hagerteresa

Hi Penni, Hopefully none of that is true and your just getting the irritation from something else. I agree with Donali though, I would try to keep it simple and solve this suspect problem before trying to treat the lesser problem. My thoughts are with you and I'll only think good positive inspirational ones for you. Teresa

This spring my mom and I split a home raised organic steer, so I love anything I make from it. Even the traditional tough portions are tender. I'm telling you, I dream of being a down home farm girl and raising my own meat and vegetables. I even do home canning every year. I raised pigs in FFA in high school many years ago. The best meats are at the countryside butchers. The ones here buy their meat from local farmers that raise grain/grass fed cows only. That liver (Ramake?) recipe sounds delicious. T

That was a cute story Penni. I long to fit in my moms clothes. I have never been able too. She was tall and skinny as a girl, now she is on the heavier side but I have always been far heavier. She is a clothes addict so I can't wait for the day I can raid her closets. LOL. Aren't kids cute:) T

Welcome Frances, Good luck with your journey getting the band. Can't wait to get to know you more. Teresa:)

Hi Lisa, Funny you mention Vitamin B-12. When I track my calories daily on fitday, I go to the reports section and look at my nutricianal intake from my foods. Vitamin B-12 is one of the few that I get TONS of. One day I had an ounce of beef liver and had something like 3000 X my normal suggested daily dose. I think that is one of the few Vitamins we get plenty of without taking supplements. Vitamin K and Iron are the ones I get too little of, so I take supplements just to make sure my bases are covered. I guess I was wrong about the barometric pressure possible affecting the band. I forgot it was liquid they were adding and not air. Brain fart I guess. I can't wait to spend some time with you and all our new band friends. Have a good day, Teresa

Elizabeth- My insurance wouldn't cover the band either but they said they would cover any emergencies related to the band later. Are you SURE they won't cover the repair? I know Penni's insurance wouldn't cover the band either but she thinks they are going to cover her port repair. Wouldn't hurt to check. Leatha- Best wishes to your quick recovery. Take it easy, we'll still be here later. No need to rush getting back on the computer. Hope all goes well, Teresa

Hi Donali, Your probably still fairly similar to me or someone who has gotten the band but is unfilled. I don't think I have great restriction but I do have an easier time controlling what I eat and calorie intake than preband and I am still losing. I have been told on several occassions that I am better off holding back on a first fill as long as I am still losing because the band only has so much room for liquids and I'll have more leverage to work with later when I may need it. Also I still have to pay attention because on the rare occassion I will still PB. I think your right though, I think when they stitched that area up, it probably did tighten up that area. Your doing good and I am very proud of you. I am excited about future obesity research as well. It has been stagnant too long. Best wishes to you, Teresa

That is funny... That would be nice if it was a permanent feature. Maybe your esophagus where they put the band is permanently warped. Maybe when they had to repair it they had to stitch that area nice and tight. Who knows. I am glad to hear your still hanging in there. No weight gain so far? Good deal... Oh, I watched a news story the other day. Recall my telling you about that research group that found obese people dont have a particular nerve functioning properly? It was a while ago, well now another group has been doing trials for some time using a stomach pace maker. Huge SUCCESS! It zaps your stomach with tiny electric currents triggering the non-working nerve and stimulating the part of your stomach that says your full. The trial people were saying they feel "Thanksgiving full" all the time and have lost tons of weight. The surgery is even less invasive than the band surgery. You should try to look it up sometime. They didn't think it would be FDA approved for 2 more years but I found it fascinating all the same. If I have future band problems I would be happy to know there is something out there too help me if I NEED the help. Who knows what will be out there for weight in the next few years. Funny thing, if that little pacemaker is correcting an obvious malfunction problem wouldn't the medical/insurance world have to concede and take some of the blame off of our heads. A normal pace maker helps heart misfunctions: a stomach pace maker helps stomach misfunctions. Sounds reasonable. Sorry this goes on and on, I just got excited and have been wanting to tell you about it. Glad to see you and I wish you all the best, Teresa

Oh, sure enough I do see it. Thanks Penni. So why don't we just chat more? Teresa

I think I have seen another Australian or two. I'll keep my eye out for you. I think one of them was also still researching the band. Best wishes, Teresa

Good luck Debra on your band day. I guess constipation is a common problem with the band. I was worned by my doctor the day before surgery. I haven't had a problem with it though. I really try to eat a variety of foods including fruits and vegi's. I don't know if that helps but that is what I give the credit too. Best wishes to you, Teresa

I don't know... Last year several months before christmas I was trying to lose a few pounds and at about the same time saw the cutest pattern for crocheted hats. I proceded to chrochet about 20 hats over the next 4 months. I didn't snack at all because my fingers were SO busy and darned if I don't think I lost a single pound. LOL. I gave one to every single friend and family member for christmas. I kept meaning to make me one later and never got around to it. Now that I think about it I think I'll start a few more. Best wishes Teresa

AWW, Now the truth comes out. This was all in your YOUNGER days. LoL. I am just giving you all a hard time. LOL Your all the best and I am darn glad I found this sight. T

I didn't even know it existed. How do you access it? T

Hi Nanny, Glad to hear your doing okay and got thru surgery fine. Just take it all a little slow and easy. I put the word out for this sight too. I love it. Best wishes to you, Teresa

I scored a blasted NORMAL too! What a bumm deal. What do you have to be to get above normal? A lying cheating sexual drunken sociopath?

Hi Leatha, I have heard about yours and others nightmare experiences with finding aftercare but so far Oregon hasn't seemed to bad. Strangely enough I live near the 2nd largest city in the state and there are no band offices and only one by-pass office and I heard he was retiring but almost everywhere else in the state their are band doctors. I have only found 2 that won't take mexican patients. Otherwise the only other thing is the price differences. They vary greatly all over the place. Good luck to you and everyone else that has the band or is considering one. Teresa

I was wondering where everyone is too. I don't feel like I am doing the typical dieting with the band. I just count calories to keep an eye on them and my vitamin intake I am getting from the food. I am with you. I think I started my first official diet at about 8 or 9 years old. Have a good day! Teresa

Sweet! Good deal! Hope it all works out for you, Teresa

You big goof Lisa, I am sure your fine. Also being a student of science, I can probably support the fact that barometric pressure affects the band. Look how temperature affects car tires and balloons. I am sure we still will on occassion feel the urge to over eat. I try to always have those low fat/low sugar ones around so that if I feel the urge to keep eating at least its not a lot of calories. I told you about those low calorie cheese puffs. YUMMY and the healthy choice ice cream bars, another YUMMY. If you count the calories make sure you count your screw up calories too. Its not a big deal. I tend to have 2-3 days where I stick perfectly in a week and am at 1200 calories exactly, then I'll have 2-3 days where I eat more like 1300-1400 calories and about once a week I'll have a day where I somehow managed to fit 1500-1600 calories in. I am still losing so its not a big deal to me. Excercise!!! Drink water!!! Everyone has their week moments once in awhile. Teresa:p

Hey Lisa, I have PB'ed plenty (not too much but plenty). I don't think I have ever experienced it from over eating but not chewing enough. ONCE in awhile I must not chew one of my first bites or twos well enough. I 'll suddenly get this uncomfortable feeling (the dreaded golfball) feel a slimey saltiness on the roof of my mouth and after contemplating it a minute I suddenly am urged to run for the bathroom. I never have any residual pain. I feel better INSTANTLY. It is not painful when it is occurring either. The last time I experienced this was last weekend and it was the first time in 3 weeks. I had over cooked some steak and both times I tried eating it, it caused a PB. I had the same cut of steak at my moms for dinner last night but not overcooked and it went down just fine then. Who knows. I think it is just my chewing. Most of the time I do great but ONCE in a while I just forget and rush things a little. Don't worry, your not missing anything, Teresa

Hi Sue, I too felt anxious about going to Mexico but was able to set my mind at ease. Who was the doctor you postponed with? Before I felt really comfortable with the doctor I chose I talked to several people at different stages that had also had THAT doctor, I also emailed Inamed for a request of a reference on that doctor. Honestly in a lot of ways I felt safer going to the mexican doctor simply because they have more years of experience than the american ones. The surgeon I chose actually had trained many of the surgeons from my home state (oregon). Once everything was booked and I was ready to go I did get a little nervous once I was down there but it was all perfectly natural nervousness. I would have had the same emotional response even here in the U.S. Surgery is SCARY; however this procedure is very minimally invasive and was a lot less painful and easier to heal from than my broken ankle that required surgery several years ago. The band is only something like a 30-40 minute procedure. Mine was a 90 minute procedure because they said I had a lot of fat around my organs they had to trim off. That still was pretty short I thought. Healing wasn't too bad either. I went grocery shopping the day I got home 2 days after surgery I felt THAT good. I took a week off from my house cleaning job. It was a little tough bending over for a couple of weeks. Otherwise.... it all went great. Make sure you know who can do your follow up care closer to home. Also I took the precaution of calling my insurance (who would not cover the band) and made sure they would cover any emergency complications. Let us know who your doctor was going to be so you can get some specific references about him. Best wishes to you, Teresa Dr. Lopez 5/8/04 362/319/??? Down 43 lbs. no fills yet.

Hi Lori, Glad to see you hear. You'll learn a lot hanging out here, get your questions answered and make some great friends. Keep us posted on when you date is. Best wishes, Teresa

Lisa, I remember Donali saying that some of the signs of erosion that she found while doing research was 1) port infections AFTER the initial healings. Your still trying to heal from the original surgery AND the port removal. An erosion related port infection is caused by bacteria and acid from your stomach having eroded and coming into contact with the tubing leading to the port. 2) Loss of restriction and weight loss stopping or even gaining. Like Penni said it is VERY unlikely. You ARE having a rough day aren't you? Do whatever you need to do to ease your worry but I don't think anything is wrong with you. You never fully healed from the initial surgery. Teresa

Hello, It is good to meet you. You really have done excellent! I started off at 362 so I can relate with you starting off so heavy. I am a little over 9 weeks out and down 43 lbs so pretty happy about the band so far. Would love to see you on here more, Teresa