hagerteresa

When I saw my band aftercare doctor the other day I was asking him what his percentage of patients were that got the band versus the bypasses (which he does also). He said it was about 30-40% bandings and the rest bypass. He said he wished that number would increase because he really does like the results from the band better. I thought that was very uplifting coming from a doctor who has done bypasses for many many years and has only done the band for a few, to like the band procedure and outcome more. I thought I would throw that in there. T

Hi Trish, Gosh, I don't know how to respond. I don't want to call your feelings silly or anything but honestly I weighed even more than you when I got my band and haven't regretted it for anything. I would have NEVER considered the by-pass of any kind. I am 30 and still want to have kids myself. I also get on obesityhelp.com but ussually stick to the Oregon group and nobody has ever said anything negative about the band on that group. I think a pregnancy with the band would be much safer than the bypass anyway. By-pass people have massive Vitamin deficiency's, they have large parts of their hacked off organs stuck inside them, etc. I have a local banded friend who is 7 months pregnant and she is doing wonderfully. Hasn't gained a pound at all. I am sorry you are having regrets. One thing to consider is the by-pass people only have a certain window of opportunity to lose weight. Once that is past, if they haven't lost all their weight they probably never will. I have also know many by-pass people who have gained all their weight back. The band has an infinite window of opportunity and hopefully will always be there to help us. You don't think we all get frustrated sometimes? I had a plateau from thanksgiving to new years... I was totally frustrated and bummed when I went to all the trouble to go weigh in every week and see the same damn numbers. I just tried to not let the plateau overwelm me. We go thru those naturally anyway but I also wanted to eat some of the holiday treats. I felt blessed I had stayed the same in the end. Anyway, I definitely feel for you and hope you can change your mindset. The band does work. Best wishes, Teresa

Oops I just saw your link for your web page. You'll have to put more pics of the cabin on there. Ours is a lot bigger and has a working kitchen and bathroom but it is in deplorable condition as far as repairs. We did a LOT of work down there last year but in reality we need to eventually tear the place down and put a new house or manufactured home on the property. We were given 3 beautiful acres sorrounded by BLM land. Our property has a pond and creek on it and a fenced horse pasture. My husband's uncles own adjoining properties so they help keep an eye on it for us. When we got it we had to throw out some horrible tenants who hadn't paid rent in months and they left $700 in garbage removal. The whole house and most of the property was waste deep in trash. Evidently they were burying it. Anyway your place is very cute. Show us some interior shots. Teresa

Hi Darcy, You are doing a wonderful job! So glad you made it to onderland! I want to see pics of your getaway cabin. We have one too. I can't wait to get back down there to take more pics of ours. I took a bunch last year but somehow we lost them all on the computer. We'll have to swap pics. Best wishes, Teresa

Hey Blossom, That is precisely why I don't own a scale. I find over the counter one's normally are unreliable. I weigh myself once a week on the doctor's scale. I reweigh myself 2 or 3 times in a row at the docs too. Ussually its in disbelief (one way or another) and I need to see it again. In chemistry class we always had to reweigh our samples 3 times and took the average to get the most accurate weight. Best wishes, Teresa

Hi Marie, I am waiting on the medical parts. I want to be pain free for at least a few months before I sign off on anything. My company has treated me really good now but the other company stank. They haven't even made any offers on my medical and I had to settle the value of my car thru my own company. I was able to get double what the other company was offering. They offered $2300, I wanted $4300 and was able to get $4391 thru my own company after my deductable. I'm STILL waiting for the check to get here though. They had to pay the last $1600 on my old car off and that has already been taken care of. I hope metlife treats their own customers better than they treat victims hit by their drivers. I have never dealt with such a rude insulting person as their total loss guy. Anyway Marie, yes I am waiting on the medical parts. I have been to the doctor umpteen times over this and will go back as long as I need to. Best wishes, Teresa

Hi Tanya, Glad you found something too. I know what you mean on the gas thing. I had a 4 cyl. before too and it got about 30-32 mpg and about 300 miles to a tank. The new car is a 6 cyl. and with normal driving seems to get about 22 mpg and also about 300 miles to a tank but its a slightly bigger tank. Yesterday on my Portland trip it seemed to actually get a lot better mileage since it was all freeway. I only used about a 1/2 tank to go over 200 miles. I made the mistake of buying a brand car once when I was 18. I had gotten a Geo Metro. Ugh!!! Many years of payments and 3 engines and 3 transmissions later I decided new cars weren't worth it. I know... It was a geo... but since cars lose their value so quickly I always feel like I am getting a better deal buying when its a few years old. That car I just got sold for almost 20k 4 years ago and I was able to get it for $4900 now. It looks and drives brand new so I was pretty happy. Anyway glad you found something and your daughter is okay, Teresa

Hey Marie, I gave a long update on the Sore Port thread. For the most part I'm fine but still have some neck pain and headaches. I am still getting massage therapy which is nice but I tried to lay off the pain killers and muscle relaxers a couple of weeks ago and had a massive flare up that lasted several days. It is all pretty tolerable but I still don't feel 100% either. Thanks for checking. I'm glad I am happy with the new car too. I tend to stay really happy with vehicles as long as they stay dependable. My part of the bargain is to keep up on the maintenance. Hopefully this one has a long life. I ended up buying the one that was a year newer than the other one offered and it didn't come with the automatic seats and a few of the other features but I was glad. This one already has enough power features for me. I was just imagining what would happen if the auto seats (adjusts at the push of a button) went out... What on earth would you do!?! I am glad I made the choice I did. Anyway I'll have to send you a nice long chatty pm soon. Best wishes, Teresa

Thanks everybody, It's probable that the accident caused the port movement but the doctor thought it would be hard to prove. My PIP portion of my auto insurance is paying all my medical bills at this time and agreed to let me go to the band specialist. I am glad he'll use flouro everytime too, that first uncooperative blind fill in his office was a nightmare. My port area really doesn't hurt anymore and hasn't for awhile but I have felt a difference in the port area. I used to never be able to lay on my stomach for long and since the accident I can for much longer periods. My port was already tipped upright so when it moved it actually tipped back and to the side a little more. I am still getting therapy for my neck too. I was prescribed 8 sessions of massage therapy (NICE) and am still taking vicodin and flexeril. I had stopped the pills altogether a couple of weeks ago and had a massive flare up (couldn't move my head much) for several days. At the same time I had injured my eye for 3 days and got a bad cold (caused huge increase in restriction too). That was a terrible week. LOL... It is much better this week. I am also still getting really bad headaches once or twice a week. They go away fairly easily if I catch them early but if I accidently wait they get hard to get rid of. Anyway, I can't wait till all this accident crap ends. I finally settled on my car last week and got exactly what I wanted. What a relief that was!!! I'm still waiting on the darned check though. Anyway thanks for all the support, Teresa

Congratulations!!! Hope everything works out for you smoothly. Some surprises are truly good surprises, Teresa

I thought I would update everyone on my new car. I absolutely LOVE it accept for the poorer gas mileage. Otherwise it rides and drives like a dream. I drove it the longest today having to drive 2 hours each direction to see my band doctor and it went very smoothly. I also had an oil change done on it recently and got the history of oil change maintenace on it because I took it to the same company the prior people had. All of their little inspections came out great and the old owners had all of the little extra's done when they had serviced it. Anyway so far I am a happy camper with it. Did I mention how much I love it? LOL... Teresa

Okay... I know this has taken awhile but I finally got my port checked out by the band doctor today. It got rotated one direction 3 degrees and rotated another direction 15 degrees. Nothing too serious and doctor isn't even considering port revision surgery but it will make fills more difficult. Doctor says he'll only use flouro at this point. That is fine by me and hopefully my medical insurance will pick up the extra cost, at least they said they would a few weeks ago if it is submitted worded correctly (without the word obesity attached to it). The doctor decided to do a small fill today too. He was able to pull out .8 cc from the initial 1 cc he had origonally gave me and he added .4 cc to that totalling 1.2 cc's. I haven't tested it too much and stuck with liquids and soups at this point but wanted to update everyone on the port situation. Thanks, Teresa

Hello everybody, I had my surgery in Mexico. It wasn't a great experience but I have been problem free too. I was smart enough to find a wonderful fill doctor within a couple hours of my home BEFORE I had surgery who accepted Mexico patients and has reasonable prices but I didn't even think of getting my medical records while I was down there. It took 6 months to finally get them thanks to the help of Diane Beck. AND they came in English. The only thing I am pissed that I didn't do was get my serial number for my band. Otherwise my overall Mexico surgical experience has been VERY positive. It did seem a little sketchy and stressful when I was there for the surgery but I have no complaints since the surgery. Definitely do your research and find a local doctor before going south for the band. Teresa

Hey Joan, Sorry you had to deal with such ignorance. Hopefully it all gets straightened out and you get to keep this surgery date. Best wishes, Teresa

Hi Vera, Glad your getting taken care of. Best wishes to you on your trip and band repair. Hopefully it all ends up being minor. Teresa XOXO

There are dozens of references to hunger during this phase in past posts including one in the the "sticky tabs" section at the top of one of the threads. Hunger and possible weight gains are totally possible during the pre-fill stage. Best of luck, Teresa

I LOVE my Kodak easyshare 5 mega pixel camera. It is extremely easy to operate and I take a ton more pictures with it than I did my old film camera. They are also priced VERY reasonable. They are right around $200 and I thought that was great for the quality of pictures, the ease of use and the number of megapixels. Teresa

I heard Lisa mention something about needing a passport to drive over the boarder at the end of this year. Nobody knew if it was going to be fact or not, so who knows?

Laura, Call Dr. Eubanks at Portland Surgical Specialist. He is the sweetest nicest guy and will take patients from other surgeons. His current price is $250 for the initial consultation and fill and then $150 for all others. If you need flouro it is an additional $100 but he doesn't need to use it every time. That is only if your port is at some wierd angle like mine and they can't find it easily in their office. The flouro office is just downstairs. His phone number is 503-353-3005. Best of luck and tell them I referred you. It seems like I have referred them about 20 people and one of the people I referred to him has also referred another 20 people. I don't think they have any kind of referral incentive but I figure it wouldn't hurt to let them know that happy patients are getting the word out. Best of luck to you, Teresa

Hi Jack, I don't feel like I get any real warning signs. I also experienced PB's pre-filled though. I can go for weeks without having any PB experiences and then have a few in a weeks time. Most recently I got a bad head cold and had a terrible time getting commonly eaten foods down. When I sit down to a meal, I will hesitantly take a few bites and try to chew well and see how it settles. If it settles fine then I can safely continue with my meal eating slowly and chewing well. There are times I have to wonder if I chewed something well enough and those are probably times when I am starving and just dig in without thinking and occur in those first few tentative bites. I don't know. My band can be a little fickle. Ussually I can safely make it to a bathroom to spit up the offending item but once in awhile it has caught me off guard and I've had to make embarrassing decisions. Last time that happened at Costco from a bite of cracker. I love to get samples at Costco but can't just pop them in my mouth like I used to. I have to slowly collect them and take several bites. I actually consider this a meal when I get the costco samples. Anyway I forgot to chew a cracker with a dip on it. I igored the subtle warning signs. By the time I was done at the cash register I litorally had to run for the NEAREST garbage bin. I was trying not to gag while waiting for my purchase to complete. Fortunately my PB's are more of a spit up normally and nobody even noticed me spitting in the bin. The warning signs for me include a discomfort between my shoulder blades, sometimes the sliming but not always, just a general something is not right discomfort. It is often subtle and I can accidently ignore it and other times it can be excruciatingly discomforting. I had to pull my car over three times in a 20 minute period last week when I had that cold and couldn't eat very well. I never actually PB'd but I had the most painful cramping in my upper back, hot and cold spells, a horrible dryness in my mouth. It was startling and I couldn't decide if I should call an ambulance or not it was that bad. I was all by myself too. Ends up by the end of that 20 minutes whatever it was cleared and I felt as right as rain. Never happened again either. Like I said though normally I don't PB at all and then will have a few minor incidences for a week or two and then none for awhile. It is only very occassional ones that are so startling for me. On another note though, recall that car accident and my port discomfort. I finally was able to get my primary doctor to refer me to get checked out by the band doctor and I was able to get an okay from my car insurance so next tuesday I am getting it checked out under flouro. It doesn't hurt anymore but strangely enough I was never able to lay on my stomach for long before the accident and now I can for much longer periods of time. My port had been tipped up on its side when I got my first fill under flouro. I am wondering if I didn't pull a stitch or something and maybe it has flattened out some. I don't know but will definitely feel better having it checked out. I may try to get a second fill at the same time. I only got 1 cc back in early November and really could eat pretty well until this cold kicked in but now it is getting better and eating is a bit easier. I haven't really lost much since that initial fill either. I don't know if I will yet or not but will see what the doc thinks too. Teresa

Thanks for sharing that situation with us. That is terrible! I would be outraged!!! Have you told your surgeon what he did to you? Before I had surgery I contacted my insurance to find out if they would cover complications even though they wouldn't cover the procedure. They said they would on a couple of different occassions. If your insurance didn't pay for the origonal surgery they might pay for the repairs. Sorry you had to experience this problem, Teresa

Lauri, I sure hope they figure this out so you feel better soon. We miss you!!! Our thoughts and prayers are definitely with you. Sending you lots of hugs, Teresa

Great input Sue! I couldn't agree more. I enjoyed doing my research for the band. Good to see you back Sue, Teresa

You are not even expected to lose any weight before your first fill. Your supposed to just be healing now, any weight loss during this time is a bonus. Your only supposed to lose 1-2 lbs a week later. Your doing great! Teresa

Hi Again Tony, I made sure I had a doctor lined up in my area before I went to Mexico for surgery. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been able to find one that would take me and who also charges reasonable prices and has a wonderful bedside manner. I have also not had any real problems with my band which makes it all more smooth. I have only gotten one fill in 8 months (that is kind of unusual I guess) but am going to go get my port checked out soon because of an auto accident. Since its a couple of hours away and I probably could use a fill, I may go ahead and get another one then since they'll have me on flouro anyway. If its affordable and possible, having a local surgeon might be a great help to you but it also works out well for many people who chose the Mexico route. Best wishes, Teresa