Vancouver Area Bandsters

[Uli 0]

Hi Jackie,

I have not heard before either that any insurance company would pay for that.

I had my surgery done by Dr. Leung in Surrey, the total cost was $12800.00 and 3 fills are free and then he charges $30 each. If you live here - it is quite convenient and I was happy with Dr. Leung as he has done many surgeries. He works out of Surrey Memorial Hospital and has his office across from there.

Any questions, please let me know.

Cheers,

Gerdi

[Babe 0]

Hi Ladies,

Just curious how everyone is doing? This thread has been pretty quiet for the past couple months...

I just went for my first fill on saturday, and aside from the major bruise and some tenderness, it's going great. i can definitely notice a difference. i actually know what 'full' feels like now... yay!

Patricia, missed you at the last meeting. Any luck with PS research?

Sharon, not sure if you still read this or not, but how's it going? did the Mexico fill help?

[canadagirl33 0]

Hi Babe :glare:

Did you go to a Fill Center for your fill? Sorry, I can't remember which you said you were using... I would assume the bruising and tenderness will go away pretty quickly, glad to hear you got some restriction on your first go at it !!

As for PS, I'm still looking, thinking and saving cash. Still seriously thinking that I will end up travelling for it, altho the more I look the more Costa Rica interests me. I've spoken to a couple that have been there for it and have heard good things. Been in contact with a couple of 'Medical Tourism' companies, altho I don't think I'll end up using them. And then it all comes back to 'When the heck can I squeeze in 3 or 4 weeks that I don't have to do anything but look after me??!!??' ~Sigh~... Time will tell.

Hopefully I'll see you next week at the meeting !!!

Patricia

[canadagirl33 0]

Good morning Everyone !!! I hope everyone had an excellent Easter long weekend...

As I'm sure you've all guessed, this is my monthly reminder post that our meeting is tomorrow night !!! This month has just flown by...

I will definitely be there and am already making my pre-meeting costco trip shopping list....I'm such a costco junkie !!!

I'll be at Lion's Gate by about 6.30 as usual and hope to see you all there.

Patricia

[Vangirl 0]

Hi everyone,

Sorry I couldn't make it to the meeting (yet again!) I was down in Mexico getting my 3rd fill, and now have 3.8ccs in my 4cc band. I'm apparently one of only five or six patients from that clinic that have this much fill. I didn't get much more restriction from my second fill (which brought it to 3.2ccs), and found I was still able to eat about 75-80% of what I was eating before. Out of the last couple of months since my second fill, the first six weeks I pretty much depended 100% on willpower, and the last couple of weeks I decided to stop driving myself crazy and just live my life, and I was surprised to see how much I could still eat even with 3.2ccs. Anyway now I seem to be experiencing what others have described as restriction, and I hope that this continues. I am feeling optimistic about it. In any case, there's not that much room to go in the band, so something has to work eventually.

Hope everyone else is doing well, and hope to see you in April.

-Vangirl

[Uli 0]

Hi,

well the restriction is great for normal foods, but I have a problem with sweets - as chocolate etc. goes down really well.

So I had to go back to the willpower thing which is extremely difficult and had to cut out all sweets. So in regard to my sweet tooth, the band did nothing for me which I am a bit disappointed about. It is strictly based on willpower when it comes to the bad stuff out there and I know we all crave it once in a while. Well, who said it would be easy, I will have to struggle for the rest of my life.

Cheers,

Gerdi

[kbf1 0]

Hello,

I was at a meeting last October and met some of you. I was just banded last Friday by Dr. Leung in Surrey. It all went well and I'm going tomorrow for my one week check-in. Just on I haven't eaten solid food for almost a week. That's a FIRST! Moreover - I can't believe I'm not hungry at all. I've lost 10 lbs already and am so excited! A real motivator when weight actually comes off. I look forward to attending the next West side Vancouver meeting. Does anyone know the details? How have those meetings been going?

Look forward to hearing how everyone is doing!

kiley:thumbup:

Hi Ladies,

Just curious how everyone is doing? This thread has been pretty quiet for the past couple months...

I just went for my first fill on saturday, and aside from the major bruise and some tenderness, it's going great. i can definitely notice a difference. i actually know what 'full' feels like now... yay!

Patricia, missed you at the last meeting. Any luck with PS research?

Sharon, not sure if you still read this or not, but how's it going? did the Mexico fill help?

[shannongetsslim 0]

Hey all,

Sorry I didn't make it to the meeting this month. So much has been going on and so stressed. I have been really sick, ate something really weird and was vomiting a lot. So after a week of hardly being able to keep liquids down I went to see Dr. Leung. He took it all out and won't be able to give me a fill until the 4th. I am not sure if he will work gradually up again or just put me where I was. It was my sweet spot and I was doing so well there. So I really hope it isn't going to take me another 3 months to get where I was. Plus he upped the prices of a fill and it cost me 50$ just to get it taken out.

The more I think about it, the more I think about doing those fills myself. I mean I am a nurse....right? heh hope everyone is doing well!

Shannon

[canadagirl33 0]

Hi everyone :smile2:

Vangirl - Sorry you missed the meeting but I'm glad to hear you're doing well. Don't worry too mucvh about the fill level of your band...under some situations they can be filled beyond what we are told. I know that Inamed has approved that their 4cc band (which I have) can be filled up to as much as 5.5cc's as long as it is monitored. So you may have a little more room to play than you think. Regardless, I am betting that you will get some good restriction. Looking forward to hearing how you're doing at the next meeting.

Gerti - You are so right about the sweets !!! I'm tight enough right now that if I drink my morning coffee too quickly it gets stuck....yet Cookies and stuff go down just fine !!! Not an easy fix to be sure but we can succeed and beat our innner sugar demons !! :w00t:

kbf - I know I missed ameeting last fall so it may have been the one you were at....I'm not sure. When you said the West Side Vancouver meeting...do you mean the one in North Van?..or the one that was out Granville (I think) sdomewhere? I haved never been to that meeting and in January the lady that was organizing it stopped sending me the emails so I am not sure if it is still going or not. Our regular meeting in North Van has been going really well...had a guest speaker in Feb and have had a good turnout most months. And regardless of how many turn up we always have a great time and lots of laughs !!

Shannon - Are you feeling better since the de-fill??? I'm sorry to hear you had a rough time. I actually had a 24 hour flu or something a couple of weeks ago and WOW....trying to actually throw-up was reallyyyyy unpleasant !!! Hope you're feeling better and we'll see you next month !!!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the spring sunshine !!!

Patricia

[twinmommy2014 7]

I had a gastroscope today. He wrote downthat there was no erosion, no pouch seen, and band is located near esophagus. I assume this means slippage or something since the whole point of the band is to have the small pouch. I have to get a barium swallow next week and then I go back to see him. I want it fixed to stop throwing up.

Edited May 13, 2009 by mom2two

[kbf1 0]

Hi everyone.

It appears that one stitch has come undone and myu port is a wee bit sideways - doc says just wait and see how it settles as I loose weight before we decide to do anything and that it isn't pressing. It kind of makes me uncomfortable and it is easy to feel it - what do y'all think? Stress or not?

I got my first fill today and I'm happy to say I had lunch at 11:30 and its 5 now and my hunger on a scale from 1- 10 is about a 3. AMAZING. I had a bit of head hunger and just went for the gum. It seems to work - oh and Water made be feel a bit full too. I hope this lasts!!!

k

[Doddie63 6]

Hi Ports being on the side is not unusual and most times a skilled fill nurse/surgeon can inject any fill. I believe we all can feel our port. However, if your fills are painful and it take many attempts then it is only a minor surgery to have the port corrected. It happened to me. To get a fill it, took at least 3 needles and numerous attempts before success. My surgeon then did the surgery to correct it. Hope this note puts you at ease

[canadagirl33 0]

Hi Everyone :laugh:

Just wanted to post and remind everyone that this coming Wednesday, May 20th, is our monthly meeting in North Vancouver. As always, we will be at Lions Gate Hospital anytime after about 6.30...officially the meeting is 7-8 but we've been enjoying sitting longer than that talking with each other.

For anyone who has not attended, please feel free to join us !! And to all you regular people, I'm looking forward to seeing you !!!

All the best,

Patricia

[Doddie63 6]

Hi: Maybe it is time to start a "twitter" to let new banders know we have a support group in Vancouver? May bring in more people looking for support.

[canadagirl33 0]

That might be a great idea Doddie. I actually think I joined 'Twitter' by clicking the link on LBT homepage a couple of months ago but I've never used it...and don't honestly know the first thing about it !! Do you Use it?? If so, feel free to post about the meeting.

Patricia