guitarman

Hey guys, Long time no talk. Sorry about that. I haven't been very successful with the lapband but it is definitely my fault. It has been a very rough couple of years. Needless to say I am hoping that I can get back in the saddle soon and focus more. Anyway, Have any of you experienced a lump in your throat since being banded? I can't feel it with my hands. It is more on the inside of my throat. It feels like something is stuck and I can't get it down. Very irritating. Sometimes more so than at other times. I went to the ENT DR and he said it was acid reflux. He gave me the purple pill but I haven't noticed any improvement.

Thanks Ariel, I went about 3 weeks ago. Just called and set the appointment for next tuesday at 2:30pm. Time to face the music.

Thanks..............Yes you are right. I will call him today. I have been very nervous about seeing him as I have not been very successful with the band. 60 pounds in 2 years and then hit a wall. Anyway I will take your advice and schedule something with him for early next week.

It certainly has been a while. I have missed you guys. I just wanted to drop a line to say I think about all my fellow bandsters all fo the time but rarely get in front of the computer very much anymore due to work issues. But hopefully that will change soon. I had my band installed back in april and have lost about 55 pounds. At times I feel like this is not working. But then you wake up 2 pounds lighter. I have leveled off for the last 2 months on weight loss and I think it's time for another fill. I rarely feel full now. I have 4.5 in and for about 2 days after the fill I couldn't swallow spit, literally. then the dam burst and I felt as loose as ever. So tomorrow is my Birthday and I think my wife is going to give me a fill for a present. How sweet of her. even after almost a year I am still searching for nirvana. The ideal spot where I actually will get full after a 1/4 cup of food. For all you new bandsters out there who immediately after surgery felt that you made a mistake and feel miserable because you can't eat solid food. Hear me now.................There will come a time when you wished you couldn't eat so much solid food. :-) Just kidding guys....... This is wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am a little freaked by all the friends on this forum who have had to have their band removed. That is scary.....What does erosion feel like??????? OK well I will try to participate more if you guys will have me. I am off to vail colorado to install a below ground pump system tomorrow morning. No ski time for me :-(

Long time no speak. How's everyone doing? Well I am very discouraged over this whole lapband thing and I'll tell ya why. I have no restriction at all. I had the surgery in April and had some complications. I didn't get around to getting a fill until June. The doc put 2.5 in and asked me to swallow a small cup of water. I couldn't get a drop down. He noticed this when I couldn't answer his questions. He had me lay down in order to remove some of the fill. When I did all of the water came up my nose. He took 1ml out so now I have 1.5. I can eat anything. I had a huge ribeye for dinner, corn on the cob, baked potatoe, salad, 5 small crescent rolls. I hurt now. I can't breathe. I just think that I need more fill but jeez louise..............I couldn't swallow water at 2.5. Anyone have any ideas on what could be wrong. Have you ever heard of someone who could eat like a pig and then not get anything down with a difference of 1ml in their band?

I know this is going to sound stupid and I probably have come by that reputation on this board already but here goes anyway. I don't PB.....Never have and don't think I ever will. When something gets stuck it stays stuck until it goes down. If I try to lube it up after the fact it just hurts worse so I have stopped doing that. I am sure most people who PB quite often may consider me lucky but in my view I would rather spit whatever it is back up rather than hurt like hell. I have literally stuck the ol finger down the throat trying to get it back up but to no avail. It ain't happening. Does anyone else experience the sme thing? Luckily I am learning the proper way to feed my band and don't have too many episodes like this anymore. **Something has just occurred to me. After getting the band I never thought my life would be the same again. Feeling so constricted after surgery and in pain. But the ironic thing is that now, 4 weeks out, I sometimes literally forget I have the band and try to eat like I used too by taking huge bites. That is when I get the golf ball sized lump in my chest that will stay there for hours. Still no PB though.**

Hey Vinesqueen, I always slime and never PB. Sometimes I wished I would PB just to get the crap back up. Anyhoo, this is what I call an NSD as in Defeat. I was in Columbia Missouri last week on a sales call and stopped by a little hole in the wall BBQ joint. Well about the easiest meat I can eat is polish sausga ein really small bites. Well How was I supposed to know they don't BBQ sausage in Missouri? We do in Texas so I thought everyone did. Well the only selections were Brisket, Chicken and Turkey. The chicken and turkey just looked too dry so I chose the beef plate with small potatoe salad. So I am sitting in this place all by myself at a rather large table. The lunch crowd has just started to trickle in. I slice a pice of beef about the size of a pencil erasure, pop it in my mouth abd chew for days it seems. I take a small bite of potatie salad and life is good. Until the next bite of meat. That is when the no detour sign was held up at my stomach and traffic came to a halt. Talk about sliming!!!!!!!!!! I had to get up from my plate (not even 1/20th eaten) and walk out the door to my truck and proceed to you know what for about 15 minutes. I swore I would never let that happen in public but lo and behold it did. Amazing I can eat sausage by the yard but one tiny piece of beef (WITH BBQ SAUCE) can bring me to my knees. The worst part was that I was out $11.95....................................................................

You're so right...... I can honestly say that everyone has a strong point here. But lets all consider that part of the problem is that people often use this forum for medical advice. We must be not only responsible for our health but we must also be responsible for the advice we give here as people will interpret it in each their own way. Common sense does not always overcome. Quite often ignorance is so bliss that common sense gets shoved to the side. I have greatly benefited from the great advice and support I have received here and everyone has welcomed me with open arms. You can bet that when I have a question I come here first and always find an answer or at least a pathway to the answer. We must remember this is a journey of uncharted waters for every person who sets sail. Others have gone before and told tales of their perils and triumphs which are then interpreted by the reader in their own way based on their situation. After all what does a golfball feel like in your chest? I think I have a pretty good idea. But that doesn't mean my idea is right for everyone else. Example; my youngest son went 2 days with a cracked collar bone because HE thought the pain was normal and that he was just sore. Boy did I feel like a heel after taking him to get it checked out. Right after the injury happened The kid kept playing basketball and football and carried on with the pain because his coach said he would be fine in a couple of days. Horse puckey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I agree---------- If you are unsure-----Call your doctor or even go to the emergency room. Don't come here first unless it is just for some basic info. After you've gone to the doctor then, and only then write and let us know what you experienced. And if you come here specifically for medical advice we'll have to see if we can bar the doors.

Thank the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Betty. It was great seeing you saturday at North Texas Harley. I lost track of you when the band went on break and never caught up with you. Hey Listen, I have 2 spare AC window units and you guys are welcome to borrow them until you get your air conditioner replaced. I'm just down the street from you. Not sure where your office is though.

Well I got good advice from my father before I got married. Basically he informed me that it was mandatory that all grooms had to watch the Bill Cosby video entitled, "Himself" in order to learn how to outsmart your wife by screwing up the laundry and feeding the children all the wrong foods for breakfast. Thereby never being responsible for those things again. But the most valuable piece of advice my father gave to me was to have the proper outlook and never insist on winning. He said live by the motto, "I can be right or I can be happy, but I can't be both. I chose to be happy." :-) then twirl my u-know-what around.

where does my oxycontin fall within all this? Signed Rush Limbaugh :-)

Wow Yesterday was very tramatic for me. I went for my first fill and the doc added 2.5cc's to my empty band and then had me drink Water. Well guess what? The water wouldn't budge. It was not going down. So as I laid back down on the table to enable the doc to remove some of the saline all of the water rushed from my throat to my mouth. Man this felt totally weird. Anyhow he ended up taking out 1cc and I felt much better. a 1.5cc fill in one of the large bands and I can so tell the difference. well....................... I get home from the Doctor and go to check on my dogs and find my sweet baby Jake dead on my patio. This was so unexpected. Just the night before the family and I were out on the deck playing with the dogs, brushing their remaining winter hair off and having Jake go thru his entire repertoir of tricks, and now he's dead. He was lying in his normal sleeping area. There didn't appear to be any signs of him struggling or being in pain. We back up against a state park and have several water mocassins invade our yard when the creek behind the house drys up every summer. They come looking for water. I just wonder if Jake had gotten biten. He was always aggressive toward the snakes. However I didn't see any signs of swelling or a bite mark anywhere. Jake was a rescued dog we got from a no-kill shelter when we first built this house. He was half yellow lab and half greyhound. Very proud dog that was lighting fast. I only hope we were able to provide him with a stable, happy life for the short 5 1/2 years he had us. And he did have all of us wrapped around his paw. Such a sweet friend. Needless to say, I had more than my fill of yesterday.

You know I think you're right. She is what we call country dumb, which means she is sneaky clever. Yes Bentley is a monster who thinks he is still a puppy. Try having that 110 lbs jump in your lap!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

but on a happier note folks, check out what happened last night. I have two other rescued dogs. One is a full blood Chocolate lab named sadie and the other is half St. Bernard/ Half Bull Mastif named Bentley. Bentley is just the pup and weighs over 110 pounds ay 1 year old. Sadie is about 3 yrs now. Anyhow, Jake was the trick dog. He could do it all. Speak, Beg, High Five, etc.... I could never get Sadie to do anything other than play in the water and catch a ball. Last night I was on the deck spending time with them and I took about 30 minutes trying to teach Sadie to speak on command. Low and behold she did it. Unbelievable. She would never do this in the past no matter how much time I spent with her. It was like all she has ever wanted to do was please us but it just wasn't clicking. All of a sudden the light came on in her head and she was really focused. I know this sounds silly but it brought a lot of joy to our hearts. Thanks again everyone.

Thanks again everyone. I would love to post jakes pic as soon as I learn how to do it. Chicagoboy you are absolutely right about a childs death being more devastating. I don't think any of us were saying otherwise, only comparing the innocense of both children and animals. But then again, how many degrees of a broken heart are there?

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and words. I really appreciate it. Pets are like children in some regards. Some act better than children. My grandmother used to say I know you kids can listen because the dog does and he doesn't even speak english. So we'll miss Jake and his High Five trick and his running to get his leash whenever I got my truck keys. He loved riding in the backseat of the truck and sticking his head out the window. Luckily we just did that the loast day of school when we picked the boys up. Also for all of you animal lovers, and if you live in the DFW area, check out this link to an organization I am a part of. My band will be playing there on July 4th. I know we need Harley riders for a parade through town. This is called the Kaufman County Critter Crawl. It is a buddy walk type thing to raise money for the organization. Just go to my website at www.souldoubtband.com and see the pop-up flag on our front page. You will see the banner there. Just click on the banner and it will take you to the website. Thanks again for you guys providing such encouragement to me and my family.

Well let me suggest something you may want to try. When I grill burgers I take about 2lbs of lean meat and mix in about 2 tablespoons of mustard and 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce. Of course you can adjust to your taste. However be very careful as to much additive can give you one big soggy bowl of gunk that will not form into burgers no matter how hard you try. Anyhoo, Slap those babies on the grill and in no time you will have the most moist, easy-slidin' burgers you've ever had. And they taste awesome. Somebody try them and let me know what you think.

All great ideas. I am so hungry................................

ISopure POwder.

I know this sounds silly but then again, look whos typing this. I am an eater. I didn't eat all day long but when I sat down to eat I ate. Without a fill I find I can eat about 2/3 of what I use to eat. So what I do is make my plate and cover half of it with a napkin. I then only eat what is visable. So I get the satisfaction of making the plate the way I used to but the napkin forces me to evaluate how I feel after I have eaten the visable portion. Sometimes I will leave the table and come back after a couple of minutes. If still hungry I may uncover a slight portion and then follow the same procedure. More often then not I find I am satisfied. Like I said it sounds silly but it works for me. Eat to Survive.......................

Isopure for sure. It goes down easy and doesn't have an aftertaste at all. They are great. Also Smoothie King uses Isopure in some of their high protein low carb drinks. Very Yummy.

well come on down little filly and we'll set you up. although I wasn 't aware of the ratio bing that skewed. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! 2 to 1 huh? well I said I was going to quite smoking and get divorced when I turned 40 but looks like I better keep her with the ratio that wide. I told her when SHE turned 40 I was going to trade her in for two 20 year olds. She laughed and said I wasn't wired for 220. OI!!!! Anyway it's cheaper to keep her and I reckon I still love her more than anything on this earth.

I thought perhaps you arranged your sushi like a Jackson Pollock painting. Now that would cure anyones appetite. I guess a Sydney Pollack movie would too.

PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can promise I don't try to contemplate the amount of alcohol my band will hold. :-) I just pour it in, Jump up and down and mix it up................... When? and Where? I'm there..........................