Bawilliams1

I totally agree with JulieNYC! I am 34 years old and although I am at goal and I am thinner than I have ever been in my life, I didn't feel that good about my body. I was certainly happy to be thinner than ever, but I am still so young for all of my skin to be sagging. I want to look my age! I had a brachioplasty first. A year later I had a lower body lift and a breast augmentation with a lift. I know that I am still the same person, but when I look at myself in the mirror I feel so good! I still have things I don't like. I would like to have a thigh lift someday and then I will be done with plastic surgery, but I still love my body! I never thought it was possible for me to look like this. It does make me a bit sad, that I couldn't love myself this much when I was fat, but I am so thankful for my whole transformation! I think that it is also somewhat healthy that I can atleast recognize that I should love my body no matter what it looks like. I am not oblivious to that. I do think that there are people who will never be happy andthey will always be looking for another plastic surgery. Yes, those people have problems! However, I think plastic surgery can be a great tool to help you with your transformation and if it makes you feel better about yourself then great! I think it helped me with my self confidence. I never thought I would go to the gym and feel that good about myself when I watched myself in the mirrors!

Enterprise, don't be scared of the scars. I have had a brachioplasty, Breast lift with implants and a lower body lift. I am hoping to have a thigh lift someday, but it will be a while. After the thigh lift I will be done. I don't think my doctor did as great of a job as he could have or maybe another PS could have, but I LOVE my "new" arms compared to the way they were. Hardly anyone notices my scars and if they do I am more than happy to tell them why I have scars. It has been one year and nine months since my brachioplasty. My right arm just has a very thin white line and my left arm has a line that is a little bit wider and a tad bit pink. However, I love the scars and all compared to my flabby arms that I had before! I am no longer embarrassed to wear tank tops. I wore a bikini this summer for the first time since I was five! I say go for it and if you have any plastic surgery questions I don't mind answering them. I consider myself a pro!

I was just wondering what it feels like to you guys when your food is going through your band? I am feeling a lot of tightness in my throat muscles. It is like a lot of tension. I don't really know how else to explain it. I have been feeling a bit tighter lately. I am having a hard time getting coffee down in the morning, but if I wait about an hour longer I can get down a fruit/yogurt smoothie just fine. Later in the day it is a bit easier to eat, but I know that is pretty common. I am just wondering if anyone else experiences that muscle tightness or if you guys think I might be too tight. I have been at the same fill level since the end of June and I am just now questioning the fill. I don't want to just run back to my fill doc. It's a 3 hour drive and it costs $200. Plus, I don't want to end up regretting an unfill and feel too lose. However, if I continue to feel discomfort I will probably go. I am just going to give it some time first. Any comments out there?

Thanks for your lengthy and detailed reply Wendel! I appreciate it very much. I seem to be doing a bit better now, but I haven't ruled out a small unfill. I am just going to give it a little more time and see what happens. Again, thanks!

<p>Puddin, I had a lower body lift and breast aug w/lift on May 1st. My doctor wants me to wear the darn binder for three months! It is driving me nuts! It has started binding up on me. I don't really know how to explain it. A lady that I work with had a tummy tuck and her doctor made her wear the same exact one for just two months. What did you have to wear and how long? Thanks!</p>

Thanks for your story! I, too, am in the beginning of my third year of the band. I know what you mean about learning to outsmart the band sometimes. I take in a lot of liquids myself. They are always low cal and low fat and I do journal my calories, but I know that I really should be learning or already have learned to eat more of a variety of solid, healthy foods. I am not really looking to lose more weight. Five - ten more pounds would be great, but as long as I maintain I am very happy. I just want to tell you that you have done so great despite any setbacks. Please remember that you have really accomplished a lot!

My fill doctor will do the same thing. I think his reason for doing it is not so much to allow you to pig out, but to avoid the likihood of you overeating and ending up PB'ing a lot or throwing up and making your band slip. I think a lot of people get unfills right before Thanksgiving. I totally understand because that day is all about food, but I personally am not willing to pay $200 for and unfill and then another $200 for a fill. If unsurance pays for it that is one thing, but I am self pay. I think it's a little more understanding if you are in the maintenance phase, but I'm not sure I would do it in the weight loss phase.

I weigh 134 pounds and my port has been sticking out for quite a while. With my first band the surgeon put my port down below my waist on the left hand side. I got rebanded by a different surgeon last summer after my first band slipped and he put my port much higher up. I was quite annoyed because not only did it protrude (you should have seen it before the swelling went down, TUMOR!), it clicked on my bottom rib every time I would laugh, cough, hiccup, do ab exercises, or move just the right way! Now, after having a lower body lift, the port still protrudes, but it has moved over to the right atleast about two inches. I asked the PS if he had taken it off and reattached it. He said no. It was still attached to the muscle in the same spot, but it had moved because he tightened my muscles up. Now the port doesn't click at all. I am wearing a bikini on vacation in a few weeks and it is not so bad that I am concerned about it. If anyone does notice it and asks what it is I am more than happy to explain. I know that some people don't want anyone knowing that they had lap band surgery or plastic surgery, but I don't mind sharing my story. I am just so proud of my accomplishments. If anyone had told me five years ago that I would someday wear a bikini, I would have never believed them!

I had the most awesome surgeon! His name is Alejandro Gaxiola. If I were you I would just let him do the tt and breast work at the same time. It's cheaper that way. He quoted me $4100 for the breast lift with implants and $4500 for a tt, but that's getting all of the work done at one time. I think it's a little cheaper when you are having multiple procedures because you only pay gor his fee once as well as the hospital and anestesiologist. Once I got there we decided to do a lower body lift instead of a regular tt and the price went from $4500 up to $5900. I was quoted $10,500 for a lower body lift and about $8000 for a breast aug w/implants in Texas! I don't think I will have any more plastic surgery, but if I did I would definately go back to Dr. G! I prefer him and his hospital over anywhere I have ever been in Texas! When he found out I was there alone he made me stay an extra night in the hospital for free and he sent a nurse and receptionist to my hotel to help me shower for the first time! The receptionist gave me her cell phone # incase I needed anything over the weekend! That would NEVER happen in Texas! I just can't say enough good things about my whole experience! If you are interested in knowing more or if you have more specific questions I will be happy to tell you anyhting you want to know. I can give you the doctor's contact info too. I don't think my skin has stretched. I think all of that tightness is just a natural feeling after your skin has been pulled and stitched together. It is pretty much gone now. My results are wonderful! Even at the hospital I looked in the mirror and I almost cried because I never looked this good in my life!

I had my two year "bandiversary" in April. I found out after about 13 months that my band had slipped. I got a new band one month later. Now the second band won't hold saline. I have to have it filled with a thicker liquid. I have never reached good restriction with the second band. June 21st will be one year with the new band. I am at goal weight, but it would be nice if the band would help me maintain it.

Yesterday was six weeks since I had a Lower body lift and a breast lift with implants. The lower body lift is a tummy tuck, but they cut you all the way around your body, so it lifts the sides and back too. I had vitually no pain at all. I still can't believe it! The only thing I felt was an intense tightness from them pulling the skin tight. That goes away gradually. Now I pretty much just feel a feeling of stiffness when I have been sitting at my desk for a while then I get up. I have been sekf pay all along for the band and the plastic surgeries. I went to Mexico for most of my surgeries. It has been wonderful.

Don't feel bad. I have a 4 cc band and I had 4.2 cc's in the band and I didn't feel the physical feeling of hunger, but I could get food down very easily. I was tighter in the mornings and I didn't even eat anything until about 1:00 or 2:00 pm. At dinner time I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted. I stopped eating because I wanted to lose/maintain my weight and not gain, but I could eat a lot of food. I don't understand what is going on. I feel like my stomach just adjusts to each fill!

Pacomomma, today is 6 weeks from my tt and lower body lift. I only have one small scab left on my incisions and all of my dissolvable stitches have come off. I had four places on my left hip and three places on my right hip where the stitches were sticking out. I am glad they finally fell off. I think the binder garment thing I have to wear helped them come off by rubbing on them a little. How long is your doc making you wear your garment? Anyway, my stomach still feels very hard all around my belly button and on down at night after eating, but that lessens by morning. I guess it is still sort of hard all the time, just more at night after eating. I don't know if or when that will go away. I feel like my surgery was so long ago, but six weeks isn't really that long. We shall see how things progress! I am going to the river with my family on June 28th. I am taking two bikinis! I will be wearing board shorts over the bottoms because I still have meaty thighs, but that's okay! That's just the way I am made and I can accept that! I will try to post some pictures after we get back if I can figure out how. Keep us updated on your progress! Oh yeah! There is a great show on TLC on Monday nights called Big Medicine. It comes on at eight. It's about bypass patients and it shows their lower body lifts and plastic surgeries. I love it!

I am self pay. My first band slipped and I paid for a new band. Now, my new band seems to be leaking! We can't find the leak under flouro, but I am going back again to try to see if we can find it if I have lost fluid. I am hoping it's the port. I hear you can get a port replaced for about $1200. That will be another $1200 I have to cough up! What horrible luck!

Do any of you guys ever experience an increase of air coming up your throat as your fills sometimes seem looser after a month or so? I normally burp a little here and there, but last week all of the sudden I have air that's pretty much barrelling up my throat after I eat or drink. I am terrified that my band leaked and that's why I am experiencing an increase of air. I have to be filled with Omnipague because my band won't hold saline. Last month I had to have my band emptied because I had surgery. I went back to get my band filled back up, but my fill doctor said he couldn't fill it all the way back up in one shot. He filled it about half way (2.3 cc's in a 4 cc band) and I am scheduled to go back on the 19th to get me back up to 4.2 cc's. When he injected the 2.3 cc's I could really feel the band tightening on my stomach! The fluid went through easily on the flouro and I knew it would because my band was only about half way full. I could really feel the food sort of gurgling down through the band the first week. I knew it was because I had some swelling. I could feel throbbing around my band on my 3 hour drive home from the fill doctor. I knew that was just because the Omnipague is thick and my band had been empty for a few weeks, so it was a bit aggravated. I knew that I wouldn't feel the food going down through the band as much as the swelling subsided, but now I am worried. I got the 2.3 cc's on May 11th. I felt like evrything was fine until all of the sudden when I was having a smoothie for lunch on June 6th I started burping a lot of air. In the past I have experienced the same sort of burping when I first got my band and it was totally empty during the healing phase before I started getting fills. So, now I am terrirfied that the Omnipague has leaked out and my band is really loose so that's why I am burping. What confuses me is that I don't recall experiencing that sort of burping when my band was empty for two weeks for the surgery. I guess I am trying to rationalize to calm my fears! It seems to me that if my band was holding around 4 cc's of Omnipague when I had it emptied for the surgery I don't see why it would leak when it only has 2.3 cc's now. I wouldthink that if the band could handle the pressure of that much Omnipague in there it shouldn't have a problem holding about half the amount right now. I guess the only way to know for sure is to see how much my fill doctor pulls out when I go for my next fill. I will just die if it has leaked! I am self pay and this is my second band. The first one slipped. My fill doctor has checked for a leak on the flouro every time I have seen him for a fill since my band won't hold saline, but we never see any indication of a leak on the flouro! I guess it must be happening a while after I get the fills. I have decided that if I am missing some omnipague when I go in on the 19th that I am going to stay at the doctor's office and have him look at me on the floro one hour after the fill and if we don't see a leak I will wait one more hour and have him look at me again and so on. I just have this strong feeling that my port is where the leak is. He always looks at the port on the flouro and it's the same story. Nothing. I am going to see my surgeon that same day for my one year post-op check in. I would really like to be able to tell him where the band is leaking! I don't want a leak at all, but if we found a leak I would like for it to be leaking from the port. I know that people have ports replaced all the time for many reasons. The front office ladies at my fill doctor said that I could probably get a new port for about $1200. I don't want to spend any more money. Between two bands and several plastic surgeries I have spent almost $40,000! However, if that's what it would take to fix the darn thing I would go ahead and do it. I know that my surgeon is not going to do anything about it, but I think it's horrible that I went to all of the trouble and expense to pay $15,000 for a new band and the thing stopped holding saline within two months of my first fill! There should be some sort of guarentee or something! I would consider my band to be a "dud"! Sorry to ramble! I am just scared. I am not really trying to lose any more weight, but I do have to worry about maintaining my weight for the rest of my life which is where my band would come in really handy!

The same exact thing happened to a lady I know. We both had surgery one day apart. I met her at the hospital. We met up again at the airport and we went to get our first fills together. I got my fill and then she went in and came out crying! The doctor tried to inject the saline and the port wouldn't take it! She had to stay overnight and the next day the doctor replaced her port. I had already gone home, but from what I understood they would just give her a local anesthetic and go back in the same incision and replace the port. Worrying about the procedure is probably worse than the actual procedure. Good luck with this problem!

Sorry! This was a duplicate post. I can't figure out how to delete it!

Hello everyone! I have Omnipague in my 4 cc band. I am particularly frustrated and a little depressed right now. I am on my second band. My first band slipped and I got a new one last summer. The band is in the perfect position on my stomach and my port is in the most awesome spot that I don't have to lay down or anything to get a fill. My port actually protrudes just a tiny bit, so it's really easy to find. The doctor just sticks me and does his thing and I am done. However, it seems that my band must be leaking. I had to wait three months after getting my new band before I started getting fills. My surgeon just wanted to take the extra prcaution since I had a slip with the previous band. I got my first fill in the new band last September. By November my band was missing saline when I went in for a fill. My fill doctor injected my band with Omnipague because it can be seen leaking out on the flouro if there is a leak. We could not find a leak showing up on the flouro. He left the Omnipague in and started adding saline to it at each fill after that. I guess eventually there was more saline than Omnipague and when the two mixed the saline thinned out the Omnipague enough that it leaked out. I have a three hour drive between my house and the fill doctor. Before I even made it home I could tell that it had leaked. I got really hungry and I was burping up a lot of air. So, from my next fill on, I only get Omnipague in my band. The last few times I went for a fill from that point on I wasn't missing any Omnipague when he would draw everything out before doing the fill. Then I had plastic surgery on May 1st. My fill doctor wanted me to get a complete unfill before the surgery just incase of nausea and because of having a tube in my throat during the surgery. When he drew everything out I was supposed to have 4.2 cc's of Omnipague. He only got out 3.6 cc's. He said there could still be some in the tubing, etc and if I had been laying down it might have been easier to get it all out so I didn't worry. Deep down though, I felt like I probably had leaked out .6 cc's. I was unhappy about that, but I decided that if I could just stay at 3.6 cc's or so that would be okay. I didn't have great restriction, but the band was really helping me out by suppressing my appetite. When my band is pretty full, even if my restriction is not that great, my stomach hardly ever growls. If it does it's in the evening time when it's time for dinner anyway. I have had real problems getting good restriction with the second band. I am baffled by that because my first band was also a 4 cc band and I was too tight with a 3 cc fill. Why would this band be so different? The only thing I can figure is that I was fat when I got the first band so I probably had some fat on my stomach when I was banded. I was 134 when I had the first band removed and the new band put on. I probably have little to no fat on my stomach now because I had lost so much and because I carry most of my fat waist down. That's just a theory. Who knows. Back to the original subject - Omnipague. I went back to my fill doctor after my plastic surgery to get filled back up. He said he couldn't put 4.2 cc's in there in one shot. It would be too much at one time. He put in 2.3 cc's and I was fine with that. I could feel the difference before he even took the needle out of me because the Omnipague is thick. I actually had a little bit of throbbing on the way home because it was tight. I figured it would swell a little and then go down and I would just have to be good until my next fill when I get back to 4.2 cc's. I got the 2.3 cc's on May 11th. Yesterday, June 6th, I was having a smoothie for luch and I started having a lot of air just gurgling up my throat. That's not a good sign to me. Now I am worried that some of the Omnipague has leaked out! I can't imagine why my band would have held atleast 3.6 cc's of Omnipague before my unfill, but it wouldn't hold just 2.3 cc's now. I understand that the fuller my band is the more pressure the band and port would be under to hold the Omnipague in, but my band is only about half full now so I wouldn't think it would have a hard time holding the Omnipague in. Maybe I am just paranoid and the band is fine, but I won't know until I go back to the fill doc on June 19th. What really just kills me is that I have been through so much with having to get my band replaced and I have had three plastic surgery procedures trying to get my body fixed up. I am self pay and I have spent so much money and now I am facing the possibility that the darn band isn't going to work for me at all because it won't hold saline or Omnipague! The biggest thing that really eats at me though is that I have been through all of this and I have absolutely no control over the leak! There's nothing I can do about it. It's just my bad luck! The thing is though, every time I get a fill it is with Omnipague and it is under flouro so we can look to see if it is leaking and the doctor can never find any sign of a leak! I guess it doesn't leak out right away. It must wait a while and slowly leak over the next month. I just don't know! I have a feeling that the port is leaking. I don't know why, but that's just my theory. If it is the port, I know lots of people have had their ports replaced for different reasons. The front desk ladies at my fill doctor said I could probably get a port replacement for about $1200-$1500. While I am not anxious to spend any more money, I could handle that if that's all it would take to fix my problem. The only thing is, if the doctor can't ever see a leak, how will we ever know if it's the port or not? I have an appointment with my surgeon the same day that I get my next fill. I will go see what's going on, if it has leaked out or not and get another fill, hopefully back up to 4.2 cc's and then see my surgeon after that. It will be my one year post op check up. I just think it's pretty bad to pay $15,000 for a band that starts leaking within two months of the first fill! I know that the surgeon won't care though. He got his money. I am not even trying to lose any more weight. I just want to maintain. I wouldn't mind losing five more pounds, but it will be okay if I don't. I am just terrified that without the help of the band atleast being tight enough to suppress my appetite I will gain weight in the long run. I just had a lower body lift and I sure don't want to mess that up! I have been at the same weight for a year now. I have yo-yo'd up and own by a few pounds, but with counting my calories and going to the gym every day after work I have kept my weight in control. I was thinking that I would just have to try really hard until I could get good restriction with my second band, but I am starting to worry that I am going to have to do it for the rest of my life! I know that's how "normal" people who don't have bands do it, but there's a reason that I had to be banded to control my weight! Although I am thin now, I feel like I am still a fat girl in my head. I have changed a lot of my habits and I do lead a much healthier lifestyle now, but I am terrified at the idea of my band just being in there, empty because it leaks and having to be scared evry day of stepping on that scale and gaing a pound. If I get on the scale and I am up it just ruinsmy entire day. I will worry myself to death over it because I am terrified of being fat again! Sorry for such a book of a reply! Anyone else out there with similar problems? I am just trying to have faith in myslef and all I can do is take things one day at a time and make the choices I need to make each day in order to stay thin. I guess I just needed to get this off my chest. I can talk to my husband, but I don't think anyone who has never had a weight problem and who doesn't have a band really understands how I feel. Thanks guys!

Nume130 - Today it has been five weeks since I had a breast lift with implants and a lower body lift. I can't remember too much about the first few days. I guess I was trying not to touch anything, but I have plenty of feeling in my nipples. I had heard that some women lose it or it takes a long time to come back, but that's not the case with me. Sorry to hear about your problems with your husband. That's a really tough situation!

I had my first lapband surgery on 4/25/05 and I had my first plastic surgery on my arms (brachioplasty) om 3/7/06. I was pretty much at goal though. I had my second plastic usrgery on 5/1/07. I got a lower body lift and breast lift with implants. I have been pretty much at the same weight for a year now and I don't think I can lose much more. Maybe five pounds, but that wouldn't matter as far as the surgeries. I think it just depends on the individual. I didn't consult my band surgeon. I just consulted the plastic surgeons.

As soon as I take some after pictures I will try to post them. I might need help. I know how to e-mail pictures, but I have never posted any on-line like this.

I forgot to tell you that I assume the cause for my band slippage was excessive PB'ing. Don't do it!

Suzie, are you self pay? Do you have any idea how much it costs to get a new port? I think my port might have a slow leak and I am wondering how much it would cost me to get a new one? Thanks! Brandy

My first lapband slipped. I think I know exactly when it happened because I just felt a really wierd sensation in my stomach at the "lapband area". I immediately called the doctor and got an appointment the next day. That night I had increased restriction. The flouro revealed that the part of the band that is attached to the tubing that would normally be slanted upwards was, at that point, parallel with the other side of the band. Instead of the band being at an upward angle on my stomach it was sitting crossways with no upward slant. I had to get a little unfill because the position that the band was in caused more restriction with a smaller amount of "fill". If the band had stayed like that I probably would have been okay. That happened in January of 2006. By May of 2006 the band had slipped down even farther and my pouch was huge. Part of my stomach that was supposed to be below the band had slipped up through the band. It was considered a "chronic prolapse". I had to be rebanded. I got rebanded in June of 2006. That was a very expensive lesson for me. I am self-pay and now I am in a lot of debt. I was so terrified of gaining all of my weight back that I freaked out and jumped through hoops to get a loan ASAP for another band. I was down to my goal weight of 132. I have been doing well with the new band except that it has been filled up to 4.2 cc's and it is the smallest band which is supposed to hold 4.0 cc's and I still don't have the kind of restriction that I had with my first band which was also a 4.0 cc capacity band. Also, the band will no longer hold saline. It leaks right out. I have to be filled with Omnipague which is another liquid that is thicker than saline. The doctor has checked me for leaks under flouroscopic x-ray and no leak has been detected. I think it is just a very slow leak that happens after I leave the doctor's office. Other than the leak, I think my inability to achieve what I consider really good restriction might have something to do with the fact that I only weighed 132-134 when I was rebanded versus 197 when I got the first band. I think my stomach must just be smaller than It was before and there probably isn't much fat on my stomach because I carry the majority of my weight waist down. That's just my theory. I have basically learned to just control my food intake and I go to the gym every day. The band is just a tool to help me out. It does help keep my appetite under control, but I have to make a decision each day that I am going to make the right choices in order to stay thin. As far as the slip, I think everyone has different symptoms and I doubt that you would necessarily feel it slip. I have heard of people who have minor slips being totally unfilled for atleast about a month and the band sometimes goes back to the original position. I think most people either have the band removed completely or get rebanded. Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to PM me and I will be happy to try and answer them.

Puddin - Yes! I do love it! Man, 6 months? Luckily, I don't think I have that much swelling. I guess I will just wait and see what happens! Thanks for your reply!