Penni60

ALEX!!! Welcome HOME!!! Long Island is a beautiful place. When my sweetie used to live in CT, I would fly up to visit. I would fly into ISLIP on Long Island and he would meet me by coming over on the Ferry from Bridgeport, CT. There is this cute little restaurant right there a block from the ferry pier that has the most scrumptious Blackened Salmon that melted in your mouth. The Ferry was an adventure. The quickest way to get from the Island to CT from the airport. Anyway, I digress glad you are home.

Birdee: Ever considered doing a juice fast to jump start the metabolism again? Also, are you drinking your 64 oz of water every day? That is a huge catalyst in weight loss. Have you had your thyroid among other blood work done lately? Two weeks is not necessarily enough time to see a weight loss with the exercising. I have been at a plateau for a month now and just got a fill. I am trying to do a juice fast once a week and drink my water every day. Plateaus are difficult and they will come and go in this process. The thing to be thankful for is that you have NOT gained any. Everyone's metabolism is different. What works for some may not work for others. You just have to find what works for you. How much of a fill do you have? Have you discussed all this with your doctor? IF so what does he say? Are you keeping track of what your intake is? Maybe you need to get the program Fitday.com and start doing this. It is a real eye opener as to what you are taking in. Maybe too many fats, carbs, proteins, etc. These all play a factor in how and how fast we lose weight. These are just my opinion. COngrats on the weight loss so far. Keep going you will succeed.

SMALL BITES, SLOW DOWN, and CHEW CHEW CHEW!!! Stop when you get the first inclination of restriction. Do not talk when eating at all. IF you must talk during a meal wait till you have finished CHEWING. Only put on your plate what you believe you can finish. That might only be a tablespoon of food to start out. Protein first then veggies then starches if at all. DO NOT DRINK when eating. Save the drinking till after the meal is done and then small sips only. ENJOY the food. SAVOR each bite. I chew Soup believe it or not. LOL!!!

I have received ONE story so far. Where are all the stories????

Just an update to this thread. I saw Dr. Billy and he said the protrusion thingy was part of the tubing and it had bunched up in that area. Sorta like excess tubing of sorts. It needs to be repaired so I am facing another surgery soon. See "Dr. Billy appointment" in this section to read my take on him as a surgeon.

Here is a pic of my protrusion thingy I keep mentioning that my doc said would go away with more weight loss and the repositioning of my port in relation to that weight loss. I am not so sure that will happen now. Hence the Dr. Billy appointment on next Friday the 9th. I will keep you posted.

Rica: There is a post called "Dr. Billy Appointment" you should do a search for and you can see my opinion of him. In simple terms I LOVE HIM. Great bedside manner, cute, caring, listens, answered all my qyestions, cute, and did I mention he was cute. LOL!!!

Leatha and Michelle: Thanks bunches. You know after I posted this thread I realized I already knew the answer but it is always nice to have it reinforced. I just love this board. Hey has anyone else run into the problem of an allergic reaction after being filled? If you remember the pics of my belly with the redness and I thought it was rejection of the port well I have a small about a half dollar size right around where he did the injections just like that redness. It is hot to touch and itching and tender. Anyone else experience this? Or am I just the weird cookie here. If it persists or gets worse I am gonna call him. But it just was weird how it came up last night before bed. I think I am allergic to the betadine. Or maybe latex??

Um, LEO you gotta girlfriend yet? WANT SEVERAL????? You look awesome. Keep up the good work. For all the ladies out there don't you just hate that men lose faster than we do? WHOO HOO LEO!!!!!!!

Just got back from Dr. Billy. I love him. He is a cutie plus a great surgeon. He explained everything in detail and told me what to expect and everything. OK the protrusion is part of the tubing. It has kinked up cause that is the weakest area. He said he would like to go in and fix that. He is pretty sure my insurance will cover the procedure. IT will be outpatient surgery at one of the area Ventura hospitals. Nothing that Lopez did caused this kinking to happen. He said it is part of the individual surgeons technique. He, Dr. Billy, has started to double check and make sure none of his patients have tubing that has backed up that could cause this kinking. It is sorta like an excess of tubing with no where to go. IT has NOT herniated. Thank God. But he did warn that it does have the potential to break through the skin. He doesn't think it will do that any time soon but we agreed to get it fixed as soon as possible. We are looking now at Insurance coverage and how soon we can get it scheduled. I will keep you posted on that issue. OH and he is a cutie, hottie, drooled the whole time, couldn't take my eyes off him. His office is about 10 min off the 101 Freeway in Ventura. Very easy to find. Staff is very supportive and takes their time. You are seen in a timely manner. They have a 24 hour emergency number you can call. THANK GOD!!! Did I mention that Dr. Billy is a cutie? Hmmm. Slurpiliscious!!!!!!!!!!! OK, I am now in the land of filldom. I got a 1cc fill while I was there. WOW! I could feel him when he hit the reservoir because he moved the port around and it made me woozy. It didn't hurt but it sure did make me feel funny. LOL!! He got me a wet towel and patted my head and hand to make sure I felt better. YUM YUM!!! Yes, I really did feel bad. LOL!!! Anyway, got the fill and drank two glasses of Water while there to make sure I was OK. He had to stick me 3 times because my port is tilted. Just took some manuvering on his part to find it and then get the needle in. But he managed. I am on liquids for 24 to 48 hours then mushy foods for 5 to 7 days after that. Then back to solid foods again. He gave me some patient literature and a card from Inamed for all lap band patients to carry. Different than the one that Lopez gave me. I highly recommend anyone within 4 to 5 hours of Ventura, CA to go see Dr. Billy for follow up. He is awesome and such a sweetie. I could eat him up. LOL!!!!! Did I mention he was CUTE!!!!!!!!

WHOO HOO!!!! Welcome to the land of banded.

Michelle: He doesn't do the fluoroscopy. He said he has done many of them without and unless there is a complication and he can't do it then he will schedule the procedure. He said for the most part you should only do that if there is a suspected problem. We did not discuss the cost of fills or anything since they are filing my insurance. If my insurance doesn't cover it then I will know what they charge. But believe me it is worth it to not have to go to Mexico again. I am calling his office manager on Monday to talk about when, where, how, and what needs to be done to get the insurance to cover it and get this done in time for October. I will be there with bells on. AND protrusion less.

Hey guys, let's as many as can get together somewhere, Vegas was a suggestion, and finally meet each other. Any thoughts? I would help organize the event.

IF you are or have responded here to say you are coming in October please visit the Head Count thread so we can get an accurate number. I will close this thread in a few days. So please go to this board to respond. http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2433 Thanks

BUMMER

Ruthy: You could also contact Inamed directly www.inamed.com and see what they have to say. They manufacture the LAP BAND.

Joyce: I started working out a month after I was banded. I started slow and easy. Don't try to do too much too fast. I started out walking every day then progressed up to doing weight training and power walking. SLow and easy is the best way. I was banded on APril 6, 2004 and started working out a month later. So you should be OK in my opinion. What does your doc say?

Marie: that is ok someone has to be good and someone has to be bad. Just come to Vegas in October and we will corrupt you. LOLOLOL

Marcia: The other board we are referring to is not even worth our time. It was a Yahoo board.

AYE!! Megan go try it. Actually my daughter got the spray on tan for her wedding this past June. SHE looked awesome. Well and the tan looked good too.

WOW!! 4cc sounds like a lot for a first time fill. I thought I read somewhere that you shouldn't get a fill more than 2cc. Thoughts out there. Donali chime in.

MENACE HERE. And proud of it. LOLOLOL:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Kelly: I have had a complete hysterectomy and am banded. I have noticed that I don't take my hormones anymore and have NO side effects. I just increase my Calcium intake to offset the lack of Hormone therapy. Couple of things. 1. She needs to have a serious talk with her doc about who is in charge of her body. He does not get to dictate when the fill is done or not. Only your sis can do that. He can recommend it all he wants but he has to go by what she says. If she cannot get him to understand this then it is time to find another doc. 2. As women, Estrogen is stored in the fat cells of our bodies. As we loss weight those estrogen stores are released. Therefore we need less estrogen. I think that is why I am not needing any at this point. I don't honestly think there is a correlation between a hysterectomy and being banded. If anything we are happier because we don't have the mood swings. LOL!!! I have been banded 3 months now and have lost 40 lbs. I think the 30 lbs loss your sister has experienced is awesome. That is 10 lbs a month. That is an average of a little more than 2 lbs a week. Losing faster than that is dangerous actually. You start to lose muscle mass then and not fat. SO your sis is right on track and doing GREAT. So, tell your sis to tell her doc to shove it. He is probably confusing her with an RNY patient and thinks she should be losing more. He needs to refill her if she wants it. Just my opinion.

Yup guzzler here. Hmmm!! Sounds like a super hero. GUZZLER to the rescue.

Don't know anything about Dr. Ponce. I am sure there are some on here that have had him for their doc. Just give them time to respond.