ellen

Nina Wishing you very best with your surgery (which must be soon now). Ellen

Hi Paulina Hang in there. I read a quite comforting quote on another websiite recently. The gist of it was that most people (some exceptions) cannot expect restriction until fill 4 or 5. Apparently if we were given substantial fills early on our stomachs would swell unbearably and we'd become ill. Therefore to avoid this they give us tiny fills initially which are intended to familiarise the stomach slowly to the notion of the band without incapacitating us altogether. If this were emphasised to us sufficiently beforehand it would prevent the feelings of failure and disenchantment many of us feel for the first 4-6 months when we stop losing say 2 weeks after the op and even start gaining and dont experience lasting restriction until much later. In most cases howevr this is not emphasised and disappointment results in the short term. Light at the end of the tunnell? Yes but i think we have to find comfort in the fact the it will happen slowly and that we'd be in a worse position if we hadn't had the op...... Best of luck Ellen

Nina Very best of luck with your surgery. I look forward to reading your posts when you have it over you. I'm just starting to investigate the tummytuck options available now. Am now at 12.5 stone and will need to get down to 11 or 11.5 before I take the plunge. I'm based in Ireland and i don't see anything about high lateral tension tummytucks here on google so i may have to travel. Can i ask you a few questions please, is there noone in the uk using this technique - is this why you need to travel to France? second question i have read somewhere that most surgeons think its safe only to take 4 kg or so in lipo. Is Dr Pascal using a different technique or something which allows him to safely extract more? Third question, why do you need to remain in France for so long afterwards? Is it your personal preference or stipulated by the surgeon? As I have 3 small kids I could stay for maybe a week but probably not three. I will need a hernia repair (which i could get done here separately), mini tummy tuck and about half a ton of lipo. Ellen

Hi Leigh, Mia I was banded in September in the UK (I live in Ireland). I had 4 stone to lose. By two weeks after the op I had lost 12 lbs about and was delighted. Then my appetite returned and I lost only 2 lbs more roughly between then and Xmas despite 3 fills (involving 3 treks to the UK). I must say I was beginning to lose hope until I had my 4th fill last week. Now suddenly I have serious restriction, almost too much in fact. Im back on Protein Shakes and have lost 4-5 lbs since last week. Im in no hurry to get a defill in order to get back on solids when the weight is coming off so nicely. Now in fairness I am exercising daily as well but am very happy to finally have restriction. (Im at 8.7 in a 10 ml band). My doctor was willing to give me an additional fill every 2 weeks until I got good restriction. The limitation was on my side due to the effort involved in going over and back to England. I would recommend to keep going back for the fills until you are in no doubt that you have restriction. Wishing you both the very best. Ellen

Hi everyone This post is inspiring me to think ahead....I am still a long way away from my tummytuck. Congratulations to you all who have done so well. I have a question which I hope someone may be able to answer. I have developed a hernia (inguinal) which may need to be operated on if it worsens. Its a nuisance at the moment but no worse than that. Does anyone know if a hernia repair is the same thing as the muscle repair which often accompanies a tummy tuck or is that something different. Can I combine my hernia repair with my tummy tuck I wonder? Ellen

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