june09bandit

Another line of thought.. have you travelled at all since you got your band? Everytime I get on an airplane, I get off MUCH tighter than I started. My last vacation to Mexico, the doc sent me with a huber needle so that I could unfill in case of an emergency (meaning no liquids going through). I really thought I would need to for the first 4 days, but it finally opened up enough so that I could eat. It's not going to be fun to be in the middle of an ocean with no one capable of unfilling. Perhaps a loosening instead of an unfill?

I haven't heard of the approach suggested by your doctor, but my doctor did tell me that I'm sensitive to the size of fills. For the last few fills, if I get .5 or more, I have to go back for an unfill. If he gives fills smaller than that, I'm fine. I think it's the same theory, but I go back 2 weeks later for the adjustment rather than 20 minutes.

I had a new port installed in March. It's no big deal. Surgery was 15 mins and the only pain was from the incision. Now my band is working like it's supposed to again! Good luck!

Just give it a little more time. I was able to go back to underwires about 2 months post op.

I don't know about the realize band, but I know that with Lap Band, my doc told me that slips do sometimes fall back into place. He was afraid I had slipped and he wanted to empty the band for a couple of months to see if it would fall back. I don't know the specifics, I just know what he told me. Good luck, hopefully yours will migrate back into position.

I am actually trying to work with a stubborn 1/2 cc myself for the past 2 months. If the 1/2 is there, I'm too tight, if it's removed, I have NO restriction, so yesterday, I got .3 added. I'll know by the weekend if it worked or not. Still on liquids. Just work with your doc and hopefully you'll get the right fill soon.

I think you should find out the circumstances surrounding the incident then decide what you should do. If the bite was unprovoked, you should find childcare elsewhere. But please be fair when you decide what may have provoked the incident - the kids are not always innocent bystanders. My husband's grandkids just left our house. While they were here, I told them countless times to leave the dogs alone. They were chasing them, pulling ears, tails and getting face to face with them. Dogs tried to run away, tried growling then resorted to snapping. I would NOT have blamed the dogs if they eventually resorted to biting. I would have hated it, but if the kids had left the dogs alone, there would have been no problems at all.

I live in Arizona, 5 miles north of Mexico. About 40 miles west of where the rancher was shot ON HIS OWN PROPERTY. It is scary to me. I won't go for a walk without my hubby. Kinda sad in a way. Am I afraid of legal Mexican immigrants? Not at all (unless they fit a broad category of people that I'm afraid of regardless of race) - especially since I'm married to a second generation Mexican American. Am I afraid of the ones that are willing to kill to stay in the USA? Absolutely. I want the border to be much more difficult to cross. I want Arizona to be the hardest place to breach the border. I don't want to be afraid to go for a walk in the morning. In order to travel north from here, I am frequently asked to declare my citizenship at a border patrol checkpoint. No big deal. My mexican husband has NEVER been challenged at that checkpoint. When I go to Mexico, I will absolutely have an ID (passport) on me at all times, and I will not feel like my rights are being violated. Not all illegals are here with bad intentions, I get it.. but do it legally.

There was big recall on the huber needles in January (google huber needle recall and you'll find lots of info). They were boring out the port rather than resealing after piercing. I just had my port replaced last month. I expect there will be many more due to the boring. Good luck!

I used Dr. Schwartz. I feel he is a great surgeon, but he's not very "touchy feely". Personally, I didn't care, but I know others are very put off by that kind of personality. I had zero complications from the surgery itself - not even the infamous shoulder pain. It's also pretty easy to schedule follow up appts with his office. None of the office staff are "snarky". I've been pleased with him as my surgeon.

Cindy, I think you are just feeling your port! It doesn't sound like a problem. I think the minimum amount of time before your first fill is 4 weeks, but every doc is different. I believe they want your incisions to be completely healed to minimize risk of infection.

That's a horrible experience. I had the exact same thing happen to me, I thought I was getting .5 and really got 1.5. Spent the night throwing up saliva and went to the doc first thing the next morning. He EMPTIED my band. He said the trauma from all the throwing up would cause swelling and the only way to prevent dehydration was to empty and start over. So in reality, the .5 you wanted would have probably been fine if not for the overfill and the resulting swelling. These lapbands can definitely be particular about things! Congrats on your success so far!

I was out for 1 week - I could have gone back to work sooner, but there was a weekend and a holiday involved. Do you have a physical job?

It seems that every surgeon has different requirements. When you go back to the surgeon for preop, he will tell you what their specific requirements are. My requirements were chest xray, ekg, full blood work up, 1 week preop diet. Good luck in your journey!

Yes, the tighter my bra, the tighter my band feels. I even told my doc, but I think he thought I was joking!

My hair loss started 6 mos after surgery and ended 2 months later. It's worth it..

Yes, you should call your doc. Mine told me that if I got a stomach bug to call immediately so that they could give me anti nausea meds. Never hurts to consult the doc! I hope you don't get sick. Good luck!

I agee with vlp1968 - stay in contact with your doctor. My doc told me that if the port got infected, it could travel to the band. Call the doc if it's changed (or not) since your last visit.

I'm sure your port is there - it's just behind a lot of swelling and you can't push hard enough to feel it. After about a month, you'll be able to feel the outline easily. Don't fret....

The doc told me yesterday that they open up the same incision, switch ports, glue you together and send you on your way. Biggest risk is infection, so I assume they will fill you with antibiotics while they are doing the surgery.

You'll be fine - and you'll be back on full liquids before you know it! Please update us when you get back from surgery to let us know you're ok!

I felt restriction at 4.5 cc and asked for a very small fill. They gave me 1.5 cc and I was totally closed off for a night. The next day, they unfilled me and I had to start all over with the fills. Since then, I feel restriction for about 1 week after each fill, then it goes away and I get another fill - was getting a fill every 2 weeks and it was the same story every time. I was up to 8cc in a 10cc band. The doc and I started talking. I was resistant to removing all the fill since I knew it couldn't all be put back at once. Apparently my stomach is sensitive to large fills. At my last fill, I told him to go ahead and remove it - low and behold, there were only 3 ccs in there. He put the 3cc back and added an additional 1.5 cc. I was good for one week, now nothing again. I go back to the doc on Monday and he will remove the Fluid and see what's left. If it's less than 4.5, I get to go for testing. He said it could either be a leak (most likely), a kink in the tube, or a slipped band. yippee :smile2:

LOL.. just a freak of nature...or complications from first gallbladder surgery?

It sounds like the way my gallbladder felt before I had it removed. I compared it to feeling like a lower rib was sticking in to my lung.

Good luck to you on your big day! I'm sure the surgery will go smoothly since you've followed the pre-op so carefully. Be prepared to become a better burper!