Hi from Ireland!

[skinnyirishbabe 0]

hi everyone just stopped in 2 say hi. going for my second fill on friday with lou, im realy excited hope i get some restriction. i

m hoping ill have a new sexy body by this time next year.or ill settle for the new body the sexy can come later. seems like you had a nice day on sat in dublin do you ever meet on the north side? i would like to meet some time im not great getting round the city

I'd be up for meeting on the northside too, i'm sure there are other banded northsiders out there too. some where like the Hilton? it's handy to both the m50 and m1. Anyone interested?

[Coco 0]

Hi SkinnyIrishBabe,

How are you doing, long time since you dropped in. I would defo be up for crossing the M50 to meet up with you girls. Just say when.

[ailbhe 1]

Well, I've decided to go for it. Have booked in for 26th Feb with Dr. Chris DeBruyne in Belgium. I emailed him and he advised to go for the banding over the bypass(even though he'd make more money on the bypass:clap2:) as I'm only 25 and hope to have more babies after.

Also he has confirmed that he will be doing consultations and fills in Dublin from February!!!!! Good news for all us Irish gals!!:whoo:

[skinnyirishbabe 0]

Coco,

that's great you'd be up for meeting on the Northside. Things going ok with the band. Not loosing very much and very unsure what i have in my band. I've only had two fill's and as far as i know i only have 2ml in my band. Lou seems to think there is three mls in my band but wasn't to sure as she couldn't even tell from my file what day i was banded, not her fault though as i only met her for the first time on sat, met with the surgeons for my first two fills. Was expecting to get a fill on sat as my weight loss has come to a halt but instead got a lecture on what i should be eating, i know what i should be eating i can just eat way too much of it. She told me to try a non processed food diet for a week and see how i get on, if it doesn't work i've to go back to her. Really need another kick start!

[Marge 0]

Hello to everyone,

I haven't been on for sometime probebly because of the ACS situation. This Dr. Chris DeBruyne in Belgium sounds very interesting and if he is doing fills in Dublin what more can a girl ask? I tried to find his website but couldn't find it. Ailbhe could help me there? :help: I couldn't make the Xmas meeting so I would love to meet up with anyone of you. Anywhere off M50 is ok with me. The only days that are out for me are 15th and 23rd January. Otherwise I'm as free as a bird.

Marge

[Coco 0]

Coco,

that's great you'd be up for meeting on the Northside. Things going ok with the band. Not loosing very much and very unsure what i have in my band. I've only had two fill's and as far as i know i only have 2ml in my band. Lou seems to think there is three mls in my band but wasn't to sure as she couldn't even tell from my file what day i was banded, not her fault though as i only met her for the first time on sat, met with the surgeons for my first two fills. Was expecting to get a fill on sat as my weight loss has come to a halt but instead got a lecture on what i should be eating, i know what i should be eating i can just eat way too much of it. She told me to try a non processed food diet for a week and see how i get on, if it doesn't work i've to go back to her. Really need another kick start!

Hi Skinny,

If you had two fills and with what they put in at the op, usually 2mls, by my reckoning you should have 4mls in. Its usually 1ml at each fill to start off with. Anyway, Lu has a point about the ready meals, as they are too easy to go down and don't fill you up for a very long time. If you can eat a boiled egg on brown toast for Breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and have a piece of meat or chicken with veg for dinner, without gravy, then you need another fill. If you are surviving on shepherds pie and fish pie and Soups and general sloppies then you need to look at your diet. The general rule of thumb is if you can eat a slice of white bread without any problem you need a fill. It is important to work with the band but the band is there to stop us from overeating. If you can still manage a large home cooked meal go back to Lu and speak to her again. Good luck and let us know how you get on. It is worth it once you find your sweet spot the weight will come off every week.

[Elsie 0]

Hi All,

Coco, Allure, Alesha and Terry, it was great to meet you all last week. Thanks for your support. Seeing your before photographs was great and spurred me on no end. I'm still undecided between going to Manchester or Belgium. So I'm booking a consultation for both and i'll see how I feel then.

Ailbhe - Well done on booking your date. Let me know how you get on. I'm considering Dr. DeBruyne myself.

Marge - Here's a link to Dr. DeBruyne's website. Welcome to Obesity Assists's site. Best of luck!!

Elsie

[skinnyirishbabe 0]

Hi Skinny,

If you had two fills and with what they put in at the op, usually 2mls, by my reckoning you should have 4mls in. Its usually 1ml at each fill to start off with. Anyway, Lu has a point about the ready meals, as they are too easy to go down and don't fill you up for a very long time. If you can eat a boiled egg on brown toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and have a piece of meat or chicken with veg for dinner, without gravy, then you need another fill. If you are surviving on shepherds pie and fish pie and Soups and general sloppies then you need to look at your diet. The general rule of thumb is if you can eat a slice of white bread without any problem you need a fill. It is important to work with the band but the band is there to stop us from overeating. If you can still manage a large home cooked meal go back to Lu and speak to her again. Good luck and let us know how you get on. It is worth it once you find your sweet spot the weight will come off every week.

I can definatly eat too much, yesterday i had two weetabix for breakfast, picked at grapes till lunch, had two slices of brown bread with tuna, bowl of soupfulls and a hazel nut yogurt. by the time i got home from work i was starving and i made chicken chow mein(all fresh except sauce) sounds ok to maintain weight but i want to loose! booked in to see lou again next sat. i bought cadbury high lights for my evening cravings.

[skinnyirishbabe 0]

Hi All,

Coco, Allure, Alesha and Terry, it was great to meet you all last week. Thanks for your support. Seeing your before photographs was great and spurred me on no end. I'm still undecided between going to Manchester or Belgium. So I'm booking a consultation for both and i'll see how I feel then.

Ailbhe - Well done on booking your date. Let me know how you get on. I'm considering Dr. DeBruyne myself.

Marge - Here's a link to Dr. DeBruyne's website. Welcome to Obesity Assists's site. Best of luck!!

Elsie

HI Elsie,

Thanks for putting the web page link up, my mam is interested in getting it done too but a bit nervous about going away to get it done. I must show her the web site.

Louise

[ellen 0]

Hi everyone.

Just to let you know that I Love my band, my doctor, nurse, switchboard operator, my cat, everyone!!!!! YIPPPPPEEE. Finally, after 4 months wondering was I the only unfortunate in the universe for whom the band doesnt work, I now have restriction.

I went back to the UK on Wednesday for a fill. I already had 7.2, got an extra 1.0 and later on another 0.5. I now have 8.7 in a 10 ml band. What a difference! Such was my enthusiasm on my return that I had to be restrained from buying a very lovely size 12 skirt on the assumption that the new virtuous me would easily fit into it by the end of the month...

Elsie, the Chris de Bruyne site looks v. interesting. I have seen his name mentioned very positively on other threads in the context of tummy tucks. If I do manage to lose this weight I'm thinking of a Tummy Tuck with him.

When I was in the UK during the week, my dr. in the Healthier Weight centre told me he was to come to Dublin on Friday (yesterday) to talk to people in the Mater private and Blackrock clinic about setting up here. All going well they hope to be up and running in about a month. Dr Favretti would come in from Italy to operate and train in a young irish doctor. The irish doctor would deal with fills / issues arising in between Favretti's visits and would eventually take over the operations himself. I am so pleased that all of these providers are coming to Ireland.

Very best of luck to you all who are considering surgery at the moment. Like Coco I too was terrified at the thought of the operation but more terrified of the prospect of becoming heavier and heavier with each passing year.

Ellen

[kermit 0]

hi guys hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year. It is great to hear all the positive stories and good luck to all the people who are thinking of having the op.

Sorry not to be on the forum for a while - very depressed about the whole thing and don't want to bring everyone down. Will pop back when things improve!

[Marge 0]

Elsie: Thank you so much for the web address. I get really confident when I read the posts here and then later the fear returns.

Coco : You're brilliant the way you help everyone. Can I ask you? When your band slipped how did you know and did you have to wait long for them to replace it?

Sally: I think you are terrific you seem to have just taken a deep breath and gone for it. I will probebly go to Belgium too but I really would love to meet and talk to people before hand.

Does anyone want to set a date for a nortside meeting?

Marge

[allure 0]

So pi**ed off! My restriction that I had since late in November has decided to leave me once again and I can eat absoluately anything! This for me means that I can't get enough white bread in to me - worse than an alcoholic. I've 4 pounds on over the weekend, which basically translates as 2 full pan of Brennans white bread - no sandwitch filling or butter required!! Why did I even bring the bread in to the house. It couldn't come at a worse time as I am trying so hard to fit in to a way too small wedding dress that I need to wear in only a few weeks. Have an appointment with Lou on Saturday next and just need to work hard at not undoing all my good work between now and then until I get a fill!

Elsie - well done on making the appointments and investigating both options. As you pointed out you saw how happy and healthy the girls were who you met last Saturday and what a diference we had made in prolonging our own lives!! Keep us informed how you get on.

Kermit - keep on this site and post what you are struggling with so the rest of us can help you.

[justjules 0]

Hello everyone, just got through reading most of the thread since october. Wow, so glad this place and all of you exist, I was feeling very lonely in my 'secret' banded life.... Short synopsis, I am 36, 2 small kids, suffered terribly with Post natal depression and put on lots of weight post babies. After trying lots of different weight loss strategies, and realising my marriage was at serious risk, I decided to go for the lap band last august, at ACS in Dublin with Jerome.

While I thought he was a very nice man, I was not impressed with ACS in Dublin and had a lot of complications physically after the op. I was twice to the Aand E in Cork because I was in so much pain, it was out of 'normal' working hours and I couldn't even get a staff night nurse to pick up the phone to talk to me at ACS in Dublin. This freaked me out, because one of the ladies getting done the same day as me was perforated during the op and I was scared to death something had been put in wrong. ACS kept telling me it was GAS pain causing me to feel like a knife in my left shoulder, but I have had 2 Laparoscopys before, and it definitely was NOT gas pain. I had constant pain for 3 weeks starting at day 5 post op. I had a free air xray done, and it wasn't gas at all. the surgeons at CUH think my port placement was irritating my (sp) phrenic nerve and causing me to have severe reaction in my diaphragm. only valium and a muscle relaxent even touched the pain and because I have had really bad reflux, it was even hard to take meds. the pain got better after 8 weeks post oop and I was off all meds except lots of zantac and gaviscon for reflux. now that I am 'fine' I have just gone every 2 months to ACS in cork for my fills with Jan the new Doc. But believe me, I could relate to the fears concerned with inadequate aftercare programme while i was in such a desperate state after my surgery. i became very nervous after Xmas when I looked up some info on the ACS website and saw they were discontinuing the Lap band ops in Irleand and that is why I have come online, to see what is up and what are we all gonna do if this programme is pulled? I feel ACS should have contacted all prior patients before finding out all this in the media. Many of us have not told anyone about our procedures and it is then very difficult to talk about fears/concerns.

The staff at Cork is very nice, but I do sometimes wish for more medical competency over niceties. halina is not a good poster girl for Lap banding imho because she has gone way to thin and wasn't too big to begin with.

Anyhow, it sounds like all of you are coping really well. I guess I am just nervous about what I will do if I 1. can't get fills/check ups here 2. experience a slip or erosion and 3. need to get diagnostic checks to make sure fills and/or band is working properly.

I have lost 22lbs since August, not as much as I thought I would . had 2nd fill last week in Cork and am really feeling this one, but have had some pretty bad Hair loss in past 4 weeks, so not sure if I should be to happy about the fact i can't eat much at present.

Well, thanks for letting me vent and I am glad this resource and support network exists for all the patient in Ireland. If anyone wants to meet up in Cork, pm me and I will be happy to meet for a coffee and chat!

Thanks so much for listening if you made it this far! :smile:

Jules

[roe 0]

hi guys just reading the lastfew posts every one seems so down i know how you feel had fill on friday with lou feels no different had a cooked breakfast on sat morn was starving today i ate a big dinner in the restraunt no problem ts so dishearting found lou very nice she talked alot about what i should be doing as if i dont know, she wants me to have 7 kg down next month dont know how she expects me to do that without rstriction.ill try my best to have a good month, faith if your out there i forgot the web site you gave me .good luck to everyone this week roe.