Ponderer

I am getting banded at Pacific Surgical in Olympia, WA by Dr. Neal next month and was just wondering if there was anyone else in my area that was active on the boards here? Check in....I would love to say hi.

I just wanted to wish you all good losing. I have decided I should not do challenges until I have some restriction and am having a measure of success. Until then it is messing with my head too much. I know many have a bit of success without restriction but that is not me, and I am only posting about my situation. Take care all and I will hope to catch up with you in another challenge before too long! :-)

I named mine bandzilla! Good luck to all of you today.

333.4 = +1.9 I have my 3rd fill tomorrow and I am praying for some restriction. So far I have nothing.

I see a huge difference in your face and chin. You are looking great!!

I had something similar a couple weeks post surgery. My incision actually opened a tiny bit when I leaned forward one day and a bunch of liquid came out. Freaked me out to say the least. I was seen at my doctors office and it was not infected it was just a pocket of fluids and is not all that rare. They simply cleaned it up and checked everything over and when that area healed over on the surface all has been fine since. I needed no meds or anything. I will hope the same for you.

I have my 3rd fill on 5/16 and I am so hoping I will be in the same situation. It is almost as if I can feel something is about to happen but with 2 fills so far it has not really been the case. Yay for you on the restriction and I hope I am right behind you!!

Happy Mother's Day! I am checking in at 331.5 which is -.5. Yuck!

Name, real or screen ~ Elizabeth Age ~ 45...until tomorrow UGH!!! Weight on May1st ~ 332 Goal Weight for May 29th ~ 325 Exercise Goal for May ~ Start walking 3 times a week by months end Dietary Goal for May ~ Get into a low carb eating lifestyle Personal Goal for May ~ Survive all the visits from siblings coming home to see Mom, who is fading from this life due to emphysema Date Banded ~ 3/16/11 Total Weight Loss Since Banding ~ 19

I could have written your post. I completely understand what you are saying. I have my 2nd fill scheduled for Monday. I am currently working with 5.4 in a 14 band. I have very very little restriction as of yet. I hope you can focus on the big picture and know that right now anything good we do is completely on us as we are still doing it all on our own. The band will be helping us a lot more when we get enough fills to really have the restriction it provides, we are just not there yet. I have no doubts we will be successful. Right now I am not losing...but I am not gaining. If I could lose without the band, which is basically where I am at right now until I have restriction, I would not have needed to get it. For now...not gaining is success to me and the losing is going to start back up soon. I too lost early on and now it is just maintaining for a bit longer. You can do this and it is going to happen...for both of us!! :-)

I will be joining and this will be my first challenge ever. I was banded on 3/16 and have had 1 fill. I will have my 2nd fill on Monday afternoon which happens to be my birthday. I figure a fill is a great gift to give myself! lol This challenge is perfect timing for me, as it is time to get serious. This will help me, I have no doubts.

I have heard in my area Cash And Carry is the place to go.

I paid $15,000 in March of this year. That included everything, as well as 2 years of fills, always with fluoro.

I also feel that is way too soon to drive. Your mobility will most likely be affected which will in turn affect your ability to drive safely. You could most likely do it without too much problem, but you are really putting yourselves and those on the roads around you at risk unnecessarily. You really need to either get someone else to do the driving, or hopefully be able to re-schedule. Hopefully you will be feeling great the next day but even then many don't feel like being out and about that much so soon. Good luck with your situation, whatever you decide.

I had my first fill today and now have 5.4cc in my 14cc band. So far I do not feel all that different but that is not unusual. Every step gets me closer to the goal and for that I am satisfied. I have my 2nd fill scheduled for May 2nd. Nothing like going in for a fill on my birthday! But on the other hand, what a nice gift to give myself.

Jennifer....I have heard that the numbing shots are painful and if you think about it....why get a shot you can feel to get a shot you can't feel? Either way you are going to get a shot you can feel so ya might just as well go for it. I am glad my office does not do a numbing shot first. There was hardly any pain at all. It was simply just a needle poke and after that, nothing painful at all. The worst for me was the 3 sips of barium and even that was not terrible. Let's just say the not knowing and the stress of anticipating the first fill was way way way worse then the actual experience. You would do just fine, I am sure!

HI all, nice to meet you! My name is Elizabeth and I am 45 years old. I live in Washington State with my 2 cats and I have one adult (and I use the term loosely) son who will be 21 in June. We moved to Washington from Illinois when I was 2, so this is the place that has always been home for me. I was banded on 3/16 and just had my first fill today. I now have 5.4 cc's in a 14cc band. I am in management in the corporate and charter aviation industry. I love gardening, cooking and home improvement projects. I now feel like I am writing a singles ad so I will stop before I start talking about moonlit walks and picnics in the park. LOL

I realized this morning that I am not shooting for a specific number on the scale or a specific size clothing. I want energy and mobility. I just want to be able to get up on the weekend and have plenty of energy to accomplish all the chores I want and need to, and have energy and the fluid and graceful mobility to play and run around in this world experiencing what I want to experience. I want energy and mobility, and everything else that is positive that comes out of this, will just be nice extras.

He is just jealous. They always think they are the best in this division and if we start one upping them.....they just need some time to adjust. LOL

Woohoo is right......Woohoo look at you!!! Congrats!!

I will be curious to see if you get any tips. I am 1 month out and have noticed a lot of gas too. I know what you mean about not being able to hold it in. I am just really really glad that I have my own private office at work or I would be in trouble!! I am not used to dealing with this because before surgery I was not a gassy person at all.

Hello. I do not know much about St. Francis as early in my research I found info on Pacific Surgical in Olympia with Dr. Neal. That is who I wound up going with as I learned after I started researching that a co-worker, her sister and mom and my next door neighbor all went to him. They all look fantastic and I really really like my doc and all of his staff at the clinic. I just wanted to throw this info out in case you wanted to research. One think I really like is that they do all fills with fluoro and although that is not a big deal to many.....it was to me. I like the eyes on things going on inside concept from the experts, instead of not having any visual until there might be a problem. I had heard the doctors at St. Francis were good, specialized in gastric bypass but did not have much bedside manner. I wanted a good relationship with my doctor and he had to have personality. Dr. Neal is fabulous and they have info seminars all the time. You might want to check one out and if you have any other questions free free to contact me. Good luck with your research and whatever you choose, I hope it is a wonderful and successful journey for you!

I don't have any suggestions but I hope others come along soon that do. I just wanted to say I am sorry for your disappointment and hope that the perfect solution for you comes soon!!

Gosh....what makes me think you don't do the right thing? You literally asked me that question in your response to my post. And I quote you... "So.. Obviously, in order for me to lose more weight. I need to STOP drinking the chocolate milk. STOP eating the Cookies and chips. I know everything i can have instead. I know exactly what to do. JUST WONT DO IT. For 20 years I wouldn't do it, and still.. humm I WONT DO IT. " Gee, this might have been my first clue that you don't do the right thing. And as far as comparing yourself to me and talking about how I must not always have done the right thing and obviously have the weight to lose or I would not be here....that is absolutely correct but I certainly don't come here and whine about how I know I will not do the right thing so can you all help me figure out a way not to have to. I think it is time for you to pull your head out, put your big girl panties on and deal with it!! You will not get out of the sacrifice and doing the work to reach your goals....none of us do. DUH. This situation is so beyond pathetic...ugly....and selfish...that I am going to do myself a favor and unsubscribe to this thread. I am here to learn, get support and give support to those that want and need it. You obviously don't no matter what you say. Your list of excuses and responses to those encouraging you to do the right thing clearly shows that. Take care.

This may be harsh but nonetheless, here it is. I think it is incredibly selfish of you to come to this board and look for help and suggestions of how to do this journey the wrong way....and be so very blatant about it. You can put all the nice terms to it you want such as...being honest...but at the end of the day it is just blatant disregard for what this place is all about. There are many people on here who stumble and none of us are perfect but the goal is to lift each other up and encourage one another to get into the battle the healthy and correct way. If you are so clearly unable and unwilling to do so I think it is unfair for you to post it here. I realize that everyone's journey is different. Again I acknowledge that most of us will stumble and not always do things perfectly. But to just flat out say we are not going to and we are looking for a way to do things wrong and hope others will help us figure out how to do that.....is really selfish and destructive to the most basic purpose of this place. I really do hope something changes for you and you can muster up what it takes to do this correctly. You can do the right thing wrong...and it is still wrong in the end. We should all strive to do the right thing right.....and help others to do the same along the way.