donali

Here you go, Leatha! Thanks for sharing. You might want to delete the larger pic from your original post.

Sorry Francesca's 'puter is down. Please tell her that I hope she's able to get fixed up with the vomiting thing, and all better soon.

Anterior would be in the front - posterior would be in the back.

Oh, I should have added: When the slippage is cause by the lower stomach coming up through the band, it can sometimes be treated by removing the fill, making the band looser and allowing the lower stomach to move back down through the band. In my understanding.

Congrats! You've walked a MILE already?!?!?! Sheesh... I'm such a wimp! So sorry about your Mom. Glad you're taking care to get help. Be good to you...

OMG! First belly laugh of the day for me!! LOL

Birdee - Could you use soy milk instead?

Darcy, Darcy, Darcy!!!! This time TOMORROW you will be BANDED!!! Whooo Hoooo!!!!! Can't wait to hear how it goes!

Would it be a party without us?!?!? lol

I beg a moritorium on talk about the other board... Please???? I'm trying to forget it all happened... It was all just a bad dream...

WOW. Of course, Jessie is really the reason to go there anyway. I think she is the most knowledgeable and levelheaded one of the bunch. She just wrote a book for bandsters, and I intend on getting a copy. I'm sure it's full of wonderful and helpful info. Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding : Achieving Permanent Weight Loss with Minimally Invasive Surgery by Jessie H. Ahroni Ph.D. A. R. N. P. You can order, and read partial online text: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-31114-8

Uhhh... Kathy... really, you've missed NOTHING... Well, except that DeLarla is a TV star!! lol The baby is waaaay more important and interesting!! Restriction does vary, so it's not your imagination that some days are easier than others with the exact same food. Sometime you chew well enough, but are still eating faster than your pouch can empty, which is what will cause that golfball feeling. Are you meeting us in Vegas in October?? HUH??? Are you?!?! Say yes!!!

I tell you, but then I'd have to kill you... lol Copy what you want to quote, and in your new message box click the box that says "Quote". The you'll see the html tags: the starting tag is [ quote ] (without the spaces between the brackets and the words, and the ending tag is [ /quote ] (without the spaces between the brackets and the words). If you forget the end tag, everything you write will look like a part of the quote. My heart stopped for a moment when you said you were going to post my drinking "cheat" tip to that other board... wheeww...

Thanks a lot, Leatha.

I have a doc's appointment tomorrow, and I will ask him what he thinks. Thanks for all the good advice.

Carmen - It is very common for the doc to pull out less Fluid than was supposed to be in there. Don't worry about it. You sound very, very tight. Try drinking warm fluids before you eat - that will often relax things a little bit, and make eating a little more comfortable. Also, you may try doing one very small bite or two, and then waiting 5 to 10 minutes before trying to eat anymore. That can help with first bite pain as well. If eating remains an uncomfortable experience, you may consider having a slight unfill. .1 cc can make all the difference in the world between being too tight and just right.

Vera, it most certainly is NOT all in your head. I use that very same strategy. And if I'm out to dinner at a nice restaurant and eating something very yummy, I may drink with my meal so I can eat more. It's a choice I make, and usually I have not eaten much earlier in the day. Kelly - thanks. Lisa - some people feel very bloated on lettuce. It's something that has always gone down well for me, but many people say they have to avoid it. I think you're one of the few who has good restriction on your first fill. What you're experiencing - the disconnect between your learned behaviours and what the band is currently allowing - is an example of why it can be beneficial to creep up on restriction. You're having to go from 1st to 4th gear, so you're getting that chug-chug until you hit your momentum. I went from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 4th, and my transitions were a little easier because they were more gradual. We get to the same place in the end - you're just experiencing a little more culture shock this way.

In my mind, slippage and dilation are two different issues. In usual terms, slippage means that the bottom part of the stomach has come up through the band. Another less common form of slippage is when the band itself moves down further on the stomach, which does make for a larger pouch. Dilation is more generally used to describe a band that is in the correct position, still, but that the pouch itself has been stretched enough to accommodate more food. I could be wrong, but that's how I understand those terms. Anyone else have better info?

I vote drink right up until the eating commences, unless you know the liquid doesn't drain right through. If the liquid is a little slow to drain out (sometimes you can tell, really ), then as soon as the liquid has drained out you're good to eat. For most people, that's right away. To me, it has always seemed more important not to drink with meals, and to wait at LEAST 1/2 hour afterwards to drink. I try to wait an hour. Kelly, I have no knives... Oh, wait!!! I think I still have some in my back from that other board.... Just a minute... lol The bottom line really is what works for you. If you are dissatisfied with your weightloss, and you drink with your meals, changing that aspect may improve your results. But if that is something that is non-negotiable, then there are other things that can be tweaked. This is one of those things that is just a "tip" that MAY help some people be more successful - how to stay full longer on less food. That's the only reason drinking with meals is not recommended. Oh, also, if you are very tight, drinking with meals may result in stuff coming back up.

Hi Carmen, and welcome! Please remember that the projected weightloss AVERAGE is 1-2 pounds a week - you are falling right between those two numbers, so you are right on track! I know it is never fast enough, but we need to be careful that we give credit where credit is due, and to manage our expectations to be in line with reality so we don't sabotage ourselves. An AVERAGE of 1 pound a week would be 12 pounds in 3 months, and you've lost 18!!! That's GREAT!! The power of averaging really helps to put plateaus into perspective. Remember - in the end, it's really about being more healthy. If we practice healthy lifestyles, a healthy weight will follow.

YES!!!! That would definitely be dreamy! Thanks for the reading... Terry, I don't mind... The thing is, I really have/had no symptoms. I had what felt like a gallbladder attack on Thursday, 6/3. I had been meaning to go in for my annual band check-up, and had just kept putting it off because everything was wonderful, no problems, happy as a clam. Since I DON'T have a gallbladder anymore (removed in 1992), I decided I better check out the band so I could say with authority to my PCP that my band wasn't the problem. So.... The gallbladder-like attack could have been due to the erosion, but not necessarily. I just take it as a sign from a guardian angel to get me to finally have my routine band check-up. I may have been passing a stone in my bile duct. Who knows? If the pain comes back after the band is removed, then I'll know for sure it wasn't the band. Didn't feel like the band, but the pain was in the band area. I am hopeful that I will either be able to keep the weight off on my own, or find another tool offered by medicine/science to help me.

LOL :D I can't wait!!!!!

Ahhh. I think my BF had that done, and it didn't work for him. Or is there something else similar where they just shock the heart that is supposed to restore normal rhythm? I think he used the word "shocked" as opposed to "burn pathways".

It's more complicated because of two things: 1. Undoing the suturing of the stomach around the band which helped hold the band in place, which should have formed some scar tissue 2. Fixing the stomach wall affected by the erosion. If there's an actual hole, they have to sew that shut. Not sure what they do if the wall is still intact, but super thin like it appears in my photos. I'll have to ask the doc. I DID think about having Gross Darcy do it, but she'll be recovering from her band procedure on the 30th, and I don't want to over-tax her... WE'RE THINKING OF YOU DARCY!!!!!

Alexandra, it is my understanding that all bandsters should have an annual endoscopy. I rarely hear of anyone having one, though, unless they were having problems, so maybe they're not routine? Anyway, as far as how mine was done, I lay down on the table, they used a fine needle and put an IV in my hand (I never saw what they attached to the needle - there was no bag/bag stand). One moment I was talking to the doc, and the next I was being helped to sit up. I had vague, unpleasant recollections of something big and uncomfortable in my throat, like a bad, hazy dream. It wasn't bad at all. I like that knock you out stuff - that's weird. I honestly don't remember feeling sleepy, nothing - one moment I was "there", the next I was waking up! I don't think it took very long, either, but I had to wait so long, and then I was a little spacey after, I didn't have a good sense of the time elapsed.