Holabbie

I had Dr. Bettendorf as my surgeon for my lap band surgery in January 2009. Prior to my surgery he was thoughtful, caring and concerned for my welfare. This attitude has not changed a bit since surgery. He is an excellent surgeon and did a great job. I went home from the hospital the same day I had the surgery because I was feeling so good. I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone. Everyone at his office has been kind, caring and knowledgable. I have been very happy with my outcome and with the level of care that I have received during both my pre and post operative phases.

My surgery was January 29, 2009. I have lost 42 pounds so far. I am doing a slow but sure journey. The weight didn't come on overnight and it won't go off overnight either. I don't want a dramatically fast loss anyway. I want it to be gradual. I planned for a year to reach my goal and that is what my surgeon likes to have people do also. I don't want to need surgery for saggy skin that happens so often with fast weight loss. I have 28 pounds to go and I do believe I will be there by the end of January 2010.:biggrin:

I have experienced having food get "stuck" a few times in the past few times. Generally it's when I just forget and take too large of a bite or don't chew long enough. Last week however, was the absolute worst experience. We were having a group lunch to Celebrate my boss' birthday. I had just taken a bit of my chicken and someone told a joke. I started laughing and that made me swallow that piece of chicken before it was fully chewed. Needless to say, within a minute I knew I was in big trouble. I pretended my pager went off and left the party to head to my office. Thankfully I have a private office where I was able to close the door and sit at my desk...in horrible pain from that piece of chicken. Luckily I did not have anywhere I HAD to be for a while so I was able to wait this out. But as I sat there, with my wastebasket on my lap, I wondered if there wasn't some way...other than sticking my finger down my throat to make myself throw up the blockage, to get past this faster. Even though I know we are not to drink during a meal, would having a big swig of liquid help me get unstuck? What has worked for others in this situation? I am finding myself getting really paranoid when it's time to eat at work. I would love to get some advice from others who have found ways to deal with getting stuck at terribly inconvenient times.

If I were not able to have my caffeine...Oh boy, that is just too scary to contemplate. If I could, I would start the day with an I.V. in my arm just to get my fanny out of bed! :crying: I have a full pot in me by the time I get to my desk and I brew another pot right away. Then I switch to cold caffeine for lunch. My surgeon has no problems with it at all. He just says "Make sure it's diet when you drink soda". I use sugar free creamer and a sweetener in my coffee so it's a treat. Yes, my coffee and I are inseperable!!

I was banded on January 27, 2009. I had one fill in March and a second fill this past Tuesday for a total of 6 1/2 cc's. I was not able to keep food down after the fill on Tuesday so I went in to have a slight unfill done. When my doctor was accessing the port, he almost had to climb up onto the exam table with me and stand on the needle/tubing to get it to go in. He said I am developing scar tissue around my port area. Has anyone else had this issue? What is the future impact of this situation? Will it affect my ability to have fills done? Any information will be appreciated.

Hello everyone! I actually started this topic and I am so glad to have all the opinions and contributions. Thank you for posting the link to the downward dog position!! I could not quite get my head around what I was supposed to do but seeing someone in the position really helped. I had been advised NOT to drink anything when experiencing something being stuck but I decided to find out for myself if the Water flush worked or not. Sure enough! Worked just fine and dandy...thank you very much. I think that unless someone has experienced these things, they really cannot give advice. Except of course, my surgeon. I will and do listen to him. However, as far as those who don't have a band and have not experienced the terror of knowing you have something stuck and there is no way in hell to wait it out because you have a meeting or you absolutely MUST be able to speak without throwing up within the next five minutes, well, they really should not be giving advice. Until they walk in my shoes, they have no clue. So a huge thanks to all of you who replied with helpful hints and information. Keep the good ideas coming!

Don't forget that when you lose weight, the amount of fatty tissue shrinks. This is the main reason that fills are needed. Your internal size is changing right along with your external size. There will come a point when there is little to no fatty tissue around the band area but until then, fills are needed to maintain restriction.

I am sorry to say I can guarantee that it can come back up. It takes longer to get everything out though. However, it's not much different than pre-port.

Congratulations. You are doing so well and it's apparent you know your body and what to do to make it happen. Keep up the great work!

Another potential problem would be a hiatial hernia. I had the same problem at night and when I had a swallow study done, they discovered a hiatial hernia at the bottom of my esophagus. I was already scheduled for the band and my surgeon fixed the hernia during the surgery. Two for the price of one! I would suggest a swallow study be done if the situation continues. They are very easy and you have immediate results.

I have tried this a few times since I read about it in a post last week. However, for me it doesn't get the stuck food through the band, but rather it helps me bring it up. I have had more food get stuck in the past two weeks than has made it through. I would swear I am cutting my food into bits and chewing enough but obviously I am doing something wrong.

I too can attest to this working. I was doing really well on Friday, sitting at my desk, eating my lunch. I was taking my time and focusing on chewing thoroughly and slowly. But all of a sudden I realized that much more time had passed than I had thought. I gulped that last bite and Darn it!!! That last piece was super stuck. I leaned over and put my hands on the lowest edge of a bookshelf. Within a couple of minutes, up came lunch. That wasn't the perfect result but it alleviated having to sit there in agony waiting for it to digest enough to pass through. I went and brushed my teeth and carried on with my day. Thanks for the tip!

Hello everyone - I am sure you can guess my issue from the title of my thread. Having one heck of a time finding something to "help things go easier" for me. I have tried laxatives, stool softeners in pill form as well as the powder Miralax with no effect. I am looking for advice, options, suggestions, etc. from you all. FYI, my surgery date was January 27, 2009. Thanks much!

Thanks Rebecca - I have tried the Milk of Mag pills but it sounds like I should give the liquid a try. At this point, I am willing to try anything? Have you found any foods that help rather than pills?

Well you asked for opinions so here's mine. You are being utterly foolish. I have severe sleep apnea and my weight had nothing to do with it since I weighed 140 pounds or so when I developed it. Frustratingly I didn't know I had it for a long time but I knew something was really wrong since no matter what, every month I put on anywhere from 2-5 pounds. In two years I gained over 60 pounds...while on a 20 grams of fat per day diet. Apnea does horrific things to your entire physical system and the only treatment for it is cpap. If you were a diabetic would you refuse to take insulin? Apnea affects your brain, your heart, your metabolic system...I could go on and on. I use the cpap because I don't want to end up having a stroke due to blood pressures that were off the charts. I guess I would rather wear a cpap mask at night than sit in a chair drooling on myself, unable to communicate. However, all that aside, I am concerned that you are already "sneaking" around and doing things totally against the orders of your doctor. The surgery you have coming up will require you to follow very strict rules and guidelines. The band does not make you lose weight. You lose weight by using the band as a tool. However, there are things you have to do to make this happen. You can't just blow them off because you don't like them. I encourage you to really think hard about your readiness for this surgery. Your commitment has to be extremely high and you have to be able to follow the recommendations of your doctor, even if you don't like them, think they're foolish or just don't agree. Also...one of the biggest side effects of untreated apnea is weight gain. Your body knows it's not getting enough rest and it goes into a 'hoarding' phase. Your system thinks it is under attack and it turns virtually everything you eat into surgars to give you energy in case you need it to fight. However, since your system isn't revving up and pouring out the andrenaline, those sugars just sit there, turning to fat. I hope your pulmonologist is right and you "Just need to lose weight" to get rid of the apnea. Good luck to you no matter what you decide.

If you do have concerns about a food, try it at home first if possible. When you do go out to eat, just remember to take small bites, chew, chew, chew and take your time. I was banded on January 27 and the day I came off liquids - 2 weeks post op - my doc said "start with soft foods but whatever you can eat without a problem, go ahead and eat". We went to Old Country Buffet that night and it was great because I could take a spoonful of different items to see what worked and what didn't. After a month of liquids, everything tasted incredible!!:thumbup: Shrimp is wonderful when you have it broiled or grilled. Same with chicken and fish. I do have problems with soft bread but toast has been no problem. I bought some melba crackers and put chicken or crab salad made with fat free mayo on them for lunch. Salads have not been a problem at all. I just chop my lettuce into smaller than usual pieces and it's great. Add some chicken and cheese and you will add Protein and Calcium. Don't let it worry you but here's the biggest thing...if you start feeling pressure or fullness behind your breastbone or in the upper abdomen area, stop eating immediately and wait at least five minutes before eating more. Go to the restroom or something if you are eating out. That feeling means something is taking it's time to get through and the worst thing you can do is put more food on top of it. You WILL be throwing it all up. The first few times it happened to me, I didn't realize in time that I was heading for trouble. :w00t: I have found that raising my hands over my head for a minute or two seems to help the diaphram unlock and the muscles then help send the stuck item through. Good Luck and don't let it scare you. When you are nervous you tense up and that just makes things worse. Karen

My doctor said "sure you can have gum, just don't swallow it. And if you do swallow it, don't call me at midnight in a panic. It will eventually make it through". He is very laid back. He has no issues with coffee, caffeine or pop. Those are items I have seen others list as being banned from their life.

I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea almost two years ago and for those of you unfamiliar with what apnea does, I will give just a brief bit of information. When a person is not sleeping as they should, your body goes into survival mode. It thinks it's being compromised therefore it starts to hoard it's reserves. There are two main hormones that control metaoblism and those two go into virtual hibernation to slow the metabolism to nothing. Unexplained weight gain is one of the reasons my doctor suspected apnea since she knows I eat a low-fat diet. I was attending a seminar and one of the speakers was a surgeon discussing bypass options. One of the things he mentioned was that every patient on whom he has performed bypass surgery no longer has apnea due to the weight loss. Well my ears perked right up! I thought "I'll do just about anything to get rid of sleep apnea". So I made an appointment to meet with him, went through the six months of counseling with the dietician, followed all the guidelines their clinic required in order to qualify for surgery. My insurance initially turned it down due to a low BMI, even with the co-morbidities of hypertension, GERD and apnea. However they approved it after an appeal was filed. So, now to my issue. I was banded on January 27 and have done fairly well with all the issues that come with surgery. But for the past five nights, I have woken from a deep sleep due to horrible, intense, gnawing hunger pangs. I mean I feel like I haven't eaten in three weeks! And I have eaten!! Now I feel like I am in a vicious circle. If I don't sleep, I won't lose any weight. That's a proven fact for me. What is causing this? The past two nights I have broken the rule of not eating before bed. I thought that if my stomach had something to digest and process, it would just go about it's business and let me sleep. However, it has not worked. It does not seem to matter if I eat before bed or not. I see my surgeon again on the 26th of the month and I will discuss this with him but I am wondering if others have had this problem. Am I just in an adjustment phase? Will getting a fill make a difference? Any advice, insights or comments are welcome as I am so darn frustrated. It feels like the cure was as bad as the initial problem!

Hi Razz - I checked into their web site. I just want to make sure I wasn't missing something. Is their only Protein supplement liquid egg whites? I was looking on their site for a powder form but didn't see any. If this is a liquid supplement, how does it not go bad in shipping, etc? Any information will be greatly appreciated as you are right, I am having trouble getting in enough protein and I can really tell.

Your plan should work out just fine. I had surgery on Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. and went home that evening around 7:00 p.m. I ended up with that severe pain in my left shoulder from the gas they pump into the abdomen so that set me back a few days. I had never heard of that happening. I asked the surgeon if they had dropped me or something to cause me to have such pain. He said "Oh no, did you end up with that should issue"? Then he explained that sometimes the gas they use to inflate the abdomen does not dissipate as it's supposed to. It ends up in the shoulder joint area and causes it to lock up. Very painful! I did return to work on Monday but only made it until 1:30 then I needed a nap. Same thing on Tuesday but as of Wednesday, I could do the entire day. I am now two weeks and three days post surgery and all is well. I had my first follow up appointment with the surgeon and he is pleased with my progress. I think that if I hadn't had the shoulder issue I would have been back to work full speed right away. This is the first surgery (out of four in the past two years) in which I actually used the prescribed pain meds. That shocked me but that shoulder joint hurt so badly that I needed the additional meds.

Hello everyone - I had a funny experience today and thought I would share with the group. I was at work and yesterday was really the first day since surgery on January 27th that I was feeling like I was back to normal. I still have tenderness where I can feel the port but otherwise, all is well. So today I walk into the break room to get a refill on my coffee before I needed to dial in to an hour-long conference call. I noticed a container on the counter and realized our resident baker had brought in a few dozen valentine Cookies. Without even a thought, I grabbed a napkin and put a cookie on it and returned to my office. I dialed in to the call, sat back and broke off a corner of the cookie. Popped it into my mouth, chewed, swallowed and thought "Wow, this is one of the best cookies I have ever tasted". Then I was swept with a feeling of utter horror!!! OMG!!:laugh: "What have I done"?? I cracked up laughing because I realized it was either me or the cookie. One of us was not going to make it through this confernce call. So I very calmly sunk the cookie into my full cup of coffee to destroy it, reached around and patted myself on the back for being able to do it, sat back and listed to the call. :crying:

Just checking in to see how everyone else is doing that had their surgery on 1/27/09. I did end up having both the lap band placement and hiatal hernia repair surgeries at the same time. I guess that's why I feel double-sore! I have little or no appetite but I am trying to keep my Fluid intake up. I use Boost High Protein as my supplement along with chewable Vitamins. I am supposed to drink three bottles of Boost each day but that has been difficult. I have managed two per day as long as I take a long time to drink them. I am having a horrible time with this left shoulder pain. I had no idea what the heck that was about but the day after surgery I checked this forum and found many entries about it being a common occurance. I am using a heating pad and ground up Aleve for the pain. It is lessening each day. I am very glad I purchased liquid Tylenol before surgery also. All in all, I am taking things slowly. I am trying to decide if I will be returning to work on Monday or not at this point. That my be a bit optimistic but one day can make a huge difference. I won't decide until Sunday. I know that if I can't make it through the day it will be okay for me to leave early. My surgeon reguired two weeks of liquids prior to surgery and requires two weeks after surgery. Then two weeks of soft foods, then regular foods. What does your doc require? I hope all of you are doing well and it will be interesting to hear from you on how you are doing.

Hello All - I was banded on January 27th, 2009. I went to a lapband support group put on by the dietician at my surgeon's office. We got on the subject of medications and I mentioned that the low-dose aspirin I take is very small in size and I don't see it being a problem. The dietician said "Weren't you told not to take aspirin? It can erode your band". I was astonished since this was the first I had heard of this. I stopped taking the aspirin immediately and it's on my list of questions to ask the surgeon when I see him on the 12th. Has anyone else been informed of this?

Hello everyone - I am looking for some advice about ways to take my medications. During my pre-op physical, my primary care physician tried to order my medications in liquid form but they aren't available that way. I take Cymbalta, which is in capsule form and Lisinopril, which is pill form. I also take a low-dose preventative aspirin each day. I have been opening the Cymbalta capsules and pouring them into water and quickly drinking it. My best guess would be that I am only getting 1/2 - 3/4 of the dose. I am grinding up the Lisinopril and aspirin with the same results. I am concerned about this and looking for advice from those of you who may have dealt with and conquered this issue. I am still in the clear liquid stage - banded 1/27/09.

Thank goodness I asked the surgeon as a final thought "Am I able to have caffeinated coffee?" He said he had no issues with caffeine:thumbup:. Waaahooooo! That was the best news I had heard in a long time!