kacee

ALWAYS go to the MOST experienced doctor.... there is no substitute for experience. Fifty is not very much. If you are in or around Detroit, you gotta be able to find any number of surgeons way more qualified.

You are not giving up your food. You need to realize that. You are giving up the QUANTITY and PORTIONS of the food that you considered normal. BIG difference. You can eat ANYTHING that can get down, you just have to eat it in sensible amounts. My doctor keeps saying "This is NOT a diet. This is NOT a diet. You can eat anything. You have to eat it sensibly." There are no bad foods...only bad portions. Since I have been banded I have had "death by chocolate" at a restaurant, and all the other things I had pre-band. Difference is I have small amounts and I don't have it every day, every hour. You can eat that hamburger (if you can eat bread eventually)....but what you can NOT do is grab it with both hands and cram it in your mouth and wolf it down in 15 seconds flat...which the the typical MO of us obese people. Lean people eat all the same things WE do....but we just need to learn to eat it the WAY they do.

Why would you not go to the tests? Have you not decided this is what you want? Seems to me that may be the case. Regardless of whether you self-pay or go through insurance you have to submit to all the pre-op tests (blood work, ekg, stress, psych, and whatever else they can think up) before any surgeon worth his salt will touch you with a ten foot pole. Sounds to me like you may need to sit down and do more research to educate yourself...so you are comfortable with your decision.

<p>Yep, I didn't really want to wear one, but I got a bracelet and have it wrapped around the strap of my purse. Now I just have to make sure that when I get run over by the beer truck my purse is by my side.......</p>

Jack, dude. You are the most refreshing person I've ever had the fortune to read. Thank you for injecting your breath of sanity in this insane world...and heaven knows I am right in there with the looneys....:biggrin1:

Apologies from me for being so harsh and I did not mean to be "unnice". The world isn't always nice to us and life isn't a cakewalk. I guess it's because it seems I've read so MANY threads recently from newly banded folks who are barely out of the chute and already saying what a "horrible thing it is" "I want it out" and "I can't do it" and I think this just caught me at the wrong time. I really didn't mean to dump on you, honest. And I do know that things "come up" money wise, to bite you in the butt when you least expect it....the best-laid plans of mice and men, and all that. I guess what you have to do is sit down and assess your situation and start turning around the things you have control over. First to find out what's up with your hubby (I know it's hard to drag info out of them....the male species and communication do not go hand in hand). I wonder if he could be reacting in the predictable way of fear that you will "get better" and "leave him" once you are a "new person". Especially if he is not willing to talk it through...he may not be consciously aware of it or even be able to verbalize it. Anger is an end result of some fear. Getting to the bottom of that will help you in turn be able to cope with the other things in your life that feel out of whack right now. Just like losing weight...don't look at the total picture right now. Compartmentalize your problems, and take them one box at a time....open the box, assess, and strategize on the best way to turn it around, address it and move on to the next one (not the whole bunch). Good luck to you and give it all time, but don't just accept the negative as preordained and get mired in it. It's really easy to fall into a victim mentality and that is such poison to the body. Lord knows we've all been there though...

You sound just like me. I read an ad on the band in a magazine in March. Within three weeks I had a surgery date and was doing huge amounts of research online. I consider myself a success story with the band and I am more than happy...I am THRILLED with what I have accomplished in the last 7 months. My life has changed in unimaginable ways. I work closely with my band and listen to what it tells me. We have a fluid partnership and I think we're working together pretty darned well. Welcome to bandland.

Gas with the left shoulder and neck pain was about 2.5 weeks. Gas itself (burping and farting) about 30 days.

I would think open surgery would be worse. They say it is because scar tissue from other surgery has interrupted the blood flow through that area of the stomach. I had an exploratory surgery at 16 and have a very wide vertical scar from my belly button to groin on the right side (wound up being appendix rupture). I had no problem with laparoscopic surgery because the incisions were well away from the scar and very small. My surgeon never commented on my scar or that it would be any problem at all.

I order a ton of clothes on line... Roamanns, Lane Bryant (smaller sizes), J.Jill, Coldwater Creek, Willow Ridge, Newport News, Chadwicks, Blair, Silohuettes...

Dare I say it...it sounds like you hate your life and your band just happens to be the one thing you can blame it on. If you don't follow the "program" you won't lose...period. If you are eating because of stress and you are stressed you guys need to start finding out how to alleviate the stress in your life and stop chewing on each other and pointing blame. Your band is in so you need to start working with it...you made that commitment. If you are finding the whole thing is a big "Oh s&%t" because you didn't anticipate the impact of the payments for it...sounds like you guys should have a lot more pre-planning. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people find a way to shoot down what they have supposedly been working toward (some for a very long time) and I seem to see more and more folks who within days after getting their bands announce to the world that it was a HUGE mistake and (some) are ready to have it yanked out in the name of "Oh I didn't know it was going to be "like this." Sorry, guys. You can ignore my post. This just gets kindof old to hear all this whining when there are so many people out there who would give their left tit (literally) to be where we are. Nuff said.

<p><p>Well, mostly the sick lookingfolks are the bypass folks who lose DRAMATICALLY. As a guy, you are probably going to lose pretty quick, but if you keep your protein up and take vitamins religiously you should be fine.

You are feeling your port. I can feel mine too. When I lay down sometimes it pooches out. Doesn't bother me at all.

What do you love about your band surgeon and their practice? He's been around doing the band since it was authorized by the FDA....he is NOT a newcomer. He has done thousands. He is totally non-judgmental. What do you hate? Nothing to hate at all, except he's in the meical center area which is a bugger to get to in Houston. What do we do well? Just keep doing that voo doo that you do so well! What could we do better? EDUCATION!!!!! The doctor gives you LIMITED ammunition before the bandster hell period. There needs to be some serious education about what to expect. Don't you notice that a MAJORITY of people who are newbies are going "Why am I feeling this way? Am I screwing up? Why can I eat?" right after banding. People need to be educated that the band itself isn't doing the work, it is the restriction, which may not come sometimes for several MONTHS (and yes, I know you said that every fill should be perfect...and my fills were all done with a flouro., so they were dialed right in....but for some reason, whether it is the fat deposits on the stomach or what and the relative large loss up front after banding, the first few fills notoriously don't produce excellent results and they have to "keep at it" for a while. (I am speaking in generalities of course because everyone is different....I'm looking at the "numbers" here). I know doctors are hesitant to give anything but 1. This is what you COULD do with the band 2. These are potential complications However, I think they need to cowboy up and provide more intensive education for their patients on handling the pitfalls that will probably be experienced after surgery. I know I read between the lines and picked up a lot, so when the feelings of extreme hunger, ability to eat what I though were large amounts, etc., came on me...I was able to go..."Okay, this is phase two. I knew it was coming." Didn't learn that from my doctor. Maybe doctors are afraid of "scaring" their patients away with the information.... What more could we do to help you succeed? How could we improve your customer experience with our practices? Just keep having knowledgeable staff on hand to answer questions and encourage your patients to call regardless of how silly they may feel.

Third fill was a major difference. Then after dropping another 20 pounds I had the 4th fill because it was starting to loosen up because of the weightloss. Had a little "top off" for the holidays because I could feel that I was just turning the corner after losing more and didn't want to get caught during the holidays with a sudden ability to dive into the food. I am pretty much perfect now, and continuing to lose. Within 11 pounds of my (first) goal!!!!

It is totally normal to be able to eat a lot in that period after surgery between when you heal and when you get your fill. The operative word here is "slowly". Eat until you are full but eat slowly. You WILL feel filled up faster this way. Eat, but eat very slowly (like put your fork down between bites) and chew chew chew, and eat the right foods. You should have no problem.

I've also never had a numbing agent used. I asked about it the first fill, and they said Not necessary because the stick of the numbing agent is exactly the same as the stick of the filling needle so you are not gaining anything by being numbed". They were absolutely right. Numbing ould have been an unnecessary waste. Each time I go in it becomes more and more routine and such a NON-ISSUE!!!!!

Hmmm. I've had 5 fills and never felt ANYTHING or heard anything as it was done....nor did I feel different after. Of course I do have a 4cc band, and I know a lot of you folks have the bigger bands. Maybe that's it....

I was the 2nd fattest kid in my entire school (grades K-6) by the time I was in the 3rd grade. I began gaining at 7. I had only a small period of time in my college years when I did every diet drug known to man and was able to starve myself to semi-normalcy, but after school it shot back up once again. I've been obese other than that period for my entire life. You can see my stats bellow. I consider myself a HUGE success story. I figure if you've been stable for a while (I was stable for about two years before surgery) you're at your set-point and your body is adjusted to the intake. Regardless....it can be done!

My mother said she could tell when I was born, compared to my brother and sister born later, that I was built dramatically different from the two of them. They had little butts and slender legs. I was round and plump with a big butt....the day I was BORN. She said she cold look at me and tell that the fat cells were just sitting in there waiting to bloom. Neither of my parents were dramatically overweight. They also did not have bad eating habits and I was not raised with sweets or sodas in my house. There was no such THING as ME going into the refrigerator for food by myself...EVER. I ate what was given to me at meals, or what was allowed between meals. I never ONCE in my life "raided the refrig" at night. We had cooked meals, for every meal (except lunches at school). All that being said, I have been dramatically obese since the age of 7. By the time I was in the third grade, I was the second fattest kid in the entire school (which went up to 6th grade).

An addiction is a lifelong affliction. When people ask me when I lose all my weight if I will be getting the band removed I tell them "No, this is a disease that is under control, but if the band is removed I will more than likely go right back to my old habits in a very short time." I am confused as to what you think the rest of us are doing that doesn't "qualify" as overeating. I am an overeating QUEEN. I not only can sit down and pack away a 7 course dinner, I can do it in about 5 minutes flat. I eat FAST, and a LOT, and I STUFF my face when I do eat. I actually ate a 32 ounce prime rib steak in one sitting (along with a baked potato, salad and several glasses of wine) once (a long time ago, tho). Of course this was all "pre-band". No more over eating now. My definition of overeating has been dramatically altered. But if I didn't have my band, I know exactlky where I would be.... eating two to three adult-sized dinners at a sitting and packing on the pounds. It is a compulsion.

It is typical to feel uncomfortable/pain when drinking for the first week or so after surgery. Everything is swolen and irritated. You just gotta take it very slow and very small sips. It will get better.

Give em a call. Can't hurt.

Yep, now THAT is going to change. Everyone has this idea that their life ends after the band, food is forbidden and they'll never again have what they had before. Wrong. Burger King will still be there and so willl the cheeseburger. You will probably be able to eat at least some portion of the burger....maybe...if you can do breads down the road...but never again will you stuff a burger and fries in your face and go back for seconds. THAT's what's gonna change, and for us that's what we need. Lots of people eat burgers and don't gain loads of weight....but they eat them sensibly, occasionally, and in small quantities. I was reading somewhere the other day and I saw this quote from a doctor... There are no bad foods. There are only bad portions.

Old habits are hard to break. We're like little children who have to be supervised while we learn to walk. Problem is, we are supervising OURSELVES!!! WHOA what a concept!!! I just ingrained in my head the things I definitely needed to stay away from for a period of time until I was more under control to experiment. The reason the chicken went down is probably because the pasta was wet. Pasta goes down fine (let me qualify that...it goes down your THROAT)...it just doesn't STAY that way...and it swells. Pasta, rice, bread....BEWARE. I agree going from fluids to solids all at once is not a good thing. Stear clear of ALL meats except things like fish filets (very soft meats) during this time. Meat was one of the LAST things I introduced. Get creative.