donali

My brother learned a song at camp... "There's a skeeter on my peter, knock it off!" My folks died laughing when he started singing it... lol

Krystal - The tissue that your port is sutured to (the "fascia" of the muscle) is very thin and tears easily - particularly when you are beginning to heal, it is easy to irritate the site where the port is sutured down. Take it easy, and try not to stretch and bend too much while you're healing. Take liquid Tylenol to help with the pain if you need to. I tore my port partially free of the sutures about 5 months out - and boy, oh boy, you want to know pain! I had to have another surgery to have it battened back down again. I knew right away though that something was amiss - I was reaching in the back of the car for something that was just out of reach, and did a little bounce super stretch, and I felt the pain right away. Then my port started to bulge out a little bit - turns out it was still anchored in one place, but refused to lie flat any longer. OUCH!! You probably haven't torn your sutures, but just irritated them since you are still healing. Like I said, take it easy, and you should feel better. Oh, I will say, that when I was full often times my port would ache. I believe it was pressure from my stomach pushing out the band, forcing Fluid down the tubing towards my port, which put pressure on the port (kind of like a hose with the Water turned on full blast tries to straighten out). That may be the source of your irritation as well, even though you don't have a fill yet. Definitely keep an eye on things and if it appears that the area is getting fevered/infected, time to see the doc!

Keeping my fingers crossed for her complete recovery...

Latest update! "she's going to be ok!"

Hi All - Because Diane is a member here, and has posted, I wanted to let everyone know that she's having some problems and could use your thoughts and prayers. Diane had her band placed by Dr. Lopez, and I believe the removal was performed by him as well, since she is one of his patient coordinators.

I don't know how it is with other children, but I believe my food obsessions started when my Mom started Jack LaLane and started talking about weight, and losing it, and how we were going to get fat if we kept eating too much. It was at that point I remember starting to sneak food. Children are wonderful mimics - they mimic the good and the bad. Whether or not you say anything to your step daughter, she knows that you are focused on your weight - she may replicate that behaviour just by watching your example, which will undoubtedly send her down the same path you've traveled yourself. Personally (not having children I'm just putting out my best guess), I would try NEVER EVER to focus on food, and certainly NEVER on things we "shouldn't" eat, or marking anything "forbidden" or just for "special" occasions. I believe that gives food waaaay too much power. If I had a child with a weight problem I would do my best to ensure that I always served plenty (PLENTY!!) of good, wholesome foods. I would have the family involved in physical extracurricular activities. I would make a super human effort to NEVER mention weight - good, bad or otherwise. I would try and focus on fun things, and pay particular attention to what happens when things aren't going so well for my kid - bad day at school, disappointment, grief - and make sure I did not try to remedy those feelings with food treats/rewards. I would do my very best to make food a non-issue, and be sure that they see me leaving food on my plate. See me stopping when I say I'm full, and getting up and tossing whatever was still on my plate. I don't know if any of this would help a child, but it might keep them from developing into emotional eaters if food/weight was never made a focal point. As far as teaching healthy vs non-healthy, maybe I would make an occasional comment about "Oh, these vegetables are just bursting with health!! I feel so much better after eating them!" Or in response to requests for junk food - "Yuck! That tastes waaay too salty. I couldn't stand eating that!" or waaay too sweet, or whatever. Of course, then I'd have to find a good hidey-hole for all my crap food choices to eat in secret when they're not looking... :sick lol

Not necessarily. I thought I was doing great, a-ok, good restriction, yadda yadda yadda....

Seriously time for an upper G.I. - you need an endoscope to make sure there is no erosion. Do NOT put this off! Good luck, and keep us posted.

Kelly, You're a Gemini/Cancer cusp. Go here for more info: http://www.astrology.com/allaboutyou/cusps/index.html http://www.astrology.com/dont_know.html Aries Mar 21-Apr 19 Libra Sep 23-Oct 22 Taurus Apr 20-May 20 Scorpio Oct 23-Nov 21 Gemini May 21-Jun 21 Sagittarius Nov 22-Dec 21 Cancer Jun 22-Jul 22 Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 19 Leo Jul 23- Aug 22 Aquarius Jan 20-Feb 18 Virgo Aug 23-Sep 22 Pisces Feb 19-Mar 20

Hi Jo - I'm embarassed to say that I don't really know what was done at my removal surgery - I can only assume that some stitching needed to be done - Dr. Carmen insisted that there was no repair needed, but Dr. Lopez spent a lot of time testing for leaks... Soooo... My logical side says of course there had to be a least a few stitches where the band had started to erode, but I guess now I'll never know for sure... Best of luck.

Jo - Devastating news - I am SO SO sorry. However, believe it or not, it is not the end of the world - it just feels like it is. I had to have my band removed after 17 months, 40% erosion. Dr. Lopez was my surgeon, both for the installation and removal. I would suggest that you have your band removed IMMEDIATELY. Did I say IMMEDIATELY?!?! Particularly since you are vomiting constantly, I would say that this is an emergent situation. There will most likely be some residual stomach damage, at least at first - how/if this will effect you, I have no idea. I know that for myself, nearly a year after removal, I can still get that "stuck" feeling occasionally. I consider myself lucky. Most of us eroded patients seem to have no major ill effects, but I have heard of a couple of people who have had severe consequences, and major residual stomach damage. Some have gone on to have the bypass, some have been rebanded. Most of us are trying to maintain on our own - I am slowly regaining, but am still working on my habits. Here are some links to info and my stories: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2256 http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2725 http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showth...=&threadid=2250 http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showth...=&threadid=2274 http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2298 Here's a link to the Yahoo! Eroded Bandster Group: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ErodedBandsters/

ROFLMAO...

lol - Greg meant, "I'm a frayed knot..." lol That was always a favorite of my Dad's... It was good to see it again... heheh

Yeah, she may be gone... But we'll still have to deal with Dan Lester...

Natalie - A PB is the result of the stoma or the entrance to the stoma getting clogged so that the pouch above the band does not empty. Stoma=the passage way between the pouch and your lower stomach. When something gets lodged in the stoma, or blocks the entrance to the stoma, food, Water and saliva start backing up in the pouch. If the obstruction doesn't get moved, eventually all the stuff you swallowed backs up into your esophogus and then your body reactively throws it back up. Usually the quick return of your pouch contents is considered a PB. Heaving repeatedly is considered more as vomiting, but in actuality both are technically vomiting. Chewing well and eating slowly helps eliminate the risk of blocking the stoma, but certain foods can recombine in your pouch and effectively make a thick paste/glue which doesn't easily pass through the stoma. Those types of foods are generally breads, rice, potatos and Pasta. Hope this helps...

The only non-surgical treatment I have heard of for slips is: 1. Removal of all fill for a certain time period. This type of treatment is generally only used for slight slips. Regardless of the seriousness of the slip, if the above non-surgical treatment doesn't resolve the slip, surgery to correct the slip is the only recourse. How urgently that surgery must be performed is based on the individual. If the individual is not having problems/pain, then the correction is generally at the patient's will. However, a non-problematic slip can quickly turn into a big problem after a vomiting/PB episode or after stoma irritation, so in general it is best to have a slip fixed as soon as convenient, IF it doesn't resolve itself from being unfilled for a time. Sometimes in a small slip the stomach will go back down through the band, but the band has to be as wide open as possible, hence the removal of your fill. Once the stomach is shown to be back beneath the band as it should be, then the fill can be returned. In this case, "slip" would be defined as a portion of the stomach coming up through the band. It is possible for a "slip" to be defined as the band as a whole sliding down from its high position. This type of slip is now rare, because most bands are stutured into place. Most of the slips where the stomach starts to come up through the band are caused by vomiting/PBing.

Bottle-fed. Back then docs encouraged mothers to bottle feed, and bound their breasts to help dry up their milk. Mom was DYING to breast feed, but it "just wasn't done". So, both my MO sister and I were bottle fed. By the time the two younger kids came around she said the heck with it, and they were breast fed, and are slender. Well, the youngest wasn't totally breast fed, I don't think - he was allergic to everything, and I think he finally was fed goats' milk. He has a tendancy to put on weight, but I think that's due to all the beer... lol I'll have to check with my Mom about his breat feeding time. Unfortunately that's what MOST people think. Certainly most MO people are eating too much, not exercising, and not eating the right thing, so it's easy to point that out as the reason. In fact, there are many slender, down-right skinny people who eat "too much", never exercise, and don't eat the right thing (who are NOT bulemic), so one has to admit that there seems to be more to it in at least some cases. It's much easier to blame behaviour than it is to find the real cause. Just like in a post not too long ago where a woman went to her doctor complaining of shortness of breath, and he asked if she smoked, and she said "Yes." And his response was, "Quit smoking." and was ready to send her on her way. HER response to him was, "I quit smoking 10 years ago. Thank you for showing me that you are not interested in doing your job." And then she went and found a doc who was interested in actually treating her. The more interesting question is WHY?? WHY are some people driven to eat more than their body requires? WHY do some people seem to be able to take in excessive calories and not gain weight? Again, it's easy to point to the obese person and say it's their fault, but no one points to the skinny person who can eat anything and say THEY have anything to do with that! When most of us reduce our calories we lose weight. But MOST of us are suffering terribly doing that - we feel like we're starving, we're shaky, all we can think about is food. Naturally normal weight people are NOT suffering. Most banded people are able to reduce their intake to sufficient levels to lose weight WITHOUT suffering. Morbid Obesity has been recognized as a disease since 1985 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). For what it's worth... ****************** http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:OTJxKzuvN8QJ:www.shapeup.org/profcenter/diabesity/PoriesPres.ppt+is+morbid+obesity+a+disease%3F&hl=en "The truth is that Morbid obesity is a disease, not a moral failing." “Obesity is a chronic, lifelong, genetically-related, life-threatening disease with highly significant medical, psychological, social, physical, and economic co-morbidities.” Statement on morbid obesity and its treatment. Obesity Surgery 1997 7:40-41 “In 1991, the National Institutes of Health concluded in its Consensus Conference that diets, exercise programs, appetite suppressants and behavior modifications are not effective therapies.” Report of the Consensus Conference on Surgery of Morbid Obesity, National Institutes of Health, Washington, DC 1991 ************** http://www.rsapc1.com/morbid_obesity_surgery/ "Morbid obesity is the most common form of malnutrition in the United States and in the world today. It is considered after smoking to be the second leading preventable cause of death in the United States. It is a chronic disease which is very complex and has multiple etiologies." "We lose over 300,000 patients a year to morbid obesity and morbid obesity related medical problems." "There are social, psychosocial and economic consequences of morbid obesity that can be devastating. Unfortunately, the prejudice against the obese is very common in our society." "Conservative management of morbid obesity that includes diet, behavioral modifications, exercise programs and the like have been found to be ineffective over the long term. A person who is morbidly obese who attempts conservative management, as mentioned above, either alone or in any combination, is not expected to be successful more than 5% of the time. Over 95% of patients who are morbidly obese and meet the criteria for morbid obesity will regain their weight and often overshoot their previous weight. Surgery for morbid obesity is the only method that has resulted in long-term maintenance of weight loss and the reduction of the comorbid diseases that are associated with morbid obesity. In particular, hypertension, dibetes mellitus, risks for coronary disease, osteoarthritis, gastroesophageal reflux disease and many others. Morbid obesity is a chronic disease which is defined as a disruption of bodily function that develops slowly and persists for an extended period of time and often for life. It is multifactorial and includes genetic predisposition, environmental factors, social economic factors, cultural influences, hormonal influences and digestive abnormalities. In 1985 morbid obesity was recognized as a disease with associated comorbid diseases by the National Institute of Health. In 1991, surgical weight loss stated to be superior to nonsurgical weight loss methods and that only surgical intervention produced acceptable long-term results. In 1993 the National Institute of Health recognized the vertical banded gastroplasty and the gastric bypass procedure to be effective in significant reduction of excess body weight. The National Institute of Health recognizes morbid obesity as being an epidemic that can only be reduced significantly by surgical intervention for both morbid obesity and its associated comorbid problems." **************** http://www.landauercosmeticsurgery.co.uk/obesity/ "OBESITY: A MEDICAL CONDITION People who suffer from obesity are poorly misunderstood by those of the population who are not obese. There is a common attitude that overweight people are stupid and unable to control themselves. People who are obese are often the brunt of cruel jokes and thoughtless humour, even to the point of suffering abusive comments in public places. We now know that the medical condition of morbid obesity is a complex disorder, and not simply due to over-eating. The vast majority of people living in the Western World eat more calories than they need but it is only a small proportion that relentlessly lay down every excess calorie in their fat stores. Most people have a mechanism, by which their body knows when their stores have been refilled, but there is an unfortunate group of people where this mechanism is defective, and when they eat it can be likened to filling up the bath with the overflow blocked off. There are of course no fat people in starvation areas of the world, but this is because these are regions with chronic malnutrition and nobody there has access to even adequate calories. People who are morbidly obese often find it difficult to believe that their problem is a medical disease and not simply due to overeating. MORBID OBESITY IN FAMILIES The disorder of morbid obesity often runs in families. The chance of having morbid obesity is clearly increased if other people in your family have the condition. Studies of identical twins who were separated at birth and brought up separately show that if one twin becomes obese, then the other one is likely to become obese as well."

The Inamed band ports are made of titanium, which most airport security metal detectors do not pick up. If the detector recognizes titanium, you will beep. But as I said, as of today, anyway, MOST airport security metal detectors do not pick up titanium, so no beeping.

Hi gyp - I feel your pain. My new "strategy" is to get my heart rate up for just ONE minute every hour at work. So far I've gotten it done three times each day. I am lucky that we have a small gym here, so I just get on the elliptacle machine and go as fast as I can for a minute. Seems like an hour... lol But I'm breathing heavy, and I can feel my heart going for a good 5 minutes afterwards. I have no idea if this will do anything for furthering my health goals, but this last time I went for my minute I did 1.5 - it's only like my 6th time in two days, and already it seems as though it's getting easier. Okay, now that I've written this out it seems super silly, but I'm doing it anyway - I figure it can't hurt. lol So maybe you can do a few calisthetics in your cube every hour? Just for a minute or two?

So thrilled and envious!!! Whhoooo hooo!! I lived/breathed/dreamt horses until I was about 20, at which point I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it didn't seem likely I would ever have one of my own. But whenever I see one, I fantasize how free I would be, living like a hermit off the land in some remote mountainous place, just me, my horse and my dog... SO SO SO proud of you!!! Keep us updated! xxoo

Hi Ramona - I got your PM, and thought I'd answer your questions here for the benefit of others with similar questions. I don't remember exactly the regime Dr. Lopez had me on, but I'm pretty sure it was four weeks of liquids. I think he said the first week or two was supposed to be Clear Liquids, but because they never gave me my intro basket of approved liquids I just stuck to Water, broth, hot Jello, hot tea, EAS Advantage chocolate (Protein drink - pre-packaged. Pricey, but I thought they were tasty). Also Gatorade was on his list, so Mom had gotten me one bottle of that - YUCK! I did finish that off, but didn't replenish. After my four weeks of liquids I had two weeks of mushies, and then moved to solids. I was pretty tight my first four weeks, so did not suffer one little bit on 4 weeks of liquids, but that is often not the case with others. My last two weeks of full liquids I did blend chili and thin with tomato juice - yum. I didn't get my first fill right away because I was doing fine with initial band restriction. I think I was 8-10 weeks out before my first fill. It all seems so long ago now... Dr. Lopez's number one rule is NO VOMITING (he means PBs as well as "real" vomiting). I really took that to heart, and tried to be very very careful. I got and filled a prescription for phenergren from my Kaiser doc just incase of flu/food poisoning, and I was mostly very careful to not PB. In the 17 months I was banded I PB'd less than 10 times, and those few times were pretty much grouped together. Good luck!

Thanks, Ladies! I will definitely try to get a feel for demand before I spend too much time on this, and certainly before I invest any kind of money into it. I was a little afraid all the advice would be completely discouraging, and I was hoping someone "in the know" would think it was at least worth looking into. So, I know there are always trade offs. Do you sometimes wish you still worked for someone else? Or now that you're on your own are you "never looking back" and couldn't dream of ever rejoining the 9-5 grind again? Sometimes I hear small business owners talk and I wonder if owning your own business is more trouble than it's worth... Sigh. Where's my crystal ball when really need it?!?!?

For those who don't know what "being very careful" means when taking NSAIDs (aspirin, Advil, etc.): 1. Always be sure your band doc is aware that you have been instructed by an M.D. to take NSAIDs/or wish to take them on your own. He may want to closely monitor you to ensure that you are not suffering any damage. Your band doc may also have specific instructions on how the NSAID should be taken. 2. If the NSAID is crushable you may want to consider crushing to make sure it clears the pouch/stoma ASAP after taking. 3. Be sure to drink plenty of Water after taking the NSAID to ensure the pouch/stoma is flushed clean. 4. Be aware that NSAIDs can cause problems in NON-banded people - and the damage they cause is rarely noticeable to the person - i.e. no pain. NSAIDs can burn/irritate the lining of the stomach, which is why they are so dangerous for banded people and other people who have modified stomach sizes, like those who've had the gastric bypass. I don't know if it's advisable to drink some sort of buffer first - i.e. milk, or something, to help give the pouch/stoma somewhat of a protective lining. Penni, would that help?

Hi All - The recent layoffs here have left a bad taste in my mouth, and BF is disillusioned with the level of education at the community college level here. We're thinking, there must be something better... This is my idea - I think it would be great if he could lead tours to places of geologic interest (he being a PhD Paleontologist). These tours would not be hard-core science tours, but more like intro level geology for the area we'd tour to - on the same level as a credit-worthy field trip. NOT touristy tours, although there would be a little time built in for that type of stuff, but the focus/point of the tour would be geology. Places of interest and knowledge for him: Egypt Italy Czech Republic Estonia Poland Certain places in the states He's arranged and lead student field trips in the past to Egypt and Mt Vesuvius in Italy, and the students really enjoyed it, but that was as an employee at a university, not just him as an individual business person. My dream would be to maybe be able to partner with community colleges across America to offer the fields trips for credit, as well as publicizing them in scientific magazines and through a regular business website where people could sign-up and make payments, etc. Possibly partnering with a travel agency that sets up tours, etc. to help with low cost blocks of airline tickets, etc. I know there would be a lot of obstacles to overcome and that it wouldn't be easy getting something set up, but just for argument's sake, lets pretend that this is a doable and viable venture. How would we go about this? Our number one concern would be what kind of insurance would we have to have - what kind of liability would we have for participants? Certainly we would have to have some legal advice and have some waivers of liability drawn up that would have to be signed. I think it would be fantastic if we could go into a business like this together - I could managed the paperwork nightmare/marketing/arrangements/complaints, etc., and be a second hand/assistant on the trips themselves, while he would be responsible for the structure of the tour, syllabus, creating anything education-wise like tests or papers or whatever, lectures, etc. We would keep the tour size small - 10-20 people, with the intention of doing several tours each year. I would like them to be affordable for the participants, but also bring in enough income for us that we would not have to work other jobs, and be able to live on 5-10 ten-day tours each year. So if the above, in your estimation, is no way-no how going to happen without huge amounts of $$$ invested or more professional experience in a lot of different areas on our parts, any other ideas (besides teaching in a college/highschool) on home-based/seasonal-type businesses or something that would bring in enough to live on and still give him the flexibility of 3 months off each year for his work overseas? Nothing overly physical to accommodate health issues (so canning fish in Alaska and picking produce are out, for example.) Jenna, I know you have a travel agent background so you are in the forefront of my mind posting here, but I also know we all have lots of info and life experience that we can collectively drawn on and benefit from, so I'm turning to all of you for advice and ideas. Thanks in advance!!!

I see lots of info on this - also known as the B.I.B. (Bioenterics Intragastric Balloon): http://www.dietaonweb.it/inglese/bib.asp http://www.inamed.com/pdf/health/94212B_BIB_Product_Data_Sheet_Intl.pdf http://www.obesity-online.com/bib/literatbib.htm http://gastroenterology.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2005/301/1 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/fd/os/2004/00000014/00000004/art00016 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/fd/os/2005/00000015/00000001/art00017 http://www.bajanor.com/ingles/bb.htm