3636millie

Thanks Ky.hen. I am so glad you will get the sleeve to begin with. Have you been to see Dr. Aceves yet or will you meet him when you get there for your surgery day? If you haven't, rest assured, you will be impressed. He has helped me survive the last few months after my original surgeon in Phoenix basically blew me off. I have taken many of my nurse friends with me to Mexicalli and they are so impressed. The hospital is immaculate. Dr. Aceves and Dr. Campos (they both see me when I go) are so kind and gentle. Their sterile technique is impeccable (puts the ones I went to in Phoenix to shame). Anyway, just know that I will keep you in my thoughts on the 1st.

Thanks Tiffykins. By the way, I loved your "welcome home outfit"! Give him a hug and a thanks from me. I treasure all of our service men and women.

DownInSoCal, I just got my date yesterday. It will be 12/18/09. I can't wait but I'm really nervous. I can't wait to get rid of this band before it kills me but on the other hand, I am a big chicken!!!!

Oregondaisy, Thank you for the information. I am so nervous but also excited. I can't imagine what it will be like to go to sleep and not wake up with a mouth full of acid, be able to eat in public without fear of hurling in the blink of an eye, etc. I have already got my list going of what I should take to Mexicali with me from reading everyone's posts. I forgot to check the electrical outlets at the hospital. Do they have the same outlets? Didn't know if I need to take converters for the heating pad or not. Thanks!

O.K. Well to make it short as I could go on and on about what happened to me.............Ditto to what Natalie said. I did well after receiving the band until about Feb of this year (had lost 85 lbs). I had always had pain in the abdomen around where the port site was every time I did anything requiring use of the abdominal muscles. I had always had pressure type pain in the esophageal area, even after having had nothing to eat or drink for several hours. In short, I was never able to forget that I had a foreign object in my body making me miserable every day. The feeling of something not being quite right has been with me basically 24/7 since the original surgery. I was willing to accept this as I felt that I was loosing weight and getting "healthier". In Febuary of this year, I developed severe chest pain one night and it was all down hill from there. Just prior to having this, I was having so much acid reflux for a couple of weeks that the skin around my lips felt like it was on fire 24/7. My teeth were rotting out due to the acid breaking down the enamel (I can't imagine what it was doing to my esophagus). Anyway, went to my original surgeon who took me to surgery for lysis of adhesions around the band. Since then, I have been unable to get a fill to reach restriction. I do not even have the amount of fill in my band that I did before the second surgery (only 4.5 ml in a 10 ml band). Every time I try to get a fill to get the magical "sweet spot" that I heard everyone talking about, I develop severe pain with the first swallow of any thing, including Water. I have this problem even when there is no Fluid in the band. Have had multiple different x ray exams, etc. Had a slight slip which corrected after an unfill. Have been diagnosed as having esophageal spasms after all the x rays. The spasms happen as soon as the first swallow of water or what ever I try to swallow rounds the bend from my mouth into my throat. These spasms feel like someone is shoving a knife down my throat. Then it feels like someone slugs me in the epigastric area with their fist. This happens simultaneously as the food rounds the bend. The original surgeons had placed me on Prevacid in the AM and Pepcid in the PM, with Maalox/Mylanta between times for the reflux. I would take the Maalox/Mylanta 4-5 times a day. Much to my dismay, several months after the second surgery, I developed nausea with vomiting and diarrhea pretty much after attempting to eat anything. Went to my original surgeons office and their response was "you should be happy that you have lost 85 lbs" while demanding that I put my purse down and get up on the table so they could do an unfill. The nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea went on for about 5 weeks. The only way I could make it through the day was getting I.V. fluids pretty much every couple of days (I am a nurse at a surgery center so every couple of days when I was looking like I was about to die one of the surgeons would write me a prescription for IV fluid therapy and my co workers would hang an IV on me). Believe me, I did everything by the book to make this thing work. I would chew any food I was able to get down into liquid form, obeyed the no drinking rules, no eating for 3 hours before bed rules, etc, etc, etc, etc blah, blah, blah........... (That is why i got so pissed when I read on another post in the lap band talk that a "nurse" said that most people have problems with the band because they are not doing what they were supposed to do-bull shit..........). I had posted several times on the lapband site and Wasa came to my rescue. She literally saved my life. I will be forever grateful to her and so very much miss her contributions to the site. Anyway, through her I met Dr. Aceves. She also told me about band intolerance. I went to Dr. Aceves. He took me off all the antacids. Stated that I had basically probably wiped out all the normal acid in the stomach and that the food was basically rotting in my stomach before being digested as the acid was not there to help in the digesting of it. This pretty much cured the vomiting and diarrhea issue. I am at least able to eat now but still have the severe pain with any thing as soon as it "rounds the bend". I still am unable to go out to eat with anyone and need to set close to a bathroom as I never know when with the first swallow I will spew (yes, this is even after I have chew, chew, chewed-I swear to god if I hear this one more time-I do chew, chew, chew. Do people think I enjoy the severe pain with swallowing every day? How can I chew water? Jesus). These are only a very few issues that I have had with the band. If I listed every one of them it would take all day. These are just the "highlights" so to speak. I am so looking forward to the day when I get my sleeve. I can not live the rest of my life like this. I want to lead a normal life again. I am not afraid of the sleeve like some people are as I know that they have been doing partial gastrectomies for years. Believe me, I am not just counting the days but also the hours. I want to thank everyone who posts here daily (VegasAngel, Oregon Daisey, Mac, Ruthi, etc). Just reading your posts and tips gives me hope.

Natalie, Thank you so much for your story. I swear to god, I thought I was reading my own story. You and Wasa are an inspiration for me. I was banded 05/08. I have $400 left to pay for my band surgery and then I will go in debt again to get the sleeve. I am so sick of being miserable. Hopefully, I will be able to get a revision before the end of the year with Dr. Aceves. He and Dr. Campos have been a god send for me in trying to make the band tolerable until I can afford to switch as I received no help from my original surgeon in Phoenix. Fortunately, I only live about an hour drive away from Dr. Aceves and can get there easilly for a "bail out" to keep me going for a time. It is too damn bad that so many people are getting sucked into the banding.

Hi! I am a frequent "lurker" as I am currently banded. I am planning on getting the sleeve just as soon as I pay off getting the band (Hope to get the ball rolling to get the sleeve in Dec/Jan). I will be going to Dr. Aceves for the sleeve. I have already been to see him several times with my band and he has been wonderful. He literally saved my life as my surgeon in Phoenix nearly killed my arse......(have band intolerance). Any way, I found this great tasting calcium/magnesium citrate liquid that has a blueberry flavor at the local Vitamin World shop today. I saw the above posts and went to Vitacost.com. They have it there for about 1/3 the price I paid. It is called Lifetime liquid calcium/magnesium citrate 750 mg. It looks like there are several other flavors, if you don't like blueberry. It has 4 gm of carbs, 200 IU of D3, 750 mg of Calcium citrate, and300 mg of Magnesium. Hope this helps.

Oops, I forgot to add to the above. If your family gives you a hard time, just direct them to this website and let them research Dr. Aceves. Or just print the information you have found about him and let them read it. If they are still having a cow, just remember, it is your body. They will get over it. Take care and best wishes!

I just had an appointment with Dr. Aceves today. It was my first and he actually took 1 hour of his time to see me between surgeries. I am a registered nurse (surgical) who has been having problems with my band and went to him. I was SO impressed. I took another surgical nurse with me. When we arrived, they told us to take a tour of the hospital. Well.... off we went (on our own). We literally did the white glove check. It was spotless. We went into rooms, everywhere. Couldn't believe how clean it was. They must have cleaned (swept the floor and mopped) the entrance to the hospital at least 5 times in the short time we were waiting to see the Doctor. Honestly, it was so clean that I really feel I could have eaten food off the floor. Anyway, I had my time with Dr. Aceves. Their sterile technique was impecable. Honest to god, made my American "Doctor" look like a pig!! I basically went in with the attitude that I was gonna get a revision to a sleeve come hell or high Water. Well, he actually listened to everything I had to say. Read all my medical records that he thought appropriate. He felt that I needed to give my band more time. Explained the reasons for his opinion and honest to god every thing he said made so much sense. He was not like the greedy American surgeons who would have had the attitude of "sweet jesus, here is another person I can cut on and make money". Honestly, he could have just said O.K. and scheduled me for a revision. It takes a classy, professional, above board physician to do what he did by talking me into trying something else to conservatively attempt to fix the problem before cutting. MONEY was NOT his object. What was BEST for ME was his object/goal. Honest to god, in my 29 years of being a nurse and working in several different countries in a nursing supervisory position, he is one of the best physicians I have ever come across. He has agreed to accept me as his patient for continued follow up. I am so, so, so happy.