donali

Some of the other ladies here have already expressed this, but... Ryan, you are one amazing dude...

Don't forget: 1. Fat and happy. 2. Fat and frisky. 3. Fat and sassy. In many respects, fat is a state of mind - slender women often complain of feeling "fat" when they're low, or feeling less desireable, slower moving, bloated, etc. I have to confess that most days I didn't/don't feel "fat" - until I'm in a situation where my size makes me physically uncomfortable; a chair that's too small or fragile, seat belts that don't fit, tight clothes, any kind of physical exertion. But outside of those moments, I never felt/feel "fat", and was always SHOCKED to see how big I was in photos!!! :mad: Dang, am I in a positive downdraft today, or what??? lol I guess today I'm feeling PHAT...

You shouldn't feel bad - maybe just "gurgly".

Tina, I'm sorry I offended. I was laughing at Sue's remark, which was agreeing with what you said about him being arrogant. Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Martinez attended at my surgery by Dr. Lopez (this was shortly before they parted ways), but I have never really met Dr. Ortiz, so I cannot agree/disagree with anything said about him. I am, however, in love with Dr. Martinez... He talked to me as I went under - we discussed the dichotomy of the distribution of wealth in Mexico, the arrogance of Americans in general, art, and who knows what else, as I think I dropped off in the middle of a word... lol He came to check up on me the next day after my surgery, and our conversation was just as pleasant and interesting as the day before. OH - and besides being well educated, well-spoken, and caring, he is one of the most attractive men I have ever met... Too bad he's already married to a wonderful cardiologist (who also happened to do all of my cardio testing pre-surgery). Oh... And I have a boyfriend... I mustn't forget that... lol

LOL

When I look at a fat woman who takes care of herself, I see someone soft, curvy and inviting, someone warm and loving and caring. Usually someone funny, smart. I love fat women... I just don't love being fat, myself... Perhaps because I never saw myself the way I saw other fat women...

Carolyn, this is simply awful - I am so sorry this happened, and that it turned into such a dangerous situation!! I felt like my last hope had been ripped from my hands, too, when I lost my band. But I realized (after a couple of days of incoherrent sobbing) that as long as I was still alive and in good health there was always hope. It may not seem like it now, but your future is just as bright with health, love and happiness as these banded people. We, for some reason, have been given different paths - who knows at what point they will converge back to where we thought we were going? Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need moral support. As they say, "I've been there, done that...." **hugs**

Neicy - Regarding photo editing - if you're using Microsoft (and the monopoly lawsuit would imply you most likely are... ), your machine is probably already preloaded with Microsoft Photo Editor, which can be found in the Microsoft Office Tools folder (on my machine, anyway). Hope this helps!!

Trust me - there have been emergent situations where a slipped band has to be addressed IMMEDIATELY. Generally this would be after an episode of violent throwing up. Monica from the Karma Lounge had to have her band removed emergently due to vomiting from food poisoning. Her stomach torqued and twisted like a wet towel, and the blood circulation was being cut off. These kind of emergency situations do not happen often, but they CAN. And if you become obstructed and blood flow is cut off, trust me, it is an EMERGENCY to get that fixed. If there is no vomiting involved, and the patient can get down and keep down fluids, the slip does not have to be repaired emergently unless they are in a lot of pain, or are in danger of aspiration pneumonia due to reflux. It all depends on the individual's situation, the severity of the slip, and the severity of symptoms.

Hi Kyleigh - All my fills were done under fluoro, and I always thought that seemed to be the "safest" way as far as not getting overfilled. However, it seems that MOST people do NOT have fills under fluoro, and do just fine. I would recommend that you ask your doc if you can test the fill right then with some applesauce or something thicker than Water to make sure it passes okay. If he says that's alright, and they don't have something thicker than water there at the fill place, take some of your own. I don't think most people do the applesauce test either, so if your doc says it's not necessary, I wouldn't worry. You definitely have to test with at least water, though. Also, you may want to ask what their policy is for unfills/refills to adjust this fill. Some docs will do an additional adjustment for free within a week to 10 days if you feel too tight or loose. Have fun!

Thanks, Cindy!

It needs to be 50x50 pixels. Email it to me if you like, and I will resize it for you. Put this all together without spaces: donali @ mindspring .com

Hi Cindy - The liquid phase is to minimize your stomach movement so the band has a chance to heal firmly in place before your stomach muscles have to start working to move food around. Many people think that if they have no pain when they eat solid food, it must be okay. This is not the case - the liquids are NOT because solids might be painful - it's to keep the stomach as still as possible. Imagine a cut across your knee - it will open everytime you flex your knee, and take a lot longer to heal. If you immobilize the knee, the healing is faster and cleaner.

For what it's worth, I had no symptoms, and several other eroded people who I've "met" since my erosion had no symptoms, either. My one time gall-bladder-like attack may or may not have been due to the erosion. I had no further attacks in the month between the first attack and band removal - so it could have been totally unrelated. My doc's office said that the vast majority of the erosions they see are diagnosed via endoscope. Which implies to me that those patients were symptom-free as well. I think that in most cases the erosion needs to be pretty far along for the patient to experience loss of restriction. I was at 40%, and still had perfect restriction. I don't know if there is any benefit to finding out about an erosion earlier than later, when you start exhibiting symptoms, like a port infection, loss of restriction, or pain. Apparently some docs advise waiting until the band is completely eroded into the stomach for removal of the band itself via the throat. Surgery would still be involved to remove the port and tubing, and to close the hole where the tubing connected to the band. Again, I do not have the professional medical experience to know which way is best to go. I do think that letting the band fully erode and become exposed to the stomach acids which eventually perforate the inflatable band so that bacteria follows up the tubing to create an infection at the port site sounds like the more dangerous option to me... And I must say that once I KNEW my band was eroding, I was a mess of psychosomatic feelings, and needed to have it out before I drove myself crazy, worrying if there were going to be holes in my stomach leaking into my abdominal cavities, causing perontinitis and other frightening things...

Puppy breath is the BEST!!! Jack is a handsome devil...

Wishing you all the best, Ryan!! May your journey towards banding be smooth and stress-free!! xxoo

Debra - This is everything I know about erosion: http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2250 http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2256 http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2274 The simple truth is, erosion is a risk with ANY implanted device. As far as the band goes you can minimize the risks as much as possible, but that is no guarantee that you won't have an erosion. I certainly agree that doing what is in your control is advisible, but if you end up eroded it is not necessarily your fault, no matter what you did. I say that simply because with other implanted devices there is nothing the patient has control over (can't do anything to cause erosion) and erosions happen for them anyway - so obviously sometimes it just happens. The most important thing is to avoid ingesting things that irritate/thin the lining of the stomach - mostly things like aspirin and other NSAIDs. If you must take these types of drugs make sure you coordinate with your band doc and get advice on the best way to protect your stomach from damage. Erosion is reported as a very small percentage of complications - 1-3%. I don't know if that figure is accurate, but it does seem as though the vast majority of people do NOT experience erosion. Get your annual endoscopy to check on your band health, and put the worry out of your mind. Good luck!!

I guess if leaving it as it is and being careful is an option, I don't understand why taking all the Fluid out and having the band NOT "fix itself" would automatically require surgery... I mean, having all the fluid out shouldn't make the problem worse than it is now, and if it doesn't fix itself, why would you be any worse off getting your fill back and living with it slightly slipped and being careful? Not that I recommend leaving the band slipped either way, but the options as the doc outlines them seems hypocritical to me. Either the slip needs to be fixed, or it doesn't. In option A he says it doesn't. In #2 he says it does. The bottom line is you are having problems due to slippage. They are only going to get worse - reflux is not something to mess with. And, if you are throwing up, and you already have a slight slip, you could get into an emergent situation if more of the stomach comes through and totally obstructs you, or worse yet, if your stomach torques and cuts the blood supply off from itself. If you were having no problems/symptoms, I'd be willing to say go with it and be careful... But you're having problems, so I think the more responsible advice would be to get all your fill out and hope it corrects itself - many times the small slips do correct themselves with this kind of treatment. And if it doesn't correct itself... Well, it really does need to be corrected, because YOU'RE HAVING PROBLEMS! So sorry. This is my best most responsible advice.

Yeah, Michelle!! You've done so well, against so much adversity. I'm so proud of you!!!

I can't tell you why, but I can tell you that I was one of those whose fill kicked in about 4 weeks later.

Yeah, Maureen!!! Congrats!! I was looking for links on proper placement of the band, 'cause I wanted to say that a slight angle was normal, but my browser froze up and I never got my answer. I do think it is supposed to be on a slight angle, but I could be so wrong. Anyone else? Anyway, whoo hoo on no erosion!!!

Pretty much learned what Sue says - I'm crazier than a coon when it comes to food. When I learned I had to be unbanded, I had to be BRUTALLY honest with myself about my relationship with food. The band made it impossible to overeat too much - that was what I really needed it for - that, and the help on feeling full on smaller portions. Or, if not full, exactly, at least "done eating". The key for me is... When my hunger was in full force and I was in binge mode, I was sucking down zillions of calories in binge foods, because I chose very calorically dense foods to binge on. Large deep dish pizzas, whole buckets of KFC, plus the biscuits and honey, or the dipping bread sticks, or a family portion of buffalo wings with a cup of blue cheese dressing. All followed by something that had pure sugar in it. Forget the calories - the chemistry of the food I was eating was really what was killing me. Refined carbs raise your blood sugar, which calls out the insulin, which converts all that blood sugar into FAT, and all that FAT I just ate into FAT, and crashes you back down again into hunger and cravings to repeat ad nauseum (literally, sometimes). So, the brutally honest part is... Even with the band, I would have binge modes come on (just couldn't do much to binge), so I KNOW they have nothing to do with hunger. I think the binges were usually due to simple compulsion, but sometimes emotions were the real driving factor. So, KNOWING that I was going to occasionally hit binge mode again without the band, I had to admit to myself that choosing to binge on calorically dense foods was going to be the death of me. I am no longer allowed to order pizza delivered to the house. I'm allowed to eat pizza - don't get me wrong - but I have to buy it by the slice. Because if I order a WHOLE large deep dish pizza in binge mode, I WILL try and eat the whole thing. And I am too cheap to order and pay for more than two slices at a time. The KFC is easier to avoid, and when I really want fried chicken I can order by the piece at Albertsons. But it's really not that good, so it's not too hard to talk myself into a roasted chicken instead, because I love that crispy skin. So I get it home, and first thing I do is peel off all the crispy skin and eat it. Eating the rest of the chicken isn't going to do that much more damage, and I usually don't want the whole thing anyway (because even the roasted chicken really isn't that good... lol). Plus I didn't get the bread or coleslaw, so it was basically just a high Protein meal, and I feel stuffed (which is, I guess, what I go for in binge mode). I also don't keep potatos in the house anymore. I have to watch the rice kick, 'cause I would live on white rice and butter if I could, or Pasta and butter, but I haven't had any cravings for that in over a year. Pre-banding I would not have thought that these binges could have made such a difference, but apparently they did. Plus I did cut out a lot of the bread, rice and pasta I was consuming pre-band. I can't get into the "6 slices of buttered toast with hot sweet tea is a meal" mode again. So my downfalls were bingeing on calorically dense foods, and eating multiple portions of high-glycemic carb foods with fats as a meal. Just changing those two things allowed me to drop 100 pounds in 17 months. And those changes weren't drastic - nothing is off limits, but I am much more sane about what I'm eating, whether it's bingeing or not. Pasta can NOT be a meal for me... but it can be a side dish if a really want it. The same with rice and potatos. The candy thing came under control when I stopped thinking I couldn't (or SHOULDN'T) have it. When I want it, I have it. But I don't keep it in the house. And except for my big bag of self-mixed bridge mix, I don't bring bags of snacky stuff into the house - I have troubles moderating portions on that stuff. Luckily I'm cheap, so it really kills me to spend 75 cents on a 25 cent candy bar... lol Okay, enough rambling.... Sorry, got carried away...

No truer words have been spoken... You rock, SUE!! And super congrats on your maintenance without a fill! Whoo hoo!! And I just got a little stuck on some hamburger. Casper ROCKS!!

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