Connie S.

I had three scopes done and he thought it was ulcers and gave me medication but that didn't help. He just explained that the band didn't always work for everyone.

I had my lap band surgery on October 9th, 2012! The surgery and recovery went very well, but the year with the lap band wasn’t fun for me. I threw up once or twice every day with lots of mucus. I kept my lap band on for the year, hoping and praying that it would get better and it didn’t.

The typical response that I received was that I wasn't chewing long enough but I was. The doctor decided that it would be a good idea to take all the saline out of my band and see how I was feeling after.

After having the saline removed and still having the same problems. The doctor decided to do another scope. During the scope, he discovered that I had ulcers in my esophagus. Thinking that this might be the problem, he prescribed a medication to see if they would clear up. A month later I went for another scope and the medication worked, but I was still throwing up.

After having a long discussion with my doctor, I explained that I could no longer handle the throwing up and that I wanted to have the band taken out. He also at that time referred me to the Bariatric clinic for surgery.

On June 12th, I had my lap band removed and from that day on I have not thrown up. I can finally eat normally without throwing up.

I am now in the Bariatric program awaiting the surgery and I would like to talk to anyone who has been down the similar journey with the lap band and now had the gastric bypass surgery? Which surgery did you have and how are you handling food after the surgery?

Thank you in advance for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Connie

I had my lap band surgery on October 9^th, 2012! The surgery and recovery went very well, but the year with the lap band wasn’t fun for me. I threw up once or twice every day with lots of mucus. I kept my lap band on for the year, hoping and praying that it would get better and it didn’t.

The typical response that I received was that I wasn't chewing long enough but I was. The doctor decided that it would be a good idea to take all the saline out of my band and see how I was feeling after.

After having the saline removed and still having the same problems. The doctor decided to do another scope. During the scope, he discovered that I had ulcers in my esophagus. Thinking that this might be the problem, he prescribed a medication to see if they would clear up. A month later I went for another scope and the medication worked, but I was still throwing up.

After having a long discussion with my doctor, I explained that I could no longer handle the throwing up and that I wanted to have the band taken out. He also at that time referred me to the Bariatric clinic for surgery.

On June 12^th, I had my lap band removed and from that day on I have not thrown up. I can finally eat normally without throwing up.

I am now in the Bariatric program awaiting the surgery and I would like to talk to anyone who has been down the similar journey with the lap band and now had the gastric bypass surgery? Which surgery did you have and how are you handling food after the surgery?

Thank you in advance for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Connie

I am sorry I am not on the site very often. Let me know where you are in the process now.

Connie

I am a 44 Mom with the seven-year-old daughter and a wonderful husband. I have been overweight since my early 20s and I was able to maintain my weight at about 225 pounds at 5 ft 1 inch tall, I was still unhappy with this weight but I was still able to do things. I've done lots of research on the lap band, gastric bypass and the gastric sleeve but never went forward with it and now I have to have the surgery. I lost my father four years ago and in that time I have gained over 80 pounds, I am now over 300 and I'm ashamed and embarrassed with my weight and I want my life back. I haven't been able to do very much with my husband and daughter due to my lack of mobility and my weight and it's frustrating and upsetting. I'm missing out on the best parts of my daughter's life and I don't want to do that anymore, she needs a mother that is able to do things with her.

I finally decided to have the band surgery and I had my surgery at Maples Surgery Clinic on January 31, 2012 and went through the whole process and was on the surgery table and the surgery didn't happen. (I ended up having to find a new clinic to the surgery and I wasn't happy about my experience with them).

I ended up going to Western Surgery Center and had my surgery preformed on October 9, 2012 by Dr. Andrews and Dr. Vergias and the surgery and recover went very well.

I have just had my first fill in December and will be getting my next fill soon. (It would have been sooner if I didn't get the flu) I am learning to pay attention to how much I chew so that I don't get my food stuck and dealing with slime that has not been fun. I haven't lost any weight but I am not putting any pressure on myself because I realize it will take time.

I would love to hear ideas for menu planning (I have a daughter and husband that I have to cook for) and suggestion that might make things easier.

Thank you.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to answer me.

My fill was 4 cc's.

So far this has been the hardest learning how to slow down and chew really well. I know that I let myself get to hungry and then I eat to fast and my dietitien said I should eat by myself so that I am doing it right but that is hard when you have a 7 years old running around.

I am thinking about planning my meals in advance so I don't get so hungry.

Any other suggestions would be welcomed.

Thank you.

Connie

I had my surgery on October 9th and I didn't have any problems until I had my first fill.

My food is getting stuck in my throat about 2 to 3 times during the week.

I am looking for tips, recipes and ideas because it is not fun when the food gets stuck.

Thank you for your time and I look foward to hearing from you.

Connie

Hello,

I am really hoping that someone has gone through the same situation or knows someone who has.

I was scheduled for surgery in the February and on the day of the surgery I was put under and brought back an hour later realizing that I didn't have the surgery. I was told that they stopped the operation because my blood pressure went to low and they could not control it, so they decided not to proceed with the surgery.

I am taking Micardis for high blood pressure, Wellibutran and Cymbalta for depression and I was not asked to stop any medications before the surgery. At the time I was told that I should have my blood pressure medication changed and I was not told they wanted a cardic assessemnt plus or minus an echocardiogram unitl I was able to see my doctor. I had blood work and and ECG done at that time and then I was referred to the cardiologist who ran another ECG and said that he didn't feel that an echocardiogram is necessary and didn't feel there was any reason not to proceed with the surgery. The clinic is now asking for an echocardiogram which is another couple of months to see someone and this is now June and I still haven't had the surgery done. I am upset that all of this wasn't asked to be done at one time.

Has anybody gone through this and were they able to have the surgery?

Thank you.

Connie

Hello Everyone,

I am looking at having surgery at Maples Surgical Centre this year and I would like to know how the surgery went for you?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks.

Connie

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me, I apologize that it took so much time to get back to you!

Congratulations on your weight loss! How are you doing now?

I appreciate all the information that you have given me.

How did you find the liquid diet before surgery?

I will check out the other links and keep you posted.

Thanks.

Connie

Hi Connie,

The surgeons are Dr. Andrew and Dr. Bracken, they worked as a team on me and I assume they work together for all the surgeries. They also work in a typical hospital (I think they have to to maintain their licences) so they have specific days at Maples. I think that also impacts their schedules at Maples...if they get stuck in emergencies or whatever. So my surgery was actually the day after the original date set. At the time it was frustrating but I'm over that now.

The consultation was $150 when I did mine (December 2010). They went over the details of the surgery, had an actual lap band to look at, mentioned their rate of complications (right in line with normal, includes infection, erosion, slippage). Of course they assessed me by asking a number of questions too.

I would like to lose about 140 lb but would be happy with 120 lb. So far, I've lost 60 lb! But everyone is different so you should spend some time reading here and elsewhere...it is possible to cheat with the lapband by eating what they call "slider" foods, foods that will slip right through the band that are bad for you. You'll see it over and over again on here that the band is a tool... I chose it because it's much less invasive than gastric bypass. I had considered flying to Toronto for the sugery but that was only because I didn't realize I could get it done right here in Winnipeg. I'm so glad I didn't have to travel!

Anyway, no clinic is perfect but I've been happy with my experience at Maples. They are gearing up to launch a lapband website in April that will have a lot more info, recipes, maybe a forum. I'm looking forward to that. If you have anymore questions, please feel free to ask. Also, if you look a little further down in this Canada forum, there is a Manitoba thread and some people there have posted about Maples. They haven't posted much lately, most of them had their surgeries quite a long time ago but you might get some info there.

Take care and good luck with your choice!

Hi! I had surgery at Maples in January...almost 3 months ago. I've been pleased with the process so far. Any particular questions you have? Have you started the process yet?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am looking into it but I have to be honest, I am having a problem getting people to call me back and provide me with information, they seem to be very unorganized. I can't find the names of the doctor's on there there website to do some research on the them.

That is why I wanted to talk to someone who had surgery at the clinic.

How much weight would you like to lose? How did you find the staff? Who was the doctor that did you surgery? Did you pay for your consultation? How are you doing now after the surgery and have you lost any weight? Did you find the surgery helped so that you feel fuller faster? Did you look at any other clinics and what made you decide on them?

Any information would be helpful, this surgery is not cheap and I want to make sure I made the right decision.

Thank you so much for answering me and taking the time to email.

Connie

Hello Everyone,

I am looking into get Lap Band at the Maples Surgical Clinic and I would like to talk to anyone who has had surgery recently at the Clinic?

Thanks you.