DeLarla

I forwarded that post to Inamed. I'm curious what the FDA would say about the lack of aftercare. I understand the FDA approved the band at one point, but then took it off the market till the US doctors had better training. I doubt they realize there are Americans (like me) walking around with protruding tubes and infected ports that can't get medical help. I think the band is an amazing tool, and considering the rampant obesity epidemic, the band should get just as much attention as AIDS or cancer. Maybe I need to get on a soapbox and start writing some letters. The band saved my life - I may end up losing it, but for today, it saved my life.

Nope, I didn't meet the challenge. I must have arthritis because it takes me an hour to drag out of bed cause everything hurts every day. I didn't go for my walk because my house was a wreck. Other than the girls that cleaned the kitchen after the party, I haven't done anything, so today I scrubbed the kitchen before work. Got sweaty, so that counts.

Betty, don't forget to wear slip-on shoes! I also bought a pair of pink booties so I could walk around barefoot and not get dirty feet. But they gave me a blue gown, so I didn't match. Then my friend, Francesca, well they gave her a pink gown just to make me jealous.

Yes, Penni, now I'm happy. If he's gonna post, he's gotta be smiling at us.

Immune boosters? You mean like sleeping & lowering stress? Now that's funny. I had my first anxiety attack at 17. Sometimes I remind myself to slow down, other times Chris reminds me, and sometimes my friends remind me. But lately, my anxiety is through the roof. But it never lasts long, and I feel a nice calm period coming on. I took Monday off and spent the whole day riding my motorcycle all over, just thinking and enjoying the day. I don't do that enough... making a mental note to do more of nothing and less of something.

Strange, but I'm jealous. I want a new band with a pretty new port. It's your time, enjoy it.

Howdy from Las Vegas!

Careful, Lisa. It almost sounds like you're inviting us to your house!

One of my biggest concerns before getting banded was the possiblity that it would change my marriage. I went to a LapBand seminar, and the doctors discussed in detail that while some marriages improve when one person loses a lot of weight, many, many marriages end in divorce. You have to ask yourself if this problem is related to your new body. Is your wife jealous? Perhaps you're getting too much attention from women other than your daughter that's making her lash out? I agree that chosing wife over daughter is not an option. That's what my father did to me. He's on Wife #4 now, and we still don't have a relationship. I hate him for it. It's nice having a place to vent.

Leatha, you should send that post in a letter to Inamed. Very well put. I doubled up on my aftercare just to make sure I'd be treated in case of an emergency. First I went to the local doctors, who hold a seminar. During the seminar they brag about patients they're still treating from overseas. They specificially told us of a woman and her daughter that were banded in Europe who now live in Las Vegas. So I asked some questions and felt assured they'd be here for me when I came back from Mexico. But when I got the port infection, they refused to see me. I reminded them of the seminar, how they made me believe they'd care for me like their European patients, but the doctor refuses to take on anyone now. Second, Dr. Lopez in Mexico said he'd refer me to a local physician for emergency aftercare. I had no reason to believe I should check with Teng first. When I needed him, he turned me away because he'll do fills on Mexican patients, but nothing else. So, don't feel like you're on a soap box. This deserves a thread of its own because you are right, after a period of time, there's going to be a huge medical crisis regarding no aftercare. If you don't mind, I'll be happy to send that to Inamed.

Actually, the only thing that really bothers me are the rashes from bandages. Lucky me - allergic to bandages. I have tape for sensitive skin, but you know how delicate I am (snort.) Even the delicate stuff leaves me with itchy rashes.

Donali, I stayed out of the pool for months at first. But I used extra bandage tape over the weekend. Swimming did something to the tape and made it stick like glue. I had a hard time getting the bandages off. It's not really open all the time. Kinda like a flower that blooms late in the day. I wouldn't be in the pool at all except I have insurance in the medicine chest - an extra round of antibiotics - remember? So far, so good. It's not red, inflammed, or infected. Just a nuisance.

Looks like you found lots of new friends already. Penni, there's only one doc here that will do fills on Mexican patients, but he won't do fills on Swedish patients. Go figure.

Where is Mr. M's avatar? John, you even put a smile on Chris's face. Between you playing guitar and all those presents Penni gave him from Jamaica, it was like he was having his own Bash!

Penni, it's kind of hard saying no to Sachi. She follows me around every single morning, tripping my feet and singing to me till I get the leashes out. Exercise isn't really an option, it's just the only way to appease the Piggy. The first time I met Chloe, I accidentally called her Sachi. They will not be ignored!

I do have an autoimmune disease called Sarkoidosis, which could make healing difficult. But why are the rest of my incisions looking so good. I have to be very careful about the wound center though, because I could almost guarantee that my insurance would want me to have the whole band removed. It's the tube that is keeping the incision from closing. At least I have the Cat Scan out of the way. My surgeon wouldn't see me till I got it. Maybe the surgeon can get me an endoscopy. I'm surprisingly handling it pretty well mentally. It's become part of my daily routine to change the bandages. I'm lucky that I live by the "everything happens for a reason" motto, otherwise I'd be a basket case. If they want my band, they're gonna have to fight me over it. Penni my love, Dr. Billy already said he'd take care of me, but Kuri is half as much. I still owe Kuri $400 for the last operation. Plus, Kuri doesn't make me pay till I have the money - can't beat that deal! At least I don't have a huge cyst like I thought I did. I'm actually a little more like everyone else than I though. Ha Ha, I still have my tube!

Darcy, the guy at the wound center said it's fatty tissue that popped out... nothing to worry about. I don't want it to form a big ugly scar on the outside of the wound, but I haven't touched it in weeks. Just cleaning & covering it. I have a new gauze & tape habit to support.

Yep, Katie, this has been going on since my original surgery. My port incision became a problem, got infected, blah blah blah. It's not infected now, it just won't heal over. Then a couple weeks ago it actually started to look a little better, but I had a bit of a motorcycle incident. I was in a motorcycle class and the instructor grabbed hold of my throttle and revved the engine so hard that smoke came out and spooked me, so the bike yanked out from under me and landed on my foot. That caused the incision to pull open worse than ever. I live in Las Vegas. There are several band surgeons here, but they refuse to see me since I had the band done in Mexico. You get what you pay for. But I'm very happy with my weight loss, which is why I keep the smile on my face.

Greg, that's such a nice story. My animals cost me a fortune, too, but they're worth every nickle. I have a sad story with a happy ending to send more hope out there. My dad lives in Key Largo, and he takes he 3 dogs on the boat every day. Last weekend, he got home and one of the dogs was gone - he jumped off the boat in the middle of the ocean, and my dad didn't know till he got home. They did everything to try to find the dog, but came home empty handed. But the next night they got a call from the Animal Foundation. Someone actually found a dog swimming in the middle of the ocean and saved him! He's home safe and healthy! There's always hope

I had hot chocolate and decaf with real cream, warm milk, Gatorade and apple juice, plus my Jello and broth. Then one day I counted all the liquid calories I was consuming. I started diluting my juices to cut back on my sugar intake because it's surprising that you can go overboard on calories when you're not even eating! All those Fudgesickles and Koolaid add up unless they're sugar free.

Alex, my original surgical incision only closed for a few days before it started leaking. It briefly closed over at one point, but then the Urgent Care doc lanced it. So yes, I've basically had an open wound since May. Now I was thrown a curve, because I didn't realize I still had a tube, so does that mean it's clamped off and just floating around? Would the tube be stitched down? Or is just the port that was stitched? So far I'm really disappointed with all my local care. I've seen my veterinarian, two primary doctors, two urgent care doctors, two radiologists, and my Gastroenterologist, and not even one of them has a clue. The only one that's even heard of the band is my Gastro. Not one of them has ever heard of a "seroma." I think Donali told me about Seromas, so I'm educating all these doctors along the way. Thank you, Kim, for reassuring me that my insurance has to cover these things, because I was afraid they'd give me problems. My Gastro said he'd refer me to have an endoscope, but when I tried making the appointment he retracted his statement and refused to give me the referral since he "never told me to have weight loss surgery." So I have to deal with getting an endoscope separately. The only reason I was thinking of having Dr. Kuri do a port replacement in a different area is because all of the rest of my incisions healed so nicely, so I was thinking it's just this particular area. I remember how sick I got after the original surgey with a bronchial infection, so maybe all that coughing put pressure on my ribcage and jimmy'd the port loose - which is where this bad wound is. I was on the phone this morning with a brand new wound center that's opening the same day of my surgeon appointment. They were very interested in seeing me, so they're going to see if my insurance covers them. But they also asked for pictuers of the tube protruding out of the incision - they want a case history of this type of thing for their files and future studying. Kim, I got the band on May 5. Then in June they gave me a fill while I was on the operating table, then took the port out. So at least I got one fill out of the deal.

Thank you! My precious little Piglet is such a ham! And those boa feathers in Vera's hair!

Here I am! I was having my Cat Scan this morning for my pesky incision that refuses to heal. I posted a thread about it. Yes, my "monthly visitor" was screwed up for a couple months after surgery. It came really early and heavy, then really late. I panicked and called my surgeon, and that's totally normal. Please - nobody mention the word "challenge" to me! No more, no way! But I will join you all for some exercise. I used the Cat Scan as an excuse not to walk, but I'll walk tomorrow. I take my dogs to the park (45 min) then I use my Total Gym. Plus I tend to get a good workout just riding my motorcycle around. I rode it all day yesterday.

Hey Donali, that's a mighty fine pic of my hubby you got! And the shot of you & John at Hoover Damn is great! And if John found so much as a speck of gold, that would be awesome! It would give Chris hope to find more. Chris will probably go buy a generator so he can jackhammer sides of mountains open after John showed him all that silver. Penni, cute, cute new avatar!

Feb 8 is hubby's birthday. I might actually be able to swing that! But DeLarla & Mardi Gras... isn't that kinda dangerous? But if it's too late for hotel reservations, I guess we just gotta go to Penni's.