Hi I am an American stationed in Landstuhl Germany. I had my surgery in Mannheim by Dr. Til Hasenberg on Jan 26, 2012. I would love to communicate with other Americans in the LRMC area who had gastric band surgery or who are planning on having it. In Germany the whole procedure is different than in the states. I stayed in patient for total of 5 nights (one night preop). Thanks, Kim

Wow - that is a long hospital stay. I suppose the Germans are well known for being over cautious.

My surgeon is very conservative. I haven't received my first fill yet. He usually makes you wait three months. My appoint for the first fill will be on 16 April one week shy of 3 months. Then every 4 to 6 weeks until it's in the right place.

So can you tell me how bad is this gas everyone is talking about? Do you know if it comes into contact with the vaga (Idon't know if I'm saying that right) nerve?

I lived at Ramstein for 7 yrs.. Oh How I miss it.. I had surgery done downtown for my nose and had to stay in 6 days. Glad everything is going well. Much rather being conservative with my care, then not... wishing you the best..

I was stationed near Wurzburg Germany from 97-2000. I really miss the bread and yogurt in Germany. And the Turkish donors. Yummy. I had IVF at the University hospital in Wurzburg and had to stay 3in nites. Its done op in the US. And they had nuns for nurses. And they barely understood spoke any english and my medical German was limited.

No advice for u. Just reminiscing about living in Germany....enjoy while ur still there. Id love to go back someday but at $1700least per plane ticket to Frankfurt, I don't think ill make it anytime soon.

Good luck to u.. oh was it cheapee on the economy than in the US. IVF costs us $3,000 instead of about $18,000..

Marci

I know it's the bread that got me in trouble here. It is cheaper than in the states. TriCare picked up most of the cost for me. Total bill with preop procedures and 5 nights in the hospital was $18,000. I think that is remarkable cheaper than in the states. Mannheim is part of the Heidelberg University system and I was put on the floor (unit) that gets their international patients and all the nurses spoke excellent english. The only problem I had as I'm a nurse was asking for pain medication. I wanted something mild. We had a little trouble communicating on medications. What I was use to in the states (ie. acetaminophen) is not available in Germany and what they were offering I didn't know. Then when I asked for ibuprofen (Motrin) the nurse didn't know it.....she came back later laughing that they had figuered out I was asking for "e"buprofen.....just the difference it how we pronouce a letter. Over all not a bad experience I just was ready to be discharged a lot sooner than my suergeon would discharge me. What was funny was they offered me one more night if I felt I needed it.