sfkitten

Lea Anne,

This may not be the best advice, but I found I wasn't losing any more either when I was only doing shakes. Instead of a shake for dinner, I ate either a lean cuisine or stirfried two ounces of chicken breast with a ton of broccolli. I used PAM, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of rice vinegar and a ton of garlic. I was satisfied, the entire thing was less than 300 calories and I started losing again...

Good luck!

Hi Sfkitten, I live in San Jose,CA and am thinking about getting banded in February. I'm interested in finding out the names of the Bay Area doctors that provide the fills. I would definately go back to OCC for the first few fills, but would feel comfortable knowing there is someone in this area as well.

Thank you

Hi Mindy,

These are the names that Carolyn from OCC sent me:

Dr. Robert McKeen - San Jose - 408-402-9911

Dr. Paul Cirangle - San Francisco - 415-561-1310

Looks like the guy in SJ does fills! Let me know when you're getting it done - it would be great to have someone local doing this too!

I think we have a lot of the same concerns and goals. I'm 32 and 209, which for someone who is 4'11.5" is quite a bit. My mom is going to fly down with me, which is great, because she rocks. And she's a nurse and apprehensive about this whole thing, so it will be good for her to see the clinic.

Carolyn gave me the names of two doctors here in the Bay Area that work on people who get banded in Mexico. While I plan on going to OCC for at least my first fill (and maybe more!), it is nice to know that there are people within a 30-minute drive who will do fills.

We can plan to meet for our first fill!

I am scared of the pain (I'm a bad pain person), the pb'ing and the possible side effects. But I like that it's reversible if need be and I am 100% committed to losing weight, having more energy and avoiding co-morbidities down the road. I get tired easily and short of breath when I go up stairs.

As for my diet, well, I haven't really started yet. I'm eating healthy, but I plan to really begin in January (not gain anything before that, though) and then do the 12-day protein shake and lean cuisine diet.

Hi to the dynamic duo :-h

Well, I did it, I scheduled myself for February 9th 2007. I have a done a lot of research on the Lab-Band surgery and I hope my decision on having the surgery is one of the better decisions I have made. Foremost, the surgeon had to be the best and the surgery center had to be the cleanest and well equipped. The people supporting the surgeon had to be the most caring and knowledgeable. If the rest of the staff is as caring ,friendly and knowledgeable as Lori and Carolyn are then I know I made the right decision. I haven't spoken with anyone else yet but I guess that will come in time the closer it gets to Feb. 9th. I also want to thank the nice people on this forum because without your great comments that I have read for hours on end I couldn't have made my decision with the confidence I have. =D>

Thank you, your friend in Florida.

Sand Pirate

I agree, they've both been really helpful and answered all my questions. I'm also having my surgery on 2/9, as is AussieinOregon. Nice to meet you!

Melanie

Hi Melanie!

I had horrid heartburn for many years... I had so many "tubings" it was not funny... and they always said that I did NOT have a hiatal hernia.... I took Prevacid for MANY years and it barely kept some control of it.

When Dr. Ortiz went in to put my band in 6 weeks ago he found a wonderful hiatal hernia and was so kind to fix it on the spot... That was 6 1/2 weeks ago.... I have not had ONE SINGLE incident of heartburn since!!

That's great news... I'm hoping mine goes away as well. Thank you!

G'Day Mel,

I will be coming in on the 8th (my birthday ), keep in contact and lets talk when you get to Mexico.

Cheers

Ian.

I'm also coming in on the 8th. What time are you arriving in San Diego? What a great birthday gift to give yourself!

Hi Everyone,

I'm very new here. I'm scheduled to be banded on 2/9/07 and I'm excited / nervous / jittery and other adjectives as well.

Anyway, I have pretty bad GERD. I get heartburn easily and it's not fun. It's somewhat managed by Omeprazole, which I take twice daily.

I've read that a possible side effect of the lap-band is increased heartburn, and this scares me. I spoke with Carolyn at OCC who said that GERD is often a side effect of a hiatal hernia, but I really don't think that's my issue.

Soooo... can you tell me your experiences with post-banding heartburn, reflux and stuff like that? I just can't imagine my GERD getting worse, it's so uncomfortable.

Thanks!

Melanie

Hi Aussie Guy,

My surgery is the same date, and I also take Wellbutrin

Nice to meet you.

Mel