spongealan

I have 7.5cc in a 10cc band. It took a while, but I now have good restriction.

Do not shave yourself before surgery. I have heard in many places that any knicks or cuts could cause them to postpone your surgery. They are serious about it.

I have found that when I am adequately restricted, I can't really tolerate beer or any other carbonated beverages for that matter. I do, however enjoy drinking in social situations so I have no problem with Wine or any mixed drinks without carbonation ie. Margarita, Screw Driver, Bloody Mary, etc.. All these choices taken in moderation I think are fine. I find that giving things I enjoy up totally makes me unhappy. So I try to go easy on the bad stuff, but not eliminate it totally.

Completely agree about the fill schedule. Have to wait too long to get one. I disagree about follow up care though.

I just had my first fill the other day. I was banded on 6/2/09 and was losing quickly. My Dr. does not do a fill until your weight loss slows after surgery. Well, I slowed in September, earliest they could get me in was 11/17/09. (Not happy with delay, but I had no choice). My Dr. does the fill under Flouro. Very interesting procedure. I was sitting there watching my esophagus and the band on a monitor, he filled the band 100%, I drank the barrium, you could see it as dark Fluid flowing down my esophagus and BAM...it stops right there at the band. He then starts to remove the fluid, as I keep swallowing and then once a very small trickle of fluid goes through, he stops. I am not sure how big the band is, but he left 4.5cc's in it. Now on the other hand, my sister was banded by a different Dr. She is not getting filled under Fluoro, and she had a fill 6 weeks out, and has appointments for the next couple of fills already scheduled. It seems to me like the Fluoro method is a more exact procedure, and less time consuming. I would love some other opinions on this.

Wow, that statement really hit me. I so feel that way. I was at 327 and had dropped 62 really quick, some on preop diet and most post op. I found that after 3 months I had no restriction and basically got compacent and started to fall into old habits. I had to wait too long to get my first fill as the surgeon was heavily booked. So the time between scheduling the fill and getting it just this Tuesday, I put on 7 lbs. Why did I do this? I looked and felt so much better at 265 that I lost my motivation. Well I lost back the 7 in the last 3 days since the fill and I feel like I am back on track. I really need this band. The future is still unclear, but I need to let this tool work for me. Jack - I really enjoy your posts!

I specifically asked my Surgeon this question. I went to Hershey Park approx. 3 months post op and he said that I should stay away from those Rides that have a bar that crosses over your stomach. Many of the older style coasters have this type of setup. Many of the newer coasters now have over the shoulder harnesses. These were ok as there was not direct preasure on your stomach. Also, depending on how large you are, some of the over the shoulder types did put some direct preasure on the stomach. Just be careful!

Did anyone watch this show on TV last night? I am curious about peoples thoughts on the show. Its a show that has the same basic premise as the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows where there is a Man or Woman, in this case a man that gets to choose who will be his wife. The women are in competition for this man's affection, and each week a certain amount of women get voted off untill he finds the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. The twist on this More to Love show is that the people on the show are larger than those that are on the other shows. Now I find the premise of this type of "reality" show to be stupid in the first place. But lets face it, stupidity and entertaining sometimes go hand in hand. The thing that I thought was very interesting, that they don't do on the normal Bachelor/Bachelorette shows is that when they show each person on the screen, they put up their name, residence, job, age, HEIGHT and WEIGHT. I thought that was interesting that we need to know what each persons Height and Weight were..... Love to hear some thoughts on this.

Does anyone find it interesting that the three girls that remain: Malissa (170), Mandy (180) and Tali (190) are three of the four lightest on the show. On the first show, they listed all of the girls weight. All of the comments about how he does not care about the girls weight are garbage. The three remaining girls, while they are by no means thin are very normal weight, and in my opinion have great shapes.

I feel exactly the same way. I am losing very nicley. 62 lbs since pre-op liquids on 5/18/09. I have had no fills, I can eat anything I want. Not as much as I used to, but a pretty good quantity. I feel like I am doing this on my own. I can deal with the hunger pretty easily. I don't feel like I am doing this the "Normal" way, but I guess if it has worked so far, then who cares.

I'm in! Good luck to all.

Hey everyone, another Long Islander here. I was banded by Dr. Gabriel at St. Catherines in Smithtown on June 2. He did a great job. The staff in his office is wonderful as well.

I have been able to eat raw clams on the halfshell without incident. Now an oyster certainly is larger than a topneck clam, so you may need to chew it up good. Good luck to you!

About a yea ago, my wife lost about 75#. Although about 25# from goal, she looked amazing. I have to admit that I felt threatenned. Not because I thaught she would not want to be with me, but due to my own insecurity because I was very overweight. She felt great about the way she looked and was loving all the new found attention she was getting from everyone. She deserved it. I really started to resent her in some strange way, and actually thought to myself that I would not mind if she gained back some weight. Yes I know, that is pretty shallow, but I was so uncomfortable in my own skin, this crossed my mind. Well, lets fast forward...I am banded now and as you can see from the ticker, I am 1/2 way towards my goal, and I feel great. Now I am getting some of that attention and my self esteem is growing by the day.:crying: Now she has put about 25# back on, but I don't think she will feel the same way I felt. She is stronger than me in that regard. We are working together to try to get that weight back off that came back. She is not banded. I can see how hard it is. Interesting times!

I have very little restriction at this point, no fills yet, but my choice for Chinese food would be Egg Drop or Hot and Sour Soup and or any Steamed dish...I like Steamed chicken with mixed vegetables. I stay away from rice at this point, but if you can tolerate it, a small amount would be good. As far a the pizza....I have only had the cheese off the top, which was not the best, but an alternative, if the place serves it is Eggplant Rollatine. Its really soft and goes down easy. Its not the most healthy choice, but in small quantities its great.

I find most of the women on the show very attractive. I am not sure if they know what they got themselves into.

I think the fat stereotypes will be rampant on this show. I hope these women are getting paid very well for this because they are going to be made to look very foolish...a lot. I can see myself not being able to look away.:biggrin:

That in a nutshell is what this surgery is all about! Its moments like those that we can cherish forever! Thank you for posting that! I can't hear enough stories like this. I am going to Disney next month with the family and I am so looking forward to hitting the Water parks and enjoying the experience with my girls (10 and 12). The 60 or so pounds that I am leaving behind would have made those visits much more difficult. Thanks again for the inspiration.

1. Not sitting at a booth in a restaurant and having the table jamming into my gut. 2. Not having to try to squeeze into the seat belt on an airplane because I am too embarassed to ask for an extender. Made for some real uncomfortable trips! 3. Not feeling different. (Physically that is:cool2:) 4. Able to look at all the clothing in a store and know that they have my size in each item. Not hoping to luck out that they have the 3 - 4X size in what I want. 5. Confidence!:scared2:

I have found that the people that are around me on a daily basis (work, neighbors, etc) wont notice as much as when you see people you have not seen since you started to lose weight. I have lost about 50lbs since I started and I will get a comment here and there from people I see daily. However, I went to a BBQ last weekend and saw many people I had not seen in a few months and I was overwhelmed with the great comments I got. It was extremely uplifting and really gave me a feeling of satisfaction that the hard work I am putting in IS noticable. What a great day that was. Keep up the great work. People will notice.

I certainly got the message!!!:thumbdown:

I am about 6 weeks post-op and can eat all foods (except Breads, Pasta, etc.). I don't have any fills. Last night at dinner I was eating some Tilapia and some well done string Beans and about 3 bites in I got some minor pain and had to stop eating. Got a lot of slimey stuff in my mouth and thought I was in trouble because I read these boards alot. I realized that I was eating the food like the old days, kind of just shoving it in without worry. Started to get red faced and sweaty and my family was getting worried. I told everyone to relax. I just stopped eating for a couple of minutes and it subsided. Nothing came up. I was able to finish my meal and felt fine afterwords. Was this an almost "PB"? Whatever it was, it was kind of a wake up call to focus more when I eat. Definite user error on this. Thanks for any thoughts....

I am from Long Island. Had surgery 6/2/09 by Dr. Gabriel at St. Catherines of Sienna in Smithtown. Any questions, fire away....

I love to see posts like this! Its very inspirational. I am about half way to making that same pronouncement. Great job!