bigmomma73

My father was VERY against the surgery. He simply told me to stop eating so much and start exercising more then ended with "It's really not that hard". My dad is a GREAT person, but he just didn't get it. I had my surgery in July of 2007 in Detroit, Mich. performed by Dr. Matthew Weiner. I live in Central Ohio. From July of 2007 to September 2009, I struggled horribly, due to my doctor not filling me properly, and when I say not properly, I am talking 10 fills, and every fill for about 5 in a row, he told me I had 6.5 cc's in my band and he was giving me .5 cc's. I went from 228 to 186 then back up to 215. Until I finally got hooked up with fillcentersusa and got them to actually stop toying with me and give me a fill. I have lost 30 pounds since September 12 because after more than 2 years, I finally got restriction. 2 weeks ago, my father told me he thinks the surgery really was right for me and he's glad I had it done. I think he needed to see for himself that it does work. It is possible that your friend cannot stand the idea of you getting skinny too.

If you tell her it's a hernia operation, will she want to be at the hospital and see you thru recovery? I understand your feelings of wanting to be discreet. The only ones that know I had it done are my 2 oldest children, my husband, my father, and my best friend, that's it. I didn't tell my mom, because I felt she would judge me and monitor me constantly. Not telling her was easy because we aren't that close. I had the surgery done out of state, I told everyone I was going out of state with my husband for a few days, because his work was sending him there for training. Nobody asked any questions. I kind of hung low for the first few days back and when someone called I told them I had a stomach virus and just wasn't feeling well. Nobody suspected anything.

Hi again. Don't give up. I completely understand the level of frustration you are feeling. When I seen my surgeon in October I said "THe other day, I ate an entire 6 inch sub from subway and chips with no problem" he said "Did you eat it because you wanted to or because you could?" I thought what the heck kind of question is that???? I agree....the band is a tool, but shouldn't it stop me from doing that? I know with good restriction, I have no desire to eat that stuff because it scares me. Once, while I had good restriction, I tried eating a little bit of a roll from bob evans, and paid dearly with a stuck episode that hurt so bad, I haven't touched one since. I keep hearing one of the important things about the band is the aftercare, but what if our doctors are failing US in the aftercare. Feel free to vent anytime, I think that's what this forum is for. Have you tried to find other doctors maybe not necessarily in your area but a bit further away? I live in central Ohio, had my surgery in Detroit and am now going to Troy, Mich. for my fills. The way I am feeling today may only be temporary but I feel confident now that if I call my new doctor back and tell her that this just didn't work I need another one, she's going to help me.

Hi, I have been lurking for awhile but this is my first post. I changed doctors effective yesterday. I will try to make this as short as possible. I was banded in July 2007 and weighed 232 pounds. I went in for my first fill and was told I had 3 cc's in my band that he put in there during surgery so he added 2. That didn't do anything, so I went back 3 weeks later and got 1.5 more. That didn't do anything so I went back 3 weeks after that and got 1 more. At that point, I had decent restriction which lasted about 2 months. I was down to 190. I haven't had restriction since I went in for another fill in December of 07. It has been downhill since, even though I had fills in January, February, May, and October. Each time being told I was getting 1/2 a cc. At my last appt in October of 08, I weighed 192, I expressed my frustration to my doctor at being able to eat way too much. Nothing bothered me, breads, pastas, nothing. He just lectured me about the importance of proteins and diet and exercise. That's all well and good if you aren't hungry all the time. Even since that fill in October, I have been able to eat whatever I wanted and was hungry a lot. I should add that I had a tummy tuck in 2005 so I don't have a lot of fat in my upper abdomen. Anyway, I got on the scale last week and was heartbroken...I was 207. I called fill centers USA. They set me up an appt that I went to yesterday. It's a 3 and a half hour drive one way, but I don't care if I can get proper treatment. The lady doing my fills was expecting my band to be very full, she and I were both stunned to find 6.6 cc's in there. Which leads me to believe one thing, I was totally neglected in the fill area by my doctor, who I won't knock because believe it or not outside of the fill issue, I still like him. He always made me lay back, pulled out whatever cc's were in my band told me what he put back then made me drink water and sent me on my way. Yesterday, she located my port withdrew the fluid and added it back. With the needle still in my port, she made me sit up and drink sips of water while she added fluid a little at a time to see how I was tolerating the water. I ended up getting an entire cc yesterday and I watched her do it. For the first time in a year and a half...I have not woke up starving. In fact, I haven't felt hungry whatsoever since I got up 3 hours ago. I feel so inspired, I wanna go walk on my treadmill. I always read people saying "Oh...the band is a tool, not a solution" to which I agree, but we cannot use our tool if it is not working properly. If I wanted to just diet and exercise I wouldn't have paid over $11,000 out of pocket to get this procedure done. I have a feeling I am now on the right track and wish I would have been going to Fill Centers all along.