Jim1967

Hi Mike, Welcome to LBT!! Next Tuesday is my 1 year surgery anniversary and I have to tell you it is the best thing I ever could have done for myself. It was by far the easiest surgery I have ever had in my life. I had two days of some gas cramping which is very normal. I was walking the hospital hall two hours after surgery with a lovely Nurse. As for the scarring mine are barely visible but even if they were it would still be worth it. My advice to you would be to attend a seminar and learn all you can about it. Jim

Funny I have no issues with chicken or eggs but you give me a piece of steak regardless of how tender it is going to be problematic for me.

Excellent point!! Maybe a band journey together is something she would have enjoyed. Hard to say seeing she isn't talking to you. On the flip side....the road of life goes in one direction. There is a start and an end and how much time we have in between is always an unknown. I got banded at 45 and wish I had just done it when I was 25 (not that bands have been around that long). I wasted a lot of my younger years severely obese and a short 10 years ago I thought surgery was taking the easy way out so I tried Atkins and was successful with it but couldn't stick with it (like any fad diet). Fast forward 8 years I had put all my weight back on plus an additional 90lbs. Maybe at 46 years old it is easier for me to say goodbye to a friend over better health opportunities and hope of extending my travel on the road of life but I say if she doesn't talk to you again then all you can do is keeping moving forward. Do not let her lack of communication deter you from reaching your goals. If your friend cannot support you in this journey and is going to cause adverse affects then maybe you need to cut the ties move on without her.

Make it without ice and refrigerate it or put in the freezer for an hour

Great article Jean!! My Wife is starting the process and I think this will be a good read for her. She is currently reading my copy of Bandwagon!!

It sure does. I mean I have been in a good place now for a couple of months but it seemed I was always chasing that sweet spot of long lasting 'restriction'. I recall numerous times getting a fill and have it feel great for about a week then it went away. My Doc told me it could be because my stomach is shrinking quickly and the band is not as snug. Stick with it and keep up your follow ups with Doc and you'll get there. Under my signature there is a great article from Dr Simpson on the topic. It's a great read. I recommend it to everyone.

My Surgeon expected each patient to lose at least 5% before surgery. They want to shrink the liver as much as possible to make the surgery safer and easier. They also wanted to see if the person was really committed to making a life style change and not out for an easy fix. Band is no easy fix that much is certain.

We're not fueling the furnace like we once used to...

Same here...always chilly now. This has been such a long cold winter here in NH. I am ready for 90+ temps.

Stomach noises are very common with the band and even a year later it still plays sweet music to me. As long as your not having nausea then I would say you are fine. Stomach gurgles and rumbles are something you will have with the band and may never go away.

I hope you have been researching for a bit and not rushing into it. It is a very big life adjustment. Even the most simple things such as eating a meal without drinking, eating very slow and chewing food really fine is not as easy as it sounds. Please research the hell out it before diving in head first. My Father in law made a comment a few weeks ago that set me off. "I have no time for appointments and hoops to jump through. Just put the damn thing in and tighten it all the way up" Clueless....absolutely clueless. Apparently he thinks it's just that easy and also apparently does not think I had to work at it.

Good idea would be to contact your insurance company and ask them for the written policy on bariatric coverage. it is a good idea to have it for you records and you can read exactly what their criteria is. My insurance company emailed me a PDF version of it.

Hi there. I have a similar situation with my job. My Surgeon recommended two weeks off and I took one. I could have gone back to work after day 3 honestly. Recovery itself is not so bad but what happens is you get tired easily and you lack energy. Part of it is from just having surgery and the other part is from the lack of food. I would say the walk is not a problem after all walking is encouraged to get the gas out of your system. I was walking the hospital halls two hours after surgery. When I got home I would walk around the house and out to the mailbox.

I had to go in to the Doc office once a month to weigh in and I had to keep food journals and exercise logs. My surgeon documented all the weigh ins and I kept the journals. Insurance company originally rejected me for two reasons. 1. They had my birthdate wrong on all my records. It appeared I was under 18 when in fact I was 45 at the time. Easily correctable. 2. Not enough supporting documentation for the six month supervised diet. - Basically my Surgeon faxed them a large sample the food journals and exercise logs that I kept. They rejected me two days after originally submitting for those two reasons above. They approved the very next day upon those items being addressed. Overall it took me a week to get approval. I had Cigna Carelink at the time. I now have BCBS of MA and they have no such requirements.

Nice post!! Finding that green zone can be tough. Took me almost 9 months.

Hi Frankie,,, What you are feeling and thinking is completely normal. Back when most of us here were researching the band in the beginning we got hung up on the negatives as well. At some point you have to decide for yourself if the risk out weighs the risk of doing nothing. I was 488 when I started...488!!! I am 46 years old and well into my cardiac years. I read the negative just as you have and I came here to this very site and voiced the same concerns. I finally decided I could not sit by any longer as a ticking time bomb. I needed to do something and it had to be then and now. I decided for myself that other surgeries were not my cup of tea. Maybe if I had high blood pressure, diabetes and a Doctor telling me if I didn't lose a significant amount of weight in 6 months or I would die I would have chosen gastric bypass. I chose the band because it is completely adjustable and removable without any alterations of my insides. Because of my success my Wife has embarked on her own journey. We went to a seminar this past Tuesday and she has her first appointment on the 16th. I am so excited for her but I am more excited for us. We are going to be a real team in every sense of the word. Like I said before I am not trying to sway you one way or the other because you have to make this decision. I understand your family is nervous for you. Mine was as well. I was so scared that I sought out everyone in my family and made sure we had a moment before my surgery day. See if your family and GF will attend an informational seminar with you. Show them the reports of the mortality rate with the bypass vs. the band. Ask them what kind of future do you have walking around at 500lbs. I know for me I couldn't even walk a grocery store. I drove my wife there and dropped her off at the door and sat in the car and then helped her load the car when she came out. You know what...that sucked!! It sucked for her and it sucked for me and I swear I will never forget it and I will never go back to that. Here's a little reality for you: Taking action far outweighs the dangers of doing nothing!!

BTW if you are getting band opinions from obesityhelp.com then that is half your problem right there....Lot's of anti-banders on there just dying to share propaganda.

If this is failure then I'm loving it!! You going to hear more about failures then successes because all of the successful people are off enjoying their life. There are legitimate failures caused by complications then there are people who need to have something to blame for their inability to follow directions and work with the Band properly. I am not going to sit here and sell you on the band as you need to make your own decision but I will say that I feel the band saved my life but it is merely a tool. It will not do the work for you and you need to have discipline and more importantly you need to be honest with yourself when it comes to working with it. I personally do not put a lot of stock in reports and statistics and that is because no one person is the same.

John, Thanks for sharing. It is unfortunate you were alone and did not have someone to talk to or were in a place where you could reach out to talk to someone. I hope you have found your strength to begin this journey and make a good solid go at it. I too was in a very bad place when I started plus I was on the cusp of pushing 500lbs. I could not have done this without my wife. I certainly do not think I would have gone to the seminar without her and therefor would not be where I am today. I urge you to stick around here and,participate or at least read. There is so much support here I would actually pay for a membership (shhh...don't tell Alex ) if I had to. If I were you I would also look into in person support groups. I actually have developed many friendships thanks to this band. I wish you well and hope to see you here.

I think that's why I had a real easy time (aside from the Cat) I had and still have a lot of fat protecting me. I must admit I almost missed some of that extra fat during these past winter months. I hated the cold before the band and I hate it now.

Sounds like me Dee. I chose to ignore my weight and blow it off whenever family or a Doctor harped on me about it. Unfortunately he needs to want to do something about it. This is no different then an alcoholic or drug addict. He has to want to do something about it. If he is doing it to appease people then he will fail. I pray he will find his way while he still has time.

Hi Kathy and welcome to LBT. My weight loss started off very slow as well and I went weeks at a time without any scale movement. It was very frustrating in the beginning because I feel I just had major surgery so why isn't the weight falling off? My weight loss actually picked up speed as time went on as I was getting my fills. I lost a great deal of weight off and on with time but not like I expected. It took me 9 months and 9.5cc in my band to finally hit the green zone. I have lost 31lbs alone since my final fill on Jan 29th. Now that is the scale movement I've been waiting for. Everyone is different on their fill needs but I wanted to give you a different perspective. It is true as you get closer to goal it may slow down but the best yet to come. Find that green zone where ever it may be for you and enjoy the journey while it's happening. You're at 31lbs in 3 months and it sounds like you are doing wonderful. Stick with it and keep up your appointments for adjustments and things should pick up. Good luck.

I was able to sleep in bed on my back and was able to tolerate being on my side off and on throughout the night and by the end of week 1 I had no issues. One thing to watch out for is if you have pets particularly Cats that like to jump up on you while you're sleeping as it could make you jump through the roof. I was on night number 2 and my Cat jumped up on me in my sleep and man did I feel it. Woke me right up and I was in agony and more so I scared the heck out of my wife.