quakergirl

Got on the scale tonight and discovered I was at 298! Woohoo! I've been very excited about getting under 300 lbs. and had set 299 as my "mini goal"; very exciting to actually surpass my mini goal. And, to think, I ate a couple of cookies this morning. I guess the key thing is that I stopped at two; that never happened back in the pre-op days. I'm sure a lot of people who were never "super morbidly obese" (which is what I was at 372 lbs) would still feel huge at 298 lbs. For me, as someone who weighed 300+ even in junior high and can't remember what it was like to ever weigh less, any number that starts with a 2 sounds fantastic! I'm not sure what to set for my next "mini goal". At first I was going to shoot for 250, but I think my weight loss will probably be a lot slower at this point and I don't want to get discouraged if it takes me a long time to get there. So, I'll aim for 270 first. Somehow it seems a lot more obtainable to get to 250 in baby steps.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone. I agree, leo, about those little milestones too. It's a great feeling to be able to go up stairs without getting winded and walk the mall without my feet aching afterwards!

I don't live in WA, but I thought I'd throw this suggestion out there while we wait for WA residents to find this post and reply! Obviously as a non-resident I dont have much info, but you may want to look into Northwest Weight Loss Surgery in Kirkland WA. Their website is at http://www.nwwls.com/ The reason I know of them is that one of the people who works there (Jessie Ahroni) spends A LOT of time answering questions on the SmartBandsters mailing list over at yahoo, and she seems to be great at dealing with band issues. Good luck finding a doc that you're comfortable with.

I can't give you a solid scientific answer like Sue did, but here's what I've observed that seems to bode well for success: -Select a surgeon who has done at least 50 lap-band surgeries (the more, the better) -Find some more experienced bandsters (on messageboads like this or at an in-person support group) to go to for advice and support. -After the liquid stage of the post-op diet, avoid liquid calories like ice cream, candy, milkshakes, and alcohol for the most part. Stay focused on Protein foods. -Be willing to exercise to some extent (I don't think you need to be an exercise fanatic; just walking around the block a few times a week is a good start). There's a little bit of luck involved too (as far as not having any complications that might impede your progress). But, personally, I think that almost anyone who is serious about wanting to lose weight can lose enough weight with the band to improve their health and quality of life. Good luck!

Congrats! I am glad that things are moving along for you now. You're planning to go to Port Huron for banding, right? I think you'll be very happy with them. Good luck.

A few short articles discussing obesity from the APA: http://www.apa.org/monitor/obesitytoc.html In particular, I find this article about fat bias among various professionals interesting (though not particularly shocking) http://www.apa.org/monitor/weighing.html

By the way, leo, those photos on your webpage are very interesting. Makes the account seem more real. Especially the x-ray pics. I hope I never have reason to have to look at my pouch on x-ray (since my doc doesn't use fluoro for fills it would mean there was a problem if I did have to get an x-ray!), so it's cool to see what a real live pouch looks like. Glad that things went smoothly for you.

A fill doesn't hurt if your doc knows what s/he's doing. The needle looks worse than it actually feels. It's no worse than a pinprick. I think I can feel something when the band fills with the added Fluid, but it's just a very fleeting odd sensation - not at all painful. My stomach and port felt a bit tender for about the first 12 hours, but it's not bad enough to limit your activities or anything. I went grocery shopping on the way home from my 2nd fill, just so you know you're not going to be laid up like after surgery. All of my fills have been done without fluoro, so your experience will probabyl be different if your doc uses fluoro. 1st fill was 1 cc and I didn't really feel restricted. But I lost 10 pounds (including 5 lbs I had regained from the liquid diet loss while waiting for my fill), so it must have made some difference in my food intake that wasn't dramatic enough for me to notice. 2nd fill was another 1 cc one, bringing me up to 2 ccs total, and I suddenly felt a significant amount of restriction (i.e., feeling full on a few bites of Protein, exactly the feeling we're looking for). That was just right for a long time. My band loosened up recently (probably on account of losing fat around my stomach as I lost weight), so I just had another fill on 12/22 to bring me up to 2.5 ccs. Now I'm once again at the right level of restriction. I believe in erring on the side of too loose with a fill rather than risking going too tight. You don't want to have vomiting or reflux and have to get some fluid taken out. Everyone is different, so your first fill may be very restricting or you might not feel anything at all. Good luck.

That sounds like a really fun event. Wish I could come, but that's a bit too far - at least this year.

Cool! I am very happy for you. Good luck.

You may want to investigate Port Huron in that case. As of February 2003, when I started the process, Dr. Bhesania had done well over 300 lap-bands and Dr Boutt had done more than 100 (I'm sure they've done a lot more since then; check with them for the exact number...aha, I just saw the webpage says their total as of last September was 600+). I know Dr. Bhesania has several patients who were banded in their 60s. I'm not sure if PH has an upper limit on weight, but I wasn't their biggest patient even at 372 lbs. Their webpage is at http://www.porthuronhospital.org/frontpage/lap_band_surgery.htm if you want to check it out. Good luck in finding someone you're comfortable with.

Mary, I went to the Port Huron Lap-Band center (Dr. Bhesania and Dr. Boutt) and am very pleased with the results, but a closer doc that you might want to research is Dr. Zoe Deol. She practices out of Troy Beaumont I believe, and there is at least one of her patients on the board here who seems to be doing well! I have NO personal experience with them so take this with a grain of salt, but I have heard before that the CORI people tend to push the micropouch hard. Personally, I think it's important to have a doc who believes in the lap-band and has a lot of experience with it. If you feel like they aren't being supportive of your choice to get the lap-band, you may indeed want to switch surgeons. Maybe you should ask if they have a support group where you can talk to other lap-band patients of theirs about how they feel about their treatment? Good luck!

Oh no, sorry to hear that you had such a rough time. Hopefully now that the fill is out you will be able to heal up nicely and everything will be all right. It sounds like this doc needs to learn to trust patients who are complaining about being too tight know what they're feeling!

Wow, you look great. I'll be thrilled if I can ever look that good.

Congrats on making your decision. If nothing else, you might be able to find a doc through this website: http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/selectdocsbystatetype.php ObesityHelp is primarily focused on RNY, but their listings might be a place to start in finding a doc. Good luck.

Congrats! I'm glad that things worked out for you, and I look forward to hearing about your progress. As for telling people, I think that telling just a few people at first is probably the best way to go, so you don't have to deal with scrutiny from people who expect the weight to melt off instantly. Only a couple of close pals and my immediate family know about my band. BUT...I figure that once I lose another 30 pounds, I will feel confident enough to go public to everyone, because I want to spread the word about this great option.

I know some people who seem to think in a similar way, and my way of dealing with it is to just talk about my experiences in the hopes of planting a seed. Like, if someone mentioned they didn't eat much, I would say something like, "Having the lap-band has really changed my view about portion sizes. Now these small size portions seem normal and the restaurant size portions seem much too big for me." Just by talking about how much good the lap-band has done for me, I am hoping they may be inspired to consider making some positive changes (not necessarily going as far as surgery, but who knows?) as well.

Welcome. Glad to see more new people joining us here. 64 lbs since September is great! Congrats. Thanks for linking to the other site you guys are from. It's interesting to see a non-USA perspective on WLS. I had the impression that RNY wasn't very popular outside of the USA, and that in the UK it would be mostly DS or lap-band, but from that site it looks like there's the same controversy there as there is here about what is the best surgery.

Yeah, I know how you feel. Looking back, sometimes, it still seems weird I went through with it, because it was the first surgery I ever had. Now, my mother was REALLY worried about it and tried to talk me out of it, but I felt determined to do it and never felt all that scared about it. But I knew I had to do something about my weight, and the lap-band seemed like the best balance of risks and benefits, so once I knew it was an option for me I never wavered. I'm now confident it was the right choice. Good luck to you on your new journey!

Sorry to hear you're having a rough time. It's certainly understandable that you wouldn't want to have people judging you like this. While he should be the one who tells, maybe you can encourage your husband to consider telling others about the surgery sooner rather than later. After all, it's not something to be ashamed of!

I can understand how upsetting it must be to have the doc's office dismiss your concerns. We are lucky that we have this site to go to in order to support each other, because so often the surgeons are too busy to be very good at the "bedside manner" type of issues. Anyway, I think Alexandra is completely correct with her advice.

Nice pics. Thanks for showing them to us. That hat looks cute on Bear.

Dr. Kuri's website has the following explanation: "Obtech Swedish Adjustable Gastric Band The SAGB is very similar to the Bioenterics band, except that it is considered a low-pressure band. This means that it has a greater total volume than the Lap-Band, therefore needing more Fluid to exert a similar amount of pressure on the stoma." Personally, I don't think there are any really drastic differences between the various brands of gastric bands. They all work pretty much the same way.

Yes, there is a dramatic difference. You really look great. Congrats!

I was very bad at dieting pre-band, but the band helps a lot. It's a lot easier to say no to bad foods when you're physically unable to eat another bite anyway! I don't agree that the band only works for people who eat big meals. Grazing is not such a good way to eat post-op with any of the surgeries, but you can learn new habits. And, besides, when your stomach is so much smaller, you will end up eating less regardless of how you eat - it's just that grazing might prevent you from losing as much weight as you're fully capable of.