cproctor501

Love is such a strong word, I like him very much, I had a band in October 08 and other than having a birth defect that the heart doctor didnt catch about kill me, I give Shina a A+, I spent 8 or 9 days in his care at St Catherine Hospital In Charlestown IN, far cry from the outpatient procedure that I was ready for but I lived through it, barely. Not Dr. Shina's fault though, the man called me daily after I was discharged because he was so worried about me, he also got a HUGE amount of my extra hospital bill removed. Like I said A+.

You have nothing to worry about, Dr. Shina is a fine surgeon. The bedside manner I like too, But im weird.

Well my surgery was a bear, I spent 10 weeks recovering at home and thats when I lost the lions share of my weight, I had to be opened completely up instead of laproscopic surgery due to scar tissue from a previous surgery, I have been trying to do a little Atkins dieting, just eating small amounts of meat and eggs and such, pork rinds make a good snack just remember to chew chew chew. Good luck on your continued success.

Yeah, you gotta admire him though, he got the hospital to work well with me on the "added" expense I incurred cause I had to stay 8 days, 6 of those in intensive care cause of my complications, however I went back after 10 weeks and he put in 3cc's, then I went back 7 weeks later and I got him to put in 4cc's more putting me at 7cc's and restricted well.......more so in the mornings but I do ok, im down 65lbs since 10-14-08 but I lost allot while I was recovering at home, I actually left the hospital 5 lbs heavier than when I came in, they said because of all the I V fluids,,,,,anyway good to hear from some fellow shina peeps. holler if you need anything:eek::thumbup::eek::thumbup:

If you want to have some fun with him mention my name as being a friend (Chris Proctor), then say I hope you dont make that mistake twice, LOL watch him turn blue..........He tells me I had the most difficult surgery to date for him, and I am the ONLY patient that had any complications from surgery, I really liked Jo, Tammy and Dr. Shina, they are all class acts.:thumbup:

Dr. Shina did my band in 10-08 at St Catherine Hospital in Charlestown IN, He is an excellent surgeon, however he does have a brash bedside manner,I have absolutely no regrets from using him even though a complilcation with surgery because I had to be opened up due to previous scar tissue(not related to the band) almost killed me, I live in Madisonville,KY and have to travel to Charlestown(200miles) to get my fills is the only (if any) drawback. Feel free to contact me with any questions / concerns you may have at cproctor501@newwavecomm.net , Oh BTW i have lost about 65 lbs since 10-14-08 but am currentally stuck with 2 fills equaling 7cc's. I cant eat hardley anything unless I chew chew chew chew it up good, I also have a problem not drinking with my meals, I am still working on that. Holler at me if ya want! :thumbup:

I was banded 10-16-08 or so? and at 6 weeks I had lost 50lbs without a fill, however my surgery was very difficult due to a heart condition that was discovered after surgery, since I have gotten back on my feet I have started eating whatI call regular and gained back 25lbs in the 4 weeks after the first six. I have since then lost the 25lbs again. My surgeon tells me that since I was so sick after my surgery (9 days in hospital) that I lost muscle and water weight and little fat and he gave me a fill 6 weeks ago and I havent lost a lb since, I am looking forward to my second fill on 2-12-09 that will put me at 6cc in a 10 cc band.

Ok people here is my story, I was banded on 10-16-08 since then I have lost 50lbs, but.........after my first fill( 3cc) I noticed a actual reduction in my restriction after a few days, and even though I have tried to start walking on my treadmill 15-20min / 4x week I have managed to gain 8lbs back :cursing:, I talked to my surgeon and he said he wasn't worried about it because I haven't gotten to my "sweet spot" and I had lost the weight too fast to begin with and he could get it back off but he was happy I gained some weight becasue he was thinking there might be a problem with my digestive tract becasue of loosing so much so fast. My Question is this, has anyone ever lost restriction with a fill? It doesn't make sence to me? I have been sneezing and coughing a tremendous amount with the weather here lately, one day 70 degrees next day 12 degrees, I have thought maybe I had a slip or erosoin?but wouldnt that cause other problems? (besides weight gain) but I am probably just being over thoughtfull on the whole matter and should wait until my next fill to see if the restriction comes back.........RIGHT? I still have lost 42lbs in less than three months. :bigear:Thanks for listening:bigear:

I forgot to mention that I spent 8 days in the hospitol, 6 of those in intensive care after my surgery (open procedure) , I apparentally had a heart condition that the pre-op screening didn't catch and it flared up the day after my surgery causing a irregular heartbeat / collapsed lung / yada yada yada, from what the doctor's tell me I'm lucky to be here so I guess I shouldn't sweat the small stuff so much. I will update after my next fill the first week of Feb! C-Ya

Yes, my doctor did the first fill under the flouroscope, he said he could see everything fine, I go back in a couple of weeks, we shall see then! Thanks!

Has anyone else had a problem with a nagging dry cough after surgery? I am about 3 months post-op now and I have started to get a dry unproductive cough mainly at night when I sit or lie down, let me know if anyone else has this problem, I am going in for a second adjustment Feb 2 and will speak to my Dr about it then, Thanks!!:party::w00t::w00t:

Well I can't be positive it's not acid reflux but I do take a prilosec everyday so I wouldnt think its that, but I'm no doctor, maybe im just getting sick?

I had a bout with A-Fib after my surgery, I had to be opened up all the way due to adhesions from a previous surgery, my heart rate jumped to 200 bpm on the day after my surgery when I started tapering off the morphine pump. They kept me a week and then let me go home on kumadin 6mgx1 day. I havent had a episode since then and I am glad, I am sorry for you guys that have to live everyday with that because its no fun for sure. I actually thought I had thrown a clot and was going to die from a pulmonary embolism , man it was a scary half day. I have a nuclear stress test scheduled in Jan and if thats ok then I am off the kumadin. Hope you qall get straightend out.

A couple of pictures of my progress so far.

I actually lost 44lbs in the frist month:eek: but I had a very complicated surgery due to previous scar tissue issues, It was supposed to take 45 minutes and I was to go home the same day instead it took 5 hours and I had to stay in the hospital for 8 days:frown:, so dont get discouraged if you dont loose that much as I am a special case (Ive been told by my doctor) LoL that being said I have started adding regular foods now that I am 5 weeks post op and I have actually gained 2 lbs this week:scared2:, but the doctor said he wanted me to gain a few lbs back and loose about 8 to 10 lbs per month from here on out:thumbup:. I am scheduled for a fill possibly in 3 weeks, but to be honest I cant hardly eat anything without that stuck feeling starting:confused_smile:, kinda feels like you swallowed a big gulp of air and the pressure is pushing on your throat, doc says to get used to it because thats the way the band works, I have seen people on here that say they can eat a 12" sub from subway:ohmy: after there surgery and I cant imagine even eating a piece of bread much less a whole sandwich, I will post some pictures in 3 weeks then I will be 2 months out. Thanks for all the encouraging words from you guys! C U Later:tt2:

Thats a tough one, you have to look at the long term issues I would imagine. I love my band too but if it were between keeping the band and spending the lion's share of my time comming and going to the Doctor's office for a situation like yours the band would have to come out. Keep your hopes up until all else fails, try the antibiotics and go from there. Good Luck to you.

Don't get discouraged shafe, and DONT weigh everyday, try once a week, you will see it gets easier to get the liquid down, I was just banded 10-16 and have lost 25 lbs so far, all will be well my friend keep ya chin up~!

Was just banded 10-16 got home 10-23 and haven't felt like posting till now:frown:. My surgery uncovered a heart condition that took me an additional 5 days to get out of the hospital because of but I am lucky they found it because apparentally it was about to kill me:ohmy:. My wounds all look good and I have kost 20 lbs already in (13 days). The doctor had to go "open" with me due to the adhesions I talked about him seeing the last time they attempted the surgery, so I'm alot more sore than I should be but I will make it I suppose:thumbup:. Looking forward now to going back to work but I have a few weeks yet. I will go in on 11-20 for my first fill but to be honest I have tried to eat a litle off the "liquid and mushies" diet and I cant handle anything. It feels like its getting stuck in my chest so I m guessing thats good. Amyway guys and girls I will post some oictures when I learn how:cursing:! C-Ya later.

Thanks for the responces, does anyone else get the "stuck in chest" feeling when eating things you aint supposed to, keep in mind I took a small bite of a piece of sausage and chewed it into oblivion before swallowing it was all I did. Thanks again. Cproc

My doctor is Mark Shina, an excellent man and a wonderful bariatric surgeon. He could have finished the surgery he said but my blood pressure kept bottoming out, and he was scared he was going to loose me because the scar tissue in my abdomen had to be removed to get to my stomach which would take an extra hour. Apparentally certain types of blood pressure medications interfere with the anesthetic used to put you under. I am going off 1 of my blood pressure meds for two weeks and we are going to do it again the 16th.

Well I had my surgery yesterday only to wake up in recovery to be told that due to massive amounts of adhesions in my belly from a previous scar the surgery had to be postponed :biggrin: to build up my tolerance level for a possibly "open" procedure. My doctor is excellent and my hat's off to him for making the call not to risk my life any more than needed :dita: but it was a huge upset after being poked like a pin cushion and cut and blown up like a balloon that I have to go through all this again in a few weeks :tongue:. No one said it was easy :tongue:...........catch you guys up in a few weeks.

Back in 1991 I had ITP which is Idiopathicthrombocenicpupura (probably misspelled) and they did an "exploratory" surgery of my abdomin, basically a horizontal incision from one side of my gut to the other that caused my scarring issue. I'm not sure what to tell you on the freshness of the scars. I have three fresh incisions in my abdomin now one about where my elbow touches my side when my arms are downm one in my bellybutton and one inbetween those two, so yes they put somthing in where the bellybutton is. Thanks for the responce

All my Dr's appointments went fine I am cleared for surgery. I am trying the "rotation" diet with no succes, My Dr. said that I could loose a little weight before surgery but didn't insist. I do however have to do the liquid diet for two days pre-op and I cant wait for that!!! LOL Thanks for asking!:redface::smile2::smile2:

9-29 is my date, feel free to holler at me!!!!

My surgery date is 9-29 , feel free to shoot me a line, I would like to share experiences