tztmama

Im in San Diego and since my surgery my insurance has changed. I recently had port pain and called my original surgeon. They told me to find out which lab accepted my insurance and that my surgeon would send in a request for lab work to see whats going on. He is good about trying to save me money. I have Pacificare insurance and my dr is Dr. Owens.

I am sharing what I looked like post Lap Band, pre tummy tuck. I need to get my post tt pics, which I had nine months ago. I have never uploaded pics before so forgive me if this does not work.......will keep trying. It seems that it is not uploading.........oh well, if nothing else I will scan my before and afters...........

Gosh, ladies (and losings DH), I havent been on this site for months and have spent the evening reading Losings' journey, the support, prayer, and love you ladies have sent her AND the unconditional love her DH has shown, even posting for her..........OK Im in tears now, I am just so touched at the support you have here and the unconditional empathy you (we) show for one another. Losing, you are such a brave woman and your DH is such an awesome man. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. The people here are so awesome in there genuine concern, love, and support.........its nice to be back.

I use the PB reflex as a sweet spot too..............though I was the only one. Im thinking about maybe getting a small fill. I still cant eat like normal but perhaps eat more than I should. OK, heres my description; I can eat a sandwich, like from subway, but have to take off the top piece of bread. I can eat pizzza if I chew slowly. I even at a it of chow mein and rice, which I could never do with a normal fill. Does it sound like I need a fill? I was down to 145 and just weighed myself and am at 150.

Im so happy to see this addition to the site! I have not been on for quite some time but its great to keep up with how we are all doing this far out from our surgery dates. Sunsett, HI PARTNER!!! (We had our surgery the same day!)!

Hello! I am down from 226 pounds to 145 and am pretty happy here. I would like to be at 135 but this is fine. Last July I had an extended tummy tuck and am happy with it. I still have stretch marks and some loose skin on my upper abs but its a huge improvement from what it was. I am very happy I had the surgery and hope to always keep my band. I havent had a fill in 6 months. My band fluctuates, gets too tight, then loosens up on its own. I just work with it. Great to see this thread!!!

I told lots of people, friends, familiy, strangers in line at the grocery store. I have a friend at work who had bypass and told our colleagues that she lost weight on a "milk diet". We are all different in how comfy we feel about telling. Either way is good.

I had mine when I was about 152 lbs and my goal was 136 lbs.

I was at 226 lbs, Im 5'4". I now am at 145. I've lost almost 100% of what I wanted to lose and it has been 2 yrs and 1 month since banding. I just got a fill and it is too tight. Ive been unable to keep any solids down. I think that for me, there came a time when any more fill made me sick. Any less didnt provide as much restriction as I would like. I still have some restriction, but only enough to where I must once again watch calories and exercise, which I should do anyway.

I can relate. My pics look similar to yours and now, six wks after my extended tt and lipo to the flanks, I am closer to normal than Ive been almost thirty years. I am not a hardbody by a longshot and I still have my stretchmarks but Im not carrying around all that skin and my back problems are almost gone completely. Best of luck to you.

I went in for my three week check up today and my surgeon's nurse is going to make me a disc with my before and after pics PLUS what they took off during surgery. I don't get them for three more months but I am so happy Im getting them to share with you who would like to see! I wont post what they cut off but will post the before and afters. Im happy!!!

Thanks for the reply Pacomomma (love that name). I stopped taking the vicodin a couple of days ago and switched to a non-opiate pain pill called tramadol. It doesn't work as well but I was building a high tolerance to the vicodin. I take aleve if needed too. I went in today for my 3 wk post op and he said everything looks good and I am still swollen. It looks pretty good now (comparatively) so I can only imagine what it will look like when all the swelling is down!! I will try to move a little more each day. Doc gave me permission to walk a mile each day if I want and do light arm weights seated. I'll bet you look great!!! Imagine what we will look like at our 6 month check up!!

I like the idea of this thread/category. I look at my "fat" pictures and cant ever remember being that big!! A couple of my students (I teach 6th - 8th and keep the same kids all three years) even told me they never saw me as being that big. But I was. Now when I look in pics I see (or saw) a big roll of fat around my mid section and loose skin where my double chin was. I just had a tummy tuck to deal with the rolls so I guess I'll have to see how I look in pics now. I still feel fat and am not sure how much more I should lose, if I should lose or what. I am 46, 5'4, and weigh 148 lbs last time I weighed. I seem to not have a self-image-ometer or something. Its hard for me to get a true picture of myself. Maybe I'll check out that book. Thanks for this thread, all. I really enjoyed reading your responses.

Gayle, Congrats on your surgery!!! You must feel like a new person!! You are sooo lucky you didn't have the drainage tubes, they are the worse!! Well, enjoy your new body and I wish you a speedy recovery!

Thank you all for your words of encouragement! This has been quite a journey and I dont know if I would have done it if I knew how painful it would be, so Im glad I didnt know. Some get through it without much pain, Im not one. I am SOOOO glad I did it though!!! Im 46 so I dont have a bikini belly by any means. My stretch marks are still there and I still weigh 150 lbs and am only 5' 4. But I actually have a WAIST! I have curves where there once was ROLLS on my sides!!! Was it worth it??? HECK YES!!!! Thanks again!!:whoo:

Thurdsay morning I had an extended tummy tuck and lipo to my flank area. I still have tubes hooked up to me but they should come out on Tues. It was most painful coming home the first day and then the second day I had to go back and that was pretty painful. I have a ridiculously high tolerance to drugs and so I just have to bear it. I peeked at the resluts, belly button looks nice and round, tummy looks flat even though I know it must reallybe swollen, Imm gonna ask my daughter if she can get some pic up for us,. tata

I just had a tummy tuck and did not have an unfill. When I had the lapband installed my surgeon gave me liquid vicodin. Since thne though noone I[ve mentioned it to has ever herad of it. Good luck to you. Can you take pillsif they are chopped? I've done that before.

Ok, I just called my surgeon and asked him to call me in some liquid meds just in case. At first they said they had done tt's on many lapband patients and none needed liquid meds but I told them since my surgeryis this Thursday, I am afraid I'll wake up on Friday or Sat in pain and be unable to get help cuz of the weekend. Thanks for the info all

I have no problem taking pills but must crush them up a bit. Also, my surgeryis going to be July 19th and my dr has prescribed me vicodin for pain. I am very worried because vicodin does very little for my back pain so hows it supposed to help with a full on extended tummy tuck plus lipo!!

My surgeon said that the tt can be done without even doing an unfill. He told me that even if the tubing was accidentally cut it could be easily repaired. Lipo, im not sure about.........i imagine it would be just like any other procedure, as long as the doc is careful and knows about the lapband process it should be fine. Id ask the doc though.

Yeah I heard the same thing........that Ann had her band removed and gained all her weight back. Did the younger Judd (is it Naomi or Wynona?) have surgery. I saw her on Oprah a while back and she stated that she really wanted to lose weight but just couldn't seem to do it. I thought then that she would be a good band candidate. Ann is still beautiful thouh, isn't she???? Hope her health is ok.

Donna, I had the same experience as you so I'm glad you shared this info. I lost about 80 lbs in 1.5 year and most of it was done while being too tight and pbing several times a week. I was way too tight with my last fill and was in sooo much pain that I had to get a partial unfill. Of course I gained ten pounds right away. At the same time my new elliptical machine arrived and I've religiously been on that thing for thiry minutes five to six times a week. I really don't think I eat that much but the weight has come on and I am back in size ten as opposed to eights. To top it off, I'm due for my TT in three weeks. Not a good time to gain weight but I'm afraid to get a fill cuz I can't stand the pain when I'm too tight. Not sure what I'll do here.

I had surgery on a wed. and was back at work the following Monday. It was a pretty painless surgery and I only had pain pills for maybe a week.

My mom's friend (75 yr old) thought that the band was on the outside and I could tighten it like a belt. Another misconception is about the term being "banded" among those who raise goats, means the tying of a male goats' testicles tightly so that they turn black and fall off (a form of neutering).