GeezerSue

Twenty-eight years ago, when almost every other doctor/hospital on the planet had FINALLY figured out that fathers should be in the delivery room, MY doctor (and Vanderbilt) were still keeping them out. Kid born at Ft. Campbell.

Relax and think of this: you're gonna get some really good drugs. EGBOK (Everything's gonna be okay.)

You know me. And Nancy. And Donali. But it does provide like a KICKBOXING version of this site. In fact, this site was started by someone from over there.

Do they still make "nursing pads." (Don't have any reason to know, as the baby is 28 and pretty much weaned.) They were about the right size and very absorbent. Ya know...if it needs to leak, you just might want to let it and "mop it up" as needed). You wouldn't want the excess fluids trapped under the skin.

There is a school of thought that says that when the body senses that there is a drought, it shuts down many vital functions in order to keep us from starving. People refer to it as "starvation mode." I think the ideal is that (on fitday or elsewhere) you calculate how many calories you need to operate your body (basal) and how many you need to do the things you do (activities), and then come in at 500-1000 or so calories LESS than that number, which makes for about a pound or two per week. I think that at <900 calories, your body has begun conserving calories in anticipation of potential starvation. Some successful people have a high calorie day one or twice a week to keep the body from conserving calories.

On the other hand...the band is about making changes. One of those changes is that some people cannot handle carbonation, which means there is a chance you will NOT be able to drink beer (by the way, a six-pack/week = 12 pounds per year, NOT including chips, pretzles, etc) after being banded. And eating just to eat can and does happen to some peole with the band. The band changes the VOLUME of what you can eat, and sometimes the CONSISTENCY of what you can eat. But there is an activity known as "eating around the band," and that involves finding foods that WILL work with the band and eating too much of those. Good luck deciding, Sue

Teresa, Whaddaya wanna bet that, three weeks from today, you are posting that you have absolutely no restriction and that you're terrified that you will fail at this LapBand thing? This is way normal. Relax and get well. Sue

Just guessing here, Nancy, but did you notice the thread *Jill* started over there?

Do you mean Ponce? Ponce is an old hand at this.

Darcy, You DID notice the "J/K" for "Just Kidding" I put in that post, right? The old gal is Maxine.

What donali said, plus many banded people have some foods that just compress into a plug, and miake life difficult. If I want a bite of potato when restricted, I'd better lube it up with a ton of butter, so seldom eat any potato. I can't even consider bread, rice, pasta or dry meats, such as chicken breast. We're all different. You need to find the foods, if any, that you should avoid.

I hate this thread. Nobody went along with what I learned at that meeting. I just think no one wants to admit who they are. (J/K)

1: Obes Surg. 2004 Mar;14(3):387-91. Related Articles, Links _ Adjustable gastric banding: assessment of safety and efficacy of bolus-filling during follow-up. Kirchmayr W, Klaus A, Muhlmann G, Mittermair R, Bonatti H, Aigner F, Weiss H. Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital, Anichstrasse 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. BACKGROUND: Individual band-filling on demand of the morbidly obese patient is a major advantage of adjustable gastric banding. An increasing number of patients results in an enormous amount of outpatient follow-up visits, which inspired us to compare a stepwise band-filling strategy with a single bolus injection 4 weeks after the operative procedure. METHODS: 40 consecutive patients were prospectively randomized in 2 groups. 20 patients (Group A) had stepwise band-filling during 6 monthly ambulant visits. 20 patients (Group had a bolus-filling 4 weeks postoperatively and had the next follow-up after another 5 months. Weight loss, complications and procedural costs during follow-up were compared. RESULTS: Patients of both groups did not differ in age, gender or preoperative BMI.There was no significant difference postoperatively in excess weight lost (EWL) after 9 months. Postoperative complications did not differ significantly.By means of bolus-filling, a 60% and 53% reduction in outpatient clinical work was achieved within the 6 and 9 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: Postoperative management after gastric banding takes advantage of a single bolus-filling during the first postoperative 6 months due to sufficient weight loss, low complication rate but significant reduction of personal, financial and logistic efforts. PMID: 15072661 [PubMed]

I understand your frustration, but think you may be SO frustrated that it's impacting your assessment of what's going on. I had all my saline removed yesterday, in anticipation of plastic surgery. I absolutely have less restriction that I did yesterday morning. But I am still restricted compared to pre-band. Can I eat a lot more solid food than I need to keep my body healthy? Sure. Can I eat what I did in September 2002? No way. Now, WHAT ARE YOU EATING? Give us a peek at what a day's worth of food for each of you is. Also, call Don Mills at Inamed and tell them that your doctor is one of those every-eight weeks guys and ask that his rep goes over scheduled fills with him. Inamed is all about surgeon education, because they need their product to succeed. Sue Babs--Yup...teensy, weensy.

1: Obes Surg. 2004 Mar;14(3):399-406. Related Articles, Links _ The influence of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding on gastroesophageal reflux. de Jong JR, van Ramshorst B, Timmer R, Gooszen HG, Smout AJ. Department of Surgery, University Medical Center, Heidelberglaan 100, CX-3584 Utrecht, The Netherlands. jr.dejong@hccnet.nl BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) influences gastroesophageal reflux. METHODS: 26 patients undergoing gastric banding were assessed by a questionnaire for symptom analysis, 24-hour pH monitoring, endoscopy and barium swallows, preoperatively, at 6 weeks and at 6 months after operation. RESULTS: Gastric banding had minimal effect on heartburn scores, but regurgitation and belching scores increased significantly during follow-up. Use of acid-reducing drugs decreased significantly at 6 weeks and increased significantly at 6 months. Pathological reflux was present in 13 of the 26 patients preoperatively. At 6 months pathological reflux was found in only 6 of these 13 patients, but 4 of the 13 patients with preoperative normal reflux patterns had developed pathological reflux. 6 months after the operation esophagitis had disappeared in 6 patients and was increased in 9 patients. In 9 patients, a pouch was found at 6 months. Pouch formation was significantly correlated with the presence of pathological reflux, esophagitis and the use of acid-reducing medication. Preoperative presence of a hiatal hernia did not influence pouch formation or pathological reflux. CONCLUSION: LAGB decreases gastroesophageal reflux if there is no pouch formation during follow-up. PMID: 15072663 [PubMed]

I guess I like my posts so much I'm putting them all in here twice!

There are 5cc's (5 mL) in a teaspoon. So 1cc is one-fifth of a teaspoon. You can picture 0.1 cc as follows: take a teaspoon, pour of four-fifths (80%) of it. That's 1cc. Then pour out nine-tenths (90%) of what's left. That's 0.1cc.

oops

There is a school of thought that says that real live sugar is better for us. I imagine you've already considered and dismissed that concept for very good reasons. Depending on who's measuring, a teaspoon is only +/-16 calories and, for some, far more satisfying.

...so today I got the saline removed for the plastic surgery. Met Donali for dinner. Ate reasonably. Came home and ate unreasonably and feel borderline sick. You kind of had to sort of expect that. AAARG. Sue

the lady from Phoenix whose name is NOT Bianca ot Bianca. Oh, yes, and the two ladies in Miguel's van...I'm sorry. It was a long day and I have misplaced my recall of your names. I was so nice meeting you at Dr. Kuri's and I hope you did decide to drop in here! Sue

I am nowhere near goal. But, I have needed reconstructive abdominal surgery for over 25 years. Gaining weight made the problems worse. Losing weight made the sagging and intrigo worse. I thought there would be some resistance, but there was none. The doctor said #1--that the pannus hangs low enough and #2--that the intertrigo just reinforces the decision that it is medically necessary. And did I want May or June? He also says that he may do SOME abdominoplasty work to make the upper and lower parts of my abdomen look like they go together. I asked why so many doctors want the patient at goal. He said that they don't want their work messed up. But that in my case, if I manage to lose the NEXT 80 pounds I need to lose, I can have the area "tweaked," because it probably WILL drop a little with that much weight loss. He DID push about what my goal weight is. But I told him that if it stopped right here, I could live with it, and that at age 57, I don't want to take the chance of getting to goal a few years from now, with a huge hanging pannus and then having him tell me I'm too old for PS. I'm not sure whether I'm excited or scared or (more likely) both. It would be LOVELY to get rid of this rash. It would be LOVELY to have my waist measure LESS THAN my hips. (Every pair of pants I own hangs on my butt and thighs, but I need them that big to fit my waist.) It would be LOVELY to be able to "bring your knee up to your chest" when the Pilates chick says to do that. Right now, my thigh cannot get to my abdomen because of the pannus. I have had a another plastic surgeon tell me I should do it. Not sure how many "second opinions" I'm going for, since I want this and I think he can do it and it would be at no cost to me. Hmmmmm....

He's trying to convince me that the LapBand doesn't work. His buddy used to do LapBand and stopped and that's all he needs to know. AARRRRRGGGHHHH!!! After my PS, I'm going to deliver him some stats comparing the two surgeries. But not 'til I'm post-op, on accounta he's the guy with the knife. AARRRRRGGGHHH!!!!

Aha! Then, unless you talk to youself aloud while dining alone, it could be that you swallow a little before the food is really well-chewed, so that you can keep up with mealtime conversations. I do that all the time. At home alone, I can take a bite, and chew a long time, and wait for even longer times while I play on the computer. In group dining situations, I think there's an invisible social-pressure -related tendency to try to keep pace with the group.

Actually, it was really an attempt on his part to reassure me, along the lines of "it's not your fault you don't already weigh less, you should have had the bypass," kind of thing. And, it was spoken by the Surgical Fellow (an optional step, after intership and residency for someone who could be on his own but wants more PS experience) not the actual Plastic Surgeon. Ya know, Donali, he's probably very typical of doctors. Young, bright, head of the class kind of guy, and the doctor he mentioned who stopped doing the band is one who is in a university teaching situation, so the Fellow understandably defers to him as a reliable source outside the Fellow's area of expertise. What the expert didn't mention is that the "bad" results were the result of US doctors NOT doing what the successful foreign doctors had done. The learning curve on the band is so steep (which is why you and I focus on experience) that the doctors who had "bad" results after fewer than 50-80 patients really didn't give it a chance. I feel bad for their patients. I wonder how many were talked into RnY's just because the doctors didn't know what to do or what to expect. Oh, well.