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Thank you for your story. I'm in the process of getting my lapland surgery done and I was still on the fence on whether I should choose SWLC with Dr. Coburn or another popular clinic. Your story have solidify my choice, since I wanted an exceptional surgeon to do my procedure and great aftercare. I'm sorry you had to go through that experience but also grateful you posted it here. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to pop on here and share my recent story in the hopes that it will help either someone going through what I went through OR to help guide anyone looking to get a lapband. Let me start by saying that the lap band is an amazing tool. I was banded 4 years ago at a well known clinic in downtown Toronto. The band helped me lose 97 pounds, I met a wonderful man who I married and gained a lot of confidence. Prior to making the decision to be banded I researched everything I could about the band. How it works, how the surgery works, sucess stories etc. What I failed to do was research the after care that is available at the clinic you choose. Clinics love sucess stories, but when things fail with the band, that's the true test if you chose the right place or not. I'll try to make this long story short: 6 weeks ago I began having upper abdominal pain. I knew it was the band as the pain felt similar to when I was healing from being banded. I contacted the clinic and tried to see the surgeon. This is when my nightmare began. I couldn't get a proper response from the clinic. I couldn't get assistance from the surgeon, 5 hospital visits to deal with the pain and find out what was going on with me, multiple pages to the surgeon from the ER docs at the hospitals and still assistance was very minimal. An endoscopy at the last hospital finally discovered my band had eroded into my stomach. The surgeon from the clinic would not remove the band until it was eroded 50% into my stomach (it was at 25%) so they could remove it using a new tool they had purchased. I begged and pleaded as I was in so much pain and constantly on pain killers (it was affecting my life, my work, pretty much everything). No dice. They sent me on my way. My family doc suggested I seek some other opinions as she was concerned about more critical risks to leaving the eroded band in place to erode even further. I went to see a surgeon she recommended and I also found Dr. Cobourn at the Plastic Surgery Clinic in Mississauga. Both surgeons recommended I have the band out immediately. I began working with Dr. Cobourn as he had a lot of experience placing, removing etc lap bands. He was so amazing! He explained everything to me, what would be done, healing time and confirmed that if I indeed wanted another band in 4-6 months I'd be able to get one. He checked me into the Mississauga hospital and within a few days of seeing him my band was out and I'm on the road to recovery. If I had seen Dr. Cobourn first, I would've had this dealt with in a week instead of being in pain for 6 weeks and not knowing what was going on with me. In my dealings with Dr. Cobourn and his clinic (which I was not a paying customer but they helped me anyways) I now know how critical it is to make sure the clinic you choose provides you with full support both for living with the band but also for when things don't always work out with the band. I was basically left in limbo for 6 weeks and had to go to another clinic to get treated. I'm just thankful I found Dr. Cobourn, thankful that he was a doctor that actually cared more about the person than the money and thankful that he helped me. I do not want to discourage anyone from getting a lap band. I'm an odd case and it's not that common to have the band erode. A lap band does work and I'm proof of that. What I do want to do is encourage you to choose the right clinic and make sure you know what aftercare is provided so you don't have to go through what i went through. It's a very scary thing to be in pain and be constantly turned away.

newbie - hi there don't usually read/post on blogs - but i saw yours - here i am don't worry - fluids rarely make people full once you start solids - you will feel your new tummy getting full like its supposed to good luck with your new sleeve - you'll love it 8 months 87 lbs down - sleeve was the best decision i ever made don't get discouraged - good things in front of you - patience kathy

Congratulations on your decision. Your strength, success and kindness will be reflected in your son and that is a gift you receive, deserve and will cherish! I am sure your success will be incredible and fully satisfying!

Interesting! I was, in fact, told the complete opposite concerning the complications and safety facts when comparing the options. By the way, I share your view about changing my body completely which was why I pursued the lapband - even though my BME was 47 - and no, I do not regret my lapband. it has been very simple and easy for me and I have been exceptionally successful. I must warn you however; I have only had it for 1 year this month. But a 126 pound loss in 1 year is nothing to sneeze at and I have had absolutely no issues - other than the embarrassing enlightenments it has brought to my attention concerning my previous bad habits - I had NOOOO idea of how I was always sabatoging myself until I got my little, "Bandy."

Go get 'em, LoveAlways! You can do this! We all can... and we WILL!

It seems almost surreal to say that I am on my 5th day post-op. I had surgery on Friday 8/10 evening and came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. What a whirlwind this last week has been! It somewhat surprised me how much I needed to take care of in the 24 hours or so before surgery: pre-meds, and gathering items to take to hospital, as well as preparing to be away from home for a few days. Then it was off to Palms of Pasadena Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL, where I was so well cared for by the wonderful staff. My surgery time ended up being a bit later in the day than anticipated; however, the hospital staff was wonderful about keeping me posted and comfortable. The next thing I knew I was waking up in ICU and it was all over. My surgeon/hospital always require ICU for the first 18 hours or so after surgery. My NG tube and catheter were removed the next day when I was moved to a regular room in the Bariatric Center. My pain was not horrible because they had a morphine drip going that I could activate with a button as needed. I found that I really didn't have to use it very often. For the first little while after surgery I felt "teathered" in so many different spots by medical equipment. One by one, they came out and I was so happy to be free of all of them just before I left the hospital. Since coming home, things have been good. My pain has been quite manageable with some discomfort at night and a very "full" feeling all the time. I really have not had hunger at all and am eating very little but making absolutely sure to get my vitamins and calcium in as instructed. I think the water requirement is really helping me to stay full feeling also. One thing I wasn't prepared for was coming home from the hospital about 7 pounds heavier than I went in. It may have been all of the IV fluids and swelling due to surgery, but by the second/third day home it was gone and the losing has started again. Thanks goodness! I mean, that was the goal of this thing, right?! I actually have six small incisions (three across the bottom of my tummy above the bellybutton, two up my left side, and one at the top a little left of center). So mine looks more like a "C" than a "Y". I have to say that my surgeon, Dr. Ernest Rehnke, is EXCELLENT! He's well known and highly respected in this field and he's been doing these surgeries for decades. My incisions are not painful and only one of them has any substantive bruising. Everything seems to be healing up well and the incision areas are now itching--which is a good sign of healing. For a busy person who never stays still for very long, it has been hard for me to take it easy and rest and not really DO anything. But I am trying because I know it's important to my recovery. I am also taking short walks as I can. It's August in Florida so I have to admit it's tough to make myself go out into the heat. Each day does get a little better and I hope by the end of the week I'll feel pretty normal... or at least my new normal. The doctor has me on full liquids until my 2-week post-op visit and if all is good he will move me to solid foods then. Maybe all of this is more than you wanted to know, but maybe it will help someone who is a few steps behind me on this journey. We will get there! It takes time, patience, perseverence, and the ability to change. Well, I'm off now to read or write some thank you notes. Until Next Time...! Starting: 317# Pre-Op: 296# Today: 294.5# Total Down: 22.5#

This is a great life long gift you are giving your son. Not only a healthy mom but a great role model of how to live a healthy life!

First and foremost, you are not a Debbie downer. The feelings you are having are soooo normal, the majority of us have been obese for years and some their entire lives. Being of "normal" weight, what ever that is, is a goal that many of us thought we would never achieve. Now we are faced with living with the new us. Now we have to learn to live with the tiny person we have spent the past few years scupting.. It takes our minds time to catch up with the weight loss. Today at work a vendor said to me, "You are so tiny and petite, you look like a model for Talbot's". I just stared at her and started laughing, she looked very shocked by my response. My friend answered for me, "She does not see herself that way, she still sees herself as the overweight person she was 2 years ago." Sad but true, I know when I look in the mirror, I am tiny now but sometmes I look at that person in the mirror some days and all I see are the flaws that the weight loss has left me with. I know that may sound ungrateful and totally fickle but it is honestly how I feel. I am grateful for my band, I am happy with my weight loss and would never go back to who I was before. Keep working hard and you will reach your goal, you have made awesome progress and should be so proud of your progress to date.

I have rarely known a time that I was not overweight after I became a teenager. My mother was morbidly obese and I always grew up with the fear that I would also become obese. I remember sadly being embarrassed for my mother and I never wanted to be "the kind of mom" that my kids would have to be embarrassed for me either. I was at a normal weight when I was 13, which I know now, but at 125 I felt fat. But I was determined to fight this and be thin. This changed for me when my grandmother told me that I was fat and that no matter what I did I would be fat like my mother. At that point I remember just giving up and started putting on the pounds. Throughout school I had no self-esteem and was a figure for redicule throughout elementary and high school, for various reasons. I generally weighed about 195 and was proud that I at least never hit 200, but I was miserable and never could do anything. I limited my life based on my size and let other's opinions of me determine who I was. At 20 I met a good friend and together we started working out and dieting and I lost down to 145. It was wonderful and I became this happy positive person, I was outgoing and energetic and people called me "peppy". I loved it, but again I let others determine who I was. I met my husband to be and we dated , got engaged and married all within 8 months. Everything was great and then I got pregnant and then the pounds started packing back on. I remember crying that I would be be fat and he would stop loving me. He told me that he would love me but not respect me. That was a big issue and one we had to work through and I know today he really does still love and respect me but those words hurt badly at the time. His mother had even asked him if he could handle me getting fat, because she knew I would after meeting my mother. Fast forward to 6 kids later and many diets and trying to lose weight and now I weigh 278 (again proud at least I never hit 280, how delusional was I?). I had become a couch potato, afraid to meet and make friends. Never felt worthy of being a friend and why would anyone want to be "my friend"? I isolated from others and didnt volunteer in my kids' classrooms, well rarely anyway. I know a lot of this was my own self esteem issues and fear, but my childhood taught me that I was not capable of fitting into the real world. I did go back to college (at the push of my one friend and husband) and got my Master's in Social Work, but that let me experience even more prejudice. In class I would sit there the first day and no one would want to sit next to me. Soon we would have to seperate into groups for our group assignments and no one would want to be my partner, like they assumed I was stupid or something. The only nice thing was after the first group project people were wanting to be in my group because dang it I was a smart woman and worked hard. Over time I saw people begin to respect me, but I had to overcome their prejudice of fat people. I did graduate with suma cum laude with a 3.97 GPA and felt success for the first time in my life. I had developed knee problems, back problems, pre-diabetes, arthritis, plantars faciatitis, depression and other such ailments. I was always tired and never wanted to do or go anywhere. Ok that is wrong I wanted badly to do everything but I was not able to do it, or I believed I was not able to do it. I had applied for WLS while I was going to college but I lost too much weight and I was denied. So last August I started my journey again to take my life back and become the woman I have always been, beautiful and proud, but hardly anyone had been willing to see me. So I began this journey, did the 6 month set of diet classes and all the other hoops. Fearful I would be denied again, but I was not and here I am 7 weeks post-op in the beginning stages of my journey. My surgery was June 7, 2012. I had lost 11 pounds the week before surgery (after approval had come through - LOL) and at my surgery date I weighed 250, Today I weigh 221 which is a loss of 40 pounds since this began. I am not done, I have much more to lose and much much more to gain. I am ready to claim myself back. I am ready to claim back my health and my life. I am ready to explore the world that I have always been afraid to explore. I am ready to make my family proud of me. I am ready to be proud of myself, its about time!