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I just went for my second fill yesterday. My doctor uses flouro and has me drink barium so he can see it go down. Then i drink water and he asked me where i felt it. He had a hard time getting into my port and like one of the above posters i had to do a crunch to tighten the muscles for him to get in. He gave me a shot of lidocaine so it didnt hurt, but i am sore as heck today. He was really pushing hard. I had to sit up also. He usually pulls the needle out while you are sitting up but i asked if i could lay down first and it was much better, not so freaky! I had 4cc in my first fill and another 1.4 yesterday for a total of 5.4 in a 10cc band. I had my surgery March 24 and I have lost about 25 pounds so far.

My Insurance covered up to $10,000 one time for life. I got a bill from my surgery center for $3484 and have not received a bill yet from the surgeon. What I did not understand was why they billed the insurance 20k for the surgery center and if you paid cash the whole surgery was 16k. I would have to pay much less if they had billed less. I dont get it! My insurance covered my psych eval and the cardiologist, pulmonary, and gastro docs. Tracy

I was banded 3-24-08 and mine still itch like heck! The healing process takes so long! I find myself scratching like crazy and I am not even realizing it! Aveeno has a great anti-itch ointment that i use that works great. Good Luck! Tracy

I am pretty much pain free now, but I still feel some twinges. I was banded 3-24-08 and I was still in pain about 5 weeks out. I was worried that it was unusual but the doc said its not uncommon for some people to feel pain for several weeks after surgery. It will go away! Tracy

I had my first fill last week and after I got over the anxiety I did good. I had one heck of a bruise afterwords. Does your body get used to it or do you always bruise like heck? It was black it was so bruised! Tracy

I am sorry you have to worry about this! You should be focusing on doing what you need to do and it sounds like they are bringing you down. Each person has to figure their own way out and no two people are alike. Don't let anyone else bring you down, its sure not worth it! Good luck with your weightloss! Tracy

Pillows! I propped myself up on pillows and moved as little as possible! It will get better! Congrats on your band!

I get the hiccups too! But if I get to the burping stage its over, it comes right on up! Its a very good indicator! Tracy

The first place i noticed weight lass was in the bust. I had to go down two bra sizes to have comfortable fit. Not exactly the first place I was looking to lose it from! But my hubby can tell also now and I have lost 26 lbs. I am fitting into the next size smaller now which i had in the closet still! I think I need to learn to alter my clothing.

I have lost about 17 lbs in the 4 weeks since surgery. I lost 9 on the pre-op diet, so in 6 weeks I have lost 26 total, I bought a elliptical and I have been killing myself on that since the doc released me. I go for a fill on April 28 and I am excited!! I have no restriction in my band as of right now. I think having to eat slower because even without restriction you know the band is there, is what has caused me to lose so much! Good luck everyone!

I am a little scared to start ditching mine, its just seems to good to be true! I have already started pulling them out of the closet and packing them in boxes though! Maybe if I leave them packed up after a while when i realize I am not going to gain the weight right back, maybe then I can part with them. I work in an office and I had to buy nice clothes so part of me is thinking just alter them to fit rather than get rid of them, but then the other side of me is like, toss em, buy new cute clothes! Its a hard decision!! Tracy

I agree with babs. I was banded on March 24. I have had no fill and they installed the band with no fill. If I eat too fast I know it, if I eat too big of a bite I know it. It hurts! I work at a culinary school so sometimes its pretty hard not to go taste this or that. Yesterday they made sugar free cupcakes and brought me one. It was nice and warm, right out of the oven (no frosting, just plain white cupcake). It was so delicious that I gobbled it right down and seconds later... i felt it coming back up. I had my head hanging over the trash can for about 5 minutes! I forget about the band occasionally and that is my punishment!!! I have only done it twice now and the first time was because I took too big of a bite and did not chew well enough. Good luck!

My general practice doctor called me at 7:30am this morning from his personal cell phone! I panicked, I am scheduled to have my band Monday and I have been doing a lot of testing so I was scared something was wrong. I returned the call and first thing the he said was "you know the surgery has been postponed" and I am like no i didn't. Well turns out there is a rash of people going into respiratory failure after they get home from surgery. My doctor knows one person personally who is now in a vegatative state. He spoke with my sleep doctor and he decided that the outpatient procedure is probably not the right way for me since i have such severe sleep apnea. I am now in limbo waiting to hear from the sleep doctor to call me and find out what is going on. I am panicking! AHH! Can someone help me calm down? Has anyone had this prob? Tracy

Thank you! I just found out that my surgeon does not have hospital privileges so I am not sure what is going to happen! I am still waiting to hear. Thanks again!

Hi everyone! I have been a lurker for a long time on this board but I am having my surgery done a week from today! Yippeee!!! I just want to thank everyone here because without this place I may have changed my mind and chickened out on the surgery! Thanks! Tracy

As a photographer myself, I say do it now and later. Those will be priceless memories you will always want to remember! Additionally, this pinup style is pretty neat. I do mostly weddings and families but I think I may start doing some of this! If there is anyone here in the Little Rock, Arkansas area that would like some of these done, let me know. I can take the pictures for free since they will be for my portfolio. If you are interested send me a pm. Tracy being banded 3-24-08