Sarah.R

wow sarah,sounds like a lot of running around,no matter what surgery you need they seem to make you jump through hoops dont they?How are you going with the band?Are you glad you got it?ive only had mine 4 weeks and because i dont have any Fluid in my band im starting to get hungry ,grrrr,anyway good luck .

Yeah but it was definitely worth it. At the moment I'm doing okay with it I guess, I ate a pork chop one night and didnt really drink anything, went to bed and the next day when I tried to drink it was just severe pain and the docs thought it may have slipped, I went for a barium swallow on the 15th this month and will hopefully get the results soon so I can get filled again as they did a complete unfill.

Hi Sarah,Can i ask you how you went about having your band in the public system?I was told no way,that they didnt do it.You dont have to answer if you dont want to.

No it's cool. Basically I got very very lucky. I have a lung condition and long story short my respiratrist basically said I may need a lung transplant if my breathing got worse, then he said maybe you should consider lapband, no way in hell I could ever afford it so didnt bother thinking about it. Then I saw a diabetes doctor who said they would talk to another doctor who would then talk to another doctor (basic run around)

I eventually saw the surgeon between january -may 08( it's hard to remember that far back) who gave me a referral to see his nurse (he wouldnt band me if i hadnt seen her, yet he does people now that havent seen her - go figure), so saw her, then it was basically been told one thing and doing another for a while. I saw her in may 08 and then was told it will happen in december 08, which it didnt, then i was told to do preop in feb 09 so i did, and they ended up getting someone else in for surgery so couldnt do it, then it was postponed to april 09 and still didnt happen then eventually did in may 09. Basically I got lucky with this because they had just started doing the band publicly at my hospital and i was one of the first 2 who had it done, that was only in may last year but I bet the waiting list is probably 5 years long now considering it takes longer and longer everytime i go and see him to get a fill. So now I go to another doc because i hate dealing with the hospital and there bullsh*t

Hi i just moved here from usa and need recommendation for fill doctors and prices. Can you please help me out.

Depends on where abouts you live in brisbane.

Oh and fyi people if you live near or around Victoria Point let me know, I just found a fill doctor that bulk bills for people with the band - Heaven!

I think I'm probably the longest, it took basically a year for me to see surgeon then exactly a year later I got the band done however I was public so what do you expect? Lol

There are alot of docs at the wesley in brisbane. Maybe try out there website.

Money is the main motivation, they got more for bypass than lapband

I haven't told alot of people and yet more and more seem to find out, I actually had a colleague from another office get it done (found out on monday) and was in complete shock, mainly because she isn't that big at all, she looks about 80kgs so it doesnt look like the right option for her. But in saying that she found out that I had it done from the receptionist who has it as well, so I dunno as long as it stays inside work it doesn't honestly bother me, it's when friends find out and are discriminative about it.

Can already tell this is going to turn into an argument, people believe in god or don't believe in god for there own reasons why should they have to voice what that opinion is and get b*tched at for it? Which is whats going to happen

Even I could of told you before reading this that this website has a high majority of women, in saying that there are alot of males banded, I actually have heard of more men banded than woman (in my life anyway)

It also depends on where you live.

I was done by Dr Martin from the wesley at the p.a. He wasn't to bad but his bedside manner is something left to be desired. Recently I had to have an unfill and because martin was away blair bowden was called and he told my nurse to take it all out so at the moment I've never met blair but I don't like him lol. Money wise, I didn't pay anything mainly because I have alot of health issues, if you do decide to go private find out if you can get it done at the p.a because they do intermediate or something procedures that end up being cheaper for private patients. Good luck =)

Honestly it's liquid, it'll go thru either way but you might not want to push it this far. Maybe just have half and even tho you can eat the other half stick it in the fridge and have it later

So heres the story, yesterday I was in a plus size chat room and a woman said she was getting the bypass surgery. Another woman was bitching at her (even tho she was fat as well) saying how she didn't even look big enough to have the surgery.

So I was talking to the woman who was getting bypass and I said to her I had the band and she said that her surgeon told her bypass was the better option because the lapband was being phased out as there werent alot of success stories. So naturally I defended lapband because I dunno about her surgeon but really who gives misinformed information like that? It's wrong and unethical.

With each surgery there are success stories and failures, you hear about the failures more of the other surgeries more than the success'.

So has anyone ever heard something ridiculous about lapband that has made you defend it? Particularly against people that have bypass.

Well how much did you get an unfill the first time and how much did you get put in. Do you know your band size? Cuz if you some people on here may be able to help you out on how much you should have in your band

You know it's weird, I agree and disagree with alot of these.

I recently went to my hospital to get a fill and where I get it done its the diabetes part and that particular day they had a weightloss clinic. I went in there and mind you I still feel big and am still big but I honestly was the smallest person there, and I just sat there thinking "holy crap, if I didn't have this then chances are I would have ended up that big"

In a way I'm probably more judgemental than I should be of bigger people. I see children that are like 7 and already have a double chin and I honestly wanna burst out crying or punch the parents because I know exactly what they went thru and no child should have to go thru bullying and everything that is associated with childhood obesity.

I know I shouldn't be this judgemental but I honestly can't help it and it seems to have only gotten worse since I've had this band. I recently went shopping for boxing day sales here and theres a plus size pretty fashionable shop that had 70% off. So I went in with my mum and there was a large which is about a 20/22 which is 22 american I think, anyway I held it up and said to my mum "oh it looks like a sack" and there was a chick that just stared at me. I mean I felt bad.

I see bigger people at the shops now and I kinda look down on them. I really want to get out of that mind mentality but I honest to god don't know how

Ok if your still sliming things up after you vomitted then chances are whatever you ate is still covering your hole (gross as that sounds) whenever I would get stuck, I would wait like 3 hours later then try to drink but it would go down so slow or some would come back up so I knew that there was still food there. Give it about another hour or so then try to drink again, if you feel alot of pressure/pain where your port is then thats the food going thru (I know they tell you not to do this but for me sometimes I've had to do it - only twice tho) if it still comes back up, your still stuck. Either way wait a little while to drink, if after you attempt to drink you don't have any pain then it's gone thru

Yes you probably have no restriction but like the first person said it's supposed to be a liquid diet for a reason. I don't want to sound rude but theres a reason doctors give you a post op diet plan not just because they wanna be rude - It's for your health I mean how would you feel if you ended up back in hospital not even a month out because you ate? Even if you chew heaps it doesn't matter, your body needs to heal from the surgery. I honestly don't want to sound rude about it but that's the way I think. You only have to do maybe a month of liquids/mushies and then you can trial food again so why not wait until then to go back to eating doritos and whatever else you want?

It's hard to say, sometimes I'm a huge sceptic but sometimes I'm not, here in aus we just have come into summer and even in winter here it gets cold but not cold cold but it wasn't cold like it usually is? So I dunno, if the world is supposed to end in 2012 I guess we won't have to worry about it then hey lol

Honestly my dietician said don't buy things just for me, whatever the family has, have that but puree it and thin it out, which in a way is a great idea - You're not going to be spending heaps of something that's only going to last maybe 2 weeks, the one thing I would tell you to avoid eating pureed is chicken, it tastes like chalk lol. Good luck

Yes it does help shrink the liver making it easier for surgery as they have to manouvere the liver to get to the stomach. Also I agree with bandedgirl, go on what your surgeon says, not others =) Good luck with surgery

Please don't gain weight, use ankle weights, they help way easier and then that way you can "miraculously" loose that weight before surgery =P

** So I retract everything I said there lol. I don't mean to be rude but like most I believe that you aren't heavy enough to have surgery BUT that is my opinion and it is definetly not your decision/choice to listen to it which is understandable - In saying that, this is weight loss surgery not "I want to loose 10lbs and then I will be my goal weight surgery"

Also I have one question, your first post you said you could never afford to be self pay and then all of a sudden you can?

Jenna of course there is risk with any surgery but like the first person said, you probably die in more car accidents - This is a life changing surgery so obviously there are going to be risks but don't you think the benefits far outweigh the risks? This was my 3rd surgery (2 lung biopsies before) and the biopsies where more dangerous than band and yet I was more paranoid/scared getting the band. Try researching on here, honestly it will put your mind at ease more and the more you research it the more you'll know your making the right decision

21 when I had mine but I could have had it when I was 19 if doctors hadn't screwed around lol. Didn't really care when I got it as long as I did

If it says its a can have but not a requirement then really you don't have to drink it, just make sure if you take it out you have the same amount of something else so your still getting fluids in

Honestly I do the same thing, I mean I totally agree with you, it's liquid - it goes straight thru and waiting those 20-30 minutes will just make you dehydrated anyway, the more important thing is waiting after.

Because weight loss should really only be for adults, in saying that you obviously didn't look hard enough because there are plenty of teenagers in the teenage forum - Not trying to be rude either

Heres the link: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f116/