Hello All,

I was banded on 3-24 in Durham, NC by Dr. Portenier. Prior to surgery he told me about Gastric Plication and told me that I could have that done at the same time as the band. I opted to do it. Kinda like 2 WLS in one. Just wondering if anyone else did this?? If so what your experiences thus far have been?

I felt absolutely awful the first week after surgery. A lot of gas on my chest, shoulder pain, nauseous constantly and many, many esophageal spasms. The 7th day was much better and I have felt more normal. I'm not doing so great at sticking to the all liquid diet for 3 weeks. I have had some mushy Proteins. Like cottage cheese and refried Beans.

I'm still not taking in a lot of calories a day.... still staying hydrated like I'm supposed to, but the scales just aren't moving down. They did the first 5 days. But nothing after that.

I appreciate this forum and I love hearing the success stories!

Gingy

Hi

I just went to a seminar at Duke and I'm thinking of doing the same WLS, how are you doing? I was going to just do the band but then the surgeon talked about plication with the band and it sounded interesting. Did you swell up alot?

thanks

Theresa

Hi Theresa,

I felt like my insides were so incredibly swollen for the first week. It was very hard to sleep... I could never get comfortable because it hurt a lot when I laid down. Before the surgery I laid on my sides mostly, but I couldn't do that afterward. I had to lay on my back, propped up on pillows. Just so much pain and swelling. But after about a week of that it calmed down.

Read as much as you can about gastric plication before you decide. It's still soooo new. It has to totally be your decision... kinda like do you want to be experimented on? That's how I had to look at it. Good luck and message me anytime. I can let you know how I'm doing and how things progress. By the way... I only get on the scales once a week... so I don't truly know my progress there yet.

Gingy

I'm having the same surgery April 25th. Im sure nervous about it. My doctor studied the procedure at Duke. He thinks I will be happy with it. Based on your experience on recovery I have my doubts.

I'm doing a lot better now. Day 7 was the turn around day for me.... where I started feeling better. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. After I read about plication, I felt for sure about having it done. Now I feel all alone though. There are many with the band... and a lot have gone down to Mexico to have the plication... but I have yet to find anybody who have BOTH lap band with gastric plication. So I feel lonely It would be nice to have another to talk to who knows what I'm going through.

Good luck to you! Message me anytime!

Gingy

Hi there,

i am actually going to be having this on friday-the 15th-----i am nervous about you feeling so badly for 7 days-but from all i have read about plication in addition to the band i felt like it was definitely something i wanted to pursue. just nervous for the surgery now!! how is eating? have you found any helpful tips etc? i am worried about getting the amount of Protein in that they suggest!

also-did they have you on shakes prior to surgery? i was supposed to have started last week-but did a terrible job-so trying to be completely good this week-but now i am worried i have messed up surgery (they were wanting my liver to shrink a bit)

Congrats on the upcoming surgery! Don't be nervous... everyone is different and heals differently. I have a 3 yr old and 5 yr old and still had to be mommy during the recovery. I'm sure that didn't help either. Yes, I was uncomfortable and had pain issues, but it was tolerable with my meds. sleeping was very hard for me that first week.

Eating is non-existent. My doctor wanted me to do 3 weeks of all liquids. Yes I've cheated some, had cottage cheese 2% and refried Beans. But I'm not supposed to.

The thing that helps me most is getting in the 60-80g of Protein a day. I use the whey Protein and mix it with Skim Milk. 1 scoop of Whey Protein is 23g of protein. That's 1/3 of your daily requirement. When I first wake up in the mornings, my body is telling me right away to drink some protein. I feel awful until I do... from the very first sip, I start feeling better. I sip on that 1/2 c. skim milk, 1/2 c. Water, 1 scoop protein solution for about an hour. It takes me that long to drink it. (8 oz. total). I drink water throughout the day and have Soup a couple of times and maybe some 2% cottage cheese (1/2 c.).

I was suppose to do a week of an Atkins-type diet to shrink my liver, but I didn't have a full week to do that. I found out on like Monday that I was having surgery on Thursday.

Good luck to you. Please keep me updated!

Gingy

Gingy and Kcharr - well add me to the small plication list. I have had a band for the last two years I had the situation in the last year where something changed- loose it was fine but tight it would slip - may have been brought on by a fall off my horse not sure. In any case I had a revision on April 9 and we discussed my case for an hour at length and she said she would do the pleating as well. They think they have to keep the band less tight with plication. i'm on here as we speak getting myself educated on it AFTER the fact. I put it at the decision of my surgeon. And yes I tend to go for being a guinea pig last time i did the surgery i participated in an anti nausea med study and it was GREAT! This time I couldn't even get that same med and i was a bit more nauseous. I did have a lot of pain on the surgery more so than the first time but there was a lot of ahesions and replaceing a lap band is harder than putting one in. You will love it. Good luck and lets stay in touch. I wouldn't trade it for anything and my fear is losing it. I did lose 72 lbs the first 7 months than plateaued and gained back about 13 due to this issue i've had that required this correction.

so nice to meet you! please let's do stay in touch! sounds like you have been through so much, sorry to hear that. looks like you've had great weight loss! i love hearing those stories i'm ready to start losing a little more rapidly... hoping that happens soon.

thanks again!

gingy

So this is first time band for you - congrats! Its been great for me even though we had this last year of stalling due to whatever happened (we aren't sure why). The plication the more i read about it seems quite brilliant! When I would get loosened I would gain 3 lbs a week back a crazy amount of weight. This allows you to rely less on the band and allows to keep the band looser. Pretty interesting. I had surgery on Sat I had to stay two nights they did a liver biopsy; fixed a hiatal hernia and small slip and replaced a new band and that is more of a surgery than putting a new one in as you form adhesions which need to be undone. Sounds like having to carefully peel off a bandaid.

Do you remember if you gained weight just before and after the surgery? I put on 7 lbs! I think this happened last time too.

BTW don't beat yourself up about weightloss post op - it is called bandster hell it may actually be better cuz u have the plication but it is a time to heal. Many experience weight gain and I bet due to the plication that problem will be less. i have a frame of reference as I had the band w/o plication and now w/ plication.

so nice to meet you! please let's do stay in touch! sounds like you have been through so much, sorry to hear that. looks like you've had great weight loss! i love hearing those stories i'm ready to start losing a little more rapidly... hoping that happens soon.

thanks again!

gingy

Thank you! I'm starting to really enjoy my new life... but I gotta tell ya, it was a rough first 2 weeks. I went today to my 3 week post-op appt. and i FINALLY got the ok to stop the liquid diet and eat soft foods. I feel human again

I did not gain or lose before surgery. I maintained my weight. Which is surprising, because I purposely ate some of the foods I knew I'd never get again

I get my first fill in 3 weeks. Really hoping for great results with that! So glad you found me... was feeling kind of alone. Stay in touch!

No I mean gained from surgery to discharge not in the weeks b4 surgery. I gained like 8 lbs in the two days in the hospital! I am actually going to my GP to make sure all is ok! Its a heck of a lot of weight on 2 days and granted my baseline weigh in was dehydrated due to not eating preop - and now I am also PMS.

Normally w/o the plication you would be STARVING in these next few weeks and you aren't supposed to really eat more than a 1/2 cup to a cup of food of mushies in a sitting. It takes about till the third fill to get you where you should be in restriction - this period is referred to as bandster hell. I think w/ the plication you won't feel this. I am one of a handful who have this now in my surgeon's office its that new. I think I already see a difference unless its from the swelling that I"m fine on a cup of Soup and 3 Protein shakes all day.

Its rough for me cuz I am having a low grade temp was up to 100.4 today (5 days out - but again they did more; - there were adhesions; a hiatal hernia; a liver biopsy and this plication); i had so much pain i couldn't breathe that evening they had to put me on a fairly strong cocktail the next morning when the dr's came around (even morphine wasn't enough) and for about 12-24 hours my breathing got very shallow; and i'm stressing over missing my vacation on the 22nd (I had the revision on april 9). It makes me focus on the breathing machine even more. My lung had not fully reflated on discharge.

Thank you! I'm starting to really enjoy my new life... but I gotta tell ya, it was a rough first 2 weeks. I went today to my 3 week post-op appt. and i FINALLY got the ok to stop the liquid diet and eat soft foods. I feel human again

I did not gain or lose before surgery. I maintained my weight. Which is surprising, because I purposely ate some of the foods I knew I'd never get again

I get my first fill in 3 weeks. Really hoping for great results with that! So glad you found me... was feeling kind of alone. Stay in touch!

What is gastric plication?

Navy wife new procedure they are doing either alone or w/ lap band best bet is to google it which is what I am doing (I think its sort of like a vertical sleeve w/o having to cut away the stomach). I went in for a revision they did that procedure as well as replace my band. I was having issues when my band was getting tightened it was all very subtle and did not show up on the films. But there was a hiatal hernia (which hadn't been there b4) and a slight slip. Plication is not when they fold over the stomach over the band to prevent a slip (which many people due to the newness of the procedure start getting confused) . Its an area to watch. Those of us who had it are the ones to watch Yes I do feel like a guinea pig but I think for me this may be great. I have a horse I fell off badly in sept and while I was ok I guess it may have caused this slip. I could have lived w/o the surgery but I was likely risking gaining all my weight back - could no longer get the band tightened so seemed like a had no where to go. I think it was genius on my Dr's part to do this - busy practice and its still new for them too.

What is gastric plication?

hmarko, no i didn't experience what you did. sounds like you went through so much. i do get full very quickly even without fluid in my band. that's nice. it's hard to get in the calories i'm supposed to get in each day. i think that's the plication. so far i'm pleased!

Thanks gingy - the Water weight is starting to come off slowly (did you know a gallon of IV's weights 8 lbs LOL I have some tummy cramps - the gas factor is better this time around overall (I had the left shoulder thing for weeks the first time - its gone after days this time); my abs are better this time around though the pain the first night was horrendous as I mentioned. They may not have done anything w/ the port which means my abs won't be totally shot too - feels like it. I think i may be ready to be on mushies soon starting to feel hungrier (we do liquids for 10 days).

YES if a month out w/ no fills (which you have not had yet if i recall) you are full it is totally the plication! COOL! That is what I figured would happen! Fascinating stuff.

Yea mine was tougher cuz of the revision mainly as they have to deal w/ scar tissue and get rid of it so its more invasive. The hernia i had last time too; the liver biopsy was unrelated to this but a great oppty to get it for other issues I've had (that would cause some ouchiness and the plication itself which is the cramping you experienced and I'm having now - when does that stop???)

Having said that it is Day 6 and I feel like i am reaching a turning point of less pain.

hmarko, no i didn't experience what you did. sounds like you went through so much. i do get full very quickly even without Fluid in my band. that's nice. it's hard to get in the calories i'm supposed to get in each day. i think that's the plication. so far i'm pleased!