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Dr. C, I would really appreciate your opinion here. I am on my second band. I had a prolapse with the first one and I had a new band put in last June. I waited until Septmeber to start getting fills just to make sure my stomach was well healed. Since September it has been a slow progression with my fills. I have a 9.75 cm band that holds 4.0 cc's and as of yesterday I now have 4.0 cc's in my band. I stayed on liquids yesterday and today I have had some oatmeal so far, but I feel like I have less restriction than I did at 3.5 cc's! I had a leak scare a few months back. I went in for a fill and I was supposed to have 3.4 cc's and all I had was 1.2 cc's. My doctor filled me with omnipague and did a flouro immediately and another one hour later with no leak detected. Yesterday was my second fill since then and I was not missing and fluid. Right now I should have a mixture of 3.2 cc's of Omnipague and .8 cc's of the regular saline. I am assuming that the omnipague is still in there. As far as I know he draws out what is in my band and puts it back in along with the additional saline that he is adding for the fill. I had to drink a little water along with the white stuff they give you for the flouro in order to get it to go through my band on the flouro. It went through slowly and I was on my way. I am just beside myself right now because I feel like I have less restriction right now than I did with 3.5 cc's before my fill yesterday. I am going to wait atleast a few weeks before I go back to my fill doctor because it's a three hour drive and on my last fill I didn't feel much difference until about 10 days after the fill. With my first band I was too tight with 3.0 cc's. Now I am at 4.0 cc's and I still don't have good restriction. My fill doctor said you can actually get a little more than 4.0 cc's in a 9.75 cm band, but that doesn't give me much hope at this point. Is it possible that my stomach is just too small to ever get good restriction from the band? I feel like I have wasted $15,000!

Honestly, I have not really lost any weight yet.....I feel very little restriction right now. Fingers crossed that my fill tomorrow will help. I have to drive 2 hrs to get it and since I am a full time working single mom it is tough to get there. I am hopeing they will lean on the generous v conservative side on the fill. TBD! PS - My surgery was 8/24 and I quickly lost 10 lbs then gained back 6 so....nothing much happening yet. This site encourages me to be patient which is helpful.

We go to cancun every year and also stay at an all inclusive resort. We will be going this upcoming June. it will be the 1st time back since I have been banded. In the past I too have gained at least 5 pounds on our 10 day trips there. This year I know I wont over eat, I wont over drink. I have my tool and we are working together to keep me healthy. I can't wait to go this ye4ar and be able to do things I couldn't do last time, such as Cliff diving, parasailing, wearing my bathing suit without being all covered up like a mummy....

Hi all I was banded 10th Feb and after 21 days of liquids I could eat solid food. Unfortunately it was also the 1st day of my all inclusive holiday in Cancun! Ist meal= small portion of fish and veg 2nd day= 1/2 omelette (:sneaky: fish/veg (L) Small steak /veg(D) 7th day = anything I can put into my mouth. Oh How I love the band. After two pain filled moments with bread/toast. Back on track and I only put on 2lbs. Usually it would have been 10-12lbs. Ist fill is in 2 weeks.Hooray! Nicolek

I'm not a Dec. Bandster, but I thought I could help! First of all...do some spring cleaning. Throw it all out. If you have kids or family that still wants them, tell them to put them somewhere you can't find them. If you have to go out and purposefully buy them, you are more likely to have a moment of sanity and put it back. I am going to copy and paste a post that I wrote for someone else. Maybe there is something in there that will help you. Are you ready for some tough love? If you are not ready at this time, that if fine. Put it away in your mind that someone has given you some and come back here when you are ready. By the time I get to post this you will probably have 100 other replies, but I want to take my time and post what I really want to say. Okay...here goes the tough love. And this will be a long post! Nope the Cookies were not a good choice, but you ate them and now you need to move on and NOT do it again. You can't change what you have done but you can make better choices in the future. So the question is HOW IN THE WORLD DO I DO THAT? Well I will tell you that the answer is NOT going to come to you when you have a "cookie" (will now stand for anything that is not healthy for us for the remainder of this conversation) staring at you in the face. You have to have the tools and the mindset BEFORE that temptation ever comes up. We have to be ready to turn around at any particular moment and have a piece of cookie shoved in our face and realize that we are stronger than the calories, fat, sugar and peice of inanimate object that we are looking at. It gets harder as we have lost the weight and become a little more comfortable with our bodies. At first we were hell bent on getting losing, losing, losing. Well the newness has worn off and now we are just stuck with the realization that we will always have to fight the "cookies". Alright I am all about being practical so here are some suggestions that I have. 1. Take a piece of paper (one that you can fold up into your wallet/purse/pocket ) and divide it into sections. You may have to write down everything and then rewrite it to get it to all fit. a. Write down all the reasons that you had MAJOR, LIFE THREATENING SURGERY. Not the reasons that you wanted to just lose weight, but what caused you to make this drastic change in your life. b. Write down where you think you would be health wise in 10 years. What disesases, illness would you have? What meds would you be on. Look at your family for "inspiration". For me my mom died at 53 weighing 350+ pounds and had heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea and a whole host of other disorders. Within 10 years, I was going to be there. c. Write down why you are more powerful than a cookie (this one is tough!) d. Find some typical foods that you would love to eat (your cookies) and look up the calories and then find out how much time you would have to spend working them off in the gym. e. Write down what about you makes you important enough to overcome your demons. f. Now you are going to want to fit all of this on a piece of paper in bullet form so when you are faced with you cookies you can look at it and allow you to mentally fight the war that has just come up. If you can justify eating that cookie after looking at your paper, then eat it, but have no regrets, and do not dwell on it. Instead you have faced the problem UP FRONT and not looked back on it. 2. Another possible tactic. I know that you are having a tough time getting your calories down. One thing that I have found that helps me is by eating the same foods that I like but with some simple substitutions and by finding ways to remove some unneccessary ingredients. For example. I make this dessert that had 1/2 cup of frozen berries, 2 TBSP of Cream cheese and 1/2 cup of granola. The cream cheese had 60 calories and I thought..."I wonder how this would taste if I didn't put the cream cheese in it". I tried it and guess what, I couldn't even tell that it was missing. Same thing with meatloaf. Instead of eating it with ground beef now I substitute grond chicken. As long as I keep all of my veggies and other healthy fillers in, I can't tell the difference. I really learned this from Subway. I found that if I went in and ordered a foot long sandwich (obviously pre-band) and got all this deli meat and cheese and then pilled it with my favorite veggies that I all I could really taste were the veggies anyways. So first I got rid of the meat and then the cheese, and the taste of the sandwich hardly varied at all. This is what I do all the time now. I will always fix something first and then think what can I do to lower or eliminate the calories without harming the integretity of the dish. 3. This is the one that everyone is going to hate. WE JUST HAVE TO HAVE WILL POWER SOMETIMES. Yep the age ol' dieting nightmare. (And believe me, I REFUSED to diet in my entire journey, so I use that word loosely) Our will power will not always be perfect, but we have to be able to stand up to ourselves and tell ourselves no. Before this surgery I couldn't tell anyone NO, including myself. So when my stupid head told me that I needed to go to Carl's Jr and get 2 big hamburgers and eat them in the 4 minutes it took me to get home so that I could look famished for dinner that was going to be served in 30 minutes...I never said no. NOW, I am comfortable saying no. It has helped me professionally, personally, and mentally. I thought that everyone would hate me if I said no, but now they no longer just expect things out of me. And I don't just give in to all of my brain's wishes. That is making me a better person. 4. Talk about your surgery. I have to honestly say that one of the greatest factors to my success is the fact that I have been open and honest about the surgery. I don't care what other people think about me. Go to 1A of this email and that should show you why there is nothing to be ashamed of. The more you talk about the struggles and successes of your surgery the less likely people are to shove food at you. We have one lady in our science department that brings in treats every week. After the 2nd week of school I told her about my surgery and not ONCE has she come in and offered me the food. She told me, if you ever want it, you may have some, but I don't want to push something on you that you obviously don't want. Yesterday at the staff meeting, the administration gave little food baskets to everyone for all there hard work during scheduling. However instead of a food basket I got a nice card signed by all the administrators, because the know that a food basket is pointless to me. I don't feel singled out, I feel very blessed that these people care enough about me to know what I need. Some people can't make these connections on their own and they need you to school them. Iknow this is tough, but I had to do it with my dad, my BF, and my brother. I asked them if they would offer a beer to a recovering alcholoic. All of them said no, and then I said then why in the hell would you offer me a cookie! If there is any advice in here you don't like. Think about why you don't like it. Is it because it is hard...well guess what CHANGING is hard, but maybe just try part of it. If you don't like it because it goes against all of your moral beliefs, then ignore it. I will never know and it will not hurt my feelings. Even if you came back and said "Salsa you are full of crap and are an idiot" I would think " her loss!" and keep on lovin' ya. This is what friends are for. We have to be here during the good times and the bad. We have to be able to look (or type) at the other person and say "stop being an idiot" If we don't do that as friends, really we are no better than an enemy.

Today was my appt with the psych on March 13, 2009. It went pretty smoothly I talked to the Dr for about 40 min. about my childhood, education level and my weight loss attempts. When I was leaving her office she said that I was approved, (I don't think she was suppose to tell me that; she had not given me the computer tests yet). I had to do 4 test on the computer and boy did it take long. I was there from 10:15 am to 2pm. When I got home finally I was so tired I had to lay down for a couple of hours. That test drained me. Well next week will be my physical from my regular doctor and my nutritional consult. Hope everyone is doing well. BTW I started a required Exercise Program and boy is it kicking my bunns. :ohmy: TTYL

Got banded in september 25, it was the greatest birthday present ever! I lost 63lbs but unfortunatley gained back 10. Ive been eating a lot of fast food lately but im getting back to healthy foods slowly. Anyway i think some support and any advice would be great! I'd loce to help anyone out as well!

I was banded by Dr. Hollis on 8/19/2007! Go to HoustonAreaBandsters@yahoo.com and there is all kinds of info on local support groups. Dr. Hollis is on the site as well as "LapBandDoc". You and I have almost identical weight loss since our surgeries. Do you get your fills at True Results? What has your experience been? There is a huge difference between the two women who do fills and I have had issues...just wondered if you had too.

I have United, they are a pain. Keep working on the insurance approval and follow exactly what they want. I started at 370, did my 6 months in which I was definitely expected to lose (modified South Beach Diet for 4 months then I ate like it was my last meal! I stayed at about 310 for last couple months.) My surgery was Dec. 10 lost about 37 since then, My goal is to be under my college weight of 227. I am at 269 this morning when I stepped on my home scale before getting dressed. United wants you to prove to them that you are serious about losing weight and that you will keep at it. They require you to go to Diet Dr. or equivalent every month. It was a great way to get used to bariatric foods. I found I could eat plain nonfat greek yogurt with Peanut Butter powder, fresh fruit, or even diet maple syrup mixed in. I learned how to eat 60 grams Protein a day and to follow a tight diet while walking a bunch. I was worried about losing too much, but that is unlikely. My Dr. told me that if I started losing too much she'd put me on a Golden Corral diet for awhile. I also think United wants people to re-consider if they are doing really well on their own diets and NOT get WLS.

Hi Julie my name is also Julie and Im 41 with three children as well. I just had to respond.. found it comical that we are close in age and have the same amount of children.. mine are 19, 16, 14. two boys one girl. I have 3 more supervised dietician visits and then Im on my way.. keep me posted on how things are with u.. Julie M in Wisconsin

I am just angry because most of you believe that health care standards are same in other countries. Doctors and health personel are well educated, courteous, helpfull. Just no. Here in Romania, Health care system is under state control, and free, but docs are just like ordinary government employees. Just like a post office clerk. They do not get post education. State health care is free, but you have to wait in lines to get basic care. Basically, state health care system is in ruins. Staff and doctors are in general undereducated, old , underpaid, the hospitals and equipments are old, and dirty.Corruption is going everywhere. Good doctors and health care personel move to other european countries. My doc is the chief of the surgery unit, but he does not have an office of his own. We always talk in corridors,there are maybe 10 doctors packed up in one single room. They are like an ordinary government employee. How can you expect good health care from them. I have done the surgery there, because the doc is the most experienced in this field in Romania.He has done over200 lapbands. but his staff is terrible, and unprofessional. No pre-post information. You are mostly on your own. He gets his big money from patients (he is a public employee) after the surgery, five hundred dollars in packet, never wants to get bothered after that. So I had to keep up with his ego. He just doent like too many fills. He told me I should come after 6 months, how can I argue with him. I should wait another 6 months for the next fill, for a super sized VG band. This is unethical, unprofessional, and irresponsible behaviour on his part. I am pretty sure he use the same needle for many fills, because the state doesnt pay for the huber needle, they do not have a budget for that. He just asked extra money for that. I know there are some private clinics doing the same procedure, but I do not believe the docs are as well experienced. The hospital had the fluoro unit,thanks god, I could check the health of the system. I have seen the contrast agent (omnipaque) flowing, through the tube to the band. I was really happy because I was also worried that when I did my own fill, I could puncture my port because I used some force to inject that I needn't to, and used a core needle. Anyway, next time I will bother him a lot so that he will accept another fill, I hope so. Money might talk.:mad: Dorin

Twas the night before surgery, and all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, or my dog, or my husband.......... Well it's 10:15 p.m. and my husband is watching a dvd, my dog is sleeping in her bed and i just finished taking my shower with my antibacterial soap given to me by the hospital. I'm getting sleepy because I took the sleep aid prescribed by my doctor, just in case I am too excited to close my eyes...........it's working.......... I told my immediate family yesterday about my surgery scheduled for tomorrow........at first I didnt want to because i wasn't sure about the reaction I would get. My two sisters are very supportive and so is my dad.......he said "that's great. You will look like you did in high school." haha. My mom wasn't as supportive but I'm sure it's a normal reaction when you hear your child is about to have surgery. She said she would go to the church in the morning to pray for me but tonight she texted me and said she will be there in the morning as she is driving in with one of my sisters. It's so nice to feel the love and support of my family. Now it makes me think I should have told them sooner........but I cant look back......I can only look forward at the start of my new chapter tomorrow. Good night my lap band family...........I will report again when I get home on Wed (if i am up to it).......until then...........xoxo

I agree...Paul is cute!! ~Liz~ 03/10/06 241/172/160 5'7''

This is Day 10 of the pre-op liquid diet. I'm really struggling. I know it will work out for the best, but I'm literally counting days until I can have baby food . My RN daughter is so scared for me. But I keep telling her that she sees only the pathology, not the successes, and I plan to be one of the latter for sure. Twelve days till surgery and then she'll see I'm ok. Of course, she plans on going to the hosp. with me. My other 3 daughters feel just fine about it and every one of them is supportive. Funny thing. Well, not ha-ha, just odd. My husband just had a double hernia operation on Thurs. and he's supposed to go to the dr. for follow-up the same day as my surgery. Gotta call and see how we can work that out. I definitely want him there with me, if at all possible.

I too was banded 5/19. I am currently waiting for my husband to come home and help me shower... Thinking of coming off the percocet and going to motrin.

Yeah!! I'm so excited, just learned that my insurance approved me on Thursday!! I must say it was a VERY QUICK process for me. I attended the information session on April 6, Met with the Psych Dr on May 10, attended a mandatory support group May 11; Had my last PCP visit May 20 (insurance required 3 documented visits within a 12 month period). I faxed all my paperwork from my PCP's office Friday May 20 to the surgeon's office... and Thursday May 26 was approved. 7 weeks and 1 day! I was a bit confused when I rec'd the call from the Case Manager from my insurance company yesterday asking me all these questions, going over my health history and what to expect during and after surgery. She was acutally the one that told me that I was approved!!! Will be getting my surgery date on Tues when the office reopens. I think what really helped me to get approved so quickly was going over the information package that I rec'd after I attended the information session. I made my PCP Dr appointments the day after the information session- I begged the office to squeeze me in at the end of the day because I needed a visit for the month- they did April 29 last appointment. I also scheduled an appointment for 3 weeks later. And I used my appointment from last year as the 1st documented visit. So that was my 3 visits. I will send the Dr's office bagels. They REALLY worked with me. My PCP actually dictated& printed my last visit while i was still there so that i could have it faxed over. She usually does not dictate until 2- 3 week later!! She knew I needed is like yesterday! I was hoping for end of June date but will take what I can get a this point! I'm on my way to BANDSTER LAND!!! YEAH!!! Wish me Luck!

Just wondering who all has been banded by Dr. Stowers. He banded me on 9/19! I think he was/is great! Just curious of his other patients and maybe their success thus far.

I am a 34 yr female that just had a stomach stapling replaced with a VSG, after having problems with the stapling. I am still having problems with the VSG and most likely going to have a stint put in to stretch the opening. I have lost 40 lbs in 10 wks. I only needed to loose 60 lbs to start with. I am also having alot of hair loss. Over all I am happy I made the change. :thumbup1: My surgeon is Dr Vadim Sherman from Baylor College of Medicine @ St Lukes Hospital. He is wonderful. Has a great bedside manor, his team visits you frequently in the hospital and they all take the time to listen to you needs and concerns. I have never felt rushed. Although he is young, do not let that intimdate you. I have Multiple Sclerosis and searched 40 something Dr.s till I found him. He is willing to do surgery on high risk patients.

I was banded on 5/24, I have had 1 fill and I am due for the second on 10/9. My problem is the scale has not moved in about three weeks. And I have only losy 20 lbs since my last fill. I am getting discouraged. I have not cheated, not once. Any advice????????:help:

Okay, I am at such a loss!!!! I stalled out around 7/15/12 for about 2 weeks then around the 30th I lost 5 lbs then got down another 4lbs. In the last week I have gone UP 4 lbs. so in a month's time I have only lost 3lbs. I know it is around TOM and I started working out this past Monday, but anyone have any ideas on YYYYYY this is happening. I am getting anywhere from 800 to 1000 calories a day and about 40-60 grams of carbs. 60+ on protein and 8-10 glasses of liquid (water w/crystal light or unsweet tea w/sweet n low). I am sooo frustrated please any advice would help, I am crying almost daily.

Ahhh the Bliss of being in the Land of the banded. Heyyyy! Mornin' Yawnin'! ALL DONE YAAAY!!! Everything went pretty well yesterday. We got to hospital early at around 10:45 they took me right away and got started with all the preliminary questionings to make sure chart information was correct. I was shocked to find that they had me listed as a Diabetic and required an Accucheck reading on me even though I protested that I wasn't they said that my Pre Surgical Testing determined that I was so borderline to treat me as though I was. The worst part actually only real bad part is that they couldn't find a vein for IV administration, they had to try 4 times before they finally got it!!! Yikes that got me really frustrated! Oh yeah and the fact that I had to wait from 11am until 3pm to be finally sent down to the operating room, and yall know me and my short patience. Thankfully my girls were with me and kept me entertained. We laughed the whole time. Then when finally my time came and I was being wheeled into the surgical unit I met all the surgical staff and everyone there were really really nice, then Doc Brathwaite came in I joked around with him a little asking if he had eaten lunch and he said NO but he'd be alright and I told him we bought him a Subway Sandwich FOOTLONG and to take a few bites... he laughed and said he was VEGAN! lol. Best part...when they were finally rolling me into Operating Room they were playing Alicia Keys song that is my favorite "If you ask me I'm Ready" I almost started crying..Happy Tears and was telling the girls wheeeling me down how this song was like my Anthem in this whole process, so the one girl was like we will play it for you in the OR and I was cool. (Side note - my niece Jasmine just put the music channel on and its playing now) lol. Anyway I really wasn't expecting them to do it but sure enough when they put my anesthesia gas mask on the song was playing and I was clicking my fingers to it and then I was in recovery. When I woke up in recovery clock said 5pm couldn't talk for a while, words were in my head to say something but all I could do was nod when asked a question. They told me everything went well and I would be in the Step Up Stage shortly which included walking and drinking 30cc's of Water. At 5:15 I was able to talk and asked if I could walk and they told me I need to be out of anesthesia at least an hour and I still told them I was ready and they let me walk at 5:30. I walked so far with the aid my recovery nurse came looking for us. lol. Drank some water, that was really weird felt like I ate a full course meal and hurt a bit going down. I finally was sent to the ambulatory surgical unit at 6pm for my step down to be released. There I walked quite a bit down there. I was reunited with my girls and they met me down there with my clothes and I was out of there by 7pmish and home at 8pm. Couldn't sleep and stayed up until 12:45am. I walked every commercial and my niece has been excellent rubbing and patting my back for the gas to come up, which hasn't happened yet axiously waiting for the first release which is said to be glorious! So there you have it! Took a percocet and slept sitting up pretty compfortable and am up and ready to go for a walk up the block but my friend that is an RN said to take it easy today and just walk around the house as I have been doing. Love you guys and ttyl Diva.

Hi! I'm a Dec. 19th sleever, too! Feeling so much better. I'm down 9# and couldn't tell by the way my jeans were fitting. I think our abdomens are still a bit swollen. Congrats to you on your 10! Headed to my doc for my post-op visit and then a few errands.

Trish, thanks for the referral to fat pad. I'll look it up. Sounds interesting. I always wondered what happens if you reach close to 10 cc's and need more restriction! Guess that answers it! Jonna, doesn't seems like you are doing anything wrong. Look at your weight loss already! Keep up the good work!

What? Fruit doesn't give you anything valuable? Perhaps canned fruit, but whole fruit gives you Fiber and Vitamins. In fact some even have a tiny bit of protein in them. For example half of a navel orange even has 1 gm of protein. You just have to be aware of the sugar content. Fruits like apple and bananas tend to be really dense with sugar so yes you have to exercise caution. My doctor allowed me to have fruit have fruit once I got to the soft food stage. I typically have it on gym days or high activity days when I know I can burn off the sugar. To the OP: I would recommend staying away from the fast food. That McD's burger is barely meat and really not good for you. Oatmeal is allowed but McD's is not the best quality and full of added sodium and sugar. Buy plain rolled oats and make your own. I use the RTD shakes instead of milk for an added protein punch. As for the fruit. Keep in mind a serving of grapes is 10 grapes. No more than ¼ cup of pineapple because it's high in sugar. Melons are mostly Water so I would go for ½ cup. Just make sure your nutritionist is aware you're adding these things. Try taking your ant-acid med first thing in the morning. I try to start my day with a glass of water so I take 20mgs of omeprazole then. I tend to get acid in the afternoon/evening so I take another 20 around 3 or 4 pm.

am i the only person who has not lost a ton of weight on the liquid diet? i've been following it to a T, and consuming less than 1000 calories a day, and have only lost 5.8 lbs in my first 10 days. i take synthroid for a thyroid issue and have PCOS, but assumed that with the liquids, i'd be seeing bigger losses. i am so afraid that the surgeon will think i've been cheating, or that my liver will be too large. what gives?