DeLarla

Do I smell a challenge? What's happening on Monday? I never weight the same as anybody before in my entire life! Penni, we were meant to be! Thanks Bec! Hey, what do you mean by a small capacity? Duh, I should do some band studying.

Nurse Penni Money, are you better today? I don't see you on-line.

Betty, I wouldn't get another port, but we all know how fickle our little bands are. I hear people suddenly lose restriction. I lose restriction, but it seems to come back just in time. I'm on constant alert. If my restriction goes away, people on the 5 Freeway better pull over, cuz I'll be speeding to Tijuana or a new port!

I only log my weight in on the 5th of each month. OH, that's today! Happy 6 month Bandivesary to me! I can't stop skipping today. Somebody get me out of this tree!

Alex, I'm not sure it was the tech's fault. When I walked in, she had two bottles on her tray. I wonder if it was in her paperwork to give it to me. Or maybe it's just SOP for her to have them both ready? At least the doc knew. So far, in all my flipping doctor visits over my port, only that doctor and one of my surgeons is even familiar with the band. Even my local gastro knows so little about it. I can't wait for it to become more widespread so medical help is more available.

Good going, girlies! Where are the men today? I met my exercise challenge for the whole week, yippee! And today's my 6 month weigh-in, so I'm actually skipping around the office with joy!

Kathy, can you ask your doctor that question and let us know? Because I don't think the fill is supposed to go away. I know that a doctor can puncture a tube during a port fill, and maybe that would cause a leak. My doctor was looking for leaks during my Upper GI scan, so the Fluid would come out of the band if there was a leak. But other than a leak or a puncture, I think the saline stays in the band. Thanks everyone for the information. Something really important here - during my Upper GI scan, the technician wanted to give me the gas bubbles to drink to expand my stomach. Good thing the doctor walked in and stopped her. He said people with bands should never be given the bubbles, which is something we all know already. But, if I'm laying on an examining table, and a doctor tries to do something to me, I usually trust him. Good think he walked in and stopped her, because it may have slipped my mind and I probably would have gulped it down. He told me the bubbly stuff they give would have instantly expanded my pouch and could have damaged it.

If you put a rubber band around a balloon, then the balloon loses air, the rubber band can't stay in place any more. Think of it that way.

Yes, the lil gassy goes away. Unfortunatly, the big ol gassy takes its place!

And once again, the guy looked good doing it! Thanks - it does sound like the same kind of equipment. Maybe fluoro is more like a live image while Upper GI is like pictures? Curious.

Can anybody explain the difference between Fluoro and an Upper GI? There's one doctor here, Dr. Teng, who will do fills on Mexican patients. When I asked if he does them under fluor, his nurse responded with, "he does them under an Upper GI." For the Upper GI, I stood up on an x-ray table and drank barium while they took pictures of my belly. What's fluoro in comparison?

Whoo hoo, one more chick gets her exercise in. YES, I am quite pleased, Madame! Good going! Four miles is awesome.

Alex, I posted about my Upper GI results. Penni responded that the "relatively mild limitation of gastric distension at EG junction" probably means that I've stretched a little from eating too much. Other than that my Upper GI was normal, so I really need to eat tiny. It's very freaky thinking I have to eat less than I already do because my mouth and head want more, more, more. I used more self-control at lunch today, but dinner is the hard part. Hey, maybe we're just drinking too much water! A girl's gotta dream.

That's 30 fat-buring, ass-kickin' rockin minutes on the treadmill! Good going Betty. You're making us all look bad!

Zhanna, what a cool name! There was another girl that had the same problem as me. They removed her port, but she healed real fast and got a new port. I am very thankful, I mean extremely thankful for the weight I've lost with no port. I'm very, very lucky considering all the problems I've had. I just hope I can keep it up. Thanks for your thoughts.

Penni, I was lucky to get that much info out of the secretary, which is why my sentence stops dead after "esophogeal." But other than the one comment, she said the rest was normal. She even read one sentence that used the words "stomach" and "excellent" in the same sentence, so that's gotta be good. Now, about my eating too much... who, me? Sheesh, sure can't eat much at all with my lil bandie, can I? Time to do some serious work to cut back my portions. Darn, busted. Can't be good though, especially this soon in the band game. If I don't stop, mild could turn into monster! Thanks for the info!

Sorry if I confused you. I don't even have a port and my belly still grumbles. I'm the girl with no port! I had my original surgery 5/5/04, but the port incision never healed. The whole port area became infected, so 6/17 they removed the port. They gave me a fill first, so I still have the band, just no port.

I will bow my head and put my hand over my heart. Goodbye, cruel food!

Betty, have you gotten the farties yet? May as well get used to them. My wound isn't healed yet... still holding my breath and hoping though!

Samy, thanks for joining us. Lots of crazy women around here and some awesome guys, too. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Lap Band, right at your fingertips. Good luck!

Kathy, as long as you have restriction, you don't need a fill. I only had one fill, and I still have restriction (banging on pine trees.) In a perfect world, we'd get the perfect fill then have our port removed. Too bad we don't live in a perfect world. If it works, don't fix it. I once did a report on breast implants, and during my research I learned that all implants leak. I spoke with manufacturers of breast implants that told me if you set an implant on a newspaper, it would eventually show a light "Water mark" so to say. I don't know if the band is the same as a breast imlant, but I can't imagine the saline stays fresh and good forever, so I look forward to more responses on this question that has earned you a gold star. Most excellent question, my dear.

You mean I'm just a lil gassy? Duh, it didn't take no fancy test to tell ME that!

Does anyone know what this means? "relatively mild limitation of gastric distension at EG junction."

Oh my gosh, don't EVEN get ME started on them! See Penni's response.

My primary doctor was across the examining room grabbing her stethescope to give me a little listen. She heard my pouch from across the room and yelled, "what the hell was that?"