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Yet another person that has decided to go against their Dr's instructions and then come here looking for approval/validation. What is there to say that hasn't been said before............................................ NOTHING

So I've survived ONE entire week banded!!! After 7 long days of GAS and recovery, I'm feeling GREAT!!! Thank the stars above!!! I'm still adapting to the shakes/broths/fluid thing. Didn't know that a Multivitamin right away! Duh! I read a bit ago that someone was taking calcium! Am I supposed to be taking that too? With the gas gone, I am able to feel a. Lil hungry here and there. I've added bananas to my shakes and have been eating some soup. (so far so good, when eaten at a moderate pace!) I've failed to pay attention recently to the lifting of my child and I'm paying for it! OUCH!! (the largest of the incisions s feeling kinda achy) I have to admit I've purchased my first SCALE!!! lol and amazingly I'm down 15 lbs from my surgery date!!! This is picking up and becoming so much more positive!! Maybe even fun!! Lol thank you to all of the support and shared information!!

My research shows that this new procedure of doing a Plication plus lap band has been around for about a year or so. I have read that it is being done at Duke and possibly also at NYU. I think that I also read that it is also being done in Mexico but I am not considering surgery out of the country. Have any of you had this procedure where the stomach is folded and sutured and then a lap band is also used? The benefits are supposed to be fewer complications, virtually no band slipping, faster weight loss more comparable to the gastric sleeve procedure, no damage to stomach, no malabsorption, no dumping and reversible. There are no long term studies/results since this is a relatively new procedure. I am interested in hearing from people who have had this done and getting their views of the procedure and results. Thanks!

The first thing I did was let go of the thing that I could do nothing about: THE PAST! You messed up, it's done. YOU WENT BACK TO THE GYM! AND YOU STILL LOST WEIGHT!!! YAY FEFE!!!! Are you kidding??? The way you talked about all you had eaten I just KNEW you had GAINED weight -- but you didn't. Does it make you feel good to beat yourself up about something that you cannot change (i.e., past behavior)? I doubt it. There are enough people out there that LOVE to step on us overweight folks. Don't join them and do it to yourself ... plzzzzz. The reality for me is that if I want to lose weight I have to do what it takes, WHATEVER that is -- it means getting up at 5 a.m. to go to the park and power walk 3 miles before going to work, it means cutting carbs, not eating a lot of sweets. I WANT to lose the weight so ... I do what it takes. For the past 3 weeks I have been going from specialist to specialst. One week I'm told I possibly have brain damage, the next week I'm told I have a mass on my thyroid, the next week I am told I have "many" masses on my thyroid and I have a biopsy done with NO anesthetic! Then I have to wait a week to find out if I have cancer. WTF???!!!!! Yes, I tried to eat over it cuz I'm an emotional eater, but, my band gets tighter when I am stressed so no binging for ME! Dang it!!! Yesterday the doc called me as I was driving home from work. The news was good, the mass(es) are benign! I didn't go home, I went to a walking path and power walked 3.6 miles! Don't let life's stresses destroy you. "Doing what doesn't work --- doesn't work." We KNOW how to get fat(ter). With the band we can help ourselves stop the madness. GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT for the GOOD you did for yourself: YOU WENT BACK TO THE GYM. Smile at yourself and pat yourself on the back because we both know that there was a time with neither of us would have consider doing something healthy instead of our usual "eating over ANYTHING" pattern. YOU CAN DO THIS. I am proud of you ... please be proud of yourself. YAY FE FE!!!! We are here to support you. ~Fran

June 24th 2007 I checked into the Mexico? Well My insurance would not pay for the VSG, called it experimental and after considering the RNY I was just not comfortable with the procedure, especially the various complications associated with it. I was convinced the VSG was for me and was even willing to pay the 17K the LAPSF doctors were asking for. Problem was I would have to wait, I began to investigate Tijuana was drivable from my home (about 6 hours) and I liked all of the recovery time in his clinic, time to figure out that everything was ok. It all made sense to me. I have the procedure, goes fine. The night before I am to leave (about my 5th day there) Dr. H gives me all my meds to take home...he runs to the pharmacy that evening to pick them up. liquid Pain meds, check...Liquid Antibiotic, check....Liquid Gas meds...negative, he hands me a capsule and tells me to dissolve it all in my mouth...what? Ok so I make my great attempt to let it dissolve, swallow down some extra Water and then experience the most excruciating pain of my life. Doctor gets the morphine (which they do not use in sleep a few days before the promised test. I had been praying, reading my bible faithfully and trying to hear from the Lord. I finally heard Him loud and clear..."If Dr. H does not give you the test he promised, you need to leave and go to San Diego." The day arrives and I am told by him that we need to wait. He is afraid to do the X Ray in case it opens up the leak. That was it, I told him I was leaving. He was upset, he tried to convince me to stay (as if going to San Diego was the worst medical decision I could have made). He even sends in his office girls to try to convince me to stay and let him take care of me. His once gracious and beautiful wife glares at me when she sees me. He even calls my husband and tries to have him talk me out of leaving! His driver takes me to San Diego, Scripps Mercy Hillcrest. On the way out of Fluid in my abdomen. I am told the surgeon on call is the best in the hospital (he also was the Chief of Surgery and a Bariatric surgeon_ Dr. George Zorn became my LIFESAVER). They give me Morphine I am knocked out and do not even wake up before surgery. The Results: I am septic....this is an infection combined with lowered blood pressure...this will kill you. They open me up (I have a 7 inch scar down my abdomen), and remove TWO LITERS of puss out of my abdomen. The surgeon said once he opened me up I had a 50/50 chance of living. It is like removing spaghetti sauce from noodles. I am in the ICU for three and a half weeks fighting for my life. I am kept in a coma like state, sedated to keep me from removing all the tubes and given amnesiacs so I will not remember the Hell I went through. My family and friends live 6 hours away, they come down over those weeks to see me, hold my hand, pray for me. I remember none of it. My husband runs his business during the day, church members watch our kids and at night he plays mom and dad. Weekends come he comes down to be by my side. I am in the woods for about two weeks till my temperature finally begins to lower and the five anti-biotics continually pumped into me begin to fight the infection effectively. I was intubated for two weeks, and then they put a trach in me, otherwise I would damage my vocal cords. They begin to wake me up and I find out what has happened to me. I am one blessed woman to have made it through. The nurses and doctors continually tell me they are amazed that I made it, I must have a strong will to live, No I have a God who decided it was not time for my children to be without a mother, and I have people praying for me all over the country and the world. I spend the next week and a half trying to get my strength up to be able to go home. It feels like five trucks have run over me. Everything is difficult and the leak is still there. They said it was an inch and a half long and would not close with sutures. It was at the top of my stomach. The pill did not cause the leak, but probably irritated it thus causing all the pain that led us to finding out that I had the leak. The surgeon assured me the leak could have happened anywhere, it was how they handled that was wrong. They should have not done endoscopy, that puts air in the stomach and probably made that tiny hole much larger, and they should have NEVER REMOVED THE DRAIN. The drain is what keeps the infection from becoming so bad (draining out the puss and stomach fluids). They sent me home with a feeding tube, a drain in my side and the abdominal incision still healing from the inside out. Nothing to eat or drink. Basically I was on a three month fast! At home I could be with my children, but even that was difficult. I was exhausted. Showering made me tired. My niece came to take care of me and my children, I needed the help. It was a tough time but I made it through. The drainage tube then lodged itself into my stomach...a mixed blessing because that meant it need to be removed and I could begin eating, even with the leak not completely healed. Dr. Zorn said it would close up eventually and the tube from the drain created a tunnel that the fluid from my stomach would travel out of until it eventually closed. September 12, 2007 or so I went back to SD, he took out the tube and the site did not completely heal till about the beginning of December. Five months for the whole thing to heal. It is now the beginning of January 2008 and I feel just about normal...they told me It would take a full six months to get back to normal. I was also told that IF I HAD STAYED ONE MORE DAY IN Mexico, I WOULD HAVE DIED. I don't think they were exaggerating. I never received one phone call from Dr. Huacuz to see how I was doing. We called him recently to tell him all about it, he minimized everything we shared with him. If you are considering him for surgery please reconsider. He does his surgeries in the evenings after working at another hospital all day long. This defies conventional wisdom. Wouldn't you rather your surgeon be fresh from a good nights sleep? I saw him go into surgery about six at night and then perform five lap bands. Another guy went into surgery at about nine at night and had a lap band removed, the VSG done and several hernias repaired. He was in surgery for about six or seven hours! It was two in the morning before they came out, all these people had worked the entire day before. Is this safe medicine? You be the judge. June 2, 2009 - It has been almost two years since this has happened. Upon posting this story on my Obesity Help profile page I received a TON of response. Mostly supportive. I also received a lot of backlash from former patients, specifically patient coordinators of Dr. Huacuz. This man is extremely dangerous. He has further ruined the lives of several other patients, including the most recent death of a loved husband and father. This man has no business performing ANY medical procedures on people. If you count up the number of complications that I alone know about that have taken place in a matter of two years, practicing part-time in his own clinic, I am sure his complication rate far exceeds the common 1-2% of most surgeons. It probably looks more like 20-30%. If you are considering Dr. Huacuz or know someone who is please I BEG YOU ...DO NOT ALLOW THIS BUTCHER TO PERFORM SURGERY ON YOU. It is not worth the chance you are taking, there are plenty of other good surgeons in Mexico, don't risk your health or your life with this man. I am warning you, he is a VERY charming man and he has blinded many with his good looks and warm nature, he is a snake in the grass...be cautious PLEASE! Please feel free to contact me with any questions...for the record I am doing fine now but I do deal with terrible scar tissue from the major Laparatomy that I had to save my life. This is painful and I deal with pain on a daily basis. I am getting ready to have a Hysterectomy and my doctor and I will have a chance to see what kind of mess there is in my abdomen with adhesions probably attatched to my bowel. Manwhile I am happy and have enjoyed my second lease on life...you never know what may happen, only one life to live WOW HOW SAD

It's all very easy. Just relax, and enjoy for now. When you get there, (comfort zone for you) . Check out the myfitnesspal.com it is a learner, and a life saver. No reason to be alarmed, were all doing this together.....

Hey Layne, Snacking is ok. Just as long as they are good Snacks. If you are snacking on apple slices, great! If you are snacking on Potato Chips...not so great. I count calories mainly. I use (and a lot of the people on this site also use it) Myfitnesspal.com. It is a great tool to help you count your calories throughout this journey. I suggest you look into it. Keeping a food diary is a great idea and this will also help you keep a diary of all your exercise. The more you burn, the more you can take in and then snacking could be a ideal situation. As far as carbs. I am not hardcore about counting carbs but I found that eliminating these 3 things, White Rice, White Bread and Potatoes (which I call the white devils) help out quite a bit. I don't generally eat bread or rice anymore, but from time to time I have noodles. I work out a lot, so I do need some carbs for energy. You are losing good weight and that is awesome. Keep up the great work!

I'm totally a C'r! I love having the band - it allows me to eat the foods that I love just MUCH less of them. For instance, tonite for dinner I had 1/2 of a homemade taco. I've never been able to stop at less than 4 before my lapband. For Breakfast on most days I eat 1 egg and 1 pc of bacon. Or 1/2 a bagel with cream cheese. Or a carton of yogurt. I've never cut anything out (and that includs soda, altho I drink very little of it, but I now drink the real stuff, as I learned that most people who drink diet soda are overweight) - including bread, Pasta and rice. I can't eat more than 1 pc of bread tho. My fiance, who's lost 80lbs over the past 18mths on a lo carb diet, hates me when I can buy a box of Cookies and eat just 1. He has to eat the whole package. I used to be like that too tho. Now I can eat just 1 and it takes care of that "snack monster". I've wondered if all the people who describe their diets as being so perfect really are - or are they lying? If I could be that good all the time, I would've never needed the band! Marci

I don't want to chew and I don't want to cook. Breakfast: 2oz Tuna/Lemon-Pepper 45 Calories Lunch: Protein shake 120 Calories Dinner: Protein shake 120 Calories Snack: Protein shake 120 Calories 405 calories (No, I'm not suggesting this is good, the medical term for this behavior is LAZY)

I am shocked at what people are eating or trying to eat. Two hamburgers - REALLY? I am 2 1/2 months post op and I can't imagine even thinking about eating those types of foods. The band is only a tool. You must make the right food choices for it to work unless you want the type of restriction that prevents you from eating; via puking and or slimming. Is that really anyway to live? My surgeon has given me a diet plan and I follow it to a T. I eat eggs, protein powders, skim milk,Greek yogurt, chicken, fish, veggies and a little bit of fruit,That's it. As you can see by my ticker it's a very slow process, but I intend to stick with the program for the duration. High protein, Low fat, low carb, tons of plain water, and low calorie. By the way my band is providing me with satiety, not restriction of food that will or will not go down. No PBing or slimming - that's my goal. I guess my surgeon looks at things differently than many, He wants me to eat normally without fear of getting stuck. I choose not to eat burgers, not because I can't, because I could,I'm not that restricted but because it's not a healthy choice for someone trying to loose weight. I'm sure I'll get blasted for not being supportive enough, but I had to get this off my chest!