StrawartS

Ehhh...the long answer is that I'm temporarily living away from my regular home and don't have a lot to do where I am now. The real answer is, yes, I'm an internet nerd and on here all the time. The thing about the LapBand is that it is so popular right now and people, generally, don't do a lot of research before they have surgery. Doctors can get away with a lot because they don't really have to be too competitive yet. Mexico and all the new docs are changing that. Anyway, thanks for the kind words. If you have any other questions, just shoot. I probably don't have the best or most popular answer, but I have lots and lots of time. :eek:

Hey Sarah, As far as fills, once you get to the right restriction, which usually takes around 3 or 4 fills, you typically don't need more fills. My doc said that sometimes a little bit of the fill evaporates, so some people will go for a top-off when they feel like they can eat more than they need. My fills cost $100 in the doc's office or $200 at the surgical center with fluoroscopy. It's good that your doctor is including a year of fills, because it pisses me off that I had to pay an extra $400 to make the damn band work like it's supposed to. Without fills, it's useless. Yes, you get used to tiny bites. Pre-banding, I tried to take tiny bites and chew chew chew, but it felt disgusting. I realized that I also inhale my food - I also chewed maybe 3 or four times before I just made a big sweep with my tongue and swallowed the whole mess. It only takes one or two bad PBs to realize the importance of chewing. And post-op, you will likely be so paranoid about hurting yourself and throwing up that you'll be overly cautious. I am fine with tiny bites and chewing now. I also have a much higher tolerance for eating cold food, since it takes about an hour to eat a full meal. I know it seems like something that you'll never get used to, but it's amazing how quickly your body adapts to whatever you throw at it. Hope this helps.

Sarah, are you in Tyler, Texas? I'm a little concerned that your band doctor will only have done a few bands when he operates on you. I think a lot of us here were banded by docs who have done thousands of bands, not just a few. Have you looked at other surgeons? There are many docs in TX who have done in the thousands. As far as fills, I have had fills both in the office and in the surgery center. Usually they do them in the hospital so they can use the fluoroscope to see how the liquid is moving through your band after you are filled. Some doctors also use the machine during the fill so they can see where the port is. If you are self-pay, it is usually more expensive to do it in the hospital because of the fluoroscope, but your doc may give you a year of free fills or some similar deal. I think the fluoroscope deal is a scam and unnecessary. My doctor can do my fills in less than 30 seconds, but he's done over 3,000 bands. A newer doc may want the option of the machine so that he doesn't have to stick you a hundred times until he finds your port. My advice? Find a more experienced doc. Find one who has banded half of his staff so you have people to talk to. I wouldn't want to be anyone's guinea pig.

My fear is not that I won't be able to keep eating small portions, but that the torture of such little food will be so depressing. I got the band because when I dieted, I couldn't do it for more than a day because I was constantly hungry. I would go to bed depressed and wake up starving. I'm not really worried that I won't be able to stay thin, I'm just convinced that my life would be miserable maintaining that weight without the restriction of the band.

Hey, Danielle, check this out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3190472028990485080&q=lap+band It's a video of how the band is placed. It shows how the top and bottom parts of your stomach are stitched around the band. I feel like we may be misunderstanding Danielle's question. She has the medical info, but the next step is determining if that information is really enough to inspire such a fear of solid foods. For me, it was not. I knew how my body felt, I saw how tough those stitches looked, and I didn't buy the argument that my band would slip or a stitch would break. I think it's ok to weigh the information and come to a different conclusion than what is espoused here. I felt, and still do, that the strict post-op instructions were of the "worst case scenario" variety. I think there's room on here for both viewpoints.

Oh, the hassles of non-verbal communication. I need a tongue-in-cheek smiley. Alex, are you listening? I assume that someone will take her doctor's advice over mine...because mine is worth about next to nothing. If you read my original post, maybe you can see that the last line isn't intended to suggest disobeying your doctor's advice. It's just there as a joke. See? Tongue? Cheek? Anybody?

Aw, I didn't mean for you to change your post. But how very generous of you to concede! :eek: As far as the carbonation debate...well, I've heard conflicting information. It stretches your pouch, it doesn't, it leads to erosion, it doesn't, and on and on. As goes the general sentiment on the board - if your doc says it's OK, then it's OK. And my doc says it's OK. Hmmm...it's been a while since I had some chunky monkey...

Suggesting that Danielle didn't do her research is really unfair, considering the tone of her original post. I don't think she was asking for permission to cheat, just seeking some reasonable explanation for the ridiculously strict diet. *I* was the one who introduced the idea of giving permission to cheat. As far as encouraging behavior that isn't medically advised, I'm not really comfortable with that characterization. Like I said, my doctor gave me permission to eat whatever I wanted when I felt ready to. Another prominent doctor in my area only requires a 24 hour liquid diet followed by a 1 week mushy diet and then a regular diet thereafter. Just because some doctors with whom you are familiar advise differently doesn't mean it's the only way. I see a lot of paranoia on here about slippage, erosion, eating the wrong stage too quickly, and I think it's important to get a less stringent view point as well. I "cheated," I'm alive, my band is fine, and there's no tragedy. I shouldn't have called you all judgmental. It just bothers me when I see this kind of "mean mommy" backlash toward others who aren't perfect bandsters. And I think it's a little offensive to suggest that someone who eats A french fry and a piece of chicken was banded for the wrong reasons and needs to rethink her goals.

Wow, it's amazing how judgmental we can get and how easily we forget how hard that post-op stage was.

Cheri, I respectfully disagree with this statement. You can see from all the "Can you eat this" threads that everyone's experience is different. You say you get stuck on a french fry, but I have no problems with them....or anything, really. And I'm as restricted as possible and losing weight. Pre-op worrying is bad enough as it is. I just really hesitate to use such definitive statements when I've seen them not to be true.

You sound just like I did post-op. We started at about the same weight, too. Here's something else I should have told you - Since it looks like you've healed quickly and can eat normally, you will be really surprised once you feel restriction for the first time. For me, it took 4 fills to know what these people had been talking about. If you can eat anything now, you probably also won't be chew chew chewing and eating slooooowly until you experience that first restriction. I say, eat however and whatever you want while you still can. But when you start getting fills, remember to chew and wait 1 minute between bites. Or just keep doing it the old way and learn the hard way like I did. :eek:

Don't ask me if it's worth it when I'm in the middle of a PB or golfball...but that's the thing about pain - when it's over, you forget it. Kinda like childbirth, or so I've heard. I wish I had been warned better about the EXCRUTIATING pain of post-op gas, golfballs, etc., but knowing what I know now, I'd still do it. You're lucky to get so much information from the start. As for favorite foods, don't write anything off yet. I'm sitting here enjoying a diet DP, as I do every night. I don't chug them like I used to, and I don't order them at restaurants, but it's nice now to enjoy a soda by itself. I was at Walgreen's tonight, and I was actually surprised that I passed up the candy aisle for a diet DP...that's all I wanted. So...the band sucks. I would never recommend it to someone who has a lot of weight to lose, and I wouldn't wish the pain on my worst enemy. But for me, for this moment in time, it was worth it.

Ok, I'm looking around for the erosion and slippage police as I say this.... But...I have always believed that the liquid and mushy diet is a scam to get us to lose more weight so doctors can brag to their other patients about the rapid weight loss. I was eating completely regular foods 5 days post-op, and my doctor said it was fine as long as I wasn't hurting. He said some people heal faster than others. So, for what it's worth (hopefully not a lot), you have my permission to do whatever it is you need to do.

Wheetsin - you and DH are in my thoughts. I was wondering if anybody here has seen the new VW commercials. There are a few versions, but basically, it's a couple of friends riding around in a car. Then, out of no where, they get into a horrible accident. The commercials are so graphic, and they give me the creeps every time they come on. I've been in a bad accident myself, and I hate to relive it every night in prime time. I wrote a letter to VW's advertising department about this horrible campaign, but I haven't received a response. I see these commercials all the time! I can't imagine what value they have other than pure terror. I can't imagine that anyone who has ever been in a car accident would have made this up. My accident was over seven years ago, but almost every time I close my eyes or pause for a moment, I have visions of crashing into another car. Anyway, sorry to hijack, I hope you both are doing well.

Hehe...I know what you do in real life, I've been here long enough! I meant what will you be doing at Dell...like, will I be talking to you when my computer crashes?

Congratulations! I think those hours are great - 4 days off! What will you be doing?

And the myth-ometer reads.....ten bajillion! I'm hungry as much as I was before. The weight loss happens as a combination of: 1. I get full faster when I eat; and 2. I'm actually losing weight, and I don't want to sabotage myself by eating the crap I used to before, so I exercise a little more control. This is much easier to do when you actually see results.

Woohoo! Thanks for resurrecting this, Susan! Can I get a third?

I'm with Kathy - my first thought was of the GB with fobi ring. Where did you find this crack-pot website? Alex is right - it sounds like it was translated into about three different languages before it reached this page. And what's with the picture of the woman on the cordless phone and the hospital bed? Weird.

I realized that I have been neglecting this thread! Time for a :bump: Demi and Suzi, I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner! Demi, we would love to have you! If you can bring something to the potluck, just post a reply and I'll update the thread. I will also PM you directions to Mary's house. Suzi - maybe a fruit salad for desert? Or you could be decadent and do something like Cookies or brownies, cake, pie, whatever. We are officially a month away - I can't wait!

The band is so fickle - if you can't eat it now, try it again later. Also, when I really want to eat something, I cheat and drink hot tea with it to help it go down. There's nothing you can't eat if you really put your mind to it! :bananadoggywow:

Dianne - another friendly suggestion. Your weight loss is going great. I'm not suggesting that you're doing this now, but there may come a time when you forget what it was like to eat without restriction. Bandster rules like eating slowly and chewing well mean nothing to someone who is trying to fill a bottomless pit of hunger. I only tell you to tread lightly because of the way my mom acted when she started losing weight faster than I did. She became one of those stuck-up bandsters who seemed to have forgotten how she got herself fat in the first place. Before I was banded, I did not take kindly to people giving me diet advice. After banding, when I began to look at portion sizes differently, I, too have to stop myself from saying something like, "Are you REALLY going to eat that?" There's a thread on here talking about how being banded is taking the easy way out. I won't say that, but I will say that it is easiER than dieting on my own. I would never encourage someone to lose weight with me who wasn't banded because it wouldn't be an fair matchup. Again, all said with love, and please take with a grain of salt.

Why don't both of you have the surgery? My mom and I were banded 3 weeks apart. She got restriction with her first fill, and it took me 4, so it was very difficult to watch her lose weight while she thought that I was stuffing my face. Ok, I guess I'm not making a very good case for being banded together. We're much better now since I've started losing...and she's stopped since she enjoys 2 apple martinis a night. But seriously, have you thought about doing it together? I get so angry when people say, "Why are you getting banded if you only have 60 lbs to lose?" Sixty is no easier to lose than 100. Even if your DD is only an 18, it will be much easier for her to lose the weight now than twenty years later when she may be heavier.

The constipation seems to be the biggest problem, Yoda. Being constipated will also make you nauseated, which will make it harder to get any food down. If you are taking any strong pain meds, like Vicodin or Lortab, you really need to eat with it. It will tear up your stomach and start a never-ending nausea cycle. If you haven't gone in several days and you're drinking so little water, I would cut the shit with the puny remedies like benefiber or MOM and go for the big guns. Suppositories are torture, but they work the fastest.

Mary, you look great! Spiegel is going to want your poster in his office!