Harkingluv

Hi. I just wanted to review my doc. He is wonderful. His office staff is awesome. I had a terrific experience with him. I paid around $15000, which included hospital stay, anesthesia, and the surgeon fee. Plus, all of my office visits and fills are included for a year. I can call their office whenever I have a question and they don't make me feel stupid. Also, once a month he has support group meetings at the hospital, which are extremely helpful, especially if you are feeling down or have questions. I would definitely recommend him to anyone considering the lap band. :biggrin2:

My doc put it this way: Technically, we now have a disability (small pouch) and it is illegal for them to deny us the right to order off of the children's menu. I don't know how accurate that is, but I think it would make a manager think before saying no. Also, what happened to always trying to please the customer and "the customer is always right"? Personally, I think it is a bunch of crap that they wouldn't let you order off of the kid's menu. I would definitely write a complaint letter. I have only used the card 2 t imes. I didn't have a problem either time. One time I used it at IHOP and the other time I used it at a local family owned restaurant. I thought that I was going to have problems with the family owned restaurant, but they had no problem with it.

I love this site. I am sitting here reading the comments re: plateaus. I have been plateaued for a few weeks and I was starting to feel down. I thought that the scale would have moved by now (it has been 3 weeks or so). However, I did have people say that it looks like I have lost more weight, even tho I haven't. I think my body is just re-arranging. Plus I have been exercising for the last 2 weeks and I wonder if I have been gaining some muscles (I did push-ups for the first time in my life last week!) I also have gotten in the habit of getting on the scale everyday. My husband even hid the scale from me at one point!!! So I will try not to weigh everyday. Thanks for the great comments on this page!!! Good luck to everyone.

Basically my doc stated for the same reasons: learning that you can survive "without" food, showing you that it doesn't have to control your life. Also, you are lucky that you don't have to replace all three meals. My doc made me replace all three meals for 2 weeks. Plus if the patients were over a certain weight, they had to do it for 3 weeks!!! Good luck!!!!

I am having exactly the same problem. Sometimes I know I don't chew well, but I have been really trying and watching how I eat. However, sometimes it doesn't matter. Things still get stuck. I think it is stress. I seem to have more problems with food when I am stressed out. Also, I have been stuck at the same weight for about 3 weeks. I didn't lose that much at my last visit and I am afraid the same thing is going to happen again at my next appt. But i am afraid to get another fill. i have also been eating more than a cup at times. So you are not alone. Let us know what happens.

I never stopped taking my birth control pills. They give you something during surgery to prevent your blood from clotting. Plus, they usually put the compressive boots on your post-op. Also, you should be walking around a lot post surgery to get rid of the gas. So the chance of you clotting is pretty small.

I love steak too. It is my favorite. I have no problem eating steak. I am starting to have problems with chicken tho. I think I just had a couple of dry pieces. Definitely have some steak sauce or gravy near by in case the piece is a little tough. But is all is person-dependent. Some people can't tolerate it. Just chew really, really well.

Well stated!!!! Congrats on your wonderful weight loss. It is nice to actually be able to say that I did something for myself. I have a 2 year old and wanted to be around longer for him and be able to keep up with him. But I definitely did this for myself too.

That is a sign that your band is too tight. You should have it loosened. Sorry for the bad news :w00t:

Hi all...I do the same as Leslie. I lose 5-6 pounds in 1-2 weeks and then I stay put for 2-3 weeks and don't lose anything. I have been stuck at 35 pounds lost for the last 3 weeks. I get my third fill on Aug 11th, and I am expecting about a 5 pound loss in the week following that because so far that has been my trend. I don't exercise yet...although I run around all day in hospitals...I planned on starting last weekend, but got bronchitis and sinusitis so that put a damper on my plans. I plan on starting my exercise routine on Saturday. So maybe that will help. I agree with what everyone else said...start measuring yourself, because even tho you aren't losing pounds, you could be losing inches. Plus muscle does weigh more than fat, so that is another possibility. Don't be so hard on yourselves...you didn't put the weight on overnight and you are not going to lose it overnight. It will take a while.

My most challenging issue so far is trying to eat slowly. I am a doc-in-training and I don't have much time to eat, so I am always rushing to swallow my food. Usually I am done with my meal in 15 minutes instead of the 25-30 my doc wants me to take to eat. Usually it is not a big issue, but I am extra stressed this week and my band is being finicky (I am taking my second step of boards on friday). Yesterday I ate too quickly and something got stuck and before I realized it I had already swallowed another bite. Needless to say, I had to run to the restroom...OPPS!!! That was the first time that happened to me and I am 2 and a half months post-op. But I know I eat too fast. I probably wasn't chewing enough either.

Good luck with everything. Keep us posted on her and your progress!!!

GJ, it was definitely worth it. I had been tossing the idea around with my husband and we looked into it for about a year and a half. Finally one day, after complaining about how I could never lose the weight, etc, etc...he finally looked at me and said if you want the surgery, i will pay for it. So that is what we did. I paid for it out of pocket because i didn't want to have to jump thru all of the hoops my insurance company wanted me too. I looked up a good surgeon, one that had support groups every month, covered my fills for one year and all my follow-up appts for one year. I think if you take the time to research surgeons, you won't have any problems post-op. I haven't had any of the vomiting/pb-ing problems that some of my fellow banders have had. THere is a less than 3 percent chance of slippage. The main thing is to know when you are full and follow the directions that your surgeon has given to you. Plus, the surgery (as long as it is done laproscopically) has a really quick recovery time. It is not going to take her 6 weeks to get over this like it did when she had C-sections or heart surgery. It is a really quick recovery. I had my surgery on Thursday and I was back at school the following monday. Re: expense. I think $16K is a small price to pay to gain a longer life and have more time with my son. You can't put a price on how it feels to be able to run after your child and not get out of breath in a few steps. Plus, I have potentially warded off diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and all the other medical issues that might have popped up in my life if I didn't have this surgery. It was definitely worth it!!!! I would do it again in a heart beat. Good luck to your wife!!!

Hi Bev...It looks like you are doing great!!!! Just keep with it. I had an aunt that used to live in Masaryktown. What a weird name for a town!!! Anyway, I wish you the best of luck...keep on truckin'!

Titancupcake, I don't really count calories. I know I probably should but I am not OCD-enough anymore to worry about it. I don't really have the time right now to figure it out. Plus I don't drink all of the extra Protein drinks. My doc just has women drink 2 glasses of skim milk a day (which I don't do most days either). He hasn't said anything about the Protein Drinks to me. Aren't there a lot of calories in the protein drinks? I just eat until I am getting slightly full (maybe a 3-4 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being stuffed). Then I also try to eat slowly and I say to myself "if I was a skinny girl, how much of this meal would I actually eat?" So yesterday for instance, I had 1/2 of a 6" turkey sub from subway on wheat bread for lunch and I had 1/2 a wrap for dinner. Sometimes I get hungry, but I try to fight the urge to snack. Maybe your band isn't tight enough? Have you talked to your doc about it?

No problem. I am glad you were able to figure out my not-so-good directions!!! I had to try a bunch of times before I actually figured it out. =)

His number is (813) 657-BAND. Here is his website: Surgical Bariatric Centers - Dr. Wil Aguila, Bariatric Surgeon in Tampa Florida

It was around $16,000. But over half of that was the hospital fee. I can't remember the exact breakdown. That includes a years worth of follow-up, plus all the fills you need in the first year, plus the support groups, plus 2 weeks of opti-fast. They also calculated the psych eval into the price.

I also heard that the chance of dying with the lap band is less than one percent. However, I am a student (in the medical profession) and I started analyzing everything the night before my surgery and then I started to freak out. I know way too much and started running scenarios in my head. What happens if I don't wake up from anesthesia? What if I die? Would my son remember me? So I started crying and my husband had to calm me down. I was a little freaked out the day of surgery too, but if you ask the doctor, they might be able to give you something for nerves. They gave me something as I was wheeled into the OR. I would have liked something before that, but what can you do? And no, I don't think it is rude to ask the dr if anyone had died while in surgery. I think it is a reasonable question.

Oh... and if you are self-pay, your first year of fills is included.

I went with Dr. Aguila out of Tampa Memorial Hospital. Price wasn't too bad....definitely worth it to change your life. He was awesome and his staff is very supportive. They hold support meetings once a month, have a personal trainer that gives you ideas and that you can book if you want to. I think we get 3 free sessions with him. They are very hands-on with their patients. Plus you have to go see him once a month so he can make sure you are doing OK. I am soooo happy I went with him!!!

You know you're a bandster when.....you chew your soup!!!

I have lost 35 pounds. I am still wearing my baggy clothes (size 22). My husband hates all of my pants because they make my butt look aweful. The next size down I have is 18's which are still tight too wear. So I am stuck wearing baggy pants, which conceals my slightly smaller figure. But I did buy 2 new (size XL) shirts. You can really tell now that I have lost some weight. My father-in-law made a comment today when I picked up my son from his house. He said to my mom-in-law "are you sure that is Heidi that just picked up Kaleb?" It made me really happy to hear that from him because he rarely compliments anyone. I also went to Breakfast with a couple of friends that i hadn't seen in a month, and my girlfriend was like "wow, you really look good". So I know finally people are starting to see the change.

Hi Dawn, I was 241 before I started the pre-op liquid diet (2 weeks of opti-fast). I lost 16 pounds on the pre-op diet, so that put me at 225 the morning of my surgery (May 22, 2008). I am now at 206. So 19 pounds in 2 months...I can't complain with that!!! My ticker is wrong. I have to get my hubby to fix it for me. Almost in one-derland!!!!! I can't wait. Good luck!!!

Hi Suziq, I actually came across a thread that went thru step by step instructions on how to do it. I can't remember all the details but here is what I can tell you: 1. Go to tickerfactory.com 2. click on weight loss (it is a little bit from the top of the page on the left hand side) 3. Then choose your ticker 4. then click next....it will allow you to pick your slider 5. click next 6. plug in the info on the next page 7. I think on the next page it will have a url or html code and I just saved that. 8. Then you have to go to user CP...from there I am not sure. My husband did it for me. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. I am not very computer literate.