A New Woman

Bandster Hell is unfortunately a necessary evil because our bodies need time to heal. Remember "this too shall pass" and you will get through it. I just have to caution you, though, to not expect it to be completely resolved with one fill. It sometimes takes several fills before you really feel you are where you're supposed to be. And sometimes you get your fill and you feel great restriction for 2 weeks and then it suddenly feels like you're back in bandster hell. But, again, with time and patience you will get there. It is a slow process, but like you said, a learning process. It's taken me 15 months to lose 62 lbs but I am in such a better place mentally and physically. A year from now you'll look back and see how far you've come. My lifestyle has improve 100% and I'm so thankful for this wonderful tool. Best of luck to you on your journey. Oh, one more thing... if you continue to tell yourself you're going to fail you are going to get exactly what you expect. I tell myself every day that I will reach my goal of 98 lbs and I'm getting there slowly but surely. You CAN and you WILL do this!

BTW, I'm not saying I agree that the bypass is a better solution. It's a personal choice. Just like we make a personal choice, I think surgeon's have a personal preference too. Some are pro-band and other's pro-bypass. My surgeon just happens to be pro-bypass and I found that out after the fact. Find a pro-band surgeon.

I don't necessarily buy into the surgeon is just being "hard" on you theory and this is why. When I went for my one year check up my surgeon was disappointed in my 50 lb weight loss and made the comment "but YOU wanted the band. I told you bypass is faster." I was very upset and frustrated by his behavior and felt like he did not consider me a success and that I was lowering his statistics. I posted about it on here and several folks told me to find another, more band-friendly surgeon. Well, guess what? In the Detroit area, none of the surgeons I called will take another surgeon's patients unless that surgeon moves out of the area or stops practicing bariatrics. They all said, you're supposed to research your surgeon before you have the surgery to make sure you have a good fit. When I went back to see my surgeon and told him how I felt we had a very good talk and he apologized for his approach, but he did confirm to me that he is not doing many band surgeries as he said the success rate is not that of bypass. He said there was a study by a bunch of doctors in Michigan to confirm this. So while I am very, very happy I had the band and I have lost 50% of my excess weight, make sure you find a surgeon that is also going to be there for you and not remind you that you could have done it differently. The Lap Band is a slow weight loss, they did tell me that in the beginning. But as long as you are okay with that (which I was), please be sure you have a surgeon that supports your decision. I found it's not so easy to switch surgeons after the fact. Best of luck to you. The band is a beautiful tool!

Hello everyone. I have been banded for 14 months. My weight loss has slowed considerably. Due to acid reflux I had to have some fluid removed. The acid reflux has improved and I only experience it now once in a while. However, I've noticed the last few weeks that when I eat I don't really experience any pain, but about a 1/2 hour to an hour after I'm done eating I start to experience pain and discomfort. It seems like as the food is passing through from the top to the bottom that it hurts. Even soft types of food cause this discomfort so I'm not sure it's a lack of chewing on my part. It's starting to concern me. I'm going to do liquids and puddings/yogurts for a few days to see if that calms things down. It's almost like the tightened part of my stomach is irritated. Has anyone else experienced this problem? If so, what did you do?

First of all, everyone on here has had one intention and one intention only -- to support me. For that I say THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your posts did help encourage me to resolve this with my surgeon. I do not personally think he is an ass or any of the other words he's been called because I think that we mis-understood each other. Even so, I have not taken any offense to any of the things that have been said about my surgeon by posters because they were said out of anger and support for me. Sometimes people just need to vent and if it helped support what I was going through I'm okay with that. And you guys all validated me so much! Again, thank you. I also appreciate Spartan's feedback because she did have some good points. So if it is my surgeon and I am the original poster, and I'm okay with everyone on here, let's let this drop. I can't thank you all enough for your support. I really needed it and you came through big time.

Un-Freakin-Believable!!! Fan-frickin-tastic! Aaaamazing! There aren't enough words to shout out! What an inspiration you are! You must feel wonderful. Buy yourself a diamond ring or some other non-food treat and pat yourself on the back. Stay on the board and keep people motivated.

**UPDATE** I had to go back to the surgeon today to get a slight unfill because of reflux I've been having since last week. I told my doctor that I thought we had to have a discussion because I thought we didn't understand each other. I told him exactly how I felt about him not thinking I was successful, about not believing me about being a non-smoker, etc. It ended up that we had a very nice chat and he admitted that he is not all that gung-ho about the band as he was when he initially started to do them because since people can cheat and eat around the band they are not as successful. He apologized about the smoking thing and also said that he does not consider me not-successful and if I'm happy with my results he's happy. So although I'm not happy to have experienced the reflux, I am very glad we had the discussion. I feel much better.

I totally agree. If it serves the greater good I have no probelm with paying a little more. My 24 year old daughter has Type 1 diabetes. She is an RN and a working person. However, if she were to lose her job today (rather yesterday) she would have been denied health insurance because of her pre-existing condition. She would die in 1-2 days without insulin. I can sleep better at night knowing that should she ever need it, health care will be there for her and all the others like her.

Woo hoo! Love it, absolutely love it!

Thanks for your reply. In past visits he was not this negative. Did he ask if I was happy with the results? No. But when I sensed that he was not happy with my results, I told him I was happy and proud and came right out and said "Dr X, I have lost a little over 50 lbs in a year. Isn't that good?" To which he replied "good but not exceptional." This is what I plan to do. The nurse that first saw me was a new nurse. His regular bariatric nurse (whose also a bariatric bypass person) and has been with him for a long time was on vacation. She comes back in a week. I am going to call her and talk to her and let her know how I felt and go from there.

Thank you for your very thought provoking post. I can tell you put a lot of thought and effort into your response. I don't necessarily think my surgeon is a bad surgeon. That's why I haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet to get a new surgeon. Until this last visit, I didn't see him in this light before. And I've really been trying to think of why he was so negative. As I've said before, I think he feels that I push too hard for fills and that he was reluctant to give me a fill and I didn't push for it at all. I was really, truly on the fence as to whether or not I needed one. And I was disappointed in myself in the past for not losing more. But at this particular visit I was quite proud that in a year I lost over 50 lbs. The average weight loss advertised for the bands is 1-2 lbs. a week, so I do fall in the average -- the low end of the average but still average. So I thought he would at least feel I was successful. I don't necessarily think that bypass was a better surgery for me with the exception that the weight loss would have been faster. I chose the band because I wanted a surgery that was reversible if I had complications and I knew it was a slower a weight loss and that it was a tool to use. Do I occasionally get frustrated myself with the rate that I lose? Sure, but I think most of us do at some time or another. I truly, truly think that this particular surgeon just prefers the bypass based on the results over the band and that he does view it as a personal failure. Especially since he told me that he only does 5% of his patients now as band. He obviously encourages bypass over band. As far as my exercise goes, I didn't mean to imply I do all those things every day. After my surgery I started walking and I walked at least 5 times a week 2 miles. In Sept I joined a kickboxing class 2 times a week and I would supplement that with still doing my walking on nice days until November. I then started doing a Kathy Smith kickboxing tape when the weather turned and did that to supplement my classes. In January I joined both a Zumba (2x's a week) and kickboxing (down to 1x a week) and then was doing the Wii I got for Christmas on other days. About a month ago my sciatic nerve started to bother me so I have reduced my workouts but until the last month I consistently exercised at least 5 days a week, and I told the doc that my exercise declined due to my sciatic (which I now have a Physical Therapy appt scheduled soon to start to correct). Exercise, combined with what I thought were still too large portions, yes, at times I felt I needed a fill and maybe that rubbed him the wrong way. I do think that he was having a very bad day because when he didn't believe me about not smoking it just went downhill from there. And it made me feel like he didn't believe me about anything else I was telling him either. I would have loved if he would have said "you can do this Lisa, you're doing great. If you lose the next 40 lbs in the year, that'll be great." Anything to support me and make me feel like I'm a success. But in all honesty, I didn't hire a cheerleader, I hired a surgeon and most doctors just don't have the bed-side manner we crave. Today, I saw a co-worker who has been off work for serious health reasons for 5 months. The first thing she said when she saw me was "You look GREAT!" She wanted to talk about me and not about her own health, which I was thrilled with how good she looked. She validated my success so much. Nearly every day someone says something to me about my weight loss. So I have to remember that my battery gets charged elsewhere and not look to him to recharge it. Maybe I just expected too much. I do appreciate you and everyone on here for your honesty and for your support and helping me feel like a success. I needed that stroking and I think everyone expressed anger at my surgeon out of care for me so I really feel the love on this post from everyone. Thank you.

Thanks everyone for the support. You guys all ROCK! To answer someone's question, yes, exercise has been a big part of my post-band life. And to answer someone else's question, I have gone from a size 20 pants / 2x tops to a loose size 14 pants / Large tops. I was so excited recently when I went to Dress Barn and got to shop on the skinny girl's side of the store! I even told the surgeon that day what my clothes sizes have changed. I've been really trying to think of my part in this relationship with the doctor and I think he thinks I'm disappointed in my results. One visit last fall I was kind of disappointed and insistent on a fill. So I don't know if that was what he was expecting and he was immediately on the defensive. But he is very clear that he prefers the results of bypass over band. I think I really wanted an "atta girl" or pat on the back because I was pretty proud of myself and I guess that's really not his job. He said that when I had my band done last year 25% of his patients were band and now he's getting away from them and only doing 5% of band's now. So it's obvious he's not happy with the results and I think he takes it personally too. He said he doesn't need to see me for 6 months and I'll wait until then unless I have any problems and decide then how things are going to go from here on out. I think what really irks me is that he didn't believe me about not smoking. You have to have trust in your doctor and vice versa in the patient and he obviously didn't believe me. So I think he doesn't believe me about my portions, my food choices, my exercising. Any one who knows me knows I can have my bad side, I can be a bitch along with the rest of them if I'm pushed, but the one thing I'm not is a liar. If he wants to call me out about food choices that might be bad, I'm okay with that. That's his job and that's what I expect of him. But don't call me out on something that isn't true and then not believe me. Thanks again everyone. I know my posts have been quite long. I appreciate you letting me vent and also validating my feelings.