Penni60

Everyone and especially Margaret: Lopez was a great person to actually have the surgery done. He was very personable, appeared to be a very caring person, answered my questions, was there to hold my hand while I got on the operating table, explained the procedure to me in depth as far as what to expect and how I would feel afterward, etc. All very good almost excellent care up to and immediately after my surgery. I have NO complaints about that part of my care. What Margaret and the rest of Lopez supporters seem to be missing is this and this is MY opinion no one elses. "SO F%^&*(ING WHAT if he changed his practice ethics." There are several of us here on this board that have had crappy aftercare. "SO F%^&*(ING WHAT if his care now is improved." Where is my follow up phone call to see how I am doing now. I can answer that question for you Margaret. HE HAS MY MONEY and he doesn't need to call me now. Enough said. I am so incredibly happy for you that you have great care. Oh just for your information I visited his New Nifty Swifty Swank Spit Shine offices in June 2004 and received less than professional services. If he changed them since then good for him. He knew then about all the issues because I told him how unhappy I was with his staff. He assured me that he personally would call me and see how I am doing after I left his office. Guess What Margaret??? I am still waiting on that phone call. Does the new policies only work for the new patients? His old patients are a thing of the past I guess. His ethics are not only questionable in regards to old patients but how do you know you won't be treated like that if a problem arises??? Of course someone that doesn't have any complications would love him. You don't have to wait out a week of no return phone calls or emails or messages so you can see if you need surgery to remove your band due to rejection, which is what I was facing. NO PHONE CALLS MARGARET. NONE!!! NONE TO THIS DAY!!!! I could be dead for all he knows. And don't get me even started on Lisa's situation. THank god for some caring docs here in the states that decided it was time for her to have something done. Margaret I am gonna say this with all the love I can muster. Keep your glowing recommendations to yourself about Dr. Juan Carlos Lopez. When I get a phone call from him personally not an assistant or Nora or anyone else but him personally asking me how I am doing I will NOT change my mind about him. There is that plain enough for you Margaret and all the Lopez supporters? I need an apology and some caring shown me before I will change my mind on him and his NEW WORK ETHICS. Bah Humbug on those NEW WORK ETHICS. I see more of the same. Ok enough venting for now. Just waiting for the next round of postings on Lopez. Lisa will post I am sure when she gets a chance to read this thread. Won't that be fun?? LOL!!!

You want a pic of us running??? That would be funny. Yes we did run. We had to to keep up with Sachi and VooDoo. They love our backyard. Sachi ran and ran and ran. Voo just looked at her and said "what an idiot."

WELCOME KIM E: READ READ READ and ask any question you might have. We are all here to support each other.

Legally: No one is attacking you personally. I am happy that you had a great experience with Dr. Lopez. And again I will add here that I had no complaints of his pre surgical attention and immediatly after my surgery he was very attentive. IT was only when I had a complication arise that he became incomunicato. I found his Mexican accent easy to understand. The phone numbers you listed are all the number I had when I tried for a whole week to get someone to return my phone call in regards to my port issue. IT was only when my sweetie got involved and threatened to call every hour on the hour did we speak to the great and powerful LOPEZ. The only thing I can say is they treat you like royalty up through your surgery and immediately after. The proof that things have changed will be if and when (and I might add I hope it doesn't happen for you or anyone) there is a complication that you need immediate response from him or his staff. If he has changed like he says he has then that will be when I will see a change in Lopez. He has gone through two assistants in a time frame of less than 6 months. That seems strange. Good luck and I wish you a uneventful and healthy weight loss life. I am still waiting on my phone call to see how I am doing. Wonder when that will happen???

ZOE OUCH that HURT!!!!!!! OK I got up this morning and did a 60 min walk (3 miles). Happy now??? I know I feel much better for having done that. WHOO HOO!! Come on Michelle you gotta get in the groove for the 5K walk in March. Get it in gear.

I don't even care about Lopez anymore. I am happy with the doc I found for my after care and will continue to go to him. Lopez was OK for the surgery but his aftercare sucked big time. I had a port issue that he told me would go away with more weight loss. My new doc said that it was Lopez' technique that caused my port issues. So I had a port revision surgery in July to correct his technique problem. If I get a call from Lopez or his staff then I will expect the world to end soon.

Had gotten over the flu and was planning on getting up this morning and getting back on track with my walking mania. Then my MIGRAINE headache hit me full force this am. SO in bed for a couple of extra hours this morning. The thing with me is if I don't do anything like exercise in the AM it won't get done. SO needless to say I did NO exercise today. BAD PENNI!! I promise to do better tomorrow. That will be my challenge to exercise at some point in the day if I can't do it in the morning. I put that challenge on myself. HMMM!! Heading to the treadmill now?? NO I AM NOT! I said TOMORROW I start that challenge. LOL!!!! Love you guys.

I lost another lb this week. I now am down to 242 lbs. That is a whopping 54 lbs total loss. WHOOO HOOO!! And that is losing one lb while sick with the flu. HOORAY!!! HUGE congrats to all us losers Just imagine what I Could have done if I hadn't been sick. LOL!!!

Hey it keeps me from hitting the frig when I get a snack attack. LOL!! Lisa: I want a maroon one. And what Harley hat you talking about??? I didn't see that one.

Yup using Teresa's pattern but not the same hooks. Makes a difference. I also made mine a little bit longer than hers. That makes mine a little more boxy. I will post a pic of the scarf later today. I have the multi scarf done. Almost have scarves done to match the hats too. Really simple to make.

Hey guys: I just finished my hats. I have made 6 but only kept 5. They are christmas presents. I sold one for $10. WHOO HOO!!!! I have to make the scarves to match now. Easy pattern. Chain either 30 or 35 then single crochet the rest of the pattern till you get the desired length you want. I use a G hook for the hats and scarves. The hats take me about two days. I could actually make them in a day if I stuck to it. The scarves take me about two and a half days. I love them. So easy to make. Here are pics of the 5 hats I have kept. The multi colored one is mine the rest are christmas presents.

Almost over my flu bug here and ready to get back to the exercise on Monday. WHOO HOO!! Here I come to challenge all youse guys. LOL!!!

Hey I am in. I am recuperating from being sick with the flu right now but by the 22nd I hope to be on the mend. So I will check in and do the official weigh in that day. Here is my suggestion on how to post the exercises info 1. What you did to exercise. 2. How long you exercised (minutes, seconds, etc). 3. How far you walked or how many steps if you use a pedometer (miles). 4. How intense was your exercise. (power walk, etc), 5. How you felt after the exercise. Just some suggestions. Thoughts or comments

So glad you are home and recuperating. Welcome to band land brother.

I too was banded by Dr. Lopez Corvala. I had my own set of complications post surgery related to the positioning of the band and placement of the port which resulted in a port revision in July. At that time I had an ENDOSCOPY done to rule out erosion. I did not have any signs at that time. I will ask for another ENDO in April which will be my year anniversary. I would be devastated if I had to have my band removed. Please contact INAMED and let them know of your erosion issues and who your doctor was that placed the band initially. It is a well known fact that this surgeon does NOT report his complications at all to anyone. You are in my prayers and anyone that has had their band placed by Lopez is in my prayers as well. Please do have a yearly Endoscopy just for peace of mind. It is considered maintenance of the band.

OOOOHHHH Teresa I am sooooooooo incredibly jealous. I loved RUPERT and so happy that he got the second MILLION on the show. He was my favorite ever Survivor. Yeah lets see some pics. Did you get some contact info for him??? LOL!! Stalking Penni here. LOL!!!

Veronica: OUR FIRST BANDSTER BABY. Oh my gosh you will have so many aunts, uncles, grandmothers (ME), grandfathers, etc to get you through this time. I am so excited for you. Concentrate on the baby for now and we will help you through this. I weighed myself this morning. Then I realized I had eaten breakfast before weighing. I still showed a 1 lb loss. So in actuality I could have lost more but for now I am only counting the 1 lb loss. WHOO HOO!!! I still think exercise and water are the key to jump starting your loss again. That is what did it for me. Congrats to all losers and to the gainers or no losers time can change everything.

OK now I am all verklempt. Or as us southern's would say "Oh lord I'm gettin the vapors." LOL!!! We have to plan a HUGE BASH so we all can share the love. Looks like you guys had a blast. You are all beautiful. I just wanna know one thing. WHO GOT THE THONGS!!!!!!

What a cute hat. Oh yeah and Darcy you are gorgeous. I have made two of those hats. I finished one and a friend was visiting and just as I put the thing on my head she said how much you want for it? I said oh I would give it to you. She said NO how much. I said $10 she said SOLD. WHOO HOO!! THen I made a second one in the same yarn color. I will model it later today. So easy to make. I am not making a scarf to match the hat. Will model both when done. Most likely will give them for a Christmas present.

Vickie I am a retired Cancer Nurse. I worked on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit for 8 solid long years. Got really burned out and decided to leave nursing. At least for awhile. I have been out of nursing now for almost 5 years. Best thing I have ever done. I still maintain my license and have a Calif license as well as TN license.

If you just got a fill and can't even get soup down that is way too tight. The blood concerns me a little. The esophagus could be irritated but that would take time to bring up blood and clots. You could have a ulcer and if so the doc needs to be aware of the issue. If you can't get in touch with them today then certainly call them tomorrow for sure. If you PB again tonight and more blood comes up then please go to the ER and get checked out. Keep us posted.

Janel: If you want I can resize them for you. Just send them to my email address. Penni60@aol.com and I will take care of that for you. They need to be a certain size to post. I can't remember the exact size right now. I think it is 100 x 100 but can't be sure. I will double check that.

CHristina: Welcome from one nurse to another. Good luck. Keep us posted on how things progress. Where are you located?

How do you know you overeat??? 4oz of food is not a lot. And by the way, you have lost 25 lbs in less than a month post surgery. THAT IS GREAT!!!!

There is a procedure called Vertical Bypass Surgery (VBS) where they staple your stomach and then place a band around the top part of the stomach much like our band. She probably did have the band but also had her stomach stapled for this procedure. I do believe it is reversible but not as easily as ours. Anne Wilson from "HEART" had the band placed. Al Roker from the "TODAY" show had the bypass Carnie Wilson from "WILSON PHILLIPS" had the bypass. Hope this helps clarify things