Sherri

I have my second fill on Aug 28th at the OCC. I would like to know about the Camino Real too. I had the worst experiences at the Marriott and I don't want to stay there again. I am trying to decide if I should stay in San Diego instead of Mexico after my fill.. I want to be able to get back to the OCC if it is too tight and need an unfill. Is the Camino Real is in a safer area in TJ than the Marriott? Just wondering,

Hubo, I will be back to the OCC on Aug 28th for my second fill. Wish I was going to be there on the 13th... You will do great. You are going meet some friends who are having surgery the same day in the waiting room before surgery. The day I had my surgery we all got up and walked the halls together to help with gas pains. We had five people who stayed the night at the OCC together and kind of had a slumber party that night. The OCC had our family members leave at 4:30pm when visiting hours were over.. The nurses were very nice... Best Wishes,

Congrats Erin, Glad everything went well.

Your food is free at the Marriott after surgery but if you take someone with you they have to pay. I would ask for receipts in the restaurant. They told us that they do not give receipts when I had my surgery. (June 2nd) Our check out food bill was $290 and I am sure they charged us wrong. ( I had my mother and daughter with me.) They wrote all their expenses down in dollars but they gave us the bill in pesos when we checked out. We did not have any receipts to compare to what they had on the bill.. When we were there for the fill they did not want to give us receipts in the restaurant to keep either. When we talked to a manager they brought one.. You might want to make sure that you have all receipts in dollars and keep them for when you check out... We finally just got tired of the hassle and paid cash at each meal because we did not want to get stuck with a bill that I had to argue about when we checked out.

Congrats Angela, Hang in there with the clear liquids. You can use the Gas X strips if that shoulder pain does not go away. I only got 4 pain pills to take home from the OCC and after the hour van ride to a different border crossing over bad roads with many bumps and having to bag drag my suitcase a block and a half down the street to meet the van we were all in severe pain. After my last fill I insisted that they go to the border crossing that was right in downtown TJ not the other one... It scared us all to death. If you are still in pain some people go to the pharmacy to get more pain pills for at home. I also felt more pain on days 3-5 if I bent over too much.

Thanks for the fill post.. I am not experiencing any restriction after my first fill. Trying to eat my protein first which is hard because I don't like meat either. If I do eat protein then I tend not to snack as much so that helps..

How exciting that you can exercise again.. Maybe you can send some of that excitement down my way... LOL I went to the gym the other day and could only force myself to to 10 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes on the treadmill. I know I need to make myself do it because I am not losing weight. I will go for fill #2 the end of this month and hopefully I will feel some restriction and start to lose some weight. I hear so many people feel better about it when they loose some weight... Hope that happens for me.

Great Idea to call around to find the best soup.... Happy Birthday!

I had my first fill on July 17th with Dr Acosta. I have lost about 8 pounds since I had my band placed in June. Not great wt loss but at least it is something. I have tried my best to eat low calorie foods since I have had no feelings of restriction at all. He told me that I could be one of the ones that this band will not work for since I like to eat Breads and Sweets instead of meat and vegetables. I am just not a meat eater at all so trying to do as he said and eat meat first has been really hard. The day I got back from Mexico, I got out my George Forman Grill and have been cooking hamburgers, fish and chicken for my meals... They are making me feel sick. I felt this way when I did the Atkins Diet.. I just don't feel good eating much meat. I have a question.. Is a whole hamburger too much? If someone has restriction how much meat do they usually eat before getting full? I have also been eating cottage cheese and hard boiled eggs. Is cottage cheese something I should not eat since it goes down too easy? What about tuna salad and egg salad? Are they considered the "slider" foods? Just wondering if real Mayonnaise is OK to use to make tuna or egg salad? ... I am so confused.. Will eating protein like beans and lentils or eggs work as well for feeling restriction or is it just Meat that I have to eat first? Thanks so much....

Good Reply Sabrina... I am still laughing.... It is sure hard to "break up" with food....

Well this is the place to post anything about wt loss surgery concerns... I go from constipation to diarrhea. I also have lots of gas.. I try to take Gas X so don't keep embarrassing my 12 year old daughter. If I don't pass it I get physically ill.

Sassy, How did the surgery go? I hope all is well at the Marriott... Hang in there with those liquids... 21 days will go by fast and in no time you will be eating solid food again.

Dear Sassyredhd74 and canuk98828, bandiva, RevyD, Thank you so so much for your concerns and replies. I really appreciate your quick replies and support. I wanted to update you: I called OCC this morning and they reassured me that the area of concern was away from here and that all precautions were being taken. I arrived safely - a new driver Joel picked me up and got me to OCC with no incident. I had my first fill with Dr. Hector Acosta who is handsome, charming and spent a long time reassuring me. Even though I had lost 8 pounds in the last 6 weeks, he spent a quite a bit of time discussing how to make this process more successful by making better quality food choices (do protein first, less carbs my downfall). Thank you all for taking the time to write back. It means a lot to me that this forum is here, even when we are scared.

I just got an email from ASCTijuana@state.gov about the Security Situation in TJ today .. It said recent violent attacks to US citizens and kidnapped guests from reputable hotels YIKES..... I am scared to death after reading it an am worried to cross the border today... Has anyone else received this Security Alert? Any Ideas ? Thanks,

After I watched the U Tube Dr Ortiz posted about not cheating on the 21 days I made sure to follow his rules.. I did not want to do anything to make my band not work. Here are a few ideas. I made Homemade Split Pea Soup and Bear Creek Potato Cheese Potato Cheese Soup after I got sick of the canned soups. I used a cookbook for the split pea but cooked it for longer than the recipe... I then mashed with a potato masher to make sure there were no chunks of peas, potato or carrots..... I used Chicken Broth and no ham. (For the Bear Creek package of dry soup you just add water and cook it on the stove and it makes 2 quarts,) I also made frozen Crystal Lite and protein water special K and froze them. . Freeze for 2-3 hours in a Gatorade or water bottle and then shake it up.. I bought three cookbooks from Amazon.com for Post Wt Loss Surgeries.... ( I got them used and about half price) My favorite is .. Eating Well after Weight Loss Surgery.. It gives what you can eat each week for each kind of surgery. They have you puree foods up to week 4. Then chop foods well from weeks 4-8. At the OCC we can eat regular food after week 3. The next is the Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Well after Weight Loss Surgery. The last one is a gourmet cook book written by Dick Stucki " Cookin' For Weight Loss Patients....He is a wt loss surgery patient. I spent lots of time reading recipes and making lists of what I wanted to cook... Then I went shopping on day 20.... Hang in there... Sherri

I think this is a moderated group so you would have to ask the moderator. I don't see them anymore either... Very Strange.... It might be a good idea to re post the info so others can make sure to not leave money or valuables in the hotel rooms..( Just as a reminder to those who are about to travel) We don't want to freak anyone out but that is something we need to be careful of.. Did they ever find out who stole it? I wonder if it would be safer to take all our money and valuables to the OCC during our surgeries or fills and never leave them alone. I am not wearing my wedding ring or necklace either in Mexico. When we adopted our daughter from the Ukraine we were told to use a money pack that went under our clothes and keep our money hid all the time... That might be a good idea for Mexico too.. I am going to use my credit card at the Hotel. If people bring the Cashiers Check for payment for the fills instead of the cash will not have to travel with much money. I will be staying at the Marriott this weekend and I was very glad you posted the info about the money being taken from the safe. We will are planning on taking our lap top to the OCC during our fills on Saturday too. Sherri

Tanya, I need to start to exercise too. I went to Target and found a few 2x work out pants and I got a sports bra.. Yesterday when school shopping for my 12 year old at Old Navy I found some work out clothes. I still need to wear a 2x shirt and they had a few of those that matched the work out bras. Our Old Navy had them marked down 50% here in Memphis.I opened an Old Navy Charge Card and got another 20% off my total bill. I know you get free shipping on the Old Navy Web Site if you purchase $50.00 online. I know what you mean about the thigh rub. I get that when I am walking in a dress or even bathing suit. I can't imagine what running would do to me... Maybe A&D ointment might work. There is always the Boudroux Butt Paste Baby Rash Cream. ( I think I spelled it wrong but you can find it in the baby isle. It is made in Louisiana. Good luck... Sherri in Memphis PS Are you getting your fills in TN or going to the OCC?

It has been 6 weeks for me and my port is still tender.. I had trouble bending over too for the first few weeks. Be careful with the exercises you are doing now. I don't think we are to do any kind of abdominal exercises for 3 months. I would call and ask the Dr on Call at the OCC about Yoga. When I have called the OCC Dr So, who was on call, answered all my questions. I think you need to let your port stitches heal and then you get used to the feeling of having the port in your abdominal area. You will always have a bump at the port site where they do your fills. Did you get a chance to see the Lap Band in Dr Meranda's office? It is really pretty large. I was surprised how big it was. The more weight you loose because your fat does not hide it as much. Some people will choose to have a port revision to make it less visible. Best Wishes, Sherri

Cali Girl. Maybe I will see you at the OCC or the Marriott this weekend. My friend and I will be at the OCC on Saturday for a fill at 10am and then should be outside at the pool after that. Is your surgery today or tomorrow? Post when you can after your surgery. I used the OCC computers right after my surgery to email my friends that I was alive and well. Many of my friends and family thought I had lost my mind going to Mexico for surgery. LOL You hang in there Sherri from Memphis

Great idea about starting a reward system.. I think I will go get a massage today...

I had my surgery 6 weeks ago at the OCC. Before having the surgery I did LOTS of research about Dr Ortiz. I decided to print off his education and training record that is on the OCC website and my printer almost ran out of ink. I think it was 19 pages long. I felt very safe with Dr Ortiz and his staff. I have been a nurse for 25 years now and I can tell you that Dr Ortiz is wonderful. My best friend and I had surgery on the same day. We stayed in the same room at the OCC and it was more like a slumber party than surgery. We decided to stay the night at the OCC but several people went to the hotel after their surgery. I usually get very sick with anesthesia but after my lap band surgery I had no nausea or vomiting and very little pain. We were up walking right after the surgery. They have computers for you to use at the OCC during your stay. I will be getting my first fill this weekend. I have gained three pounds since my 21 days of liquids were over. I have not had any restriction so far like some people get right after their surgery. Best of Luck! Sherri

I have decided to go back to the OCC for my fills. Here in Memphis they want $1000 just to take me on as a patient since I had my surgery in Mexico. It is only $250 if you had your surgery done in the USA. That just does not seem right to me. I understand not wanting to tell people you are going to Mexico . Many people have heard horror stories on the news about how unsafe for Americans it is in Mexico. You could always say you are traveling to San Diego. LOL Best of Luck on your surgery.

Best of Luck on your surgery. The lap band surgery will be a piece of cake compared to a C-section. I was up walking five minutes after my surgery without any pain. I did use the Gas X strips about an hour before the surgery and for 24hours after surgery and did not feel much gas pain...