TheGh0st

Calling all 2005 and older bandsters.... As a group we have been way to quiet as of late. Where have we all gone? I don't know about the rest of you but at this point in my band journey I think it would be good for me to reconnect with some of my fellow "old-timers". I love the energy and enthusiasm of the newer bandsters but sometime I would like to have a forum to come talk to others that have been at this as long as I have (or longer).

There have been hints and rumors lately that the character Ashlee on Guiding Light was going to have a weight loss show. Not just behind the scenes but it was actually going to be scripted into the show. And this week it has actually started to air. They haven't come out and explained it to be the lapband instead the characters just keep referring to "WLS" but there have been a couple scenes with a pamphlet about the surgery and it is titled "GastroStrap System". As far as I can tell from Google there is no such thing but it sure sounds like a band to me. I can't see how that could be twisted into RNY or one of the other versions of WLS. It's kind of silly actually, if the show isn't specifically paid for product placements they will go unnecessarily out of there way to change labels and logos. For instance I noticed the other day at one of the stores a character was shopping in the little credit card symbols next to the register that looked like Visa and Master Card actually read Vista and Master Care or something similar. Too bad Allergan couldn't have found a way in on this one it would have been great advertising. The realise band wouldn't have a shot however as it is by Johnson and Johnson which is a big rival of Proctor & Gamble who produces the show.

Nice top. I type something then have to wait 2 plus minutes for it to appear. And editing is completely out.

Now that I have my pre-op pics from the doctor I thought I'd start this thread. I have learned so much watching Julie and Puddin I wanted to follow their example and share my journey as well. I am posting my surgical pre-op photos below but am leaving my before/current photos of my clothed self off this thread for now. Somehow that makes me feel just a little more exposed on this thread. Silly I know since my photos are already on several other threads.

No problems. I had my extended TT almost exactly 2 years ago. I know this is going to sound crazy but I can't remember for sure but I'd swear it was outpatient. This has been a crazy week for me with my 40th B-Day, my son's 6th and then double coupons at K-mart all week just to add to the chaos. And I'm too tired to even remember correctly much less look up the answer on this blog myself. I do remember that it wasn't near as painful as I had expected after watching all those plastic surgery makeover shows. To me it felt like an exaggerated muscle stiffness. The best I can describe it is as if I had done a couple hundred too many sit ups which is not pleasant for sure but again not what I'd call true pain just soreness. The oddest thing was taking showers for the first month. I was given a binder to wear around my waist and I would only remove it to shower. Not wearing it for those first weeks was the oddest sensation. It wasn't painfull at all, it just felt VERY VERY wierd. Actually I was back to work part time (albeit in my pj's) in less than a week. One reason I think things went so smoothly is that my PS is one that believes in sending you home with a pain pump. I wore it in a fanny pack and it fed a constant slow drip of pain med directly to the incision area for the first week. If the pain did escalate I could press a button on it to send a quick larger dose to the area though I took care not to do that as once the meds ran out there was no refilling it and I preferred a week of small discomfort over a few days of none. I was also very dilligent about taking my oral pain meds on schedule though I never took as large a dose as he prescribed. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. Sorry if this response was jumbled but I'm "functioning" on just a few hours sleep at the moment and getting ready to head to bed for my first full night sleep in a week. Oh, and don't ask about the whole K-mart thing unless you want to see me wax on and on and on about the $1000 plus dollars worth of stuff I was "paid" to take out of their stores after coupons this week. It has become my new insanity and addiction. But at least this addiction is FREE and doesn't make me gain weight, though it does disrupt my sleep and family life at times.

Riley, Nice to meet you. I'm still up 15-20 pounds but fairly happy and the stomach is still good. I do believe I'll get back to weight loss again soon but I'm healthy, happy and there are more things to worry about in life than my pants size. Don't get me wrong the TT was the best thing I ever did. Life without a pannis is heavenly. It so makes being a little overweight bearable.

Hey there Chantay. I'm in the same boat as the rest of you old-timers. I've fallen off the wagon and a 100 mark I thought I'd never see again is looming all too close. I know my problem is lack of Protein but can't seem to kick myself in the rear hard enough to get back on the program. Same old excuses: no time to cook right, bad high-carb foods cook so much faster. No time to shop for groceries myself. And a DH who is clueless when given a shopping list so he is always bringing home what he and the son want and never buying the items I need. Still no one to blame but myself. Somehow I have to get back to making that time for myself before the time I give others.

Long time no see. Thanks for the update.

I wish I was joking, but unfortunately I'm not. I went in for my annual physical (a couple years late) and while I was there I mentioned that my menstrual cycle had suddenly shifted from 45 days to 90 days pretty much overnight nearly 2 years ago. I'm only 38 but was wondering if there was any chance I might be in some early stage of menopause. So my doc said she would run some extra blood tests. First the nurse calls me back and says everything looks normal, I think great but that still doesn't explain my change in cycle (Mind you I wasn't complaining) Then a couple days later my doc calls me and drops the bombshell and tells me she thinks I may have a tumor in my pituitary gland and to come in for an MRI to make sure. She said not to worry they are almost always non-cancerous and that I should be able to treat it with drug therapy. Well, I had the MRI on Friday and I finally get through to my doctor today on the phone. Turns out she hadn't seen my test results yet as they were physically sitting on her desk rather than in her computer. (What a novel concept!) So she looked at them while talking to me and confirmed that not only do I have a tumor but it has grown large enough that it is now pressing on my left optical nerve and is no longer a candidate for drug therapy. UHGGHH!!! I'm still not terribly worried but I wasn't thrilled when she said she was going to get me scheduled with a neurosurgeon as quickly as possible and call me back later today to tell me the when/where's. Not sure why I'm posting this. I'm really not trying to play a pity party I just wanted to vent my frustrations.

In theory the reduction would be covered by insurance for me but between all the money we have spent on my Lapband and PS and all the vacation days at work wasted on surgery stays our family hasn't had a proper vacation for several years now. I would have loved to have my reduction before this fall when I turn 40 but I think I should just wait another couple years and let our finances settle down, go on 1-2 vacations with the family and let work get use to the idea of my being around regularly again before I ask for more time off. Though believe me I did campaign for the idea of have both the PS and the tumor removed the same week. I thought maybe I could have the reduction then a few days later have the tumor out. That way I could have just had one recovery period. But I couldn't get any of the docs on board.

When the fluid was leaking out it actually drained into my sinuses, out my nose and down my throat. Tasted salty. *Yuck* so when drainage stopped they knew it was healed, but they left it in for a couple extra days for good measure. I will also need to follow up with the endocrinologist for several months to confirm the pituitary is still functioning properly. Even things that were working before could in theory be damaged now due to all the poking and prodding. I'll also have to have follow up MRI's every 6 months for the next several years. So frustrating. My husband is the one always whining about some health complaint and running to the doc 2-3 times a month for one reason or the other. I go 2-3 times per year max many years only once. But somehow I've managed to rack up 5 surgeries in our 16 years of marriage. I told him next time is his turn. But then again I'd love to have a breast reduction sometime down the road.

OK the one I just put up was probably the worst of the two events but this one actually pissed me off much more. In fact I'm seriously considering trying to file some sort of complaint over this one. On my last day I still had the drain in my back even though it had been clamped off for the last 48 hours. They told me around 7am they were going to remove it in a little while and I'd be ready to leave later that morning. I asked if they minded if I stayed until 3-ish as my husband was at work. I also said that would give me time to get a shower there at the hospital where they had a chair in the shower and assistance if needed. They said that was no problem. But then I waited and waited and no one came to remove the drain until 1:30pm. The day before they had removed the catheter and I had been able to get up on my own to go to the restroom for both necessities (with IV's and Brain juice bag in tow but still on my own with NO MORE BEDPANS). When the intern came in I was just getting up to go to the restroom again. I told him I'd only be a moment but he insisted I lay back down. He said it would only take 2 minutes to get the drain out then I could go. Having never had a spinal drain before I had no idea what to expect so I said fine and laid back down. First he informs me that after removing the drain he will have to put in a couple of stitches and that it will have to be done without the aide of any anethsetic (topical or otherwise) as it would affect the use of my legs. And actually the stitches didn't hurt too bad. They hurt mind you but not unbearably. Then he said he was going to have to tie off the stitches and that doing so would hurt a bit more. At which point he proceded to grab both ends and yank them together into a knot. It hurt so bad I screamed before I could catch myself then called him some choice names. Still this isn't the worst part. Afterwards I'm lying there licking my wounds and teasing him that I thought he enjoyed hurting me a bit too much. He joked back that I wasn't the first to suggest that. Then proceded to tell me I needed to remain flat on my back for the next TWO HOURS before I could move again. I was like WTF!@!! 2 HOURS!?? Don't you remember I said I had to go to the bathroom just a couple minutes ago? What was his response? That's alright I'll just have the nurse give you a BEDPAN I was like bedpan my @$$! I could have gone on my own two feet a couple minutes ago what is this about a BEDPAN! I was even more livid when I asked why couldn't you have waited just one minute for me to go to the restroom before hand and saved me the indignity of needing assistance with a bedpan? His response was some lame comment about how the doctor had wanted out right then. Excuse me? what is the difference of a few seconds, not to mention he had to leave the room to find supplies. If I'd known he was going to leave me bedridden before hand I would have insisted on going. I complained to the nurse about him afterwards and she whispered to me that he was an @$$ and that none of the nurses liked working with him.

Had two nasty events in the hospital. I actually considered starting a separate rant over. Overall the staff was great but these two things really put a bad cloud over the experience. The first happened 2 days after surgery while I was still in the Neurosurgery ICU unit. There is suppose to be a max of 2 patients for every nurse and the rooms are designed so that the nurse has a desk sitting in a little alcove that has windows looking into both room. And most nights I was there my nurse said I was here only patient. But on this day something went wrong. I finally needed to have my first bowel movement, but was still unable to get out of bed per doctors orders. I had a catheter for other necessities but needed to use a bed pan for the bowel movement. Not exactly something I was looking forward to. I'd already tried once before to no avail with the nurses' assistance but my body was rebelling against the idea of going while lying flat on my back. This time the urge was too great so I managed to place the bed pan beneath on my own and after going I rang the nurses bell for assistance. Only NO ONE CAME!!! Here I was sitting in my own POO and no one was responding to my calls. I was mortified. I waited and waited. There wasn't any way to re-ring the bell once it was lit. I debated pulling some of the leads from my heart monitor but didn't want doctors rushing in thinking I was coding just to find me sitting in my own waste. The longer I waited the more humiliated I felt. Plus I couldn't help thinking what if I was in real trouble why weren't they coming to my aide? Finally as a last resort I called the hospital's main line from my cell phone and calmly requested to be transferred to the ICU's nurses station without telling them who I was. Once I finally got someone on the line I told them I was a patient down the hall and would someone please respond to my call for help from over 30 minutes ago. Even so it took nearly 5 minutes for someone to walk down the hall and come in. I even heard them talking outside my room for a couple minutes. The final straw was when instead of my own nurse coming in it was some male resident. At point I finally broke down. When he asked what I needed I lost it mumbling something about how I hadn't wanted him or any other guy to resond then broke out in tears. When my nurse came in she was very apologetic. Said it was some mix up with her lunch break and the nurse that was trying to cover both sets of rooms not noticing my light. But the damage was already done. I was both humiliated for having to sit like that for so long as well as feeling I had now labeled myself a "problem" patient for having got them in trouble with there supervisors.

They are pretty sure it was benign. Said if it had been cancerous the growth rate would have been more like 300% instead of 50%. It was only a little over 1cm diameter when they took it out but considering the pituitary is only the size of a pea that is still significant. They were worried when they saw how much it had grown that it needed to come out quickly before it started affecting my eyesight or worse. I did have a minor complication. I guess the pituitary as well as the tumor rest behind the sinus cavities and a little between the two halves of the brain but without actually being inside the meninges (or sack that covers the brain). The tumor had pushed the pituitary up against the meninges in such a way that when they removed the tumor the pituitary "stuck" to the meninges and tore it just a little when it dropped back down into the position where the tumor had been. This caused a very slight leak of cerebral spinal fluids (CSF). In order to allow the tear to heal they placed a drain in my spine to reduce the volume of CSF fluids in my skull. They compared it to a leak in a Water balloon. They wanted to reduce the pressure enough that the fluids would stop leaking out of the tear and allow the edges to heal back together. Today has been the best day so far since the operation. I'm finally able to breathe through one nostril and can close my mouth. I've had to breathe solely through my mouth for so long now that I actually managed to chap and crack the INSIDE of my lips (OUCH!) and the taste buds on the tip of my poor tongue are absolutely raw from getting so dried out when I sleep.

Update for anyone out there. The drug therapy appeared to be working over the last 6 months. The symptoms I had been having had gone away and I had a follow up MRI and appointment with the endocrinologist a few weeks ago expecting him to confirm the tumor was shrinking. Unfortunately the tumor had actually grown by over 50% so I ended up having surgery 10 days later to remove the tumor. I was in hospital for 6 days but am out now and everything appears fine. Bad headache and feel like I've got a terrible sinus cold but otherwise fine. The sinus cold feeling comes from the fact they went through my nose to pull out the tumor.

Tina, Just wanted to let you know you and your children are in my prayers. I was hopeful you could work things out only because that is what it sounded like you wanted early on. But I am thrilled that over the last several months you have finally found and fell in love with yourself. And if that means you move forward without your cheating husband then you go girl. There is nothing that says you have to stay with him just because he is sorry and claims he won't do it again. No matter how honest he is being now, he lost that right the moment he cheated on you. Now it is your turn to decide what is best for you.

Let's all help BooBooKitty (The Face of LBT) BooBooKitty for those of you who may not know is also the woman pictured at the top of Lapbandtalk. She is currently competing in a pin-up photoshoot contest. Yes I did say Pin-Up. Can you believe it? Who would have thought any of us would ever lose so much weight and gain so much self confidence to do something like a pin-up photoshoot? She has been a total inspiration to me. I've even started looking for a good photographer. Though I can't imagine them turning out as well as hers. Her Pin-Up name is Ginger Rayne and here is the link. www.bravenet.com - A Bravenet.com Vote You can vote once per day / per computer. Lets blow her competition out of the Water.

Yes there are several doctors in the KC area that will do fills for patients from Mexico or elsewhere. Several of my friends went to Mx for their bands, and all of them were very pleased with the experience. I would have as well but the family "forbid" it. (Let's not go into why I let them dictate my actions considering my age.) I just don't know of any in the Mississippi area the Original poster was asking about. Hopefully she'll be able to find something on Ortiz' website, or maybe being in Mississippi going back and forth to Mx for fills might still be cost effective considering the savings to local docs.

Not sure how much help we're being here. I'm not from Mississippi either but I wanted to applaud you for getting this all straightened out before you have surgery. I've known too many bandsters that were banded first and then had a bear of a time trying to get their needed follow up after. I agree with the previous poster there is nothing wrong with going to Mexico, it just requires good research which you obviously are doing.

Were the fills actually "lost" or was she just losing weight so quickly that they were adding more Fluid to keep the band tight around her stomach as she lost weight. None of us are docs and complications can happen to any of us even in the most ideal situations (perfect surgery/surgeon, perfect doctor follow up, perfect patient compliance) , but sadly based on the comments that she was having a hard time keeping foods down over the last year. it sounds a bit like the docs actually were keeping her a little too tightly filled. None of us should have ongoing issues with keeping our food down as it is the classic path towards issues like the band slippage she has experienced twice in one year already. Three times if you count this as an extreme form of slippage. I'm not saying this to point accusations at the doc or anyone else in this case but as a warning to us all to be as cautious as possible. Problems such as hers are extremely rare and near impossible to forsee but we need to be as cautious as possible to avoid risking our health or losing our bands.

Thankyou for the update. This is scary news for all of us as we all have the band here. Of course our fears pale in comparison to that of your family. May I ask, has she frequented Lapbandtalk before. If so I'd love to know her user name. Maybe we know her out here in cyberland.

Glad you're doing well. I'm just as bad with the presents. This year just seems to have been one crisis after another with no time to catch one's breath.

Sadly, I too have never heard of this before. But I still wanted you to know that your daughter is in my prayers.

Voted no but not for lack of desire. Just not possible this go round hopefully there will be others next year that I can go to.