Any Banders in Portland?

[izzyd 0]

JC1,

Was thinking about you, glad you are doing well. Just don't overdo anything too soon because you feel good. Take it easy.

I do agree with you about advocating for yourself at the doctor and at the hospital.

Did you lose a lot of weight doing the medifast before surgery? Also do you have the date of the January support meeting?

So happy for you and your new success story. Keep us posted. Izzyd

[Jonnycat1 0]

Thanks for the message Izzy and hello to all you crazy bandsters out there! Well, have I got a story to tell you all! Had my Lap Band surgery on Friday, January 2nd. Everything went well and I was released on Saturday, January 3rd. As I was recovering at my friend's house, I developed a RAGING case of the hiccoughs the day after surgery. That coupled with the fact that my stomach swelled up quite a bit, caused the opening between my stomach pouch and my lower stomach to be completely closed off. Sunday morning I started vomiting up anything I drank or swallowed. I came down with a nasty cold while in the hospital, so all that drainage didn't help. I knew something was wrong when the hiccougs wouldn't go away for about 5 + hours. I called the doctors and they told me that they thought I may have overdone it and to back off eating and let it pass. The hiccoughs did finally subside, but I was left with violent wretching vomiting for two days. I went back into the clinic on Monday, where they told me to back down to just small sips of liquid as I could tolerate it and that if things weren't better by Tuesday they would go in and take some of the saline out of the band.

Tuesday rolled around and I was in no better shape. After being under the x-ray machine for about 25 minutes and poke after poke after poke trying to get to the port, the doctor was successful and finally able to pull about 3 CC's off of the band. I felt immediate relief, but after an upper GI, the doctor and radiologist noticed that there was more stomach above the band than was there on Friday directly after surgery. Yes. I am part of that 10% that experiences Band Slippage. The doctor admitted me immediately and they went in Tuesday evening and repositioned the band and placed a few extra sutures around the back side of my stomach where the band went around to ensure that it would not slip up in that location again. I am not a dainty vomiter. When I hurl, I hurl HARD! That combined with the hiccoughs and two days of nonstop retching is what they believe caused this harrowing experience. It was dreadful and for an hour and a half before going under for the second surgery, I just sat on the bed in pre-anesthesia dry heaving living a nightmare!

My worst fear was that I was going to wake up and still feel nauseous; however, I woke up feeling right as rain. I was kept in the hospital for an extra day to ensure that everything was okay and that no more nausea returned. After a mid-day upper G.I., I was able to swallow normally and got to go home.

I have been recovering quite well. I am experiencing restriction and am learning how to eat and recognize my body queues now that I am on the road to recovery. It's AMAZING! I'm SO grateful for having had the procedure done. I am learning to have a new relationship with food, the way it tastes (my sense of taste and smell is heightened), and when my body tells me that I've had enough.

It's a bright new day out there, my fellow bandsters! The difficult road I walked was well worth it! I'm sure you all will find the same to be true when it's your turn!

In the meantime, feel free to ask me any questions you may have. Every day is something new for me! I'm also down about 45 lbs.!

And to answer your question, Izzy, I did lose about 25 lbs. on Medifast and have dropped another 20 - 25 lbs. post surgery. What I end up losing from week to week has yet to be determined, but I'm aiming to take the weight off slowly and safely, but off it will come!

[LoriHall 0]

Hello All....

I am just starting this procedure, with my pre-op appointments a week from Monday. I have met with the surgeons office and got the OK, so now it is getting all the work done and getting my date set. I am thinking it will be late February with Dr. Patterson. I had a low BMI (35) in the weigh loss surgery world, but was approved for lapband.

Unfortunately, I am a cash pay patient, so I need to work on some financing as well.

I just wanted to get in touch here and start building support for my pre-op life. It has been encouraging to read all the success stories here. Although the hiccup and slippage story surprised me! Glad you got it fixed and hope all is going well Jonnycat!

Any other newbies out there that are looking at surgery soon?

[El Diablo 1]

Hi Oregonners,

I'm in the waiting for docs to go to insurance and hopefully get approved stage.

I am in Milwaukie

[knotchy 0]

Hello All...

I'm a pre-bander in the Portland area...going through the motions. I've been working with OWLS for over a year now on various studies, appointments, etc. How long does this process normally take? It seems very frustrating to me. Should I change doctors & look @ OHSU. Seems like some of you are happy with them. Any advice??

thanks!

[El Diablo 1]

Hello All...

I'm a pre-bander in the Portland area...going through the motions. I've been working with OWLS for over a year now on various studies, appointments, etc. How long does this process normally take? It seems very frustrating to me. Should I change doctors & look @ OHSU. Seems like some of you are happy with them. Any advice??

thanks!

I am with OWLS too, I think if you look around the forum the process does take some time unless you are self pay. Have you had your appt. with the surgeon yet? If so, you're almost there.

[LoriHall 0]

Hello All...

I'm a pre-bander in the Portland area...going through the motions. I've been working with OWLS for over a year now on various studies, appointments, etc. How long does this process normally take? It seems very frustrating to me. Should I change doctors & look @ OHSU. Seems like some of you are happy with them. Any advice??

thanks!

I too am in the various studies/appts process with OWLS. I spend 3 days at their offices next week. However, I am self pay, so it is moving along rather quickly for me. I think that no matter where you are having your surgery, the insurance just makes it a long process.

Wish I had more that I could tell you that would move things along. All I can do is wish you luck as you work through it!

Have you done your psych and med evaluations? Also, I am curious about what the physical therapist appointment is like. Any insights?

[LoriHall 0]

I am with OWLS too, I think if you look around the forum the process does take some time unless you are self pay. Have you had your appt. with the surgeon yet? If so, you're almost there.

Dan,

Which surgeon are you going to be with? Anything I need to know about my appointments next week? Mon/Tues/Wed I am having my med eval, psych, PT, dietician and 1st class! May be a grueling week. Luckily I they waived my sleep study. Hoping I have a consult with the surgeon within a couple of weeks.

Good luck with the insurance company!!

[El Diablo 1]

Hi, I am with D. Halpin, met with her 2 days ago, very nice. I don't think you can go wrong with any of their doctors, Dr. Patterson is very highly regarded also but she was not going to be available for a couple of weeks and I want to get this done NOW. The med eval is standard physical height/weight/history/current problems/history of diets etc.

Physical Therapist was mainly checking body structure and posture, things to do to improve those, learning exercises to improve core strength, setting some exercise goals

Psych eval was two written tests 1 short, 1 insanely long. Your answers help the therapist determine (along with your interview) if you have knowledge of how to eat healthy, any eating disorders (besides eating too much) basically if you are a mentally stable candidate for the lifestyle changes that you will need to make to be successful on the band, worst case you will have to attend some support groups and/or additional therapy to deal with any issues you may have to get you better prepared.

Dietician/Nutritionist To start you on a path to healthier eating and weight loss, you will have to lose some pounds before the surgery. I was told I needed to lose 15-30 pounds before surgery so I lost sixteen before I met with the surgeon so I wont have to do any liquid diet pre-op except for of course the day before surgery

sleep Study, when you do your med eval the doc may still have you do a sleep study, if so it's no big deal and you may have to do two sleep studies, it's annoying but necessary

Unless you are self pay, please don't get your hopes up for the surgical consult in a couple of weeks. The process is measured in months and a lot of it is getting insurance authorizations for every step you take.

Give me a call if you wish, we can help each other through the process and hopefully with our banding experiences.

Dan,

Which surgeon are you going to be with? Anything I need to know about my appointments next week? Mon/Tues/Wed I am having my med eval, psych, PT, dietician and 1st class! May be a grueling week. Luckily I they waived my sleep study. Hoping I have a consult with the surgeon within a couple of weeks.

Good luck with the insurance company!!

[El Diablo 1]

Oops, I see you are self pay Lori, should be a breeze for you. I'll race you to surgery. I'm expecting late Feb or early March

[knotchy 0]

I too am in the various studies/appts process with OWLS. I spend 3 days at their offices next week. However, I am self pay, so it is moving along rather quickly for me. I think that no matter where you are having your surgery, the insurance just makes it a long process.

Wish I had more that I could tell you that would move things along. All I can do is wish you luck as you work through it!

Have you done your psych and med evaluations? Also, I am curious about what the physical therapist appointment is like. Any insights?

hi Lori. Good luck on your evals! I was exhausted after going through all the tests - they did mine over 2 days. I don't do well on standardized psych tests so that was fun trying to explain to them why I wasn't a wacko. The shrink started me on antidepressants & then I promptly gained 10 lbs. I was not at the top of the class :redface:

The consult with PT & Nutritionist was good and I liked them both. I didn't do much more than listen & nod.

[LoriHall 0]

As I figured, this will be an exhausting 3 days. Mon/Tues are the evals and the welcome class (?) is on Wednesday. I asked to have them grouped together, so I would need less days off work. Yesteday I received a questionaire in the mail for the psych eval, so I can fill that out over the weekend and save a little time on Monday.

Dan, I have requested Dr. Patterson since she did the seminar I attended and I was very impressed with her overall. If she is too far out, I will see Dr. Halpin as well. Remind me again when you see the surgeon.....

[El Diablo 1]

Lori, I didn't get that appt. until everything else was completed (see my sig) but I don't think that will be the case with self pay.

[ron h 0]

milwaukie here getting banded 2/9/2009 in coos bay tick toc tick toc i cant wait

[rchief 0]

going thru legacy good samaritan obesity insitute. will have 2 more months of supervised medical for medicare. From St. Helens, Oregon