julier

2nd part!

The surgery, hospital,staff and doctor was outstanding. I asked the doctor to take special care on the inscissions because I was a boater and wore two piece bathing suits or would after the weight loss. He did just that! I have very little scaring and now at my two year reunion I am 4lbs from my original goal of 155 currently at 159ish...

Never not one day do I regret having this surgery. For me it WAS the solution. I am mindfull to have it adjusted now 1 time a year and have a new goal of 145 for next year this time. That will be it for me I will be in a loose 7-8 size as I can fit in them now. Going from a tight 13-14 to a very loose 9-10 boardering on a 7-8 makes me:thumbup:...

To people out there thinking about this. If you are a volume eater, then this is the answer! Go for it:thumbup:

At age 48 I had tried every diet I think out there. Depressed about my constant failures and concerns about turning 50 and not being able to get my body back in shape, also I was going through menapause as well, which by the way was instant thank god! LOL Lucky me.

As soon as I first heard of lapband which was in a small article in a magazine I began researching, within 30 days I had made the decision that this would work for me. Unfortunately I did not qualify in the US as I was just under the minimum requirement, also when I went to a local Florida facility these doctors only had about 200 surgeries under their belt. I also was shown the scars from their patients and thought it was showing more of a scar with the US docs. I researched and personally made the choice of Dr Rumbaut. He had at the time 2000 surgeries under his belt, had trained years prior and his practice is at the hospital our president would go to if he was in Mexico and became ill. I had never had surgery before. See next entry! I am out of space:tt2:

my doc is John Gonzolvo and he is in Largo FL. I am a mexico bandster. He is I think $200.00. Easy going and extemly down to earth nice guy. 727-586-3751

Don't remember exact price but it was pretty cheap. I think $200..

I only go once a year now and he wont hurt you at all!!!

Tell him Julie from Sarasota sent ya, if he is close enough to go to...

My band has been interesting, boy these suckers have their own personality dont they? First of all i had 2.5 taken out and then put in after my carrot stuck north of band event. Since then i have lost 4lbs very, very slowly. I think my band is perfect (I have 4cc band). I was up at clearwater south beach two weekends ago and had gotten hungry and ate some peanuts. BIG,BIG mistake! I thought i was going to have to go to emergancy room. Projectile vomiting off and on for more than 1 hour. So i didnt eat any solids for a week. Now it seems my band has tightened of all things and I can only eat (very,very) slowly maybe 1/2 cup food and absolutely no white flour products,etc. want to keep it this way until i drop down to desired weight!....Anyone set at this perfect setting and loving it?

oh shoot, here is phone 727-586-3751. 1258 West Bay Drive. There are two or three docs in there. They do lapbands, gastric, etc.

yes his name is DR John Gonzalvo... He spent an hour with me. I had my band done by Dr Rumbaut in Monterrey mexico so there is no problem there. This guy is awsome. Tell him Julie Renner sent ya. and lets catch up. got to go back into a meeting (<:

This is there all the time, almost like there is a bump on the opening, under the band. Something that I have felt since my incident. Hey there KW i go to Largo doc for fills. Great doc and good pricing.

has anyone felt like they have something in the way of swallowing? I had the issue with the carrot stuck north of the band and got that to go away and stop rattling around with enzimes. But now i still fill like there is something restricting in some fashion. It is very hard to describe

maybe if we ignore the emailer they will go away from lack of interest.:angry

You can eat them but for goodness sakes shredd them. I think the risk is to big that we may swallow to soon before we chomp them down to little bits. So either cook em' or shred them. I am admitedly eating raw carrot in my salad still now but every hard vegetable goes into the shred machine. I think in actuality it has more flavors that way!:hungry:

On whether i could eat? Yes i could eat but it was like i semi plugged drain feeling I would imagine. And worst of all i would opt for easy things to get past the carrot like carbs!!!:omg: The hardest food was the foods i should have been eating. So unfortunately i have gained 3# back as of today with the holidays, carbs for comfort of eating past the carrot, and having my band wide open... But no worries this Friday i will be refilled.. I know i will be fine and back on track!

:clap2: Ninnyed, you are exactly right. I had already advanced finally to that idea. I dropped by my local health food store 5 days ago (Wednesday)and the gal walked me right over to enzymes. She said (here is one specifically for carbohydrates and vegetables!) That very moment i swallowed my first pill knowing I only had two days before the dreaded expense,etc of a endoscopy. I didn't drink any Water with that capsule and for two hours after. That night before bed i did same thing. Thursday the carrot was gone. Someone asked how i knew it was a carrot and not something else. It is kind of like a bobbing cork feeling. I was suppose to go get my band refilled Friday as it is wide open right now, but i was actually kind of tender down there. So after the weekend it appears that i am all healed up. What a long, long problem to have. I will keep those enzymes for anytime i do something stupid again like this. Raw Carrots and Broccoli stems are out of my diet unless pulverized!

:help: Well went in and had my band emptied of Fluid and sat there in docs office drinking Water to wash that chunk of carrot down. No luck so doc left me unfilled to see if it will go down this week on its own. Otherwise I have to have an endoscopy next Friday to pull that little sucker out. Anyone know anything that will disolve a carrot (North of the Band)

Yep! I really did a dumb thing...:faint: I went to a party about two weekends ago and by the time i got there was very hungry. Didnt want to eat bad things so opted for my first raw carrot since the surgery in august. Unfortunately didnt chew it enough and swallowed. So now i am going in today to have my band deflated and see if that little sucker will pop through! It has been rolling around unable to go through and been uncomfortable. Anyone have this happen?:bananapartyhat:

Lap band fundamentally non life threatening and low risk. Gastric Bypass if you research well shows hi risk of death and complications plus the stomach often restretches. With lapband it has adjustment ability throughout your lifetime. I am low BMI as well and never would have allowed cut and pasteing of my organs.... Stick with Lap band!:clap2:

and to wild97,

I would write exactly what you wrote. We are of the same mindset and situation!!! I dont look foward to eating unless it is some small delicious soft choice! And i dont feel good for awhile. I actually feel sometimes a little acidic. So i have started eating a couple of tums before bed. It makes me feel better right away and the next morning. I wouldnt have believed i am saying this before as well and i am loosing .5 to 1lb a week tooo (<:

lauragee and Bjean,

You are doing great! I had my surgery on 8-8-06 and have lost only 30 something depending on which weight i start from (pre diet before surgery). But it is coming off slowly and I am happy during the holidays to still loose bits. I know that since I only need to loose 30 more it will be aslow process. I however am so tight now with my band at 2.5 in a 4cc band that perhaps i am not loosing cause i eat soft more carb foods. At 2.1 i could eat way to much so just a slight adjustment can really make a jhuge differnce. It is an effort to eat meats and most vegetables. After new years if i remain the same i might have a slight unfill just so i can eat properly. I cannot eat more than 1/2 cup and that is a fact! So take your time and enjoy the process.

keep in touch and try and get them to be a little more agresive and find out what size band you have and how much they put in.....

I think you will be fine. For me i was given alot of saline very fast with my first fill. On a 4cc band my first fill was at 2.1 and then 2nd they added .4 to make a total of 2.5

I am so tight that often i choose to have Soup just for a break in swallowing. It makes eating a task not a enjoyable experience. My Doc says i will loosen up but after three + weeks i think i will but only after loosing a bit more weight. I certainly dont have any leaks to worry about:clap2:

So know that at some point you are going to know what this PBing is all about. Hang in there and get to the sweet spot....

I paid $10,700 8-8-06 with Dr Rambaut. He has done far more than any USA surgeon and trained many of them. He started doing this in i think1997. He is in Monterrey Mexico. The hospital was incrediable as well as the whole experience. I know you family will think OH NO NOT MEXICO, but im telling yah i couldnt have had a better procedure. I met many new friends as we all were in the same hotel until and after surgery. Dr Rambaut is a bandster as well and is so wonderful!

You bet from my mom. I took her out to lunch and told her what i was doing and all was fine. She was excited for me. Then she had her physical therapist tell her that i was doing what i perseive she thought was a gastric bypass and all went down hill. We have not talked since as she just said to many wrong things and got really ugly. Ignorance is not bliss, i tell ya. And as for your husband! Mine supported me 100% and boy is he happy! I have lost 30#s and have 30# to go! I now am in a size 10 from a 14 and can wear sexy things that he dreamed about me wearing. My confidence is on the roof and my spirit is healing from my insecurities from the past. You are young it sounds like to make this decision. If you have tried faithfully other avenues and failed and you are a volume eater then this will probably be sucessful. But realize and be sure that if you are consuming your calories from liquids (includes chocolate, liquor) then to be careful in choosing the lapband.

In closing! Do what is right for you. I am turning 50 next year and thankful that i found this before i loose all my elatisity. If i had known about this back 6 to 8 years ago i would have done it in a heart beat. :clap2:

Do the heating pad every evening,and in the morning if you are having coffee and reading paper. I would have on low with a pillow behind it against me when i went to sleep. I also got those instint hot pads that attach to your skin and wore those all day. WORKS!:clap2:

Before i was at 2.1 suposedly but weird that when he pulled the fluids back out before the fill it was only 1cc. So he said probably the other 1.cc was in the primer. I guess that the band takes 1cc before it even starts to close. So before this fill i could eat to much. I was able to eat fairly large bites and didnt have much restriction. I was also able to eat about 1&1/2 cup of food. Now i can only eat about 1/3 cup of food and it has to be mush. Is it true that we do have some evaporation in our fills? I think if i was just a tad less i would be fine. In the meantime i have dropped 5 lbs in 1 week and dont mind the drop but cant continue this fast.

it scared me to feel this grapefruit size lump around the port area. I called the doc and he calmed me right down. Said it was saroma and to get a heating pad on it as often as possible and massage it. Took me 60 days about for it to go away but it did;) So warm baths and heating pad!!! It feels good and works fine

last friday morning i had my 2nd fill bringing me to 2.5 in a 4cc band. i can only eat extememly soft food. I cannot even eat a hardboiled egg unless i mush it up with milk. If i try to eat anything like minced chicken it is a 45 minute process with mini bites...If i do get to big a piece going down it is 10 min of pain and threat of vomiting with hot flashes. ANY ONE HAVE THIS GOING ON?:help: I like the fact that i am eating about 1/3 of what i was prior to last week but my calorie count per day is only about 700. I would like to just revert to Protein shakes for Breakfast and eat my small itty bitty portions later in the day of soft food. But is it bad to not eat reg food at this point and should i have some Fluid taken out?

before i was not loosing but maybe 1 lb every two weeks.