pta2007

Hey all, Hope to see everyone at the meeting on Tuesday. It has been very quiet here online. Is anybody out there??? Ari

ErikMesa, I think you misunderstood how they remove fluid from the band. They remove it with a needle via the port that is placed under your skin when you have the band installed. I noticed that you are very newly banded so you have not had your first fill yet. You will learn all about how fills and unfills work in about another 5weeks or so. Good luck with your new band.

I asked my Dr. about this as well. He said that the reason for no liquids with meals is because it pushes the food through your pouch and therefore you consume more calories because you do not stay full. He said if I eat my 1/2 cup to 1 cup of food (depending on my restriction level) and I limit myself to that, I may drink with or following my meal. Sometimes I am too thirsty to wait the full 1 hour and sometimes I am able to hold off. When I do drink Water I make sure that I do not eat any more food until my next meal. For me the hardest time to avoid liquids is at dinner time, but I usually never eat anything following dinner any way so consuming more calories is not a problem for me. This seems to work for me. I am at a good restriction level now and am consistently losing 1-3lbs per week. Hope this helps, Ari

Cheryl, Congratulations on your upcoming surgery! How were you able to schedule a date for surgery prior to being approved by your insurance company? My surgeon did the original consultation, but waited to schedule a date until I was approved. I would guess that they are all but positive that it will be covered or you are in the position to pay for your surgery should they deny coverage. My thoughts are with you on a speedy approval process. Ari

I think that you will be fine, I went back to work on day 6. I am a physical therapist assistant and my patient caseload consists of geriatric patients. I was able to see some of the higher level patients and worked 4 hours a day. Most of the pain that I had was bending over to put ankle weights on people. I did have to come home and take pain medication for the first day or two back, but I was fine by the end of the first week back. Just take it easy and let someone else do the heavy lifting for you. Ari

I am staying on plan today because I am so flipping tight that I don't have a choice!!!! LOL :wink2::wink2:

I have to go in again to have a port revision, not because of the port, but because there is a kink in my tubing. Dr. can get Fluid in, but cannot get anything out. He gave me a slight fill on friday when he did it under flouro to see where the kink was. It made a huge difference in the amount of restriction I feel. I can't swallow my Vitamins without getting stuck, but I am able to get liquids and mushies down. I'm glad to hear that the recovery is quick and that I will be able to do this with only conscious sedation and not have to go completely out. Good luck to everyone else with this problem. My Dr. seems to think this is a manufacturers glitch as I am the 3rd person to have this problem in his practice, and he was able to show me on the model where the problem is occuring. Ari

I ate at Outback for my Anniversary. I ordered the steak off of the kids menu and only ate 1/2 of it, so I had lunch for the next day. I also had a house salad, but I don't eat dressing so it didn't add much to my calorie intake. My husband and I usually order at the take-away counter and bring it home because it is less expensive and we don't have to order any drinks and my daughter has a history of vomitting whenever we go out (long story), so now we just bring it home and have leftovers the next day. Subway usually has a Soup available. I like the french dip at Arby's, I can't eat more than 1/2. If you go to their nutrition site 1/2 sandwich only has 205 calories and about 15g. of Protein. Check out the nutrition on the restaraunts website, it might give you some good ideas. :biggrin::thumbup:

Lise, Depending on the band you have, the manufacturer recommends waiting 6 weeks for the first fill. If your Dr. is willing to do a fill at 5 weeks consider yourself lucky. But just know that it can take several fills before you have any significant restriction to speak of. I didn't have any real restriction until my 3rd fill. I now have 5cc's in a 10cc APS band. Hope this helps.

Hello everyone, O.K. so here is my ongoing saga. Couldn't get my fill on tuesday because everyone in my house had the flu and I of course did not want to take the chance of just getting a fill and then having to throw-up with the flu. So I rescheduled my fill for yesterday (Friday). So while Dr. Trotter was checking to see how much Fluid I had in my band he states, something here is not right. He was able to push a small amount of fluid in, with force, but unable to extract any fluid with the needle. So, I am now scheduled for next friday to go back and do a fill under flouro. Dr. Trotter says that the tubing from the port to the band may have gotten a kink as scar tissue could have formed around it during the healing process. He also said that the port is a little more mobile than he thinks it should be, but had no problem finding it or sticking it with the needle. I can say that I feel no additional restriction from the slight fill that he was able to put in, so who knows how much I have. He says that I should have about 4.5cc's at this time. See everyone on tuesday, Ari

I seriously doubt you will be bowling a week after surgery. I was able to go back to work after 6 days and was fine, but I was not doing any heavy lifting or stretching due to the port being sutured to the abdominal muscle wall. I was still having little twinges of pain if I moved or stretched in a certain way up until about 6 weeks out. I would guess that throwing a bowling ball would have caused me pain until about 4 weeks. But I am only speculating on how I was feeling post surgery. Everyone is different. Hope this helps. Ari

No!!! This was not true for me. In fact I did not go to my first support group meeting until after my surgery, and I went to my nutritionist meeting the day after surgery. Every thing else was done before my first appointment however. Hope this helps, Ari

Hi there, Mexico was great!! I am getting my 2nd fill on Tuesday, I hope this one makes a difference. Ari

I just got my Actitrainer yesterday. I'm just getting used to it. Does anyone have any special tips for it? I'm finding the meal tracker portion of it a little disapointing and I find that I am entering most of my food in the custom section and using the nutrition info on the package. What do you do when there is no info, or you have made a recipe yourself? Do you have to list each ingredient used?

I have never heard about not being able to eat seeds or skins, that is a new one. I drink 1% milk or skim, but I always have so it doesn't bother me. Everyone is different, some people can tolerate bread, some can't. It's alot of trial and error. Just stick with the basic rules. Protein first, then vegis, and if you still have room then whole grains, and you should be fine. It also depends on the amount of fill that you have. Hope this helps.

I have UHC as well and they pay for all of my fills. Is it because he is out of network? I was under the impression that they still paid for a percentage even if they were out of network.

Dr. Trotter at Spokane surgeons does fills on patients other than his own. You might try him.

Hello!!!!! Is nobody out there?????

Hi everyone, O.K. help me out here. I had my first fill on Jan 4th and of course no real restriction to speak of. Here is my dilema. I am not scheduled for another fill until the end of Feb. because I am going to Mexico on Valentines day and don't want to risk being to full and out of the country. At this point I am not losing and have actually gone up a lb. I have been active, doing the biggest loser workout videos, skiing 3 times in the last 2 weeks, and shoveling snow. Do you think that I should try to get in for a fill before my trip, or should I just suck it up and kick it into high gear when I return? Not that I would be able to get in to see him before Valentines day with my luck anyway. Ari

athinnerdiva, I thought it was on discovery health also, but it is on TLC. Hope this helps. I love this show, Ari

Divamom, Your info states that you are only 37 years old. How are you able to qualify for medicare A? Just curious.

Hi Kathy, Did you see a nutritionist before your surgery? Mine was listed in the information that I was given. Full liquids for the first 4 weeks, however this included yoghurt, sf puddings, oatmeal, cream of wheat, cream Soups etc. Dr. Trotter pretty much skips the mushies and goes to regular food, but not until 4 weeks out. I know it is hard but we need to just suck it up and follow the full liquids for the first month. If you want to talk you can e-mail me and I will give you my phone number. chefari@msn.com Ari:hungry:

I wish I could say the same!!!! Was supposed to get my fill today and was rescheduled due to Dr. getting stuck in surgery. I tell you I get sooooo tired of this crap all of the time, I bet 80% of my appointments have been rescheduled by his office. I would have waited until he was done, but they didn't have any idea when he would be finished, and then being a friday, he may not even have come back to the office as my appt. was supposed to be at 3:00. Deb, I came by your office but you were out. See you on Tuesday. Ari

Hey Lisa, Good luck with your fill on the 3rd, I am having mine on the 4th. Drop me a line and let me know how you did, and how much he gave you. I hope it gives me restriction cause I am able to eat entirely too much. Happy New year, Ari

Kaelin's G-ma, It's great to hear from another bandster. I also live in the valley. Our next meeting is on Tuesday January 8th. If you would like to carpool with us you are welcome to join us. How are you doing since your banding? And where do you go for your fills? Just curious. Ari