leatha_g

That's worriesome to me. You are not supposed to be vomiting/pbing this often. I do hope you're doing liquids only after you do this. ?? I do hope you get Dr. Rumbaut on the phone. I'm a bit concerned that your band will slip with all this vomiting.

You know what? I was just thinking the very same thing the other day. lol. It's really funny. I used to smoke, so I was in the convenience store on occasion and might buy myself a lottery ticket. Now, I don't smoke, so I never go inside a convenience store, so no lottery ticket. Like you. I used to frequent the drive thru fast food places and always had napkins on hand. No more. ... and I'm okay with that.

Judy, I can sympathize with you regarding the smoking. I too was a smoker. However, I sort of got the idea of regaining my health in the back of my mind and I actually quit smoking 8 months before my banding. I knew that this was one thing I absolutely DID have to do even if I was unable to be banded. My lung capacity was so bad I just had no choice. I really enjoyed smoking and believe me, the first year I missed it alot. This second year has been so much easier and today I am GLAD I quit instead of resenting that I had to. The best part about that is that when I actually did get to have surgery, that was one less thing that I had to be concerned with. Anesthesia is tough on you anyway, but being a smoker makes it much harder. Of course this is your journey and you'll do what is best for you. I wish you the very best.

Sorry to hear you're feeling bad, Melanie. Sometimes the 2nd or 3rd day are the worst, but I promise you by the end of this week, you'll be feeling MUCH better. Take it easy, walk as much as you can, be sure to drink your fluids.

Not a problem, Penni. (((((((((hugs))))))))))). I believe I was one of the first to get sucked in and I still stand firmly for what I believe, but you're right. We have energy better spent on the positive and hopefully helping others journeys to be less rocky. No one here knows where they will wind up for sure, band-wise. All we can do is live each day and be thankful that we have this device to help re-gain our lives. Thankfully, our motives are good. Our hearts are in the right place and not for monetary gain. It's nice that the truth is free and so are our consciences, which is worth more than gold anyday in my book.

Good to hear everything went well!! Please keep us posted on your progress! Welcome to the banded side!!

Very good, Natalie!! You got this band for a reason! Don't let your head get in the way of that. Keep up the good work!! Not too far to One-derland now!

Good luck to you Fran! Hope to hear from you soon!

Well. I got my recumbent bike today. Wound up staying home all day waiting on UPS to deliver. sigh... Now, it's all over my living room and I'm trying to figure how to make things fit. I really could use some help, but I am NOT a quitter. I'll get it together. While I was waiting, I went ahead and pulled my itty bitty 4ft tree out and put it together. It's pre-lit and little, but I'm glad I got it. I haven't put one up now for nearly 6 yrs, since my divorce. I wanna go to Penni's...

They call it 'bluffing' in poker, Lisa. They call it 'threats' in law. This woman has clearly let her typing overload her derriere and she doesn't know enough to just disappear.

It's really too bad that this thread has become hostile. LBT is here for support of the band and the bandsters who choose it. We have a reputation for being one of the most helpful, most down to earth, honest and supportive boards. I resent that someone should come here with some plot to raise an unethical man to level higher than he deserves and then insult those who tell their truths in order to help newcomers make a wise decision regarding their healthcare, their lives!, not to mention hard earned money which this guy seems so happy to take despite his follow-up or aftercare of patients who have trusted him. Margret, please just go away and exalt this man somewhere else, so that we can get on with the reason we come here. I sincerely hope that you never have to eat your own words about how great he is. You are still very early out...

I don't think anyone is 'hatching up' anything. We were all merrily continuing our band journeys, such as they are. Glad, grateful for the band, even those who have been extremely neglected. Facts are, if this man continues to have such bad outcomes, he won't need the help of any harmed patients, his work will taint the whole idea for everyone. Reputation is a big thing and if he truly is doing more bands than anyone and continues to have this type of outcome, we can all just sit and wait because eventually he'll ruin it for everyone, including Inamed. That's a shame.. a sad sad shame.

This sounds exactly like erosion. Once the stomach has migrated inside the stomach wall, you can fill it all day long everyday and still get no restriction. She needs to be scoped to see if they can see erosion.

Amazing. She started it. I guess it backfired. Like I said earlier. Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie. Sometimes, they tend to wake up and bite you on the ......

Maybe you could go ahead and begin with the exercising to strengthen your muscles before banding. It sure helps if you can do more of the lifting than the nurses. 12-15 is only 2 weeks away.

Slippage can be dangerous if the stomach is totally blocked off by the band or the stomach becomes folded over the band. In extreme cases there can be some damage to the stomach or you can become badly dehydrated due to not being able to keep anything down, even water. Otherwise, most slippage is caught pretty quickly and remedied before much damage is done. Often, it is a case of being able to un-fill the band and allow it to slip back into place. Since it is about a 3% chance, it certainly would not be enough to stop me from getting a band. My chances of having a major cardiac event or stroke was much higher.

Great job! Thanks for posting pics! It's always so good to see that this is REALLY working! Congratulations on regaining your life!

It got deleted? hmm..

Try some warm apple juice. Sometimes it takes awhile for our tummy to 'wake up' after surgeries. The apple juice may help to soften things up and get them moving. Then, the liquids kick in and everything is too loose for a few days. It'll all get back to normal after a few days. Glad to hear everything went well! Please keep us posted on your progress!

No ma'am. I was rebanded due to 'slippage' which I feel correlated to a hiatal hernia that was not repaired in the first banding. To be rebanded you have to go through the same surgery as your initial banding

lol, me too. All I know is that it says no one should go under 1000 calories per day. I am not mathmetician, but one thing that has stuck with me from Jessie.. If you want to weigh or your ideal weight is 120 - you need to only consume enough calories to maintain THAT weight, which would be 1200 per day. This would equate to 10 calories per one lb of body weight. If your ideal weight is 130, then it would be 1300 and so on. That helps me to understand sort of 'why'. I suppose once you enter in exercise and Protein vs fat and carbs and your own real metabolism this could fluctuate or vary? Bottom line, if I'm not losing, I HAVE to be eating enough calories to maintain this weight.

The main symptom of Erosion would be NO restriction after several fills. In other words - if you go get a fill this week and you don't feel restriction right away. This does not mean you have erosion. You are a new bandster and most of the time new bandsters take anywhere from 2-4 fills to finally feel restriction. However, IF you do finally get restriction and you go along for awhile with restriction, then you begin to feel you need another fill and you go get another and feel nothing, so you go get another and feel nothing, and another and feel nothing, so on... then would be a good time to be checked for erosion. If the band has migrated inside the stomach wall, no matter how much they tighten it, there will be no restriction because it is no longer outside the stomach. Just remember, this is the worst of all complications with the band and according to Inamed, there is still only 1% chance that this could happen. To me, it's still worth having the band, because even with that complication, it is SO much less devestating to your body and is still removable. Gastric bypass is pretty much a 'forever' thing.

Jane! Well done! You're looking great! Keep up the good work!

Minny, There definitely ARE some issues to be concerned with with the band. As with any surgery, there are risks. As with any weight loss surgery, there are additional risks. With the band, you have such minor things as flipped ports, possible port infections, tubing leaks, all these are mostly fixable with an office call. Occasionally, the dr will work on them in a hospital setting. Then, you have about a 3% chance of slippage, according to reports, there is a 1% of erosion, where the band migrates inside the stomach wall and would have to be removed. Even the two most major complications are far less devestating to your body and your health than those one can expect with the gastric bypass. The band does require ongoing maintenance, such as fills. I've been banded and RE-banded again and I have still only had 6 fills in 18 months. Remember, I've been rebanded, so this would have been less were I able to keep my original band. My fill level was pretty perfect after 3 fills then. So, yes, initially, you have to see the Dr pretty often. Once you have reached a fill level and your healing is all done, you don't see the Dr that often and you are on your merry way of losing weight and learning to practice good eating behaviors. I'm not trying to persuade you into making any certain choice. But, I can tell you this is the most effective and healthy way I have ever attempted to lose any weight. Gastric Bypass was simply not an option for me, so rather than 'dieting' over and over again. This was my choice. I am glad I made it. I am not at goal, but I am at 183 lbs, which I would never have been able to attain by myself and I was in the 'gaining' mode when I started so I may have reached 300lbs by now, otherwise. I think I saved my own life, literally. I would do it again, too. I wish you luck with whatever you decide. If you have Dr. Ren, then you really have an awesome Dr., you're one of the lucky ones!

Don't make me smack you, Jack! Get a band! God does NOT want you to be fat! lol