WASaBubbleButt

[QUOTE=WASaBubbleButt;5005]Ahhhh, but I didn't tell you all the other stuff I ate! I was sooooo angry!

The whole entire weekend was like that, one piece of stupidity or frustration after another. I couldn't decide if I wanted to run or eat so I did both. ;o)

WASa,

OMG woman, we must be twins! I can not believe the similarities of your weekend with my life and the stupid mistakes that people at my work make which cause me to run around putting out fires all day!

Last night after re-reading your post about getting back on track and being straight about the hard road it is to be fat and how we have to change our habits and yes, exercise--I dreamed about running on a treadmill trying to reach a bagel. Woke up at 4am to the dang alarm and went to the gym to do cardio and was so pissed about it(exercise not the bagel dream)! :lol0: I was mad half my day-not at all the stupid mistakes that my workers had made but because I am sick of being Fat and damn mad that I haven't been able to just pay for the surgery and schedule it and that I will have to exercise daily cause diabetes insulin resistence is going to ruin my life if I don't. So I went to the gym, avoided white carbs today, hungry as hell because I crave them so bad, and now will have to do it again tomorrow. Tom, my trainer, had the audacity to call me today and tell me that he enjoyed your post as well and that he wanted to see me tomorrow and that he wanted me to be happy about it rather than pissed. I told him to watch out because he is treading on thin ice around a big mad fat chick dealing with carb withdrawal.:001_tt2: Anyway, thank you, sister!

I think I love you. ;o) Someone understands me! I think I am in heaven!

Carb withdrawal sucks donkey peeters. No way around it. It just does.

I am afraid of that too. No one believes I am 51 and I always say it's because I'm so fat it pulls all the wrinkles out of my face ... I'm afraid that's going to change .. only time will tell I guess.

BTW - what does KWIM mean?

Know What I Mean. ;o)

Will the swelling show on a GI? I am having one done on Friday while Bob is doing his pre-op tests? How long does the swelling last? It will be 4 weeks on 7/10. I too burb like a man and it's quite embarassing at times as sometimes there is no warning! Mostly it is at home, and although it's still embarrasing, generally it's only in front of Bob.

It's a terrible feeling and I sure hope it goes away and I can be like others that say they can't even tell they had surgery other than they can't eat as much.

I have the slimes/foaming under control at least.

You just had most of yoru stomach cut out of you. You have swelling, give it time!

Another brother!! GOOD we need some more men---I cant handle all these woman by myself...................LOL

I do not think you give yourself enough credit. ;o) Jaffa was doing well before you came. I think you can do the same.

Ok, before this turns into a full out "witch hunt", can you please just keep your advice to the stuff that will actually help me going forward?? As opposed to mocking and belittling "the poor sap" who DUH! supposedly didn't do any research before "that sharp thingy went in"!!? No need for the nastiness. Please. I've already had enough just with the experience alone.

Gee, not only did I stumble upon the "worst surgeon in all of Mexico, nay the world", but somehow I must have got stuck with the worlds worst search engine too because NONE of this stuff about Huacuz came up all those nights I spent at my computer trying to Google him or his clinic PRIOR to my surgery. In all that time all I found was one negative thread on him, which was actually berating not him but his first partner from some 15-20 years ago. And in same thread, several bandsters came to Huacuz' defense so vehemently that I was left with the impression that he was genuinely and generally liked. My bad. All I could find on my surgeon were positive testimonials. I must be a complete idiot!!

FYI: my surgery of choice would have been Ontario, but being a single mom I couldn't afford to pay 3X what I paid in Mexico. As for scarring info, all the articles, websites, doctors, and doctor's assistants I researched and spoke to PRIOR to even deciding on the surgery, talked about only THREE incision sites, with the main port incision tucked neetly away in/near your belly button. I assumed that since this prodedure had been around for over a decade that the technique had been pretty much perfected and standardized. It never occured to me that a practicing surgeon would just go ahead an cut you right smack in the middle of your abdomen.

Well, what's done is done, and I have to live with these scars now. Thanks for all the sympathy, but if anyone has information for me that will actually cheer me up, or support me, as opposed to making me feel like this website's biggest loser (and I'm NOT talking pounds), I would appreciate it!

BTW: if anyone's interested, I know ALL about the gas introduced into our abdomen cavity during lapband surgery, and it's ill effects post-op. In fact a fine surgeon/researcher from Calgary wrote an entire article following an in-depth study on the post-op effects of said gas. He found that at least 20% of patients still suffered the shoulder pain as long as 5 weeks and beyond surgery. He also found methods in which these negative effects could be curbed or lessened by surgeons. Such as a) using less of the gas, :smile2: warming the gas prior to insertion, or c) removing as much as the gas as possible before suture. Unfortunately none of this can help me now, but I did send the entire article to Huacuz (in the hopes that he might consider reading it before performing any more surgeries).

Now if I could just find an article on proper surgical suture techniques for him...:biggrin:

Your attempts at redirection do not work on me. There are MANY threads on this website alone that tell the horrors of Huacuz. Just put his name in the search engine and you'll see.

People go to him because he's cheap and quite frankly, he's cheap for a reason.

I'm sorry you have horrible scars. As I wrote before, the man does plastic surgery as well. One can only imagine.

Well I have to be honest here and say "THIS SUCKS" and I hope that I will not feel this way forever. I mean if I do, not much I can do about it; however, it wasn't what I was hoping for when I got the surgery -- sure, eating less that I expected -- but the feeling of constantly feeling sick or that something is stuck isn't much fun at all.

You have a lot of swelling.

When I was first sleeved I really did regret it because I burped like a man. It was embarrassing. Dr. Aceves said it was swelling and would go away, it did.

Female Sleevers: Did your breast size decrease by more than one cup size when you lost weight?

Male and Female Sleevers: Did your shoe size decrease??

I went from a very full C to a B. My plastic surgeon swears he can put 'em back to where they were. ;o)

Shoes... nope, still the same.

It makes me wonder how I can be so different. I know we went to the same surgeon, but I can eat quite a bit of mushy food. I can eat more than I think I would be able to, actually.

You were banded, you already learned how to eat and drink after WLS so it was easier for us. True WLS newbies have it harder.

:scared0:

Vegas Angel had her sleeve about three weeks ago...she can't seem to drink anything without feeling 'full'. After anything she eats she burps real bad, most of the time she has no energy after 8pm. I mean she is ready for the bed. It seems she can't get all her protien in either becasue taste is an issue or fullness. She has the slimes now and again from or for whatever reason......:scared0: So my question is this...IS THIS HOW IT IS?

I am scheduled to be sleeved on the 11th and I can tell you all that I do NOT want to live this way...THIS SUCKS!

I understand about the all liquids for 20 first clear then any, I understand about 'mushies' but what she is going through is well for lack of better words BS. I do not think I can tolerate that! At my heavyist I was 310 at 23 years old, I have yo yoed all my life. Lost 110 in 110 through a liquid protien at age 24. Up to 280 at 30 and down to 179 with nutra systems, walking every day. UP to 200 over the years then in 2000 shot up to 255 275, since then flucuated down to 240 can't seem to get below that. WANT to weigh 175 again for health reasons....NO more HBP, Hate taking pills....BUT I have to admit I don't want this stuff that she is putting up with. IS she having an unusal time or is this NORMAL?

Nope, not normal... not long term anyway. Her stomach is healing, it's swollen, she has to learn to eat and drink all over again. Sliming is from eating/drinking too fast or too much. It's a whole process we have to learn to do and some have it easier than others.

I sent them an email from their contact us link on the web site. Didn't you say that you can get your results online? I put my order # in my email. Was there something else I was supposed to do to get my results?

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait for them to contact me or what I was supposed to do.

thanks!

I'd call them and ask them to set you up with a password and method to check your results on line. It's just faster that way. I can't remember if you have seen the on line version of results or not, if you want to see mine I'll call you with the password. You can see what it looks like and all the info they give you.

Oh, I thought you told me he hasn't had complications when I told you about my friend. You said you didn't want her to be his first one. Maybe I misunderstood you.

I thought the OP was saying she was worried about cancer down the road. Dr. A or no doctor for that matter has control of that.

Yes, that was the lady that wasn't planning to follow the post op diet. I didn't want her to be his first leak, it wouldn't even have been his fault.

Speaking of older moms, my boss had twins at the age of 50. She was almost 51. They were born on New Years Eve and she was 51 on March 1st.

If I got preggers today I'd have to dig my eye out with a rusty nail.

I definitely appreciate everyone's input. The sleeve seems like exactly what I hoped the band would be. I'm just more cautious this time around. And scared I guess that even if the VSG feels better what if it doesn't help me lose more weight. I wish this all wasn't so hard!

Thanks,

Britt

I was gun shy about another WLS as well. I was really scared that a sleeve would just make my problems permanent but it didn't, it fixed everything.

Life can be so miserable with a band and you just get to the point that you can't trust another WLS. I know exactly how you feel. You don't want to live life like this anymore but you don't want to gain weight either. It's a hard decision to make.

Dr. Aceves has never had any complications. He is an excellent surgeon and is extremely experienced with band to sleeve surgeries.

I doubt that he's never had a sleeve complication, it's leaks. He's never had a leak with a sleeve. He's probably had some other types of complications.

And we do NOT put down the seat in here. Fair warning :cursing:

Lucky for us that we glued it down.... with pink glue made in the shape of pretty pink flowers.

We wanted to make it all nice and foo foo for you guys in your room. ;o)

Yes this is true.Some people research more thoroughly than others.

Being as it is too late for the OP to do this now do you have any practical advice on what she can do now?

There is nothing to be done. The scars are forever.

She's lucky to be alive, quite frankly. Huacuz is probably one of the worst surgeons in Mexico, if not the worst surgeon. He's nothing short of dangerous.

People need to do more research as HeadHunter writes.

Well, I have had my band since Dec 2004 and lost about 25 lbs which was all from the liquid diet that you are on following surgery. At 6 days post op I was feeling extremely hungry and was very dissappointed because my Dr told me that with the band you won't be hungry at all. I have 8 cc in a 10 cc Vanguard Inamed band and feel no restiction. I have never had any restriction. When I talked to my Dr about this a few months after surgery they said I needed to eat meat and raw veggies. I can't do that for breakfast lunch and dinner and am not a big meat eater. Makes me mad because before surgery I was told that 3-4 oz of food would fill me up and I wouldn't be able to eat for 4-5 hrs. What a bunch of hooey! They never mentioned that I would have to eat meat and raw veggies for every meal for the rest of my life. .........Anyway, researching the sleeve sounds like it will get rid of my hunger and my stomach will be very small. No adjustments or tweaking or eating meat for every meal. I think it will work. I think I can lose weight with a restrictive only procedure, I just didn't get any restriction from the first procedure (band).

You were given a sales pitch vs. honesty IMHO.

One thing I will suggest, stop and think long and hard about something. A sleeve is restrictive only just like a band is restrictive only. If you do not have great restriction are you making wise food choices? What is your white carb intake daily? Are you resorting to high calorie foods and white carbs or are you at least making excellent choices in the meantime?

The reason I ask is that I think most people need malabsorption and a good guide is to look at what you are eating when the band isn't working. I had nothing but band problems from the start but I didn't fall into the trap that a lot of banded folks say. They claim that they can't eat good foods, it won't go through the band. That's a crock, a total crock. If you can drink milkshakes you can drink Protein shakes. If you can eat chips and dip you can eat dried veggies. See what I mean?

Over the last 5.5 years what have your food choices been? Are you leaning more towards poor food choices or really good foods but just a lot of them?

It's really an important question to ask yourself because if you are still struggling with poor food choices a sleeve might not be your best option. You'll be able to eat those same foods with a sleeve. It's something that nobody can decide for you, only you know if you can do it with restriction alone.

I hear you about no restriction, many have that problem. If we could manage quantity on our own we wouldn't have needed WLS to begin with. We can all eat around any surgery type, I sure did it last weekend! I did it in a big way. ;o) But that's not my usual. Point being, it is easier to eat around a band or sleeve than it is bypass or DS. White carbs are a killer, that's what got us in the mess we were in at the time of surgery. Some really can't give up white carbs.

Just something to think about.

Glad to have you here, if there is anything we can do for you please let us know!

I am so discouraged. I had hoped to be down 100lbs by my one year mark. I haven't lost anything for a month. I had a fill a month ago. And I had another fill yesterday. I am so hopeful this will be the one that helps. I do feel restriction now. I am at 6.5. I feel like I am eating well, but the weight is stuck. I feel like a failure....

Example menu

6am Protein shake

9am yogurt nonfat

1130 salad with tuna

2pm cheese

630pm grilled chicken and salad.< /p>

So why am I not losing!!!! HELP!!!!

You don't mention quantities, carb intake (protein shake/yogurt/salad dressing), or exercise. We need more information.

I got mine expidited and got it in 7 days....... you could actually book your flight early and go to a processing center and get one...... there are seven across the us.....

BUT YOU HAD TO HAVE IT AS OF THE June 1 09. Only kids under 16 can still use a birth certificate!

This is not accurate, for at least July and maybe August you can bring proof you applied for a passport. The border is accepting this. I do not know if this holds true for "flying" into Mexico but it is true for driving into Mexico.

Wassa, dont be so hard on yourself, we strive for progress, not perfection. I know thats a Jenny Craig and a 12 step slogan but it fits in this case. I remember those bad days in Pediatrics, I had too many of those myself. One of the many reasons I left nursing and went into engineering. Its alot more fun and absolutely love telling men what to do LOL. We all havefound my comfort in food too at one time or another.

Ahhhh, but I didn't tell you all the other stuff I ate! I was sooooo angry!

One of the nurses I sent out to a child's home gave 10x the amount of growth hormone to this child for three days in a row. There was no excuse, none. I was soooo angry I could'a spit. She was supposed to give 3mg, she gave 30mg three days in a row. It should have lasted a month, I figured there was a problem when he was out of medication in three days.

Another person (patient) decided that her internet research showed she should take double the amount of a drug she was prescribed. Her doctor didn't know what he was talking about, an on line chat room told her so. So she doubled up on a drug and went through a 2 week supply of a verrrrrry expensive drug in a week. Then she told the doctor we told her to do it because she didn't want him upset with her. Luckily with that particular drug she didn't harm herself but trying to sort out what happened at 10PM with a doctor screaming in my ear was not enjoyable.

Had another one that is on a drug for bone density problems and she called me hourly in a panic because her feet are getting bigger. They aren't, she's just crazy. She's actually the 2nd person that swore her feet were growing a size daily. Finally I suggested she get bigger shoes and now she's happy. These doctors need to start treating the psych issues people have as well as the medical.

Then my dog got an abscess on his butt, poor baby had to go to the ER clinic and have his butt lanced. That hurt. He's zonked out on pain pills as I type.

The whole entire weekend was like that, one piece of stupidity or frustration after another. I couldn't decide if I wanted to run or eat so I did both. ;o)

This sounds like a classic Leak problem.

I understand the responsibility issue, but if the band is working properly it should be too much work to defeat it, apart from sweets etc.

Before beating yourself up too much I would make sure there is no leak in port, connections, or the band itself.

It does not sound like a leak at all to me. She has restriction (probably not enough), if she overeats (and admits that she does) she does not lose. She admits to eating around the band... No signs of a leak thus far.

The bigger bands take a LOT more fills to get to restriction or a sweet spot. I've seen people posting that they are getting fills monthly and at 8 months they still have no restriction.

If I was to get another band, and in my case I would not, I would only get the smaller bands for this very reason.

As for it being difficult to defeat the band that is not true at all. You can very easily eat around any surgery type.

You've got the beginning right!

So here is what I don't understand:

What causes the food to actually move through the opening? Why doesn't it just sit there? Is it like an hourglass where the sand just drops slowly through the opening?

Your esophagus produces some juices (I believe that's where the 'slime' comes from), but mainly you've got it right...it's an hourglass and mainly gravity kicks it through (that's why people have problems if they eat too close to bedtime).

When people mention being "stuck" where are they stuck? Is it the at the opening between the esophogus and the pouch? Or the pouch and the band?

My doc said this is the new stoma (pouch/band). You'll notice you have to adjust your chewing as your new upper stoma gets smaller.

Same idea with a PB--where does the this get triggered? At the esophogus or when the food gets to the band.

Not sure what you mean, but I was told when something gets stuck (above) then the body reacts with producing slime (I believe from the esophagus) to move things along, when that doesn't work the next response is the PB to get it up and out. That's why you usually slime then PB. You can have food back up all the way into your esophagus as well.

Slime is when your body is producing really super thick saliva and theoretically, it's supposed to act a a lubricant to help food pass through the stoma. I don't know about others but for me when I was banded it just meant more stuff to barf. ;o)

I often get shaky and lightheaded and have come very close to passing out at times from not getting enough to eat/not eating meals on time etc... Once I am eating a significant amount less than I do now, how will that affect this physical reaction?

This is usually caused from a carb rich diet. You will likely experience problems after surgery until your body adjusts to a healthier diet.

When it happen do NOT consume sugar!! Consume Protein, it will even out your blood sugar.

I have read a lot of you talk about drinking Slim Fast. Just be careful because they are FULL of sugar and carbs. My nutritionists HATES them and told us to stay far away from it. I remember when I was on Atkins being shocked by the nutrition facts on them! Just a heads up!

Happy Banding!

There are two types of Slim Fast including a low carb version.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone could stomach either. I think they are gross.

Hello Elcee,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate your support. What is PB? Maybe that is what I experienced, and not so much "true" vommiting. I only had this about 3 times when something got caught going down. My surgeon gave me an initial fill day after surgery of 2.9, I beleive. I've always been a very slow eater and chew my food a lot more than the average person. I've tried to be conscious of this even moreso since the lapband on June 5th. I have 5 incisions in all: one is 1.5 inches long and located above and to the left of my belly button - VERY noticeable. I believe this is the one that is normally concealed in or close to the belly button, by more professional surgeons. Then I have a 1" scar between my breasts at bra line, and another 1" scar just below my left breast. Then I have 2 dark red "nodules" on either side of my abdomen. These stick out, like nipples. I don't think my surgeon was very well practiced in the art of sewing one up to keep scars to a minimum. Lucky me.

I hope you're right about the shoulder pain. And I definitely need to be more careful about what I am eating. Depression and food is a very bad mix with me. I have booked my fill for this coming Friday. I'm praying it all works out.

Thanks again for your support!

TT:redface:

I'm sorry about the scars. There is a doctor in Monterrey that swears he can spot a Huacuz patient just by the scars. He said that it looks like he sews people up with his foot, and his left foot at that. They will fade to some degree over time. You know what is spooky? Huacuz does plastic surgery as well. He's not certified to do it but if it will earn him a buck... Can you imagine what that looks like? ;o)

You really do have to chew well, small bites, and eat slowly. You risk a slip if you do not.

Pain in your shoulder: This is gas. Apparently you were not told that they would pump gas into your abdomen to make more room for the surgeon to work. This gas has to be absorbed by your body after surgery and it tends to "roam" around in your chest cavity and that is what caused that pain in your shoulder. Once all the gas is absorbed, that should end and not come back.

Not true. Many banded people have shoulder pain as a soft stop. Some have shoulder pain when they are hungry.

As for gas pains it is a matter of the gas pushing on the diaphragm and that irritates a nerve that causes referred pain in the shoulder. It's not that gas is "roaming" around the chest.

2.9ccs is a small start. I had .6 after surgery and my first fill was 3ccs on top of that....and I've had 4 more fills since then to take to to 6ccs and I am FINALLY at my sweet spot.

You need to go for a fill. Get whomever does the fill to draw all the Fluid out before they add any so that you know absolutely 100% how much Fluid is in your band. A fill will NOT cause the gas pains you've experienced post-op. The fill goes into the port, which inflates the inner ring of your band. It is a closed system.

Lastly, scars. You KNEW you would be cut; I mean, it's surgery after all.

Hello All,

First I have to tell ,you guys have been an inspiration and thank you. I had surgery in January of 2009 so far Ive lost 70lbs and feel great. I have a quick question

I was adjusted once, I haven't gone back. I think im consuming too much food. I can eat 3 taco's and feel full not overfull, just right. Is this too much food? ? My weight loss has slowed down to about 1 pound a week. I know that's good but I've averaged about 2 lbs, its slowing down!!! not that concerned about it. What mostly concerns me is the amunt of food i eat.

Is that too much??? how much do you eat? Do i need an adjustment??

Thanks everyone

Pete O

Three tacos is a bit much for a banded person with good restriction.

Maybe a fill and better food choices? ;o)