Phoenix

I think Kim's on it. You can wash bread (and maybe beans, too) through, but they're not going down on their own. Lots of bandsters have bread issues, you might be joining them ;-)

Stormy, it's really no big deal for T-Mobile. CDMA phones work in TJ, but you need to have the international calling switched on. You won't need a special phone. You can switch it off again when you get home. The feature should be free, but the roaming charges are not.

I have int'l on Verizon. There isn't a charge to have it, but I do pay the roaming fees at .40 a minute. You should know though that you're allowed to call home from the OCC. It's included. What kind of friend tells you "how stupid I am for doing this. That he dont think I can stick with it. That I am wasting my money. That I dont have the ability to hold true to the program" ??? That's the same kind of friend that keeps their fellow crabs in the crab pot so everyone dies and gets eaten in the end. People who keep you down like that can also be the ones who will try to spoil your successes in the months to come. Just food for thought. Friends offer to help out with the special needs kids so you can deal with yourself for a few days.

Good for you! The restriction, that is, not the missed port (ouch!)

Oh, sorry, you can binge, certainly, on foods that won't stay in the band. I don't buy Haagen Daaz for that reason ;-) But a binge "after" certainly doesn't resemble a "before" binge. You can't eat the big burrito. You can't eat a whole plate of anything. It won't fit.

It's a tool, not a miracle ;-) If you want to, you can eat around it. You can cheat with a band, but not as easily as you can without one. Ice cream, for example goes right thru. Apple pie would not. The point of the band is that once you get to restriction, you can eat a "normal" meal...but normal is now about 6 ounces. The meal stays put and you're not actually hungry again for several hours.

And who can blame them? There are several Katrina refugees who have permenantly relocated to the Phoenix area. "No bugs, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no humidity, no floods, no earthquakes, no nothin'" Takes a desert to make some of them feel safe again, I guess. You have a lot of bravery and pluck. Hope the storm stays seaward. Linda

HOW did we get to the place where we feel we're obligated to please people with whom we make an appointment and pay for their services? "You'll get your .2 ccs and like it" "You went to ANOTHER Dr????" "You haven't waited long enough, we're cancelling your appointment????" You're a saint.

I looked up Mamamichelle's post. The thickened saline is called Omnipaque.

I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! For 25# lost AND a 9 day vacation! Have a wonderful time!!!

Hi Chinamom, You didn't mention where on the planet you hail from ;-) Part of the homework is finding a great doctor, congratulations! You couldn't have found a better one! Part of it is figuring out how to maintain your band. If you can travel down to the OCC in TJ easily, cool. If you're somewhere else and need to find another source, there's a topic list on the forum about fills and fill doctors. See if one of them is close to you and if their feedback is good. Your husband sounds like a gem!

Since your band was empty, for your own sanity, you might decide that the first fill was not a fill. (Also file a complaint and ask for your money back.) He missed your port by a mile. Since he missed your port I hope his aim was equally bad for the tubing as well. That would make your 2nd fill your 1st real fill...many of us didn't see restriction from the 1st one after a few days. That makes you normal. If I were in your shoes (I wear a size 8.5, hope I'm not stretching your shoes out ;-) ) I'd schedule the next fill with the Dr in Austin under fluoro as soon as is reasonable. He'll withdraw what he put in, if it's nothing then you'll confirm a leak. If it's a smidge less than what he put in, then you'll still be normal...I had .6 cc go somewhere -- I think it lives in the tubing now, but who's to say? Back to the potential confirmed leak, when you call for the fill appointment, you can explain your horrendous 1st fill experience, express your worries that the quack might have put a pin hole into the tubing and ask that they have the thicker saline (Mamamichelle put the name of it in one of her posts) on hand just in case.

Nip/Tuck Deliciously bad. Way bad :heat:

Mini hijack, but yes! Take your protein powder with you (in baggies if you need to) and buy milk in the airport. Viola!

Cool. Your fill Dr. doesn't use fluoro?

It's not as bad as morning sickness! Or the flu. Or food poisoning. Or a hangover. It would have been gross somewhere else, but at home it was manageable. It feels a little swollen internally, a warning (kind of) to take it easy.

Success and perfect healing! Hope your DH has a good time, too!

Success and perfect healing to you both!

Thanks you two. Interesting, my band has felt tight (like it was post surgery) today, so I put myself back on liquids (yogurt, soup). Is that what you do? Linda

It took six weeks to watch the calorie intake to be between 1100 - 1300 every day. On occasion it would spike to 1800, but still....that didn't explain why the scale hasn't moved in two months. 60 - 90 grams of lean protein, good carbs...sheesh! My clothes fit exactly the same. All I could say is "something isn't right". I got a 2nd fill -- and this one does provide restriction. I e-mailed Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Miranda. Dr. Miranda sent the diet I'd asked for and suggested I go to my endocrinologist. I don't have one. After calling a dozen, none of whom would take me for a general consult to find out what is out of whack, I scheduled with a GP for a referral, even though my insurance doesn't require one. I took the printout of the food diary with me. I told her (the GP) I'd gotten a lap band, was eating correctly and nothing was happening. The GP looked at the summary sheet with 6 weeks worth of caloric intake, glanced at the daily breakdown sheets behind it and said, "Wow, something isn't right." She ordered blood tests and the endocrinologist referral. The food diary told me everything I needed to know in black and white. I think I'd still be struggling with the "whys" without it. Something is out of whack. Whatever it is, I want it taken care of. It was also the first visit with a GP where they didn't try to tell me to eat better, exercise more, whatever. The food diary was -- finally -- the evidence that they needed that I was doing it right. They never believe you otherwise. For those of you who are also stuck without a reason, if you aren't already using an online food diary (I use thedailyplate.com but there are lots of good ones out there), please start. They're so very helpful. Linda

Wow. Today was the first day I couldn't eat half an English Muffin. I'll spare you the rest. Ever so grateful I'm working from home today!!!

Being from Washington, you probably know that live, healthy crabs can be kept in a crab pot that looks like it can be easily escaped...the crabs on top who try to get out are pulled back in by the crabs below. Julie, one of the toughest lessons we learn in life is to trust our own best judgement. We give the opinion (not fact-based knowledge, but the subjective thoughts) of others too much power sometimes. What "they" think overwhelms what "we" think. What they "know" overpowers what we "know". When those thoughts are destructive, they are emotionally doing the job of the crabs. They keep you in the pit with them. Only you can give them the power to keep you in the pit. It takes some soul searching, but you're able to withhold that power when you decide that what you think about yourself has higher value than what they think. They're entitled to their opinions, of course, and many of those opinions are to be respected (even respected as a "crab")....just not more respected than your own opinions. We're on a journey. There are bumps and twists in the road. Yesterday's episode was a pot hole. You're doing the exactly right thing by learning from it and moving forward. I like that you took issue in a personal way. If you didn't take the energy and trouble to actually tell them that they crossed the line, then it would give them permission (tacitly) to go ahead and continue doing what they were doing. They're still going to be crabs, of course, but you are allowing yourself to get out of their pot. Good for you!

Cathy, the new hairstyle and color SIZZLES! Lack of responsibility, appreciation and enough sleep (boring) make me feel sexy. If I'm on a two week business trip, after about 6 days I'm all hormones.

You learn as you go. Self loathing won't fix the fast food runs. Self appreciation will. If it was me with the car keys in hand, I'd be looking for some "me" time, 10 minutes of self reward. Food is one, good coffee another, but we're all on this journey to learn new behaviors. Intentionally, with the idea of reward, do something else you want to do. Go get the scrap book paper, load your iPod, go get flowers somewhere. ... Whatever your idea of reward is, whatever that 10 minutes is, do that instead.

Everyone is different. Had I NEEDED to, I could have gone back after three days. But I took a week and was glad I did. This is a walk in the park compared to a c-section. The gas pains sucked, but you find ways to manage it.