What Does it Really Look Like??

[abrenner 0]

Hi everyone!

I love this site and have found it to be invaluable to me during my weight loss journey and the process. I am a tough loss and slow loss patient, and sometimes my patience wears thin, LOL. How's THAT for punny and ironic?

Anyway, that isn't why I'm posting today. Here's my question.

Before I go to the trouble of nagging my nurse at the bariatric center to let me photograph a Realize Band on a table empty, with 1 cc, 2 cc, 3 cc, etc. until it is full, I wondered whether anyone else has done or seen something like this.

One thing that I know that helps many people, including me, is to have an idea visually of what I'm dealing with here. So when I'm told I have 7.5 cc in a 10 cc capacity band, what does that LOOK like in terms of diameter of the opening to my stomach.

I haven't found anything out in cyber space that gives me this kind of information, so unless I am reinventing the wheel, I'll be taking photographs and posting them sometime in the second half of April most likely. That is when I have my next vacation and can take the time to set things up and do a pretty good job - I don't want this to be too cheesy and unprofessional looking. I may use my digital camera to set up the shots, but I'll use my regular, dependable Nikon SLR (oh do I wish I could afford the digital version) film camera and then have the film transferred into a digital format to upload.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your stories, pain, joy, advice, honesty, concerns, and support. I don't think I could've done this without you.

[SillyGoose 0]

What a great idea - If you do get some pictures, be sure to post them for us!

[littlemissband 0]

I do not have any pictures but I have seen one filled with 8 cc's before. There is not a lot of room. I would say about the size of a marker. It was really cool to see just how tight that thing can get. I hope this helps you. Let me know if you find any pics. Thanks

[TQUAD64 9]

Yes, I have seen this at the bariatric center I went to. They let us handle/touch/play with the Realize and LapBand.

Additionally, I had read about people eating hamburgers and Subway sandwiches after being banded but before a fill, which totally confused me. So I took my confused mind to the center and asked my doctor and the nurse what is up with that.

I sure as heck don't want to go through this procedure and be able to eat a Subway sandwich and big old whopping burger after the procedure. So they brought in the LapBand and placed it around my finger unfilled and then they gradually added Water through the port, which mad it get tighter and tighter around my finger.

This odd demonstration helped me understand the importance of fills and how they limit the amount of food you can consume.

Edited February 27, 2009 by TQUAD64

[SueAZ 3]

Remember that sometimes the doctors wrap a little fat around the band between the band and stoma. So when you lose fat sometimes you lose "that fat" and that's why band doesn't seen as tight. At least that's what my nurse told me one time.

Edited February 28, 2009 by SueAZ