RavenClaw779

In almost every illustration of gastric banding, the port is shown toward the lower side of the abdomen. Why is mine two inches above my belly button? Truely annoying as I feel it when I bend over, pick up the laundry basket, hug my 4 year-old niece... Where is everybody else's? is this normal?

You can also buy IsoPure at Vitamin Shoppe stores. The Jillian Michaels brand(Walmart $10) is okay - if you add a packet of Nutrasweet - it cuts that cloying stevia taste.

Curious - How successful is exercise i.e., lifting, pilates etc with lessening the need for post-weight loss plastic surgery?

I'm a week and two days out and I find I'm dizzy in the morning following my AM protein shake(I'm at the Puree Stage). I'm also not hungry and am having to force myself to eat plus I am freezing cold and can't get warm...probably because I'm not eating. Today I managed a cup of coffee, a protein shake, 24oz of water, 1/4c potato soup blenderized with 3oz of ham and a 1/4c blenderized veggies. I see it's 8:30pm EST so I guess I better eat something. Weird going from a total FOODIE to not even caring.

Speaking of protein - anybody using unflavored IsoPure? Apparently you can mix this into hot foods w/o it caking, gelling etc. Wanted an opinion before I bought any.

I second Starlight and BigBirney - Sounds like the putz wants to shame you into a gastric bypass. Find a new doctor and rate this one online - if he thinks business is bad now wait 'til the word gets out about his bedside manner!

I guess there are some advantages to not losing weight - at least the fat kept everything taut!

My 25-year-old niece just called to see how I'm doing. She tells me she expects to see me in a bathing suit this summer. Laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. Really - when you weight 283 at your highest, regardless of how much weight I lose, the end product is a saggy Sharpei in a swimsuit. I may be healthy at the end of this, but I ain't going to be a looker.

My 25-year-old niece just called to see how I'm doing. She tells me she expects to see me in a bathing suit this summer. Laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. Really - when you weight 283 at your highest, regardless of how much weight I lose, the end product is a saggy Sharpei in a swimsuit. I may be healthy at the end of this, but I ain't going to be a looker.

Upper GI Series. You'll stand for part of the test on a tilt table and drink a barium "shake" - it's like hold a cup of beach sand and tastes like vanilla/banana chalk...never the less it is very filling so you won't be hungry the rest of the day. It comes out the other end just was white and heavy as it went in!

S-i-l#1 called today on the pretext of asking me a legal question. "So how much have you lost?" Rather than give JabberJaws more fuel for her gossip machine I just said, "a bit". Hee Hee - it was fun to listen to her squirm: "...so how much did you weigh at the start?" * "Too much for my frame" "...how much do you plan to lose?" * "Enough to lower my BMI to a normal range." "Will you ever weigh what you did when I first met you?" * "Who knows - do you know what you weighed when I met you?" God - One good BM and I turn into such a Bee-Atch! Sidebar - Yes, I'd love to weigh what I did then (140) and it's definately a goal, but is it realistic that I could go from 283 to 140 - Not very likely!

S-i-l#1 called today on the pretext of asking me a legal question. "So how much have you lost?" Rather than give JabberJaws more fuel for her gossip machine I just said, "a bit". Hee Hee - it was fun to listen to her squirm: "...so how much did you weigh at the start?" * "Too much for my frame" "...how much do you plan to lose?" * "Enough to lower my BMI to a normal range." "Will you ever weigh what you did when I first met you?" * "Who knows - do you know what you weighed when I met you?" God - One good BM and I turn into such a Bee-Atch! Sidebar - Yes, I'd love to weigh what I did then (140) and it's definately a goal, but is it realistic that I could go from 283 to 140 - Not very likely!

Started on pureed foods yesterday - first veggies in how long? Had my first real BM in over two weeks - Whoo Hoo & gross - I know.

Started on pureed foods yesterday - first veggies in how long? Had my first real BM in over two weeks - Whoo Hoo & gross - I know.

Today while getting dressed, I bumped the area where I think the port is - won't actually know until Monday's post surgical follow up. Man did that ever hurt. I started thinking about this foreign body inside me and starting thinking weird thoughts like...what if I go nuts and yank this thing out?...what if I freak out and jump in my car and drive to the doctor's and beg to have it removed...I got all sweaty and had to get a drink of ice water and go outside to clear my head. Perhaps it's just a case of sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don't!

Today while getting dressed, I bumped the area where I think the port is - won't actually know until Monday's post surgical follow up. Man did that ever hurt. I started thinking about this foreign body inside me and starting thinking weird thoughts like...what if I go nuts and yank this thing out?...what if I freak out and jump in my car and drive to the doctor's and beg to have it removed...I got all sweaty and had to get a drink of ice water and go outside to clear my head. Perhaps it's just a case of sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don't!

Theresa'sMom415 - Gave me a great laugh today - thanks! Love the way people throw out the word "cheater"...so I guess every anorexic who forces herself to vomit is a cheater, as is anyone on a diet drug. Let's face it - look around you when you're at the mall or the grocery store and most people you see could stand to lose a few and there are a LOT who could stand to lose quite a bit. I guess if you chose not to, that's an okay decision - for you. We made a decision after years of unsuccessful effort - that's not cheating; after all it's not like we went to the pharmacy counter and said," Gimme one of them there gastric bandy things!" - we researched, worked with our doctors, had our heads examined, had big brother moniter our sleep, had folks poke and prod us from one end to another - yeah, some cheatin' goin' there! LOL

BetsyB is right on the mark. I've got my EOB's coming in now -there's what the provider charged and the "contracted" price - the price the provider agrees to take as an in-network provider for whichever carrier. It's funny how large the difference between the billed and what they actually get paid - how do they even make a profit?:cursing: They use the difference as a tax write off. For obvious reasons the self-pay price is often much lower - for example - they know the average person isn't going to be able to shell out $4,000 for just the sleep study. When you've got insurance, alot of providers treat you like a cash cow. This is why we need health care reform - for real not Obama Care!

I keep trying it, but end up taking it off some time during the night. Following directions, I wash the nose pillows everyday - and it seems like they don't fit right anymore! I spend so much time tugging and readjusting this thing and still can't get it seated so I have air blowing on my upper lip. Forget laying on my side - I have to hold the nose piece in place or it gaps...

Pk - I'll admit to "cheating" - I ate four oyster crackers when I had to take my Oracea - tried it without a cracker cushion the day before and the nausea was so bad I thought I'd throw up...which my doc told me to try to avoid doing as much as possible as it might cause a band slippage. I'm on puree for the next 2 weeks. I'm a week and a day out and just starting to get hungry, but I'm ignoring it as I've gone through too much to get to this point.

LOL - Thanks ShellieBell - sometimes it takes putting out there in all it's assinity(is that a word?) to get a chuckle out of it.

I went through Ellis (Albany, NY) - No program fee, but what they billed to my insurance carrier was incredible - $860 for the same lab work for which my regular doc charges $200. I have my own nutritionist, but had to see their's - $380 for a recent college grad who read an post-op diet to me.. I agree with everyone who feels it's just another way to pad their costs. Check with your insurance carrier - sometimes by virtue of being insured by a particular carrier these little extras can be waived - esp with some help from your carrier.

Happy Re-Birth Day! We're all going to strike up the BAND for you! ...Congrat!:cursing:

Ditto - It's 2pm and all I've had today is coffee, a protein shake and a glass of Crystal Lite. I have an 11cc Realize band(no fill yet) and I've lost a pound since yesterday. I hope I have some say in how much fill I get, because while I'm looking forward to reaching my goal, I don't want to become a pseudo-anorexic!

Sometimes my friends and family make me want to scream, but being a "Nice Girl" I force a polite smile on my face and role with it. Today I'm just putting it out there because its better than screaming and scaring the you-know-what out of the dog! Sister-in-law #1 aka "Jabber Jaws". I'd have thought that after my husband, her brother, Mr. Calm-Cool & Collected got pissed off when she spoiled the surprise of our moving into the area(hence de-railing the big party we'd planned) that she'd have learned her lesson? Apparently not as she had to tell simply everyone that I'd had a hysterctomy after I specifically asked her not to. I guess telling her that this was a "personal journey" wasn't clear enough or perhaps it just didn't matter to her. Imagine my surprise when not half an hour after I'd confided in her, my mother-in-law called to offer her opinion i.e., "I just heard from Lisa...if you just tried a little harder...". Since then, people she's blabbed to are coming out of the wood work. People who are merely acquaintences are calling for the details. Some friend of hers from downstate called and told my my s-i-l had been, "keeping her in the loop" re; my ongoing "saga". Are you kidding me?! Gee - how long until the local paper or news team arrives at the door? How weird is it that a friend of my husband heard about my surgery from his mother who heard it from the postman(no lie). :eek: The flip side of this is the pseudo concerned - Sister-in-law #2. We see this side of the family once or twice a year. They mostly hang with her people and tend to look down their noses at our side of the family as we aren't of the same political views. S-i-l #2 called yesterday: "I heard you had surgery!" (me) "Yes" "So you're doing okay? No one tells me anything!" (me)"I'm fine..." (don't even get to finish what I'm saying when S-i-l #2 cuts me off to, as usual, talk about herself and her family..."It's a shame it had to come to this. Oh well, we're having a great time down in VA...Bob is going to run a marathon, and Billy is at Lacrosse camp and all I do is shop and ...Okay - talk to you later - Bye". What the hell was the point of this call - so you can say you've done your duty? I've been married to my husband for over 15 years and I have yet to attend a family function where these people have ever let someone finish talking or expressed any real interest in what's going on in anyone else's life:eek: