dawns

Hi, my travel home took 21 hours after surgery. The main thing you are going to want to make sure you get are some calories throughout the day. If you have a layover then try and find some place in the airport where you can get some soup broth, (only broth), and go for Gatorade or Powerade, and then on top of that drink water. Using your crystal light packets are fine. You can also have juice but you will want to only do half juice, half water. If you do all that you should be fine. As far as the medication goes, it is not that it metabolizes differently, its that it has to be small enough to go through the stoma to the lower stomach. Depending on your pain tolerance, you probably will not be that uncomfortable. They give you 4 toradol to take home for pain. You will take one pill and let it dissolve under your tongue every 12 hours. For the most part it should hold you over. You can also bring some liquid Tylenol if you need something extra for pain. Good luck and safe travels, Dawn

Tanya, You look great! Keep up the great work! Dawn

Good job Tanya and congrats. Can't wait to get where you are at. dawns

Hi Jessica, Please know that my thoughts are with you. I would suggest that you somehow get in touch with a social worker through your local hospital and contact the area agency on aging and also your state welfare department so that you can get some help. There is help out there and there is a strong chance that you could get them to a place where you don't have to be their caregiver. You just have to get hooked up with the right agency and one of the above should be able to help or guide you where to go for resources and to the right place where you will get help. Good luck to you and take care of yourself, dawns

Hi Victoria, Where did you have your fill done at? If I am correct you live in KC? I live 2 hours from you (if you do live in Kansas City) and I was wondering if there was a decent place in Kansas City to have a fill done. If you did have it done in Kansas City would you be willing to say how much you paid? Thanks for any info dawn

You should only have to have script stated that you have a diagnosis of Obesity. That is what I had to have for my flex spending account covered anything related to weight. However I did not try and use it for my surgery. Good luck

Hi Stormy, I was banded on Sept 1 and I had pain on and off in my chest for about 4 weeks. I would get up and move around and then it would go away which would tell me that it was gas. Most times if you are having a issue with your heart there are other symptoms that go along with that. Some of those symptoms would be left arm pain, jaw and neck pain, most times on that left side, being very sweaty and having dizziness or being lightheaded and a lot of times people will describe the pain in their chest as if an elephant is sitting on their chest. It can take a while for all of the gas to leave your body and also your body is still trying to adjust to major abdominal surgery. I would pay attention to things like if you move around does the pain go away or does it get worse. If it goes away with movement it is probably gas. You can always call your doctor just to put your mind at ease if it continues. Also mentally you are dealing with all these changes that are happening within your body while it is trying to heal which can make your imagination go into overtime. Hope this helps and again call your doctor if you feel like this is something other than gas. And it never hurts to drink plenty of water.. Take care dawns

Hi Heidi, I am a nurse and I would suggest the same as Will T. I would certainly have it checked out. You wouldn't want something to get bigger and get in the way of your band and you need to make sure it is only a cyst. Good luck and keep up posted. dawns

Hi Jessica, I did the same thing last night after reading all the posts. I felt all around below my incision and I think I feel something but I it doesn't feel any different on the other side of my abdomen. But every time I feel the spot we both keeping talking about it feels like the port and that spot has been the sorest spot of all. Now I am really curious to see where they find it for my fill. have a great night dawns

Hi guys, I just bought my tickets through Southwest out of KC to go back to OCC for my first fill and they were 219.00 They were internet specials. They usually have pretty good internet specials but you have watch their website and have a two or three times that you are willing to fly. Good luck dawns

Hi Jessica, I was banded at OCC on Sept 1 so I am in my 4th week post op. I have a lump the exact same place that you describe and I am almost certain it is my port. It feels like the round circular disc that ports look like. Being a nurse, I have accessed ports before and it feels exactly like that. I would be really surprised if its not the port. I guess we will see. I go for my first fill on Oct. 17th so I will be excited to see where they go. Take care dawns

Prilosec OTC is great for reflux and it comes in generic now so it is not as costly. Good luck dawns

Hello, I will be going to the OCC on Oct. 17th for my first fill. My plane arrives at 950am and was hoping to join some other banders who need a fill to share the cost of transportation. Thanks dawns

Dr. Ortiz does not put any saline in the band during surgery. He recommends a fill at 6 - 8 weeks. dawns

My mom and I took the bus to Rosalita and went to the beach the day after surgery. It was great. Good luck. dawns

If you walk it will help to move the gas around and eventually out. Walk walk walk and drink drink drink. It gets better.

So I don't post on here very often but I read the posts every night so I thought I would share my experience that I had at a doctors appt. today. We have a doctor supervised weight loss program here at the hospital in my town in Kansas. I have been going to this weight loss clinic for about a year now and my last appointment was in May. At that appointment I had told them that I was checking into having surgery in Mexico at the OCC. I scheduled a follow up appointment for today knowing that I would hopefully have had surgery by the time I went back for my follow up appointment. I had my surgery on Sept. 1 and I decided I would keep my appointment at the weight loss clinic today even though everything has been going pretty ok since being banded last Monday. I really wanted to visit with the RD to make sure I was getting enough protein and such. So I got there and checked in and the nurse called me back to weigh me. She asked me if I had had my surgery and I told her yes and she wanted to know if I had gone to Mexico like I had planned, I told her yes. She didn't say too much more and took me to the room where I would see the doctor. She shut the door and said to me "now are you sure you got a band?" very condescendingly. I looked at her funny not sure I was understanding what she was saying and she said again "are you really sure that you have a band because we had a patient that went to Mexico and he came back with only a port, he never got a band. You just never know what you get when you go someplace like Mexico to have surgery". I could not believe what this woman was saying to me. First of all I am a RN also and she knows that I am a nurse and she said this to me! I said to her that I was very confident that I left the clinic with a band and that I was very well taken care of and that being a nurse I thoroughly did my research on Dr. Ortiz. She smirked and left the room to get the doctor. The doctor came in and she has been very supportive all along but then she tried to tell me that there is no such thing as a 10 cm band that only takes 4cc's, that the only FDA approved band hold 14cc's no less. I told her over and over again that there are different sized bands, one is bigger than the other and holds more saline and the OCC only uses FDA approved bands. She nicely kept telling me I didn't know what I was talking about. Finally I just gave up. I asked her how many fills they do at the hospital and told her that Dr. Ortiz says that a women usually only needs 2 fills maybe 3 in their lifetime. She said that they do way more than that and that must be because they use the FDA approved 14cc band. I let it go at that point and decided that I will go to OCC for my fills and not mess with them anymore. I did get to see the RD and she said that my diet (even though it is the liquid phase still) looked good and keep up the good work! During my visit with the dietitian while I was trying to listen to some of the stuff she was going through I just got madder and madder about how the RN had treated me so I said to her that I know that in the US especially in the healthcare field it is supposed to be such a bad thing to go to Mexico to have any kind of procedure done but that I felt like I had made a very good decision for myself and I was happy with it. She wanted to know what I was talking about so I told her what the nurse had said to me and she apologized and said that the nurse was out of line and that she would say something to someone about what was said to me. She also told me that the story that the nurse had told me was not true. I have fumed about it all day long and then decided its not worth it to let closed minded people get to me. Thanks for reading my book and letting me vent. dawns

Shelby, Good for you! I had a hard time figuring out who to tell at work also but in the end it all worked out. I will think of you when the Purple Wildcats are marching down I-70 to stomp the Hawks! dawns

I am day 7 and started creamy soups today. I think I am having a hard time getting enough calories in because I am confused at how much full liquids can be taken in at one time. The paperwork says only half cup at one time but I am not sure if that is for the full liquids or if that is for when I start solids. I am really scared I will stretch my pouch. Please help! dawns

Thanks for the tips everyone. I actually ended up in the ER yesterday for dehydration and had 2 bags of fluids. I think today was still a little carry over from that. I have really been drinking today and tonight I feel so much better. I really hope it carries over tomorrow and from here on out. It is really nice to be able to ask others who have experience in this for their opinions. Thanks again. dawns

Hello everyone. I was banded on Sept 1 so I am 6 days out. I keep getting nauseated on and off and I wondered if this is normal? Still very gassy so I am wondering if that is causing it. thanks for any replies. dawns

Had surgery on Sept. 1 at OCC and doing ok. Have some port pain but I know that is normal. Also feel pretty shakey in the mornings. Would like to connect with anybody who had surgery the same day as myself and see how you are all doing and compare notes. Dawns

Alana, I am being banded on Sept 1 and have not started my pre-op (officially) yet. Can you tell me if you are losing weight with the Ensure and how many calories does it have in it? Thanks , Dawns

I am a nurse who does life insurance exams and first off I would call the parent company that employees the nurse that came to your house and let them know how you were treated. You can find out the company the insurance company uses to contract that nurse by just calling the insurance company and asking them who they have do the life insurance exams. Most people who have the life insurance exam assumes that the nurse works for the insurance company that you are trying to get coverage through but that is not how it works. The insurance company actually contracts with another company that contracts nurses and doctors to do the exam. Second of all if I have a high BP on a client the insurance company almost always sends me back out to do a BP recheck and they usually require 3 BP readings at the time of the visit. I am curious to know if the doctor they sent you to took your blood pressure during the visit? Hope this info helps and I am sorry that you had that experience with the nurse. There is no reason for her to have treated you so disrespectfully. dawns

Wow Dr. Luke you look great I am having my banding done at the OCC on Sept 1. I am a little nervous but seeing success stories like yours makes me very excited to know that my life will be different. Keep up the good work. Dawns