make33

My tubing and port were replaced Wednesday, March 3rd and on Thursday and I Friday I tried to gauge what I could take into my body safely. Wretched nausea!:smile: Thought I did OK Friday with 1/2 Protein shake twice, 1/2 yogurt, spoonful of noodles from Lipton's and coffee. But last night I'd been asleep an hour and suddenly sat straight up in bed choking on (don't gag) a mouthful of hot vomit! Egads--acid reflux is back! :w00t: Okay, so I took a 75mg Zantac and it went away without any other issues--but reading your posts makes me think I'll have to keep tabs on that--my surgeon put 4cc back in my Band (and I'd only had 3.5cc before January when I developed the leak). Thanks for the info! :smile2:

My surgery was Wednesday, March 3rd--turned out the tubing was shredded where it goes into the port, so I got new tubing and a smaller port--In and out of the hospital in five hours! Thursday felt great, but yesterday and today have been trying--think I was trying to get back to my regular routine, which now has to be thrown out the window in favor of a new much-less-food / slow-eating-down-to-a-crawl one! (My surgeon put 4cc back into my port--I'd had 3.5cc before January) I'll get it--I have one week before I have to go back to work (where they were all against me having surgery anyway 1 1/2 years ago--they said I just hadn't found the right diet for my metabolism--if I only had a nickel for every time I heard that! :smile: ) Little2be: I am so sorry about your drainage-infection issues--much more than you should be having! All I DO know is that when my surgeon was trying to talk me into gastric a week before surgery, he said "If the Band doesn't work for you, all I'll be able to do is the Gastric Sleeve" (reducing your stomach size). :w00t: But for now, I'd say hang in there--surely you will be able to combat this thing and get back on track. My very best wishes go your way...:smile2:

Mimilou and Futurbander: I'm back to the Land of the Living! Surgery was yesterday and I was so very fortunate--turns out the tubing was ripped where it goes into the port, so my surgeon just replaced the tubing and gave me a smaller port! Yesterday was a haze, since I slept a lot (and I forgot about the nausea!) but today I'm feeling terrific! (Not even taking pain meds--have decided to try to forego them as long as I can). My port / abdominal area is very sore but my surgeon was able to put back 4cc and so I don't even have to wait for a fill--yippee! Will stay on 'mushies' for a few days just to build up. Thanks for the kind words of support--that's why I LOVE this forum--and I recommend this site to every person who talks to me about banding! PS So I'm in the Recovery Room and my nurse there takes a seat and quizzes me down for about 1/2 hour about the Band--she's going to start the process! I thought that was so funny!

Well, everyone, I'm scheduled for 7:30 AM tomorrow~wish me luck! :thumbup: They don't know where the leak really is coming from, so if they can't just replace the port and tubing, I'll be getting a whole new Band, which is sad because my old Band did me so much good--never slipped and is like an old friend now! I'm a little scared, but am praying it will just be the outpatient port/tubing deal. Will write in again by the weekend--thanks to all my friends here on this Forum for all your support in the past 2 1/2 years ... :thumbup:

Hi Freckles, I'm back to the Land of the Living! Surgery was yesterday and I was so very fortunate--turns out the tubing was ripped where it goes into the port, so my surgeon replaced the tubing and gave me a smaller port! Yesterday was a haze, since I slept a lot (and I forgot about the nausea!) but today I'm feeling terrific! (Not even taking pain meds--have decided to try to forego them as long as I can). Just as you said, my port / abdominal area is very sore but my surgeon was able to put back 4cc and so I don't even have to wait for a fill--yippee! Will stay on 'mushies' for a few days just to build up. I think you're from Great Britain--wanted to tell you my mother was a war bride, and my aunt and her two cousins live in Kent (Sidcup, Bexleyheath, and Petts Wood) with another cousin in East Sussex. The world really is a small place after all! Again, thanks for the boost--you honestly helped in alleving my fears!

OMG, Freckles, what a virtual lifesaver you are for me! All the posts I've been reading have been so absolutely negative and although I haven't shown it outwardly to anyone, I was terrified of what would happen tomorrow. :thumbup: You have made all that dissipate, especially since we are the same age! Wow--I will now go into the surgery tomorrow morning confident that it will all work out fine. I simply cannot thank you enough for taking the time to post and subside my fears--again, thanks so much... :thumbup:

I know exactly where you're coming from--sometimes my head hunger makes me crazy! They don't tell us what to do about that--and being a chocoholic doesn't help! :thumbup: But honestly, we all have those times when we plateau or become complacent and suddenly we think we are just like those skinny persons we all know--that we can (and should be able to) eat all we want and never gain a pound. But sadly, that's NOT US. Wish I had a nickel for every time someone inferred that the Lap Band was the 'easy way out'. Man, they sure don't know the 'rules' we have to follow every day of our lives, as well as the sacrifices we make. :thumbup: Well, we here in this forum KNOW, and we are going to do just fine--because we chose this for ourselves! So, you'll get back on your horse (as soon as your foot is better, that is) and go back to eating right and exercising and feeling really good about yourself. :mad2:

When I do a "crunch" during a fill, my port pops up to the surface and extends out more than normal--so my surgeon has a better shot at getting my port first time! :thumbup: My original surgeon (who moved away), though, took multiple times to hit the target (with no numbing agent) but my new surgeon who had just finished his internship when I saw him back in August hit the target first time! He asked how much I had in and then said "Oh, 3.5cc" and I said "How do you know that?" Here he had drawn out all I had in there and could see in the tube how much! :thumbup: Way too much information for me! (Banker--NOT a health care professional!) :mad2:

Well, everyone, I'm scheduled for 7:30 AM tomorrow~wish me luck! :thumbup: They don't know where the leak really is coming from, so if they can't just replace the port and tubing, I'll be getting a whole new Band, which is sad because my old Band did me so much good--never slipped and is like an old friend now! I'm a little scared, but am praying it will just be the outpatient port/tubing deal. Will write in again by the weekend--thanks friends... :thumbup:

Now you have to remember, I'm an older woman (and I've been through IBS before too) so I have to watch what I eat (i.e. products with lactose!). :crying: But the truth is that I've experienced no more cramps or bloating or painful gas since surgery than is normal, depending again on what foods I intake.--the one thing that has definitely lessened is my acid reflux. No more taking Zantac and Nexium daily. If you read in this forum, on the Internet, and through talking with your doctor, you'll find your diet with the Lap Band may change --and through that your body will react differently--perhaps better, because the foods you will choose will be healthier. Some fruits may be out (I can no longer do bananas, oranges, grapefruit, or grapes) but some of them may be part of the cause of your IBS too. Read, read, read all you can to make a well-informed decision. Good luck to you! :cursing:

Believe it or not, there was a Bander on here when I was first banded who swore the doctor filled her up when he put the Band in and she had NEVER had a fill! (Didn't even seem to know what they were) :crying: A few weeks after I had questioned her about it, I found that she had posted under "fills" that she had just had her first! :cursing: You know, so say you get approved immediately and don't study about the Band and how it works (and if your surgeon assumes you already know everything), it IS possible for some people to walking around with a Band in, not knowing why they aren't losing! :wink: (Sometimes I will admit that I don't look forward to all the poking around--my port is turned upward just a bit--and I think "What if I don't get any more fills?!")

Karen sweetie, I can see that you are new to this forum. This thread you are posting on is from 2006--people sometimes come and go on Lap Band Talk. It would be best if you start your own "New Thread" about your question. (For which I'm sorry to say, I don't have a clue). Good luck to you--you ARE in the right Internet site to get all your answers.... :smile2:

I've determined that I'm a "happy" eater and when things are not good, I don't want to eat. At one point my husband and I were separated for 1 1/2 years and my weight actually went from 213 down to 157--but 157 was as low as it would go. And honestly, that's why I chose '157' as my goal for Banding--because I felt that was probably where my body would reach a comfortable level--and possibly would not go below that without a lot of work. :smile2: I am to the place now where I want to try to 'force' my body to go lower, so I'm going to begin regular fills again. I'm sure I've heard this, too--that the body reaches a leveling off point--and I really believe it :thumbup:

Well, I quickly researched the difference on the Internet and here's what I found: If you are extremely overweight, there are various medical procedures that can help you lose the excess weight. Some of them include a gastric bypass, lap-band, and a gastric sleeve operation. The sleeve procedure removes a large portion of your stomach and converts it into a tube. There are numerous disadvantages of this procedure. This article will discuss the disadvantages of a gastric sleeve operation. Irreversible One of the first disadvantages of a gastric sleeve is that the procedure is irreversible. Unlike gastric bypass surgery, over 60 percent of your stomach is permanently removed and can't be reversed. However, a gastric sleeve procedure can be converted to other weight loss procedures. Leaking A gastric sleeve operation requires staples to be inserted into the stomach. There is always a chance that a leak may occur. These leaking fluids frequently become infected after they leak out of the stomach and can cause serious health problems. Weight Another disadvantage is that this procedure does not always produce the weight loss that you may expect. It is also possible to regain lost weight with a gastric sleeve. Snacks and foods with a lot of calories can make the procedure virtually ineffective. Also, patients who have a higher body mass index will usually have to have a second procedure to help lose more weight. Stretching Stretching of the gastric sleeve is yet another disadvantage. Your stomach tube may stretch out after awhile and cause you to regain any weight you may have already lost. A gastric sleeve doesn't have any devices to prevent it from stretching over time or to reduce its size after it has already stretched out. Insurance One of the last disadvantage of a gastric sleeve operation has to do with insurance. This procedure is rarely a covered benefit of most insurance companies because they consider it to be experimental. This means that the company likely won't pay for the procedure so you would have to pay for it yourself. At an average price of $8,000, this is out of range for most people. There is also a website that displays the two surgeries side by side at Gastric Sleeve Reviews Love my Band, but always thought if I had trouble the sleeve would be a good alternative. Good luck to you in your decision...:smile2:

I will admit that when I start to hear the digestive sounds, I generally start feeling 'sick' right after and end up p/bing. I've always blamed it on the pouch being so much farther up the tract that you can actually hear what is the normal digestive action usually done in the stomach. :smile2: BUT wouldn't give up my Band for anything!!

Every day of my life I get on the scale!! AND it generally gauges how I feel and what I eat for the rest of the day until the next morning when I get on again :smile2: Even when it's a time when I tell myself "You don't have to get on the scale tomorrow" I still do! My husband always says a day or two doesn't make a difference in your weight, but the obsession is still there. Aaarrrggghhh! By the way, along my journey I did have a time period of three weeks when I didn't lose ANYTHING (yes, my scale is digital too) but thank goodness for this forum and all the support we give each other. Eventually I lost again--you are doing all the right things, working out and eating right, so don't worry--it WILL begin to go down again...

KAS1971: Yep, Lactose Intolerance! :smile2: For about the first 1 1/2 years I made my Protein shakes with Water, but then started using "Lactaid" Fat Free Milk (with Calcium), which adds protein without the lactose--and I think it tastes just as good as f/f milk. Be careful when you choose a Protein shake / powder--some have lactose as a filler!! I use whey protein isolate powder (IDS Multi Pro Belgian Chocolate) -- but make sure your protein powder isn't whey protein concentrate, which contains lactose as a filler and is much harder to blend. Well, it's just important that we find a good protein supplement that we like, since this is for the rest of our lives!

I read the article and couldn't determine which TYPE of Bariatric Surgery they were discussing. I can totally understand that Gastric Bypass revision would be risky - or a revision from one type to another. Have not heard or read of any negative statistics on LAP BAND revisions. Which type is this article discussing???

OMG, so many people don't realize that it takes us three years to lose what gastrics lose in one year! I've only lost 63 pounds in 2 1/2 years and I'm darn proud of every pound! (My surgeon tried to talk me into gastric a week before surgery by saying "You'll lose 100 pounds in no time!"--but invasive? Absolutely! No thank you!) :tongue_smilie: BB (Before Banding) all the scale could do was to go up, up, up--there WAS no "going down" at all! Believe me, this is the 'hard way' because not only does the Band come with its own rules, but there are some foods we will NEVER be able to eat again. :cool2: Sounds like someone is getting a little snippy from lack of nicotine, baby! Bet she's back on the cigs soon and guess what? You'll still be losing--the winner!! :laugh:

Hey WillowCat: your response touched me. All I can say is that is why we are here in this forum--to support each other when people don't have a clue what Banding is all about. :tongue_smilie: You are doing great and regardless of anything, we are all here for each other!! :cool2:

Yo Ezzie5: Don't even think that we represent the MAJORITY of Banders--we are indeed the MINORITY. As with anything in life, there is the chance there may be an issue to overcome--but that's just what we are doing. And the reason is that we all LOVE our Bands. The other option, gastric bypass, is just so very invasive.:thumbup: For the six months waiting period I had before surgery, I too studied on the Internet and here about what my new life would be like. BUT the one section I didn't read was the "Complications"--maybe because I didn't want to admit I could have one.:wink2: Perhaps that was naive, but right now I wouldn't give up my Band for all the tea in China! Our Band DOES stop the excessive eating issue we all have, but it does come with maintenance--I've actually had people ask me when my Band will come out--like it's a retractable device to be used for a while and discarded. And of course, the answer is NEVER! I LOVE my Band and everything is has done for me that I couldn't achieve in 30+ years--so that's why I'm going to have it repaired / replaced. And believe me, Ezzie5, if you choose this, you will see what 'quality of life' really means... :w00t:

Thus the "Sample Packet Box to BUY". Sorry, I don't know of anyone who gives samples away! But the nicest thing about a sample packet is you don't invest a lot of money in something you end up hating - and either drinking while holding your nose or dumping down the drain. I guess you have to date a lot of frogs before you find your prince (what a metaphor!) :confused:

A lot of people swear by unjury (www.unjury.com) and they did offer a sample packet box to buy--but again, the taste never enthused me. We're all different--so good luck in your taste testing!!:confused:

In January I suddenly realized it'd been a few weeks since I'd felt restriction (or gotten sick), so I had a fill under fluoro which only lasted about 3-4 days. On Tuesday, February 16th, I had an isotope fill under fluro, and yes, it's leaky tubing. :confused: So I'm scheduled to have the tubing replaced (if possible to find the real leak) on March 3rd and if all else fails, my surgeon said he will replace the whole Band that day. My biggest question (to myself) is what caused the tubing to leak after 2 years and 3 months? :confused: (I hadn't had a fill since last August, so I'm ruling out the 'poking'). I asked the surgeon if it was because I had started concentrating on working my abs during my workout and he said that wouldn't have done it. I'm back in the forum reading about all of you that have been through this, both looking for support and looking at pre-op diets, which I figure I'll begin next Wednesday, a week before surgery. This forum sure saw me through my first two years--it's great to have people who are going through the same thing to emphathize with me. Wish me luck...! :wink:

After 4 months of buying everything, I finally found IDS MultiPro in the Belgian chocolate flavor. (I make mine with milk and 1/8 cup of oatmeal--the body then thinks it's a meal!) Canned shakes taste tinny to me, so I opted for powder--be sure to go with whey Protein isolate which mixes instantly in Water / milk. The whey protein concentrate, although a little cheaper, has lactose and really requires a blender to mix it properly. Everyone's different in their taste for shakes--but our bodies require sufficient protein for healing and muscle growth--so this is a part of our new bariatric lifestyles. Keep trying, I'm sure you'll find just the right one for you!