micheleisme

I have gone to the following: Kelly Fitzpatrick, ND 923 SE Sherrett Portland, Oregon 97202 Phone: 503 235 6589 I live in Hood River and I have seen Dr. Macabee, but haven't gotten a fill from him yet: David Maccabee, MD 1151 May Street Hood River, OR 97031 Tel: 541-387-6125

I'm getting re-banded on the 6th! What's your name? I will make sure that I say a special "Hi" to you when we meet. -Michele (from Oregon)

I was overfilled from my first fill. I was PB'ing every day and just taking that for granted. I then started coughing when I was sleeping, so I got unfilled and stopped coughing. Then I get filled again. and started coughing again. The coughing was from food moving up my esophagus, which I didn't realize was an issue (you would have thought the doctor who I was getting my fills and unfills from would have been concerned, wouldn't you?). Anyway, I started coughing so much at night I couldn't sleep. I ended up at a different doctor, a surgeon, who had me do a barium swallow and told me that my esophagus had stretched to twice the normal size and that I would have to the band removed. I went back down to Dr. Ortiz's office and the endoscope verified and I had it removed. So, what I learned was 1) PB'ing every day is bad 2) Coughing while sleeping is bad 3) Not having good follow-up care with an experienced professional is bad Even though it was an ordeal, especially the months on end not sleeping, I know if I do right by my band, it will do right by me. -Michele

I was banded in Jan '05 and my band slipped and I had it removed Sept '07. I will have a new band put in on March 6th. I am replying to your post because I want to let you know that the biggest thing that I am excited about (besides re-loosing the 35 lbs or so I gained in 6 months) is how I will be able to enjoy food again. As soon as I had the band removed I was hungry all the time. I just starting stuffing my face, not enjoying what I was eating. When I was banded and could only eat a small amount, I ate slowly, only ate food I enjoyed (no low quality crap), and cherished every moment (well at least most of the time!) From my experience, I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, in small portions, slowly. There were some things that my band didn't like, so I lived without them. Don't worry- you will figure the food out and maybe you will end up liking food even more than you were fat and hungry all the time. MicheleIsMe Re-band scheduled for March 6th- Dr. Ortiz