Hi Fellow Bandsters,
It's me--Dr. Stephanie. My patients keep telling me I should look online so today I did! Thanks for all the nice things that are said. I just wanted to clarify something that I read in one place. It mentioned that for unfills I "always" take everything out. As a matter of fact I almost "never" take everything out of the band for unfills unless the patient or another physician recommends it. It is my experience that with a partial untfill, the bandster can get back on track and start eating real (not slider) foods, heal the inflammation with medications, get the swelling down and start anew. Very rarely (in the case of slippage or gross stretching of the pouch) there is not other option than to take all of the fill out, but even then I discuss this with the patient and we consult on it. The patient's health is always foremost in both her/his and my minds. Hope this helps. Just want the info to be correct on this forum. I hope I have put it on the right place---online continues to be a bit of a challenge for me!
