AdamY

Weight Loss Surgical Center's Overland Park and Independence clinics have monthly weight loss support group meetings scheduled for the third Saturdays at 11 a.m. in our Overland Park LAP-BAND® Clinic at 8101 W 135th St and on the first Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. in our Independence LAP-BAND® Clinic inside the southeast entrance of Independence Center mall. Here are details on the remaining meetings scheduled for this year: Nov. 21 Overland Park LAP-BAND® Support Group at 11 a.m. at 8101 W 135th St. Dec. 2 Independence LAP-BAND® Support Group at 4:30 p.m. at Independence Center Dec. 19 Overland Park LAP-BAND® Support Group at 11 a.m. at 8101 W 135th St.

I work at Weight Loss Surgical Center, and I'd be happy to answer questions you have before making your appointment. In the KC area we have 3 locations - the Northland, Independence and Overland Park, so hopefully one will be convenient for you. Also, each of our three Kansas City Lap Band clinics have at least one banded person on staff. We also have satellite clinics in Wichita, Springfield, St. Louis, Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Omaha and Topeka. Each of those clinics is a full-service Lap Band fill center, complete with on-site healthcare staff and a fluoroscopy machine to check for complications. Each of our clinic also hosts at least one Lap Band support group meeting each month. If you have any questions, feel free to send a message to me: ayarbrough@moreoflife.com.

My non-medical advice would be to take advantage of every adjustment opportunity before having another surgery. Another surgery brings on another set of risks, another large expense and a new set of rules to live by. Has your provider performed a barium swallow to check your band for dilation or prolapse? If not, it's definitely time make a provider adjustment and talk to another provider. You should make sure you aren't struggling with a complication that can be easily fixed. I'm leery of surgeons who quickly offer up another surgery too quickly. Has your band been adjusted properly? If you only had two fills after a major unfill, you might not have enough in the band to get restriction. It can take quite a few fills to fit an adjustable gastric band. Remember that some people take over a year to feel restriction, depending on your provider's technique and your unique physiology, which may have altered due to the swelling. Finally, do a thorough and very honest review of your own activities to see if it's time for a behavior adjustment. Do some food journaling and compare that to what your rules are. Same thing with exercise. Are you eating the proper things to nourish yourself and encourage your band to provide that restriction? Everyone cheats with LAP-BAND Slider foods, but we can easily mislead ourselves into believing that we don't cheat that much. A food journal could help if that's a problem. You could also attend a local LAP-BAND Support Group to help troubleshoot behavior in a nonjudgemental environment. Please get a second opinion before going through the risk and expense of another surgery. Let us know how it goes.

It sounds like several of you have your bands too tight. You have to make sure that your doctor is able to schedule you in a timely manner so you don't wait 3 weeks for resolution to a potentially dangerous problem. It's really an easy fix once you get into the office, if the problem actually is it being too tight. Does your surgeon have a nurse practitioner or physicians' assistant that can do adjustments when he or she is unavailable? If the other office has more flexible scheduling, they may be worth the extra money.

Mmm... macaroons sound good, but that's an emotional hunger. Work hard to learn the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger and examine it before eating. If it's emotional give yourself a little self-therapy and figure out if there is a better way to deal with the emotion that's making you want to eat so you don't sabotage yourself.

Weight Loss Surgical Center has a regularly scheduled Weight Loss Support Group on the third Thursday at 7 p.m. at its Springfield LAP-BAND Clinic located at 3238 S. National. Here are details on the remaining dates this year: Nov. 19 - Springfield LAP-BAND Support Group at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 - Springfield LAP-BAND Support Group at 7 p.m.

Weight Loss Surgical Center's Omaha clinic has a monthly support group meeting on the first Thursday at 6 p.m. at our Omaha LAP-BAND Clinic at 625 N 114th. Our next Omaha LAP-BAND Support Group meeting is December 3 at 6 p.m.

Weight Loss Surgical Center's Overland Park and Independence clinics have monthly weight loss support group meetings scheduled for the third Saturdays at 11 a.m. in our Overland Park LAP-BAND® Clinic at 8101 W 135th St and on the first Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. in our Independence LAP-BAND® Clinic inside the southeast entrance of Independence Center mall. Here are details on the remaining meetings scheduled for this year: Nov. 21 Overland Park LAP-BAND® Support Group at 11 a.m. at 8101 W 135th St. Dec. 2 Independence LAP-BAND® Support Group at 4:30 p.m. at Independence Center Dec. 19 Overland Park LAP-BAND Support Group at 11 a.m. at 8101 W 135th St.

Weight Loss Surgical Center's Topeka clinic has a monthly weight loss support group scheduled for the third Saturdays at 11 a.m. in our Topeka LAP-BAND® clinic at 1801 SW Wanamaker Rd, inside the northwest entrance of Westridge Mall. Here are details on the remaining meetings scheduled for this year: Nov. 21 Topeka LAP-BAND® Support Group at 11 a.m. Dec. 19 Topeka LAP-BAND® Support Group at 11 a.m.

Weight Loss Surgical Center's Wichita clinic is doing 3 support group meetings each month these days. They are regularly scheduled for the first and third Tuesdays at 1 p.m. in our Wichita LAP-BAND® clinic at 3460 N. Ridge Rd., Suite 100; and the third is scheduled for the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Genesis Health Club on Socora. Here are details on the remaining meetings scheduled for this year: Nov. 17 Wichita LAP-BAND® Support Group at Weight Loss Surgical Center, 1 p.m. December 1 Wichita LAP-BAND® Support Group at Weight Loss Surgical Center, 1 p.m. December 3 Wichita LAP-BAND® Support Group at Genesis Health Club on Socora, 7 p.m. December 15 Wichita LAP-BAND® Support Group at Weight Loss Surgical Center, 1 p.m.

Weight Loss Surgical Center announced today that it will build a new specialty hospital to expand its services to more patients seeking the adjustable gastric band procedure for weight loss. Weight Loss Surgical Center currently operates an ambulatory surgery center at 8101 W 135th Street in Overland Park. The new facility, to be located at 12850 Metcalf Avenue and named Blue Valley Hospital, will be licensed as an acute care hospital. “Every month, we see more than 100 new patients who are interested in losing weight with adjustable gastric bands,” said Douglas Palzer, CEO and founder of Weight Loss Surgical Center. “We cannot take some of those patients to surgery right now, because their insurance plans require the surgery to be performed in a hospital instead of an ambulatory surgery center. Our move to a hospital facility will help us serve the increasing demand for this life-changing procedure.” Blue Valley Hospital will feature state-of-the-art operating rooms designed for the needs and safety of morbidly obese patients. The facility also will house a Weight Loss Surgical Center clinic on site for new patient consultations and adjustable gastric band post-op care. The new hospital is scheduled to open in the summer of 2010. Weight Loss Surgical Center performs hundreds of LAP-BAND® and REALIZE™ Band surgeries each year at its ambulatory surgery center in Overland Park. For initial consultations about the band and for long-term post-operative care and band adjustment, Weight Loss Surgical Center has eight clinics, located in Overland Park, Wichita and Topeka, Kan.; Independence, Springfield and St. Louis, Mo.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Omaha, Neb.

Caligirl55 -- I work at Weight Loss Surgical Center, and while we don't have a northland location, we have two clinics in the KC area, both with support groups. One is at our Overland Park clinic, off Highway 69 and 135th. It meets every third Saturday at 11 a.m. The other is at our Independence clinic inside the southeast entrance of Independence Center mall. It meets the first Wednesday of every month at 6:00 p.m. You can also check our Weight Loss Surgical Center community link for a local, online support group.

Weight Loss Surgical Center also will handle fills for patients not banded at other facilities. In KC, there are two WLSC clinics -- one at the surgery center in south Overland Park and one in Independence Center Mall in Independence Center. The Independence Center location has some evening and weekend hours available for fills. Since the fill nurses and physicians assistants don't do surgeries, they specialize only in helping people lose weight by getting the most of of their bands. Also, all fills are done with X-ray guidance, so even if the surgeon placed the port in an unexpected spot, they'll know they're hitting the port and not accidentally nicking the tube or anything like that.

Christy -- I'm at the Overland Park office, but there is another Adam that works at the Independence clinic. He's been busy putting together a support group, so you may want to give their office a call for dates and times: 816-423-8964.

jenajjthr -- We don't do the surgeries in the mall, it's a screening and post-care fill clinic. The surgeries are all performed at our specialty bariatric hospital in Overland Park. With the band, you'll have to do a lot of follow-up for best results. We wanted a clinic on the Missouri side where you can get follow-up care closer to home with more convenient hours, and the mall allows us flexibility to see patients some evenings and weekends. In our Independence Center clinic, Lisa and her staff are very good at what they do, and you won't have to drive all the way to Overland Park for all the follow-up care. Adam

There are a lot of great gastric band docs in the KC area. I've told that we have a very high percentage of band-vs-bypass compared to the rest of the country. At Weight Loss Surgical Center, we have four staff surgeons, who are all great surgeons. We also have an amazing support staff that frees them up to do more surgeries while the support staff focuses on the long-term weight loss. We also have seven clinics in the Midwest, with two in the metro area. If you're on the Missouri side, consider our Independence Center location, which has a very helpful staff and even has some evening and weekend hours available.

I work with Weight Loss Surgical Center, and I know Joe and Joanne at the clinic there pretty well. If you haven't decided yet, I'd seriously consider Weight Loss Surgical Center, because we have four surgeons on staff who specialize in band surgeries, we offer a choice between LAP BAND and REALIZE, and our local staff are very knowledgeable and compassionate. Joe really knows wieght and diabetes issues backward and foward. He's really insightful and interesting, and he'll work to get you back to health. He's the one who will do all your follow-up and fills, and he's very good at it, so you'll be able to learn from his experience and get to your sweet spot with ease.

Hey, Christy. I work at Weight Loss Surgical Center, and I'm trying to be better at visiting this board. I saw your post and wondered how your progress is going. Let me know if you have any questions! Adam