SandraMinnesota

First, I would say, review your agenda, and decide what is the most important. If it is getting another fill, then start with baby steps to get it done, starting with the passport. Next, I would say, do what you know you need to do, like slowing down your intake, and monitoring bite sizes. If you can find a fill dr in the US, you may find that your health insurance pays for fills. Mine does, and I was totally shocked to find that out. I just went to the clinic, and told them to bill insurance. It was a miracle, but they paid, even though they wouldn't authorize the surgery in the first place. Go figure. If you get a BAD CLOG, call your dr. in Mexico. You paid for post-op care as well as the surgery. They are prompt at returning calls, and they do care about your success. You should not have to live with pain. (When I called, the dr told me to drink fizzy soda pop to un-clog it, and it worked!) Then figure out how to deal with anger issues. Joining a support group would be a good choice for that. Do some positive self-talk. Every day as you are driving to work, tell yourself over and over "I can follow this program and make healthy food choices. I will lose weight. I will avoid junk food." Hope some of those ideas help. I am 6 months post surg, and lost about 33# so far. I have a new addiction now--clothing purchases. Fortunately, I do it mainly at Goodwill and rummage sales. Sandra

I have quit snoring after losing 30#. I would assume you could give up a cpap after you lose enough. But that question, like so many, is best assessed by your dr. Sandra

Okay, your band sucks. Now tell me 1. What's the inventory of your refrigerator? 2. What's the inventory of your pantry? 3. What was shown on your last receipt from the grocery store? 4. When did you last eat at McDonald's and what did you have? 5. What is on your food journal? 6. When did you last go to the gym? 7. When did you last contact your doctor with your band concerns? Your band doesn't do the work. You work your band. Many many people would like to have a band, just like you do. This journey is all about DOING. Lots of what you have to do requires a huge amount of effort.

Both my Mexican Dr. and my fill dr. here in Kansas have said to take a big swig of a carbonated beverage. Works like a charm every time. You can suddenly feel the clog pass right through, like a roto-rooter treatment. I can identify with the pain. You are totally stopped dead in your tracks, unable to do anything until it passes. Sandra

I use the free plan at sparkpeople.com. You tell it what you ate, it fills in everything else, including nutrients. It is free. There are lots of motivational hints and exercise plans there, too. SW

Today I hit 150#. It has been 20 years since I was that low. I have 15# to go. My jeans are size 12 now, not 18W. My self-esteem is not in the toilet. I am not depressed. I do not dread meeting people whom I have not seen in a long time. I have ENERGY. I bought new panties in a size 6 that don't have a fat roll hanging over the front. My observation is that this journey is NOT the easy way out. You have to work at it. Anyone who thinks this band is for lazy cheaters, I'm gonna smack them upside the head with a frying pan. I work out 5 days a week. Yesterday on the stairstepper at the gym, I climbed 50 flights of stairs. I plan to get to 100 flights in the near future. I count every calorie, and stay at about 1200. My last fill was a tough one, but I hung in there and worked with it. I was sensitive to cold temperature food--it tended to make the band slam shut. So I learned to drink room temp milk. Not an easy thing to do, especially considering that I have NEVER been a milk drinker all my life: after the band I had to learn to drink milk because I didn't like taking calcium supplements. It did several beneficial things for me--1. Gave me more fluid intake 2. Got me my calcium 3. Got me my protein 4. Gave me healthy calories when my band felt restrictive. 5. Stopped the need for expensive gumdrop calcium chewies that had 50 calories for the dosage.

Well, you are lucky to have a local dr. I have to drive to Kansas, from Minneapolis. There is an OCC fill center in the south metro here, but they don't use fluroscopy. But is is worth the drive, because the Kansas dr. is great, and reasonably priced, and uses fluro. I have only had one fill, and am still (this will likely be a lifelong struggle for me) trying to get a handle on head hunger vs. real hunger.

I had my surgery in TJ Jan 12, and it has been a good experience--no pain, no problems. My neice, 10 years younger than I, had hers done in Minnesota, and really had a lot of problems with pain, like gallbladder attack type pain. She had to have an MRI, and lots of labs, and lots of bloodwork after her surgery. Me, I was running on the treadmill and did all my usual activities. We had the surgeries almost at the same time. I felt that I was very lucky to have chosen TJ for my surgery. The outcome couldn't have been better. Her dr. also says that if she gets on a plane, she has to have an un-fill and a re-fill when she gets home. I strongly suspect that he might be beefing up his cash flow. Expect the best. And if you have questions/problems, USE that toll-free number to call the dr. directly after your surgery. There really is good follow-through from them at all levels at the OCC. I just had my first fill. This is a learning curve. I tend to want to overeat, but I try to keep in mind that I should have nutritious intake, and also not to sabotage my band with eating the wrong kinds of food.

Shelby, I really owe you a big thank you. I went to the Dr. Malley as you suggested, and he was WONDERFUL. I was so thankful to have him take me as a patient. I have my next fill appt in May. Without your reference, I don't know what I would have done, as I could not find resources in Minnesota, and he is an 8 hour drive--his clinic is right next to where my daughter lives. What a coincidence.

I am 60 years old. My neice is 50. We are both RNs. I had my surgery with Dr. Ortiz in Jan, she had her surgery here in Minnesota in Feb.--her ins paid for it. I breezed through. No pain at all, no complications, able to exercise right away, tolerated food well. She had severe abdominal pain after eating that sent her to her knees every time she ate, especially if she ate something cold. The pain was so bad that she had lots of follow up exams. They suspected a stone in the bile duct, even though she had gallbladder surgery years ago. She had an MRI, a million lab and blood tests. Everything came back negative. She missed a lot of work. This has lasted about 3 weeks, and is getting gradually better. She just got her first fill. The pain still has not resolved, but is at about 25% of what it was and is getting better still. I guess my point is that there is sometimes a lot of unknown, with pain factors. The common thread for most all of these stories is that it always gets better tn time. I'd say, hang in there. You are at a tough time psychologically, not being able to eat real food yet. That makes a difference, too.

My plastic surgeon told me that stuff was expensive and unnecessary, because the RUBBING of the scar tissue is what caused the scar tissue to break down, not the product. Any old hand lotion should work the same, as long as you rub the scar frequently.

I just had my first fill 4 days ago, have been on solids now for 2 days. It seems that, as time goes on, I feel the restriction more and more. I am still processing the head hunger vs. real hunger thing. I feel like I cannot eat much, but quickly (less than 2 hours later) get hungry. My stomach starts to growl. I have been eating a snack when this happens, but do not want to go back to old bad habits of grazing. I am losing weight now, eating about 1400 calories daily. I would like to eat about 1200 cal daily, but hunger won't let me! Question Have you noticed that immediately after a fill, you can eat a little more volume, then it changes to less volume tolerance, like within hours/days after your fill? If I have the urge to graze will that be alleviated after fill #2, scheduled for 6 weeks? Will eating 2 snacks between meals, if they are low in calories, sabotage my overall band health? How do you deal with head hunger?

I am not a dr. I am an RN. I can tell you that after having had surgery on Jan 12, I never had ONE bout of shoulder pain. I took one pain pill post op--that was at about the 3 day mark, and it was for some neck pain. I had that twice, at the back of the neck. Each time lasted about 5 min or less, and was relieved by a heating pad. I also had 2 instances of midsternal chest pain, each also lasted about 5 min. These 4 instances of pain were all within about 10 days post op. One of the instances of chest pain was in the middle of the night, and went away in less than 5 min. I do think it helped that I religiously followed all post op instructions, and walked a lot. Easy road for me. Sandra

I would like to know 1. The rationale for not drinking one hour after a meal. If the food is nicely sitting in your "big" stomach, say 10 min after you ate, doesn't the water just plop on top of it there? What diff could that make? 2. The rationale for not drinking 20 min before a meal. When you drink water on an empty stomach, doesn't it just pass right through the band into the stomach? Then isn't it just sitting in there when you eat, and food goes into your stomach from your pouch? What diff could that make? I do understand why you should not drink while eating. I get that. But no one has EVER answered #1 or #2 for me. I have a medical curiosity. And to have that answered will make me comply with a full understanding. Sandra

I know one thing for sure. I just wanna be looked at as a sex object for once in my life. ha ha ha. Sandra