enterprise01

Oops. I have my months confused. I thought we were still in February! I saw my dermatologist 3 weeks after surgery, and she wanted to see my incisions. She commented to me that those kinds of sutures usually last about 6 weeks, but she's seen them last as long as 8 weeks.

You're only 1 week post-op, so give it time. My steri-strips did not even come off until more than 3 weeks post-op. Dr. Spivak uses dissolvable sutures, and they can stay in place for up to 6 weeks. So don't mess with sutures or the wounds. Keep them clean and covered, and they will heal just fine. Other than the incisions, how are you doing?

They didn't give me a pre-op diet at all. Brenda just told me to eat light the day before surgery.

Why don't you get this done now? Insurance will pay for it since you suffer from chronic allergies. As a bonus, it will kill your appetite for a few days. All the nasty drainage makes eating very unpalatable.

I've made it through the whole work day without the waistband of my panties sliding down underneath the roll of fat around my stomach. The underwear is finally staying in place. Yay!

I am a serious Coke addict, too. The real stuff, not diet. I was drinking two 20 oz. bottles a day and went cold turkey the day of surgery. It's been 52 days since I had a Coke. I'm like an alcoholic counting my days sober. So far, Coke has been the only thing I miss from my former life. The sight of a Coke can or even the Coca-cola logo, makes my mouth water. I had a dream the other night that I cheated and had a Coke and then drove to Louisiana to throw away the can because I didn't want anyone to find out. I know that I cannot have even a little bit of Coke because if I do, I won't be able to stop.

Lucky you! I'm still not feeling much restriction with 2 ccs of omnipaque in the band. Guess I'll be going back in 3 weeks. I'm starting to worry that I'll be one of those people who doesn't have restriction even when the band is filled to capacity. That would be a nightmare.

Ditto. I found it very uncomfortable when they were palpitating the area to locate the port. My whole left side is still very tender, so having it pushed and poked was definitely unpleasant.

My throat was only sore for about 18 hours after surgery. Drinking cold Water helped soothe the pain. Jack, did they accidentally scrape your trachea during intubation? I've had 15 surgeries, most with intubation, and have never had a sore throat last for more than a day.

The rule is that "well" is an adverb and "good" is an adjective. Adverbs go with verbs, and adjectives go with nouns. It's become such common practice that I catch myself doing it, too. Ugh. "How are you doing today?" "I'm doing good, thanks." Yes, it should be, "I'm doing well." You've inspired me to be more careful about this.

No clue. But my doctor says it usually happens on the first fill. I'm not even sure if it's actually absorption -- it may be leakage or evaporation.

No, it is a more specific way to describe someone of far eastern descent when you don't know their nationality. "Asian" is too broad -- it encompasses Indians, Isrealis, Russians, Turks, Saudis, and lots of different people. One of my friends of Chinese descent uses the term "Oriental" to describe herself, so it's clearly only offensive in certain circles. I have an Oriental Shorthair cat. I guess I should start referring to her as an Asian Shorthair. I hope I haven't been hurting her feelings all these years. People are eager to find offense where there is none.

Thanks for the encouragement. You and I seem to be losing at about the same rate -- you're just a little ahead of me. I was really pissed when they turned me away at the SurgiCenter. They should have asked me on the phone when I made the appointment if I was a self-pay from Park Plaza. At least they validated my parking. Brenda gave me the option of the saline or the omnipaque because a little more than half of the original fill disappeared. Maybe you didn't lose as much fill as I did. I had to eat my lunch much slower today. Even though it was a soft food, it started to feel a little stuck. That is a horrible sensation, but the pain is a good way to teach us not to eat too fast or too much. I've always had to learn the hard way. I'm just glad I finally have some restriction. Let's hope it lasts.

I was there at 10:00 a.m. and it was completely empty. Four days 'til surgery. I bet you're excited.

Yes, it is a new procedure, but call Dr. Spivak's office to make sure it applies to you. Maybe it's just for self-pay patients banded in 2007. Hopefully, the fluoroscope will be in Dr. Spivak's office by the time you go for another fill. I really felt fine having Brenda do it without fluoro, though. If I were having problems, then I'd probably have insisted on fluoro.

My guess would be because it's probably a lot more expensive than saline, and saline probably works fine for many people. Anyone out there know the cost difference?

It's a thick liquid that the band cannot absorb.

I went for my 2nd fill today. Although my appointment was at the SurgiCenter, they turned me away and told me I had to go to Dr. Spivak's office. It seems the new policy for self-pay patients is that the 1st fill is done at the SurgiCenter and all subsequent fills are done at Dr. Spivak's office. I'm kind of bummed about that because it's a lot easier to get in and out of the SurgiCenter on S. Main than anywhere in the Medical Center area. So I went to Dr. Spivak's office and Brenda did the fill. Half of my 1st fill had absorbed, so she removed the other half and used ominpaque instead. I now have 2 ccs of omnipaque. She said they are getting a fluoroscope in the office in a couple of weeks. I've lost 25.5 pounds in 7 weeks, so I'm happy with that. I'm 1/4 of the way to goal. Yay!

I got my 2nd fill this morning. I've lost 25.5 pounds in 7 weeks. Yay! Half of my last fill had been absorbed, so the nurse removed the other half and decided to use omnipaque instead. She put in 2 ccs of the omnipaque. Let's hope I feel some restriction with this. I'll let you all know in a couple of days. I'm finally feeling better about all this. The extreme hunger and bad cravings have finally subsided, so it seems to be getting easier for me. Glad to see everyone is doing OK, too. For those of you who are self-pay Spivak patients, you do have to go to his office for your 2nd fill. They only do the 1st one at the SurgiCenter. Dr. Spivak is in the process of getting a fluoroscope at his office, so hopefully in a couple of weeks, he'll be able to do all fills under fluoro. This time Brenda did it without fluoro, and I felt comfortable with that since I wasn't having any problems that needed to be addressed.

Of course the Brits have lots of different rules, so maybe over there "judgement" is the standard. I'll have to check on that. Personally, I love "colour" and "behaviour" and wish we would spell them that way.

In the American legal system, "judgement" is unacceptable. It's kind of the same as "all right" and "alright." If I put "judgement" and "alright" in a brief, I would not be making a good impression on the judge.

My doc recommends Flintstones vitamins. I've actually taken these my entire life because I like the taste of them, especially the orange ones.

You got that right!!! They're making the big bucks on the fill, so you'd think they could at least spare a bottle of Water for each patient. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

Wise decision not to tell others about the surgery. I told too many people and am regretting it. I don't have kids, but I do have a 15 lb. geriatric cat who requires a lot of care. He can no longer jump up on the furniture by himself, so I'm constantly helping him in and out of bed or up and down off the sofa. It was very, very rough doing that for the first week. Just bending down to get him was excruciating. You are definitely going to need more help with infants/toddlers. Good luck.

That's just plain greedy. If you buy water in bulk, you can easily get it for 50 cents a bottle or less. Let's say the doctor fills 400 people a month, which I think is a huge overestimation. The doctor would lose $200 a month if he provided water for patients. Is $200 a month worth all the ill will he's creating? Dr. Spivak provides each patient with a 16 oz. bottle of water after a fill. I'm so glad he's my doctor.