katphill

Hi all, I was banded December/09. I am 25 lbs away from my goal weight, and I LOVE my band. I have been having tests in the last several months to see if I am eligible to donate a kidney. Every single person I spoke to in the transplant process has said that the lap-band will not be affected by the laporascopic surgery to remove a kidney... that is, until I spoke to the actual transplant surgeon. He says there is a high likelihood that once he opens me up, he may have to do a traditional surgery (large opening) insteand of laporascopic because of the band and port. He also says there is a 50% chance that my band will either have to be removed or will no longer work. Ack! I do not want my own quality of life to suffer, even though I desparately want to help someone else with the gift of a kidney. Are there any bandsters out there who have donated a kidney? What was your experience? Does your band still work? Was your operation done laporascopically? I need to make an informed decision here. Any advice or experience would be appreciated.

Thanks for all the opinions everyone. I don't feel like I am anything special because I want to donate a kidney. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea to consider organ donation. It's just something I feel could make a profound difference in someone's quality of life and life expectancy. I don't have a sick sibling or anything, I was going to be a live anonymous donor. I agree with Cindy, that if I did have a sick sibling, I would not hesitate, lap band or not. But I don't have a sick sibling or sick child and I have realized over the course of the last week that I cannot jeopardize my band to donate anonymously. If my band was removed and I gained all my weight back, I would be close to suicidal. That's sure not going to help the old karma bank account! Having said that, it looks like my glomerular filtration rate (which measures the effectiveness of your kidneys) is borderline for a donation anyway. I am awaiting the results of one more test to make sure. So the decision may be made for me, which, if I am honest is a relief, but also a huge disappointment for me. I am also on the bone marrow registry but have never been called upon. I donate blood products regularly. I will have to find another way to make a meaningful contribution, other than a kidney donation. Thanks for all your blessings.

I love hummus too! I eat it with slices of english cucumber or strips of red pepper instead of pita or crackers. Sometimes the cukes make me burp later, but it's worth it!

Hello bandsters. This is my first post although I have been lurking since I got banded 10 months ago. Overall, I have been pretty happy with the whole experience. But now something very strange is going on. It started when I first began to feel restriction after my 5th fill about 5 months ago - I was SO happy to finally have that feeling of restriction! My body signal that I was overeating was to give me a pain behind my left ear (and then a few hiccups). Okay, I know that sounds kinda weird but I looked it up and it turns out the 10th cranial nerve or vagus nerve runs behind your ear and it is associated with the esophageal sphincter and digestion, among other things. So it made sense to me that the nerve was being irritated if I overate. The pain behind my ear would go away after about an hour. The pain is similar to the feeling that your eyeglasses are too tight on your head - ever have that? Anyway, for the last 2 weeks, this pain has been returning with more and more frequency and longer in duration. The last 2 days it has been almost constant. I have tried heat, ice, Advil, tiger balm, and nothing relieves it. I have been on liquids for the last 36 hours and it still persists. I have it when I wake up in the morning. Needless to say, I am getting a wee bit cranky! Has anybody ever had this before? Maybe I am completely wrong about the whole vagus nerve thing and I just have a brain tumor, LOL. I am loathe to go to my doc about this I'm sure it will just about impossible to diagnose, and even more impossible to treat. I know nerve pain can be a notoriously slippery subject. So, you are my first line of attack. I would love to hear about any similar experiences and what you did for relief. Thanks!!!