DFunderburk

Holly Dolly - are your fills under fluoroscopy?

My doctor says half-cup per meal. It is hard to only eat that much. Like you I was a volume eater. Food tastes good and I want to keep eating. I am going to have to stop cooking because it is so hard to eat only 4 oz when there is a pan or pot of good food just sitting there.

Thank you Jean - you are giving me great advice and encouragement. So my fill is scheduled for Monday. It will cost $700 which is still too much in my opinion - I used to be a CFO at a hospital so I know the discounts that are given to insurance companies so I think I am going to call the hospital tomorrow and find out if there is a larger discount that I can negotiate. Since I left the surgeon's office - I have eaten a small chili from Wendy's (kind of had to get something quick after being at appt for 3 hrs so I could go back to work.) I did not snack this afternoon at all. I had two 16 oz bottles of Water then while cooking I sipped on a can of V8 juice because my blood sugar was a bit low. I make some more chili (really thick & chunky) and measured out my half-cup and took 30 minutes to eat it. That was about a 1.5 hours ago - I feel hungry now a little bit but I am going to drink some water and go to bed. I was so focused and determined when I was first banded - I have to get that back somehow. Due to surgeon's requirements, I was on liquids for 28 days (over Thanksgiving no less) and felt like if I could do that I could do anything. My surgeon recommends 24 hrs of liquids after a fill but I think I am going to follow post surgery rules if nothing else to get the mental aspect back.

Just back from my doctor's appt - waiting for 2.5 hours then 15 minutes of scolding. He asked why I had the lap band and why I had let myself go. How do you make someone understand that you don't know the answer to that question yourself sometimes? I don't know why I let it go - but I am here now so let's do something about it. The coordinator is supposed to call me later today to get the fill set up and I will discuss pricing with her. He says that my pouch could be stretched and I understand that. He says that it could go back down if I follow band rules so that is good news. He said though that I could have had a slip even though I have no symptoms - no pain, reflux, etc. and obviously I can keep food down. Has anyone had that experience? I hope he is trying to scare me (which it worked). All I can do is go forward from here right?

I am hoping that I can negotiate that fee down somewhat - during my first year post-op I would get bills from hospital and radiology group and that it what they were billing. I never understood the radiology billing - the surgeon was in the room while the fluouroscope was being done - he did the fill - the tech was a hospital employee and the purpose was to locate the port and to make sure I could still swallow the barium - so why did a radiologist need to get involved? The surgeon's fee is covered for the first 2 years post-op so I should get this one at no charge from him. I went 8 months before I got my first fill and during that time is when I lost most of my weight - it seems once I had that first fill I lost my mojo or something.

After reading this thread I called my surgeon and will see him on Wednesday. I haven't seen him in a year....I had an appt earlier this year but was really busy at work (I am a CPA) so I put it off till after April 15th. But then I gained weight during tax season and didn't want to go because I knew he would fuss at me. Now here I am more than 3 months after tax season and 37 lbs gained since the first of the year. I had at one time gotten up to 76 lbs lost - my A1C was down to 4.1. I still monitor my blood sugar regularly and even though I am not on medication any more my AM levels have crept back up to the 120s range. I feel sluggish and tired all the time - something I did not feel last year this time. I was full of energy and so motivated. Some days I have restriction and some days I would swear that the surgeon just charged me $15,000 and did not put a lap band inside of me. Absolutely no restriction. I have had some minor stuck issues lately mostly because of not following band-eating rules. I am self-pay and fills cost around $1,000 (my surgeon does them under fluoroscopy) so a fill is not cheap but neither is gaining back all of the weight I lost. I wish I could figure out how to get my head out of my rear end.