vampyrekiss

I've been banded for 2 years. For the past year or so, I've had a lot of problems with my band - PBing, getting stuck, sliming, and worse of all - not being able to eat anything for the first 3-4 hours EVERY day. I couldn't even drink Water for a few hours! Have you ever been stuck on WATER??? Healthy foods seem to always get stuck: chicken, fish, veggies, fruits. I work out 3-4 times a week at Curves, limit my calories to 1100-1200 a day and still didn't lose weight! Sooo....I went to my surgeon last week about this. After telling him all my complaints, and reviewing my workout schedule and what I was eating, it was concluded that perhaps the band just isn't for me. He unfilled the 1cc I had left in my band (I was filled last July with 1.25cc) and gave me a few options: 1) remove the band; 2) replace the band with a newer version that is not supposed to get stuck as much; 3) replace the band with the new Realize band; or 4) convert to RNY. I went with option #1, and am currently scheduled for surgery on Friday, December 5th. HOWEVER....I've been having my doubts. WHY? Well since being unfilled I've been able to do EVERYTHING I complained about!!! I've been eating Breakfast every day since being unfilled: 1 cup of Cereal with 1/2 cup of milk; NOTHING has gotten stuck. NOTHING. I've had really dry chicken and NO sauce; I've had a whole wheat bun; I even had sushi with rice tonight for the first time in years, and NOTHING has gotten stuck. And best of all - I've lost 4 pounds since going to the doctor's office on Tuesday! I am SOOOOOOO happy with this unfill that it is making me think twice about having it removed. Right now I'm worried that all is well NOW, but what about 2 months from now; 6 months; 1 year? How long will this feeling last as far as being unfilled and not having any problems???? Unfortunately, I don't have time to think it over. My husband lost his job and we lose our insurance after the first of the year. BCBS has already approved me for the surgery. I'm worried if I don't do it now, I won't have insurance, or the insurance I will have won't cover it. I've learned a lot by having the band: mainly about nutrition and portion sizes, so I'm confident that the weight won't come back, but I'm worried that I'll regret NOT getting it removed in the future should I run into problems, and then I won't have insurance to cover it! How did you feel after the band was removed - how painful was it compared to when you got it? How are you doing without the band as far as keeping the weight off???? These are my questions. I hope some of you out there can give me some words of wisdom

Hi everyone! I'm new to this website and the board - so a big hello out there to everyone! I live in Woodstock, GA and my surgeon is Dr. Paul Macik. My surgery is scheduled for 10/06/06. He put me on a no carb diet until then (for 2 months!) because my liver looked fatty so they want me to trim it down...so one week into my no carb diet and I've lost 6 pounds! A little bit about me - I'm 35, married, one 10 year old daughter, and live in Woodstock, GA. I work as a legal assistant for a major insurance company and also attend Kennesaw State University at night to finish my undergrad degree in political science.