Noor

Hi everyone, Abby so great to hear that your surgery went well..no complications thats great. Your blog is also very insightful. Sorry to hear that you have no restriction. I'm curious to know how did you realize that to be the case? Dr. Weber told me that he does the first fill after 6 weeks so does that mean given ur situation that you will have to wait that long, or will he fill it sooner? Please keep up your blog..it really helps me to gain a clear idea about like after banding. I hope everything went well for you Parshuter. Can't wait to hear about your experience. You stated that the blog is not your thing so I hope you keep this thread going. So for you Chris..details details details! Good luck guys!

Hi, Thanks Abby for the nutrition info. It's interesting that you have to wait until after you schedule the surgery to get the nutrion packet. I had hoped to get that information from GLWL before than as to help me decide if this procedure is right for me. And congratulations to you Par on scheduling the surgery..that is awesome!!! The best part about reading your blog is that you are now so much more at ease and excited about having the procedure done. I'm not there yet because I have yet to have my consultation with Dr. Webber but I hope to be :sneaky: The one item that I'm still really confused (and scared silly about) is how my diet will change after the surgery and what happens when I eat the wrong foods. I have been checking out other blogs and came across one that discussed problems with being "banded." The bloggers mostly live over seas - Europe and Australia - and reading about the problems that they're having has really made me think twice about lapband. The site I'm referring to is http://au.messages.yahoo.com/lifestyle/general-nutrition/1417/ Check it out for yourselves. You can see that they're experiencing horrific problems with the band. Some have constant pain in their stomach even months after the surgery; constant acid reflux where you have to sleep in a chair so that you don't gag; constant vomiting and I mean constant vomiting no matter what they eat and drink and the vomit is black!!!. Some talked about having a sip of their morning coffee at work and then vomiting it up. Can you imagine this happening at work??? And they keep reiterating that all this vomiting is happening as they eat only the foods that the nutritionist has told them to eat. And what's more horrifying is that some are gaining the weight back because they have found that some "junk foods" stay down. Suffice to say I'm a little freaked out after reading their blogs. I'm really looking to you guys to help me understand if this is the "norm" Par and Abby, I'm counting on you guys to share every detail of your journey after the surgery..and I want you to be graphic!!! lol Any info that you would like to share Par from your consultation would be greatly appreciated. I also wanted to let you know that I signed up for a second seminar - this one on the 13th at Henry Ford Wyandotte. I'm curious to see how the material is presented here - Not interested in getting the surgery performed there - but figured that it doesn't hurt to get another clinics take on this procedure. Can't wait to hear from you. Noor

Hi everyone, My name is Noor and I in the process of finding out as much as I can about the Lap Band Surgery - your blogs have been most helpful. I was wondering if anyone could provide me with the name and number of a great surgeon that practices in southeastern Michigan? Please share your experiences - they provide so much more insight into this procedure. Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks guys for the info. Imaluckydog you stated that you got banded 4 weeks ago - congratulations. Would you mind sharing how the procedure went..any complications? how has your diet changed? how many lbs have you lost? anything you can share to help me get an insight about life after banding is greatly appreciated..thanks

Congratulations Abby on your decision to have the surgery. It's only a week or so away..u must be so excited..and I would think a bit nervous. I really hope the surgery goes well and you have no complications. It would be great if you can share your story..what made you decide on lapband, why Dr. Weber? how long have you researched the procedure/doctor...who did you talk to about nutrition? Anything you can tell us is greatly appreciated. Hope to hear from you soon.

Hello all, (warning long posting - lol) Parshuter I did attend the seminar at Harper Hospital - it's a good way to start researching the surgery and hospital but by no means was there enough time to answer everyone's question nor is it meant to be your one stop shop to lapband surgery. Dr. Weiner was scheduled to speak however Dr. David Edelman was there instead - may have been a scheduling problem. He's the newest to join the team - not sure if he's still a residence or just finished his residencey - I showed up a few minutes late - didn't realize it would take so long to find the hospital so make sure to give yourself plenty of time. Dr. Edelman works with Dr. Webber. Dr. Webber schedules consultations only on Tuesday and the rest of the week he's in surgery - he also does general surgery so it's not just weightloss procedures. Dr. Edelman went through a slide presentation (quickly I might add) on lapband, gastric bypass and briefly covered the sleeve procedure so it was interesting to compare the procedures side by side. The sleeve is a relative new procedure and very little of them have been done by the drs at harper. The seminar is scheduled in a way that you get a basic understanding of the procedures and they do give you some information to take with you in order to learn more about the doctors, hospital and surgery. I'm slowly going througth the packets and writing down my ?s as I go along to discuss with Dr. Weber, who I scheduled a consultation with in late august. I called end of July and the earliest appt I cld get was end of month August. My suggestion is to call the office ASAP and schedule a consultation with him - you're probably looking at first or second tuesday of sept as it stands. On thing to keep in mind, is that they schedule patients to see Dr. Weber every 15 minutes which is ridiculous!!!! We all know that consultations for any procudure usually take 45min to an hour. So try to be the first appt that day if you can. What I found interesting is that there is a BMI range that the doctors look at to see if you are a candidate for this procedure. Dr. Edelman stated that if you have a BMI over this range (I think he said 45) then they will not perform lapband - more likely bypass so that's something to keep in mind. The seminar seemed to be more geered to bypass surgery, which surprised me given that they advertise it as a lapband seminar. The Dr. also kept saying that bypass "was the golden standard" procedure for weight loss so he seemed to be promoting the surgery - probably because it's a lot more expensive than lapband so they get more from ins for bypass. So for anyone not sure which procudure they should have, this seems to be the seminar for you. Given that I wld never have bypass surgery I wish it focused more on lapband. They brought in a nutritionist for the last 45 minutes or so - believe her name is Marty - very funny lady whoever she seemed to be all over the place and very over the top personality - which it was more structured and not so theatrical. Honestly, this was the most disappointing part of the seminar because I am still very confused on what I can and can't eat after the surgery and why that is given they are not cutting away the stomache - her presentation also focused a lot on life after bypass surgery. I'm going to call back and try to talk to a different nutritionist. In regards to the fills, he said that they will do the 1st fill 6 weeks after the surgery in order to allow stomach to heal. And then every 6-8wks depending on your weight loss. He did say that the avg weight loss is 1-2 lbs again, but then again I firmly believe that if you incorporate exercise than you can easily lose 3-4 lbs. I'm really eager to talk to more ppl who have had lapband done at harper and see what their experience has been like. I have more to talk about but I know that this post is entirely waaaaaaaaaaaay too long..sorry I just want to be as detailed and precise as I can, after all we are talking about a life changing procedure. I'm really eager to see what you think about the seminar. Talk to you soon.

Hi everyone, I live in southeast MI and trying to do as much research about this procedure as possible. When I first heard about it, I thought the band would be temporary - lose the weight then the band is removed. So I was shocked to learn that it is meant to be permanent. Really worried about slippage, the band puncturing the stomach, what happens when I want to have kids, what if I decide to have it removed just because I want to - does ins cover cost of removing it. Also concerned that this procedure hasn't been around long - only a couple of years so what if I decide to have the band removed after 10 years..what condition will my stomach be in? any permanent damage??? Lots of hesitation. Also concerned about finding the right surgeon. I am attending an informational session by Dr. Weiner at Harper Hospital. Not familiar with the hospital at all and don't know anyone who has stayed there. Did a bit of research on the 3 drs at GLWL..leaning more towards dr. Webber but more research is needed of course. Would really like to hear from you guys regarding your experience, doctor of choice, why did you choose him and how have things turned out after the surgery? How is the support staff at GLWL..do they even have one? Any information you guys can give me is greatly appreciated and I hope everything has turned out well for all of you!

hello everyone, I'm so glad I came across this thread. I too live in MI and am considering having the surgery performed at Harper Hospital with Dr. Webber. When I first started researching the procedure a few weeks ago I came across the link for Dr. Webber and his associates. I'm leaning more towards Dr. Webber because he seems to have a bit more experience from what I can tell. What's really great is the 2 hour informational session that they offer at Harper Hos, which I will be attending today. It is being conducted however by Dr. Weiner, who comes highly recommended by a one of the bloggers on this site. I'm just really curious to see what he has to say more than anything. I've been trying to do as much research as I can, however there just seems to be tons of blog sites out there and it's difficult to find everything you want to know without having to read tons of blogs - lol. Was wondering if you attended the informational session and if so, what did you think? I'm really curious about pre-surgery - seems from some of the bloggers that they had to lose weight prior to surgery. Wondering if that is the case for everyone and if so, how do they want you to lose the weight? Do they put you on a liquid diet so that you can get a feel for what it's going to be like a few weeks after the procedure? The whole transition from liquids, to soft to regular foods is a concern, esp given the possibility of the band slipping from too much vomiting. So suffice to say I have lots of questions and hope that they will be answered for the most part at the informational session. Would really like to know how things turn out with you and what you can tell me from your consultation meeting with Dr. Webber. Any info you can share would be really appreciated. And Nwlife4 I would really like to hear more about your experience both pre and post op. Also, how did you hear about Dr. Webber and why did you decide to go with him? Looking forward to hearing from both of you. Thanks

Hi Libguy2753, I too am thinking of getting the procedure done at Harper. I'm actually going to attend a 2 hour informational session today that I'm really excited about. However, I'm still researching surgeons. I was hoping you would share your story about the surgery, surgeon and post op. It would really help to get more information from someone local. Thanks so much!

Hi I'm in the process of researching doctors here in MI and I too am thinking of seeing Dr. Webber. I was wondering if you went ahead with the surgery and if you chose Dr. Webber or some other doctor. Your insight would really help. Hope to hear from you soon and thanks

Hi everyone, My name is Noor and I in the process of finding out as much as I can about the Lap Band Surgery - your blogs have been most helpful. I was wondering if anyone could provide me with the name and number of a great surgeon that practices in southeastern Michigan? Please share your experiences - they provide so much more insight into this procedure. Hope to hear from you soon.