Bandmom

Haven't gotten anything stuck to where it came back up (I haven't had a fill yet) but I had one time I didn't chew enough and I could feel it "stop" and take a bit to work down. Not fun, hurt, and scared me since I was at a resturant and did not know where the restrooms where.... what does PB stand for, now that I know what it indicates....

I am 5'7. I want to be about 135, what I was when I got married, but the nutritionist said 170 is more like it. I dont' know if that is the right number for me, so I figure I will just be happy when I am under 200 and then determine my stopping point when I LOOK good. I don't want to lose so much I look unhealthy, but I want to lose enough to be healthy.....

I am in the KC area. Live out in the boon docks, but work up by Crown Center. I was banded by Dr. Hoehn. Tried Malley as my friend went there but insurance wouldn't pay for him but would for Hoehn...No complaints though. Except that their support group meets during the work day hours so I can't go..............

I feel the frustration. I have my first fill next week and am so ready, because the scale isn't moving. My mom and husband say they can tell I have lost weight from here or there, or things like that but the stupid scale is not moving....I am ready for the next step. I can eat less then I could before, but more than I think I should be able to. It all goes down fairly easily, even foods I know I won't be able to have after the fill (bread etc) and sometimes depending on what I eat (and if I got two protien shakes in that day) I still will get hungry sometimes....

You go girl. That is my only regret on all this. I just wish all those others didn't know I did this....

My doctor was 30 before and an hour after, and that it wasn't just for not washing things through, but also to help ensure you get the calories and protien requirements instead of just filling up on water.....

I am four weeks post op and feel great. I have issues bending over like they said (you can feel the port hit the ribs, or something that feels like that) but the incisions, and everything are just fine. I was warned that the flying can be a bit of an issue since the altitude can change the restriction on your band, so they said to stick with liquids several hours before the flight and the day after to allow it to resume normal restriction. Without a fill in you should do just fine with it though. Just watch out of the tiredness......I feel fine most days, but sometimes the tiredness can just hit me. I was told by a nurse before that the medicine they use to knock you out can take quite a while to work out of your system, so often you will be running along fine and just hit a brick wall.....

I hope you can do it. I didn't want anyone to know but one person let it slip to another and so on, till everyone knows. I am really more than a little upset about it to the point that I just want to scream sometimes. EVERYONE has something to say, and not all of them are nice or supportive. It is my decision, MINE, so back off.:thumbup: But I would have loved it to have it kept to just me and my husband.

Same here....Hubby had to sign that he was driving me home.

My insurance required my PCP to recommend the surgery. My PCP was very supportive, and said that while she likes to see it occur without the surgery she understands when you hit a certain point diet and excercise just aren't going to work. She was GREAT! Now I have a lady my husband works with that was considering this and she came back to my husband, knowing I have had this, and stated her doctor said the surgery is a hoax, EVERYONE gains back the weight and MORE, and he won't recommend anyone for it, that she needs to eat 500 calories less then she burns, and excercise and she will do better then any of us "unfortunates" who have fallen for the surgery hype. She said 'he is a very smart guy, so he knows what he is talking about' WHATEVER............... anyway I would suggest finding a different PCP because if you get this approved you want one that will support you afterwards, not blame every sniffle, or issue you have on the band.

I had wanted to keep mine as personal and private as possible, but it seems impossible. No one seemed to understand that this was something I felt was personal to my husband and me, and before I knew it EVERYONE knew. Not happy about that, but there it is and I just have to deal with it now. My co-workers do not know about it yet though. I found that the majority of the indivduals that are truly close to me were happy, worried about the surgery as they would be any surgery, but so happy for me because they knew the issues the weight caused, and were supportive in my efforts to change. My mother in law has made several comments about me not leaving her son when I get all thin. I mean come on, I have a wonderful relationship with my husband. I married him when I was thin, it isn't like I just "settled" on him because I was to fat to get anything else. I love him. Gets old. I found many others just LOVED to tell those horror stories, well so and so has a cousin/brother/friend/sister/whatever, that had it done and they had this go wrong or that go wrong, or died. I also found that those that had always seemed jealous or cranky that this just made it worse. A cousin who is over-weight but swears she isn't allowed this surgery because of her doctor saying it is just her thyroid (but yet she is gaining even more weight while on an ungodly amount of thyroid medicine) just went on and on about how she doesn't understand how anyone can do this to themselves with all the risks, and her doctor says this about it and that about it, and it just isn't healthy and you would have to be an idiot to go through with it. Oh and tell me is being this overweight all that healthy???? I mean really. My husband and kids are 1000% supportive. They encourage me, and have done whatever we needed to ensure I succeed on this. And at the end of the day, they are all that really matter. I am curious to see what the reaction is in a few months when I have dropped a visable amount of weight so that everyone has to take notice that I am no longer the "fat" girl. I may have a different posting at that time. :biggrin:

Exactly, they pump it in your stomach and your shoulder hurts? Gives some credence to the accupuncture theory. Maybe we need someone to develop a therapy for this, if you put needles in this spot it will ease the gas pain, or better yet, if you put a needle in that spot you will magically release all the gas....Oh that one might not be so good after all.................:biggrin:

Looks like around 5 G on average. Not bad.

My doctore is a lap-band doctor. He does the bypass as well but he does the lap band as much if not more as well. he is big on doing what fits you, he really pushed the band for me, but for my husband suggests "strongly" that he does the bypass. So I don't think it is just that he did it "different'. It almost feels like the buckle of the band is sticking out, you know the excess part of your belt that you tuck into the next belt loop...that part, that is sticking UP instead of down. My best friend had this done and her port is on the right, mine is on the left.....wonder if that matters.

I went in for me one week appointment post surgery last week. In the middle of my stomach right where the band is at I have an object poking out of my stomach. Most times you can't see it when I am standing or sitting, but if I lay down flat you can visibly see the object. At all times, regardless of my position you can feel the object. (that part doesn't bug me as I expected it). The doctor's assistant told me it appeared to be the "shoulder" of the band, and that it would become more visible as I lost more weight. (I expected that) but I have just started, lost about 15 lbs, and I already feel like I have an alien popping out of my stomach from this, so when I reach my goal weight, how bad is this thing going to be? anyone else have this? I try not to worry to much about it, but my husband is really concerned and pushing me to get a second opinion on it.

How many carbs are they?

I haven't had it with hot food, as I don't eat a lot of really hot food. I tend to be the last one in there to eat so it is always more tepid by the time I eat, but I have noticed some issues when I try to drink my water if it is to cold. Like the band just closes right up on me and the water just sits on top of it for a few minutes, then as it warms up the band opens back up and works just fine. I dont' have any fills yet (first one is June 1) so I can imagine how difficult it will be once I do have one. I have taken to using less ice in my water and not refilling it with ice as often. I am slowly getting used to the warmer water, and all is good. Still worth it!!!!!

Not sure where you are at, but a lot of places are now doing self pay specials. I would think the cost to travel to Mexico for the surgery plus the hassel of fills and such down there it can't be that cheap....The doctor I went to has a special right now that all lap bands are only 12,000 and that includes surgeon and facility fees it states....The fact that they dont' have to spend extra administrative fees to file insurance, wait for insurance to pay IF they pay and hassle with all that is enough for many places to give discounts for self pay....I would check into that before looking at going across the border for the surgery. :biggrin:

Yeah I had the congestion in my chest as well, started about day two, and it was not fun. but the gas was still worse. You would think if they could pump it into you , they could figure out a way to pump it back out!!!!

I won't complain at seeing those!!! but this is a good three inches below the bottom of my rib cage, and I can move it around in a funky way. It is starting to bug me, hurts if I try to sleep on my left side, and just really seems to ache if I do anything that is really more then my normal activity requiring stomach muscles. I go in June 1st, so we will see what they have to say. If I have to live with it I will, because it is so much better then the alternative.

See the problem is I haven't lost all that much weight yet. About 15 lbs, and I have felt it from the day I got home,

Same here, just to be able to chew, even if it wasn't really chewing! I was just so tired of just swollowing my food!!! Soup is good, but man you need some real food every once in a while!

Yeah and I hate to say this but it got worse for me. Day three or four was the worst, but walking really helped me. Shoulders hurt so bad I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. I was okay with everything else but that. My friend had the surgery and warned me about it so I was somewhat prepared, but still it was bad.....Hang in there, it will go away.

Nothing so far? I was banded 4/29 and have lost 15 lbs so far. I do know it has slowed down some now as I dont' have a fill in and you can really tell. I can't eat as much as I used to but I can still eat some of the stuff I know I won't be able to once I have a fill in, so while I am watching what I eat, I am not being 100% good......(no will power, that is why the band is needed)

My surgery was done on April 29. It was so quick I was amazed. I got to the surgery center at about 6:45 AM, and was headed back home by 10. I filled out all the paperwork and was back in the pre-op room by 7:30, I think I had to have had the friendliest, nicest, most accomadating nurse in the world. she was really wonderful. I remember being there about 1/2 an hour, my husband and daughter were back there for the majority of the time, and we were just laughing and looking at funny pictures on my daughters computer. Then they gave me something in the IV to 'calm my nerves' and I dont' remember anything after that!! My daughter said I started laughing at everything, telling her how much I loved her and just laughing. She said I was freaky!!! Then I remember being moved from the gurney to the operating table, telling them my feet were cold and then I am waking up, and being told it all went great. I was like, no way you can't be done yet. I did the drink test, ate a few ice chips, required no additional oxygen, and was told I was a model patient, they wish they all went as well as me. The lady that had the surgery done before me was still there, but I did so great, they had me get up, and if I could dress myself I was able to go. My husband had to help with the socks and shoes, and honestly I didn't put my bra back on, because the incisions are right there so I didn't want to push things! I got home, and was feeling great. I walked around a lot because I am on hormone replacement and I didn't stop the medicine, so he warned me that I had to be careful on blood clots, I drank my broth, ate a couple sugar free popsicles, and have had no complications. The doctors office and the surgery center staff have been so nice and friendly through it all! I was sent home with pain medicine, and for the first day I didn't really need it but after that the pain I had to deal with was all from the gas. My shoulders, neck and upper back were just hurting so bad. I would walk to help ease it but honestly nothing, not the medicine, the walking or anything helped. I broke down on day 4 post op and cried, freaked my husband out, but the pain was just getting to be to much by then. It would come at the oddest times, stay for what seemed like forever, and never ease up. The pain medicine didn't really help with it but it allowed me to sleep through a lot of it. My friend suggested gas x strips as she used them when she went through this, but when I sent my hsuband to the store to get them, he got the pills which are huge so I couldn't take them. (It was the thought that counted!) But walking and doing a sort of bounce as I walked would help the most to work it all out. Day 6 is when I noticed it lightening up, but honestly I still get a little bit of that pain now and I am 3 weeks out. but it is once every couple days and it lasts for maybe 5 minutes and is only 1/100th of the pain I felt those first few days.