Mrs J.J

Hi Aggie, can I ask where you are from?

You will be needing some extra money for the taxi´s to and from the hospital. Don´t pack too many things, you will need clothes to travel there, then they will give you that lovely hospital gown to wear which you will have on you until Friday. At around 13:00 you will be discharged, so arrange with the same taxi that drops you off at the hospital to fetch you. Use the same clothes you arrived in to go back to the hotel, obviously clean undies, and then get changed into light pj`s for Friday night and Saturday. You could use the same clothes again to go home. Seriously take the smallest bag you have with minimal stuff. You will be sore afterwards, this is normal and you don´t want to be loaded down with extra baggage. Remember you won´t be needing make-up. Also I would suggest that you take a packet if tomato Soup, two or three Protein drinks and melba toast. This is just so that you have some nurishment in the hotel room. Also because you are going straight into surgery you won´t have time to go buy this in Brussels. If you are still in a lot of pain on Sunday and think you can´t cope with wondering around the airport terminals to find your gate, ask for medical assistance, they will organise a wheel chair for you and someone will take you directly through security and to the plane door. They will also arrange for a wheel chair to be available when you arrive back at your home airport. If you have any other questions, just ask, I´ll help with whatever I can. P.S. Dr Chris and his team are fantastic. I cannot tell you enough how wonderful the hospital is. It´s clean, efficient and tell your hubby that you are in the right hands to be doing this solo. (Although it would be better to have someone with you, but I do understand when these things are just not possible).

How do you know if you have a problem with gallstones?

Hi Annika, There are no extra hidden costs that I can promise you. Only if you have to stay an extra night at the hospital would there be additional costs involved. This doesn´t happen very often. Don´t worry about carrying the money, nothing will happen to you. I did it, my friend did it when she had her surgery and everyone else that has been banded by Dr Chris. The only reason he prefers cash is because he pays the hospital straaight away so that he doesn´t have to charge more to have accounts etc. Where are you from Annika? When will you be doing your surgery?

That´s the problem we have in Sweden Jachut. We can get it done for free but it means waiting in a que for 1 to 2 years. I opted to go pay for it myself because I wanted it done NOW. My frame of mind was right and I couldn´t see myself waiting that long. The advantage we in Sweden have is that as long as the surgery is done within Europe (except Switzerland) we can claim the money back from our public health insurance. This is also as long it´s not more expensive than what it would be in Sweden. I still think that it´s great that Australia is giving people the opportunity to get it done.

Grrrrr!!!! Your sister just peeved me off so badly. She obviously knows which buttons to push to really hurt you. To heck with that. You carry on being strong and being the person you are. Just shrug your shoulders and know deep in your heart that you are the better person for taking care of your mom and now yourself too. You are entitled to be good to yourself and be happy. If I were you I would take what she said with a pinch of salt but you need to tell her how much she hurt you by saying "x..y...z" and tell her you will no longer stand for that kind fo talk again. If she cannot treat you with kindness, love and respect then once she has learnt to do so YOU´LL decide to talk to her again. (I have a younger sister that has a sharp sting when she is angry and says things in the heat of the moment that hurt so badly - I keep hoping that she´ll grow out of that, but at 33 y/o, she still hasn´t)

Way to go Australia!!!! I am so happy that your government is seeing how useful this tool is to their overweight citizens. Will Australia be the first country to wipe out overweight realated illnesses? I hope that other governments will follow suit.

Why is it that as I read this entire thread tears welled up in my eyes. It is because I can relate to just about everything I won´t be missing. Thank you everyone for being brave enough to write down what has hurt me over the years and making me realise (again) that I have made the wisest decision ever in my life by having my band.

Your port is attached to your stomach muscle by stitches. These stitches still need to heal. I don´t know if it can be bumped out of place that easily, but if you think of a cut that has been stitched up and if you pull on it, you may dislodge the stitching. Personally I would wait a week or so until you know for sure that the stitching would have healed and your port is securely attached to your muscle. When I was driving with my husband, I held the seat belt away from my port in case he had to brake suddenly, I was also so scared of damaging my port. Hope this helps a bit.

That´s a pity about your hotel. The trains are pretty easy to navigate, there is an information desk at which you can ask which train to get and what platform you need to be on. I would suggest that you get to the train station well in advance as they have horrible ticket offices which seem to take forever to actually buy your train tickets. Ask about return tickets. All pre-op tests are included including those horrid stockings and teh injections. You will receive a nice package of medication for pain and nausea when you are discharged, this includes the injections. The barium swallow post op, I do not know about this.

Please contact Dr Chris, chris.debruyne@advalvas.be he has a colleague in Dubai that also does banding surgery. Also if you prefer to come to Europe, I cannot recommend Dr Chris enough. He knows his stuff, the hospital in Beligium is fantastic. I think I should become his spokesperson.....lol!! If you want more information let me know.

Hi Laney, I don´t want to come across as being a drip, but girl you need to stop the ice-cream habit now. Your body has found a sweet it can tolerate and you are feeding the habit purely because you know it goes down smoothly. Rather opt for Protein drinks or drinking yoghurts. All the ice-cream you are taking in is wasted calories and will slow down your weight loss. There is nothing wrong with having one every now and then. It´s not like we want to stop living a normal life, but everything in moderation. Remember why you went through this. Take care of yourself. Mrs J.J

We took the train to Vilvoorde and then taxi´s to the hospital. The taxi from the train station was around Euro 7.00 . When we took the taxi from the city hotel to the airport it was around Euros 35.00 . So I guess you´d be looking at around Euros 25.00 each way. You can still cancell your hotel in the city and change to the Campanile Vilvoorde hotel. Most hotels accept cancellations up to 24 hours before check in.

I wish I could tell you everything will be okay by tomorrow, but I would be lying to you. Do you have medication for the nausea and pain? If yes, take them. As long as you are keeping the fluids down, keep drinking them, you do not want to dehydrate yourself. Sip slowly and continously. Have you had any Soup or protien drinks? It does get better, just hang in there.

The after care I mentioned is the direct contact you can have with nurse Fredrik and nurse Chris. This does not include fills. Personally I would not stay in the city of Brussels. ( I did this when I had my surgery). As I mentioned I was there with a friend who took the package deal and the hotel we stayed at was about 10 minutes away from the airport and also very close to where Dr Chris lives. If you stay in the city you will have to commute with the trains or taxi´s but it is much further away. Hotel Campanile Vilvoorde is very comfortable, very clean and the staff know why we are there. They are very pleasant. Of course this is up to you and what you want to do it, I can only tell you about my experience. Post op, I had waves of nausea, which I didn´t know if it was hunger or just plain nausea. I was lucky in that I had no gas pains at all. I slept a lot after the surgery and sipped on Soup and Actimel to keep some nutrition in me. My port side hurt when I tried to lie on my side, but that is natural. At around day 4 I wondered if I had done the right thing, it dawned on me that I would never be able to enduldge in a big meal again or feed my emotional eating habit. But this is why I had the surgery done, and now I have no regrets. I am hoping that my friend will post about her post op experience. It was very different to mine. But I will leave that to her.

Hi Lemonzest, I cannot believe how quickly the weeks have flown by. I feel fantastic. I´ve just got back from Brussels today, I was there with a friend that had her band fitted. Also had my first fill so I am extra excited to say that I am now officially on the road to real weight loss. Who have you booked your surgery through? Do you know that there is a package deal for 4000 Euros, this includes hotel stay, taxi´s, pre-check at the hotel, after care etc. The only thing you have to arrange is your flight to Brussels, after that everything is taken care of. Dr Chris is very professional and to the point. The hospital is UBER fantastic. The nurses really take care of you. If you have any questions don´t hesitate to ask.

When did your girlfriend have her surgery done?

Hi there Bean, are you serious that you want your band removed?

Awww Debbie that is so sweet of you. I am just so happy that you are doing this for yourself. As far as the scooping of the dog poo, I´d say at least another year before you can scoop poo. Hahaha!! Good luck for Tuesday, I´ll be there all the way with you.

It does get better that I can promise. Just hang in there and take it easy. Remember this is your healing period don´t go running miles and miles to see if you can do it or not. Do things slowly so that your body can heal. After at least 6 weeks go wild!!! You are not whiners, just healers in your own body.

Sounds to me that you need to have a heart to heart with your man. Make him understand that you are doing this so that you can have a longer life with him and your children. He may be thinking that you are doing this surgery to be more attractive for other men. Find out what his fears are, maybe he is just so scared of losing you when you have the actual surgery and doesn´t know how to express his concern. Good luck and let is know how things go.

Yay yay yay!!! Congrats to you both. Your man sounds like a keeper. Eternal wishes of happiness going your way.

Oh Pam that is so tragic that you had to have your band removed. I can just imagine your frustration. Can you tell me what causes band erosion, is there something that us newbies should be aware of so that we can avoid this happening to any of us? Good luck on your new journey and you have alredy had the sweet taste of good health so I am sure that you will do so well. My heart goes out to you.

It´s a huge step to take, not just the cost involved but the actual realisation that your comfort of food will be taken away from you. I am the kind of person that just does things. I never gave myself any real time to back out of it. ´ Can I just tell you that after being banded for 23 days, I no longer am out of breath when I walk a block or climb the 3 flights of stairs to our apartment. I can feel that I am on the right track and I want to share this surgery experience with every overweight person I see on the street. NIKE - JUST DO IT! No regrets. Plus, we´re all here to root you on.

Relax ladies, you need to concentrate on healing your body at this stage. Don´t stress about what the scale says. After you get your first fill is when the real weight loss starts. I have also stabilised in my weight loss and I am not stressing about it at all. Next week I will get my first fill and then work these kilo´s off. I think we all need to remember it took us YEARS to put the excess weight on, how can we expect it to all come off in one month? It won´t happen.