AngieB

How did your 2nd fill go?

Looking forward to hearing how your second fill goes! Hope it is easier than the first!

Ah onederland....glad to hear you are close to seeing it! Way to go!

So glad surgery went well. Exchange contact infor with the people you got banded with! It is great to keep in touch!

This sounds just like what I experienced!! My aunt got me a size 3x for Christmas...and I've never been a 3x...and she gets me that size every Christmas!!

I believe they mean well.....but it sure does nothing for the feel good sensors! Ugh! I plan on taking the cloths back.

Mandy - Thanks.....because of all the snow we had and the blizzard he used another one of his 9 lives. Now, I don't know again. I am back to hoping he will stop again....why....I love that darn cat soo much.

I suppose it is gonna happen sooner or later....looks now like it is going to be later.... Denial is bliss....or is it?!

Odette - I thought of you yesterday. The gal doing my fill had a bit of a time getting my port. So much so, that she bent the first needle all the heck and had to get a second one to finish up. I am not scared of needles or anything so it wasn't tramatic for me, but I thought of you because you just had difficulty with your fill. Mine was under floro too. So sometimes they have a tough time. In Mexico they put in a low profile port, which is the small size port.

Thanks Odette, that really means alot to me. It's a difficult situation because in his current state, he is unadoptable. The human society will put him down. I don't feel like I can post him to a good home when he is peeing outside the cat box. He is declawed and been an inside cat for 8 years. So he is a sissy cat, and that would be a huge lifestyle change to put him out in the winter and turn him into a outside cat. I wish I had a solution to this nightmare. The last thing I want to do is put him down. We can't continue on this way. It's frustrating cleaning up pee all the time and steam cleaning ect.

My son and this cat get along sooo well to. The entire thing makes me sick to my stomach to even think of.

When I moved to Omaha, and did not have family around. Cleo was my family. He was my friend and we were never alone cuz we had each other. I know this is TMI but my cat and I have a bond and it is hard to break it on purpose. My husband said to me. It's okay honey, if you can't or are not ready yet...... The question is, is anyone ever ready to do a sad life change? How many times do we need to replace out carpet or steam clean the area? How long is long enough. This has been a year of great challenge for he and I.

Odette - I say do what is best for you. You are the owner of the band, it is yours to take care of. That mean making the decisions you need and want for you. Pretty cool huh! Personally, I do my fills under floro. (I am not sure if they would do it with out floro....) I also think that the first fill is the least important one to have floro on. That is my own opinion.

At one time I really investigated doing my own fills and buying the supplies. It is WAYYYYY more affordable. I have decided for now, to continue on with the after care I have set up.

I was one of the fortunate ones who didn't have a lick of gas pain. My momma had me up and walking ASAP after surgery and kept me from sleeping to long. The next day all us newly banded tourists hit the strip for some shopping we walked and walked. I think that is why I did so well from the get go.

I took gas strips and squirted beano in my mouth as I walked out the door for surgery. Maybe the combination of the above was the magic.....

AngelaMcG - have you tried wind mill movements with your arms? or putting your arms above your head and moving them about? This should help move the gas out and maybe even allow you to burp.....

Amen....amen....amen. For me it has been worth EVERY MINUTE! 40 lbs down! Woot!

WOW! Congrats on having surgery tomorrow! I will be thinking of you.

Carrie - Girl you sure do know how to perk a persons spirit up. My stats are not to impressive. For me, this has been something it has taken me time to wrap my head around. I knew going in this was a slower weight loss, that the tool was not going to do all the work for me. Still I had expectations of my success, which really messed with my head. For the most part I have gotten over that part. Still has it's flare up moments. For me, I lost 4 lbs on the liquid diet. That blew me away. Now, I look at it like this. ....that is a time of healing for my body.

When I lost the 100lbs before I did it in a year. No band to help. So I guess I figured my loss would be a little bit better. Reading how people can loose 6-8 lbs a week really was impressive. That has not been my story. I have however lost 40 lbs so far and i have 5 months to go to round out the year. Which is a pretty impressive weight loss, so what the heck is there to get my panties in a bunch for?!?

I am so glad we are friends, I really appreciate you so much!!!!

Odette! You did it! It's so nice to be on the other side of the 21 day liquid diet! Woo hoo!

Count down to fill time baby!

Odettet - you are over 1/2 way done on the liquids portion! Sorry to hear about the gas and hunger pains the 1st week. That must have been hard. I didn't drop much weight in the liquid diet. It was a struggle for me and I must have drank enough in calories that my loss was minimal. That was hard for me to wrap my mind around and really messed with me. Now I am grateful I made it through that portion. It was not easy for me.

Glad to hear you are staying strong! You can do it! Looking forward to hearing more about your adventure.

Angie

Congrats on your decision! It has been a great choice for my own health and wellness.

Wow! What a great story. I was a self pay as well, but I had my surgery with the OCC. There was no way I could have afforded the price in the US. By going to the OCC I had the best lapband surgeon and team and saved over 50% of what I would have had to pay in the US. I didn't have to do the testing or evaluations you mentioned. The OCC did some pre-op testing. I guess maybe that may be the same tests you are talking about. Not sure.

Congrats on everything falling into place. I am looking forward to hearing more of your experiences.

I have a loan for my surgery too. For me, it is a small price to pay for health and wellness. My payments are reasonalbe too. I have them set at $150.00 a month.

When is your surgery date?

A PB is a productive burb. When something like that happens, it can be like you burp or hiccup and food returns in your mouth. Or, it can be where you bend over and open your mouth and a blob of "slim" comes out with food particles in it. Some report that PB is more along the lines of a good heaving vomit. That discription being said, I have had all three of what I have discribed. I am nearly 6 months out from surgery, and am learning my body signals. Which I have gotten better at listening for and too. If I PB, more often than not it has been more along the lines of bend and spit out what comes up. Or at least it has been. I recently had a sinus infection and learned that post nasal drip really does affect my band. What I mean is the band gets junk around it and boom PB - the food came back up in a vomit discription. That is the only time I have had it be that harsh. Now more times than not if I PB it has changed into more of the burp.

I don't like PB or sliming, but it is not as bad as vomiting. You don't have the stomach acid and the sick feeling that comes along with it. I am like you, I hate throwing up. Try to avoid it at all costs. So much my husband tells me, not to fight it, that I will feel better afterwards. What ever! LOL After saying that. It is not a huge issue. I've learned to eat slow, chew, chew, chew and to take smaller bites.

PBing is not something that is done on a regular basis. More times than not, I have these moments after a fill. When I am adjusting to my new level of restriciton. I do have some foods that just plan do not set well with my band. Sadly, I have been learning them and cutting them out of my diet. It's a small price to pay for health and weight loss for me.

When I decided to have the surgery, I was pretty gung ho. I had made my decision in March and had anticipated I would have my surgery in June. Ended up I had work conflicts and had my surgery in April. I read literature, and Dr. Ortiz's book, became a member of this forum and LBT. I have learned sooo much from this forum it is awesome. I would recommend you reading and posting here, as you will learn alot of what is to come. In some ways I regret not being a member here for longer before my surgery becuase it is so informative. However on the other hand, I was ready to make a change and I was ready to do the deal too. Patience is hard to have when you are ready. At least it was for me.

I hope my rambling has helped you.

Odette - your comments mean alot to me. There are far to many of "us" in the world today. Many who have suffered far more than I have. I am not ashamed of what happened to me as a child, however I do still feel pain from it. Sometimes, the pain comes as a suprise to me. I sometimes am suprised at how I can feel so emotional about something that happened so long ago. I am 33 as I write this.

I am so glad you have joined the forum, and look forward to hearing more from you. My heart goes out to your sister. I am happy that she failed at her attempt to commit suicide, and am sorry for her pain. I hope she can find peace. She is blessed to have you as a sister!

I started the pre-op early too. Good thing as I would not have made my weight if I hadn't.

Looking forward to reading more of what you have to write!

Here is my reply to the post I was talking about.

I voted, "In a pinch I'd do it in a heartbeat if I had all the right supplies."

I voted first, then cruised the posts that followed. I was suprised to find so many people against it. My mentality is different I suppose.

Thinking about the question posed, my main concern about doing it comes down to my level of discomfort. It would take some focus on my part, and if I was so tight I was unable to swallow my own spit, I'd hope to be able to pull it together enough to do the deed. I mean after all we are talking an emergency situation here.

Here is an analogy, What would you do if you were short on breath and gasping for air? Setting next to you there was an ozygen tank and mask. Would you ignore it? My answer is for petes sake NO! I would put the mask on and huff the air into my lungs. Of course I am going to help myself!

I agree full heartedly that safety should come first. Fill party.....hmmm I don't see myself attending one....

Doing my own fills. Now, that is another subject all together.

You are on Fire way to go!!!

Hi Andy - glad to hear your shoulder pain is better! Looking forward to reading more on your journey!

Thanks Vibrant! I've been setting plenty of mini goals. 250 is nice to see again. I do hope that I don't ever see it again though. Been there done that to many times. Let's hope with the band that will be a reality!

It's nice to get comments! Thanks for reading my entry.

Carrie - I appreciate your comment. I am starting to see and feel the difference. Thank heavens we got the band!