NYGuy

Thanks Joanie, Coincidentally, I had my first real sliming episode after lunch today. I get it now. Boy do I!

ps... cindylouwho or anyone? what's sliming. I think I have experienced that a couple times in the last week. Bob

WOW! It sure looks like lots of us June Journeyers had similar experiences... summer fall doldrums, discouragement and FINALLY a fill that gives some real restriction and makes, for me anyway, finally feel that the band is my partner. I could barely keep my weight, much less lose weight in August, September and until last week. I'd bump up and then diet like hell to claw my way back down. The band wasn't really a factor at all. Then a week ago Monday I had my last fill. And now .... well FINALLY! I eat lots of small meals now--can't really eat big ones, and finally the readout on the scale is consistently moving in the right direction! Woo hoo! I wouldn't let them take a molecule of saline out of my band. And if the weight stops coming off, we'll be adding at least another half. The fill meister tells me when you get close to the zone even a quarter cc can make a big difference, and I suspect that some of you fellow travellers are exactly in the same place! Now back to the game. Go Yankees!

Does anyone else have a port that protrudes so it actually leaves a lump under the skin?

I'm just afraid I won't have all those South American beauty queens fawning over me when they see that alien lurking just below the surface!

Interesting all and thanks! I'm sure I'll have to get the port moved eventually. That'll probably be a trip to Mexico as I'm sure my insurance won't cover it. ANY health care reform has got to be better than this "system"!

Hey Trisha, Thanks so for your response. I sort of agree I need another fill. I can down more types of foods that most bandsters can't. I have yet to PB though I've come close a couple times and then only when chowing down with abandon... a big hunk of banana poorly chewed, for example. I say I can eat bread, and I can, but I do have to do it somewhat carefully. I can only maintain my weight and drop a poiund or two by obsessively controlling my eating habits. The slightest lapse can undo weeks of work. I sometimes wonder why I bothered having this alien installed inside me if it was still going to be hard work! My fill meister doesn't believe her patients should be vomiting but it seems to me I'm still on the unfilled side of the elusive "sweet spot". More and more I see the wisdom of my fellow June bandsters in picking our slogan. It is indeed a "journey". Bob (who is still an apprentice) :thumbup:

Yes, thanks for doing this Breanne! I came on to ask if anyone else was sort of stuck at this point in the journey, and I see you and I are in almost precisely the same place. I started at 258, and though I did lose a little through June and into July, since mid July I haven't lost any weight. I am down two pants sizes but heavy as I was almost four months ago. If I fail to be careful for a day I instantly spike up in weight and spend the next weeks fighting to get back down. All I seem to be doing is yo-yoing between 238 and 231. And I had a good fill late August. I now feel some restriction in that if I chow down on a banana too fast I'll get that stuck feeling in my esophagus. Other foods can do that. But I can still eat bread if I do it carefully. Guess it's time for another fill. Bob PS: It's been so long since I've had a reason to update my ticker that I've forgotten my PIN! Sigh

Hey pongomp, Congrats!

Thanks, peach, monkey, teacher and nazzy. Funny thing is I chose the realize because it has the lowest profile port! For the record, the surgeon says it sticks out because there is hardly anything between my skin and abdominal wall... all the fat is beneath it. I'm not sure I buy that.

Yah. They sure do both seem similar. As I suggested, a blind idiot could find my port with his hands tied behind his back. Ok, maybe not without hands. but it is JUST below the surface. I'm thinking this is pretty abnormal. Did the docs screw up? (this actually bugs the hell out of me.)

@ifyourstomach... sorry about your constipation. Mine went away about two or so weeks post surgery. Drinking at least a half gallon of water a day? @elcee... I'm at 4ccs and going to geta fill tomorrow before I go on vacation. I went to a wedding two Saturdays ago and even though I tried to be careful, shot up four pounds. I am only now dipping back below my pre-wedding 236. I was really bummed. Ergo, I got an appointment for an "adjustment" with Lorraine Thursday. I need to get some restriction happening before I start firing up the bbq for the kids.

I never heard that about the lap-band. I got the realize band because of the lower profile port. Even so my port makes is a small lump on in otherwise round belly. Anyone else experience that?

OK.... Fantasy time.... I want to have all those South American beauty contest contestants fawning over me! On a more serious note, just looking like everyone else in pictures, instead of the whale turning at an angle to minimize the pain, or using loved ones to hide my bulk behind.

I'm a bit unusual because my port is very close to the surface. That makes it idiot simple to find. I too was a bit nervous before my first fill but it was NOTHING. They bring out this big honking gigantic needle and you kind of think fainting is a pretty good option, but I barely felt it for a nanosecond when it went in. I can't even call it a pinch. Then the NP had me sit up and hold the needle still stuck in my port with one hand and drink a cup of Water with the other. She then decided to squirt in another cc and have me drink again. Then she pulled it out. Five minutes max. My practice doesn't require an empty stomach but it stands to reason that you want to put some extra squeeze on your stoma when the chamber is not blown up with food from the inside. My gang do do want patients make your first meal after a fill liquid and mushies for the rest of the day. That makes sense to me too, but on here I have noticed every practice approaches things a little differently. I suspect that just as every patient is different, that there are a bunch of different paths to significant weight loss. I'm at 4cc's in a Realize band and though I felt some restriction the first week or so, I don't anymore. I can still eat big bites of food and not be careful about chewing and have never had a "productive burp". I'm going in for a top up Thursday and then off to vacation for a couple weeks the next day. That's my experience thus far, for what it's worth.

I feel a little left out that I haven't experienced that pain of food getting stuck. Perversely, it makes me want another fill. I am back to losing a pound or more per week, so I guess I shouldn't complain!

That's an excellent question. I claim 20 off my post holidays high. Post surgery I'm under 10 off ... starting to feel full early post first fill tho'... and learning to heed it.

I'm pretty much like you guys even after my first fill. I can pretty much eat everything, though I am feeling full somewhat sooner. I had two eggs, sausage and toast for breakfast. Ate the eggs but only half the sausage and one slice of toast. Could I have eaten the rest? Probably. Maybe I'm learning to listen to my stoma! Two hours later, I still feel full, even after drinking a lot of water over the last hour. (My nutritionist says no liquids for an hour after eating, to keep feeling full longer.)

Dunno, taking such a big step I think it's reasonable to want to succeed, though maybe not obsess Sesides, one day doth not a trend make! I'd forgotten that when I weighed myself the day after surgery I had actually gained 8 pounds. It was all gone within a few days. Water retention, I guess.

Pam, Maybe I ate salty stuff last couple days and that's why I bumped up a pound and a half on the scale. That sure was distressing, but then again, I was told to pay more attention to belt holes than the scale because otherwise I'd make myself crazy. (haha too late!)

Anothermom, I really wasn't hungry for most of the first two weeks after surgery so the recommended amounts, an ounce of protein five or so times a day and a little veg and one good protein shake were plenty for me. Then, like so many others here, when I got on regular foods I discovered that I could eat big bites and as much as I wanted. That got me, like others, worried about lack of restriction, even though I was losing weight without it. My first fill seems to have stopped my progression of eating more and more or at least slowed it. I haven't gotten used to stopping the first time my body says "that's enough" yet. But then I've spent a lifetime eating the way I was taught, everything on the plate.

Hey Gonnalose it! Please add me to the June 4 babies. Thanks! NYGuy

Pam, Laurie and all you other June 4th bandsters. I joined the band the same day... or is it that it joind me? Anyway lost weight from decreased appetite but didn't feel any restriction either. Then last Tuesday I went to the surgeon for my post-op check and she surprised me by offering to give me a fill. (The practice normally makes people wait five weeks.) I now have 4 cc's and feel restriction. I know 4cc's sounds like a lot but I think the rules are different for the new Realize C that I have. Look forward to hearing from you guys when you get your fills!

Astera, Debbie is absolutely right. I had my surgery June 4 and after the purees I was eating big mouthfuls of whatever I wanted. I asked the nutritionist about all this small bites nonsense, and she said "You'll see." Had my first fill a week ago and now I have to be careful. Things feel like they back up, particularly yogurt for some reason.

Hey fellow UWSer! I felt that after my June 4 surgery but it went away. However, it did come back after I had my first fill last week. Huge needle but it didn't hurt a bit. I assume what your feeling isn't under or near the big incision because that would be the port.