divaofsongs

Thanks so much, that is just wonderful. I will tell her and give her your website link. She was so discouraged because of the docs she checked out, (not sure which ones) some of them were charging ridiculous amounts of money to do a fill.

What's up doc? :eek: I have a friend in Cincinnati that was banded in Monterrey Mexico and is in desperate need of a fill. Do you do fills on patients you did not band, and if so, how much do you charge. Also, do you do the fill under flouro?

I also live in Phoenix. I was banded on December 13, 2007 by Dr. Kirshenbaum in Denver Colorado, self-pay of $9950 and will be receiving after-care and fills from Dr. Berger in Flagstaff. Does anyone on this board use Dr. Berger and if so, do you like him? There is a group of bandsters that get together once a month in Phoenix. Our monthly meeting is coming up very soon, so if you want to be added to the e-mail list, please PM me and I will have the person that coordinates it to add you to the list.

Just fair warning, it is against federal law to buy prescriptions online. I found this out the hard way when I ordered Phentermine online back in October and received a letter from the Feds telling me that they had my illegal prescription and I could be fined or arrested if I ordered online again without a prescription. Unfortunately, I had prepaid and lost my money too. :angry It is up to you, but please be careful.

I have a Magic Bullet too, but it has nothing to do with cooking! :eyebrows: Ohhhh, you mean the Magic Bullet on TV????? I was going to give you uses for the OTHER Magic Bullet! :heh: Just kidding, I do have the Magic Bullet from the infomercial. I love it and it makes great Protein shakes.

I know what you are going through. I was on the hospital bed, waiting for them to wheel me back for surgery and all of a sudden, I got this wave of fear. I looked at my husband, told him to call the nurse and take out my IV because I KNEW I wasn't going to wake up from the anesthesia. He hit me in the head with a hammer and told me to relax JUST KIDDING!...... He had me call my mom and she prayed with me. When I hung up the phone, the surgeon and team was standing at the end of the bed, ready to take me back. I laid back, the anesthiologist put something in my IV, and the next thing I remember, I woke up in the recovery room. I am so happy I did it. I have lost over 40 pounds since surgery on Dec 13, 2007 and I am NEVER hungry. It is normal to have those feelings. Remember, for many of us, food is like a drug,and when you stop eating, you may experience these feelings. It is like a form of withdrawl. The best to you and stay strong.

I had very similar pain under my left breast, in my rib area, accompanied by a gurgling, growling, burning pain at 2 weeks post-op. After a few days of the pain getting worse, I started running a fever that went over 103 degrees. I ended up in the hospital for 5 days. The doctor did an endoscopy and said my stomach was inflamed and irritated under the band and that is what was causing the pain and fever. They thought they might have to remove my band, I was so scared. They put me on nothing by mouth for 2 days, then Clear liquids for a few days to allow the stomach to heal before I was sent home. I am now 25 days post-op and feeling fantastic. Thankfully I did not lose my band, however, I will warn everyone that there is a reason why we are on post-op diets and it is important to stick to them. I am not sure what caused it but it could be the fact that going to full liquids after 5 days may have caused my stomach to do more "work" and may have aggravated the healing process. I hope you are feeling better soon.

Yeah for you! I had my surgery December 13th, 2007 and have lost 40 pounds now, it sure does feel good doesn't it? Keep up the great work.

I can't wait to meet everyone, I hope the next get together is soon. I am feeling almost 100% better now. :clap2:

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. For those inquiring about the possibility of erosion, the doctor that took care of me locally is also a bariatric surgeon as well, however, he does more RNY than bands. My band doctor (Dr. Kirshenbaum in Denver, Colorado) said that it will likely cause erosion in the future as well. Of course, I am just at higher risk for erosion, it doesn't mean I will erode but the possibility is greatly increased. At this point, I am truly thankful that I am still alive and that it was not a perforation. I really appreciate all of the prayers and I have faith that God will work it out that the band will not erode. In the meantime, I am going to do my best to follow all of the "band rules" and give myself the best chance for a successful outcome. Also, thanks to those with advise on the hospital bills, I will be calling the billing department in a few days to work something out. I appreciate the advise.

I think it would be nice to have a section with recipes in each stage of the post-op diet. By the way, I love this forum.

I was banded on Dec 13, 2007, but developed a post-surgical complication and was just in the hospital for 4 days. I had been having really bad gurgling, burning, and pain in my upper left quadrant, above my port and under my left breast since a few days after my surgery. It got progressively worse until Sunday night (11 days post-op), I was running a fever of 102.7 and ended up in the emergency room. They admitted me into the hospital and a local doctor here in Phoenix agreed to take my case, even though he did not do the surgery. The first thing he told me when he came into my hospital room is that based on my symptoms, he thought I had a perforation in my stomach and that it could be deadly and would require emergency surgery to remove my band and then repair the perforation. He said it was a very difficult surgery, especially for someone like myself who weighs almost 400 pounds and that it could be fatal. After telling me this grim news, he left my room and went to surgery for 4 hours and left me there thinking that was possibly my last day on earth. Needless to say, I was petrified. Later that afternoon, they took me down for an endoscopy so the doctor could see if there was indeed a perforation somewhere. Fortunately, he did not see any leaks, they did x-rays immediately afterwards to check for leaks of the gas they used during the endoscopy, which would indicate a perforation but they did not find any. The next morning they did a chest x-ray to check for a small or slow leak during the previous night but all was clear. THANK GOD! It ended up being inflamation and irritation around the band in the back where the stitching is done, the area where they sew your bottom stomach to the top of the stomach above the band. They said it was a micro-perforation that would heal with antibiotics. They are not exactly sure what caused it, but they said I should be alright but the doctor that treated me said that because of this, I would likely have band erosion in the future. They are also not sure what caused the fever since my blood tests did not indicate an infection, but they said that inflammation can also cause fever. However, they placed me on antibiotics the day I was admitted and within 24-48 hours the fever began to regress and has since completely disappeared. I was sent home on Friday with a prescription for Augmentin for 2 weeks, just in case. The doctor who did my Lap-band surgery (he is out of state) was in touch with me several times a day throughout the ordeal and was in communication with the doctor that was treating me in the hospital. The local doctor that was treating me said the band was placed in textbook position and that the surgeon that performed my surgery did great cosmetic work, as you can barely even see my incisions and they are almost completely healed. I thank God everyday that I am alive and well. This could have been much worse than it was, although it was very painful, I am feeling much better now and glad to be able to write once again. The most pain will come when I receive the hospital bills since I don't have insurance. I may very well end up losing everything I have trying to pay the bills but at least I have my life, for which I am truly thankful. I would really like to thank one of the members of this board for their support. Wasabubblebutt, whom I have taked to over the phone and look forward to meeting in person soon, called me several times and really went out of her way to help me through this scary situation. I am amazed at how caring people can be when you don't even really know them. Thanks for being there for me and all of the kind words and support that you offered me, you have no idea how much it meant to me. The main point of my post is that if you feel like something is wrong, please get it checked out. It is hard to tell what could have happened if I had not went to the emergency room when I did.

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate your advice.

I was just banded on Dec 13, 2007 - 7 days ago and I am already feeling like I am overeating in the full liquid stage. Today I have eaten 2 pudding cups, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1 cup of mashed potatoes, 2 protein shakes, and some juice. Even though that is not NEAR what I ate before the band, I think it is tooo much for being so fresh out of surgery. Can anyone give me some insight as to how much you ate 1 week after surgery?

Update, my doctor called in a new prescription for Flagyl. He said the explosive diahrrea, stomach pain-gurgling, and my low-grade fever may indicate an infection called C Difficules. He said the concern was with expoosive diahrrea, not just normal diahrrea. I will let you all know what happens. Thanks for all of the replies.

I started full liquids today and my stomach feels like it is going to explode. When I take a deep breath it feels like I am going to pop inside. I ate creamed soup and felt a burning sensation in my upper stomach area off and on for about an hour. Is that normal? Also, how much volume should I be eating at a time on full liquids? For example, 1/2 cup, 1 cup, etc.

That's great Jodie, I can't wait to hear your constant progress reports, and it's nice to know I am not alone or abnormal.

I was banded on Thursday, Dec. 13th and I have had diarrhea since last night and a loud gurgling sound in my stomach. Is that normal?

I was just banded 5 days ago and I have to tell you that what you are experiencing is normal. It is called anxiety and I had a ton of it. I almost walked out of the surgery center 3 times before they wheeled me back. It is important to remember WHY you are getting banded. For me, it was to save my life in the long run. I have over 200 pounds to lose and if I did not do something soon, I was bound to die from obesity related diseases. It is 6 of one or a half dozen of the other. If you continue to live gaining more and more weight, then you can almost rest assured that things will go terribly wrong. You have to look at it as you are doing this to save your life. I wish you the best.

I got the patch for nausea also, it was the Dolculax suppository pre-op that got me, LOL. If I need the anti-nausea after the patch wears off on Sunday then I guess I will have to ask Dr. Big Daddy to sodomize me again.:heh:

I left you a private message with my hotel number.

My doctor is in Denver (Dr. Kirshenbaum) and he had me on a low-carb pre-op diet for 2 weeks as well. At my pre-op he was asked me the same question, luckily, I had not eaten any bread, rice, or Pasta. He did tell me on the phone the day before I started the pre-op diet that if I did not follow it and my liver was not surgically ready, he would sew me back up and reschedule until I had done the 2-week diet the way he prescribed it. You are right, it is imperative to follow the doctors orders. Congrats on getting banded.

I am feeling much better todat (day 2) than I was yesterday. The back pain is gone and the incisions are not nearly as bad as I thought they would be. I am walking, walking, walking! I got up and have walked about 7 laps down the hall so far in the past 3 hours. I feel a lot better now, I will be leaving and heading back home tomorrow and be back in Phoenix by Sunday. Thanks for all the congrats.

Thanks so much, I am feeling better today than I was yesterday. I am very suprised at how little incision pain I have, I am really only having pain in my back which is also going away. Dr. K is a gentle doc, I am so glad I chose him.

OMG, I am really in pain, more so in my back than in my incisions. I was lying on my back for hours and I have sciatic nerve damage so the back pain is excrutiating, otherwise, for the first time in my life, I am not even thinking about food. I will write more later when I am feeling better, have a great night all. By the way, a few people asked me about Dr. Kirshenbaum in Denver, Co. which is who I used. I think he is incredible and I could not have made a better choice. He and his staff are great and I did some probing when I got to Denver, asking around and many people know who he is. Appearantly he has done over 10,000 laproscopic procedures and started doing them in 1981. He has done close to 300 Lap-Bands now and I would suggest him to anyone who is looking for an alternative to Mexico. This will probably be the best $9950 I have ever spent.