jegtlf

I didnt either! I gotta tell you it is such a relief to be able to actually eat without throwing up! Of course I can eat too much since I am wide open but omg food is good!

I just got out of the hospital a few days ago after a port revision surgery. Originally they had though I had a kinked tube, but it turns out it is not. Tuesday morning I went to my GP doc and he admitted me to the hospital for severe dehydration. I explained to everyone that i was unable to keep any food down and barely any liquids. I lost 6 pounds in 3 days. My band had gotten so tight that i could eat nothing and I was starving myself to death. After hours of different doctors (including a neurosurgeon) trying to remove Fluid from my band they give up and concede that yes my band was too tight and there was nothing they could do short of a port revision and unkinking the tube. Well after surgery they tell me that there were no kinks in the tubing. Scar tissue had developed around the tubing and had began squeezing the tubing giving it the same effect as if the tubing had been kinked. They removed all the fluid from my band and now i get to start over fresh. I was afraid I would lose my band completely but now i just get fresh start. I gained some weight back but I am still over 100 pounds loss from the original surgery and now I can continue my journey. I am in a lot of pain, a port revision is way worse than the original surgery! Hopefully I can share more good news with you all later!

I had surgery March 24, 2008 and I have lost 105 pounds as of right now. I am still losing but it has slowed way down. I started out wearing a size 26 and today I am wearing a size 10! It is frustrating sometimes and there are sometimes complications but I would do it again in a heartbeat! Whatever you do, don't give up no matter how frustrated you get. Its hard work and it doesnt do it for you, but the results are worth it! Tracy Edit: this as of today, I am in a size 8! Yippee!

I am here in little rock and was banded last march. I have lost 78 pounds already and would love to lose at least 50 more. I would like to make a friend or two to share problems with or workout or just compare notes! feel free to pm me or email me! Tracy

When do you guys meet there? I work in South West Little Rock out at the old expo center building. I could run over a couple times a week probably! Let me know and I will see what I can do! I look forward to meeting you! Oh yeah... I am wearing a size 8 today.... I am so darn excited!!!! You guys will be there too before you know it! Tracy

I only took a few of the pain pills the doctor gave me, liquid tylenol was enough for me after the first day!

I am hoping to lose about 40 more, but i will be happy to get to 150 which is on 15 more pounds. You will get there, just work hard and smart at it! They say that most people lose up to 60% of their excess weight but I am already at 74% so it is possible!

Maybe we should all get together one day and walk or something, I love to go to the Big Dam Bridge and walk. I am struggling to get the last little bit off and could use the support and encouragement of others who are going through the same thing. Ona positive note I am officially down 105 pounds! Went from a size 26 to a size 10. Yippee!

I had surgery with Dr. Luttrell MArch 24, 2008 and i have lost 105 pounds as of this morning. Only a few small complications but it has worked very well for me. I was in a size 26 now I am in a size 10! Yippee! Big huge difference. Dr. Luttrell and his office were great with me and I would recommend them to anyone. Tracy

I have lost 105 now! You can add me to the list. Tracy

I had a kink in my tubing, it was not pretty. You can read about what happened on my blog if you like. I was told that the reason it kinked is because when you lose weight all the excess tubing has no where to go and will kink up at that point. I only have about 27 more pounds to go to get to my goal so I am electing not to have the port revision surgery that will move my port and trim the excess tubing. I am hoping that I will be able to make it through finishing this up on my own! My doctor is able to get Fluid in my band but not out of the band. I begged him last week to give me a tennsy fill and he did but he will not do anything else until i schedule surgery and have it done so I am on my own for now. My insurance will not cover it or I would just have the surgery. Good Luck and congrats on your weight loss. I have lost 93 pounds so far. My goal is to lose 120 so I am very very close! You can do it!

I had a great experience with Dr. Luttrell and in 10 months I have lost 83 pounds! He is doing surgery still so I would highly recommend him! He has a great bedside manner. On Dr. Wellborn, I know someone who had surgery done with him and he raves on how great it the experience was! Tracy

That was the first question I asked and they said no I would have to deal with whoever was in the emergency room. It was absolutely the scariest thing I have ever done. I trust my doctor completely and thats the only reason I did it. Otherwise I would have went to the hospital and let them put me under!

I am a photographer as well as a wls patient, would love to play with some boudoir shoots like boo boo kittys, anyone want to have one? Will do a few for free. PM me if interested Tracy

I had mine done by Dr Lutrell in March and I have lost 78 pounds already. You can read on my blog about the excitement i just went through with a kinked tube!

I bruise like that every time I get a fill! It is terrible! Tracy

Today I went to my doc for a routine fill, my 3rd actually. I was banded march 23, 2008 and have lost 78 pounds off the first two fills. The last one was in July and I have been pretty levelized for the last month or so not really losing but the same few pounds over and over again. My doc does them under flouro. So we go back to the room and he gets me all prepped up and sticks me trying to get in the port. After several tries he asks me if he had problems getting in before. I said a little but not too bad. So turns out he is getting in the port but cant draw any Fluid out. He says that is odd and he doesnt understand why. He keeps trying to stick me thinking he hasnt hit the port after all but finally determines there is either a leak or a kink. So instead of trying to draw fluid out he tries to shoot some in. BINGO! He gets fluid in, but now its too much and he cant get it out. Finally gets some out and says it has to be a kink. So he xrays me and sees the fluid barely trickling through the band. Tries again to take some fluid out and draws out 1.4cc. looks at xray again and still way too tight. Tries to draw more out and gets a little more about .4cc so he asks if i think i can deal wiht that. So i asked him how much is in there and he says he doesnt know exactly. I was filled to 5.4 in july so i am guessing i have a couple more cc's in me at this point. So he sends me out to waiting room to see how it is in a little while as he is taking care of a few other patients. They call me back again and decided to try to take more out. I threw up the barium a little and he was able to get just a little bit more like .2 cc maybe. Sent me home to see how i handled it. within an hour of being home i was calling back and telling them it was too tight. So they tell me to come back in. I get there and the doc is there just getting back from lunch and kinda surprised to see me and i tell him it is just too tight. I jokingly said i dont care what u have to do, even if u have to take a scalpel and cut me open and siphen out the fluid, lol. He says we may have to do something like that. I was just kidding. So he jabs me and cannot get the fluid out at all. Then tells me that i have two options. I can go to ER and have them do surgery to fix the kink or he could numb me up real good and do it in his office. Naturally my first instinct is to freak out and cry. I called my boyfriend and asked him what he thought. He said he would just do it at docs office not go to hospital. SO i tell them to do it and they cut me open on my port scar and tryi to just go around port (kink is right below port they saw it on xray) and move tubing with his fingers. So that didnt work exactly and they wound up having to remove port from abdomen wall and then move kink but they find another kink they cant get to. They get enough unkinked to loosen my band somewhat and sew me back up. Turns out I will have to have my port moved and they will not be able to do it in the office, i will have to have it at the hospital. Anyway just wanted to share. I am home sore as hell now and wanted to talk to soemone about it!

Yippee I updated mine! Everyone is doing really good congrats to all! . SpecialK .............................3/17/08........11/3/08............70 lbs 2. scrappy_friend .....................3/17/08........9/4/08............54.0 lbs 3. aJoneen.............................. 3/04/08........9/4/08............31.0 lbs 4. WestCoastMom..................... 3/27/08........9/4/08............60.0 lbs 5. julietj1970............................ 3/03/08........9/4/08............40 lbs 6. SugarBean........................... 3/24/08........9/4/08............88 lbs update.....................................................11/20/08.............100lbs 7. Tess415................................3/10/08........10/808............65 lbs 8. jegtlf.....................................3/24/08........11/20/08............74lbs 9. emmersglue ..........................3/18/08........9/5/08............48lbs 10. lglenn3000............................3/17/08........10/4/08............32 lbs 11. Busy....................................3/17/08........9/6/08............41 lbs. 12. tp78.....................................3/13/08........9/25/08............44lbs. 13.potatie..................................3/27/08........10/26/08...........72lbs 14. TKT2FLY...............................3/17/08........9/14/08...........63lbs 15. MSBoss08...............................3/06/08........9/17/08..........64lbs 16. Hazel-Eyes............................3/14/08........10/8/08...........33 lbs 17. hungry4help............................3/3/08...........9/18/08........65lbs 18. sisterc..................................3/17/08..........9/18/08........28 lbs 19. Anniedub...............................3/6/08............9/26/08........55 lbs 20. wishin4.................................3/26/08..........9/26/08........48 lbs 21. AuntLucy...............................3/10/08.........9/26/08........64 lbs 22. nycm00.................................3/24/08.........9/25/08........60lbs. 23.Desdemona............................3/19/08........10/03/08........58lbs. 24. stellabella............................3/26/08........11/3/08..........56 lbs. 25. Texgirly...............................3/4/08..........11/9/08..........50lbs.

I love potatoes. They are my most favorite thing to eat in the whole world! I work at a culinary school and recently i tried some sauteed turnips. Turnips have about 6g of carbs in comparison to about 30g in potatoes (medium sized of comparable size). When you dice these and saute them in a little olive oil, they taste very much like sauteed potatoes. There is a little more bite to it than a potato, but it is so similar that my body thinks its a tater! Try it sometime, you might be surprised! Tracy

1. SpecialK .................3/17/08........9/7/08............53.9 lbs 2. scrappy_friend .........3/17/08........9/4/08............54.0 lbs 3. aJoneen.................. 3/04/08........9/4/08............31.0 lbs 4. WestCoastMom....... 3/27/08........9/4/08............60.0 lbs 5. julietj1970................ 3/03/08........9/4/08............40 lbs 6. SugarBean.............. 3/24/08........9/4/08............88 lbs (30 before surgery) 7. Tess415...................3/10/08........9/4/08............60 lbs (23 before surgery) 8. jegtlf.........................3/24/08........9/18/08............62lbs 9. emmersglue .............3/18/08........9/5/08............48lbs 10. lglenn3000.................3/17/08........9/5/08............28 lbs 11. Busy.........................3/17/08........9/6/08............41 lbs. 12. tp78..........................3/13/08........9/8/08............36 lbs. 13.potatie........................3/27/08........9/11/08...........56lbs 14. TKT2FLY.....................3/17/08........9/14/08...........63lbs 15. MSBoss08....................3/06/08........9/17/08..........64lbs 16. Hazel-Eyes...................3/14/08........9/17/08...........31 lbs 17. hungry4help..............3/3/08...........9/18/08........65lbs (10 before surgery)

I was banded 3/24/08 with a starting weight of 271 and I have been hovering between 215 and 219 the last 2 weeks. So close to onederland! Tracy

You can also PB if you eat too much. If only alittle of what you are eating is coming up, then it may be that you should eat just a little less and see how that works. I cannot eat much in the mornings at all. I am way way tighter then. At lunch time I can eat a little and by dinner I can eat about my half cup of food. If I have just a little left on my plate, I am breaking myself of that Just finish it off mentality. Sometimes its still hard to do. I have only been banded for 4 months. If I eat just a tad too much, part of it comes back up! Good Luck Tracy

Hey! I was banded just a few days before you and have a long way to go. It looks like we are right about the same rate of loss so far. Wanna be buddies? I am not in the west but we can work it out! PM me if you wanna! Tracy

I am looking for someone to share the journey with. I find that I am better motivated to do things if someone else is doing them with me! Whoever it is does not have to be a year out or lost a ton of weight. Someone along the same phase as me would be fun. Now about me... this kinda feels like I am signing up at a dating site, lol! I am 5' tall. I was banded 3/24/08 and started out at 271. I am now at 228. I have three kids and I live with my boyfriend. I would love to have someone else doing the same things in the local area. Is my dream buddy out there?? Tracy

I was banded 3/24/08 and I am down 40 lbs today! I saw several people losing more but I feel better now. Seems like I am within the average range here! Tracy