GeezerSue

mrclaf, Except for the initial study done for the FDA, each bit of research is specific to the the particular practice doing the work and writing the reports. I don't think there are any "meta-studies" showing what all of that work altogether shows. And, to complicate matters, a recent publication involving a very well-known band doctor--Santiago Horgan in Chicago--says "Often, confusion exists among surgeons regarding the denomination or even the treatment of these two different entities." [The two different entities being discussed are pouch enlargement and slippage.] IN THAT PRACTICE, they found that "A total of 1,600 barium swallows were performed with 516 patients. As a result, pouch enlargement was diagnosed for 61 patients (12%) and band slippage for 12 patients (2%)." Here's a link to the abstract of that publication. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16703439&query_hl=8&itool=pubmed_docsum

What Jacqui said, I think. Except that steak would have been difficult for me, except when mostly unfilled AND unless it was a really good filet mignon or prime rib...but a New York or such would have been too "stringy" for me. You wrote, "BUT...if I eat soft foods like cottage cheese, yogurt, soup, refried Beans, etc I can eat a LOT! They don't stay in my pouch at all and run right through." That's right. Those are the foods that DO NOT help you lose weight with the band, precisely because they DO move on through. I think that if someone is "getting full" on three bites of these foods, they have have a band that is too tight or another problem. Have you considered stuff like stewed dark meat chicken, or nuked or baked fish, or meatball-type stuff (without a lot of breadcrumbs in the meatball mix), other meat that is cooked for a very long time and it's still "solid" but not tough enough to plug things up?

Linda, What Penni said, but do it even faster, if you can. MOST post-op port site irritations are nothing. But the ones that are "something" can linger...it's best to have professional care right away. Sue

Hey, Biker Grammy... Welcome aboard. I'm part of the "formerly banded" contingency, but I DO remember that second week. I've got no good news for you about the BITING part of your request, but by next week or so you ought to be able to down a Wendy's Chili. Meanwhile, keep the liquids and the Proteins going, and know that this time will pass! Sue

SherriJo, I posted on your other thread about a doctor who is essentially the same price (last I checked) as Mexico and WAY closer to home for you. But, like Penni says, Inamed has a list. Be prepared to hear a lot of them say that they don't do adjustments on other doctor's patients or on people who were banded elsewhere or some similar thing. But eventually, you'll find someone.

Have you looked into Jaime Ponce, in Dalton, GA. Not as far away as Mexico...and last time I checked--like a couple of years ago, his prices were VERY reasonable. Most importantly, he is VERY experienced.

That is just so pathetic. I am fortunate that I never heard or saw such a response to me--although it may have occurred and escaped my attention. My response would have depended on whether I was more humiliated or angered by their behavior toward a stranger who had done them no harm. I do suspect that, had I been more angered, my response would have been vile and focused on how I perceived their relationship with each other...and perhaps each other's moms...but who knows. (If humiliated, I'd have probably slinked out crying...but that would have required that I actually cared about their opinion of me and I generally don't care what morons think of me...regardless of my size. They are, after all, morons.)

Thank you from THIS veteran!

He's changing? Rumbaut has traditionally placed the band at the sternum. (Other band doctors have looked confused and then said, "Oh, yeah...Rumbaut...") LOL That's where he put mine and it was never a problem.

Mary, I think you need to hook up with la madam, Michelle. She is holding her own after banding and has always been an inspiration around here. Have you met her?

desertmom...I had that same obscure surgery...and it IS weird. I don't know what makes which surgery work for which people, but if I did...I could get rich, I'm sure. Like your cousin, I MOSTLY (at six months) know what to eat and what not to eat. I am MOSTLY able to avoid eating stuff that will keep me earning loo-frequent-flyer-miles. I was seldom rebellious when I first got the band...and when I WAS, the immediate result was, "Pardon me while I go rexamine what I swallowed a moment ago..." But as I developed physical problems, that limited my choices, which I then resented (because I HAD been successful with the band, but now the rules were getting stricter and the results were diminishing) and that's how I regained on a mostly Soup and ice cream diet. I don't know that we need to cheer or boo any of our surgeries. To tell the truth. My second wls did not come with any guarantees, either. "We pays our money and we takes our chances." Psychologically, for me, there is a difference between Plan A--"if I eat that now, I will have to leave the table and barf it up in a matter of minutes" and Plan B-- "if I eat that now, I may have FIVE bathroom trips tomorrow morning." In both cases there are choices to be made...and the consequences of making "the lesser choice" are not good. But for some reason, I feel less controlled and the choices are easier FOR ME with Plan B. With Plan A, I feel that my control over my life has been taken away. So banded, I'd order (for example) the hamburger and not eat the bread and resent not eating the bread. So far, with the DS, I order the hamburger, eat a bite or two of the bread and then eat around it and feel less controlled. (And then there are SOME days that I just want that freakin' bread...and I'm willing to pay the price. But I guess that's better--so far, anyway, than taking up gambling with the retirement fund and all.) You pose good questions. Don't stop. Sue

Hi, Alysha...welcome. You're in Dr. Billy's neighborhood, are you being banded by him? From what I've heard, he's wonderful. So look. PB (an altogether wrong term which once was supposed to stand for "productive burp" and I think should be a BB, meaning "bandster barf" is a reference to a type of vomiting that occurs when food cannot, for one of several reasons, make the passage from the esophagus into the stomach. It is the chewed food being regurgitated...there is no stomach acid involved, so it's probably not like any barfing you've engaged in the past.) "Sliming" is the body's response to what it thinks is a blockage in the passagewasy from the esophagus into the stomach...which is what makes the band work. The brain sends down a BUNCH of thick, mucous-y saliva to help lubricate the food on down the esophagus. If that doesn't work, the PB is often next. Sue

Sometimes, I think they, too, see what they want to see. Before I was banded, my internist weighed me himself and his comment was, "Holy shit, woman! How did THAT happen?" I had been weighed by his staff at every visit...I guess he didn't pay attention until HE weighed me.

LMAO I USED to belong to that club...gimme some coffee I can STAND a spoon in. But I discovered that post-op I usually get turned off to coffee for a while. And then with the DS surgery, I have had trouble reuniting with my black coffee. I miss it. I seem to like the taste better when it's all fru-fru-ed up. But, when I can drink again (in my case, a year post-op), I'm planning on a cup of coffee with a shot of Bailey's in it...the best of several worlds!!

Your first fill, right? a lot of doctors don't try to max out the restriction, because a lot of patients get swollen and can't even swallow Water. So, don't panic if your first fill doesn't "take you there." Then, (and I get slammed every time I say this, but I won't stop) a lot of the "weight" that people THINK they have "lost forever" in the first few weeks post-op is nothing more than post-op dehydration. And then when they don't "lose" more or if they "gain," they panic. It was never lost and it wasn't regained...it was temporarily lowered due to dehydration and it later was recovered. If you lost a lot of weight in the immediate post-op time, you may have been dehydrated. Now you can get in more fluids and so you have "regained" that "weight" at the same time you have been losing fat due to decreased food consumption. That may show up as a zero on the scale, and it's perfectly normal. AND, you are exercising and turning some lightweight fat into heavyweight muscle. WLS or not, most people who start exercising show a small weight gain at first, because of the fat-to-muscle thing AND because your body tends to "retain fluids" to "pad" the joints that have recently been stressed by the exercise. I think...you should go by how your clothes fit and not the scale right now...and that there is not enough Protein in most cereals to make it a great choice for your limited stomach space...and that my doctors said that yogurt was simply a high calorie drink. Good luck, Sue

I'm pretty sure you can find excellent...and crappy...doctors/cooks/auto mechanics/etc. on either side of any geopolitical boundary.

Yup, I just went to my huband's physical because SOMEONE had to say those five magic syllables...and neither he nor his PCP had previously mentioned it. The prep is just the pits. But the procedure is a NON-event. At least it was for me, and I had mine done at a place not known for spoiling patients...a VA hospital. But I said, "Ooo." And they said, "Buh-bye." I think it was Roofies, because I don't remember a thing after the "Buh-bye" until the "Hello!"

I think that if everyone...or even MOST everyone...actually "learned" that ever-so-difficult to master lesson about eating...that the band would be a temporary fix and everyone could have it removed after a year or two or three. You know? Like..."wear this for three years and at the end of that time, you will have LEARNED something that will THEN make you eat the way you need to eat for the rest of your life." There must be reason it isn't marketed that way. (Which is why your problems are not yours alone!)

Lisa...my DS surgeon has an office on GV Pkwy. Here's a link: http://dssurgery.com/contact/index.php

Lisa, my pre-op BMI was right about 48-49 both times--although it had been higher. Right now, it's JUST UNDER 35. But I look for-shit in a do-rag, so I'm jealous of you. My guy has an office on Green Valley Parkway...lemme know when you get rich!!

Not for a band... Is you friend old enough (50+) that there should be one in her file anyway? I'd think manometry was a better choice. But I never took a real science class. Maybe Dr. Pleatman would let us know.

I could not eat ANY of those things...with the exception of heavily buttered crispy bread crusts...which seemed at odds with the whole program. However, I popped into top let you know that in DENMARK, a "danish" is called "Vienna Bread." Except that they say it in Danish, of course.

LOL about the resolution, Amy. (MY moron HAS his own badge and gun...and he's old now. I don't think he'll show up anywhere I am...I hope. But I refuse to let him do what he says he wants to do, which is to see me and to talk to me.) Anyway, I have a funny story that your reminded me of. Our daughter is involved with the entertainment industry. She wrapped on one BIG film and got hired on another by one of the two co-producers...but the OTHER co-producer had promised her job to a nephew. He was abusive and finally gave her a pink slip and couple of weeks' pay as the Christmas party was starting. She was shattered. Two years later, she runs into someone from that film. "You didn't HEAR?" she was asked. Seems the nasty co-producer was driving like he owned the world and when some other driver did not defer to his supremacy, he got pissed and started waving a .45 automatic at the guy. The guy who was in the other car held up HIS .45 automatic...and a badge. As in, "I'll see your weapon, and raise you a legal reason to have it...your move, a$$hole." The nasty co-producer got to go to jail that night. Now when our daughter thinks back to that film, she always radiates a smile.

Hey...my primary contributions to this have been having a hubby with decent insurance and not giving up. The rest was just just to stop being parayzed by fear and, after a couple of years, to move on. But YOU are flying solo and still losing, so YOU have something to be proud about!!! Back is fine, but I'm still on steroids. I hope that result lasts when I stop taking them!!! (I mean I was UNABLE to get up off the toilet...NOT a good place to be stuck.)

Well...how about (pre-op and six months out):