DLW

I'm not sure if you were talking to me or not miztrniceguy but I haven't ignored my weight or thought of the band as an easy way out, even though that would have been nice - if it were true. :-) I'm just having a slow go of it, not to mention no doc to turn to at the moment either. I hope that the insurance you have will change come the new year, maybe back to the same sort of one you had when you got your band? That would be nice for your wife. Tell her to go for it quickly if that is the case. However, if it is not the case maybe she can get the ball rolling come Jan 09 and have the surgery by the summer. Good luck to you on your weight loss and to her for "new and improved" insurance. Dianne

I haven't been on in a long time. I pretty much haven't lost any more. I was banded on Nov. 5th and have lost only 30lbs since then. I have 6.5cc's in a 10cc band. I've had several adjustments and many "stuck" issues. My doctor up and left the practice to boot! I got a letter in the mail along with a telephone call from his office wanting to change my appointment. I did receive a letter from my doc personally though stating that he was no longer practicing at this facility and that he will contact me in the future when he knows where he will be located. He also said that he does not support the facility where he was practicing any longer. What the? Yes I did write him back, he had a return address on the envelope, but have not heard anything. It's been over a month. There's going to be another doctor coming in to the practice where I was going sometime this month to replace my doc. I don't know this man, never met him. I'm a little nervous because I have a tipped port and have had trouble in the past with it. It seemed that only my doc could gain access to it. Geeeez, ya know? Anyway, just wanted to post with the latest going on in my life. thanks for the ear or rather "eyes". Dianne

Hi Nancy, I was banded on November 11th 2007. I've only lost 30 pounds myself. A real slow go for me too. But it is what we signed up for. To lose the weight slowly - unlike the gastric bypass folks who lose very quickly. I do know exactly what you feel like with the food coming back up into your throat. You have to keep swallowing to keep it down. When you are laying down at night do you have reflux come up then too? I had that also. That was a little scary really - it woke me up from a sound sleep - kinda choking on the acid. It burned the back of my throat too. I went to the doctor two days later. He said that I was probably too full. I had 7cc's in a 10cc band. He took out 1/2 cc and I am fine now. Maybe you should call your doc and get in sooner? Good luck with the replacement of your band. Maybe you could ask about the 10cc AP band? Seems like it might give a little more flexibility? Dianne

Have a wonderful holiday weekend Smilin Apple. Don't eat too fast or too much! :-) Dianne

That totally makes sense to me about the fluid finding an air pocket or something. I bet that is what happened to me. Maybe this is why we have to have multiple fills and unfills until we get it just right. But then..... we lose weight and here we go again because the tissue the band is around has shrunk too. It's nice to be able to adjust things though isn't it. Having control over that is really pretty awesome. Good luck, Dianne

Denise, it sounds like your band is waaay too tight. I had the same thing happen to me. The waking up at night and choking on my saliva. It turned out that the next evening I ended up in the ER not being able to keep my own saliva down. It was terrible. It sounds like you should have a slight adjustment. Good luck to you and I'm sorry to hear about what you're going through at your job. Dianne

Hi Smilin Apple, I also had an unfill and a refill just recently. My unfill went down to 2cc's from 7.5cc's in the 10cc band. I had an awful experience with the band being waaaaay too tight. I was okay with the 7.5cc's previously but felt like I was still eating too much. I went back to the doc to have him put more in. When he withdrew what was in the band, it was down to 6.5cc's. So we just put it back up to the 7.5cc's and it was awful the next day. The following evening I was in the hospital ER not being able to keep my own spit down. Dry heaving and the works. Anyway, that is when my doc (the next morning) came in and took it down to 2cc's. We started over from the get go. I just had another fill. I'm up to 6.5cc's. It seems to be okay but not really enough restriction. I probably need another fill in which I'll be having on June 4th. Maybe we'll go up to 7cc's. I too feel like I am able to swallow larger sized bites. The old habits seem to come back, not chewing well enough and too big a bites. They go down easily most of the time. Occassionally though it gives you a reminder that there is a band down here! haha. Anyway, what I think for you is that you should be having more put in your band. I would go very slow with it though. Don't rush things. My doc said that the bands can be very finicky. Just take it slow and go and have a little more put in. Good luck to you and let us know how it goes! Dianne

Hi Minidee! You were soooo lucky you did go back in before having to go through the night in agony. What was you doc thinking anyway by telling you that you'd lose faster if you kept the fill. What the? You couldn't even keep your own saliva down. What's up with these people anyway? I think they think we all want instant gradification with the weight loss. If we wanted it instantly then we surely would have opted for the gastric bypass, right? Geeeez Good luck to you and go slow with your future fills. Maybe have your appointments in the morning so you'll have the rest of the day to see how it goes? Just in case you have to make a mad dash back to the office. Keep us posted... I was banded 2 days before you. Dianne

The closer it gets to the 23rd the more thinking I'm doing about how much to let him put back in. I think I may ask him to just put another 2.5cc's? That will take me up to 4.5cc's total. Then go back in a couple of weeks if I feel I need more. Sounds like a plan to me. Slow and steady as she goes. lol Thanks for writing back Lizzie, it's so good to know that we are not alone in this "adventure". Take care, Dianne

TulipStar, how did the surgery to fix it go? I'm thinking about it and would really like to know what they did, how they did it and how it was for you? Were you admitted in the hospital, how long did you have to stay? Thanks for your help TulipStar, Dianne

Ruby and Ann, sorry to hear abort your ports, especially you Ruby. I can relate to the poke, poke, poke thing. Mine is accessible but it seems that only my doc knows how to get to it. Really stinks. I'm going to ask him on the 23rd about my options. Maybe to have it repositioned? We'll see what he says. Take care and good luck to you, Dianne

Good morning everyone, it's nice to have my fellow November bandsters to lean on, especially when the fear factor kicks in. The slow and steady way is really going to take some getting used to but it is really what we signed up for. I think it will go in spurts though. If we eat, and I do mean really eat, in the correct way we will more then likely lose quicker then we may be now. Such a learning process huh? I will let everyone know what the doc says about repositioning the port. I think it really would be a good idea but then again, here comes the fear. Take care everyone and good luck! Don't get too large of fills. Take it slow and steady. Let's get used to this thing!... which a week ago I would have told them to yank the darn thing out! I'm going to give it another shot. Blessings to you all, Dianne

Hey Lizzie and everyone else. This is what I posted out on the "complications" thread the other day. Lizzie, I can sooooo relate. The not being able, more like not wanting to at all, swallow your own spit thing. Augh. The burp that stays in the back of your throat that you have to swallow. It's all foamy which in turn is air that gets in the pouch and no way out. Talk about pain! OW! Then another burp and swallow. Then the throwing up the Fluid, then the dry heaves! OMG!! Here is my story.... sorry so graphic everyone but it is the truth and the only way I could explain it. I must tell you all that I went to the emergency room the other night, Wed the 9th after a 1 cc fill on the 8th. My fill took me from 6.5cc to 7.5cc's in a 10cc band. I had had this much in my band before and it seemed to be fine. I went in for a fill because I felt like I was eating too much and hadn't lost any weight in 3 weeks. When he withdrew the fluid there was only 6.5 cc's in it. He said that sometimes the body absorbs the fluid and they are not sure as to why that happens but it does. He said that there is no leaks and not to be concerned about that. Anyway... the next day I could barely get down 3/4 of a can of slim fast and about 2 ounces of Water. I got home that night from work and wanted some tomato Soup (made with water). I had about 2 tablespoons and couldn't do anymore. I then started sliming. I couldn't keep anything down including my saliva. It would foam up when I burped and when I swallowed it would have air bubbles in the saliva and build up in my pouch, I'd get a terrible baseball sized air pocket feeling in my chest, then burp with the saliva coming up like foam. Yuck. It really, really hurt. I ended up having to go to the emergency room which was 45 minutes away. So with bucket in hand my husband drove me to the hospital. All I needed mind you was some fluid taken out. I got there and had to sit in the waiting room with several other people - looking at me with my bucket in hand, foaming and spitting into it. My name was called and off to see a doc I went. Waiting....waiting...waiting... in that cubicle of a room, curtain half drawn. Finally the doc comes in and I'm thinking... there's no way in hell I'm going to let this man try to attempt to take any fluid from my port....which by the way was tilted sideways. The staff and doctor really didn't have a clue as to how or even what the lapband was. I had them call my doctors office. Around 2 in the morning my surgeon's associate came in. He tried and tried and tried and tried to draw some fluid from my port but couldn't. Thank God for novocaine!! He had a nurse bring in an ultra sound machine to see if he could find where to insert the needle. Guess what? No one knew how to run the machine. They just pushed button after button after button until it worked. He rolled it over my port and tried again. I've had about 6 novocain injections by now. My husband had a fit. He said, "If you don't know what you're doing then don't you think you should stop"? It must have been a terrible sight for him to see. Laying down and having him pushing and poking on my port wasn't so wonderful either. I had to sit up many times to spew the phlem. He couldn't do anything for me and said,l "in the morning we'll have to get an ultrasound done to find exactly where to insert the needle". (He's new to this lapband world). Good surgeon but not very helpful for my issue. All I wanted was my "own" doctor. The one I go to for fills and the doctor who did my surgery and knew that the port was twisted. Soooo.. there I was all night long in distress, retching and spitting and vomiting, no sleep, no rest, no blanket, no pillow. Very sad and depressed. And to know that it would only take my doctor 2 minutes to help me. Stunk. In the morning, at change of nurses shift a really nice older nurse came in to see me. I told her, I need to have my own doctor come and help me. Can you pleeease help me. She said that she would try to track him down. And you know what??? SHE DID!!! Oh, happy day!! When is he coming, when is he coming I say. She said that he said to tell me that he would be there soon. SOON?? When will that be? It's 8:00am. Well bless his heart he came in within 45 minutes. He had had the nurse have the needles, novocaine and syringes ready. He took out about 1 cc and had me sit up to try to drink. I was petrified to even swallow any water since after all, I was spitting all night long to avoid anything going in my pouch. I took a sip.... then another tiny, tiny sip. I could still feel it in my throat. You know like you have to burp kinda feeling? He had me lay down to take out some more. I told him to just suck it all out. I don't mind starting over from the get go. So he did. He left in 2cc's. It was an immediate relief!! Oh, thank God, thank God!! I love this man! I said, "you can never leave me". He is a wonderful doctor and he knows his stuff. He said that he'll have to teach his nurse practioner how to fill and unfill my port. It's tricky. Not to mention that maybe his associate should maybe come in 1 or 2 times for my next fills to see exactly what he would have to do in order to get into my port correctly. My husband came to pick me up.. (he went home at 2:00 to get like 3 hours of sleep before having to go to work). He drove me home and I crashed out for about 4 hours. I was totally exhausted from this experience. Mentally as well as physically. I'm still feeling the effects of the retching this morning in my shoulders, chest and throat but feel almost 100% better lapband wise. Soo... I'm so sorry about being so graphic and long but just wanted to vent and voice my most resent episode. I want this lapband to work for me but I surely cannot go through Hell in order to accomplish it. I won't really. I've decided that. I have lost 27 pounds since Nov. 5th and feel wonderful. I would like to lose another 50 and really hope that I do. My doc and I decided to take this very slowly going forward. I go back to see him on the 23rd for my "first" new fill. I'm really hoping to not gain any weight before then. I'm going to try to follow how I have been eating for the past couple of months. Just try to stay conscious about it.