StartingOverNJ

Had a very rough start but slowly getting better. Massive pulmonary embolism, breathing problems and easily exhausted, hell, I felt much better before the surgery!!! The fact remains I've lost roughly 70 lbs and I'm happy about that. Really don't miss much of anything as I can still eat almost anything I want , just in small portions.

Enough said right there. I suggest you discuss with your Doctor the issues you have been having and perhaps schedule a fill that does not rely on what I like to call the "poke and hope" method. Just my 2 cents so please don't take my comments as a personal attack. They sure aren't meant to be. All but one of my fills have been using the fluoroscope method and I've been having very consistent and satisfactory results.

If your doctor is doing it in the office can I assume he is not using a fluoroscope machine? If he does "a fill every 2 weeks" then why 2 in ONE week? I know every doctor is different but your fill schedule seems way above norm. A proper fill should last more than 2 weeks IMO.

6 fills in 4 months? 2 in one week? Sorry to be a doubter but I find that very hard to believe. Sounds like someone is expecting over night miracles and is not giving things time to work or a doctor that makes a lot of money doing under fills. Something just does not sound right.

Yes I was referring to the fluoroscope. IMHO that is the preferred way to do an adjustment because the doc can actually see what is going on. I've had them done both ways and I like the fluoroscope way better but the hospital I was at yesterday has a machine that doesn't work for me. I'll schedule at the first hospital from now on.

Had my 3rd fill yesterday in the hospital, different one than the previous fill, and it did not go well!!! The machine had some sort of problem that necessitated me to bend my knee's and scrunch down. I believe that caused excess pressure to my insides since I was also grabbing on for dear life to keep from falling down. Long story short I could not even get Water down and felt HORRIBLE!!!! Made arrangements with my doc's office and they pulled out .8 cc's. The relief was instantaneous and tremendous!

Well it's been a bit over 6 weeks since my last fill and I've lost 16 pounds as of this afternoon. I'm only on my second fill but I believe that my doctor does fills the proper way, ie using a fluoroscope. Amazing how well the realize band can work when given a chance and used properly.

Had my second fill last Tuesday and what a difference!!!!! 4 cc's for the first fill and now an additional 2.7 for a 6.7 total. Can only eat very small amounts and feel perfectly satisfied. It's really jumped started the weight loss again. 4 pounds since last week.

You didn't ask but it would make things much saner here if he/she were gone for good IMO.

And make sure you get up and move around as much as possible after the surgery. Don't spend several days lying around as you can develop SERIOUS blood clots. Trust me on this one, it CAN happen!!!!!

Good point!

ROTFLOL!!!! No way I'd bet against you on that one, of course now you've given him an idea to ponder.

LOL!!!! Another clueless know it all! I love it. (Yea, I'm a geek and proud of it) Just to be clear I'm referring to rocky not Susan!

I was banded 12/2/08 and it has been a very rocky road. Not going to rehash all the details but I was in and out of the hospital 4 times due to surgical side effects. My surgeon took pity on me and I had my first fill last Thursday. Feeling some restriction but hopping for more when I see him again in March. That said I'm still down 24 pounds from the date of the surgery but it was more than that a few weeks ago. Heres hopping the rest of 09 is better than 08!

I have to agree that no HIPAA violation occurred. HIPAA protects the patient not the orderlies.

Have you looked to see if another Doctor will do your fills? Not sure I could be as patient as you are!

What a shame! :tongue:

What are yours?

Another area in which you could use some clue.

So now you're an insurance expert as well? In the short time I've been here it is VERY easy to see who the clueless one's really are.

Sorry for the late reply Heather. Horizon BCBS of NJ

Still pretty new at this stuff but I've had a very rough time. I got my Realize band 12/2/08 and while I lost around 30 lbs the first month I had bad side effects of having surgery. (Massive PE, but that's not the point of this post) My surgeon has been extremely supportive during this rocky period and I had my first fill 3 days ago. He prefers to do fills in the hospital so he can floro but insurance is fighting that till 90 days out. He agreed to do a free fill in his office and the experience was very interesting. I have not seen any other threads showing how the fills are done so I'm going to share mine. (Not in detail as it would be too much to type.) While lying down he connected up to my port and then injected saline. He disconnected and then had me sit up while this metal thing is hanging out my side. He then told me to try and drink some Water. (Notice the word TRY) While the water went in it did not go down very easily with the trapped air fighting the water, Lots of belching and a struggle to hold the water in, in other words the band closed me off completely! He then reconnected to the metal and drew out some Fluid until the discomfort went away. He then compared the amount injected vs the amount removed and showed me that I netted a fill of 4 cc's. (Remember this is a first fill so thats a pretty decent fill IMO) He advised that the general guideline for this band is 2-4cc's for the first fill so I'm right in line with expectations. Back on solid food and I'm def. feeling full much sooner and I'm very diligent in eating slowly and chewing properly. Even trying to drink water too fast can be felt. My point to all this is for those people getting small fills your doctor may be playing poke and hope or using fills to supplement his revenue stream. (Esp when I see .5cc fills!) NO I'M NOT A MEDICAL PERSON, THIS IS JUST MY PERSONAL OBSERVATION! I agree with previous posters that a more aggressive fill schedule may be a good way to go. Seems to be for me.

St Clares in Dover. The surgeon was Dr Abkin. I wouldn't put any blame on them at this point. Seems I'm pre-disposed to the clot issue and the infection most likely is not from the banding surgery but from my 4 day bout in another hospital, Chilton Memorial, for the pulmonary embolism. It's amazing how many times they draw blood when you are in the hospital for what I was. Both my arms look like a long time junkies arms. Not pretty.

After years of ups and downs I finally had the Realize band implanted and I thought I'd share some of what I went thru. I've been able to lose significant weight on my own via exercise and diet only to watch it slowly return over a period of a few years. Each cycle became harder and harder and now that I'm over the half century mark the excess weight has impacted more and more of my health. Several daily medications for high blood pressure and acid reflux, failing hips and left knee and people that know me are aware that I'd be better off without feet! Over the years I've done them all from Atkins, to zinc drinks and it was time for some drastic action. It took over a year of research and self education before I finally decided to take the plunge and have surgery. I had attended several different seminars before selecting my bariactric surgeon. Months of tests, blood-work, psychological, nutritional, and a few others. Each insurance company has it's own set of rules they place in front of you to try and discourage you from having surgery. My primary care doctor has tracked my trial and tribulations with weight control over the years so well that that actually proved to be the easiest part in preparing an insurance packet for surgery approval. The packet was ready on a Tuesday and I was told to expect an answer in about a week. I've also heard horror stories of people waiting months for approval which concerned me. See I understand that weight loss surgery is NOT a magic bullet and will require lifelong changes in how I live. Knowing that, it was important that I have the surgery during the beginning of the boating off season to give me time to adjust to the changes. Well, by the next morning, less than 24 hours later I had my answer and a positive one at that. A date of December 2nd was picked due to scheduling of all involved including my Admiral. I had one more pre-surgery class to go to where I found out that my "last meal" would have to be 2 days before surgery. Seems all you can have the day before is Water and Clear liquids. The pre-surgery class was supposed to prepare you for what to expect when on your day of surgery including being in the OR. Let me tell you that surgery is akin to a hard core S & M session. As the kids today say, OMG!!!! I'm going to leave out a lot of the details but let me just say it is 5 days later and I'm still black and blue on my wrists and legs from the damn leather restraints they use. And don't surgeons know that if BOTH of your shoulders have 3 to 6 inch VISIBLE scars that your range of motion just might not be as good as many people and tying someone down with the limbs raised higher than they can make them go themselves is gonna HURT!!!!! From what I was lead to expect most people that have this surgery recover pretty quickly and require little if any pain meds. Apparently I had an excellent recovery nurse, (I was told this by another nurse), because I required morphine, Demerol and then for the past 6 days oxycodonye to tolerate the pain. Seems without the trained eyes of the nurse I had i would never have received the medications I was ultimately given. Anyway, the last 6 days have been very difficult but on a positive note I have lost 20 pounds since the morning of the surgery. The admiral insisted I get off my lazy a$$ and go out with her to pickup some of the things I need and make a quick visit to see a friend. I was able to put on jeans I haven't worn in quite sometime. Time to go take a nap....

Back to the emergency room today. Felt like I had another large clot in my arm, the one that had the surgical IV but it seems I now have developed a nasty infection in my arm near where they have been taking a lot of the blood tests. My arm is swollen twice normal size and hurts like hell. Lots of antibiotics and back on the pain meds. :thumbup: I tried to walk as much as possible after the banding but I'm sure I should have done more. I'm sure I'll feel better but I just don't know when. I was also told today I'll probably be on blood thinners for life. So much for my goal of getting off all my daily meds by losing weight!