shortgal

RNY had too many complicatons for me, plus having my stomach cut and re-routed, no thanks. The malabsorption was another big issue for me. A friend had gastric bypass and is now troubled with anemia. What happens when a GBP patient gets to 70 and 80 and suffers from malnutrition? A Dr. that doesn't do laproscopic? Is he old and not trained in the new ways? It's much more invasive for you to have an open procedure. Trust me I had open gallbladder surgery before they did it laproscopically and my band was so much easier. Recovery was four weeks with my gallbladder and I was much younger. I have no problem with people that think GBP is a better choice for THEM, but open vs. laproscopic just doesn't make sense. It's like going back in time. There can be reasons they have to change a laproscopic to an open procedure while the surgery is being done, but to say right off the bat, that's how it wants to do it doesn't seem right to me. On big medicine, even super morbidly obese patients have been done laproscopically and they are more difficult patients. I would see another surgeon.

sounds like your biggest problem won't be what to eat, but not overeating! Lots of choices!

The Dr./hospital might not be willing to give you the fill because it's possible that any "aftercare" for 90 days after surgery might be considered part of the surgery and the ins co. won't pay more. If your Dr. and hospital wait the 90 days then they'll get paid. I'm not positive this is the reason, but it would make sense. Why not call your ins. co. It won;t change anything but at least you'll know the reason. I think the policy stinks! My Dr's office does the fills in the office ( no floroscope, it takes literally 2 to 5 mins. Oh and that might be the amount the Dr. or hospital bills the ins co for, but I doubt that's the negotiated amount they receive.

That's what the OP said, she had cake and mexican food and couldn't get back on track! She didn't say she was eating the RIGHT food, so maybe she needs a fill and maybe not. I think she needs to eat solid protein and then assess her hunger, before deciding if a fill is needed.

I've been going every two weeks with 1 cc's at each visit (first fill was 2 cc's) as I get closer to good restriction, we'll decide if I can go longer between fills and if we should lessen the amount of fill at each visit. so far, I've had five fills and I'm at about 6 cc's in a 10cc band. Last fill was yesterday, still trying to figure out if this one got me to my first level of restriction.

But if you eat the wrong things then isn't it possible for A, B, and C to all happen and you might not need a fill? Like too many soft carbs that don;t stay in the pouch, add calories and make you hungry?

Yeah this is just how are bodies are! 250 calories after 2.5 weeks???? You probably need to eat more. If I don't see the scale budge, I try a couple days of lower calories and then a few days of higher ( but not too high) calories. I figure during the caveman days, they could not have had the same access to food every day. Maybe one day they found a lot of berries and that's all they ate and then the next day maybe they killed an animal and ate a lot. Anyway, it usually works for me and I see the scale move. Everybody has their own technique. BUT 18 pounds is great!

Yup agree, lots of protein and eat slowly. Many ships have a gym or walking track. Have Fun!

WILLOW: Your Dr needs to tell you what kind of band you have and how much Fluid it holds. Everyone has a different stomach inside, so people need less fluid to make the band work and some need more. As you lose weight and lose more stomach fat, the band might need another fill. Some Dr. put a small amount of fluid at the time of surgery, some don;t. Dr.'s have different guidleines for how often they are willing to give a patient a fill and how much they put in at each fill. I have an Allergan/Inamed band that holds 10cc's and I have approx 6cc's in the band. This manufacturer also has a larger 14 cc band. There is a "thread" on the forum about "how fills work" by Wendell, that explains the fill process. You can do a "search" if you can;t find it. The search box is at the upper right of the page. Hope that helps!

Don't forget to post wedding photos! Good Luck on your new journey to health.

Personally, I would never ask a Dr. "how their marriage is going" as I don;t believe that is my business and how my marriage is, is none of their business unless I offered the info. Debt/foreclosure? Not sure I'd ask that either. How many lapbands have they done, any deaths? which complications have they seen like slippage and erosion, how many of those and what was the outcome. I would definitely want to know what their fill process is like and how often they are willing to give fills. I dont think any person should wait six months for a fill, unless they don't have hunger and don't need the fill. Does your ins. cover the fills or is it part of the surgery fee and for how long are fills covered under the original surgery payment. Will ins pay for fills down the road, like in one year, if you needed it? If not how much are fills? Is someone on call if you have problems after the surgery (many surgeries on on Friday). What would they do if you suddenly discovered your fill was way too tight? I didn't know enough about the band to ask these questions.

Lots of Dr differ on this. My Dr says two days full liquids, then two days soft foods. I then add normal food, but I chew well and take tiny bites until I know what foods my new restriction might tolerate.

I take a chewable wafer calcium vitamin that has a cherry flavor. A little too sweet tasting but not bad. I heard that calcium can "bind"us and we should take magnesium with it. When my bottle runs out, I'll see if that comes together in a chewable.

Hey no problem with the help and support. Next month it might be you kicking one of us in the butt to get us back on track!

Yup, you guessed it. East Coast, New England girl! And yes my husband agrees with you and Emeril that Fat rules! Bacon, I can take it or leave, no problem. Sweets, tostitos and ice cream CANNOT be left alone with me in the house! I cannot stop thinking about those foods until they are gone if they're in the house. It's like they sit in the frig or cabinet and just scream.... come get me! We haven't had those foods in the house for awhile now. I am very focused right now about staying on track, but soon we'll have some social things coming up and I know it will start getting harder when exposed to these choices. But that is something I will have to learn to cope with, as that is real life that these foods will always be around to tempt. Right now, my son's upcoming wedding and the thought of buying a dress has keep me on the straight and narrow!

BetsyJane: I would love to hear excerpts (advice) from the book! Give us some tips. Janet: It's a good thing I have never had green Beans with bacon and potatoes! I never knew a choice like that existed. I eat a lot of different foods but there are some things that I've never been attracted to. dips and Guacamole are examples and I've stayed away from those things for years, but then someone will insist I try something new and then I give in and find out I like it. Well, thanks a lot "friend" because now that's one more food I like I have to try to resist or limit. Oh yeah, well now I like guacamole! The same thing happened at Thanskgiving. We always had what my family had made, until we started visiting our married daughter for the holiday and her husband's family brought things they always had. Wow, green bean casserole is very good! And corn pudding! Ha, never had it or heard of it before, now I think it should be required at holidays! I can tell you my husband will start drooling when I tell him about your green bean receipe. I'm a carb/sweet person, but he's the one that likes the fat in the food, so the bacon for him is king!

It isn't just how many fills we get, it's how much at each fill your Dr. injects. Some Dr's will "sneak up" on restriction with multiple small fills. some Dr;s wil start off with a bigger fill and then go slower. The distance between fills can also be a factor. Lots of variables with fills. I am now waiting on the fill I got yesterday to see if this one works. I have another day of full liquids and the 2 days of soft food. I do feel some tightness, but i had that last fill and then it released. I think I get some swelling after the fill.

Of course, you're hungrier after your celebration. This is the pattern of fat people. We lose control and then totally binge. Detox is in order! Start on high protein liquids for at least two days, just like after you had the surgery, progress to soft foods (mostly protein)2 days and then solid foods, again high protein for two days. That should get you back on track before you gain more weight.

If the Dr. personally never saw you after this incident, then who explained what happened in surgery to you. I would schedule an appt with th surgeon and ask her exactly what happened. Make her explain it completely until you understand it totally. I would have someone else with you to help decipher the information. Unless your a meical professional it can be difficult to understand in one quick explanation while your still groggy from anesthesia. Once you understand how this happened, you'll be in a better position to determine if this was incompetence. You could also ask the hospital physician review board to review your case. I would not wait long to start asking these questions while nurses and the anesthesologist remember the details. Your surgeon was not in the OR alone! Then another physician can look at your incision and staples as well, while their still "fresh"

I don;t think Kristen has had a fill yet. you guys are lucky... it's the band equivalent of winning the lottery!

biggestloser: I hope you get a good resolution to being too tight. That is not fun or healthy. Sorry, if all my advice was stuff you already knew. Sometimes on the forum, you find people that don't have a lot of this info. P.S. I was self pay, too! Check back in and let us know how you make out.

Oh yeah, I went though the anger period. Still do, sometimes. I wonder why I hated myself so much that I would make myself so ugly with fat. FYI, you'll probably be angry again, when you see what your skin looks like later. But we are in the place we are and would have doing NOTHING to change things be any better? No way! Favorite foods, you mean the ones that got you fat? You didn't get fat eating too many green Beans, right? Yeah, me either! LOL. Hopefully some of your favorite foods might not be off the list forever and hopefully you'll enjoy them in moderation. I have pretty much said farewell to Twizzlers for a long time or maybe forever. Band friendly treat? I don't think so, even in moderation. I'll bet it's like a lead bullet in the pouch. And I'm sure we'll find too many bad foods later that go down our pouches real easy and we'll be angry about that, too! Oh well, hang in there. It does get better!

If your surgery is Monday then surely you can hold off telling people for a little while. You might want to tell people as they notice you've lost some weight, how you lost the weight. The lapband journey can be one of ups and downs as you'll read here and some of us wish we hadn't told as many people as we have. The questions about how much we lost, watching everything we eat, etc. We have enough to go through without added pressure from well meaning friends. There will be plenty of time after the surgery to slowly decide who to tell and who not to tell. Good Luck Monday!

Well if you can "give up fast food and dessert", do it! Maybe that will be enough to get you where you want to be. Your BMI is not extreme, a few small changes and adding walking could make the difference. This is SURGERY, so I think you should be sure you're ready for it. Some lapband people prefer to be at a tight restriction and that limits what they eat, some are able to stay in control with a looser restriction and then might have more food choices available, that goes down well. Bread and Pasta are iffy foods, some can eat them, some can't and since they're carbs, they make us gain weight quickly and should be avoided anyway. But some people can eat bread if it's toasted. I hope I can one day when my band process is further along, to eat out in restaurants and eat a variety of foods in very small portions. I assure you we spend more than $30 a month on food. Bad food is cheap, good healthy food isn't. Seafood, meat and other Proteins, veggies and produce is generally more expensive than bread, potatoes and pasta.

Been there, done that. A few years ago, I tried that. I lost 30 pounds and it took me ten months ( i found it hard to be consistently "good"), then I promptly gained HALF of it back and fought hard to keep the rest of the 15 off before being banded. I knew if I didn't get banded, it was just a matter of time before the rest of the 15 pounds I lost, found me! I say SURE, go ahead and try it, it won't hurt you and it will help your diabetes. Let us know how you make out. BTW, gastric bypass can fail and lap band can fail, but everything else I tried wasn't working either, so I might as well give this a shot.