Just started the procedure and have lots of questions. Please help

sanket · January 29, 2008

Hello All,

A little about myself first. My name is Sanket Sant and i have done my PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas. Currently i work in the bay area (Fremont, California) in a company called LAM research corporation. I am 5'8" tall and i weigh around 360 lbs. I am a very active person and like to play all kinds of sports, go to the gym atleast 5 days a week (45-60 mins cardio, 30-45 mins weights) but my biggest problem is my metabolism. I have lost upto 45 pounds by just working out and eating less, but the moment i travel (part of my job) or stop going to gym the weight rebounds back like an elastic. That is when i finally am seeking surgery as an option to help me reduce weight. I am not completely relying on the band to lose weight but i am surely relying on it to help me not rebound back in case i dont exercise for some periods of time. I am happy to see so many helpful people on this forum. I have lots of questions on how the exact procedure of lap band surgery is, the risks associated with it and the post operation differences in lifestyle if any. For now i have been going to an endocronologist named Dr. Pavan Katta with washington medical group. He refered me 2 months ago to Stanford medical hospital and i have an appointment with Dr. John Martin on 1st Feb 2008. Could someone help me answer some questions listed below?

1) What are the steps that we have to go through before the lap band and what are the average times between each step (i have heard you go through psychiatrist, dietrician, etc.)

2) After operation do you get a constant feeling that you have a foreign object embedded in your body, like if you wear a ring, you feel it on your finger. Does that irritate or cause pain?

3) Does your lifestyle change after operation in the sense of physical activities allowed, sports allowed etc.

4) Are there any serious threats of this surgery?

Please help me answer these questions.

And thanks a lot for having such a wonderful forum where people help each other so much.

Thanks

Sanket Sant, PhD

bradleybanana · January 30, 2008

Hi and welcome! I would suggest you start by heading over to Welcome to LAP-BAND.com or even looking in the FAQ on this site there's a lot of great information there to answer all of your questions

ckopasek · January 30, 2008

I just had lap band surgery on 12/16/07. I have lost 21 pounds since the surgery. I have had 2 fills since the surgery. I had my surgery done in Tijuana, Mexico in a beautiful clinic with an exceptional Dr. My surgery on cost $6,750, they quoted me $7,500, but I sent an email back and said that I only had $6,750, they accepted my offer. All my fills are free. If you fly into the airport in San Diego they pick you up and take you back to the SD airport. You stay the night in a 4 star hotel that is next to the building that the clinic is located at and then you have your surgery the next morning, you are realeased the following morning after that. You would be there for a total of 3 days, 1 day at the hotel and 2 at the clinic. You feel good enough to make the flight home. It was a little scarry having it done in Mexico, but it has turned out to be well worth it. Once I saw the clinic and met the Dr. my fears were gone. I have heard that the operation in the USA is in the neighborhood of $16,000.

As far as your questions, and since you do not live in San Diego as I do, you would have to find a Dr. nearby that can do the fills, but the money you save by having it done in Mexico makes that worth it. There is no pre-op bullshit, no counseling, or psychiatrist. You do not feel anything like a ring feels around your finger, but if you eat too much you do feel that and too much is not very much at all. If it gets too uncomfortable from eating too much I stick my finger down my throat and throw it up. I have only had to do that twice in a little over a months time. The surgery is very none intrusive, but like any surgery there is always a danger and that danger is from being under anethesia, there is no change in lifestyle. You really should read the content on this website for Dr. Gonzalez's website, the clinic that I had the surgery done at: (I cannot put a link to Dr. Gonzales's website, but it is golap-band and then of course dot com, if you have more questions you can email them and Dr. Alvarez will answer your questions. It is a really nice place and it is about $10,000 cheaper. Also, since lapband was just recently FDA approved, there are no American doctors with any where near the experience that Dr. Gonzales has with gastric banding. Dr. Gonzales is one of the first Dr.'s to be approved by the INAMED lapband devices. INAMED is the FDA approved lapband device that is placed around your stomach when you get banded. Good luck with your decision, lapband offers me a new and exciting outlook for my weight control and my diabetes.

ckopasek

JanetNBama · January 30, 2008

I am 1 month post-op. I experienced the horrible "breadstuck" not too long ago, but today, I am VERY sore. My ribs feel horrible, and I feel a bit anxious. How do I know if it's a slip? How do I know whether to wait and keep taking GAS-X or go to the dr?

lessnless · January 30, 2008

1) What are the steps that we have to go through before the lap band and what are the average times between each step (i have heard you go through psychiatrist, dietrician, etc.)

2) After operation do you get a constant feeling that you have a foreign object embedded in your body, like if you wear a ring, you feel it on your finger. Does that irritate or cause pain?

3) Does your lifestyle change after operation in the sense of physical activities allowed, sports allowed etc.

4) Are there any serious threats of this surgery?

1) I made my first consult appt on 08/07. I had my psych eval the next day. (Psych mostly verified that I wasn't bulimic, that I didn't have unrealistic expectations, and that I wasn't being pressured into surgery by outside forces). I had my nutritionist consult on 08/11. Since I wasn't covered by insurance, I wasn't required to do anything more (sleep study, six month supervised diet, etc). I had my surgery on 08/30, so 23 days from initial consult to banding.

2) I never feel the lapband internally--I can press my fingers against my port and feel it with my fingertips, but I don't have that "alien bursting through the chest wall" nightmare.

3) I can do everything I could do pre-op. I take yoga classes, ride horses, carry a 60lb hay bale the length of a football field, etc. I was body-slammed into a wall by a runaway horse two months after surgery, STILL didn't feel my band.

4) There are serious risks with ANY surgery. That being said, this was my 7th surgery, and definitely the easiest to recover from. I took two days off work. If I hadn't had the gas pains the day after surgery, I could have gone back to work the next day.

Hope this helps. Don't you miss Texas? We were having 70-degree weather this last weekend.

TheGh0st · January 30, 2008

My experience was pretty much identical to lessnless, except for the horses and haybales ofcourse. Not too many of those in downtown Kansas City. Still compared to my previous surgeries this one had to have been the easiest. I also could have been back to work much quicker but chose to take the time work had given me.

And as Bradleybanana said there are some very good an informative threads about the lapband process here at LBT. I would suggest reading some of the "stickies" in the Lap-Band Surgery FAQs and References Forum: Lap-Band Surgery FAQs and References - Lap Band Talk Forum - The largest forum for Lap Band Surgery Discussion and Lap Band Surgery Support

CKopasek - I'm not trying to "flame" you. However, you appear new to the board with only 7 posts. I congratulate your loss so far and admire your enthusiasm. But I would like to caution you. There are some employees of doctors offices that will create user names and fake identities here for the sole purpose of trying to get more business for their doctors. Other members of this board get very upset about this deception and can sometimes be quick to jump to the conclusion that a new poster is one of those imposters when many of their replies sound more like commercials for their doctor than an answer to the original questions being asked. Again, I'm not trying to accuse you of any wrong doing and only wish you the best. I look forward to watching your continued success with the band unfold and welcome your input on LBT.

TheGh0st · January 30, 2008

LessNLess - No one like a bragger.:eek:

Especially those of us sitting up north in the wind and snow. :biggrin:

That's alright I'll just remember you this summer when you've had 60+ days of 100+ weather and I'm "chillin" in the 80's & 90's. :frown:

:eek::party:

lessnless · January 31, 2008

LessNLess - No one like a bragger.:mad:
Especially those of us sitting up north in the wind and snow. :cool:

That's alright I'll just remember you this summer when you've had 60+ days of 100+ weather and I'm "chillin" in the 80's & 90's. :wink2:

:eek::smile:

That's it. :tt1: Now you're on my LIST--of people to visit in August...

I love that Texas fall/winter is like everyone else's spring/summer, but I can't take the 105-110 degree summer days any more. Last August, I was talking about moving to Ireland...

:tongue:

lucyb · January 31, 2008

I am 1 month post-op. I experienced the horrible "breadstuck" not too long ago, but today, I am VERY sore. My ribs feel horrible, and I feel a bit anxious. How do I know if it's a slip? How do I know whether to wait and keep taking GAS-X or go to the dr?

Janet,

I notice you posted early this morning, hope you are feeling better now. Did you call your doctor?

TheGh0st · January 31, 2008

That's it. :tt1: Now you're on my LIST--of people to visit in August...
I love that Texas fall/winter is like everyone else's spring/summer, but I can't take the 105-110 degree summer days any more. Last August, I was talking about moving to Ireland...

:tongue:

OK we are getting WAAYYY off topic here. But Ireland would be perfect. I lived in Scotland for 3 years and loved the weather despite the jokes. Winters averaged in the mid to high 40's with everyone running around screaming its freezing if it actually hit 32-degrees (Can anyone say 20 below windchills here?) Then in the summer it averaged out in the high 70's. I swear I was in heaven. Just cold enough to know it was winter and just warm enough to know it was summer. Hardly anyone had central heat and central air in a home was pretty much unheard of.