terrydumont46

I cried in the recovery room because I went into surgery expecting a by pass and came out with a lapband. I didn't study the lapband. I didn't have a clue so I cried. I treated my band like a by pass until I found all of you. am I a successful bandster. hell I don't know. I get so dang frustrated at times. but I do know one thing. I would have made a horrible by pass patient. I need this band for control help. so God was looking out for me. and all of you educated me. and the different articles you guys post for us to read. I think and I say this in a whisper. shhhhh, I have a bit more knowledge than even my pa thanks to you guys. so THANK YOU!!!!

I want to thank you. I think. after your posting my daughter found a 5 mile walk and run through the tulip fields here in Washington. she signed us up. she said if I thought it was so great for you it would be for me too!!! omg what have I gotten into. I start Monday for training.

my list for immediate post surgery pain pills fluids, warm and hot so helpful with gas heating pad to the left shoulder or to wherever you may have gas pains cold pack to your incisions if they are hurting deep breathing exercises walk, just short around your yard or house walks. don't over do it lay on your left side nice comfortable recliner to snuggle in and watch tv and rest and recover. sugar free popsicles here's to a quick recovery. let us know how things went

we are here pre,post and as you go through all the phases. I love our vet's. so knowledgeable. and they don't do everything the same way. I can always learn something from one of them. good luck on your surgery. wishing a quick recovery for you

at this point if it were me I would be very frustrated with this doctor. I would be looking for another. my opinion the xray to confirm the leak should have already been done. I have no advice really. and I don't know if I truly believe that if there was a leak you would be losing more than 1 cc. it would depend on the size of the leak. and there was someone on here once where the fluid was going to one side of the band not the other. the xray should be performed. I had the barium upper gi and they were able to see the band clearly and position. I am not sure what kind of xray checks for leaks. fluid in should equal fluid out. good luck. so sorry you are having this problem

my daughter and i are going to do a 5mile walk run. we have the tulip fields here and the path goes thru them. start training Monday morning. omg what have i gotten myself into.

i get really depress sometimes especially when my band is tight and everything i eat is wrong. my brain wants a big mac, and to be able to wolf it down. i really throw a pity party. but what makes me feel better at times is going to the other wls pages and read their posts. there is one thing about the band that is so positive and makes me glad it chose me is that, it is adjustable. i haven't had reflux since getting it. nor any indigestion. i don't have to be worried about being malnourished. my brain thinks we are starving but it is a silly brain. i am glad i cannot eat around my band. plain and simple. so i think what i am trying to say is that we can get ourselves out of our little funks just by thinking positive thoughts. it may take longer with the band to loose wt. but we will get there.

I make my own salad dressing. I am not one of those that can squeeze a little lemon and be happy.i use about 1/2 cup of vinegar. I use all types of vinegars about 1/8 cup of olive oil. 1/8 cup of coarse mustard salt and pepper and garlic powder. I might use a couple of teaspoons of honey for a change up. but this makes up about 7 days of vinegarette. if I want a change up I will buy yogurt salad dressing for the creaminess. the only salad dressing I have found that I like the taste is low fat Russian dressing.

gas pains will be there for a couple of days or a week. some will experience even longer. the following are all things that will help. heating pad to shoulder gasx walking and laying on left side warm liquids we create gas by swallowing a lot of air when we feel the need to swallow to get something through our band. you are swollen so maybe doing this. burping helps but if you have fluids in your pouch you maybe surprised with a little spit up. hope all of you have a quick and speedy recovery

if you are getting fluids down I vote for letting things work themselves out. you go in for a fill but because you have a bit of discomfort you go and have a unfill you will never reach your green zone. sometimes it takes weeks to have your band cooperate with a fill. I go from liquids to mushies and solids back to mushies etc. for a couple of weeks I play this game. but being patient, angry and frustrated usually results in positive results. I haven't had to have 1 unfill.n be patient. and good luck

this is such a individualized food or drink choice. most doctors would say no. empty calories they don't want us to drink our calories they want us to eat them. I think the problem with alcohol isn't so much with lapbanders since we have our stomach still. the other wls the alcohol dumps into the small intestine in which it is absorbed straight away. but its easy for me to say not drink, because I don't drink. but I know that having a drink is important to some of you so first just ask your doctor, and than play it real smart. so now go have fun.

eat smart nutritional scale. got it through amazon.com. it's nice because all you have to do is put whatever food on it. throw in a code which comes with the scale and it will tell you calories, Protein,carbs,fats and many many more nutrients and vit's.

when it comes to insurance never take one person's answer to be written in stone. write a letter of appeal and cc it to your state insurance commissioner. do whatever you can to over turn their decision. and don't write to customer service. send it to the higher ups. find out who they are. I wish you luck. but a lot of insurances do have waiting periods for different things to become effective. even medicare has a 6 mos. waiting period. I wish you luck and gumption.

I also wanted to extend my welcomes.

I posted earlier that I can't even eat ice cream. like you said about pooling it does just that. pools in my pouch causing slime. it eventually comes all up. I don't even want to try a soft cheese. oh my.

I am going with we are all so different. but one thing I think we all did or are still going through is bandster hell. brain hunger. if you can continue to eat healthy exercise as much as possible you will get through adjusting your band okay. but it is easier to say that. please keep coming back we will encourage you when you need encouragement, reminders when you need to be reminded and a whole lot of life expierences that we have already done and been there. good luck to you. just remember this is not a sprint.

I bet it was real exciting to run. just to feel that again. I can't wait.

to add to 2 much only your doctor can prescribe medications that might help with the nausea. port pain is something we have, perhaps not all the time but from time to time especially after I lift heavy objects. makes the port stick out a bit more. so call your doctor, make sure the receptionists is getting your message to your doctor. I just had a problem that I put forth to the receptionists to talk to my doctor and nothing was done about it. I had a appointment a few days later and asked about it and told her I called. first I was yelled at for not calling back and insist I wanted to talk to her. she said she will always call me back the same day. and she told me how to make sure I get to her. yea. love my doctor. I am really finding out that with wls and all the questions, concerns and problems we have we need to kick our assertive side into play. good luck to you.

everyday when I wake up I decide what I am going to do for the day that is productive. before wls I could use how I felt to not do anything. now I make sure I do something even if its housework. I don't say an automatic no to social activities. I still have social anxiety but it seems as my wt. goes down and clothes fit better I am saying yes to outings.

I had my troubles when I got banded. exactly 1 month later I broke my wrist and arm and had to have surgery with lots of hardware. my exercise went to just walks around the yard. when problems happens like this and your broken leg and dehydration I don't think you are off the wagon. I bet you think about your band everyday. we wouldn't be banded if we didn't have a eating disorder. so when the band is unfilled you just did what you did before wls. please just take a deep breath. try to eat healthy lots of protein. keep the snacking to a minimum. and drink lots of water. start with your fills. small small fills. so you get used to them as you get them. I think certain ppl need to go slower and smaller than some. I am one of those ppl. our health and accidents are going to effect us. I think deep down most of us are feeling sorry for ourselves. even if its smaller now that we are banded but it is still on the edge of our being. so give ourselves a break. you will be able to exercise soon. and start back getting fills and will be back on track in no time. hope you feel better soon. don't be to hard on yourse;f

my doctor one of the first things she wanted from me was a ring on my finger. if the ring is tight just assume that your band might be a bit tight and eat accordingly. I now know what ppl are talking about when they say the band is effected in the morning, and the weather and especially stress. I have changed my salt from speciality salt to just regular little umbrella girl and I seem to be able to regulate the amount of sodium better. I loved the Himalayan pink salt so much but I really think it was making me swell a bit more because I couldn't regulate it as well. I tried some ice cream last night. and even it just wouldn't go down. it wasn't stuck it just stayed in the pouch creating slime. it eventually just came up. I think I am as far as I am going with fills. I have 2mos. before I have to decide. but this is getting more difficult than I care to handle. I want to be like b52. lol. but he would say hold the course be patient and you will come out the other side happier.

I would ask your current surgeon if they could recommend another doctor closer to your school. if not than perhaps a early morning Monday appointment. until you get adjusted and get the right fill amount you will stay in bandster hell. and if we could diet we never would have had wls. you need to work something out, either a new doctor or miss a day of school. but just to put another bug in your ear is that if you get a fill from your present surgeon and it is a over fill and you develop some problems you are going to be quite a distance from the doctor. and as many have found out not many er's know how to unfill. something to think about. I live 2 hours away from surgeon and that is if there isn't any traffic. so I know how it feels to have to travel to see your doctor especially when a fill takes min's to do. I wish you luck.

excuse me but I never claimed to have a medical degree. I used to take Carafate for many years due to a ulcer. once that ulcer healed my gi doc. told me not to use it because it disguises potential health issues. and please believe me I have many gi issues. so I will give advice where I can from my own expierence but I always always tell anyone to talk to their doctor about problems they maybe having and this is exactly why. one doctor has their ways to treat thing while another dr. has their way. and I did say Carafate was a great medication. it helped me a lot Sorry Terry. Carafate is not just used for ulcers, but to provide a protective coating to the inflamed tissues that have not yet developed into an ulcer. My first hand experience with carafate, as perscribed by my bariatric surgeon, was to calm everything down and alleviate the pain. It helped immensely, with no recurrence of inflammation or pain. And BTW, I did't see any medical doctor or pharmacist credentials in your signature...J/S.

because there was a lot of things that obamacare demanded that insurance covers and some insurances didn't have that in the policy so they cancelled any of the policies that didn't have everything included. your next choice is to go to the obamacare or affordable act and apply for insurance. you maybe eligible for a subsidy. and pay the rest. and the biggest part they have to cover pre-existing conditions. if you are unemployed you maybe eligible for Medicaid. and if you can ge t into the web page go and apply at the affordable act web page. if you are disabled apply for social security and medicare. medicare does cover wls and fills. good luck.

I know my fills but I am 8 mos out and still working it out. and having a 14 cc band I still have a lot to work with. after this last fill the doctor and I agreed to let me figure out the food part on my own. I really need to work on not eating when I am not hungry. and to allow myself to be hungry. that I won't die from being hungry. nor will my doctor's know that I am not being completely compliant by not eating all my meals.