TheGh0st

I bled from my belly button for what seemed the longest time though it was probably only 4-6 weeks. My doc had me dab just a little polysporin on it and place a cottonball over it. I didn't even bother with a bandage as the compression garment held it in place just fine.

I remember asking her mother if she wanted to feel her port but didn't catch her calling it a portal. Too funny. No big surprise the mother recoiled at the thought, thats how most people I have asked react as well. I'm no doc either but I tried searching google a bit and found one website describing a different laparascopic surgery and it did mention the removal of the gas before sewing the incisions shut so she was probably right about that part. But I've never heard of seeing the gas bubble under the skin only the pain people have described from having one. Thankfully I never had one. I also had mixed feelings about the scene where she was upset about being at the photo shoot and not being able to eat the food laid out there. Overall I think it was a good point to bring up but then so would a discussion about exactly what the lapband is and yet not once has the details of the band been discussed. Everyone over on the Guiding Light board keep referring to it as bypass and worrying about all the assumed health risks they believe go along with that surgery.

Its near impossible to hazard a guess. It depends a lot on whether you are self pay or are dealing with insurance approvals as well as the particular surgeon you select. Mine was about 6-8 weeks from when I turned in my application paperwork a few weeks after the seminar. But I was self pay, I've known some insurance patients to be as quick if their approval came through quickly and others that fought for over a year to get it approved before having surgery.

Good Luck! Don't forget to take notes and maybe even come prepared with a list of questions you might want to ask. I remember wishing I could just meet with the doc one on one and not wanting to go to a group seminar. But after attending it I realized the benefit of hearing the answer to everyone elses questions I hadn't even thought of asking. As well as seeing just how many people were out there just like me. That was sad but it helped me let go of some of the guilt and loneliness I was feeling going into this. If you like what you hear at the seminar I can not emphasize enough the importance of attending at least one local support group meeting before your surgery. If possible before you even pick a specific surgeon.

Great story albeit sad. I have several bandster friends who also had the RNY and regained the weight before switching to the band. Maybe this will be an option for her as well.

I HATE needles and I ended up being one of those dreaded bandsters than needed 14 fills the first year. In all of those fills I only had one that hurt, but ofcourse it had to be my first fill which traumatized me for the next several. Now though I still hate needles and I still literally bite my knuckle while they do it in an effort to redirect my focus but honestly, since that first fill it has NEVER hurt. Infact many of them I didn't even realize they had stuck me until they said they were done. I just thought they were "marking" the spot with a pen before giving me the real shot. All I can suggest is to remember to breath and try not to worry too much about it. Oh, and biting my knuckle really does work. PS - Thin2beme if you bite your knuckle in front of Dr H. Tell him I suggested it he just might remember me as he use to always tease me about it before I switched docs to save money on fills.

Sadly it is very normal. Infact many of us refer to this time as "Bandster Hell". I know it is hard but you need to try your best to follow as many of the rules as much as you can through sheer will power until you start to get better restriction with your fills. OK I can hear some of you now, I've said it thousand times myself. "If I had the will power to follow the rules without restriction then why would I need the band?" For me the reason why I needed the band was because, yes I can lose weight on nothing but will power for short periods of time but I've never been able to maintain that weight loss. But now with the band I have a tool that when tight enough makes it easier to lose without will power but more importantly makes it possible for me to maitain my current weight without the herculian efforts needed pre-band. Try to hang in there it will get better.

OK in general smoothies will probably have more calories than a Protein drink so in that regard I'd fall on the drink side. Smoothies are also thicker so if you are unable to eat solids they may be difficult to keep down as well. My doc was dead set against protein drinks/smoothies as well for the first several years of his doing this procedure. He considered it nothing more than liquid calories. However, after watching his patients, several of which were also employees of his, he slowly changed his mind and now believes it better to drink some form of protein in the morning if you are too tight to eat than to go with no food until lunch. Again in an ideal world we would all get our protein from solid sources and I applaud those who do. But I'm also one of those that in order not to be able to eat a horse at night I need a fill tight enough that I can usually only manage a drink in the morning. For the first year plus I usually made my own drink in the blender with skim milk, chocolate whey protein and a spoonfull of Peanut Butter to cut the edge off that fake chocolate taste. But my current personal favorite at the moment is Low-Carb Slimfast for a couple reasons, it tastes good to me, it requires no mixing, and not only does it have 190 calories, 20 grams of protein to 2 grams of net carbs (6 total minus 4 fiber) it also has about 30% or more of many Vitamins and minerals unlike many of the other protein supplement drinks.

Scottay - I want to apologize I had written my post at work over a period of time and had not refreshed my screen to see your additional posts. I had only seen the first couple posts and hadn't realized your wife was the one initially looking into the band. But even if she hadn't and it had been you that had discovered the idea. It still shows a great love for her that you care enough to be doing all this research. Any woman should be proud to have a husband so concerned to take the effort you are to reseach this out. I also was only trying to tell you a little about my own experience with weight loss. I wasn't trying to imply that you thought she had a will power problem or that you had ever driven her to tears. It was only my opinions on what has happened to me and how society in general views obesity. My own husband has done both but your post seemed so clear that you were not responsible for her unhappiness that it never crossed my mind. Again I apologize if I made it sound so. I also remember reading that the two of you are riding bikes to/from work and she has lost some weight doing this. If she does get banded this commitment to activity will be a great help in her success. I was not so good at committing to formal exercise and have lost slower than some of my bandmates that made such a commitment. Shortgal - Yeah, don't get me started on the one size fits all shirts. With my F-cup Girls even at a size 10 pants I can't fit most one size all shirts. And though I didn't do WW I did do Jenny Craig several years before the band and was initially successfull before I gained it all back plus. So yes I can see your point that a structured program can give us tools we can use even after the band. I guess I was just assuming that if she had been dealing with this for over 10 years it would shock me if she hadn't already tried several programs in the past.

I have to second this opinion. Very few spouses would make the effort you are and that is wonderfull. But in the end this does need to be a choice she wants to make for herself. Is she willing to attend a seminar or maybe a local support group of people that are already banded? I know I was very against surgery myself until after I attended a seminar and saw just how many other people were in the same situation as me and heard more about the medical side of my not losing weight than I had known before. It made me feel so much less guilty for considering surgery and made me feel more hopefull at the possibility of it working for me.

Despite my great respect for Shortgal (and kinship with all short people in general) I think I have to disagree with the suggestion to try Weight Watchers. On the whole it is not a bad concept but from what I saw in your original post it sounds like she has been dealing with weight issues for at least a decade. Combine that with your comments that she was both athletic and maintaining a healthy weight up until her difficult pregnancy and I would say she probably knows how & what to eat possibly better than most normal weight people. In my own humble experience most obese people know what they shold be doing in regards to food & exercise, the problem lies in actually doing it. I know this sounds like a will power issue and I don't want to minimize the fact that in the end it is our hands putting the foods in our mouths and its our rear ends sitting on the couch not exercising. Still there are so many other issues working against us that are beyond normal control. There can be many reasons some medical some psychological that have led her to becoming obese. But no matter how she gained the weight science shows that over 90% of people who surpass a BMI of 40 (or maybe its 30 I can't remember right now) will regain their weight loss within 18 months even when on a medically supervised diet and exercise regime. Obese and Morbidly Obese individuals body chemistry is different than that of those that are closer to a healthy weight. Whenever we lose weight our body starts sending out strong chemical signals to coerce us into eating, to change our metabolism to be more efficient and to even redirect a larger percentage of a normal caloric intake into replenishing our depleted fat cells rather than the rest of our body. There is a very interesting online radio show that you can stream that talks about this in more depth and even explains how the band can help change the pattern in more ways than just limiting our ability to eat too much in one sitting. I can find a link for it if you like. But try to imagine telling someone who just took an overdose of sleeping pills that if they fall asleep it is only because they lack the will power to stay awake. Again I'm not trying to give excuses for my own previous behaviour or hers but I do believe it is not as simple as a will power issue or a lack of knowing what the right foods/exercise levels are for many.

Got to say the vaca comparison was a spur of the moment inspiration. And I'm lovin' it right now if I do say so myself. It makes me feel a little less like a horrible b!tc# for complaining, at least for right now. but I'm sure by tomorrow I'll be right back to feeling guilty for all my whinging.

For all of you pre-plastic surgery posters and lurkers. Don't get us wrong I wouldn't take back my PS if you paid me a million dollars. Just because some of us are still obsessing about our looks post PS doesn't mean we aren't thrilled with the results so far. It just hard to explain if you haven't been there. The best comparison I can come up with is to think of it like going on the best vacation you ever had then complaining it wasn't longer or that you didn't get to do enough. It doesn't mean you wish you hadn't gone just because you wish you could have stayed longer or done more.

I'm with you on this one as well Karey. The gut is gone and my tummy is looking great. But I keep obsessing about the scale, my thighs, my arms and am starting to notice those lines on my face as well. I know I can't afford all the surgeries necessary to fix all my issues and like you one minute I'm bereting myself for being so self centered and vain about it the next I'm trying to figure out how to rob the nearest bank to pay for it. I've thought about counseling but I just don't see how they can help when they really don't know what we are going through. I feel like we just sound like a bunch of whiners to pretty much everyone else. I sure know that just a couple years ago if I heard someone complaining like we are I would have wanted to hit them up the side of the head with a baseball bat. I can remember being so jealous of people in our current position. I was convinced then that if I could only reach a size 14 I would be content and here I am at a size 10 winging on about lumpy thighs and batwings. I use to use my monthly support group as my counseling but that doesn't even work too well anymore. Don't get me wrong I still love the support group and it is the highlight of my monthly schedule but most of them just can't help me with these issues as they are not here yet and it doesn't seem fair to go on about it in front of the newer members. There are 3 or 4 in the group that have lost more weight than I but I'm the only one that has gone forward with PS so far so they are still functioning under the assumption that it will solve all their head issues. I wish a few of us were closer so we could form our own little counseling support group.

Question though. I see my "Rep Power" and when I clicked on the scales below my last post it stated that comment had not received any "reputation" as well as how many reputations points I currently have. OK why is my Rep Power different between my Reputation Points AND how do I find which posts received reputation comments without backtracking and hunting down all of my old posts? Is there one place I can go to look for all my reputation responses?

GREAT Idea! I was wondering why I only had the option for positive feedback. Didn't have anything negative to say but didn't know why the option wasn't there. But now that you explain it I think that has got to be probably one of the best ideas I've ever heard of.

"Our next KCBandster meeting is on Monday, April 21st from 6:45-8:45 pm. We meet at the Antioch Library in Merriam, Kansas off I-35 and Shawnee Mission Parkway. Hope to see you there! Jen" Just got this e-mail from Jen. Looks like she hasn't picked a topic yet, though often the best meetings are those with no set topic.

Forget scar pics. I want to see those vacation pics with you in a bathing suit. I think I remember you being so worried you wouldn't be healed enough to travel and there you were kayaking and all. You go girl!

I saw part of one of the Austrailian seasons on the Reality TV network. It was an all day marathon showing but I only caught it midway through.

I am an F or G. The doc talked about removing around 4-5 pounds. I know I'm probably pushing it to go back after one week but shoot if I can go back to work part time after a C-section and the subsequent lack of sleep from an infant at home I'd like to think I could manage going back to a desk job after my drains were out. My poor DH & work are getting a bit weary of all my medical issues (LB surgery, then TT, now this.) even if they are for the better.

Hey there, lilred. I'm in the KC area and have heard of him but didn't use him. Have you asked the Yahoo KCBandster group too? I know some of the area docs have so many new patients that the wait list for surgery can be several months. My doc even had a 2-3 month wait for fills for a while there, but he hired some new staff and its better now.

I feel for you but I don't get it. I've been banded nearly 3 years and have never noticed any gas problems. Infact this is the first I've ever heard of any problems with gas associated with the band other than the occasional thread where people are dealing with the gases from the laproscopic surgery itself. Maybe I'm just lucky, but hopefully whatever is causing your excess gas resolves itself over time.

You probably wouldn't taste it mixed in with everything else but that is still just plain GROSS on so many levels. I'd insert the smiley here that is losing his lunch but with your own nasea I'd hate to give you any ideas. (I love that smiley)

I should explain one of the reasons I'm in a rush to do it in May is so that it will be done in time for a trip I will be making to Vegas the last weekend in June. I'd really like to have it done before then so I can look my best for the event and more importantly so I can do a little clothes shopping while I'm there. But if I'm going to need more than a week off I'll probably need to wait until this fall. I am one stubborn red head. I don't take risks with lifting requirements but if I'm well enough to sit on a couch and watch the telly I figure I'm up to sitting in front of a computer at least for half a day. I live close enough to work that after my tummy tuck I even had the boss come pick me up in my pj's to come in for a couple hours before my drains were even removed.

I am looking to have a breast reduction as soon as I can manage to get enough time off. But there is the question, How much time will I really need? I have a very light duty desk job and a history of going back to work much sooner than the doctors say it will take. My Surgery History: Gallbladder: Docs said 1-month, I missed only 2 days work. C-Section: Docs said 6 weeks, I was back part-time after one week, full time after 2 weeks Lap Band: Docs said 2-4 weeks, I took a week off to get past some of the early diet restrictions but could easily have gone back to work in a couple days. Tummy Tuck: Docs said 6 weeks, Part time after one week full time after 3 weeks. I'd like to have the surgery on Wednesday May 21nd and be back to work by the following Teusday or Wednesday. With Memorial Day in their I'd only end up missing 3-4 days of work. I'm not asking if this time table is sane just if it sounds even possible keeping in mind my past experiences. What do you think?