donali

Tammy, you may have indeed torn you port sutures, or at least tugged them a little too much. The fascia of the muscle where the port is sutured is very delicate. Take some liquid Tylenol, and you should be feeling much less pain in a few days. It is not necessary to have the port sutured down - many European docs do not suture it. As long as you become pain free in the next few days I wouldn't worry. Many people have flipped ports that aren't painful. I think mine turned sideways, because it sure hurt like a #(*$#Q(#$. Even after the initial healing of the tear itself, the port bothered me until I had it repositioned. Guamtab - your point is well taken. It does seem as though the mid-band presents with a lower erosion rate. How hard has it been for you to find a fill doc? I would be more worried about aftercare for the mid-band in the U.S.

Dorkies... lol... that is absolutely priceless, Anne.

Hey, Girl - So glad you're feeling better, and sassy as ever. Please don't forget to take me when you go skinny dipping - it is absolutely one of my favoritest things ever. (surprise, surprise - lol) Miss the slutty red glove - post another pic? Please? :devious

Francesca - If you are already PBing, you do NOT NOT NOT NOT need a fill! You are already too restricted! Or not eating properly! If you have no problems tolerating liquids, but cannot tolerate real food, then you must take teeny tiny teeny tiny bites, and chew them to smithereens so that they are LIKE liquid. Go SLOWLY. Put your fork down between tiny bites and count to 20 before taking another bite. Good luck, and whatever you do, you MUST find a way to stop vomiting. Really.

I so understand where you guys are coming from. I was always the same way - hence all my research on erosion! lol But now that I'm a statistic, I have to say that I have come to terms with this, and I am at peace. Yes, I was a wreck all weekend, bawling my eyes out, terrified that my future held my past. But after reading all the supportive messages from so many people, and having a few "coming to Jesus" talks with myself, I can honestly say that I no longer fear what my future holds. I am not the same person I was 17 months ago. I am not the same person I was 29 months ago. I have taken some very concrete steps in this obesity journey, and I have learned a LOT about myself and my eating addiction. There are no guarantees that I will be one of the few successful in maintaining my current loss (new low, today, by the way!! 104..5 - just 1.5 more to my century mark! My band's last gift to me!), but I am so much better equipped to succeed today than I was in December 2001. It is good to pay attention to your bodys and their signals - but it is not good to live in fear. Be mindful of your health, but know that if the worse happens you will deal with it. You all made educated decisions when you were banded, and you accepted the risks. It doesn't seem like the risks are that small when people you know start becoming statistics, but in reality the vast majority of people do not have these problems. My journey with the band has been embarassingly easy. The only thing I wish I had done differently would have been not to rely on the band so much for stopping my eating. I did pretty much let the band do all the hardest work. Now that I'll be flying solo once again, I realize that I did not try to break the habit of eating until I was too full. I knew that even if I was over full, the amount of food I was consuming was far less than pre-band, and the weight would still come off. That was true! But I missed the opportunity to learn a lesson the easy way. Now that I won't have the band to catch me when I fall, I think it will be more difficult to learn that fine line of "enough". One of the most important things I had to come to terms with in one of my "come to Jesus" meetings with myself was the fact that I let my constant hunger be my excuse for my poor choices. It is NOT about NOT eating pizza - it's about NOT eating a WHOLE large deep dish pizza to resolve my hunger. I cannot come up with one logical excuse for that CHOICE I made over and over again. I did not have to go hungry - I did not have to go without pizza - BUT... I DO have to go without using a less nutritious food to satisfy ALL of my hunger. I was whining earlier to myself that people without a weight problem, without a hunger problem, JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! This is true - if a person does not suffer from overwhelming hunger all the time, they cannot possibly understand someone that does. But what they do understand is that eating a whole pizza is not a nutritious answer to any hunger, no matter how great. I dislike Dr. Phil intensely, and find his views on obesity offensive. When he said that overweight people CHOOSE to be fat I was incensed. Although I still do not agree with his approach, I have to humbly admit that although I did not CHOOSE to be fat (consciously, anyway), I DID choose to satisfy my overwhelming hunger with intensely fattening foods. The results were a no brainer, and might as well have been a direct choice on my part. I wandered away from the subject again - so sorry! To recap: Be mindful of your health, but do not waste your gift on needless worry. If you have problems, you will deal with them. You are growing, learning things you don't even realize. Take responsible steps for your band care, but other than that, forget about it and focus on enjoying and reaping all the benefits of this wonderful tool - your new lease on life! </end sermon>

Elizabeth - I am so sorry to hear your slip is a bigger deal than you initially thought. Is it beyond possibility that it would repair itself with your unfill? I know some can correct themselves that way. If not, you want to be especially mindful of how you are feeling - a slippage that doesn't fix itself can quickly turn into obstruction, particularly if you have a vomiting episode, or an irritation that results in swelling. Please go carefully. As far as possibly having the band removed, I don't think your re-slippage chances increase if you just have it fixed - and knowing what you do now, you can probably avoid the behaviours that helped it slip the first time. However, I do think that repair of slippage falls into Inamed's "revision" category, so your chance of erosion may be increased. If it were me, I probably would just have the slip repaired and keep my band, since it's in there already. If for whatever reason they are not able to repair it right then, but have to remove it to let the stomach recover before they reband you I'd have to think harder about that. If I could afford it, I probably would get rebanded, even with the possible increased risk of erosion. But these are all things you have to think about, and I wish you the best of luck in your decision.

Oh, you guys, you all make me weep with appreciation for your care and concern. Really, and truly, you have no idea how much your messages have meant to me. There are so many posts and emails I would like to respond to, but wouldn't you know that today I have a new person starting, and I have to train him, and I will have virtually no time at work to not work... And, my aunt and cousin are in town for the week from Ohio, so I have virtually no time to hang out on the boards after work this week, either. I just want you to know that right now, being here on lapbandtalk is the only place I want to be. But, duty calls, so I have to put this on hold temporarily. Please do not think I have gone into hiding, or anything like that. I will try to check in as much as possible, but it's not going to be every 5 minutes like usual... I am having "Come to Jesus" meetings with myself about my food addiction, and believe me, I will share with you everything I am thinking and feeling and planning in that regard - it's just going to be a little delayed. In the meantime I know I can count on all of you not only for your awesome support of me, but of all the others who are seeking support here that I would normally try and help. I will try and catch up with those posts, but you know how easy it is to lose a thread if you don't respond right away, and your cookie marks it as "read", and then it doesn't come up again. Megan - gosh... I am beyond flattered, and I am there with you - part of my "Come to Jesus" meetings with myself was the acknowledgement that I took my band for granted, and let it do for me a lot of the things I should have been doing for myself. That's great as long as you have a band!!! But I missed a lot of opportunities to grow myself by doing that. More on all this later. You guys totally rock.

Okay, I'm supposed to be sleeping, but I am so addicted to you guys. I'm the new erosion on the block, and I have to tell you, as devastating as this is, I got 97.5 pounds out of it. By the time I have my band removed it will probably be at least an even 100 - that's my new goal. lol Anyway - I don't know yet if I will choose to be rebanded. I am waiting for more info on the re-erosion rates. The one response I got wasn't good (she eroded again her second time), and two other posters quote increased percentages - one 50%, the other "4 times likely" which would be 4-12%. I'm going to have to agree with Jessie Ahroni on grads that no one really knows the stats on rebanding. However, the literature from Inamed does state that revisions have a higher percentage of erosion, and I would consider a rebanding a revision. If I knew then what I know now - would I still have done it? ABSOLUTELY!! Will I do it again? At this point, it doesn't look likely. But I will have to wait at least six months before I could be rebanded, if I choose to do so, so we'll see how it goes. I love my band - it did everything I had hoped for. It sucks for me that I have this complication, but I rolled the dice and this is what I got. I'm not angry, or bitter. Sad, devastated, yes. But I knew the risks, and my results have been worth it. I've learned a lot about myself and my eating disorder. Hopefully that'll help me out when I'm back out there on my own. Good luck with your decision!

I can't tell you all how much it means to have all this support. To quote beloved DeLarla, "I'm feeling the love." To fill in a few of the gaps in this particular post (for those of you who didn't read/remember my "gall bladder" attack post, here's some of the background missing. I had just been doing research on erosion coincidentally. Or maybe all that research CAUSED my erosion... lol THAT's it... I have not had any problems/symptoms. I had no reason to go to TJ for this follow-up, except that on Thursday, 6/3/04 I had what felt exactly like an intense gall bladder attack. I had severe pain in my back about band height, and pressure/heat radiating inside from the area around the top of my stomach. I felt like if I could just burp/fart/have a bowel movement, I would feel better. That's EXACTLY how my bad gall bladder attacks felt. None of those things happened, and I had my sister race me home from work - I didn't feel as though I could even drive. After two hours or so from the onset, the attack went away, and I have been attack-free since. Just like my old gall bladder attacks. Since I don't have a gall bladder anymore, and have never had these symptoms again since I had it out (June 1992), I was concerned. I really didn't think it had anything to do with the band (and it still may NOT - I did a bunch of googling on post-gall bladder removal attacks, and there was tons of info - I figured it was very likely that I had formed a stone in my bile duct - that could still be the reason for the attack), but decided that since I never had bothered to have my annual band check-up yet, I should go do that before I see my PCP on 6/30. I didn't want the band to be a suspect in hunting down the gall bladder attack cause. I was CERTAIN there was nothing wrong with my band - I have good restriction, no stomach pain, no reflux, no problems what-so-ever. My port has been bugging me this past week, but that's a constant come and go thing with me. It's almost funny that this attack came on WHILE I was reading articles about erosion... :sick I almost feared the whole experience was psychosomatic, since it came on so suddenly with no obvious provocation. I thought, geez, not only can you psyche yourself into fainting off the toilet while reading vericose veins articles, you can psyche yourself into some sort of attack by reading band erosion articles! What a maroon! So. That's why I went for the endoscopy. Normal, prescribed band maintenance. With a little push from a bizarre gall bladder-like attack. Which still may have nothing to do with the band. My advice to you all (and I can only imagine how frightened you all must feel, 'cause I felt the same way when someone posted stuff like this): Do your regular band maintenance. That means once a year you should have an endscopy - that is NOT if you're having problems. It's my understanding that's a regular part of an annual band check-up. I do not hear of people doing it though, so maybe it's not? But that's what my doc said at the seminar I attended in late October, so it's been on my mind to have it done. I just hadn't gotten around to it. So thanks be to the fates, or whatever, that I had the attack, which forced me to do what I had planned on doing anyway. And I hope, and pray, and wish that I can be the 1-3% in your guys' lives, and that this doesn't happen to any of you. I think that would only be fair. And if my being the fall guy could ensure that, then I am happy to do it. You're all very welcome.

DeLarla, really, you gotta stop doing the speed! You're scaring me, girl!! I'm up this early on a Sat a.m. to get ready for my own TJ adventure, but am CERTAIN it will not be even 1/100000000th as interesting as yours. And that's a good thing... And just for clarification (Lisa, I'm sure you won't mind), Dr. Kuri removed Lisa's PORT - not her band, as she wrote it earlier. Her port will be reinserted at a later date. So glad that fill is working for ya - sounds like it'll hold you for a while! HUGS and KISSES, everyone - Gotta hit the road.....

Michelle - I'm not sure what causes a port infection once the intial healing has completed when erosion is NOT involved. One would have to think it must have something to do with fills, since the materials are inert and supposed to be non-reactive. Although if someone is having problems with the port suturing, like when I tore mine, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had gotten infected, since obviously I had done some internal damage. I don't know much about bacteria living inside of the body, waiting for damage - would that have to be introduced from outside, like with the fill needle? Penni? Any insight into this phenomonen? I do not have any stats as to how often port infections occur, but I do know they are considered to be one of the more common problems (next to vomiting and reflux). As long as your doc is following proper sanitary protocol, there should be a very low risk of infection from fills. But I think the caveat is there is always a risk - it's just not very high. As far as symptoms, I am assuming the area become red, hot, and tender to the touch. Maybe there is an eruption through the skin as well in severe cases? If you have one, you will know. I would not worry too much about this possibility. There does seem to be a rash of them lately, though. :sick

Hey Francesca - The meeting location changes each month. The July meeting will be on the 11th at 1pm at Bonnie's (have no info on where that is yet - usually comes out about a week before meeting time). I will try to post the info in the CA San Diego thread, and those interested in attending can email me for details, or join the San Diego Bandster group through Yahoo! And don't feel bad about missing Lisa this time around - we spent maybe 30 minutes together, and then she was off. That girl is on fast forward!!! I told her we were going to have to take away her speed prescription. Penni - congrats on your recovery. I still am finding it hard to believe all that redness and swelling was from irritation, but am so glad that's all it was! Whew! Alex, we're going to have to get you down here, girl! And yes, there was a LOT of laughing... lol

Hi All - Just a heads up. I picked up a brochure from Dr. Lopez's office once while I was there, and it had a color xerox cover with the Oasis Hospital logo on it. It was blue, and seemed to be intended to be from the Oasis Hospital. Inside were supposed guidelines for patients who had the lapband. I have to tell you, that article was taken WORD for WORD from an RnY doctor's article, which was written specifically for gastric bypass patients. The word "lapband" had been substituted everywhere the word gastric bypass appeared in the original article. The doctor was not credited. I started getting suspicious because it said that there would be no hunger for 6 months, at which time hunger would start to return. I knew that wasn't true for the lapband - no WAY, no HOW. But, having a sister who had the RnY, I knew it was true for her. Because the brochure was so long, I couldn't believe it was typed from scratch, so I took a key phrase and Googled it, and lo and behold, I found the original bypass article. The post-op protocol for the RnY is drastically different from the post-op protocol for the lapband. The only thing they have in common is the liquid diet post op. But even that is shorter for lapbanders, and not restricted in quantity, like it is for the RnYers - there is no drinking a thimble-full of Protein shake every hour directly after post-op, like the RnYers are required to do. The only other similarity between the two is the longterm strategy of how to use the pouch to its fullest advantage - eating solid food, not drinking with meals, waterloading prior to meals, and avoiding gastric irritants like Aspirin, Advil, and other NSAIDs. There is no "window of opportunity" for weightloss with the band. With the RnY, it is expected that weightloss pretty much stops 18-24 months out. That's how long it takes the body to adjust and compensate for the malabsorptive part of the bypass. For Bandsters, our band will continue to be a tool in our weightloss journey - there are bandsters 4-5 years out who have continued to lose weight with the band. Also, it is NOT expected that a bandster lose 30-45 pounds in the first month. That is a gastric bypass stat. The expected average weightloss with the band is 1-2 pounds a week. I'm not sure how widely dispersed this pirated booklet is. But for anyone who has gotten a thick xerox brochure on the lapband while they were in Mexico, beware. It is unlikely that is it truly a lapband brochure, since there does not appear to BE one!! Which I imagine is why someone got the bright idea to create one in this manner. Here is a link to the original article by Latham Flanagan, Jr., M.D., FACS : http://obesitysurgery-info.com/understandingsmallgastricpouch.htm

I would die without Google... lol

I had lunch with the captivating Lisa, and she seems none the worse for wear. Well, okay, maybe a little worse for wear - she's still on pain meds, so we'll see what happens once they wear off... I was extremely disappointed in our meeting - not only did she not demonstrate any pole-dancing maneuvers, the slutty red glove was no where to be seen. DeLarla, I let you hold out on me this time in deference to your ordeal, but NEXT time you better put up the goods!!! :D Sincerely hope you had a safe trip back, and that your recovery from here on out is uneventful!

I am assuming you have tried the WestSoy brand, as that is very common. I use the plain and the unsweetened chocolate, and find them to be very palatable. I use both on Cereal and in smoothies/protein drinks, and to make instant SF/FF chocolate Jello pudding. There is a large group of people who believe that milk products are not for human consumption, and that it is unnatural for adult animals to drink milk at all, as we are the only animals on earth that drink milk as adults, and milk from other species. (Other animals that drink milk as adults are fed that by humans. ) Adult animals stop making the enzymes that breakdown milk, which is the explanation for lactose intolerence. I consume and enjoy dairy products, but I am NOT convinced they are an important part of a healthy diet. Not that I'm cynical or paranoid, but I do honestly believe the advertising for drinking milk as a health benefit is politically driven by the dairy farmer lobbyists. (Since in many parts of the world, drinking milk after childhood is virtually unheard of.) If you cannot get the Calcium and Vitamin D that you need from your diet of dark greens, then a supplement should suffice you. IMHO

Alexandra - I started a new thread with the doctored brochure info in it. Boy, it's so easy to get off thread topic!!! Sorry, all. Not just here, but in the intro section, and well, basically everywhere... Some things take on a life of their own. I think they call that "hijacking a thread" in the savvy world. I don't do it on purpose!! :D And Alex, I know you weren't telling me I hijacked the thread, but I DO know I've done it on occasion, and have been meaning to apologize to everyone for a while now.

Oh, Chantal!!! :( I am so sorry this happened. Highlight the deleted items icon (the trash can). Under tools, select "Empty Deleted Items Folder". Say yes to the empty confirmation. Then under tools, select the "Recover Deleted Items". You will see the list. Select the first one, and then holding down the shift key, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list and click on the last item. Everything should be highlighted now. Click on the red "X" at the top of the window. You will be asked if you want to purge the items permanently - say yes, and they should be gone. It is not out of the question that your employer has some sort of programs running in the background on your system that captures everything you do. I think most employers don't, but there is software out there that would let them do that kind of "spying". So although this will remove the obvious evidence, you are not necessarily 100% in the clear, but this is the best you can do at the moment, that I'm aware.

Penni - I did understand that you had your surgery done at the Sanivov, but not knowing exactly where the brochure came from, or who did it, it could have easily been modified for the Sanivov, or you could have been given the one from Oasis by Dr. Lopez, since his office is where I originally picked the thing up. Again, it was not handed to me - it was lying there in his office waiting room, and I took it, because there is so little written info available. I was going to copy it and return it (since I didn't ask if I could have it), but after reading all the way through it I realized it wasn't band related, so I never gave it back. I have not had an opportunity to discuss the brochure with Dr. Lopez, but I will try to mention it tomorrow, particularly if I find another in his office when I'm there! As far as the liason position, I have a wonderful job that I love, so I don't think that's an option for me.

Oooops.... waaaay too early. Sorry, Lisa!!! That's what you get for posting to the boards so early in the morning (usually). lol :(

Thanks, Francesca! I got her number written down, so I second Sue's advice - if you wouldn't mind editing your post and taking her number out, for her protection/privacy. Thanks again, and so glad she's all fixed up. I wonder if it's too early to call her? Probably not...

Hi Penni - I like your site. I just have to comment on the following, though: Protein shakes are NOT required by bandsters once they get to the eating solid food stage. It is always recommended to eat real food that stays in your pouch longer and helps keep you feeling full. Since we do not have a malabsorptive-type procedure like the RnY, we are able to utilize all the calories and nutrients of what we eat, just like before surgery. For people who are too tight in the mornings to eat real food, protein shakes can be helpful, but for the most part are not needed. For people who do choose to use protein shakes, for whatever reason, they should replace the meal, not be in addition to it, unless one is having troubles meeting their caloric goals (in which case you are probably adjusted too tightly, and could benefit from a slight unfill). And I know of no vegetable or fruit juice that would be considered a good source of protein. It is recommended that all caloric liquids be avoided, which is why drinking juice is not recommended, as it is a high calorie liquid that passes through the pouch and again, does nothing to help generate the full feeling. Even for people who are not banded who are watching their weight, physicians recommend eating whole fruit as opposed to drinking juice for that very reason. I picked up a brochure from Dr. Lopez's office once while I was there, and it had a color xerox cover with the Oasis Hospital logo on it. Inside were supposed guidelines for patients who had the lapband. I have to tell you, that article was taken WORD for WORD from an RnY doctor's article, which was written specifically for gastric bypass patients. The word "lapband" had been substituted everywhere the word gastric bypass appeared in the original article. The post-op protocol for the RnY is drastically different from the post-op protocol for the lapband. The only thing they have in common is the liquid diet post op. But even that is shorter for lapbanders, and not restricted in quantity, like it is for the RnYers - there is no drinking a thimble-full of protein shake every hour directly after post-op, like the RnYers are required to do. The only other similarity between the two is the longterm strategy of how to use the pouch to its fullest advantage - eating solid food, not drinking with meals, waterloading prior to meals, and avoiding gastric irritants like Aspirin, Advil, and other NSAIDs. Also, it is NOT expected that a bandster lose 30-45 pounds in the first month. That is a gastric bypass stat. The expected average weightloss with the band is 1-2 pounds a week. I'm not sure if this pirated booklet is where you got these impressions, but just felt I should pass on this info to you. Oh, and just in case you were given the bypass info instead of the band info, there is no "window of opportunity" for weightloss with the band. With the RnY, it is expected that weightloss pretty much stops 18-24 months out. That's how long it takes the body to adjust and compensate for the malabsorptive part of the bypass. For Bandsters, our band will continue to be a tool in our weightloss journey - there are bandsters 4-5 years out who have continued to lose weight with the band.

Hi Carolyn - NO, the band does NOT expand. It is possible (likely) that as you lose weight, your restriction will feel less, because you will also be losing weight off your internal organs (i.e. stomach). Do liquids for a day or two, since your stomach was just adjusted twice in a short amount of time. It is possible (likely) that your extra restriction right now is due to stomach swelling, that will recede if you do NOT continue to irritate it with food. Once the swelling goes down, if you are unable to eat without PBing you need to have even more fill taken out. Good luck!

Penni - It would be so fantastic to have you as Dr. Lopez's office liason. I am certainly keeping ALL of my fingers crossed for you!! FYI - Our San Diego group got a message from the original person being considered for that position, and she said she declined the offer due to time/family constraints.

Michelle, You're welcome. And Kudos to you, Alex. You guys are amazing women. ***hugs*** again...