Parvathi

Sorry Liz, but I'm gonna have to take that poster child spot from you LOL. In March 2005 I was banded. Within the next year, I lost from 264 lbs to 163 lbs. I was thrilled. I followed that up w/ a tummy tuck for the saggy skin and a breast reduction (from G to C) in April 2006. In Sept 2006 I found out that my band had slipped. I had put on a couple of pounds. No biggie - I was rebanded in Oct 2006. Its now Feb 2008 and I have steadily gained right back up to 251 lbs. So since I was banded three years ago, I've lost 13 lbs. I'm starting over now, so I think this is the group I belong in for sure!

One of the biggest causes they think, was being filled too tight, for too long. Finding the optimum fill level is something we all want. Some unfortunately, like myself, think that tighter is better. In some cases, a simple unfill of the band for a few weeks can give it time to reposition itself again. That didn't happen for me, so I had to be re-banded. Re-banding is much easier though than the first time around, as they don't generally have to replace the port and can usually just go in through the old incision scars. But slippage isn't common and isn't something to spend time worrying about :thumbup:

I wasn't allowed to take anything before mine - even to have a drink before mine. But I'm sure different clinics are different. Do be prepared for the most uncomfortable night of sleep in your life lol .. but its only one night. The wires drove me crazy and I thought I'd never get the sticky stuff out of my hair, but I survived .. and you will too :mad:

Couldn't have said it better myself, kbinaz!

Keep in mind that to put in the port, they cut through muscle. When muscle is healing, it hurts. A lot of us experienced it and it's probably nothing, but if it starts to concern you, call you doctor, if even for that lil bit of reassurance to help you rest better :mad:

I've been banded since March 2005. I've answered this question numerous times and everytime I said I didn't regret it a bit. Well, three years out and one slip later lol... There have been brief moments when I've regretted it. My journey has been a real roller coaster ride now. I was 4kgs away from goal when my band slipped and I've managed to gain nearly all of the weight back. I'm now working on taking it back off. But even now, my regrets are only brief and are mostly due to the fact that I tasted success, ever so briefly, and I want it back. I would do it again in a heartbeat though!

Thanks for sharing, Graham! I had many of those same thoughts whilst laying there waiting. I do believe I even teared up at one point. If my knees weren't so weak, I would have gotten up and ran away lol. So glad I didn't though.

moosictchr, its great that you've gotten a sense of restriction from your first fill. From my experience, if you feel the restriction straight away, it usually settles down a bit after 2 or 3 days. How much, is anyone's guess. seajules - don't worry at all. Most people won't feel a great amount of restriction for the first few fills. It all depends on the person and every one of us is different. I've had fills where for a week afterwards I'd be like .. well THAT didn't work! ... then boom ... sudden restriction. Then other times I'd walk out of the office, get in the car, have a drink of Water and nearly choke cause the restriction hit suddenly. Then some days I can eat a house, others I can't get through a serve of tuna salad. The band can well and truly be a fickle thing .. but despite the ups and downs, its a wonderful tool.

I told everybody in my life about the band .. just couldn't see keeping it a secret. Heck, I can't even keep a Christmas pressie a secret haha. Luckily, I've only had one person who likes to make backhanded comments about it .. always of course, "for my benefit". I've just gotten to the point that I don't mention it or my eating habits around that one person. Without knowing the details of this persons bleeding and their procedure, it would be really difficult to say. I hope they did contact their band surgeon as well. Its a pretty safe procedure, but as with any surgery, things can go wrong and its good to keep that in mind. Just don't let it control you or your decisions.

Congrats, saran! Sending happy thoughts your way for tomorrow :mad:

I wasn't told not to use one. Actually, for the liquid phase, I was told to use a straw, as anything that couldn't go through it wasn't to be eaten.

I can not begin to tell you how true that statement is. I stayed too tight, for too long. I wanted to hit that goal and I didn't care how I got there. I was within 4kgs of goal when my band slipped. The road since then has been one heck of an uphill battle. I managed to gain all but 5kgs back of my start weight. I feel miserable about it and just haven't hit a proper restriction since being re-banded. If you haven't read the book The Lap-Band Solution by Paul O'Brien, get yourself a copy. Have a read about the different fill amounts and how each band will work differently for each person. And please please don't make the mistake I did and run from these boards when things get tough or you're not losing .. cause I can be certain that had I stuck around, the encouragement here wouldn't have let me pile on the weight like I have. Good luck!

Hi ladies and gents Haven't been around in a while cause, well .. I haven't been losing lol. And for some reason when I'm not losing I can't bring myself to login :/ I'm weird, I know. Since being rebanded in November, I haven't felt any restriction. Yesterday I went back to the doctor. I knew I was nearing 4cc in the new AP small band, so was very nervous about it. I've heard from several people that finding restriction after being rebanded is difficult and thought, "gee, what if I've reached the limit and still don't have it?!? Am I destined to be stuck at 90kgs??" So I talked w/ my doctor about my concerns. When I said, "I know I'm nearing capacity ..", she replied with, "No you're not." and kind of chuckled. Seems the small ap band can hold upwards of 10cc. I had no idea, as my previous band held about 4cc. Phew! That's a lifesaver lol. Even better, seems I now have a bit of restriction after yesterday's fill. YaYYY.

LOL - absolutely normal. The band is such a fickle tool! Almost everyday for lunch I have a tin of tuna with a few Vitaweat and some sliced capsicum (just cause its easy to fix at work). Some days I scarf it down no worries, then other days I'll get a few bites in and be like o0o that's not working lol. When you switch to solids, you'll probably find that you'll be fuller quicker too, even though you chew your food to mush. Never made sense to me *shrugs*.

Hey Susannah, That was definitely the norm for me (eating more than one cup), but from what I hear, everyone is different. I did ask the doctor about it at the time and both Mr. Crosthwaite and Dr. Korin seemed to think that was fine. I stressed heaps too. I'm a Water chugger - always have been. Even now, I drink pretty fast for a bandster. The only time I feel it is if its a *really* cold drink or if its first thing in the morning. Dunno- maybe I'm a bad bandster lol. Don't let it all get to you too much though. At the end of the day, if you're eating healthy and trying to follow the bandster rules as much as possible, you're doing great! Any major concerns, make sure to phone the doc. Another month and it'll all be second nature to you Oh - and good luck w/ that first fill next week! Don't forget, you probably won't get restriction from that first one, so don't get frustrated - it will come!

Thanks! haha - yea, we moved from Richmond, to Williamstown and after 3 years in Willy, the reason we moved back inner city was because of the commute. We both complained DAILY about the drive and how we wasted on average 3 hours/day in driving. I don't know what we're thinking moving that far out LOL, but I do love Eltham cause of the greenery and the fact that we'll finally have a back yard (with pool for these awful summer days we've been having lol). I've already told David though that I plan on working from home several days per week. Guess I'm lucky that I have that flexibility in my job. Jaz will still be going to school in Kew, but there's school bus that picks up and drops off at the Eltham station. I'd love to have a bandsters get together after we get settled in though, if anyone's interested in catching up.

Hi all, Haven't been around for a while so thought I'd pop in this thread and say hello Great to see so many locals around! Things have been a bit hectic lately at work, home, etc. We've also just purchased our first home, which comes with a huge set of headaches on its own. Don't move in til April, but is anyone around the Eltham area by chance? Hope everyone is doing well and good luck to those just getting started on this journey

Now that I'm back on the liquid stages from the revision surgery, I've been looking through the Food forum again and paying more attention to what others on the liquid stages are doing. I've noticed more than a few people say that post op, their surgeon's had them on clear liquids only. Some for a few days, some for a few weeks even. My surgeon has me on liquids for three weeks post op, then slowly transitioning to mushies and solids over three weeks. His liquid diet is "anything that will go through a straw". This includes even stuff such as icecream, although the papers said to make that only an occasional. My understanding of clear liquids, from working in the medical industry for 8 years is water, broth, plain tea and coffee (no milk or creamer) and rehydration type drinks. Perhaps I had it wrong? But my question is, has anyone who's meant to be on the clear liquids for several weeks asked the surgeon why? I know its always best to follow the surgeon's orders and I'm fine with that, I just really want to know, if there's any other reason to be on clear liquids other than its low calorie/carb/fat? And if on this for several weeks, where do your nutrients that are really important for healing come from? I'm sitting here counting my blessings that this soup I have in the crockpot (Mexican chicken soup) can be stuck in the blender later and eaten by me for dinner LOL.

I just made my husband and daughter a ham, egg and cheese Breakfast sandwich and the smell made me want something savoury to drink for breakfast so bad I can hardly stand it lol. I've never been big on eggs, but ham and cheese .. mmm mmm good! I feel like I'm going to turn into a chicken, I've had so much chicken soup/broth. Ditto on the veggie Soup and fruit. Any ideas for a savoury liquid breakfast?

Curley has the AP small band as well. She had the same as me - slippage, then rebanded with the new AP band. The four of us will be our own lil case study LOL. For me, the tt was all vanity haha. It scared me too, ALOT. I kept telling myself, "the band was medically necessary, this is NOT..." By the time surgery rolled around, I had myself convinced I wasn't gonna wake up on the other end of it. But I did .. and I can tell ya, it feels great not looking down and seeing that flabby skin hang over my stomach. Even with a couple more kilos on from the slippage, because the tummy part is mostly gone, I manage to feel good about myself most days. Oh .. and the new perky boobs don't hurt either lol.

o0o Amy - other than the chicken incident, how was Fifteen? I've been wanting to try it. A coworker called to book us in to the new Jamie Oliver restuarant in melb but it was booked out til MARCH! lol. Oh .. and yes, chew chew chew! Chicken, I've found, is best served with a dipping sauce as well. Just helps it go down. *edit* - and Mark - glad the slight unfill helped! From what I've heard, its rare for people with the large band to feel restriction on the first go. Well done to you Probably a very good sign of things to come, even tho it was uncomfortable for a while.

LOL - great post Carlene! Congratulations on all you've accomplished. A size 4?!? I couldn't even dream of it lol. If I ever fit this massive hips in a size 10 I'm going to kiss the ground cause I'll know I'm home

I did a search through all of your posts under the HarleyNana username, as well as searched 7 pages back on the General board and couldn't find the one you're referring to? I may just be blind lol. If you post a link to the thread here I'll happily read it

The pre op diets suggested/enforced by some surgeons are done to "shrink" your liver, in order to lessen the chance of nicking it during surgery. Whilst its not the healthiest thing in the world, nutritionally speaking, it serves a purpose and short term, it won't hurt you.

From what I gather, most surgeons determine what type of band you'll need, once they actually get "in" there. As for me, my old band was the small 4cc Inamed band. When I had my revision surgery from slippage, I got the new 4cc APS band, which is a bit more flexible and supposively, less likely to slip. Unfortunately, that's all the info I have on it currently, as its so new *shrugs*. Good luck w/ your surgery