Mariposa Bella

What a bummer that you have to pay everytime, my Dr doesn't do that, but then again he charges $300 for the fill, so good luck and hope you get to your sweet spot.

Wow, you can eat an entire ham and cheese omelette right after a fill, Wow again, I am stunned. I can't even eat that 1 1/2 months after my fill. I can eat about 1/2 to a 1/3 cup of food and that's it. Don't rush into getting more fill, give it a couple of days to see how your body reacts to this one. I'm really astonished, after a fill it is recommended that you do liquids for at least three days. I never get my fill done in a semi-sitting position, its done while I'm laying down (fantasising about my good looking DR, LOL), then he makes me sit down, so that we can make sure I can drink and don't have much restriction. Wonder why yours was done sitting down? Well I hope you get the restriction you need, but don't get discouraged my first fill did nothing for me, neither did the second and boy did I feel the third one, actually its just now starting to losen up and feel good. My advice to you would be to go ahead and notify your Dr's office (some drs won't charge for another fill if that one didn't work and you let them know right away) so they know what's going on, then give it to the beginning of next week and reassess yourself then, and then maybe schedule another fill. Well good luck, but these fills are tricky business, so don't get discouraged.

I see Dr. Eddie Gomez in Coral Gables, he takes Mexican banded patients and charges me $300 for a fill w/out flouru, I called other Drs in Florida and they wanted $500 for the first consult and then $750-1000 for the fill, that Is too expensive for me, so I decided to go w/ Dr. Gomez. He is super nice and very experienced, he hits the port on the very first try (my port is sideways so its more difficult, the first fill w/ my surgeon took five pokes and that was under flouru) but Dr. Gomez doesn't have any problems getting to the port and doing my fills, send me a pm if you want his phone #.

Wow that is wonderful, I was banded on Nov. 4 and have lost about that amount, so you are doing just great, wish I could lose weight that fast. What do you eat on an average day? You know I think my problem is that I'm not eating enough, I'm starting to look sick to people. Four people asked me if I was feeling okay today, that for sure is a sign that I look like shit. In the last two days I have been able to eat a little bit more, hopefully I can start eating healthier and feeling better.

Bandit and Kathy you both will do great, it is normal to have nerves about such a life altering surgery. But it will all be worth it, Bandit you have to keep in mind that because your a lower bmi the weight will come off a bit slower, so you have to prepare yourself for that, that is one thing that caught me off guard, I thought that I'd be at goal weight by now, but these fills are so tricky and it sure takes a lot of work to get it just right. WEll good luck to you both, luv ya.

Oh my God, are you a neurotic compulsive cleaner like myself, too funny, but really, rest up. Talk to you later girl.

I think Dr. Kim is a she, but I don't have her info. I tried getting fills with Dr. Grossband, but he doesn't take Mexican banded patients, (atleast when I called, they said no). I've been driving to Coral Gables with Dr. Eddie Gomez (aka sweetie pie, he's so super fine) to get my fills, he does my fills without flouru and its no problem, he gets my port everytime, and my port is flipped, so that tells you he knows what he's doing. He is super nice and does a really good job. The fills are $300 w/out flouru and if you want flouru $600. I would rather save the additonal money, since he is very experienced and get me right everytime. Let me know if you need Dr. Gomez info.

bottle fed, didn't like my moms nipples, yuk

You are right about it being too soon to vacuum, take care of yourself, the housework will still be there in a week when you feel better. The pain you are probably feeling is the gas from the anesthisia, I had it too, my chest was really sore and very uncomfortable, walk around that will help it (don't walk around w/ the vacuum). I know that its hard when you don't have someone to help you especially when you have little ones. I have three children, my youngest are three and four, so I can't ever get sick, have to take care of them, but try to do as little as possible. you just had surgery and need time to recover, so take it easy. I hope you get to feeling better, so rest up.

Glad to hear that everything went well, try to take it easy and rest up. And follow your doctors orders to the tee. Where did you get banded?

My doctor recommends treating every fill as if you just had surgery as your body needs time to adjust to the fill. I have learned the hard way to take his instructions, I am at 2 cc's now and just last night notices that I'm loosening up, (had my fill mid March), finally got more than a couple of spoonsfuls of food, so hopefully I will not need another fill for another month. Stay on liquids a couple of days to see if your swelling goes down, if you are having trouble keeping liquids down, you definitely need to see the doctor, but my suggestion to you is if you have no problem w/ liquids just wait a while to see how you feel. (fyi- warm liquids feel better after a fill, than cold).

Denice, I am sorry you are having a difficult time with this, all I can tell you is what I would do, now that I know what banding is. I would postpone my surgery until after my trip, just because it will be a more difficult recovery and you will more than likely want to cheat on your diet, because there will be so much tempting delicious foods around. I fell to temptation and took a spoonful of food when I was supposed to be on the liquid diet and got so ill and so tight I landed in the hospital not being able to keep anything down. It was a very bad experience for me. I don't have any will power that is why I had to get this band to help me control my eating. If you postpone your surgery a month it won't kill you and you will have the beautiful memory of your trip and you will have savored all those delicious things that you won't normally experience here. Once banded you might not ever be able to eat any dynamite macadamia pancakes, because I sure can't even eat regular pancakes, their too doughy and make my pb everytime and boy do I sure miss pancakes. Well these are just my thoughts you do what ever you feel is right for you. Also, if you get ill and your family has to take care of you, you will cheat them out of a full Hawaiian experience, if they have to slow down to take care of you. Sorry if I'm being so real about it, but these are my feelings, you don't have to take them, I just want to tell you what I would do.

How long have you been banded? 5 1/2 months What do you eat each day? anything, but bread, tortillas How much do you eat? very little Do you eat sweets? most definitely, don't have any problem eating sweets How much have you lost? 32-34 lbs, depending on what I ate the day before. Do you feel its worth it? somedays I do, somedays I don't. <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Oh wow, I have always dreamed of going to Hawaii, can I come? I had my surgery in Nov, and went on vacation to Mexico for the x-mas holidays and was miserable, there was so much wonderful food to enjoy and I couldn't enjoy any of it, it was reallly hard for me, especially the eating out part, I got sick lots of times, it was even harder that I was still learning to eat with my new band and its tough. But oh well, you will be in paradise, who cares if you can't eat, if your still in the liquid phase, just drink tons of mixed drinks that should keep you happy, LOL

I have 2cc's in, My first fill was 1 cc, had no restriction, went back added .2 ccs had no restriction, went back a third time and had tons of restriction from day one. He took me to 2 cc's and quite frankly it was too much, I have had a lot of restriction for the last month and its getting to me, I often feel weak from not eating enough, I guess i should start doing shakes or something, but I'm just really frustrated. When I go out to eat, I talk alot and mess with my food so that who ever I'm with doesn't notice that I hardly ate anything. I dream of being able to eat a hamburger with the bun, but I can't, I can't even eat a couple of bites of it, it comes back, I know that its not good for me, but its not like I would eat it everyday, I just want to satisfy my craving for a hamburger and its impossible, I started walking this morning and maybe just maybe I can start to see some weightloss again. I want to be at 145 by the end of June when I get my tt and lipo. Well sorry about going on and on, I just get really cranky when I'm hungry and tired. Talk to you later. If I were you I'd give yourself a couple of more days and then if you're still too tight then go get a slight unfill, because that's probably what I'm going, except I called the doctors office and they are relocating to another office, so they are not seeing patients to the first week in May, so I have to call back then. Oh well, meanwhile, I'll just suffer with this darn tight band.

Well I honestly think that My band is also possessed. And quite frankly I am its really starting to annoy me.. I love that I've lost 30 lbs, but it seems that I should be losing more since I can hardly eat anything. I've been watching what I eat really good and quite frankly it too little, for example the other day we had chicken wings for dinner, well I ate one and was fine, started on a second and nope had plenty, now is 1 1/2 chicken wings enough, because if I try to eat anything else then that comes back. Sometimes I wish I wouldn't have gotten my band, I hate the not knowing and hate myself for not having the discipline to have done it on my own, but then I think I did do it on my own many times, but each time the weight returned and hopefull this time it won't, all I hope is that I can someday figure this band out and can work with it better, I think I'm not losing at this point because I'm not taking enough in. Oh well, this is life.

Well I've told this story here before but here it goes again, my best friend and I used to tan topless in her backyard by the pool (large field behind her house,no other houses around, so we thought) well apparently across that field there were some homes and one of those homes was an acquaintance of my husband, well apparently his buddies would always brag about spying through binoculars on some girls that tanned topless and my husband was pretty interested in seeing the action. Well one day they had a bbq at this house and sure enough there we were tanning topless, well as the binoculars were being passed around at their party, he wanted to watch also, well to his surprise, IT WAS ME, yep, he was so mad, needless to say he didn't pass the binoculars on to anyone else. I saw him that night and he forbid me to ever tan topless there. OH my god was he pissed. We weren't married yet, but he was mad that his buddies got to see my very large ample boobies. The thing is he would have been perfectly happy spying on some other girl if it wouldn't have been me., Men....who gets them??? Cause I sure don't.

If I had a dollar for everytime I would get an "intented to be good compliment" I'd be rich. There is this one aunt that always tells me, even though your big, you are still really pretty and your a fantastic dresser, so don't worry about not being thin. Wow, just because I have good taste in clothes I can be fat, not a bad deal, huh. It is so weird how we have distorted images of ourselves, I am forever asking my husband to compare me to someone we know or see, just so that I can see how I look, but it never works, image is still distorted, because that's how he sees me, not how I really look, do you understand what I mean??? And it makes me mad when, we are watching tv and you see a movie star that has gained a couple of pounds and are a bit heavier and he makes a comment like "Wow, she's gotten really fat", excuse me, she probably went from a size 6 to an 8 and you think she's fat, then what am I, orka??? Maybe we should start working on such a computer program to show us how we would look like at certain weights. I for one would pay to see what cheek bones would look like on my rounded face... Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see, if I get to where I dream I'll be once at goal.

Well I am shooting for 135-140, don't know if that is realistic, but I can try and if I don't make it then, that is fine too. I just want to fit nicely in a size 9/10, I'm wearing 12 right now and weighing 159, so just maybe I can get to my goal.. My tt is scheduled for end of June and I'm also getting liposuction on my upper and lower back, inner and outer thighs and arms, so my goal is pretty realistic for me now. If I can weigh 150 by end of June, then maybe, the tt and lipo can get me to goal. So cheer me on....

Sounds delicious, and probably would have tackled it preband, but those days are a thing of the past, especially these days, when 2 chicken wings are too much. I have tons of restriction right now and can't seem to eat too much of anything solid. So I guess I'll pass too.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I know you are disappointed in having to postpone, but sometimes unfortunate things happen and we have to deal with them and then go on. Take care of your family right now for they need you.

You definitely need to stay on fluids a bit longer, my doctor recommends doing three days of liquid, three days of mushies and then slow with the solids after a fill, I haven't followed his advice with my fills and have regretted it very much. Next fill, I am most definitely following his advice. Hope it works out. As long as you can tolerate fluids, there is no need to panic, give it a couple more days and if you still can't tolerate food, get a hold of your doc for a slight unfill.

Yep hiccups are a definite sign that I'm full, if I try to ignore them, I always regret it.

Welcome to band land, wishing you a speedy recovery.

Please Please don't rush yourself, give yourself time to heal, I made the mistake of not following the strict guidelines my doctor gave me and I paid bigtime. I got so sick, that I aggravated my band and made it so tight I couldn't even keep fluids down, I landed myself in the hospital very dehydrated and very ill. It was a very scary experience for me, I thought I was dying. NOt only was this frightning but very expensive that ER visit cost me $14,000, yep twice what I paid for my band. So please be very gentle with yourself and take care of your band. You need to stick with light fluids and then lighter mushies so that your new band can get acquainted with your body and can work for you. It is difficult in the beginning, but it gets better. Good luck to you and take it easy with those meals. Love, e