Post-Op Bariatric Procedure IV

This is my first try at this, so we'll see if it works?
Carrie asked for a new thread, as this got a little long for folks on Dial Up.

Please bear with me,guys and gals.

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/620289/

That is ok, Pati, I have good aim LOL

Janis

Thank you, Pati. Yes, my aim is so good that if T-plant doesn't show up, I will kick his tiny little butt.

xxx, Carrie

I'm here..... Going to work out in my tomato garden today. A bit windy but my arthritic shoulders seem a little better today. I guess weight loss does not help with arthritis. I was hoping it would?

It will help on your weight bearing joints I think.

My shoulders ?? It doesn't seem so at this point.

no hand stands .... lol

Weighed in today at 249lbs, dropping that extra 4lbs I picked up somewhere, which puts me back on track but the turkey isn't finished yet. We will be making a BBQ turkey on Sunday as my son could not be home for Thanksgiving. Police officers have to work no matter what day it is, so, we will have a second celebration. The amount of food I ate was minimal maybe a half cup or so. That is my limit but I did have some ice cream. As a liquid I could down a quart so I must be careful. Have to admit it tasted real good and if I must indulge it will not be junk food but only the finest quality(expensive)ice cream.

Yay! I told you! Ha!

xxx, Carrie

WOO HOO TPlant!

Can't wait to see next weeks results!

Janis

Great job, T.
Way to go!!! WOOHOOOO!
Deanna

T-Plant! I am so proud of your achievement!! ~ Suzi :)

Nicely done, T. Congrats!

Spent a good deal of money yesterday on window boxes, poinciannas, garden mix, and support brackets to hold the window boxes on my chain link fence. Must say they do look pretty. I like to have breakfast on my deck and the plants really add to the occasion.

Good work, T!

I splurged on a number of amaryllis bulbs this year - is $100 a lot? Anyway they all need pots so now I have to splurge even more...

xxx, Carrie

What kind of bipass did you have? I want to have lap band but I am not enough overweight for the average Dr. I hang onto fat though and no matter what I do, I never lose unless I eat about 5 to 600 calories and then I will plateu fast. I have had a dr. tell me I was an economy car that goes a long way on a little fuel. I want lap band but I don`t know about the cost and all. What do you think? I never saw your old thread.

Oh I found the rest of it, it will take some time to go through it all. Cost ? I doubt my insurance would pay. I am probably 190lbs and 5 `41/2. I had lipo last year around the time you had your stuff starting up, that is more of an issue now because if I gain now it will go in other places that I don`t want it to go, like my already huge thighs and some others that don`t need any extra lbs. How do you feel?

This message was edited Nov 29, 2006 7:54 AM

hellnzn11..
I don't know what the criteria is for bariatric surgery but my lap-band cost $15000 probably less in other areas as Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood area is at the top of the list. My insurance paid the cost. I feel terrific especially today as much to my surprise I dropped another pant size today? Just for the heck of it I picked up a pair of size 44 pants this morning and they fit perfectly. Back in March I wore a size 54 pants so you ask "How do I deel?" Wow!!! Terrific!!
Your BMI (Body Mass Index) should qualify you for the proceedure? Go to a specialist that performs the surgery and see what they have to say. Check with your insurance company. If they paid for lipo they should pay for a lap-band. I wish you could have the surgery as it really is a blessing. Do read my entire story starting from the beginning with "Pre Bariatric Surgery." I posted everything in my life and will continue to do so at least until I reach my goal of 200lbs and would like you to follow my lead if possible. I know how difficult it is to lose weight w/o lap-band. I too were just like you! If I looked at it -- I ate it mentally and put on weight. Lipo doesn't work for large people as the fat has the tendency to return in the wrong places and besides it is only a temporary fix.

yes I`d love to follow your lead. I do not have 15000 and I bet my insurance would fight. You have to have a body like that, that has tried everything and reaped few benefits. I may have to go to Mexico or try Utah, they are cheaper in the US. I paid for my own lipo, it was 5500, I sold my harley to get it. I tried that xenical fat blocker for 2 or 3 years,my insurance paid but then they stopped so I immediatly started storing fat in my abdomin as if my body was so deprived of fat in the diet, that it started packing it on for a rainy day, as we need some fat. I never had fat in my abdomin lik ethat and so fast, I felt like I wanted an outer body experience and nothing I did helped. I`d sure love to do lap band. I need to find a dr. thanks. You look great. I didn`t realize that you were a man at first. We all feel the same inside if we are heavy. Dawn

Does the fact that I am a man make a difference pertaining to obesity? I think not! I know how an obese person feels and it can be a lonely life. In my late twenties the weight started to pile on and then level off at 264lbs until my fifties and then there was no stopping the pounds and my consuming mouth. People would say "Just don't eat so much or don't eat fattening foods?" Yeah right! Unless they've been there they just could not or would not understand that living on raw carrots was not a lifestyle.

well, when I was young I starved myself with 500 calories all thru high school. I had my days higher or fasting, I once did it for 10 days and when I graduated and all I could eat was fast food, the lbs packed on fast. The whole time I compulsively excersized too. I started to binge eat and take all kinds of natural diuretics, laxatives, saunas for hours till my heart was exploding. I learnd about alot of bad excessive habits from mom who had a similar metabolism. As I gained more weight, my friends dicovered binging and purging, that was short lived because it would take so long to eat all the stuff we wanted by the time we purged half was digested. I stopped. I became my weight and my food determined how my day would be, I didn`t like myself too much. I started eating more healthy and more calories and always struggle still but I have a husband who thinks I am so hot so that is nice, whaever way I am. I decided that I am not my body years ago and even efore my DH. I am happier with me way more than those days of total food denial. People do not know what it is like to have a body that wants to be fat. Most people eat way worse than me and do not have this trouble. When I did PHen Pen, my body lost inches, a lot but the scales barely moved,it is so depressing. Unless you have a bariatric dr., the average Dr. doesn`t believe us either. It doesn`t matter that you are a guy except I talked about my weight going to my boobs now after lipo which I edited out but since you asked. I don`t need the big blue letters from Dave scolding me. Intentions count but it s hard for them to be known in print what someones intentions are. Dawn

Are you sure your insurance will not cover the surgery?

honestly I don`t know, I could try but I am a little scared to try. I am on disability but I`d have to work for another 18 months to rebuild my account. How long are you down?

A few days!!

hmmmm. If they eliminate other health issues by getting my weight down, they save money in the big picture too. I`d like to be buried thin one day. hopefully not too soon. thanks for all the input. Dawn

We are having a lot of work done on our home plus my car broke down yesterday and with all this confusion going on I completely forgot to weigh in on Friday. I will try my best to do so tomorrow at the usual AM time. We also had a water problem which did not have anything to do with our present construction. Seems like the well pump that provides water for the school and me broke down by shorting out. We did not have a reliable supply of water for two days and finally, today, we have water. So you see it has been very, very hectic and a lot of banging inside and out. Wish you could hear the racket.

That is a bad few days, especially in the cold months.(If you can call them cold in Fla.) Do you ever go on the prayer forum? It is a good place to camp out on DG. Your troubles are always shared, always and quickly, responded to and you know your prayers are heard. It is off the subject a bit but I was just on and there were a couple of DGers who`s car problems were amazingly resolved in ways not expected. Your thing, though probably not the same, made me think about the thread I was just on and decided to ask if you ever have gone there? Maybe you don`t believe in prayer, I don`t know why I brought it up. Do you look forward to weighing in now for the first time in your life? lol Does you DH think your a hunk of burning love now? just kidding. I am sure you feel so much better about your own self. It affects all aspects of your life when your weight bothers you to one degree or another or at times more than others but weight is always in the back. Won`t it be nice to just have it be on the back burner?

ROFL...yeah Tplant does you DH think your a hunk hunk a burnin love?

I wondered when I didn't see you post your lbs lost if you had changed your weigh in date. I always check in on friday's knowing I'll see it.

Hey guys, I was kidding, don`t make him have a bitter spirit toward me. lol

LOL You two are a riot! Think I'll be your manager in a comedy show? Most all has been finished except for my car which turned out to be a broken fan belt. Weigh-in will be tomorrow AM.

We couldn't he's a not so big old teddy bear!

Tplant I think you've been talking to my DH about ice cream....*taps my toe* he's on the Haagen Dazs kick...eating only that at 4.00 bucks for a small container!

alright then. speaking of comics, I went to the Improv in Ontario Ca. last night and saw Bret Butler that chick who is sort of the female version of Blue collar Comedy, she was very sick and delerious or druged out on meds because she sucked and kept apologizing and was all over the place babbling, so that you had no idea what she was saying. It was sad but I did feel bad for her because she said she had a 103 temp and she looked crappy and the place made her come in anyway. I am not going to be happy if we get sick either. Teddy Bear we look forward to your studliness` weigh in tomorrow.

Late day today but I did weigh-in this AM at 245lbs dropping a whopping 4lbs in one week and it shows. But some bad news with the good. My car will cost about $500 to repair. It seems like it's a little more than the belt as the pulley was defective and it snapped. The fan belt was in perfect condition! Very labor intensive and thus all the money. Oh well! It's only money!!!

Is it a serpantine belt or a regular single operational fan belt? One time our serp belt broke and jacked up our air compressor. I hate car stuff, especially since you can`t hardly fix them yourself with all the computer stuff.

Tplant I've been doing some reading on lapband and was very happy last week when I found your threads on this. I really appreciate the way you being so informative. I must say after reading thru your threads its given me a different perspective regarding the lapband surgery.

Now I'm sure you have covered this and I have missed it so please forgive me if this is something you have previously explained but.... if you have too large a bite of food or food that isn't chewed completely you risk it getting "stuck" I have read. What happens if you get the food stuck so that it cannot pass thru the smaller opening ?? I think it would cause a panic not to mention it sounds painful....

I even read about some ppl who get so nervous about it they continue to only eat soft foods for fear of having food get stuck.

Sorry about your car.... I just recently went thru a similar situation that did not end well.

~Julie =0)

Julie --- Don't know how those "fiction" stories got started but they seem to become grossly exagerated from one person to another and the people that don't know anything about Lap-band have a tendency to add their own horrors. This is definetly not true! You can not gulp your food as though someone was trying to take it away from you? One must take smaller bites, chew thoroughly and not drink with your meals. I just had a lean cuisine chicken parmesan dinner the small size and I ate slowly and enjoyed it. If you eat to fast and too much it will feel like a rock in your stomach and you will probably regurgitate but mildly. It is not violent as a hangover would cause as the food is not yet in the stomach but in the esophogus. It is more like a wet burp if you'll pardon my terminology but I don't know any other way to explain it? I've not covered this question before and it is an excellent question but the food never gets "Stuck" and the person that told you that must be referring to the gluttonous part of overeating. Some people as myself included had to get used to taking my time eating, taking small bites and chewing thoroughly while not drinking liquids of any time during my meal which is not so difficult as long as YOU DON'T EAT A DRY DINNER. At first I could not eat bread with my meal as I was taking to large a bite but I learned to adjust. For a few weeks after surgery I had to eat soft foods like soup, pasta, soft veggies, Carnation Instant Breakfast drinks but I could only eat a half cup of food at a time without ever being hungry and that holds true to this day a period of nine months. I don't deprive myself of anything and still lose weight.
People are naturally concerned about any surgery but I was treated so well before and after surgery that I found it to be a pleasant and totally painless experience and this coming from a man that spent 9 months on his back in a hospital followed by three more months of surgery.

Well that does make me feel better....lol !!! Sounds a lot like the acid reflux action.

After reading your posts I did start to pay attention to my eating habits as far as how I ate. I knew I ate quickly and typically I frequently eat on the run ...in the car to work, or bites between customers at work (I don't get breaks or lunch and am at work 9 + hrs a day). Besides gulping I also realized that my sinus condition makes it difficult to keep my mouth shut for an extended period of time (assuming of course I want to breathe...lol) to chew completely. Although tiny bites would make that a shorter period of time so that would be feesible as well.

I also didn't realize how much I drank with my meals until I put actual thought into it. I drink a LOT of water daily and will chug 1-2 big glasses at a time. I also drink atleast one large glass with meals when I do have a sit down.

As I said your posts have been very thought inspiring. In the past I considered if I took this route it would be a personal failure. An admission I could not do this on my own and this would be the same as cheating. I didn't realize that this was still going to be hard work and the band is a tool to be worked.

I still don't know if this would be the route for me to take or if my insurance would even consider this. I did pick up the phone and try to find out once but the BCBS office was closed. I guess if my curiousity gets the best of me I will call again. Physically I do qualify and my BMI has actually qualified me for pretty much my entire life. I've always been heavy. My standard line has always been hey my ppl are fat. =0) I've been heavier than I am now and I've been smaller but never thin. I have a brother who was just qualified by his insurance. And my partner at work has been talking about this as well since his physician wants him to have it done.

In giving this so much thought recently I also realized that it's rare I am full. Because I eat on the run so much I don't usually sit and continue to eat until I'm full, but by not being full you can "graze" along the way if you know what I mean. I could go days without putting food in my mouth and be ok, but once I actually take that first bite it wakes something up in me that is where the portion control becomes the true struggle I lose each and every time. Because we don't have a true lunch hour at work when we get a chance one of us will typically pop into the kitchen and bring out some food to leave on the counter and we "graze" along the way through the day. Plates of finger foods always work best for that. And while ppl think well fruits and veggies wouldn't add up they do especially when you use dip....lol.

I liked your line about carrot sticks are not a life style. Do you know how many work parties or social events I've been to in my life time and ppl couldn't understand why I couldn't just forget my diet for that day. I've spent my entire life (from teen on) either dieting or working my way to the next diet. Once you realize you've failed again it takes time to re-think your game plan and actually start all over again. I'm thankful my children inherited their father's metabolism and not mine!!! I can remember my mom was visiting several years ago and she said oh Julie none of them are fat, and she was so proud. I always chuckle when I repeat it but it's sad all the same.

Anyway I need to get ready for work. Thankyou for answering my questions and again thankyou for the great posts !!!!

~Julie =0)

Your comment "I realize this was still going to be hard work" is far from true? Their is no hard work, no hunger pangs, nothing but watch the pounds drop off on a weekly basis! I lose 2lbs per week on the average. Sometimes more like this week by losing 4lbs instead of 2lbs average. Just think about how well you would feel losing this weight without depriving yourself of anything. After the first eight weeks or so you can eat anything you want but you will only consume about a half of a cup? Never, ever to be hungry again and to become fit. Just think about it? Sounds to good to be true but it is !!!!

Julie, I also had the bypass surgery - a different kind than T, though. I had it 4 years ago and lost 101 lbs.

I wanted to suggest to you to research (online) ghrelin and weight loss surgery - the two topics together - it's pretty interesting to find out about this stomach hormone that gets us off balance with our weight.

Good luck to you!