5-kid-christine

Dear BeacheeGirl~ I was banded in September and had to wait 6 weeks for ANY fill. I too had trouble with not gaining during that time. This initial period is called "Bandster Hell" becasue we have been banded but do not yet have any restriction. My Dr. put 4 cc's in my first fill then had me sit 6 weeks with that one. Then I could come back every 4 - 6 weeks for adjustments. He let me get 1 cc each time and I struggled to learn to eat correctly with each fill, not causing myself to slime or choke back up any food I hadn't chewed well enough. The best thing that helped me was INFO. I went to other bandster's sites and got info. try Tracyslapband.com for encouragement. She also has a good meal plan to follow. I printed off pages of posts/threads from people in my same situation and read them everyday to remind me that I amnot the only one waiting for good restriction. I made a 3-ring binder woth these, and created my own support book. I too got depressed that I wasn't losing quickly, or at all, in my case. It does stink that you have to pay for each of these fills that seem to do nothing, but you WILL get there. Their reason for going slowly is to make sure you don't have erosion and eventually need to have your band removed. Please don't despair. The band is in and that is the first step. I know you will be a success story in the future. You were brave enough to undergo the procedure, and the rest is on the horizon for you.

Hello- I was wondering what the average weight loss has been for anyone else that was banded in September '06? I was banded September 15, 2006 and was my Dr's first lap-band. Because of that, I have not had much support from his practice, as there are no previous patients to compare me to. I feel like my weight gain is too slow. :think I started at 282 pre-op and am now down to 235 and it has been 10 months. I now have 8.5 in a VG band. I had my most recent fill about 2 weeks ago. I had Thyroid Cancer 10 years ago and had my thyroid removed totally, so I am on synthroid replacement to help keep my metabolism working. Here is my daily meal schedule: I have coffee in the morning, and then I NEVER eat anything until at least Noon. then I have a small bowl of Cereal, a piece of cheese, or a couple bites of salad, until I feel like I am going to choke or I start sliming and I stop. Then I usually have small bites of things every hour or so, like a half a piece of string cheese, a couple chips, etc. I drink a lot of SoBe 0 calorie drinks to keep my fluids up. The thing that concerns me is I can eat like a half a bag of potato chips and am not restricted at all by the band. But if I eat regular sit-down-at-dinner food, I can only eat a few bites. Also, the only person who knows is my husband. Our children don't know, nor do any of my friends or family. They consider any type of weight loss surgery to be cheating. Sometimes when I visit my Dr he says I am supposed to be losing slowly, 1 - 2 pounds per week. But this last time I went and had lost only 10 pounds in 2 months, he criticized me and said I should have been well beyond the 50 pound mark by now. I am at 47 so far. I am confused as I had wanted a fill the visit before and he said no at that time. I think I need some encouragement. How are the rest of you September 2006 bandsters doing? Christine:help:

you were banded March 2006 and are down 100 pounds already???????? christine