amaltha

Good question...let me know what they answer!

Does anyone else feel like the abandoned step child or ugly duckling that no one wants? I found a doc for my first fill. And it just seems like he took the stance of..."I will will fill ya if you give me money but that is it and if you have problems you are screwed." And obviously the doc in Mexico portrays the out of sight out of mind bit. I haven't heard a peep out of them asking how I am doing. Ironically the only person that called was the guy from the place I booked the appointment with to check on me the other day which I thought was sweet that someone seemed to care. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone else felt a little unwanted and alone besides me. :thumbup:

Hehehe true that. It's a risk where ever you may be.

True on both counts. The only problem is at least where I live, if I got it done in the states and moved somewhere else in the country...which is very likely in my work then I would be in the same situation as if I had done it abroad. Fact of the matter is if you have insurance from the get go you are set, but regardless if you do it here or anywhere else with out the insurance then you are stuck because even doctors here won't touch you unless they themselves did the surgery on you. I disagree with the standards that insurance companies require you to be at for this. And believe me I knew this going into it. This really is no different than plastic surgery. My friends who had "certain areas of the body" enlarged here in the USA are in the same boat as me as far as after care and if something goes wrong with it. It was a risk I knew and was willing to take full well knowing this is a life long adventure. I just wish it was a little more about patients is all. I am happy and so far healthy and hopefully will stay that way. :thumbup:

Before the band I only told a select number of people. After the band I tell everyone because I feel it is me, a new part of me and they are going to see changes of the way I do things so I have nothing to hide. I am not ashamed so I just did it.

Last time I was on a plane it was not all that fantastic being as I had just had the band put in. However, this trip I just had my first fill. I was disappointed to find out that my port is apparently on my side. He went on to say that it is fairly common for my Doc, Dr. Corvala to do that. I am fairly pissed about this because I distinctly remember the doctor telling my port was directly under my big incision, when it reality it is about 4 inches to my left and 1 inch above it. :mad: In a way I feel lied to. :crying: The fill itself hurt like the dickons. :confused_smile:Not the needle or injection part. What hurt was him pushing and pressing on me to find whatever it was he was looking for. I relaxed a little through the pain and the ordeal when he started chatting casually with my friend because I knew he was concentrating less and therefore, things were a go. He put 2 cc in and said I was lucky because normally he has to stick people more than once and that I was once stuck one time is a good thing. Being that I had my band surgery in mexico I am feeling as though I am the ugly duckling that no one wants. :frown:The doctor down there doesn't really go out of his way to make sure I am ok and the doctors here don't really want ownership of me but are willing to take the check and do the fill. :cry_smile:I hope to God nothing goes wrong. It would be nice if American doctors just took care of people in general and not their own patients. Do I regret the band? Not really I am down almost 30 pounds and feel fine. :thumbup:I have yet to vomit and have had success so far. The reason for me was I simply ate too much in my life. I always have. Having a foreign object like this in me has blasted the fear of God into me to do the right thing. And on this trip because of the band I LOST weight instead of gained weight. :w00t: I found myself doing the right thing and it was a great change of mindset. And believe me when all you have to do is eat pastries, drink with coworkers, drink soda, eat a lot yummy food and sit in a classroom for 5 days people usually gain. (I work at a food company so we are constantly tasting our products) So I am happy to see what was on the scale this morning for my weigh in. :tt2:

My first fill he said he put in 2cc...and I was extrememly cautious for the first couple of days and then was experimenting here and there and don't think the restriction is enough but not sure. I am still steadily loosing weight so I am going to stay with this for a while. I think?

Welcome to the board. Congrats on your band and good luck to your journey. I am sure your grand daughter will be very proud of you the day she gets married.

Have you had a fill yet?

Hi Nina, I don't particularly like whey so I bought some gensoy Protein powder and blend it in with various soy milks (vanilla, or chocolate or coffee or egg nog) One glass of that is up around 30 grams of protein. I am surprised they have you eating meat so soon after the band. I was on Clear Liquids a week after the band and can't even fathom eating solids then. I just didn't have the appetite for it. A lot of people buy those bullets..and they really are life savers. I will put them in Water through out the day and sip on it. 42g of protein for one bullet so you can do that through out the day. She is right we are all in this together in one way or another. Good Luck and hang in there!

What caused the leak?

WOOOOO CONGRATS! I am at the beginning of my journey but your post is inspirational!

Sandra, Congrats on your new band! On Water - I knew I was getting water in broth, tea, Jello. My doc told me wait an hour after eating to drink. And wait 30 minutes after drinking to eat. So I put myself on a rough sched of that once I was bouncing between mooshies and water. Since then I have started with the Special K Protein water to knock out a couple birds with one stone. I won't lie that is my biggest challenge I think is my liquids. I am not drinking enough. For me it is hard. I had the heaviness in my chest. And I don't think it was the water. I understood it as the gas still in my system. So I walked around a lot and it always seemed to get better. I didn't get rumblings until about a week out of the band. At first I couldn't lay down at all! I would start coughing all night. And the pillows on the bed was worse so I resorted to sleeping on the lazy boy or on the couch at an incline (I was lucky to have that option) It was about a week before I could lay down flat. And to this day (was banded on the 4th of Aug) don't comfortably sleep on my belly yet. Some people on here were back on their belly with in a week. (I am so jealous) Vitamins - in the very beginning I was still on broth and wrote them off because of it. However, I found an all inclusive Multivitamin Protein shake powder that cover all of that at GNC that you might look into while still in liquid stage. Now I eat the childrens multi-Vitamin gummys Good luck in your new journey!

I voted no. I have not so good legs even when I am at my best. (very short) But the main reason is there is a woman at work...who has to be in her 50's from what I understand though is just petite and beautiful and big boobs...itty bitty everything else. She is very high ranking in our company and wears these little skirts all over the manufacturing plant and office. It just isn't appropriate for work. It has blasted a horrible association with that article of clothing for me.

I started at 212 (pre op weight) and was banded on Aug 4th. Today I was at 185 and the skin isn't loose yet. I too have always been stout and athletic. I don't work out that often, though when I did I didn't loose inches or weight either. So I figured my intake was my devil, hence the surgery. Even though I am a lot shorter I think the 130s or 120s will be a healthy spot for me. Good luck!

HAHAHA Not to disrespect anybody but she is right. I never ever took a "I love Dr. X" if it was their first post. Most of the time you have been here a while and were posting well before you got the band. That is just me. We all know that these docs hired interns or whatever to blast these and other boards with good words. She is right do your research. I bugged the crap out of my Doc before I went down. I also brought the best nurse in the world with me...my mother and if she said the "this isn't right" word we were out of there no questions asked. I am very lucky to have that wild card in my corner. I NEVER would recommend to anyone to go alone. Heck even in the states I would not recommend that. However, that is just me, I know people do fine on their own but I wouldn't recommend that to everyone. Good luck with your searches and journeys!

In reading a lot of these it seems many of had hiatal hernias that were repaired during our surgery. I know I had one so I thought I would make a thread to get all of us together and get all of our questions together. Me, personally, I never even knew I had the hernia until I woke up from surgery. They kept asking if I had acid reflux and I said no...because I don't. And now I am thinking about it and I did have an issue when I would do Bikram Yoga. I would alway throw up on my mat or in class...now I am wondering if the hernia had something to do with it? I won't know until I start going again. But the question lingers...:biggrin:

I get my first fill on Monday. And in a way looking forward to it because it is the whole reason I had surgery. Little restriction to keep me going in the right direction as I have seemed to have plateaued.

I don't have any pain from that now. I don't really have much pain at all now that I am about 4 weeks out. I guess I am just glad it is fixed. One of these days I will be well enough to head back to yoga and see if it really did fix it!

Why is it the weight comes from there first? I swear can't it come out of my butt or gut....nooooo. So unfair. hehehe:lol:

I was told half a cup as well. So the way I figure it, if I am going to get liquids in I am trying a time table. Drink Water, wait half an hour have a "meal" wait an hour. And repeat...the cycle is about 2 hours and so that times the suggested 5 mini meals makes for 10 hours of eating. I don't know if this helps but it seems to get me a little bit on track because I am way hungry now and don't have a fill for a few weeks. Any other tips?

Hang in there. I just try to get my protein in and follow the rules. I understand things will be different after the first fill and I don't get mine till next month :biggrin:

I think I am in the same boat. I have these little rubber maid half cup tupperware things and I limit things to stuff that can fit into that. Then wait an hour to drink. And see how I feel then. I have been tracking my nutrition religiously on livestrong.com and making sure my cal stay down and my Protein up. But at the end of the day it looks like I have a lot so I am not sure. :biggrin:

I am glad that he fixed it...it just seems weird to me.

CONGRATS to you both. Take it easy and take care! Lanakila- I HATED that IV pole too...It was a happy moment when they actually let me loose from that. When I got home I couldn't avoid my pets...that just doesn't happen in my house hold. However, at least with the cats and dog, it really seems like they know something is different. My cat that typically make muffins at night on my tummy moved to my leg. My dog will rest on my right side when it used to be the left. Call me crazy but I think she knows. :biggrin: