Search the Community

I'm with you margo....... all the way! I waited a year and a half for a new insurance that would cover it... until October 2005. Then I thought I'd be 'under the knife' within 2-3 months, but it took 10 months!! :omg: It wasn't an insurance hold up at that point.... from my point of view it was the doctors covering EVERY base health-wise. But if I was perfectly healthy, why would I be going through all this? And like you, if I was able to diet and exercise successfully, I wouldn't have gotten to this weight in the first place! But basically they seemed to be in no hurry, as my weight crushed my knees day-by-day. I was as frustrated as you seem to be...... I wish I had the answer for you. I kept pressing but in the end I was at their mercy: to find someone else would not be so easy; and starting over (from the BEGINNING!) with new doctors didn't seem likely to speed things up. So I can't tell you the time will fly by..... mine didn't!! I was suffering and desperate and I had to keep pushing. If you can change surgeons, do it now... don't wait. Otherwise just bug the h:mad:ll out of them!! As you said, the band is not the whole answer... you WILL have to eat better and work a bit. On the bright side, waiting and waiting... getting frustrated with the whole system, made me determined to use the diet and exercise to get the weight off so that I wouldn't have to go through all that again! I never thought I would be able to do that! Sorry to burst the 'happy talk' bubble...... but I never want to deal with this kinda stuff again. I'll get my health back in any way I can!! This journey has been too arduous to ever consider repeating!!!:angry Good luck margo...... get it done any way you can!

Yeah, my home scale never matches doctor's scale..it's always higher for some reason. I weighed 10 lbs less when I was weighed at the hospital for surgery...doctor didn't even notice. I think they use it more for anesthesia and dosing meds and stuff like that. I doubt they will cancel your surgery for a 3-4 pound fluctuation. It sounds like your nerves are talking! Take a breath and realize that everything should be just fine. We all get those pre-op jitters! I wish you all the best! Enjoy the weekend and get lots of rest so you will be bright and feeling great for surgery! Take care!

I worked really hard to change my eating before the surgery. I am scheduled for October 14th. I started the process in April and there are many requirements with my doctor including losing 10% of your body weight before surgery. For me that was 28 pounds. As of now, I have lost 30. So I have been eating more fruits and veggies, less snacks. I have also cut out soda as you cannot have that after surgery. That was most difficult for me as I love diet pepsi. The first week was hard, I actually had headaches from the cafeine withdrawl but it has gotten better. When I started the process, I had to attend an orientation session and they stated "Live your life today as if you have had the surgery". I found that to be a very powerful statement and have tried to follow it. I have hit bumps along the way but I feel that I am prepared and ready for my surgery.

Hi: I was banded on July 10, 2007 and I know it is working, but I know it is a long slow process. I just needed to know if 2.2 is alot for the fill your band holds? I am ok with it, just when I get anxious, or stressed out I can't hold anything down. I really think it is a nerve thing. Too much going on, all the time, no slack in my chain. Someone is always pulling it, or I have to many errands, etc. Please give me some feedback, and let me know if anyone out there is at this level of fill and has similar problems. Thanks. Oh, and if you are familiar on how to find the answers to posts please let me know at kclang@myway.com unexperienced with this board. K

I understand now the importance of Protein and i feel really ashamed that I didn't care much about it for the past three weeks. My surgeon did give me a small 2 pages pamphlet about the stages but I didn't even follow that because it said that I'm supposed to do three weeks of full liquids and three weeks of pureed then four weeks of soft food. And i only did 10 days of liquids then i started playing around and trying pureed eggs and chicken, then someone offered me a chocolate and after i had it and found my weight is still dropping i start just grabbing whatever in front of my eyes. I thought as long as I'm in this early stage calories and carbs shouldn't really matter but i was planning to catch up and behave in 2 months or three. Unfortunately, i do have a nutritionist and i met her once 2 weeks post op. She wasn't a big help, she just told me the appropriate consistency of pureed food and told me to drink a Protein shake but she didn't give me a target number and she didn't explain to me the importance of following the program. I usually don't follow instructions if I'm not convinced. How do you guys calculate the protein target? Isn't 100 grams are too much and difficult to achieve? Do they mostly come from Protein shakes?

Had mine 10/8

I'm also on January 14. My doc is John Feng and my surgery is at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. I have Medifast to eat starting on 1/1 and then Clear liquids start 48 hours prior. I've lost 10 lbs. since my 1st appt with Dr. Feng in March of this year. I just hope my liver shrinks enough so he doesn't push my date back. I'm really nervous about that. I also like the Premiere Protein shakes so that's what I'm sticking with. Also, I have had a cold for about a week now. I hope that doesn't set me back too. I'm looking forward to this journey! My kids are scared so they ask lots of questions. Bless their little hearts. I keep telling myself that it will be hard but it will be worth it.

I was told 10 sugars (added)

I was at 8 CCs of a 10 CC band but it was too tight and caused me too throw up a lot which escalated my bulimia. I was brought back down over time to 4 CCs. Once I get more comfortable just eating until satiated I may go to a local lap band fill center and ask for another CC or Two which I think would bring me to green. I am really forcing past being stuck and eating till I'm sick. Sometimes I purge and then return to eating. I know I have restriction. So I need to learn to work with instead of against the band. I intend to keep it and overcome this. I have been doing good the past two days, especially journaling my intake and trying to stick with a healthy meal plan.

I have one lindt chocolate truffle almost every night. Its 70 calories, but is one of the best parts of my evening. The good thing is that I have never eaten two....only one (I*'m seven weeks post op, and have been doing this for two or three weeks), and before surgery I would have easily eaten 10 before I knew it. Still its against the "rules" but its my one cheat thing per day. Other than that, I actually eat WAY healthier than I did pre surgery, and I exercise every day. Oh, I also eat way too fast, and dont chew enough. I do observe the Water rule, but only because if I drink during or after a meal, it hurts because there is no room for it. oh, also (!) I eat about 1500 calories per day at 7 weeks. But, I'm not sure that is a confession. (?)

I didn't really have any health issues, but I'm also a "senior" - there are lots of us on here who've had surgery in our 50s, 60s, and even a few in their 70s. not being able to exercise much shouldn't be an issue. Weight loss is 90% diet and 10% exercise (exercise has a greater effect during maintenance, though (once you reach your goal weight) - but then, you can only do what you can do. But for losing weight, no - it doesn't play a major role). I've "known" several people on bariatric forums who rarely if ever exercised, and they still lost a ton of weight.

I am pretty much in the same boat as you and my post op was on 6/19 as well. Just wondering what your MD said?

I'm almost eleven months out. I had my RNY on 12/10/13. I've lost 93 pounds so far. My weight loss has really slowed down. But that's okay since I've lost all I planned to, and more, as my ticker below shows. I'm still eating like I'm supposed to. I'm still exercising too. I don't have much flab. But I DO have more wrinkles. LOTS MORE. I think this is okay though since I'm in my late 50's. The MOST important thing to me is that SEVEN of the EIGHT co-morbidities I had are GONE! Prior osteo-arthritis damage hasn't repaired itself. But the arthritis pain is almost all gone too. I hope that helps someone who reads this.

After months of thinking, researching, and planning, my time is finally here. My VSG is scheduled for 10/23. I can't believe I'm doing this, but I am very excited!

Is it possible to feel generally no restrictions? I'm drinking 1 oz every 10 minutes .. I have gas.. But other than that ..I'm doing ok.. Which makes me wonder why I don't feel any restrictions?

Hello, mine is 10/20 and I can't wait!!!

I am currently off of work so I will be home all day. I'm definetely going to need a lot of distractions! Did the liquid diet make you weak or not want to do anything physically? We have a mini beach getaway planned and I love to go in the water and waves I wonder if that's too much for the supervised starvation ill be on 🤣🤣 the premiere protein cake batter shake definetely takes care of my sweet tooth! I want to be under 300 for my surgery and I have 10 pounds to go I hope I can do it!

March 16, 2016 Hello! If you're reading this you might be considering getting your surgery in Mexico at the Mexicobariatriccenter. I am post op sleeve day 6 right now, have a fever of 102.5, and am feeling pretty crummy atm. FYI: I am a nursing student in my 4th block so I have some understanding of pharmacology and the importance of sterile/aseptic procedures. The positives: Price was about $4300 plus airfare, incidentals, tipping, etc. I estimate I spent close to $5k in all. Hotel accommodation and staff at the Hyatt Place in Tijuana was great. They will give you as much chicken or beef broth, sugar-free lime popsicles, or various flavors of sugar-free Jello that you want. Surgeons and the Anesthesiologist were professional and did a first rate job. 30 minute ride from San Diego Airport to the Mexico Border and another 15 minutes to the hotel. The hospital is only 10 minutes away from the hotel btw. Negatives: Oh..... where to start.... Mexico Bariatric Center has outsourced their aftercare to a third party. The "nurses" responsible for helping with post-care are no more knowledgeable than Medical Assistants, although they do have a little medication administration training. However, their severely limited training, and understanding of bacteria becomes quite evident when witnessing their attempts (or lack there of) to prevent the spread of bacteria. Here are just a few examples: I never once witnessed a "nurse" use the hand sanitizer on the wall or wash their hands upon entering my room. I did witness my "nurse", Cesar, blow into his gloves to help open them up before sticking his hands in them. That sort of thing would probably get you fired in the United States. IV ports were frequently not cleaned or were simply given a quick single swipe of the alcohol pad before injecting medications into them. Those IV ports gets dragged all over the place and probably have little microscopic bits of feces and drug resistant bacteria on them. Which is a little like mainlining feces directly into my blood stream. When I told them I wanted them to do it correctly they would respond with "It's ok, don't worry, don't worry." And they'd just keep on doing what they were doing, as if my objections were completely irrelevant. Eventually I had to call and speak to the hospital administrator to have my "nurse" replaced with someone more competent. INTEGRITY is not something I found a great deal of with the non-management staff members. Perhaps placating (i.e., lying) is par for the course over there, but it was common enough that very quickly I realized I couldn't trust anything I was being told on face value. Please understand that this was a big issue that reoccurred on multiple occasions. Trusting the staff to do what they say they are going to do, or when they are going to do it, is a huge mistake. This includes the drivers as well. I can't overemphasize this enough.... to be fair, the management was great though, however they have nothing to do with patient aftercare. The third morning after the surgery several of the patients had been cleared to go and we were driven to a "Pharmacy". The "Pharmacist" behind the counter was selling anything and everything. He was trying to get us to buy different antibiotics than the ones we were sent home with. I don't think he realized that not all antibiotics work on all bacteria and you can't just take whatever. He did give out free samples of vitamin-B shots and Viagra for those who were interested. Did I mention this was the pharmacy the Mexico Bariatric Center sent us to? I ended up buying a few items while I was there only to discover we had been charged 300-400% more than the pharmacy at the grocery store across from the Hotel. The driver will then offer to take you and the other patients on a "tour and some shopping". These stores inflate their prices for the patients and provide a kickback to the driver (and most likely the Mexico Bariatric Center) just like the pharmacy did. PAIN MANAGEMENT! Unless you are willing to pay the extra $1000 for the pain pump that comes with either morphine or Dilaudid you will be offered the ghetto version of pain meds (e.g., Ketorolac, tramadol). Although these medications do help offset the pain they do not provide the additional benefit of the euphoric feeling from narcotics. They will offer you all sorts of ridiculous reasons whey they don't want to give you those medications and if you don't have a background in pharmacology you may actually start to believe them. But, they are lying to you. Remember, if you spent the extra $1000 you could have all the narcotic pain meds you wanted in the form of a patient controlled pain pump. I honestly believe they tried to keep people in enough pain that they would agree to spend the extra money. One "nurse" told me that they wouldn't give them to me because of the nausea. However, they give you meds for nausea. "Doctor" Sing tried to convince me that the reason they don't give narcotics is because people are less likely to do their breathing exercises..... Ummmm.... the #1 reason people don't do breathing exercises or participate in their aftercare not a lack of motivation or education on the benefits, but is lack of pain management. That's not my opinion, that's a fact. It was just one stupid excuse after another. The additional pain I (and many other patients) endured as a result of these penny pinching, dishonest, dimwits would be criminal in the United States. You'll get plenty of narcotic pain meds if you choose to have the surgery here in the states. I was advised by that I do not need a passport, by Leili Kohan my patient coordinator, to enter Mexico because their company has a special medical pass, which lets them get across the border without the long wait times. Leili was adamant about that. What she failed to mention was that in order to re-enter the U.S. you definitely need one. I was fortunate in that I ordered a passport just in case otherwise I would probably still be in Mexico right now. Summary: I am glad I had the surgery despite what I have and continue to go through. I wouldn't be opposed to having some other type of surgery in Mexico at a later date. I would absolutely NOT RECOMMEND the MEXICO BARIATRIC center. Additionally, make sure that narcotic pain medication (e.g., Percoset, Vicoden) will be available and have them put it in writing stating you get a full refund for all services rendered if this is not the case. Trust me on this, unless you're one of the rare people who felt absolutely fine, you are going to want narcotics.

Hi, gab & welcome! I also have Aetna and I'm planning surgery for June 19. I was (wow...past tense!) also a smoker, and my doc told me that I would have to quit smoking before surgery. I am not one of those folks who was always trying to quit, so I had not made a serious quit attempt in many years. However, once I found out this was a requirement to have the surgery, I decided that the time had come. I quit successfully on March 1st using a combination of Chantix and a rechargeable & refillable e-cigarette device for when the cravings got bad. I have been surprised at how smoothly it has gone, given that I smoked for close to 30 years. Best of luck to you!

wow day two of the 10 day liquid fast doctor has me on (pre-op) please tell me it gets easier. I am real tires and feeling a bit crabby!!!! help***Dawni

yes, ok, so its been approved since June 2001 in the U.S. unless you were part of clinical trials. Not every study started the same date the band would have been approved, so if a study takes a year as I said, and its a 5 year study, it makes sense what the nurse who wrote a book and leads the seminars for many Dallas lap band surgeons would say not all 5 year studies have been completed. The band has not been approved in the U.S. for 10 years, 7 years total plus 2 months. Thats why some insurances balk at paying for it. It hasnt been around long enough for really long term studies. I keep saying it has been around more than 5 years but hasnt been around 10 years yet, it hasnt. If you know someone who got theirs in the U.S. 10 years ago, thats unusal. That means they got it 3 years before it was actually approved by the FDA who isnt know for moving very fast on approvals. And the FDA is likely to get worse as there are some drugs approved without really long term studies that have come back to haunt them lately with bad side effects. The lady who gives these seminars had her band a few years and dropped 140 lbs and get really thin, and then she started to have a problem with reflux so bad the band had to be removed (just as a example of a side effect of having the band that can occur years later). Im glad I got my band, and Im sure you are too, but finding 10 year studies or results is difficult.

I did a job for people who used solar energy to power their house. The guy told me it cost him about $30,000.00 for the setup(he had his whole back yard and most of his roof full of panels. My friend lives on alot of property alongside a farm. Most farmers in the area have gas wells drilled on their property. He told me he could have a gas well drilled for about $10-15000.00 and alot of the cost was to clear property and put a pretty long road going to the well. I would think the well would be alot more cost effective in the long run and up front. Theres not much to a gas well, where as the solar panels are exposed to the weather. The guy with the solar also had natural gas to his house, sounds to me like this guy had too much money for his own good.

Think about it, China and India's economies are prospering, growing at alarming rates why, among the many things these countries buy, buying into global warming isnt one of them! U.S.A., U.K., France, (European Union) have deteriorating economies growing at a snails pace if at all, why, we believe in global warming. So lets regulate our industry to the point where they cant afford to prosper here in turn leaving for China and India where there are no regulations! Now people in this country cant afford to buy cars because theyre way overpriced because of emissions regulations, oh and because there are no good paying jobs left here because they all went to China and India. In the 70-80s good paying industrial jobs where everywhere, now our leading field is the low paying service industry! In turn we will be falling behind China in 10-20 years because they werent stupid enough to buy into it! Basically the world still produces the same amount of pollutants (just the other side of the world now)which cause acid rain as it always did, oh no, thats what they called it in the 70-80s, I meant greenhouse gases, the ones that are eating away the ozone layer(because we had high hair in the 80s and needed alot of aerosol hairspray cans(see if we just would have used "the pump"), actually thats what it was called in the 80-90s(you get the picture here)its now betrween global warming leading to climate change! WHAT A MONEY MAKING CROCK!

Totally agree with @lipsticklady. Day 4 it felt second nature and it was my "final count down" from 10 days to surgery. I made little glittery signs from day 10 to 0 and hung it on my fridge. It was a little project to do when I had a craving. I did a few at a time. (This just goes to show everyone that I am truly a 7 year old in a 29 year olds body.)

I hear you Brother, I have the same issue,but I have so many aches and pains they all blend into one another, I'm approaching 30 days post Op. July 14 was when I got sleeved, The past 10 days it's hurt a lot less but the first few weeks it was almost unbearable, I did all I could do to avoid the pain but I also didn't want to baby it, so i eased into a little more movement each day, BUT like they say,We are all different. Best of Wishes