O U C H... Sympathy please!

[La_madam 20]

My thoughts will be with you all the way Lisa...

You are in good hands. I hear wonderful things about Dr. Kuri

I meant to ask you if Lopez called you today like he promised on Monday..you answered my question! Does Lopez even have a clue that there have been several other women like yourself who have had the same thing happen to them but have went to Kuri for help since Lopez never returns calls? I know of 4 women now not including Penni (who was fortunate to finally get through to him)

I wish you well....talk to you when you get home!

Michelle

[Penni60 45]

HI ya guys:

Bet you are all surprised to be hearing from me at this time of day when I was supposed to be in surgery. Well I saw Dr. Lopez this morning and after he evaluated the port and the site he determined that I had NO infection and was NOT rejecting the port after all. IT was just being irritated from all the exercise and weight loss and the port was moving around. He predicts that once I lose some more weight say in about a month the port will reposition itself and the irritation will not be an issue. I told him that if this is not the case I would be calling him again to have the port removed. I also told him that there had to be a better communication on his end or I was going to find another doctor. He completely understood and agreed to stay in better contact. So, we will see.

John and I are staying in San Diego for the night and relaxing after a much needed stressful past couple of weeks. We will take the train home tomorrow as planned.

OH by the way, the redness, tenderness, heat, etc all disappeared yesterday morning.

THank you for all your support.

Penni

[shellyj 5]

thats great news penni!

you take it easy and let your port continue to heal. please keep us updated on how things are going.

sending relaxing vibes your way! and your hubbies way i am sure he was stressed at the thought of more surgery for you.

(((((((((hugs))))))))))

michelle

[donali 57]

WOW - Penni, that is GREAT news! Hopefully you'll have no further problems.

Thanks for the update!!!

[Vera 7]

Penni, Good to hear from you. Thanks for posting

[La_madam 20]

Oh Penni that is awesome! You must be so relieved.

Glad to hear everything went great! Now, let's hope Lisa is doing good today too..

Michelle

[Penni60 45]

Yeah it was a great relief to hear the news. I forgot to mention that I gave Dr. Lopez my resume for the US Liason position. He said he was going to talk with Ann Marie and discuss hiring me for the position. SO keep you fingers crossed. That office is run so unorganized and I took explicit notes while I was there so I have ammunition if I have a formal interview regarding making changes.

I wished I had known which hospital Lisa was in I would have swung by and checked up on her. I hope she is doing well. I am keeping her in my prayers.

By the way, Carmen was in the office as well today and I saw her BROKEN BUSTED DESTROYED cell phone. It was literally falling apart. I told them that was NO excuse for not returning emails or calling from a land line. I also have a list of LA doctors / surgeons that will take on Dr. Lopez' patients if there are emergencies or just for a consult or fills. I am willing to share that list. Also, I got personal emails, personal phone numbers for Carmen as well. And again I will be happy to share that info as well. Just email me and I will give you that info.

I made Dr. Lopez and Carmen and Nora all aware that I was NOT happy of how long it took to get in touch with them and that it was unacceptable to go through that in the future. So, we will see what happens.

[donali 57]

Penni -

It would be so fantastic to have you as Dr. Lopez's office liason. I am certainly keeping ALL of my fingers crossed for you!!

FYI -

Our San Diego group got a message from the original person being considered for that position, and she said she declined the offer due to time/family constraints.

[Penni60 45]

Donali: Ann Marie and I discussed this when we talked the other night. So time will tell.

[Alexandra 55]

Oh, Penni, what a relief! And let me say too that it's wonderful to see someone handle such an upsetting situation with so much sense and grit. I'm not at all sure I'd have been able to do the same faced with similar circumstances.

Now you go home and heal up, ma'am. Thank you so much for the update! :(

[Janie Jackson 0]

WOW I just spent a lot of time reading all of this i have been too busy to be on the puter the last few days. I am grateful that you are o.k. Penni. My prayers will be with Lisa.This is the first I have ever heard of having to have your port removed. Anyway WOW... Best wishes...Janie

[Penni60 45]

Hey I got my picture loaded finally. I will have a better one soon. I will also have my website updated by the end of june for new pics. In the meantime please feel free to visit and give feedback. www.pennimerrick.com

[donali 57]

Hi Penni -

I like your site. I just have to comment on the following, though:

Protein shakes are a must to keep the Protein in your diet. You can get protein from fresh vegetables as well in the form of juices after this surgery.

Protein Shakes are NOT required by bandsters once they get to the eating solid food stage. It is always recommended to eat real food that stays in your pouch longer and helps keep you feeling full. Since we do not have a malabsorptive-type procedure like the RnY, we are able to utilize all the calories and nutrients of what we eat, just like before surgery.

For people who are too tight in the mornings to eat real food, protein shakes can be helpful, but for the most part are not needed. For people who do choose to use protein shakes, for whatever reason, they should replace the meal, not be in addition to it, unless one is having troubles meeting their caloric goals (in which case you are probably adjusted too tightly, and could benefit from a slight unfill). And I know of no vegetable or fruit juice that would be considered a good source of protein.

It is recommended that all caloric liquids be avoided, which is why drinking juice is not recommended, as it is a high calorie liquid that passes through the pouch and again, does nothing to help generate the full feeling. Even for people who are not banded who are watching their weight, physicians recommend eating whole fruit as opposed to drinking juice for that very reason.

I picked up a brochure from Dr. Lopez's office once while I was there, and it had a color xerox cover with the Oasis Hospital logo on it. Inside were supposed guidelines for patients who had the lapband. I have to tell you, that article was taken WORD for WORD from an RnY doctor's article, which was written specifically for gastric bypass patients. The word "lapband" had been substituted everywhere the word gastric bypass appeared in the original article.

The post-op protocol for the RnY is drastically different from the post-op protocol for the lapband. The only thing they have in common is the liquid diet post op. But even that is shorter for lapbanders, and not restricted in quantity, like it is for the RnYers - there is no drinking a thimble-full of Protein Shake every hour directly after post-op, like the RnYers are required to do.

The only other similarity between the two is the longterm strategy of how to use the pouch to its fullest advantage - eating solid food, not drinking with meals, waterloading prior to meals, and avoiding gastric irritants like Aspirin, Advil, and other NSAIDs.

Also, it is NOT expected that a bandster lose 30-45 pounds in the first month. That is a gastric bypass stat. The expected average weightloss with the band is 1-2 pounds a week.

I'm not sure if this pirated booklet is where you got these impressions, but just felt I should pass on this info to you. Oh, and just in case you were given the bypass info instead of the band info, there is no "window of opportunity" for weightloss with the band. With the RnY, it is expected that weightloss pretty much stops 18-24 months out. That's how long it takes the body to adjust and compensate for the malabsorptive part of the bypass. For Bandsters, our band will continue to be a tool in our weightloss journey - there are bandsters 4-5 years out who have continued to lose weight with the band.

[Alexandra 55]

Donali, I think that last post deserves its own thread. I can't believe you got a brochure from Dr. Lopez that spreads all that misinformation! Considering how many people might see that brochure, would you start a new thread with your observations on it? Thanks!

[New Hope 37]

Donali, have you thought about being the liason for Dr. Lopez and American patients? You have an immense amount of knowledge that is vital for new bandsters. I think you'd be great!