DeLarla

Margret, a couple short questions: 1. How do you know so much about me if you never read my personal medical file? 2. You claim Lopez is correcting all of his past problems. Why hasn't he contacted anyone from this post? 3. You threatened me IN WRITING. If you are not connected to Lopez or Gaby on a personal or employment level, what recourse were you planning to take against me? 4. Who are the people that we both know in the legal community that you planned on using against me (from your written threat to my PRIVATE e-mail account?)

I'm not an alcoholic. I'm a drunk. Acoholics go to meetings. Saw that bumper sticker in Hollywood and it made me go "hummmmmm."

Vickie, I came here to delete my post after getting a good night's sleep because I figured Margret isn't worth my 2 cents. But after reading your reply, I'm not erasing anything. Well done. If I had an ounce of fighting energy left, I'd take your advice and call Mexico to see if their's a hospital Chief of Staff (or something similar.) But I'm done chasing Lopez. Margret wants to know if we've tried calling since he straightened up his act. But he hasn't corrected any problems with his practice since he's STILL not calling his patients to see how they're doing (his personal promise.) "We'll be in touch with you on a regular basis." Margret, how often does his "regular basis" occur in Mexico? How can you say he corrected problems when the biggest one is still untouched? Margret doesn't know when to keep her mouth (or fingers) shut. The quote she added from Larry Fulton at Inamed was the dumbest thing she could have done, since I'll be using it extensively tomorrow in my battle. She's providing amunition, not assistance. Margret works for Doctor Lopez (or is a close personal friend) because she sent e-mails to my private e-mail address. She threatened me and said, "I know all about you and where you work, and I know the same people that you know so you better watch out." She has information from my personal medical file. Breach of patient confidentiality isn't tolerated in the United States and she'd get a mighty slap on the wrist, but it's apparent that anything goes in Mexico.

I'm confused with the "rumors" you're talking about. Three of my personal friends had their bands removed due to erosion in the past couple months. Three different friends have been promised their records but never received them. Several of us on this thread alone have left countless messages that he never returned, and he has never called any of us with his promised "follow up" care. What is your definition of a rumor? We are here to share and learn. The more we share, the better prepared we are. I'm taking your word, Margret, so I look forward to hearing from Dr. Lopez in the next couple days since he's taking care of all his old problems.

Margret, you won't be happy till I have a complete nervous breakdown over my open wound, will you? It's been open and oozing for over six months, yet Dr. Lopez has NEVER called me. NOT EVEN ONCE! Dr. Lopez ignored my infected, oozing, puss-filled infection so long that another doctor had to remove my port at my expense. Lopez could have saved my port. Is he planning on doing my 3rd surgery to replace my port? If he's rectifying old problems, shouldn't I be on the top of his list? Why is he taking on new patients when he refuses to take care of old ones? He's broken a list of promises to me personally: 1. Lisa, this is a life-long, two-way relationship, so you stay in touch with me and I'll be in touch with you on a regular basis. (I've called over 30 times. He's never called.) 2. Lisa, I understand your concern with emergency aftercare so I'm referring you to Dr. Teng and Dr. Fisher in Las Vegas for emergencies. (He referred me to doctors that refuse to treat Mexican band patients.) 3. Lisa, I promise to call you back personally in two days to discuss your port removal (I'm still waiting - it's been several months.) How typical of you to disappear without responding to any comments. If you have such faith in Dr. Lopez, why don't you explain to him how badly he hurt me? Tell him he made promises to an innocent American girl who put her life in his hands six months ago and foolishly believed his empty promises. If he cared, he'd start going through his files and call each and every one of his patients, regardless of complications, and do regular follow-up calls that was part of the price of the surgery. He doesn't need a personal advocate - he's a big boy. He knows how to dial my number. He doesn't need you to start problems, or does he? As far as his skills and abilities, they mean nothing here because you can't help your clients if you pretend they don't exist. Tell HIM to call ME. Tell HIM to fix HIS patient. Tell him to make me feel safe and confident. I want my doctor to fix me. Why won't he fix me? Why won't he call me? How come he promised to call me but never did? Margret, I got a band to save my life (like the rest of us here.) But now I feel like avoiding LBT because I'm too humilated since I'm gaining weight. I've gained 6 pounds because I'm desperate for a fill, but I can't have one. Are you laughing? Are you going to tell Dr. Lopez how miserable I am because I want a fill but I don't have a F-ING port? Are you still proud of Dr. Lopez? I'm disgusted by your ignorance. And don't even think about threatening me again or sending me private messages or personal e-mails like you did last time. Your threats don't scare me, and if you sic your husband on me again, I'll consider it harrassment. If you have something to say, say it here publicly or better yet, call me at home. You have my number since you admitted to knowing everything about my PERSONAL file. Why are looking at confidential medical records? Does Dr. Lopez share our files with you, or do you sneak behind his back to read them? Why don't you tell everyone how you know so much about me when I don't even know you?

Penni & I got up and walked at 7am. Then me & hubby went to the beach and I walked and walked and walked, just trying to get hungry enough to have dinner. It's 5pm and I just had my first food (couple Doritos) but I'm nowhere near hungry. My band is the funniest little thing since just yesterday I didn't feel much restriction at all. Best of luck to everyone, Happy Thanksgiving!

I ran today, I swear I did! Ask Penni... she ran, too! (Does distance count?)

What's doctor Lopez's phone number?

Nice to see you, Carol, even after you tried killing me with your famous margueritas! Actually, I've been looking for you because I need the exact recipe. I'd like to store some in my freezer for my next wingding (I promise to go slow this time.) Hope you're feeling better, bronchitis is the worst.

I had a horrible experience with Dr. Lopez. He was a very nice man that had a good reputation as being one of the best band surgeons. But I had severe problems after surgery that he and his staff completely ignored. His staff didn't answer calls or return EMERGENCY phone messages. However, I've read some posts that he's hired new staff. He hired one woman that seemed to get his practice in order, but I heard she either already moved on or is planning on moving on, so I don't know what's going on with his office. The worst problem with Lopez is that I asked him what to do if I had an emergency and couldn't get to Mexico, so he happily referred me to a local band surgeon. But when my port became badly infected, the local surgeon refused to see me, so Lopez had no right referring me to him. I was left in the dark with no medical help. It was horrible. I ended up having a 2nd surgery to get my port removed because Dr. Lopez ignored my infection way too long. Please call Dr. Lopez and tell him how worried you are that you won't get the aftercare you need. Maybe he's straightened out his staff, or maybe he's tired of having his name dragged through the mud so he's gotten things under control. The surgery is the easy part - it's aftercare that's the hard part. To me, Lopez just wanted my money. After the original surgery, I felt like I'd been dumped into a very scary world with no doctors to help me. However, in his defense, I had a long talk about Dr. Lopez with Inamed just this week. I voiced my concern that there's a lot of erosions being posted, and they all seem to be Dr. Lopez patients. The Inamed rep told me that Dr. Lopez does a lot more surgeries than other doctors, and that's why he has a higher percentage of erosion. He also said that might "seem" like there's a lot of erosion since people always post all the bad stuff. Inamed is still providing bands to Lopez. I don't know if they have control over who buys their product, but if Inamed isn't shying away from Lopez, then they must still have confidence in him as a competant surgeon. I don't want to scare you, I just want you to go in with your eyes wide open. He's a very impatient man that doesn't like to listen, and he talks very fast with a very thick Mexican accent so he's hard to understand. But get him on the phone and kindly ask him to sit down and spend some time with you to answer every single one of your questions and concerns. I don't think you have anything to be "afraid" of when it comes to Lopez, just as long as you know you may have to find aftercare elsewhere. Make sure you have a heating pad waiting at home which was my savior for all my aches and pains. I brought some fuzzy pink bootie socks so I could walk barefoot without getting my feet dirty, and they were a nice little comfort. I also brought one bottle of Gatorade since right after surgery all they give you is Water for 24 hours. But Dr. Lopez let me have the Gatorade right out of surgery. I hadn't eaten in 2 days, so it tasted so much better than water. It took me all night to sip at one bottle, but it was worth lugging around. Also, a lot of cell phones don't work in Mexico. If you want to call friends and family while in the hospital, stop at a drug store and buy a $10 or $20 phone card when you get to TJ so you won't have problems with the hospital phones. Be good to yourself, and good luck.

Happy Thanksgiving from Las Vegas! We're taking another road trip to Southern Califonria to spend the weekend with little brother, big sister, friends and PENNI. See you guys when I get back. I've got lots to be thankful for. Peace n' love.

My dogs aren't allowed sweet stuff. But what they are allowed to do and what they cleverly find ways of getting into are two different stories!

Be careful about the financing offered through the doctors since the interest rates are pretty high. If you are able to qualify for one of their loans, chances are you can just as easily qualify for a low interest credit card. I got a card that offered 0 percent for the first year. I'm making payments towards it, and at the end of the one year I'll try to get another card with 0 percent for one year and transfer the balance. But if you can't qualify for a low-interest card, the surgery is worth the extra interest in my opinion.

Chris, that's a good idea. I've been on Weight Watchers before while seeing my regular doctor, so that would count as medically supervised.

Most people say they can't afford to self-pay, and I can certainly understand that because I didn't think I could afford to. But I hit rock bottom, and I found a way. I got a loan from the credit union with payments $100.00 per month. I gave up getting my nails done, bottled water delivery, and fast food to fit the band into my budget. My grocery bill has sliced in half, and I don't order at restaurants any more cuz I just pick at friends or husbands. Or I split meals with co-workers. It's doable if you want it really bad. My food bill was insane. I'd buy anything and everything to keep up my food addiction. Now I stop in 7-11 and just grab some decaf. No more drive thru, no more convenience stores, no more take out or pizza delivery. The band pays for itself in 2 years. But you should do like Teresa said and keep fighting. The pen is mightier than the sword.

Like I said, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, so my dogs have eating disorders. Their names are Voodoo and Sachi, but Chris calls them Needs and Issues.

I'm sitting here reading all this weight loss and I'm so flipping impressed with you guys. I'm happy with my loss, too, but I'm getting a little bummed that I can't get a fill. I think I need one since I'm getting hungry an hour after I eat. Some of you people have dropped mountains of weight in such short times - it's simply incredible. Teresa, wow, five pounds in a week after all this time? Yep, I want me one of them there fancy fills!

I chrochetted scarves for all my friends one year, and people liked them. Now you guys are making me look bad so I gotta start making purses for everyone. What's everyone into?

Betty, did it ever make ME sick to eat a 2 pound box of See's candy? NOPE. The apple don't fall far from the tree ya know!

Betty, you guys should ban me from this board. I'm nothin' but bad news!

My big dog needs a band. He got a can of cashews off the table and managed to chew the top off and eat the entire contents. Last year he ate a 2 pound box of See's Candy that was wrapped under the tree without even disturbing one glass ornament (and ate most of the box and ribbon, too.)

They really are cute, aren't they. I like the Harley Davidson one.

OH, is THAT all you gotta do to make a hat, Teresa? That's like MATH!

I went to a huge seminar on Band vs. Bypass. The huge selling point for the Band was that you don't have to give up any food (unless you can't tolerate it.) But bypass patients simply can't digest certain foods, so certain things make them physically sick. I was told they can't have chocolate, for example, because it can't be digested so they get really sick and either vomit or run to the potty. All those foods on the "never eat again list" are obviously high fat and/or high carb foods that any weight loss program recommends/suggests. But that's too much like dieting and deprivation, which got us fat to begin with. I eat whatever I can tolerate in much smaller amounts, which is almost anything. I avoid bread because it tends to get stuck, but I love it so much that I'll eat 1/2 roll or a couple bits of hubby's sandwhich occasionally as long as I chew small bites really well. Same with steak. Popcorn is no problem whatsoever. Sure, I try to make better food choices. But if you just stay away from forbidden foods, why get banded? Skinny doctors just don't understand. As far as ideas for Snacks, that's funny! How about Snicker's, KitKats, Cheetos, Pringles, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ben & Jerry's, Cheesecake, french fries.... Or did you mean low cal snacks? Mmmm... snacks.

Thanks, Leatha. It's pretty hard to get all geared up for exercise, but once I get moving I do pretty good. My mutts LOVE the walk!