Entropy

I'm not sure where losing 64 lbs is considered a failure. You're stalled, not failed. Your post here is a good first step. Follow the advice above and get back on track.

I'm a little too lazy to ready through 28 pages of posts so this may have been asked but why are there five or more incisions? I figured one for the band and another to secure the port and perhaps a drain but five?

Go ahead, Facebook search or Google. It's important to see all sides. I'm just past the considering it stage into the will probably get it stage and I'm looking for whatever information that I can find. I read the Pollyana manufacturer's and doctors' web sites that gloss over the difficulties and risks of banding. I haven't tried Facebook but from what the OP said, it sounds like the information there was a little sketchy. Two died and a hundred it didn't work for? Really? Throw away the outlying data there.

This board has been very helpful in seeing the successes, failures, risks, problems, tips and tricks. I'm glad theat's there's so many real-world banders willing to share. and help.

Just doing a small amount of research on this doctor, I was able to find some information on why I personally would never have chosen this guy:

Richard A. Carter, D.O., who practices surgery in Arlington, Texas, has been disciplined three times by the Texas Board of Medical Examiner, twice related to surgery and once for false advertising.

• In 2006, the the board and Carter entered into an agreed order under which he paid an administrative penalty of $1,000 was required to complete ten hours of continuing medical education in the area of medical records and charting. The action was based on allegations that he had failed to meet the standard of care by leaving a sponge in the abdomen during an operation in which part of a patient's intestine was removed.
  
• In 2009, as shown below, the board ordered him to pay a $5,000 administrative fine and refrain from making misleading claims about himself and AmazeRx, a meal-replacement product he has been promoting. The Board action resulted from a complaint I made about infomercial and Web site advertising which claimed that the product could cause weight loss of up to a pound a day and failed to clearly state that the people who gave testimonials to that effect had undergone bariatric surgery. The order (shown below) prohibits any statements or claims that (a) he is "America's weight loss doctor," ( he is one of the most successful bariatric surgeons in the nation, and © the product will cure fatty livers and/or nutritional cirrhosis." Carter is also prohibited from making any other misleading claims about immediate results or long-term sustainability or how post-bariatric surgical patients compare to the general population. Infomercial Watch has a detailed analysis of the AmazeRx infomercial.
  
• In 2011, Carter and the board entered into an agreed order requiring him to pay a $1000 administrative fine and complete 20 hours of continuing medical education that includes 5 hours in medical record-keeping, 5 hours in risk management and 10 hours in physician/patient communication. The Board found Carter did not adequately document his rationale for the timing for removal of a patient's lap band or that he had counseled the patient.
  

Makes me so glad that stuff like the internet exists so I was able to research the surgeon who will be doing mine and my wife's surgery.

Where did you find that? I'm doc shopping now and I'd like to get the low-down on some scalpel jockies.

Guiness might be different because it's "carbonated" with nitrogen rather than CO2. The N2 bubbles are smaller giving Guiness a creamier feel.

LOL, ressurected a zombie thread.

I drink plenty of Guinness every other week or so.

I've tried drinking garbage like PBR, Coors, Bud and miller but they are very painful due to the high amount of carbonation.

As mentioned above, it is all empty calories and a lot of them. Be prepared to work that much harder to lose the weight if you choose to drink.

Knaroz, You're wrong on the mixer thing. The hard alcohol has more sugar and calories than anything you mix it with.

Guiness might be different because it's "carbonated" with nitrogen rather than CO2. The N2 bubbles are smaller giving Guiness a creamier feel.

For me there was no single factor, it's been building for a long time.

I'm 280, BMI 40. I was up to 315 at one point. I've been over weight my entire life.

• I've been on every diet program, WW, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem and even that horrible Optifast. They all work but then I get tired of the food and counting all the time and I slowly slip off.
  
• I went to Universal Orlando with my kids and couldn't ride some signature rides because I can't fit into the seats. The attendant was nice enough to say that my shoulders are too broad. Some I could ride if I rode the "fat guy" seat and the attendant squashed me in. Humiliating.
  
• On airplanes and in theaters, I fill my own seat and part of my neighbors' so I try to get an aisle seat or a window seat and squish into the corner.
  
• I'm type II diabetic and on THREE medications yet my morning stick is still above 150. I'm asymptomatic but when symptoms appear, thy'll be permanent and devastating.
  
• I buy my clothes from the big and tall store, I can't wear what I want because it's not in my size.
  
• A day at Walt Disney World destroys my feet for a week despite having very good shoes and no feet problems. I was going to book the EPCOT Segway tour but I was above the weight limit so I told my family that it was full. I feel terrible for doing that.
  
• I don't sit at restaurant booths because the table is "too close".
  
• While putting Christmas lights on my roof, I noticed that the ladder's weight limit is 250. I'm risking my very life!
  
• I think that my size is preventing me from getting the job that I want but the employer will never say so.
  
• ... and on and on and on.
  

I had one a couple of years ago. It worked but it seemed to run a little high. I was eating 1000 calories fewer than I was burning but didn't lose weight anywhere near the 3500cal/lb rate.

The online software for tracking the food consumed was difficult to use, very klunky. It may have improved in the last two years.

The guy is a cad. Fat, thin, saggy or firm it doesn't matter. You should ditch him.

You're gorgeous and you seem very sweet so you shouldn't be dealing with someone who won't treat you well.

Good luck.