Tristessa

I'm just wondering if anyone has had port revision surgery? My port tipped early last year but the pain was pretty minimal and the port could still be accessed relatively easily for fills/unfills, so my doctor I see here said we'll wait and see if revision will be necessary as the weight comes off. It's tipped even more now, to the point where there's constant pain, so I'm hoping to have revision surgery done soon.

I imagine it's a pretty quick procedure, given the banding process itself is relatively quick, but if anyone who has had revision surgery done could chime in with some details (how long it took, recovery time etc.) I would greatly appreciate it.

1. Name: Amanda

2. Location: Calgary, AB

3. Age: 28

4. Band Date: Nov 5, 2008

5. Married: Nope, as single as they come.

6. Children of the human or furry kind: Two dogs, 5 year old boston terrier and 8 year old bassethound

7. Hobby(ies): Playing my instruments, painting and drawing, knitting, reading

8. Work: I'm considering a career change right now, though I am still working at a job I can't stand much anymore.

9. What was the deciding factor(s) on getting banded: Developing a near-fatal DVT that resulted in bilateral PEs as a result of excessive estrogen production due to years of carrying too much weight. And well, I'm just sick of the constant battle.

10. Interesting factoid: I single-handedly delayed the qualifying luge runs at the 1988 winter olympics by spilling hot chocolate on the luge track. Go me!

How are you recovering? I will be banded in 48 hours! I am very excited...a little nervous about the recovery journey. How are you adjusting.

Marcus

My recovery has been slow going, but that's just how my body is. I was actually a little shocked when I looked at my calendar today and realized I get to go back to eating food tomorrow as the liquid diet hasn't been difficult at all for me and I haven't missed eating at all. I've lost 16lbs post-op and have just, in the last couple of days, started feeling small hunger pangs. I'm still on the fence about the decision I've made, but I imagine very very few people went through the surgery day experiences that I went through. Mine was not the wonderful experience that everyone seems to have had. All in all though, I think this will be a very positive experience for me, once the few wrinkles associated with it are ironed out. It's slowly but surely going that way.

Good luck with your surgery today!! (And try and score as many as the green freezies [i can't remember what brand they have specifically there] as you can. Those ones are the best. )

I have found that I am buying lots of cook books and drooling over the recipies without making them. Weird eh?

I did that too! I bought three cookbooks, got home on Friday and started looking through them.. With the thinking "Oh, it's good to be prepared ahead of time" and start menu planning and stuff (I just had my surgery on the 5th.) And I'm not hungry at all, but shaking the "mental hunger" ugh.. that's harsh. Only 16 more days. Yay! :girl_sigh:

NAME: Amanda

LOCATION: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

AGE: 28 years

GENDER: Female

BAND DATE: Nov 5, 2008

HEIGHT: 5'5"

HIGHEST WEIGHT: 308 (That I know, anyways..)

CURRENT WEIGHT: 260

SURGERY WEIGHT: I'll update that next week. :girl_dance:

GOAL WEIGHT: 135ish

Hi,

I'm getting banded on November 4. Like you, I am so freaking excited!! Very few people know what I'm going to do, and that's how I want it. I'm going by myself, and that's the way I want it. I start the pre-op diet tomorrow.

Awesome! I do my pre-op testing on the 4th so I'll see you down there hopefully! Good luck with the pre-op diet, I'm starting mine tomorrow and I just paid off the balance owing for my surgery today, so now I'm getting antsy. Two weeks to go!!

Thanks, Dr. Mitchell now charges $5000 for 5 yrs post op care! but I will phone Dr. Botha

Thank you for the names!!

Jenelle

$5,000?! That's freaking insane. Do you know what else you get with this "post op care" besides just fills? Because that's just nuts.

Thanks Gals for your replies. I knew that you would only have great things to say but you never know! Would you have the lapband over gastric bypass? I guess this whole thing about not being able to find a fill doctor in Alberta has me second guessing having this surgery. I know that I could go down to Montana and get filled but that would cost me upwards of $1000 each time I needed one. And what if I was filled and needed some removed having to go back down to Great Falls Montana would be just to much money for me and the time too, its a 5 hour drive.

I just hope that my family doctor will be able to help me find a doctor here in Alberta to do my fills even though I am having the surgery by one of the best in the world in Mexico!! I will let you know what he says after my appointment next Sunday with him.

Jenelle

Dr. Botha and Dr. Mitchell in Calgary both do fills for around $100 from what I know. I haven't heard that they've stopped doing fills, only Dr. DesC..(I can never spell his name right.)

Hi,

I am also scheduled in Nov. I am new here and would love to hear everyones experiences advice etc...

I am scheduled on Nov 5th- I am excited and a little scared. There is so much info and I have so many questions.

I have two small children and I will be quite busy when I return home. How sore are you?

I was also wondering if anyone else was having problems when telling family that you chose Mexico? I am confident with my decision, but I sure have to do alot of explaining- so I stopped telling ANYONE.

Can anyone give me more info on the Pre-op diet? I am just in the process of getting all paperwork in and know very little about that part.

Also the smoking!!! It says you have to stop two weeks prior....any helpful hints or advice

I took Champix/Chantix to quit smoking, I'm almost eight months smoke free now. I've definitely gotten some looks and some negative reactions when I've told people I'm going to Mexico, but I've armed myself with a whole lot of knowledge, so when they start swinging, I swing right back. And then remind them that it is MY personal choice.

I'll see you there on Nov 5th!

I'm a Novemberer. I arrive in San Diego on Nov 1st, then spend a couple of days there before heading to Tijuana on Nov 4th and my surgery is scheduled for Nov 5th. I'm so freaking excited!!!

I love love love my Wii Fit. And I find an hour can go by like nothing when I use it.

Incidentally, the hula-hooping makes for a great party game too. (and you can burn off the alcohol! )

:girl_dance:

I have a potentially dumb question.. But is it ok to drink if you let it go flat? Aside from the calorie aspect, which if you're drinking diet is a non-issue, there aren't any issues with the syrup or that are there? I've heard/read caffeine is not good for the band either?

Former diehard diet coke/pepsi drink here. I stopped cold turkey that and all other forms of caffeine on June 1st. And the people around me sure have noticed.

Hi! The SD zoo is SO amazing. Seaworld kind of dissapointed me though. Are you going to the Wild Life Park as well? It's run by the SD zoo too, but it's about a 30 min drive from the city. It's really great too, huge, more like a wild animal park in Africa than a zoo.

Anyway, have fun both there and at the OCC. You are in excellent hands!

Karen

I really want to check out the Wild Life park too. I was looking at the website for the park and it looks so awesome. It's tempting to scrap Sea World (since I've heard from quite a few people that it's not worth the ridiculous admission prices) and just go check out that instead. Or Lego Land (my inner child/geek is dying to see that too!)

Wow! Thank you all so much for the welcome! It's hard getting out of wallflower mode and you all have definitely made me feel a whole lot better.

I'd like one of everything mentioned annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd this:

My goal dress.

Though sadly no amount of weight loss will ever make me 5'11".. *sigh*

Hey hey!

I'm another newbie, heading down to be banded in November (the 5th) at OCC and going out of my mind counting down (literally, I've got countdown calendars everywhere .. ) the days til I'm on that plane! I'm 28 and from Canada.

Honestly, not only am I excited for that, but I'm spending a couple of days in San Diego prior to go see the zoo and Sea World which I've been dying to do since I was a kid. I was planning on keeping it on the downlow and just surprise everyone with my weight loss, but I have a big mouth.. hehe

But I just wanted to drop a hello since I'm the shy type, even on the internet, and I'm working on overcoming that too.

So hi everyone! :girl_hide: