RobynB1989

7 years ago, almost to the day, my Lap Band was placed. I have hated my band for a long time. I was in between my junior and senior year in college and my mom was very insistent that this is what I needed to be able to get a good job on the other side of my Senior year. She talked about it non-stop and eventually I decided to just go ahead and do it, because if I didn't I would have had to face her disappointment. I did alright with it for a couple months, and I lost a little weight but at one point I stopped making appointments with my surgeon and then I just didn't go back. About a year after my surgery, I got a call from them that I needed to come in and have it checked so I did, but then not even a month later the surgeon was fired. Next thing I knew, 3 years had gone by and I decided I wanted to actually do something about it so I found another surgeon that some people recommended and I went to see him but my esophagus was dilated so he said there was nothing he could really do for me. I spent years abusing it and then I felt like I was a failure. I wish when I was talking about my band, someone had tried harder to talk me into the bypass.

Jump forward another couple of years to this April, I was having severe upper abdominal pain and I was very scared that it was my band. I made an appointment to see the doctor that I had seen 3 years ago, just to look at the band, but the pain got too severe. I ended up going to the emergency room. Thankfully it wasn't my band that was the problem, but I did have a pretty severe case of pancreatitis caused by gallstones. The surgeon that took out my gallbladder is actually in the same practice as the other lap band doctor I was seeing. When I went to my 2 week follow up from surgery, Dr. Barker actually mentioned the idea of conversion, and I was very interested in it.

The most important part is that my mom was not with me at the time, so any discussion about it was between my doctor and me and I didn’t even tell my mom about it until I had decided that I actually wanted to do it. At first I wanted to do the sleeve, but my doctor told me I should just got straight to the bypass because of how much weight I need to lose.

For my insurance I have to do the 6 months of visits with my PCP, meet with a Psychologist, I had to have an upper endoscopy and an Upper GI, and meet with a dietician. My doctor also wants me to lose at least 50 lbs prior to surgery.

My upper GI showed that I have gastritis and esophagitis, so now I am in the process of getting my band out soon rather than waiting and doing both things at once. I hate my band so much I don’t want to wait 6 months to get it out. I met with the dietician today and I have to immediately go on the liver shrinking diet and I will be on it indefinitely. I have to lose 20 lbs in 3 weeks and then my MD will schedule the removal surgery and then I have to stay on the diet until my bypass, probably next January.

I am having a little anxiety because there is so much to do before I can actually have my bypass and I am only at the beginning. I know that the 6 months will be over before I know it and I’ll be happier on the other side, and that doing all this stuff beforehand will make things easier in the long run, but it seems so daunting. Any words of wisdom or encouragement would be greatly appreciated. 2 months ago I would have never thought I would be in this position, but now I am and I really don’t want to mess it up this time.

I also had the feeling of "why the hell did I do this" but after I started to feel better and saw the scale go down a little, I realized that I did the right thing for me.

I went for my first fill yesturday, and I didnt get numbing medication. i didnt even think to ask. i wish i had though. It was a little painful, and after he stuck me the first time, he told me he had to get a longer needle! The second time hurt worse. but it wasnt too too bad. I may have to ask about it next time.

Hey! i'm 21 and I live in Richmond VA. I got banded by Dr. Elliott, and he was very good if any of you live in Richmond or are willing to make the trip to Richmond

I can totally relate - I am 3 weeks now and I am hungry more than I expected to be. I pretty much am dieting right now... but I get my first fill this week. Call your doctor and see if they will do it sooner. If not, fight fight fight. It won't always be this hard - this is bandster hell right? Don't give up. Two weeks will fly by ..... you can do it.

Unfortounately, I am at school which is 4 hours from my doctor, and I am in training to be an RA for the next 2 weeks, so the date that I set for my fill was the only day that I go home because I cant miss any days of training. It kinda sucks. Hopefully I will be too busy to think about food.

Honk, I am in the solid foods phase, and my dietician told me that once i phase to solid foods, that I cant have yogurt anymore

I am almost 4 weeks post op, and I am struggling. I just moved back to school, and am hungry all the time, and I find myself either snacking or eating more at mealtime and i am really worried about stretching my pouch and ruining it after only having the band for a month. Can anyone give me any advice? I am not getting a fill for a little more than 2 weeks.

I was using Unjury with Water and crystal light. You can get unflavored unjury and it isnt bad and has a ton of protien in it

you are right, it has been VERY hot here the past few weeks. What made you decide to come to Richmond?

Good Luck!

I also spent the night in the hospital.

I didnt really bring much with me. I brought a pair of shorts to wear under my gown while I was walking around the hospital, and pajama pants to wear when i was going home.

I brought my toothbrish and toothpaste and a book to read, but I really didnt have time to read because of the walking, and when I was in bed, I was drifting in and out of sleep because of the morphine. I was literally taking a sip of Water, then falling asleep with the Water still in my mouth while spilling the rest of it down the front of me. That happened like 12 times.

Dont take any valuables with you. i brought my cell phone so that my mom could contact people to let them know how i did, but other than that, I didnt bring anything else.

Good Luck again!!!!!

Good Luck tomorrow!!! (well technically today!) You will do great! I am 3 weeks post-op and feeling great!

I was definately having cold feet before the surgery. I had my surgery on July 21, and at the time all I could think about was that I was about to go into my senior year of college, I was going to be an RA, treasurer of a club, on the Judicial board, and I was really scared that there would be complications or something would happen during the surgery to prevent me from doing all the stuff that i wanted to do, but now that i have it done, I am really glad that I went through with it, because everything went fine, and I am leaving for school in a week and I am feeling great. ive even lost some weight already.

It seems pretty normal for people to get cold feet. It is a major surgery and there are risks, but the benefits definately outweight the risks. It took a while to convince me of that, but here I am!

My surgeon said that it is normal to feel hungrier a couple of weeks after the band is in until you get your first fill, because the swelling around the band is going down. He said that I would feel hungrier, but to stick to 1/2 a cup because it will help me get into the habit of only eating that much. He told me I could have string cheese in the afternoon if I got hungry. I would ask your doctor if you can have a snack in the afternoon if you get really hungry until you get your first fill

I had a blood test, a chest x-ray, and an EKG

I hope everything went well with your surgery today!

I have noticed that my vision has been a little blurry for the past few days. i was banded last wednesday, and I keep wondering if its because I am not getting enough protien, or if its from my pain meds.

My doctor gave me Percocet my surgery, and I was having trouble swallowing the pills whole, so I had to cut them in half. i think that at the beginning my it was because my stomach was so swolen. I havent tried swallowing them whole again, but I think I could probably do it now.

Walking! When you get out of surgery, walk as much as you can. That is the best thing for the gas. I had surgery last Wednesday, and i still have a little gas, but it gets better every day.

I have a few different goals.

-My first one is to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath.

-I want to be able to ride on a roller coaster instead of watching my friends go on them. I am tired of pretending that I have motion sickness.

-I want to be able to stop shopping in Plus Size stores.

-I want to go places and not have to worry about people staring at me all the time

-I have never been on a date before and i really want to

-I want to be able to have kids in the future if I want to.

Tums usually work for me when I have heartburn

After I had my surgery and registered with My Lap Band Journey, at www.lapband.com, I found a lot of recipes on that site for every stage in the post op diet. There are a lot of recipes for refried Beans, and there is even a pureed broccoli Soup that looks really really good. There are also websites out there that have recipes from dieticians expecially for people with lap bands.

Are you a member of My Lap Band Journey on www.lapband.com? I was looking through that site today, and they have reciped for every stage of the process, and there were actually a lot of recipes that involved refried beans! I am so excited to try some of them out.

I had acid reflux due to a haital hernia the dr repaired the hernia and installed the band at the same time have not had an issue since!

I had the same experience. Ive had acid reflux for years, and after they took the haital hernia out, I really havent had any heartburn.

I only cheated once in the pre-op diet. I had a brownie at the start of the second week, and i felt so bad about it that I wasnt going to let myself cheat again. i too went to social engagements when I was on the pre-op diet, and i just took a protien drink with me or I took a piece of low fat string cheese because on my diet I was allowed 2 oz of low fat mozzarella cheese as a snack. I went to one party that was serving small ham sandwiches, and it was around the time when i could have my one meal a day, so i just ate a little of the meat out of the middle of the sandwhes. Then I immediately threw the bread away so that it wasnt a temptation. It was really hard, but I got through with it and ended up losing weight on the diet, and my liver was really small during surgery.

I am 4 days post-op and on full liquids, and i wasnt really hungry until today. I drank some chicen broth and protien shake, and then I decided to look on www.lapband.com to fund some recipes for the different stages of the diet so that im not getting bored when I eat. I am so excited to start on pureed foods on Wednesday!

sorry i kinda got off topic...

I didnt want to tell my family either. The only person who knew in the begining was my mother. I wanted her to keep it to herself but that was hard because she has kind of a big mouth. When I was first considering getting the lap band, I didnt want them to know, because I didnt want every conversation from then on to deal with whether or not I made a decision. I had a feeling that every time I would talk to my grandmother she would ask me if I made a decision or not. I didnt want to tell many people after I made the decision either, but my mother didnt seem to understand that. She started telling my family, and I didnt talk to her for a while after that and she didnt understand why I didnt want them to know. i was worried that they wouldnt understand why I wanted to do it or they wouldnt be supportive. also, in case they were happy for me, I didnt want to tell then i was going to go through with it, and then for some reason back out and have them be disapointed in me. A week before my surgery i decided to tell people, but it tuens out that there were only like 2 people who didnt know about it (thanks mom). It turns out I had nothing to worry about, they were all supportive, but I am still worried that almost every conversation in the future will be centered around the lap band. (sorry if i was rambling)

My pain is starting to go down now, I just have a lot of soreness where my port is. ive been alternating between percocet and liquid tylenol. I probably shouldnt be on the percocet anymore, but I dont tolerate pain very well, so i am still on it. I havent actually sleep in my bed yet. I have been sleeping in a recliner. I am scared of sleeping in my bed because I move around a lot when I sleep and I am scared of waking up and being in more pain. I hope I can sleep in my bed soon.