TQUAD64

Hello Luna and welcome to LBT. Feel free to jump on any of the threads and post your experience and/or ask a question. Good luck on your journey!

Welcome to LBT! So sorry to hear about your mom's problems with the band, but glad to hear your doing so well. Congrats on your successful weight loss! Keep up the great work and in no time you will reach goal. Best wishes!

Hello Jhirel and welcome to LBT! You will find great resources on this forum and wonderful support too! It does take a long time for insurance approval, but once you have the surgery, I am sure you will have no regrets. Good luck with your surgery!

Hello Hally from down under. Welcome to LBT! I am so glad you are making yourself a priority, because you deserve a healthy life for your two beautiful children. Best of luck to you on your journey!

I have a desk job and had complications while in the hospital. I took two weeks off and did not tell my employer. I utilized vacation time. Every person's experience for recovery is different, but with a complication would occur, then what would you tell youe employer? If you do this on spring break, who will watch your baby, since you cannot lift him? Good luck with your decision.

My surgery was November 11 and right around January 1, my hair started falling out in scary chemo looking treatment clumps. And I am not on chemo. I stopped washing my hair daily. I figure I will be bald by summer. Seriously, it freaked me out so bad that I took ones days worth of clummpy hair to the doctor and said "What's up with that?" They don't know. :-( My thryroid is testing okay and I take my thryoid meds every day, so I don't know. I live close to San Francisco and was thinking of going to China Town to get some herbs specific for hair loss. I am really desperate.

Usually a doctor allows the patient to select the band. You can compare bands on this site by utilizing the search tool at the top of this web page. Compare Adjustable Gastric Bands - LAP-BAND vs. REALIZE Band There is a specific thread for the Realize band on this web page too. Doctor's do not give their patients a choice of band size.

I would call my doctor to get their feedback. On January 14, I received a 1cc fill, so when I left the doctor's office I was suppose to have 5cc in a 10cc band. But several days later, I knew there was something wrong. I was hungry a couple hours after eating a healthy meal (meat and veggies). Plus, I was drinking a Protein bullet, because the hunger was really getting unmanageable. So I called my doctor and stated something was wrong. They got me in on January 28 and took out the old fill. I lost 1cc. We are not sure why this happened, but it day and we will continue to monitor the situation. Anyway, they gave me back my 1cc plus put another .5cc in. My grand total is now 5.5cc, but we will see what I really have when I go in for a check up in March. Just maybe you lost some fill, like I did. It doesn't hurt to talk to your doctor about it. Good luck!:tt2:

If your going to utilize sick leave, you will have to bring a note from your doctor releasing you back to work for your employer. Most employers have an administrative policy in which three days sick or more requires a doctor's note to return to work. If that is the case with your employer, then really you need to talk to your doctor to determine when he/she will release you back to work. You might want to consider the possibility of complications as well. You just never know what might happen. I ended up staying in the hospital for 2.5 days, because of some complications. I felt great on day 7-post-op. I was sore and moving slow, but I felt so much better on that day. That also happened to be the day my doctor released me to start driving again. I took two weeks vacation time off rather than sick time, because I did not want anyone at work to know I was having surgery.:tt2: Good luck and I hope all goes well for you!

I was wondering how you were doing. I remeber reading one of your threads when you were getting ready for the break up. I am so glad you are taking care of yourself and moving forward!

Nope. I didn't go there, because I did not want to get sick. But let me tell you I was hungryyyyyyyyyyyy. So I did call the doctor to find out what else I could have to help me feel full during the liquid post-op diet. She gave me some tips, none of which was chocolate. Back away from the chocolate. :-) Seriously throw it away and keep it out of the house.

Trell: First of all congrats on all your weight loss. I think it is great that you will be hitting Onederland very soon. Sorry to hear that your reaction to the last fill was not good. I have had two instances where my fill disappeared and the doctor and her nurse could not explain it. Actually, they both looked up at each other kinda of stun by it. I have not heard of evaporation before. Interesting! I lost .5cc from the surgery and I lost 1cc from a fill on January 14. The crazy thing is, I knew two weeks after the January 14 fill that something just was not right. So, I got an appointment right away on January 28 to find out the 1cc given on January 14 was gone. Weird. Very weird.

I would not chance it. If you cheat on this, then will you not cheat on the post-op-diet too? Start making healthy habits now that will get you towards your goals. Your friend took a big risk and I would never recommend that anyone not follow their doctor's instructions.

Yep, I owe you Restless. When I read your story it scared me straight. When I got out of surgery and was in recovery the very first thing I asked was "is there a band in me?" And yes there was. :sneaky: The next thing I asked is how was my liver. I swear true story!!!!

Oh, I bet I know who to!:sneaky:

What's going on is that you had surgery and are on a liquid diet. And you might be on pains meds too, all of which will cause you to be tired. Get plenty of rest and keep up with the Fluid. Take advantage of the resting so your body can heal.

No, I did not. I didn't want to go into the operating room to be cut open only to return with no band, because my liver did not shrink enough. I had read Restlessmonkey's story and that scared me straight.

Oh, I totally get being anxious. I was so anxious to get it done, but when I got the official approval from the insurance company and my surgery date, I started freaking out. Like oh man, what the heck am I doing and is this really what I want to do, and what if this does not work and on and on and on the mind games went. But, I had the surgery. And I am doing great. And I don't regret my decision. And I am glad I had the time to work with the nutritionist for the 6-months. Funny thing is, I continue to see the nutritioinist once a month and I don't even have too. Take care!

Mandie, if you have not done so already check out the insurance thread link below. You can utilize the search this thread tool button at the top of the thread. Place in key words, such as the name of your insurance company and you can find out if any other posts are around about your topic. Insurance & financing - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum Good luck!

Good luck with the procedure and the start of your journey! :sneaky:

I have Blue Shield and the 6-month supervised diet is very different from the therapist examine. Most insurances require the 6-month supervised diet. 6-months is not that long of a wait and you will learn a lot about the band and post-op diet. It really helps you to wrap your mind around the proces you are going to go through. It took me 11-months to complete all the requirements of the insurance, plus all the requirements of the bariatric doctor, which were very much different. Check to see if your bariatric doctor has any requirements you need to complete as well. You don't want any surprises or further delays. Good luck!

Hi Percy15, get back on track with the post-op diet. I know it's hard, we have gone through it too, but you really don't want to take chance with the healing process. Call your doctor and let them know that you are starving and if you can go to the next post-op diet stage. I had the same issues as well. Very hungry and not feeling a sense of fullness. I called the doctor and they allowed me to have yogurt and mik during the full liquid diet stage. It cannot hurt to call your doctor to get his/her feedbak. I was banded in November, but I knew by the time I started solids the second week in December that I was not going to make it to my scheduled fill a couple of days before Christmas. Because I spoke to my doctor and told her my concerns, I was able to get a fill on December 10, two weeks early. Find out if you can get a fill sooner than what is scheduled. It does not hurt to ask.

Hi Lulu, I thought I read some posts on here that the pouch can shrink back after having liquids for several days, but I have not seen evidenced based scientific data to support or refute this belief. I wish a doctor would jump on this thread and let us know how a stomach can shrink or if it even can. I always forget to ask my doctor about this when I am going in for my monthly check up.

It's a matter reprogramming new behavior for old behavior. I use to always frink with food, but there is no way I will do that now. I had surgery to have the band and I don't want to jeapordize all that I have gone through to get the band. When I go out to eat with co-workers, I do not allow in Fluid to be served to me. When they ask if I want water or if they try to bring me water and I have them take it back. I have no doubt that you can work through this, because you have come way to far to possibly take a chance with your Band Health. :sneaky: Take care.

She is probably selling her pictures and story to one the tabloid magazines.