shell04937

Thanks to you all who have responded. It makes me feel better to know I am not alone. I have never lost weight easy so yes I am happy about being down 17 lbs from my heaviest last summer. But I thought thi would help faster. I am buying a new treadmill with my tax money so hoping that helps. I have noticed I can eat Tuna better then any other meats. Thanks for the fish suggestion. I am shotting for 5lbs by Feb 2nd. Hoping it works. I am back down 2 lbs tonight because I finally was able to go to the bathroom. That is one thing that has changed since surgery. My IBS is nearly gone. I guess that has its ups and downs. Thanks again for making me feel better.

Ok I was banded Sept 22, 2006 and had my first 4cc fill in a 9cc band on 11/10/06. My Dr said I lost 4 lbs when I went on 12/15/06 but I had had the flu and lost 5 lbs in 24 hours of which 3 lbs I put back on. So I actually lost 2 lbs on my own in 4 weeks. So on 12/15/06 I had 1cc fill bringing my fill to 5cc in 9cc band. That day on my home scale I was 257 and over the couple of weeks since my fill I went down to 253 so I was so excited because that was 4lbs down. Well today I am 259 and did not do a darn thing to deserve it. If I was going to gain 6lbs I would have at least like to have had fun doing it. I am not having another fill at my appointment at the end of this month unless something drastic changes with my restriction. I can eat 1 cup of food safely unless it is bread or meat. With meat if it is not scrambled like hamburger scrambled or slice thin like deli meat or meat with gravy, then I can not eat it. I get 2 bites in and I start the excess saliva going and chances are it is coming back up. I have noticed this happens about 1 time each day and mostly in the morning or with meat and breads. I do have somedays this does not happen but its not uncommon. So I would say I have enough fill. Prior to my last fill I had no restriction at all. Anyways now I am eatting small amounts, I have given up on my soda, ice cream, milk shakes, french fries and 95% of the bad food I used to eat. Even with giving up on this stuff I am still not lossing weight. I have been trying to increase my excersise but it is slow going because of health problems. I just dont know what else to do. Any suggestions for this lonely september bandster would be greatly appreciated. I see all the weight everyone else from september has lost and it makes me feel like I am failing.... :help: :cry Oh and my PB and sliming or whatever it is called started after I tried to eat a bite of steak one night. It did not go well and since then meat has been very iffy for me. I have to eat very slow because it feels like everything lingers near the enterance of my stomach if I dont. Errrrrrrr...

Oh and about what to tell your work, they have not legal right to ask what you are having done. Just tell them you have to have more gynicological surgery. Good luck,

Dont worry about having 2 surgeries in 1 month. I had an appointment sept 7 to have a gyno procedure done where they heated up the lining of my uterus and sucked it all out. I was but to sleep with general anysthisia. I was home for 1 week and got the call that my lap band surgery was moved up just week away. That gave me 2 weeks between surgeries and I had no problems. Both the Dr's and anysthisia Dr's agreed that as long as I had not complications with anysthisia then I would be ok to go thru it again. Just express your concerns to your Dr and I am sure everything will be ok. Good luck---

I was banded Sept 22, 2006. Up until my first fill I had no restriction. My first fill Nov 10th was a 4 cc fill and for the first week I had some restirction then nothing. My second fill Dec 15th brought me up to a 5 cc fill and now I have restriction. I can eat maybe 1 cup of food before I get that feeling like I am going to dry heave. I can eat cireal, Pasta and liquids without this happening but bread and meats are a sure way of being uncomfortable. chicken if it is moist is ok but steak is a big no. Hamburge if I chew the living day lights out of it is ok. So I would say I am eatting about 1/3 of what I used to eat. But here is the thing. My weight loss is soooooooo slow. I have lost just shy of 20 pounds since September. Not much for the little amount I eat. I need to start excersising more I know and plan on trying to increase it but I have chronic fatigue syndrome so energy to excersise on top of work is hard to come by. My friend mentioned that maybe I am not eatting enought. Have any of you noticed that you were not loosing much weight even with the decreased amounts you were eatting? If so were you eatting too little? Did your body eventually kick in and start loosing more? What was the magic trick for you? I would appreciate any advice or encouragment. I am happy about the 20 lbs because I would never loose that pre- banded. I was hoping to loose 50 more pounds by summer but at this rate that is not going to be easy.

I have had the stangest sensation the last couple of days and I was wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing. First of all I was banded on 9/22/06 so the sensations I feel are new and I am still learning what they mean so they may be coincidental and not what I think they are at all. Anyways the last couple of days every time I eat I start getting a real bad ache in my jaw at the same time that I start feeling full. I am not eatting large amounts of food like today it was tamato basle Soup and I had only had about 8 spoons of it when the sensation hit. I am assuming that this sensation is fullness and plan on letting my Dr know on Friday when i see him just in case. But this made me wonder what does it feel like to you when you are full? Did the sensation change the longer you had the band?:pop2:

I have a 9cc band that is what my Dr's almost always use. I had my first fill on 11/10/06 and had a 4cc fill. My Dr does not do fill during surgery and will not do them for 6 weeks post op. My next fill appointment is 12/22/06 to see if I need more. So fare so good. I feel restriction and I think it is the perfect amount. Of course what I loose for weight will determine that. What size band do you have? How much of a fill do you have at a time and how much fill is in you now?

I also agree that when I am truly craving something I would rather have 3 or 4 bites and forget about it. The first support group I went to someone said that the band allows them to be normal and eat whatever they want in small amounts. That is part of the reason the band is so appealing. Dont get me wronge I have never been a sit down and eat a whole cake kind of girl. But I also never understood why people torture themself. But as long as you have been good 95% of the day and you want it then why not. Maybe I am wronge with my approach because I also have not started lossing oodles of weight yet. I think getting restriction is going to help with that.....

Your Dr needs to make it clear if they mention your amount of weight loss that not everyone will go down 100lbs in just 4 months. I would do it if I were you...

I take sips. I used to drink lg cups and when I went out to eat I could do 2 drinks. Now I do maybe 1/4 of what I used to do. For me it is a matter of mouth moisture. I cant swallow if I dont take a sip every 3 or 4 bites. I have not done well in the loss department so am calling tomorrow for another fill. I have a 9 cc band with 4 cc in it.

That is the experience I am having. I had my first fill 1 week ago and thought it was great the amount of restriction I was having. I have a 9cc band and have 4cc in it. Today I was telling my husband I wish I did not have to wait until Dec 22 to have a fill because I dont think it is tight enough. I have some restriction when actually eatting but then am hungry 2 hours later. I am not just a little hungry but for the first time in as long as I can remember I am starving. My stomach will make so much and be so loud that anyone in the same room can hear it. Plus I lost 2 lbs the first couple of days after my fill and nothing since monday. The same thing happened after the banding. I lost weight weeks 1-3 and then nothing up until week 6 when I was filled. I am feeling discouraged.

I am a RN who work 2-10pm 24hrs a week.

As I sit here with my 4 cc fill and chicken and rice I have decided that right now this is as tight as i could go. But who knows Dec 22 is almost 6 weeks away and I might change my mind by then. Well I am now 2 weeks post fill and have gotten a sooner fill date from 12/22/06 changed to 12/15/06. After just one week I know my fill is not enough. I ate a whole ham italian in one sitting and felt just right. The small amount of chicken and rice that was enough right after my fill in not enough to hold me more then 2 hours now. Why does just a few days make such a difference?:hungry:

I think I feel it in my jaw. I am not sure because post op I had a lot of tight feeling in my jaw when ever I would eat. I had my first fill friday and today is the first time I got that feeling back. I also feel it in my stomach like I cant sit down because I have too much pressure in my rib area. I think that is what i am feeling...

I am proud to say that I have been married 13 yrs November 20th and my husband and I have never been with anyone else. I mean never. We were each others first and will be each others one and only until one of us dies which I pray is not for many many years. I have a great example. My mom and dad have been married for 34 yrs and have never been unfaithful to each other. They act as in love as the day they got married if not more. My brother and his wife have been married for 9 1/2 yrs. and they have been thru so much since they got married. My brother fractured his back in several places and also his neck. He has had 3 major surgeries. He has had titanium rods put in his back 2 times and his neck once. This has put a tramendouse strain on their marriage financially and emotionally because my brother has not been able to work in 5 1/2 yrs since the accident so my sister in law works full time. It makes things hard at times but they are determined to deal with it together. My dad had a similar injury and has not worked since he was 35. This causes depression and yet my mom has never once resented him. I guess that is why my brother and I have marriages that are strong because we have such a good example in our parents. My fat

What size band do you have? I have a 9 cc band and had a 4 cc fill my first time.

I had my first fill on 11/10/06 also. I lost a total of 10lbs but like you had been eatting like I was prebanded for about 2 1/2 weeks. for example post op I could not do soda not even one sip. When the restriction went away I had soda a few times. Not daily but prob 3 times a week and it was limited. I did not gain weight back after the restriction was gone I just did not loose any. I feel like a failure for it and guilty. I feel the restriction now and am happy to have it back. I looked at the pre fill days as time to heal. I had one part of my port incission that would not heal so I focused on that and feeling better. How did you weight loss go? Keep us posted....

Hi everyone. I was banded on Sept 22, 2006 and have lost ONLY 10pounds. I had my first fill Friday Nov 10th and can feel the restriction again. I have tried to tell myself that the 10 lbs is ok and that the first 6 weeks were time for my body to heal. But after reading some of the weight loss totals here have made me feel like a failure. No I have not been perfect with my diet probably but I have been very conciouse about how much I have been eatting. At first it was easy because I had restriction but 3 weeks post op the restriction went away and the hunger kicked in. I still limited the amount I was eatting. I just stoped loosing weight at 3 weeks. Have any other sept bandsters been at a stand still? I had my first 4cc fill Nov 10th I have a 9cc band.

Hi, My name is Michelle and I am from, Fairfield Maine. I was banded Sept 22, 2006 by Dr. Mckee. I have Blue Cross and Blue Sheild of Massachusets. My journey started in May 2004 when I went to my first seminar. I then went to Augusta Surgical in June but got discouraged from the begining. My insurance then was Cigna and they told me out front that Cigna was one of the worst for them to deal with. I went to my first diatician meeting and then found out that under no cercumstance were they going to pay for me to have any weight loss surgery. My husband works for New Balance in Skowhegan and the insurance company said the insurance the company chose was not one that would pay for any WLS. So I gave up hope. Well over the past couple of years my health has gone down hill. I went from 225 in 2003 to 255 in 2004. By 2005 my weight was 267. I have chronic lower back pain and a few other health problems. I was diagnosed with Diabetes Sept 25, 2005. Well that made me more determine to loose weight. I followed the low carb diet closely and did everything I was supposed to and lost 5 pounds in probably 6 months. When they could not get my blood sugar to go down they put me on insulin which caused me to gain about 13 lbs. So then I was up to 273 and feeling very depressed. I gave up on trying and somehow over the summer managed to take off 6 of the 13 lbs I gained. Well In May we got a letter from New Balance saying that they were changing insurance June1st to BCBS. I was so excited. I called Augusta Surgical and asked for an appointment to be re evaluated because my insurance had changed. On the phone they told me BCBS is real good about approving people and if they dont the first time they almost always do the second time. That gave me hope. So I made my first call to them in May and they made me an appointment for June 16th. I had been going to the Diabetes center in Waterville for 9 months and seeing a Nutritionalist so they counted that toward my 3 Diatician visits. I got in for my psych consult the last week in June and the 3rd week in July I got my approval letter from BCBS. I cried when I got it because I was so happy. When I was going thru the process the first time they did not make you work with Nate the personal trainer so I had no idea about it. He wanted to see me the 10th of August or something like that but I could not come up with 380.00 to see him that quick esp with school shoping. So I did not see him until the third week in August. I saw Dr. Mckee for my pre op surgeon appointment the last week in August at which time they told me my surgery would not probably be before Oct 16th. Something like Sept 15th I got a call asking if I would like to do the surgery on Sept 22 and of course I said yes. So I had the surgery Sept 22 and had my first fill Nov 10th. I had lost 10 lbs since the day prior to surgery and am happy with my progress because the first month I focused on healing and trying to get my BS down. Some questions for you. Do you have any co morbidites? Diabetes, high blood pressure, joint pain, heart burn ( things that are caused or made worse due to your weight?) These things tend to make the insurance jump at it quicker. Did you go to the August Surgical web page and use there tool to calculate your BMI? Dont give up ok. It took me a while but things finally worked out. If you want to e-mail me with any questions go right ahead. my e-mail address is lambertfmly@yahoo.com and maybe we will see each other at one of the support groups at MGMC in Augusta. Good luck and keep us posted.

Well I was banded on Sept 22 and lost a total of 10 pounds between then and November 10th when I has my first fill. When I got on the scale yesterday morning I was up 5 pound from the day before but for my that is not uncommon because of Fluid retention around that time of the month. But today I am back down that 5 pounds I just wish the scale didn't have that 5 pounds so the Dr could see it really was a 10 pound loss not 5. I am happy with that first 10 because it is more then I would have loss on any other diet and more then I have ever loss in 6 weeks before. I was ready for a fill about 3 weeks post op but like everyone else had to wait. So I went for my first fill yesterday and I was filled with 4cc. I have been doing liquids and did do some mushy cireal because I was so stinken hungry I was going in saine needed to take the edge off. My stomach was having a musical number from being empty. So today I decided to do spagettie o's and I can tell the difference. I have to eat slow because it feels like it takes longer to go from my throat to my stomach and after about 10 spoon fulls I am done. I do need to eat something every couple of hours. My incissions heeled kind of slow. My large on where my port is had one cornor that never closed like It was supposed to so I had to keep Bacitracin ointment and change the dressing 2 time a day until the last week in October. Now it is healed over finally. The rest of my incissions were healed about 2 1/2 -3 weeks post op. I am a dinner at work and since I had the time I thought I would fill everyone in. The reason's I have not been on so much is because I have been wicked tired from my Chronic Fatigue syndrome so I just have not had the extra energy. Also I have been trying to be positive about the 10 lbs and I was worried if I saw the other Sept bandsters loosing alot I might get down about it. Anyways I am going to make more of an effort to check in atleast every couple days. Hope everyone is happy in bandster land...

The Dr that I go to makes you wait 6 weeks post op for a fill so that there is no more swelling around your stomach and you are heeled. Does your Doctor make you wait? I have only lost between 8 and 10 lbs post op. I have no fill and will not get my fill until Nov 10th. I am not too worried about not having lost more then 10 lbs in the past 3 weeks because of not having the fill yet. I have no restriction anymore. Or should I say not much. I do think just the band itself is giving me some restriction but not much. I do notice that I belch alot since surgery and have no control over it. When I walk and try to talk it just happens. It comes out like someone letting air out of a balloon. My 9 yr old finds that funny. Has anyone else noticed this? My incissions are almost all heeled. a couple of them have real thick scabs on them at the edge of them and even after a shower they dont want to come off. Since I have gone back to work I am so tired and busy that I have not had much time to visit the board. I hope all are doing well. Welcome all new ones I may have missed in the past couple of weeks. Good night everyone...

Did you feel like you had restriction post op? I did for the first couple of weeks but this week I do not notice much. I am trying to be patient until my fill but I had hoped I would be down 25 or 30 lbs by my November 20th wedding anniversary and at this rate I will be lucky if I am down 15 lbs post op. Oh well it will be here before I know it....

Is it common to not loose much weight before your first fill? The first week I lost 5 lbs. The second week I lost 3 and this past week I have been bouncing between 1 and 2 lbs. I thought I would be down 20 lbs by now. I know I have not restriction because my Dr wont do a fill until 6 weeks post op and so my first fill is Nov 10th. I really would appreciate hearing from others who are slow weight loss prior to fill and then hear how the weight loss was after their fill. Anyone????

I was told I had a UTI 1 week prior to my surgery and that unless it was gone and I was done the anti biotics by then, then they would cancle the surgery. I would call your surgen and ask them what anti biotics they think you should be on. They may call your dentist for you and push things along. Hang in there you still have enought time for a course of anti biotics. Hang in there....

There are a few reasons 2 days is not enought. First post op you will not be allowed to lift more then 20 lbs. THat is 2 gallons of milk. Doesn't a nanny do alot of lifting? Second what if something happens to the kids while you are working? Your employer could say it is from the effects of the anisthesia. Have you had surgery before? Do you know how you are going to react to the anisthesia? I have had my gall bladder out and 2 c-sections. THis surgery in my eye's was as hard as those 2 surgeries. Do you have any co morbidies? you know high blood pressure, Esophageal reflex, diabetes, asthma? If you had reflex you could say that you need to go in and have a laporscopic surgery to see if there is anything that can be done to help with your problem. Explain because of the effects of the anisthesia, the surgical wounds thought they maybe be small need time to heal just like major surgery. If you explain this to them then maybe they will be more understanding and you would not be truly lieing to them because this procedure Does help a multitude of health problems and if you have reflux my Dr told me this extreamly sucessfull treating reflux. THat is my personal opinion....Good luck.:nervous