Banded14yr

Here's the scoop.... I went in Friday for a fill. I had it under Flouro and everything went fine. I'm back to solid foods and I don't notice any more restriction than I had before the fill, so I contacted my doctor about it. He said that he could try and put another .2cc's in his office (at no charge) but if he can't hit the port then I would need to go over to Radiology at the hospital so that he could do the adjustment under Flouro. Now, I'm a huge proponent of using Flouro. I can't simply imagine someone "guessing" where my port is and "hoping" that they hit it. What are the chances/risks of him missing the port and hitting the tubing? I also have the Swedish band and am not real sure about the port and how different it is vs. the Inamed band. I believe it's larger, but I could be wrong. If you get your adjustments without Flouro, I would like to hear about how often they find and "hit" your port or do they have to poke you several times to find it?

Update.... Well I went in for another fill on the 11th. He decided to use Flouro because of where my port was located. That was fine, if he felt more comfortable using Flouro then I was obviously more comfortable. I still don't have a lot of restriction, so I will be going BACK in for yet another fill on April 1st. This will make my 4th fill since February 19th. The thing is, I KNOW what good restriction feels like. I felt I had great restriction after my second fill, but it slowly disappeared and I feel like I'm starting all over again. I think since I can tell when I drink Water how much restriction I have that I may be a little more vocal with this next fill. If I don't feel like I have enough, I might ask him to add a little more in. With my luck, I'll probably get overfilled Fills can be tricky, and getting that right amount can be even trickier <<< Is that a word? At this point I would have no problem letting my doc try to fill me without Flouro. When I lay down, it's quite obvious where my port is, he even made a comment last time that he could have filled me in his office based on feeling it on the exam table in the Flouro room. I'm hoping this next fill will do the trick.

Willpower! With that name you're bound to be successful with your new band Congratulations! Hope all is well with you. Take care!

Today is the "Happen'in" Day! Congrats on your banding. Take it easy and let us know how you're doing when you can.

Another one joins Band Nation! Congrats! Take it easy for the next few days.

I wish someone would just give Jamie a laptop with wireless connection in the recovery room so that she post here and give us an update on how she's doing! Congrats Jamie! When you feel up to it, let us know how ya doin!

That's OK There are two Dr. Rodriguez', so that's why I wanted to make sure we were talking about the same doc. I would email Dr. Rod to ask him directly why he prefers the Swedish band over the Inamed. He showed me both bands and explained the difference and why he preferred the Swedish. It made sense to me. My husband is a scientist and researched both bands to death before I was banded. He came to the conclusion that both bands have their positives and negatives. The one difference in the bands that most talk about is that the Inamed band is FDA approved and the Swedish band is still in the process of obtaining FDA approval. Alot of people believe that if you get the Inamed band that you will have better luck finding a physician in the U.S. to fill your band. What I personally found out is that it doesn't matter what band you have, a doctor usually makes his decision on filling you based on if he was the one to perform the surgery on you or not. Not one time did a doc in the U.S. that I called about aftercare ask me what kind of band I had, when they found out that I didn't have surgery with them, that was the deciding factor. But that's just my experience.

I came across this and thought it was funny. I think it's the dancing banana on speed

Are you talking about Dr. Arturo Rodriguez? He prefers the Swedish band but if you request the Inamed he will put that one in for you.

There are some smilies currently available for you to use, you will see them to the right of the text box that you type your post in. Just click on the smiley that you want to insert and it will paste it in your post Hopefully we can increase the number of smilies available to use in the near future. BTW: Congratulations on your upcoming surgery. April will be here before you know it.

I see!

They're not available for use on Lapbandtalk.com yet, but hopefully Alex will add them to our smilies library soon

Alex, Sure, I'll pm him and see if I can send him a bunch of these things. I'm with you, I think we need more smiles and smilies at least some new ones.

Congrats on the new restriction. You're right, it's a great feeling to be able to eat so little and feel so full. I also hope that you don't have to have your port moved, but if you do, sounds like it will be a fairly easy procedure. I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is the last fill that you will need and won't have to worry about where your port is located.

I run a website with a friend of mine. He's always finding new smiley's and emoticons, he found this banana and added it to our list. I just came across it in our list this morning and it cracked me up. I know a lot of people like to use the dancing banana on here so I thought some would get a kick out of it.

Hello and congrats on your decision to have lapband surgery. I was banded by Dr. Arturo Rodriguez, if you have specific questions .... fire away! I had surgery at Santa Engracia, but have heard good things about San Pedro, I know that it's a lot cheaper than Santa Engracia, maybe not as state of the art but I think the good care that you will receive is the same.

I waited a month after my first fill to get my second fill. I've had two fills in one week just recently. I still haven't hit that "sweet spot" again so I'll probably go back in another 2-3 weeks and give it another try. Good luck to ya!

Congrats and welcome back! I'm glad to hear you're doing well. Take it easy for a while and welcome to band nation!

Good luck to you! It sounds like you've taken the first step. You have to start somewhere. I hope the insurance approves you for lapband surgery, keep in touch on your progress with everything. Tricia

Good luck to you! Let us know if you have any specific questions. Lot's of knowledge and experience on this forum.

Why is this thread cracking me up? I have never laughed over PB experiences before.... Oh my! I can envision you doing this....too funny...I need to try that to see if it helps. And as far as the art goes, this is one of my favorites ... I probably just broke a rule and I'm not mooning anyone in particular, I just think the emoticon is funny Very true!!

I know that going through a PB is NOT fun, but your post made me laugh. Been there done that!

Congratulations on your banding Pain and redness around the port area seem to be fairly common after surgery. Just remember to take it easy for a while and try not to overdue. There are good and bad things said about a lot of doctors, hospitals, patient coordinators ect..... Don't try to let someone's else's bad experience scare you now. Just concentrate on your own health and situation. Take care!!

Megan, Thanks! It's great to hear that from someone that also has the Swedish band and has gone through some of the same things. I was thinking that my band has just taken on a personality of it's own and doesn't want to be at the right fill level anymore I'll give it a little time, then I'll call for another fill. BTW: You look fantastic!

Wow! That's incredible! I was raised in Arizona, so I know how shocking it can be to get snow like that out in the middle of the desert. It sure is pretty though!