thetig

Hey There, How did you do this week? Not so great for me. I did not get on the treadmill until yesterday! Ugh! Ok This is the start of a new week. Here I go! I did do good on my food! Did you get to your goal weight? I never did! Bummer for me!

Hey There! You can make this band work for you! Get back to the basics. Cut out the Carbs and up your protein! Make sure that you eat small portions and five to six times a day. My Doctor told me that the reason I have not lost ANY weight in the last year and a half is because I do not eat right!!!! He is right! I have not had a fill in seven months and I am almost "filled up" so to speak. I have never had any removed. I do not think that I have ever hit the sweet spot, in fact I really wonder what that is! LOL!

You can do this! Don't let you mind fool you! Let the band do the work it was meant to do! Let me know how you are doing!

Hi There, Well you should know by now what is going on with your port! I also had a bad port three months after my initial surgery in 2009. I had the port replaced in June 2009 and that still did not fix the problem....I then had the entire band replaced in July 2009.... I have had no problems since. Good luck to you!

Cheryl

Hi There Kelbiter! I had the revision done a year ago right now and I have been good since. I have only had 5 fills since then and I really have not lost much weight in the last year. I am down a total today of 74 pounds. The Realize people would not do anything for me in regards to the problem with the faulty band. I even had to pay for all the extras on the surgery that my insurance did not pick up. I got an attorney and had a talk but apparently there is nothing we can do if the band is faulty! Again I chose to replace mine and I am glad that I did! Good luck!

Hi To all! Well, here it is after Christmas and I did not gain a pound in fact I lost a pound. Pretty cool. I am still on a giant stall but I am not discouraged. I am going for a fill on Wednesday, which I am looking forward too. I still have my B-ping moments when I do not chew enough but I think that we all have that happen. My body shape feels different which is very cool. I go to the gym only twice a week to work with a trainer and do Cardio. I will be increasing the Cardio portion of my work out to at least three times a week starting next week. I still have yet to buy any new clothes, I guess I am still feeling too fat, LOL. I remember getting chubby and when I was at 170 things were not real bad but when I reached 200 I started feeling fat, so I am looking forward to getting under the 200 mark and geting more of my "really old" shape back! hehehe.

One thing I can say that is really great to feel, is that when I weighed 264 I would not go anywhere and I would not want to see anyone and that was just a year ago, now I am looking forward to going somewhere on New Years Eve! Yeah! I am still very shy but at least now I am not embarrassed about my extra girth!

One thing really interesting on the note of Size. Yes, I have lost 60 pounds but not very many people have noticed that I have lost weight. It must be the big girl clothes I still wear! It really makes me laugh! I will be getting rid of all the old things and on to new and more fitting garments!

Well here's to the next 60 pounds that I am going to loose! 2010 will be a great year! Happy New Year to all! I love my Band! :present::Dancing_wub:

Hey There LD, Thanks for the nice words on my blog. Right back at you! Congrats on the new thinner you! I have the same problem with my clothes, all to BIG! Cool!

When did you get your Band?

Hey DB, How is life? Sorry it has been so long since I have mailed you. I hope you are well. I have hit a stall for the past month or so. No real weight loss! I am at 60 pounds and I am really ready for the next 60 to come off! hehe!

Hope to hear from you soon, Cheryl

I realize that it has been months since I last Blogged. Shame on me but here I am at last with a moment to write. I sure have enjoyed keeping op with Band Groupie, what would all of us do without her! She is great! I also follow Julie Ann with her secret journey and she is such an inspiration! Thank you both for all the great encouragement from your blogs!

I am still plugging away with my band! I have been on a three week vacation to the East Coast and I was not able to eat what I like, but I managed to only gain 3 pounds. I got an adjustment (fill) as soon as I got home since it had been longer then 6 weeks. So this was my third adjustment since I had my band replaced. My band is getting pretty full now but I have still not reach the Sweet Spot! My band is a 11cc and I believe that I am now at 9cc. This adjustment so far is good! I still have a lot of restriction and I am not able to eat as much as before. I have lost the three pounds that I had gained but I am still stuck on my Plateau! I had a long talk with Dr. Feiz's new assistant Larry, who by the way is wonderful! (He is the one who does the adjustments now.) I am going to change a bit of what I eat and I am going to add a snack between lunch and dinner. I also need to make sure that I eat breakfast everyday which is hard for me. So a low fat yogurt or a protein shake will work. Protein for lunch and protein for dinner.

and try to get more cardio exercise in. I will try!

Still all in all Tuesday will be my seven month Bandiversary and I am half way to my goal weight. I have lost 60 pounds. I am very very happy! :huh2:

By the Way BG, That was a most beautiful Song. Roslin Rules! I will miss that show!

I am a double Scale Whore and I am so very Proud of It! You can count me in on being a member! I have a scale in my DH's Bathroom and another one in Mine! I like his the best! It weighs 3 pounds less then mine!

I can not believe that is has been two weeks since I last Blogged! Time goes fast when your have RESTRICTION! Yep! I have it!

I went to see Dr. Feiz on 7/29, a week po and I was a wee bit nervous to say the least because I knew that I was going to have a fill! Everything went perfectly! It was such a great feeling to know that my band was working! I now know that I have an 11cc band and it is filled to 7cc now. I can eat pretty much everything that I allow myself to eat! I can feel the restriction but No BPing! Some times a wee bit nausea but it goes away really fast. I find all of this to be great since I really never had it before!!!!! The very very best part......I am down another 6 pounds making it now a total of 53 pounds! 12 more pounds and Onderland there I will be and over half way to my goal! Dr. Feiz would have given me another fill this last week but I opted out. He was really trying to get me to a goal that I had of wanting to be down to 199 by next weekend when we are going to Monterey for a Big Car Show weekend, BUT, when I get back I will go in and get another fill. Technically that will be my fourth fill then hopefully I will have found the "Sweet Spot". God this band is wonderful!

A side note to anyone out there who is having faulty Band problems....I am checking into having the Ethicon or Realize people be responsible for all my medical bills since the Port revision. I believe they have already made a deal with the hospital for this last surgery but I am going to try for the port revision also. So far the second surgery is totally 3500.00 more out of pocket! My DH is not happy! If anyone needs updates on that part of my journey please email me and I will be happy to let you know what is happening!

Life is so Very Very Good!

Hey there Losing4life, Just a note on the shoulder gas pain. I was just told by the nurse after my total revision of band that if

you put heat on the shoulder the pain will go

away faster. I am thankful that I have not had that gas pain this time around. good luck! This band really does work!

I had the total band revision done on Tuesday! I had to stay over night and have been home since Wednesday late morning. This surgery has not been so bad! I have already started my mushies! It is good to eat a little.

My Realize band was totally defected and by that I mean that it had again detached itself from the tubing. I am going to have a fill on Wednesday already, trying to get me back on track with the weight loss. I am a bit nervous with the bad experience I have had in the past with the fills not working, but I am hopeful. I had gained 7 pounds from the IV fluids and I have also now lost the same 7 pounds. So if you get on the scale after surgery please do not be surprised by the gain it will just come off fast.

Having now been through this surgery two full times and one port revision, I have to say this third time was very easy. Maybe because I knew what was coming next!

I also just heard from another LB friend that she also just had her entire band replaced this last week due to leakage. I am not sure what brand of band she has! This is very interesting. I have been told by a lawyer that we have no recourse as long as we are healthy and it has not changed any of our normal life. This was all due to some court case that happened in 1974. It is the chance that we are taking by having a device implanted in our tummy's I guess. oh well, I am thankful to be alive and healthy!

Three Cheers to Our LAP BANDS!!!! They do work well with loosing weight even though we may have to go through little glitches! :smile:

Hi There, Stick with Protein and stay away from the bad carbs! It really works! I have learned to love fish and a small amount of sweet potato not white potato. Have a cup of cottage cheese with fruit for lunch instead of that sandwich. believe me it will work!

You are Great and make me giggle! You sure do have a lot of energy! I am sure you must be in Onderland by now! Yeah! I will catch up to you once my band is fixed! Then we will have to have a drink together and PARTY!

Hey there UberMom, I get stuck and I have no restriction at all! I am keeping with my plan of only Protein and liquids. I try really hard to stay away from the bad carbs. I am not exercising and I am waiting for a total band revision. You can do this! I will keep watching for your progress! thetig

I just received an email from a good LB friend and it reminded me that there might be other friends waiting to see what is happening in my Band World.

Well, to my extreme Frustration, my revision surgery DID NOT take place yesterday as it was suppose to! My Doc had a family problem during the week and was not able to get back to Good Ole Blue Cross re: why was I needing another surgery! So because this question was not rectified Thursday day, at 9:30PM Thursday evening I finally got the word that my surgery was cancelled for the following morning at 7:30am. I must say I fell apart and just cried for a bit! I received a few good words of wisdom from my Mom and also DS1. DS1 had said that he had been having this need to tell me that I should not have the surgery on Friday it was eating at him but he did not say anything to me. Well, after taking all this in and not sleeping very well Thursday night, I came to the conclusion that I had not been being honest with myself and I too had had some reservations about Friday also. Sometimes you just can not understand why but there is a really good reason for everything that happens! On a side note.........I thought that I would weigh myself Friday AM. I had indulged the night before with a burrito and was sure that I had gained just because that was the way my luck seemed to be doing, so I just wanted to check add fuel to my frustration and disappointment! I got on first bathroom scale which is my friend and low and behold it was down into the 2 teens! First thought....this scale is really messing with me because it does have a real good sense of humor, so I went to bathroom number two, the BAD scale, jumped on that knowing what I would see....and it too was down 2 pounds. I just started laughing!

I was still loosing weight, Wow. This is just to let you all know who are struggling with loosing if you stick with the protein and away from the carbs even if you have NO RESTRICTION and are not exercising! Your band still does help! I did eat carbs but I could only eat half the burrito because my band knew it was not a very good idea to eat all of it!

I am scheduled for this next week Tuesday and next week Friday for my full revision of the Realize Band. Hopefully one of these days will work! Thanks for reading!

I really appreciate all of the wonderful comments from my last blog. You are all very encouraging to me.

I have started a thread in the Realize Band thread section to see if anyone else out there has had a faulty band. We will not know the answer to the fault of the band until it is removed. I am not having any dye testing done due to the fact that the port has already been replaced and still the problem exists, the only answer is then to replace the entire band.

The big day is next Friday for the replacement! I am getting to know all of the pre and post surgical teams at Cedars quite well, I actually know their names! hehe

This time I am going to ask for a ZIPPER to be put in my belly button for easy access!

I will update my blog next Saturday! I am not looking forward to the GAS pains!

but I am looking forward to the "Sweet Spot" :drool:

I know that no one will believe this but ..............

My Realize band has to be totally replaced! I went to see Dr. Feiz yesterday for my first real fill after reconnection of my port (6-19-09) and low and behold....it still will not fill. I also had a very large hematoma which had to be drained but I was told these are normal.

There is a call into the Realize Representative to find out if this has ever happened before, it kinda looks like I have a faulty Band. There is still a leak somewhere in the line, but not knowing where, Dr. Feiz has pretty much decided to removed this band and put in a brand spanking new one! Yippy! The poor Dr. is so frustrated at this point. Me, I am not sure what I am! Here I go again 3 surgeries in less then 4 months. This one I am not really looking forward to because it will be a little bit bigger then the original surgery (3-26-09)

by that I mean the old band has to be taken out and the new one put in, it will take a little more time I am sure.

I am still loosing weight but not much. I guess we could say then that I have never really had a good adjustment or fill. They last only a couple of days then not much restriction after that. I am amazed though that thru all of this 43 pounds are gone. This proves that without any restriction the band still helps to lose weight! This is very good!

Surgery could be tomorrow, Friday, or it will have to wait until next Friday. I will keep my Blog posted. If anyone has had this same thing happen please get in touch with me. I am not real sure as to what to do about the cost of all of this! I do not know if the manufacturer of the Realize Band should have to pay for all my extra surgeries. Please give me your thoughts. Thanks, Cheryl

Hey There Lsmmom! Sounds like you are doing well! We are both March bansters. I had my banding done on March 26th, at Cedars in Los Angeles. My doc is Dr. Michael Feiz. Super Doc! Yesterday I had a port revision done, mine came unattached from the tubing, now I am back to normal. I have lost 30 pounds since surgery, I was not on any pre op diet. If you would like to converse please feel free! My name is Cheryl, in Burbank, California. Good luck to you!

That was fun!!!!!! I got to the hospital and they were all ready for me! This part was just like the banding surgery in March. This is the tale of what happened next!

First of all what is a Port Revision? Most of you already know but for the few who do not......it is when there is a leak in the port itself or the tubing going to the band! It is possible for the port to be damaged when the Doctor is doing a fill or adjustment. When there is a leak the doctor must go back in thru the belly button and fix the leak or replace the port. He finds the leak or problem with the port with a dye that is put into the port/tubing. This is all done with a local anesthesia so you are awake the whole time they are working on you and what ever is broken gets fixed, done, it was really quite fun......but then you hear the words of the Doctor, "Cheryl, The port has detached itself from the tubing and the tubing has gone up inside of you and I can not get it without doing it laparoscopically!", okay cool here we go on a nice trip to who knows where for a little while, I told them all night night and thanks for the great job and out I went! I woke up in the middle of a cartoon version of The Road Runner, it was really funny! I only had to stay at the hospital for a few hours, then I went home.

So now today, it is almost the same as when I came home from the initial banding! I have three cuts from the laparoscopic part and the belly button cut! A bit sore today, feels like a Mac truck rolled over me a couple of times. BEST OF ALL!!!!!!!!! even though I am only on liquids, RESTRICTION, SWEET RESTRICTION! Oh how great it feels to have my old friend back in my body! Doc Feiz gave me a fill yesterday also just a little one. I can not say this enough, This young Doctor Feiz is amazing, kind, caring and very very special. Even my husband thinks so!

So now back to loosing the tons and back to eating small portions. Just a side note! I was without any restriction for over 2 weeks, I ate a little more in portion size then with restriction and officially at the hospital yesterday I had only gained 2 pounds which I am sure is already gone with being on the liquids! This says to me that even with my band not being tight, I stayed in control of my hunger, the band was still doing its job, I still one night got food stuck eating too fast! I love my BAND!

Hi There, A revision is when there is a problem with the saline not tightening the band when injected. It can happen but is not real common. In my case I had to have the port replaced, the port is the part where the saline is injected. Hope this answers your questions. Thanks, Cheryl

Just the other day I was reading a new entry by Band Groupie where she was saying that we all worry about if we are treating our bands right and not messing them up or if we will be one of the ones that has a problem, normal stuff that all bandsters worry about, I was agreeing with her every word....................

I went to get my third fill this past Wednesday and GUESS WHAT! As Dr. Feiz was injecting the saline and pulling it back out after I had drank water he noticed that the saline was not coming back out..............Oh My........so he tried a couple more times to see what was happening and needless to say he became a bit perplexed! Nothing had changed since my last fill I did feel the restriction for a week or so nothing great so we know that all was well in band land but still the problem with the saline now.........maybe there is a problem with my PORT! Still perplexed Dr. Feiz has decided to do a revision of my port. This will mean that I will have to have a small surgery thru the belly button and the existing port will have to be removed and a new port will have to be attached. He was very honest and stated that he has never had this happen before but it has been heard so................

I am being scheduled for my 20 to 30 minute procedure hopefully next week but there is a chance that it will not happen until the following week, something to do with my insurance we shall see.

I was very sad at first not showing my emotion to anyone but myself, I was on the verge of tears the rest of the day at work, then I had a very nice talk with myself and I have come to the conclusion that this is why I have not been seeing a larger weight loss. I was thinking it was me but if I have had a slow leak for awhile......no restriction no great weight loss. My DH took the news very poorly but that is how he is with everything, he is mostly worried about the cost that this might cause and I can sure understand, as we all know this is not a cheap surgery and I am one of the lucky ones in that my surgery is all paid for already I did not have to take out any loans. I will continue with my program just as if I have restriction.

My real concern that I am not talking about to anyone but my Blog is what if it is not my port and it is my Band that has a leak......I will just have to face that hurdle if it should arise.....here is to hoping it is only my port and I will be back in the band biz next week!

I will keep all informed as to the progress of this type of problem! Thanks everyone out there for listening!

It has been thee weeks since I last wrote anything here on my Blog.....shame on me because I know that I will not remember the last few weeks if I do not write it down so here goes.

The last two weeks have been interesting! I have not lost much only a few pounds. I am down 30 pounds since my surgery and I thought I would have been closer to 40 by now, I am not complaining I am just disappointed in myself and let me tell you why.

I like a lot of bansters have tried going back to some of my old treats like the one in mind is Wine. I love to have a glass or two and it is a way of unwinding but those glasses or even at times a entire bottle is just so many empty calories and this makes me believe that I have been hindering my weight loss instead of helping! I am going to go on a no Alcohol regime for a while and see how that is. Also I have not been on my treadmill since last Sunday and that is also something that will help with the inches coming off. After my 2nd adjustment or fill I was hoping for more restriction which I did get for about 2 1/2 weeks but now I am ready again for adjustment number 3. I like so many other blogs that I read am not real sure what I am feeling at the time of the fill so I am not sure if I am getting the max fill or if I am just getting a so so fill after all it is Me who is letting the Doc know if it feels right or not. What or Where or When Is the Sweet Spot?:thumbup:

Now for any of you who might be reading this, I want you to know that this is not a BooHoo note to myself this is just a reminder that I, Cheryl, Need to be working a lot harder and to stop goofing around. I know what I need to do and I better start doing it. Also just a side note......I am still having trouble with the Free Air since surgery. It has now settled down near my bladder and makes me feel uncomfortable, the sharp pains have subsided and I am thankful for that.

All in All I am a very thankful girl for this procedure all the little weirdness are worth it in the long run. Heres to being down 40 pounds by my Birthday!

Hi There, My Doc says to try anything that I want and I will find out just what works and what does not. I have found that soda is okay or carbonation is okay but in small amounts. I get a feeling of being bloated that lasts a while. I drink wine but try to keep it to a very minimum! Like Band Groupie says everything in Moderation. But what you really need to know is that all of these tasty drinks are empty calories and you will pay for them in not loosing weight or having it slow down. I have found this to be true for myself. I have slowed way down on the weight loss and I am rethinking my need for Alcohol! Good luck! The Skinny Margarita sounds really really good.