girl!!

Betsy: Are they flats or do they have some lift at the heel? I have to have about an inch or a little higher rise in the heel, for some darned reason. Those sound cute - especially the price!

crabcake: It took me almost 6 months. The first 30 came off easily. The last 10 have been much more difficult. I have been in a learning curve and the process of losing needs to be slower so that we can really learn how to deal with food by eating smaller portions, eating much slower and making healthier food choices. Everyone preaches "it's a process" and I finally am understanding that. Whoever made the popcorn comment, I just got back from seeing "Wild Hogs" and had some popcorn with absolutely no problem. I didn't have the whole bag of popcorn, like I used to, but I probably enjoyed it much more than in the past when I absent mindedly shoveled it in.

This thread caught my interest so I read it and it made me think of the many times my sister and I were in weddings together. But it also made me think of the times my mother insisted that I be included in anything my sister did when we were young. Pat was 13 months older than me. If Pat was invited to spend the night with a friend, she got to go only if she took me along. If she was invited to a party or a friend's family outing, same deal. It was sheer torture! Mom was determined that I would not be left out because I didn't have all the friends that Pat had. Pat was a beautiful girl. I was plain and not pretty. Mom over compensated and it made me feel like a freak. I can't help but think about Emily in this terrible scene. The Aunt is a butt-head for putting herself first over a couple of young girls in the family even if it is her wedding. And for this to have turned into a family brou-ha-ha with Emily at the center of it all is unforgivable. Can you just imagine how she must feel? The bottom line is the aunt didn't want her to participate in the wedding and that hurt happened in the beginning. But the hurt is continuing because of all the fuss. I'm sure the older sister is embarrassed and probably a little indifferent at this point. She didn't want to cause anyone any grief, but she can't help but feel that her sister has been hurt and she's part of the reason Emily has been hurt. Being in a wedding at that age is pretty cool. Pat and I were almost the same height and we were candlelighters for 6 weddings when we were 11 and 12. We felt important and we got to wear pretty dresses and we were a part of something that was important. We were trusted to do something that helped make the wedding pretty and we got to see ourselves lined up with the wedding party in all the pictures. Poor Emily. She's been made to feel like she's less important than her sister on the one hand, but on the other hand she's made to feel that even tho her aunt didn't want her, someone thinks it is important for her to be included. She probably would have liked to be included, but not like this. The whole thing is typical of family politics at its worst. I'm glad I'm not 10 years old and having to learn some of life's hard lessons in such a painful way.

laurend: I'm rooting for you to get the band. I know it will help you get on the right path to a lifetime of good health. Hang in there!

Kat: Yea! Great story about the stairs. I hardly ever go upstairs now and as we speak I have a pile of folded towels and bed linens that need to be carried up to be put away. I usually go up the stairs on all fours and come down very slowly and gingerly hanging onto the rail for dear life. Not pretty. My grand daughter thinks it's pretty funny. :tired

P.S. I had an uncle who waited too long also. He never was able to use his knees after the surgery. He wound up in a wheelchair most of the time.

Wow! I've heard that from others about the relief from pain after the surgery. Honestly before I lost some weight, I don't know how I could have gone on much longer. I can't imagine how much your mom endured for so long. Isn't it crazy sometimes what we do to ourselves out of fear.

laurend: I feel for your mom and I hear what you're saying. I do worry about waiting too long and not having the muscle tone to be able to use the artificial knees properly. Your mom could be much worse off. My SIL's grandfather only needed one done and decided to do it before the cruise to Alaska they had scheduled. The cruise was in late May so he had the surgery in March. I won't go into the gory details, but he was dead by May - minus one leg. He was in 82 yrs. old and was slim and trim and healthy in every other way. It is one reason I'm so afraid of the surgery. I will not be able to wait until I'm 70 though, I'm sure. My heart goes out to your mom. We need to learn from our elders mistakes I guess. Then their pain will not have been completely in vain. Give her this for me :girl_hug:

Kat: When the orthopedist did the xrays of my legs, he said my legs were incredibly bowed. I looked at them and couldn't believe it was me. They say denial ain't just a river in Egypt. To hear the story about your MILs experience is a real upper for me! Thanks! I could sure use another inch in height!!

Wheet: If this junk isn't enough to get us to use our bands properly, nothing will. I have a couple of neighbors who were basketball players in college (both women) and they have had multiple knee surgeries. Neither of them have benefitted much from the surgeries. They aren't in constant pain like I was, but of course they have problems like you're saying, with ripping and tearing periodically. :omg: :help: Losing the weight is a big help, but wearing the right shoes to give your knees the proper support for your weight is important too. I have 2 pairs of athletic shoes that have the really huge cushy supports and I gravitate to them all the time. Forget sexy... not gonna happen these days. But the athletic shoes aren't nearly as bad as the old ugly orthopedic monsters people used to have to wear! :girl_hug:

Scarlett & Crabcake: I've lost about 40 lbs. and I am no longer in constant pain from my knees. I'm getting around much better - in fact, like night and day. I still have to be very careful and I can't do stairs well, but the improvement is significant! I will have to have both knees replaced one day. Before the Lap Band, it looked like I was going to have to give in to the knee surgery immediately. I decided to give myself one more chance to take off some weight and I now feel that I can put off the replacement surgery for maybe even a couple of years! I am elated. I still have sore knees a lot, and I can't walk on the treadmill or trust myself to walk the dogs, but not having constant pain and not having to take Naprosyn every day is quite a relief! So I am encouraging you to take the leap into lap band land if you can't lose the weight yourself. It's amazing how much just this much weight loss helps. I still need to lose another 40 or so, but now that I'm out of so much of the constant pain I was in, I can take it at a reasonable 1 to 2 pound a week pace. Good luck, you youngsters!

Denise: I have found that if I have a really hot shower in the morning before breakfast, then breakfast is not much of an option. If I wait to take the shower, I have no problem. Go figure. At other times, if I get all excited about the people I'm with and everyone is talking and happy, I usually inadvertently eat too quickly and have a problem. Now that I've had about 5 or 6 fills, I'm learning that I can actually tell when I've either not chewed long enough or I am just taking bites with not enough time between them. I slow down totally, sometimes I even get up and walk around (like a fake bathroom trip or need to check on something) and sit back down and slowly eat the rest of my meal. It is working very well for me. My dietician had been telling me to take 45 min. for a meal but I didn't believe her. I still don't take that long to eat, but I'm never finished as soon as everyone else is these days and I hardly ever have a PB anymore. Woo, hoo! :clap2:

Green: No one has suggested arthroscopic procedures to me. I also have a little hope that some new and better material and/or procedure will be invented soon. With all the boomers limping into retirement, surely some greedy individuals will be sufficiently incentivised to come up with something spectacular, albeit expensive.

We've come full circle in this knee replacement discussion, TOM. One of the most motivating reasons for my getting the band was because of my arthritic knees and the fact that they told me I needed to lose weight before replacement surgery. I've lost some, more than the minimum 10% that they said was required, but I still do not think I'm in the best position to get the surgery. I would plan to have both knees done at one time. I've heard both arguments and it just makes sense to me to have one surgery. You sound like you must have to endure some serious pain. :omg: So what are we waiting for, let's get this darned weight off. :help: Yeah. Right. No problem. :tired

Green: Yes, I am glad, very glad that I got the band. There was a short period of time after surgery that I wondered why I was so weak and not able to diet successfully on my own. But I'm over that. When we lived in Montreal, I had to have been the fattest person in town. I loved walking the streets of Montreal, poking around in all the little shops and cafes. People not only gave me dirty looks, they would whisper to each other as I passed by. And I weighed less then than when I got the band. And I was discriminated against in the clothing shops. Once I walked into a downtown shop and the clerk said, Mam'm! Mam'm, we don't have anything in here to fit you! I told her I was looking for my daughter (who's a size 2) but turned on my heels and stomped out. I think living there would have really gotten to me if I hadn't known it was a temporary thing. They are sure into fashion and being skinny up there, and having haughty attitudes! I joined a fitness spa in downtown Montreal and all the gals would stand naked and talking to each other in the locker rooms. It was darned intimidating! In Texas and Florida, I have been surrounded by other fat people. It was a curse, mostly because it kept me from feeling so uncomfortable in public situations and possibly slitting my wrists or getting the LB!

Green: Thanks for the knee feedback. However I know they're supposed to be usable, I'm wondering how much real exercise you can do with them though. If I thought I could ride my bike and run and jump and play, I'd probably be more anxious for the replacements.

Green: Are you glad you did it? The band I mean.

Lee: Wow. You sound like you're really getting your act together and you have a PLAN! I wasn't so organized when I started this journey. Best of luck to you with the surgery and your plan for fitness! I need both of my knees replaced and I am scared to do it. Does your replaced knee you from doing any exercising? Thanks, BJ

Cozy Cole heh? You are SUCH a show off!!! I don't even remember the dude (or is she a dudette?) Never worry about me taking you too seriously... I do not have a serious bone in my body. (Hold the wise-cracks) (oops!)

Bubble: Btw, my SIL's grandfather's surgery and subsequent butchery and infection happened in Mesa, Arizona.