MyNext30Years

I have to drive 2.5 hrs each way to Frederick, MD but I guess I should consider myself lucky it's not any farther than that. My fill Dr. is very good - she is actually banded herself (from MX).

Glad to hear she is better. That is really good news!

I have no idea how much I have in Would I like to know....sure. But what is more important to me is that I have restriction and I am happy to say I do.

During all of this, I have sure learned a lot about myself, the band and restriction.

I am not able to eat a great deal of hard protein at a setting. I'd say hard protein 1/4 cup with a little bit of veggies.

I don't feel restriction when I drink in the mornings. I've had that feeling a time or two during my monthly cycle.

What this did do for me was set me back in research mode for information on self fills and supplies. I've found out a good amount of information. As of now, I have no intention on acting on the self fill though, but the topic was sure interesting during this 'uncomfortable time" with my aftercare. I am glad to have a good aftercare that is affordable, however I know if I was in a desperate situation I just might dig more.

I have a nurse friend who I've talked to and feel like if I had to I could do it. It is interesting what thoughts come across your mind when you are frusterated with medical care! Ha!

Now to pay off this lab bill. Wow!

Angie

I'd like to know what you've found out on the self fills. PM me or email me - it's on FB. Since my after care place is at least 2 1/2 hours each way and my mom is an RN who's had experience w/ medi-ports and port-a-caths, I'd like for her to be able to do it. At least in an emergency situation!

Thanks, it does sting a bit. It is an expensive lesson, but one that I hope I will not make again. It wouldn't have been as painful if I had not called to verify how the Dr.'s office handled the labs ect. Oh well. I am greatful to have an excellent aftercare provider supper close and convienent so it makes it an easier pill to swallow.

So glad you daughter is okay, that would have had me so upset. Seeing our kiddos sick is not fun and when it is sick to the extent of a hospital visit....YIKES!

I go on solids today and I am eager to feel what my pouch size will be.

Talk to you soon!

Angie

Thanks Angie! She's doing great now! How are solids going? How much total fill do you have now?

I had my fill appointment yesterday and had a chance to talk about the fill gone bad and the treatment I received from a nurse who I had a few "uncomfortable" conversations with. I was pleased at how professional the visit went. Thank heavens! I was doing my best to not think about it and not be to anxious.

They will be waiving the fee for 3 office visits billed at $75.00 a piece.

1. the fill gone bad (Friday) 7/6/10

2. the fill apt the following (Monday) 7/9/10

3. yesterdays fill and consult 8/14/10

I will be paying for the radiology fees and for the lab work that was a complete miscomunication. Hubby and I will be forking out nearly a grand. Yuck!

I was grateful to be heard and to be able to communicate with someone who was not trying to talk over me, take the error personally, or treat me poorly.

I will remain a patient at the UNMC as I feel like they did a stellar job in resolving the miscommunication. Which makes me feel a great sense of relief. I had called around and had a new round of quotes after the ordeal with the nurse and was not looking forward to a new buy in at the next best place.

The good news is, I will be working with a new nurse and that sets my mind at ease too. No more ackward conversations!

The PA asked that I make a follow up visit 2 months out. I still feel uncomfortable, however I will follow her instruction. Time heals all wounds right?

Now.....during this process, I also spent a good amount of time doing research on self fills again. This is the second time I have dug around for information on the internet, spoken to some of the people who have done and currently do there own self fills. I am amazed that so many bandsters do this. I can understand a nurse doing it as they have background. The rest of us....we have much more to learn.

At anyrate, I am happy to be able to get exceptional care and grateful for the outcome. I feel positive that I will have a level of restriction I can feel and that will limit my portion sizes to a cup of food again. *Fingers crossed*

After I finish the liquids and start on solids again I will let you know how it goes.

I'm glad you got things worked out! But it totally sucks about all the money you are out!!!! I guess chalk it up to a lesson learned like I did. I paid $450 for a fill that put nothing in my band back in May - very frustrating!

my appointment is at noon.

I too just came back from vacation. I think you did phenomenal to only gain 3 lbs! I only gained maybe 1 lb if any, BUT that was only because my 3 yr. old daughter was burned and had to stay in a children's hospital (in Norfolk, VA) for 2 days. So we had to leave the beach and stay with her there while my parents and son stayed behind at the beach house. I basically had no or very little appetite while we were gone, and not much when we came back. I didn't get to drink hardly any because of the accident - so there when those calories I had planned on. lol But all is well now and it has barely affected her!

I actually already had the colonoscopy on Tues. Still recovering sort of - I'm in a little bit of discomfort I guess from where he did a lot of biopsies and removed a polyp. I got a call from the nurse today and it is colitis - even though I haven't had any discomfort. I suspect, it's a mild case or maybe in the early stages. I don't know. I'll know more when I see the GI specialist I guess. And actually I've been going poo very frequently lately, so no troubles there - afraid to evev fart at times...lol, a symptom of the IBD.

Thanks everyone for your concerns and advice! I'm glad I went ahead and went to the Dr.!

Sorry to hear that. Not sure which one to hope for Crohns or Colitis.....

Yeah, I'm not sure either. I've been reading (a little bit) online in between working today and they both have their good and bad points. Except that Colitis is limited to just the colon and Crohns can be any where along the digestive tract from the mouth to you know where. (Not sure if Crohn's can spread since it's in my colon now?)

oh my geez louise - what a terrible last few days. As my restriction got worse and worse I decided that it was quite an emergency to see my doctor first thing this Monday morning. I had my 3rd fill performed last Thursday and Thursday was "ok" as far as getting liquids down. But by Friday my entire band closed up and I wasn't able to get anything down at all.

I will NEVER have a fill done towards the end of the week because waiting over the course of the weekend was miserable.

Big surprise, when I went in, they hooked me up to flouro and when I initially drank the barium NOTHING went through my band. WTF - come to find out my doctor had filled my 11cc band all the way up and this was only on my 3rd fill! I figured that he would maybe put like 1cc on my third fill but he went balls to the wall and I paid for it.

I am now at around 9cc's and feeling like i'm on the road of recovery. But whoever has any pain, or can't keep ANYTHING down don't play with it because it's a miserable experience. Also have fills done at the beginning of the week if you don't have access to your fill doctor over the weekend.

My fill Dr. won't do fills after Wed. each week for that very reason! Glad you're better!

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Yeah, that happened to me each time I had a baby, and my mom who's a nurse says it's normal for any event like surgery, etc.

Well, I had my colonoscopy yesterday and it's either Crohn's or Colitis. Should know more on Friday!

I must say the prep for the colonoscopy w/ clear liquids the day before was the worst part - you'd think I'd be used to it by now with the liquid phases we have to go through w/ the band!

I am bipolar and suffer a lot with depression and had no problems with my surgery from the OCC. I resumed all my meds either the night of surgery or the next day. I think as long as you are stable, you should be fine.

Ok, I had to google it, I had no idea that Fiber would help out on both ends of the spectrum - from softening to hardening! LOL Although the past few weeks we have been eating quite a bit more veggies since our garden is producing nicely.

Has anyone noticed a change in their BM habits since surgery? I can't pinpoint exactly when mine changed, but it's changed. I now have fairly soft BMs sometimes 3-4 times before I even leave for work in the morning. OCCASIONALLY, I'll go a day or two in between, but usually it's several times a day. Also, my, eh-um, gas is rather forceful. I also suspect that I have an internal hemorrhoid problem since I've been bleeding (bright red/pink blood) w/ 98% of my BMs (and even some of my gas) since about April - possibly when my other changes happened. I guess the two could be related, but I wouldn't suspect that softer stools could cause hemorrhoids.

BTW, I do have an appt. set up with a surgeon tomorrow morning to check things out since my GP Dr. couldn't find anything. I'm slightly nervous as to what he might find - especially after I did a little googleing of my problems.

I can't believe I'm posting this and thank God I'll probably never meet anyone from here! HAHA

I got the chewable ones.

In case I don't get a chance closer to your date, I wanted to wish you good luck with your surgery and recovery! Keep us posted!

PS You look great and have lost a whole person!

By law, any US company who employees 35 or more people has to give you up to 12 weeks of Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) per 12 months. They have to guarantee your pay but can change your position or title. I know my company requires that paperwork to be filled out if you are out past 5 consecutive days. That paperwork could easily be filled out by the OCC if needed.

With all that being said, I had my surgery on Thursday and went back to work on Monday. Granted I have an office job, but I think I could have done any job I was accustomed to at that point.

I took my meds starting the day after surgery and have had no problems whatsoever. When I was sick and on an antibiotic, I broke it in half because it was a horse pill, and I have switched to smaller pills and chewable vitamins when possible But I still take other pills - like prilosec (a capsule).

Did you watch the saline go in and out of the need during your fill?

This is very important.

My fill nurse made me watch, to ensure I knew what she was doing ... She clearly showed the emptying of the band, then the re-filling to the proper amount. Please be very clear with your fill dr/nurse that you need to see what's going on.

I did watch him, but he used something called a stopcock which allowed him to use two smaller 4cc syringes, so each one had fluid and it was hard to tell. My other Dr. said that those types of syringes carry some dead space so that could be where the problem was. I don't know.

Ok, the most frustrating part of this whole experience has got to be that I went in for my 3rd fill last Wednesday w/ my original fill Dr. and guess what?! There was no extra saline in the band - only the 4cc's she put in originally. (I should have had 5cc total.) So either I have a slow leak from the last fill or he didn't do anything. I think it's the latter since it would be very unlikely that I would leak 1cc exactly - right? I'm writing the head Dr. at that practice a letter and letting him know that I want a refund and he will be responsible for any costs if I have to have a leak fixed (I was not made to sign a waiver.) ARG

Angie, I took your advice and did not over hydrate and I now have 6ccs w/ no problem. I am definitely on a learning curve w/ chewing. I'm glad it's a gradual process.

Do you have any good recipes for homemade salsa? We have our own version of the topsy turvy w/ 5 gallon buckets and we have 5 of those w/ 3-5 plants each. Whew - we are going to be overrun w/ 'maters.

I stayed at the Marriott and there is this nice little restaurant about 2 blocks from it. It's in the shape of a sombrero. We ate there the night before my surgery and it was wonderful. The broth at the hotel was ok MOST of the time after surgery but I've read on here that the sombrero restaurant has great broth too. There's a picture around here somewhere of it. I might even have one in my gallery. I had the chicken fajita and my mom had a TO DIE FOR Filet Mignon - it was melt in your mouth good and about $16 maybe? If I ever go back down there, we're hitting that place again!

You know now that you say that it could be the case! I know at my lowest in my adult life (prior to this) I was doing WW and I got down to 145 and I know I was NOT a size 6 and I mayyyybe was an 8 but I highly doubt it i'm pretty sure I was a 10 I would remember single digits. So that totally makes sense. I have a goal weight set for myself but I am starting to reconsider it. I might change it by about 5lbs and then I have some excess skin that would need to come off if i'm gonna hit that weight. But i'd like to work out hard core to see how much I can get off before resorting to PS.

It's funny my fill dr also said (jokingly) that being overweight was her way of fighting osteoporosis. HA!

Good luck and congrats on what you've already accomplished!

You can combat the nausa and vomiting that come with the flu. My family doctor gives me anti nausa medicine. I have the RX at home on hand for a just in case situation. There is also over the counter things you can purchase as well. I had 2 rounds of the flu and it was not fun. Vomiting with the band hurts....

Thanks - that's great to know! I didn't even think about it. I think I'll ask my fill dr when I go next month for an RX to keep on hand for these situations. I'm not a puker - usually it's 5-7 years between episodes but I don't want to take any chances!

Shelby,

That is amazing. I will never see a size 6. When I weighed 143, I was in a size 10. You are doing fantastic. The way I see it, to maintain instead of gain is an accomplishment.

It's interesting you say that because my fill dr told me that the weight/size on the way up would not be the same on the way down because you have denser bones and more muscle mass to carry around the larger load. She said she was a size 18 at 180 on the way up but a 14 on the way down. She was also banded in Mexico. I'd be interested to hear from others if they have found this to be true.

Angie,

The band slipped when I had a stomach flu. I didn't maintain at all, nearly put it all back on again! That's why I needed another one!

I've been in touch with Dr. O and there doesn't seem to be any reason for a slip (I think I'm just super paranoid). I'm just plodding on with the liquids and taking things easy. I feel a lot better this evening after being able to have a protein drink. It's pretty tough just broth and liquids, I have been exhausted.

I think the back pain is stress, my neck is sore as well. I always get neck and back pains when I'm stressed.

Madge

You just scared the crap out of me. I've been banded for about 3 mos. now and I'm on my SECOND round of the stomach flu. Lucky for me I haven't thrown up either time (the 1st was 10 days post-op). When I started feeling nauseated this time, I started to worry about my band because my mom was telling me how violently she was throwing up a couple of days ago and is still sore from it. I guess you really can't do anything to prevent it from happening.