Alexandra

Lots of people, including me, find it a little easier to eat in the evenings. At this point I'm sometimes able to eat about half a plate-full, which is probably more than I "should" be eating. But that amount satisfies me through the evening, so it's fine with me. Maybe your doctor intends for the adjustments to be microscopic and the proper fill level reached in tiny, but frequent, increments? If that's the case then everything seems to be going exactly as it's supposed to. You may not have to wait as long between fills for that reason. My doctor does it differently, attempting to reach a good level of restriction right out of the gate. Perhaps with a greater "jump" it takes a little time for it to "settle"? Good luck with your weigh-in!!

Wow, Angie, that's terrific weight loss! Congratulations!! I had my first sip of a carbonated beverage last week. Ouch! I don't know whether it was band related or just that I haven't had soda in three months, but whatever it was the sensation was pretty unpleasant. I won't be repeating that experiment! Welcome to the boards. Keep posting and sharing your success!

Shelly, it sounds like you're doing great! I've discovered that my fill on October 16 has only recently started to assert itself consistently. Maybe two weeks between fills might be too short a time? You don't want to get to a point where you can't keep anything down, and the variability with a fill can be surprising. My suggestion would be to wait another week or so beyond the 22nd to see if you indeed need another adjustment. Karen, I think too much is made of the quantity in people's bands. Every person is different and two people with the exact same band may need very different levels of fill to produce the same restriction. My doctor wouldn't even discuss fill amounts with me because, he said, they're utterly meaningless. What my doctor did was watch the fluoroscope to see how my restriction was being affected by the liquid he injected and removed. When he got to the right place, he stopped. I don't know or care how much actual Fluid is in my band. (BTW, the only size band approved for use in the United States is the 10cm band. That refers to the length of the band not the fill capacity--I don't know what that capacity is.) It doesn't make sense to compare fill amounts with other people. Amen to that!!

For my husband, knowledge was power. He was very apprehensive in the beginning, but as he learned more about the procedure and read some of the messages on various support boards he started to see what this was all about. Another point I made to him that helped him accept my determination was this: I know he loves me as I am, and my need to lose weight is NOT about any insecurity I have in our relationship. It's about my health, and wanting to be here for him and for our children as long as possible. This is a battle I've been fighting all of my life, which is something he couldn't really comprehend at first since when we met I was already 30. As for the safety issue, even my PCP, who had never heard of the band before, agreed that it presented a safer treatment than even whatever drugs are currently on the market. The most dangerous thing about it is the general anaesthesia. When last year I thought I was going to have knee surgery, he didn't bat an eyelash. When I drew that parallel, his last objection fell.

While I was doing my research, it was easy to find out technical and medical information but less easy to get a picture of what daily life is really like with the band. And that's what I wanted to know. So this thread is for post-band people to paint a picture of their normal life for the benefit of prebanders thinking about taking this important step. What's changed? For me, post-band life is very much normal life except with regard to food. I know that sounds like a truism, but here's what I mean: Now when I'm faced with a decision about food -- how much to buy, cook, serve, order at a restaurant, put on my plate -- I now have to remember that EVERYTHING has changed. I'm eating perhaps 1/4 of what I ate before, sometimes less. So it's now possible for my husband and me to share one meal at a restaurant instead of each getting an appetizer, main course, and dessert. A normal Pasta dinner at our house used to involve cooking at least a whole pound of pasta, and now it's more like 6 ounces. I have to remember that if I eat a snack while shopping at the mall, that will very likely mean I'm not hungry for dinner! So I have to be mindful of what I'm eating, because that's ALL I'm going to be eating for the next several hours. This learning curve results in a good bit of leftover food. A good thing to buy is lots of small plastic containers for the fridge. What I used to toss as not worth saving -- a half a sausage, two ravioli -- is now a full meal the next day. Cool! I know in a while this will start to be second nature. For now it's just a weird thing to be totally changing the way I mentally measure my consumption, and it's surprising to me how many times it comes up in daily life. I guess my point is that for me, the threat of PBing or something getting stuck is not the biggest effect of banding. I find myself occupied more often with figuring out what and how much I'll be eating and what to do with the leftovers. And this wasn't something I'd thought about before banding. What came as a surprise to you?

Chins up, ladies! No getting around it, surgery is scary business. But this is over so fast you won't even know what happened! My best wishes and good strong vibes for quick healing are going out to all the November bandsters. It's a great month to start a new life--you'll be all ready for the New Year. Good luck!!! :D

Hi MissNarelle! I can so relate to the stew of emotions you're experiencing just about now. I spent a year working on insurance issues and during that time my emotions were all over the map. How did your appointment go? Are you on the road to banding?

Hi Jacque! Welcome! Congratulations on being part of the clinical trials. That is indeed a stroke of luck! I hope you and all your co-guinea pigs have wild success and the band becomes the treatment of choice in the future. Inamed, J&J, who cares who makes it! As long as the principle is there. Congratulations on your pre-fill weight loss, too! Did you have your recent fill under fluoroscopy? Did you feel restriction on the day of or on the day after your fill? I'm curious as to whether the doctors in the study are filling the band to a predetermined level or if they're working with each person to find the right restriction.

Hey Kelly, I know what you mean about getting more restricted over time. The last few days I've started to feel restriction again, just when I was starting to worry that my fill was for nothing. Are you also eating some Protein along with your salads? I know it's easier to eat things that don't get stuck, but sometimes that means not eating the things that we need. When I'm tired of nibbling at chicken I'll have some Beans for the protein. We're coming up on three months, bandster-sister! Can you believe it?!?

What Alexis said. What you're describing as possibly "too much" is probably just a fraction of what you ate pre-band. THAT'S why you're losing weight! Be thankful that you can do it without feeling deprived or torturing yourself. As Alexis said, this period will pass and you'll find that your weight loss slows down, at which point you'll decide you want a fill. But in the meantime enjoy yourself!

Well, if you look at any diagram of how the band is positioned, you'll see that there is a distinct narrowing of the stomach near its top created by the band itself. The opening within that narrowing is called the stoma, and is what I mean by a bottleneck. It's what's adjusted by fills. Directly after surgery, even though there's no fill in the band, the mere addition of this mechanical device definitely changes the shape of your stomach. Add to that the post-op swelling, and what you get is restriction. As the post-op swelling fades, you'll find that your restriction does too. Hunger will return and you will find that you can eat almost normally. This takes different amounts of time for different people, and I've heard stories that are all over the map. Some people are famished three days later and can't wait to eat, others still aren't hungry enough for solid food even when they're given the go-ahead after two or three weeks. I think this extremely wide range of experience is because of the vary different ways our bodies react to having the band placed. After 5 or 6 weeks, though, I think it's safe to say you'll be completely healed and will know what it really feels like to have an empty band. For me it took about 4 weeks before my stomach reacted in a consistent way when I ate. Before that point I couldn't reliably predict whether I'd have burping, pain, or discomfort while eating. The same process holds when we have a fill, although to a much lesser extent. The changing itself can result in irritation and swelling, and it takes a while (as much as several days with a fill) for things to settle down. Once it does, though we still have restriction (which is, of course, the point) it's not due to some termporary post-procedure swelling. All of this is just my interpretation of what's going on--it is not based on serious medical study or anything. Take it for what it's worth.

Hi Tellie, First off, relax. There has been a change made to the shape of the tubing in your inside--your esophagus and stomach have new bottlenecks that weren't there before. Drinking or eating too quickly can easily create bubbles of air that have to come out. You're probably still a little swollen from the surgery, which means this burping can hurt. I suggest TAKING IT SLOWLY. When I first started increasing the thickness of what I was drinking, the same sort of thing happened to me. Your body may not be ready to handle thick liquids just yet. So give it a few more days--you won't starve--and the next time you try I'm sure it will be better. Your membranes and tissues will be less swollen, and liquids will have more room to trickle down without causing you any discomfort. Good luck!

I know this, I really do. And I believe it, too. I'm sure it's just coincidence that it seems one thing has followed the other in my circle of acquaintances. But I'm superstitious enough that somehow, it seems better to avoid the shot if by doing so I can keep myself out of the way of the bad-luck train.

Oh, Sue, I completely agree that people who are AROUND folks at risk for severe complications can benefit from the vaccine. My husband works in food service, and everyone where he works is required to get the flu shot. I'm not against them at all. I'm not sure they've reached the safetly level of most vaccines, though; I personally know of several people who complained of getting sick after getting their flu shots. I take anecdotes with a healthy dose of skepticism, of course, but in general prefer to avoid taking any unnecessary risks with my health. And though some might say that not getting the shot is, by itself, taking an unnecessary risk, it seems odd to me that ten years ago flu was just something you got, or didn't get, and got through. Is it worse now? I survived years of not getting the flu, or surviving cases so mild I didn't know I had them, and don't really see any reason that should change for me now. (On the other hand, now that I think about it, "people at risk" includes my very young children. Maybe I'll re-think this position.)

Sue, what makes you say that getting the flu could lead to band damages? I'm not advocating against flu shots, but I don't see the connection in light of the info Donali gave. I know on the very few occasions that I've ever had the flu (like twice in my life?), vomiting was not part of my misery. I personally am not inclined to get a flu shot. I'm young(ish), in good health, not generally prone to catching everything that comes along, and don't think I'm particularly at risk of complications of the flu. But that's just me.

CONGRATULATIONS!! Another November bandster-baby. I hope your recovery is smooth and easy! :D

I had this same experience. It took really a day or more for my bladder muscles to come back "on-line," as it were. I mean, I didn't lose bladder control or anything, but when I'd try to squeeze it was just impossible. How completely weird! But it's a common side effect of the general anesthesia. I think it just took a long time to wear off with me, which also explains why I wasn't really clear-headed until the fourth day. Hmmm. Maybe that long-lingering anesthesia explains why I didn't have much pain? Every cloud has a silver lining, I guess.

Hi again, Julie: The instructions for post-op are usually something like don't pick up anything that weighs more than 10 lbs. for at least a couple of weeks. As a mom of a 2 year-old, I let that rule go out the window pretty quickly. I mean, both of my kids were sitting on my lap a week later, and another week after that I'm sure I was lifting the younger one a couple of times here and there. And she weighs over 30 lbs. This is one of those situations where you have to really listen closely to your body. If you feel tension in your waist when you're lifting something, you probably don't want to be lifting it at that time. But certainly by the third week you should be OK to lift your child occasionally. As for crawling on you? As long as your baby can avoid your incisions, let him roam!

Hi Mary, I agree with Donali. A slipped or damaged band or port would likely make itself felt to you in no uncertain terms. PBing can upset things, though, and I felt residual pain even hours after a bad episode. Take it slow and do pay attention to how things feel going down. I think if you're doing better and the discomfort has lessened, you didn't do anything serious.

Hi Julie, I too am a big sissy with regard to pain. And this was only the second surgery I've ever had in my life; the first was more than 20 years ago. I don't mind telling you I was pretty nervous. But the pain amounted to very little, now that I think back. I was home the same day of surgery (Wednesday) and that afternoon I did take a pain pill (Vicodin?). It was more out of apprehension, though, than any real pain. The next day I found that the anesthesia and the pain killer had combined to make me pretty muddle-headed, so I decided to go without any meds at all, and it wasn't bad! As long as I didn't move my midsection around too much there was hardly any pain at all. By Sunday I was both clearheaded and pain-free, for the most part. Monday I went back to work and I recall having to be careful if I twisted to reach something, but aside from that there was no pain. The gas pains that people speak of mercifully passed me by. There was a tightness in my chest that could have been called pain, but it was more of an ache. You know the feeling when you stay in the Water too long? My mother used to call it being "waterlogged." It created an ache upon taking a deep breath--that's what this felt like. And in any event, by Monday it was all gone. I can't really remember specifics beyond that, but if you really want to hear numbers I'd say altogether the pain was a 5 the day after surgery and went down quickly from there. Not to worry!

Yaaaa HOOOOO!!!! That is absolutely fantastic news!! Isn't it wonderful to win on appeal--it's almost better than having it cleanly covered with no problems. Well, not better, exactly, but the sense of victory is so strong that it's almost worth the trouble. YOU GO, GIRL!!! Here's hoping you get a really quick surgery date. Congratulations!! :D

Hi Joanne, I don't have any specific information, but I do know that Empire BCBS in CT has paid for the lap band on several occasions in the past. Whether those were the result of appeals, or were from large groups with friendly contracts, I don't know. A lot depends on how you're covered and what kind of contract it is. But on the whole I think it's a fairly band-friendly carrier, as compared to others who exclude it entirely. Good luck!!

Good luck, Jennye!! We're looking forward to hearing how your procedure went--which I know will be SMOOTHLY!! We'll see you in Bandlandia, soon!

Joann that sounds like a superb idea! If you're really brave enough to do it I'll be cheering you along the whole way. Good for you!! I'm one of those people who's had the same hairstyle since third grade (style? THAT'S an overstatement, to be sure) and I doubt a little thinning hair will give me the courage to really go for a change. But a truly thinning body just might!! Who knows? Maybe six months from now we'll be comparing haircut pix!

Marsha, you are such a sweetie!! Actually, I'd been feeling a little, well, discouraged lately and not posting as much because of it. But the mood seems to have passed and so here I am again. And I'm so glad! I really appreciate the importance of support and this kind of message board, so when I find myself lurking for days at a time it's a clue that I need to reach out a little more. It's good for the soul! That middle number in my sig has been where it is for almost two weeks now, so it's really lovely to get a cyber-pat on the back. I needed it!!