Syrah

Oops, sorry, wrong thread!

I would also be interested in seeing this site. There is a lot of contradictory info posted on this board, sometimes by the same posters. There are posters who try to intimidate and bully. Just like any other messaging board community. Try to ignore such posters. This is a great forum for discussion and opinion, but I hope no one is using this as a research tool (or at least not as their only research tool).

My biggest slippage fear has to do with the stomach flu, which makes its rounds in my house fairly violently every winter. Argh. There's not much you can do to avoid that.

I don't mean to sound snarky, but if you are fearing the pre-op diet, what are you going to do once you are banded? It is not a miracle cure. You will feel full immediately after surgery and even later, you will probably have a higher degree of satiety than pre-op. But you won't be stuffed from Day 1. Food will still be a demon for you. Right now I have had one fill and my appetite / making good choices is definitely something I battle with daily. Banding is a process that involves a lot of tinkering before you hit the fill spot where you'll lose efficiently. While that's happening (and it takes time) many people can (and do) eat just about anything. So taking control of your eating is not just a phase that's limited to the pre-op period. Good luck to you. It's not easy. It's a huge mental chore.

Quote: Keep in mind that our surgeons both elected to use the VG band instead of the regular band in each of our cases. … So, if fat storage around the stomach wall is excessive, the VG band is used But Noworry, that is not necessarily true. My surgeon uses it all the time now because of easier placement and flexibility. The common wisdom used to be that it was for patients with 45 BMI or higher. Mine was 41 (and barely) when I had surgery. To reiterate, some surgeons are routinely using VG now. I believe I read a post of yours that said you had read Dr. Ortiz’s book and that he seemed to favor this band / would be using it more often. (That was on another board; I did a VG band google search and saw it.) The person I quoted did in fact say that 70 percent of Dr. Ortiz’s patients need no fill for 6 mos. Perhaps it was a typo on her part.

This. I look like ass. Baggy on top, hugging the Michelin gut.

Good luck. When do you fly back? Are you really from Northern Maine? I always think of that movie, Dolores Claiborne, when I think of Maine (well, and cold weather). Accent, or no? Are they only doing port surgery? Maybe that won't be as bad as the initial procedure?

im half way through week 2 do you think it will be ok to go on to soft mushes Well my doc would say "yes," but my doc's team has people on mushies before they leave the hospital. You should call your doctor and ask about this. It's really important to follow you doctor's specific instructions. I LOOOOOOVE tomato juice, and I find a big can of it to be quite filling for only 60 cal. But it does have a lot of salt in it, if you are trying to avoid salt.

NoWorry: The VG band is 13 cm (the smaller bands are 9 and 10 cm). Even taking into account the thickness of the stomach, a 13 cm band could not possibly create a stoma the size of a quarter. It could be that you had a very significant amount of fat accumulation within the band that created such a small stoma in your case. VERY interesting that you say this, because my surgeon actually told me that the opening was a bit smaller than the size of a half dollar. Now, several people here disagreed with this discussion about stoma sizes / the size of my opening. They said it had to be smaller. I think my surgeon is right – that it’s about the size of a half-dollar. But because of disagreements here (and not wanting to spread misinformation), I purposely said on this thread that the opening was “somewhere between the size of a quarter and a half dollar.” Now, my surgeon also told me that most patietns have restriction with the initial banding. I think that’s a topic up for debate as well. You say that Dr. Ortiz indicates “most patients will feel little to no restriction following placement of the band.” Yet just the other day, someone here said that Dr. Ortiz is quoted as having said that 70 percent of newly-banded patients have enough restriction NOT to need a fill for 6 months. This place can be so confusing sometimes. There seems to be a lot of contradictory info. It could be that you had a very significant amount of fat accumulation within the band that created such a small stoma in your case. Question - how do you get fat accumulation within the band? Isn't the band empty, until saline is injected? I'm confused. I'm not sure if you are talking about surrounding abdominal fat that may be squeezing the band, but I carry most of my excess weight around my hips and lower half (vs. higher up, where the band is placed).

Never, please tell us you are practicing safe sex...

How about some sugar-free popsicles? I like Popsicle brand. They are only 15 calories each. But are you on Clear liquids only? (I was only on clear liquids until the morning after my surgery.) If you ARE on clear liquids, try chicken broth. Ugh. That sounds so unsatisfying. Good luck!

Sorry to hear this, Lizrbit. How do they fix a leak? I hope you can find arrangements for your stay and transportation. Let us know how your surgery goes. What causes a leak?

I have managed to convince myself that I will have trouble with certain foods even before I am sufficiently filled. This works pretty well, lol! It has kept me away from bread, beef, noodles, etc. Though I did eat popcorn the other day...

If you have medical records that discuss your weight and weight loss attempts, and it's all documented, it shouldn't matter if you've skipped a year. Even if you just have medical records that document your weight from year to year. Have you had your first evaluation appt yet with the surgeon? They will ask you, in detail, what diets you've tried and in what year you tried them. (Or at least I hope they will ask you.) This information should qualify as documentation. I never had to produce receipts or evidence that I'd tried Jenny Craig, WW, etc. I had all of my med records copied and then I scoured them for any weight-related discussions or notes. I also had a bout with plantar fasciitis (sp), which can be blamed on weight, so I made sure to include that one. I brought weight up at every annual visit so it was always marked in my record. I then turned the records over to my surgeon's office. My surgeon's office has a physician asst who writes a terrific, convincing letter to BC / BS, using the documentation provided to her. I'll bet your surgeon's office has someone similar. Or at least I hope so. Good luck to you!

I just want to second the people who encourage you to stay off the scale. I think that people (like us) who find themselves with a lot of extra weight tend to have obsessive and addictive personalities. We obsess about food so we overeat. (Bear with my generalizations). When we try to combat the food addiction, other things crop up. Addictio to weighing. Exercising. Smoking. Internet posting. Etc. Some new addictions are ok and some are not. Weighing is not, IMO. I wish my doc would tell me to only weigh at appointments. I did not weigh myself between surgery and first fill. I didn't even have a scale that worked. I had my first fill on May 9. I was told to start weighing myself to see if the fill is sufficient and to call for an earlier fill if the scale isn't moving (my next fill is set for July). I got a scale but still haven't weighed myself! I think I'm going to do it on June 9, one month out from my fill. So stay off the scale! It will only torment you to anguish over the gain of a pound or two.

My friends have been very supportive and took me out for margaritas a few weeks pre-op! I think your friend is just worried. One thing I worry about (which is stupid) is that people will be looking at me and wondering why I'm not dropping weight faster. Most people around here who've had surgery have done RNY, and that's what people are familiar with, so they are thinking that the weight comes off super fast (as it does with RNY). I don't know why I give a rip.

Until you have fills, you are wide open, so you will be able to eat more food. Once you start getting fills, you start noticing a difference. I read this here a lot and I disagree. With the Vanguard band, you have a stoma opening that is somewhere between the size of a quarter and a half dollar. With the other band, someone else here said the opening is the size of a dime. How can there not be restriction? I have the larger (Vanguard) band and I felt restriction even before my first fill. I also think that after weeks of liquid and mushie foods, most people will see a decrease in appetite because the stomach has shrunk somewhat. Here's what I think: Some of the battle here (IMO, and not to sound all righteousy) is determing what is true hunger and what is head hunger.

I don't really know what to tell you, Denise. If I'm not losing 5-8 lbs / month and am following the rules, my surgeon will recommend a fill. Are you eating enough Protein? Getting in all your Water? Exercising? Good luck!

Why on earth is Inamed certifying surgeons who they don't consider to be experts?

<p>By the way, I do live near an excellent hospital, but I actually had the surgery 60 miles away in a regional, rural hospital that has a long-time niche for performing bariatric surgeries on people from around the midwest. Ths place only recently started lap bands, as my state's BC / BS did not routinely cover it, but the lap band surgeon has done tons of such bands on patients in another state, where he practiced with a surgeon friend. </p> <p> </p> <p>The large tertiary care hospital in my town only does the RNY surgery.</p>

But who is "barely qualified," in your opinion? Is that a common problem among people who are banded in the US? Because if so, I am not aware of that. Is there some evidence that all US surgeons have high complication rates and lack the basic skills? Again, I am not aware of this problem on a large scale, based on my research and on my reading here. My understanding is that there is a very rigorous training period (and required certification) for lap band surgeons, and that several prominent Mexican surgeons have been very involved in training their US counterparts. Again, I compare this to hauling your kid to Johns Hopkins for a tonsillectomy. Not gonna happen, lol!

You don't necessarily need to have specific medical conditions to have pre-op tests required. The ones that I underwent were standard for all patients who use my surgical group.

Denise, question for you. Are you having trouble losing, or are you just getting impatient? :eek: If you are losing 5-8 lbs / month, you're doing great.

I like Firefox for Macs and IE for PCs. LaurenD, I guess I am just more laid back than some people. Where I live, I have access to a giant university hospital with world-reknowned doctors. It is one of the largest public teaching hospitals. You want to be there if you have something really dire going on, like a heart transplant or cancer. I also have access to a smaller hospital with lesser-known doctors, but who trained at the university hospital. For surgeries my kids have undergone, I've used the smaller hospital. Why? Because I don't want half-day pre-op appointments. I don't want to schedule something like a tonsillectomy 4-6 months out, when my kid is suffering. I don't want the hassle of students and residents messing with my kid for pre-op vitals, etc. Getting the best care possible is not always the best option for people for a variety of reasons, and it is certainly not universally affordable for everyone. I wonder how many people go straight to Mexico because they assume they won't get approved? For example, Furellie weighed 206, pre-banding. Unless she's really short or has a serious co-morbidity, she probably wouldn't have been approved by insurance anyway, based on BMI.

I guess I don't put heart surgery and lap band on the same playing field. To be brutally honest, the most crucial person in the room for any surgery is your anesthesiologist. :eek: