RestlessMonkey

Don't think I haven't noticed, too, that you've managed to invite Beth, Ice cream, Richard Simmons AND a monkey to our secret Tucson Thursday. I'm letting you slide because I just LUV my HH, but I noticed! :wink:

hmm. I eat my steak well done. If it's less well done it gets stuck. I have no issues with any food. I can eat about a cup of food at a time and I am losing well. To my way of thinking you're a little too tight. What you can eat (cottage cheese) is slider food...mushie. According to my surgeon and his lovely chart, that's not good. And yes it is common for some people, for their fills to take a couple weeks to really "work". I think you should call your surgeon; you may be too tight. He can help you navigate this; but eating a few bites of food is no way to live, nor to lose in a healthy way.

You really need to call your surgeon on this one.

Well, let's list the pro's and cons. Pro: HH, Richard Simmons and a monkey Ice Cream Good company (Beth) Cons No VDO or JP. Aw hell I'm in. :wink: I never can resist a monkey.

Maybe you can. It depends on you, how tight you want to be. I take a postassium pill that is huge. I'll measure it later and post the measurements on here. I take TWO each day (they are the generic K-dur I hate the suckers!) All told with my supplements and few prescriptions and drugs for my bone spur I take around 20 pills a day. No problems. never. I take a lot of pills, to be a pretty healthy person! in fact the doc gave me a pill prescription for post op pain...Darvocet! So you may have trouble while you are healing, if you are swollen. AND you may prefer to be so tight that you have issues. I am at my sweet spot, though, and have no trouble.

You got good advice. If he won't tell you, don't use him. And no there is no place you can get that info on line; which is one reason it's so disturbing that he is being coy with you.

No, but I've read several posts of people who wanted it badly and freak out when they have it...THAT happens. AND I've read of people who have ins that won't pay for the band because they can't get psych clearance at all. I know it's hard but...be glad. If you don't have any issues, well, good for you. If you do, better to address now than come to in recovery feeling like you have the baby from alien in your gut! :wink: (I'm only exaggerating a little, too, about how some people feel. They didn't expect to feel that way, but they do!) So it's vile, but wait it out. I had to get my band almost 3 weeks later because I didn't follow my doc's preop diet; so I understand better than you think. But it's a process; it'll happen. Just do your "homework" with the psych person and it can only help!

I always say that I wish I had realized how vital AFTERCARE is for the band to work. I've been to my doc almost monthly in the last year, had 8 fills and an unfill! I'm very glad I didn't have to "travel" to do that, although I would if I had to (but I don't think I'd have gone as often!) Many surgeons will not accept another surgeon's patient and it isn't just those from out of country. It's those from out of county...or from a different practice. They don't know what they are "inheriting" and some who will take on another's patient charge pretty high fees to do so. So I always ALWAYS recommend lining up aftercare before you leap into surgery. So many of us are so oriented on getting the band, we don't think of afterward (like a whirlwind romance and wedding LOL) Fill Centers USA will do fills (if you have one locally) but you also need access to a medical doctor who can treat you if you have GERD, or a bad stuck incident, or the stomach flu and need an unfill, or whatever So you're really smart to line up local aftercare before you go to Mexico. If you can find a comparable surgeon who is a little more expensive but is close to home, you may weigh the pros and cons and change your mind about having it done "away". Or not! But this is something you do need to address. Be careful where you GO, in Mexico, too. I live in San Antonio (grew up in EL Paso which was just across the Rio Grande from Juarez) and many friends just don't go to border towns right now. I don't know about where you live but we get horror stories frequently about the strife over there....just last night there was a minivan found with 5 dead tourists but I forget the city (some border town...Nuevo laredo? Don't remember. It wasn't TJ or Juarez, though that I remember) ANYWAY not to scare the poo out of you...just be aware. Something can happen to you in your own neighborhood too; you just have to weigh the odds and make your best choice.

How tight is "too tight" is very subjective and based on MANY factors, not just how much "fill" is in the band, nor on how large the stoma is. So yes, it happens, you can be too tight even with an x-ray assist. If you can't keep your liquid down call your doc; you'll dehydrate over the weekend. :wink:

Well like I said, I had my husband remove it the minute I got home, but some really like and want it. So in your case, tell your surgeon you DON'T! :wink: Or you can just wait and see if you think you need it. I could've had it removed at the hospital but they would've had to get orders from my doc and it would've generated more paperwork for them; so for me it was easier to just tolerate it until I got home.

No; it depends on your surgeon. However if you are worried about pain and think you'd like one, discuss it with your surgeon! :wink:

Thanks Mimi...and it's good to see you "out and about"! :sneaky:

It's a lot of info! And the on-Q thing...neither my husband (who's been an rn for 25 years) nor I (who was enrolled in a BSN program) ever even HEARD of it! The nurse at the hospital sent the directions home with us so my husband would know how to remove it! :sneaky: It does help a lot of recovering surgical patients...but I just couldn't stand it!

it is a system where a cue-ball sized rubber bladder holds an anesthetic (like lidocaine, but not sure what exactly is in it) and it is attached to a very thin hose (called a catheter, but not like the one they use for your urinary tract) with holes in it. That THIN hose threads through an opening the surgeon makes in your abdomen (again...it is small and thin) and lies across the area the surgeon wants to target with pain killer. In our case it would be near where the band is placed, the port, etc. Over the course of time (I think a day or two, not sure) that anesthetic slowly drips out (kind of like osmosis) and keeps the internal organ(s) and site bathed in the anesthetic ...effectively numbing it and reducing/stopping pain. I had my husband pull mine out the minute I got home. However, many people find it helpful.

Monkey holds you in the highest fondest regard but she likes her ice cream frozen and her men to look like Vincent D'Onofrio, or Joaquin Phoenix before the Hip Hop career. However, we could double date with you and Brad Pitt and GO for ice cream. That would totally work for me.

I don't think that matters that much, honestly, because all my "entry and exit" wounds for the lap equip are midline...the band is midline, etc...What helped me was 1. I'm stubborn 2. I didn't want to sleep in my recliner and 3. I have a four poster metal-framed bed and that helped a lot getting up! :sneaky:

You know, the first night most people still have lingering effects of anesthesia, and most aren't really sore yet (you know how it takes muscles a while to realize you've strained them?) PLUS pressure helps control bleeding... so unless you are really "fragile" feeling, sleeping on your side the first night (esp with a pillow to help "protect" and brace things) might be worth a try.

Mine's between 1/3 to 1/2 of the way between my "side" and my "middle"....on the left.

Both I think. But IV will need a BIG needle. LOL Maybe just in a cone....

So I'm like the Edgar Cayce, or Shirley Maclaine, of the board? Beth, I need some ice cream. Stat. LOL

So, I channel sanity? Is THAT it? Hmmm?

Don't whine girl You get to have all the fun.

You bet. You can lose as much as you want to with the band, actually, because you control how tight you want it, and so on. So good luck; you're doing exactly the right thing; learning about the procedures and figuring out which one will work for you.

I really think you have to decide for yourself...but from what you've said, it sounds like the band would work for you. I know some surgeons don't want those of us who are "larger" than about 100 pounds (or less) overweight to get the band, and to a point I understand why they feel that way. However, while I do believe bypass and the sleeve are both solid viable safe (as safe as any surgery!) options, I felt it wasn't for me. Like you, I felt the lap band would give ME the most control...the ability to have a piece of birthday cake without dumping, etc. I never had a sweet tooth, I grazed but only at night (odd huh? LOL) I really prayed, thought, studied, mulled over, questioned, researched, THOUGHT some more, etc before I decided to get the band. The upside of all that was that I have never looked back, never had even a minute's doubt or feeling of "Oh my gosh what have I DONE to myself?" I had a long haul to hit restriction but I think my loss is groovy and I know it will continue on now. I was worried about malabsorption (which is one of the big benefits with the bypass surgery, but not the band) and being older, for example, because the older we get the less efficient we are at getting nutrition from our food. While I was told "oh just take B12" I wasn't so sure. I think bypass saves lives. I think bypass works more quickly at "curing" type II diabetes, provided you haven't had it too long. I think the band works wonders too. That's why I said you should ask your surgeon WHY he thinks (if indeed he does) you should get bypass. If he just says "because you are too heavy for the band" well, that's wrong and you need another surgeon, frankly, one who will be on your side. However, if he has a good reason, related to you or your health, listen. Do what in your heart you think is best and right for you (that's all any of us can ever do) but listen. My surgeon presented bypass, the band, the sleeve, and the duodenal switch (which he doesn't do but told us about) at his seminar, then left it to us to decide. He made clear what "type" of diet/person/lifestyle, in his opinion, made a person more suited to one or another type of surgery, then he let us decide, as long as we didn't have a medical condition that would make a surgery dangerous or likely to fail. Sorry this is so long. I just wanted to tell you my process...I love my band. I may have problems with it some day, but that's all part of life I guess. I pretty well KNEW I'd have problems, bad medical ones, if I did nothing. Once I decided, it all fell into place, and seemed to be "meant" to be. Probably a coincidence! BUT figure it out the best you can, knowing yourself and what YOU want out of life, then go for it. :ohmy: I hope that helps a little. If you don't want bypass, don't be forced into it. Don't be forced into ANY elective medical procedure, if you don't want it!

Yes, I immediately grasped the "medical-ness" of it. :ohmy: