BandedBeauty66

I went through an entire process to have my surgery with Dr. McEwen. I found him to be a really wonderful person and doctor and he answered every question I had, as well as being very patient and understanding. He's a very peaceful personality and was felt good about my original choice in having him do the surgery. Unfortunately I had a very horrible experience with his office manager / executive manager. I had a very hard time getting through to this office most of the time getting a voice mail or answering service. I would leave messages and never receive return calls. I was told by the executive director that if I called multiple times in a day that my file would go to the bottom of the file, which I never called more than once in a day and explained that as well. While talking to the dietitian, who was very knowledgeable and kind, told me that their office had a staffing issue and it was only her and the executive director running the office at that moment. *CAUTION* signs went up to me. I, like every other person going through this process was feeling quite emotional about it and was a bit scared I guess for my upcoming procedure. She quickly referred to my history saying she knew from looking at my psychology reports that I was going to have to get help for my emotional issues from my therapist. The executive director then advised me that I was free to find another surgeon which I did. I had to start my approval process all over again as well as go through extensive testing prior to surgery which was not required by Dr. McEwen's office. In the long run it was the very best choice I could have made only because I could not have had a long term relationship with this office due to their executive directors unprofessional behavior. I had my surgery at St. Vincent and Dr. Margret Inman did my surgery. I am not sorry at all that I made the change.

Personally I feel that is putting your "brain" in the wrong mode of thinking for your life success of losing weight. "I can go unfill so I can eat at a buffet" after a 40k surgery, in my case, I would absolutely not even consider it. And again my personal note is that if a doctor's PA even suggests this it's wrong. I dunno but the entire reasoning behind this is absolutely nuts. We spend months working on reconditioning our minds to rethink and restructure our brains to be healthier individuals. Just my two cents. Awesome on the weight loss!

My surgeon suggest liquids only after midnight before my fill in the morning. You don't want food in there because they have to see or know if fluid is passing ok and food may obstruct that. Might give you a false feeling of being over filled.

Good question I would like to know that too.

I had my second fill today which was only .5cc so i have just under 3cc in a 10cc AB standard band. Just a little while after my fill today I got a scratchy feeling in my throat and I still have it. I didn't have this after my first fill. Anyone have an idea of what it is?

I had my first fill on Wednesday this week. Yesterday when I was taking my morning med it got stuck and bad. Four hours of pain before i think it went down and I've been miserable since. I can hardly get down Water. I hear girggling and feels like things are backing up. I'm sure I irritated the area but was a little over 2cc too much for a first fill on a 10cc band? I was going to call this morning but I am pretty sure they will say just stick to clear liquid till the swelling goes down. Anyway, was wondering if any of you had this after and how long did it take to get used to that first fill. :blushing:

I had my first fill on Wednesday this week. Yesterday when I was taking my morning med it got stuck and bad. Four hours of pain before i think it went down and I've been miserable since. I can hardly get down Water. I hear girggling and feels like things are backing up. I'm sure I irritated the area but was a little over 2cc too much for a first fill on a 10cc band? I was going to call this morning but I am pretty sure they will say just stick to clear liquid till the swelling goes down. Anyway, was wondering if any of you had this after and how long did it take to get used to that first fill.

My doctor said to give it some time for the swelling to go down and some of that time she's on vacation. I really don't want the other doctor to touch me again! lol it was pretty horrible. I've been losing weight with nothing in my band and have been doing all that was expected from the dietitian. I don't really mind waiting 3 weeks. Especially after 4 pokes and digging episode. Apparently this is rare that they would have to do this much poking around so I'm the lucky one :frown: lol Just happy to have Water able to go down. You guys have been awesome with your kind words. Great support here thank you so much.:frown:

Hi coco...yes i feel tons better and Water is going right through but I'm completely empty again. I was told a little over 2cc's was put in for the first fill on Wednesday but in actuality it was a little over 4 for my first fill. I think that was a mistake actually :frown: I do feel tons better like so relieved! I'm going back in three weeks to have some put back in and I'm going to tell her hey let's sneak up on that sweet spot...lol I've heard of this happening but never imagined it would happen to me I guess. Thanks for the support :frown:

yes my fill on Wednesday was a breeze under fluoroscope and wasn't even bad at all. It was the fluid coming back out this time....cried all the way home. I hope to never go through that again. It's so nice to have support here let me tell you.

Well I ended up back over at the doctors office and a doctor other than my own took out the Fluid from my band and so no i'm empty :frown: This doctor had to DIG for my port and poke me four times before he finally got it. I felt so sick after and never imagined what a horrible feeling that would be. I could hear the needle hitting my port or some popping noise. He said he's never had this problem but when I had the fill put in my doctor found it right away. I have to wait 3 weeks to get my fill back and they will not do as much. Anyone had this digging around for the port? HORRIBLE:sad:

Do you have an AP Standard / 10cc band Mariposa? Just curious.

I"m doing clear liquids now yeah...but it seems hard to go down. It really sucks lol.....i haven't had real food since tuesday. sigh.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be....whew. I have an AP Standard 6cc band and she filled it a little over 2cc's. Not happy about Clear liquids today lol. My doctor gave me a cream that's called Lidoc/Priloc 2.5%Cre Sandoz which is generic for Emla Cream. Anyway it numbs the surface of the skin so my needle prick really didn't hurt. YAY I was under fluoroscope and I was sat up so I could see my band on the screen. She had me drink a clear icky tasting barium so she could watch it go through the band and adjusted it till the liquid went through to a point with some restriction but not refluxing. It was over in about five minutes which made me so happy. I just wanted to share with those who are maybe anticipating their first fill like I was. The numbing topical cream is a dream so you may want to ask your doctor if that's available. *does a happy dance. :sad:

Do I not eat before I go for a fill? This is my first one this morning and I forgot to ask and they didn't say anything. I have the first fill appointment jitters lol. :frown:

OH thank you! I just went there and got all registered. YAY Thanks a bunch. <3

I'm four weeks out from surgery and I've been using sparkpeople.com to log food and track exercise. It's free and fairly simple to use but.......... Is there a site that would let bariatric patients track food, diet, exercise and give recommendations specifically for us? That would be such a cool tool to have I think because it's not just a general weight loss tool. Just thought I would see if anyone knew of something. :sad: Thanks!:frown:

No fill today...i have to go back in two weeks so she can do the first one under fluoroscope. I misunderstood "first appointment' and assumed it was a fill. Just a post op check up and all is good. 4 weeks out. She said just fluids that morning to not eat. I was kind of excited about having more restriction too. Down 19 pounds since surgery so in a year and one month i've lost 61 pounds :frown:

Thank you for the advice :frown: and I'm on my way out. Thanks you guys so much. :sad:

p.s. Gloria I can't wait to get home and read your website...wow you look fantastic!

Thank you so much...I'll do a Protein drink. I would think they would have mentioned it but I didn't ask either. Thank you for responding. I'm not sure why I have the jitters lol after all the needles and poking I've had since before the surgery. Wish me luck :frown:

I'm about 3 weeks post op and one day this week I swallowed a soft piece of cheese *laughing cow low fat* which is on my list of things i can have. It may have been too much or i didn't break it down very well and it felt like it got stuck which, I've eaten things that are more firm than that and not had a problem. It hurt really bad and I sipped on Water to get it to go down. Once I got it to go down I didn't think much of it till a few days later it happened again but hurt so much worse. Since then every time I eat I feel it to some degree if I've not chewed it overly well. liquids are no problem at all. I've read all sorts of horror stories of things it "could" be and I don't want to work myself up. I am calling my doctor in the morning for sure but have any of you had this and has it turned out to be something serious? Or could it possibly be I just irritated it? It hurts really bad feels like it's just really stuck and not going to go through and it hurts in my chest. I knew from the start this wasn't going to be roses but ugh I'm feeling really scared this may be just the beginning of other things to come. I've been pretty up beat and positive about my banding experience and would like to keep it that way but I guess I'm having a down moment. :smile:

full liquid or just mushy?

thank you both of you...I hope it's that too and I'm sticking to the liquid for now and will call my doctor tomorrow. I think I am tending to have newbie jitters and prob will for a while. Thank you for calming down... :smile:

I forgot to mention that after it happened last night I woke up this morning with a tight feeling in my chest and a bit of a sore throat. *reflux? I feel afraid to eat anything too much more solid than pudding right now. My menu is pretty liberal from my doctor for this stage.