Hey all, I know I haven't been an active memeber for awhile, But now that I have a computer at home will be on daily. I have been reading to catch up.

WELCOME TO ALL THE NEWBIES!!

XOXO~Teresa

34

5'9

Divorced

3 Children~15/13/11

Gering, Nebraska

Surgery: 5/14/02

Port Revision: 9/22/02

.80cc Used to be at 2cc

366/209/180-160<~~~Goal!!! Some day soon!!!

Dr. Halloway & Dr. Forney

Regional West Medical Center

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Hi Teresa, Thanks for the welcome. My name is Kim and I'm from Maine. I loved reading your stats. You have been at this for a while! ......and you are SO close to goal! I am very jealous. LOL. How has the journey been for you? I also have another question for you seeing as you are an old pro.....I have noticed people telling how many cc's they are up to. Is it a GOOD thing to have a higher number of cc's or is it just a "just letting each other know" thing? As you can probably tell, I am a newbie anxiously awaiting insurance approval so I can get this ball rolling. I have been at this since August of last year! First you had to go to their seminar on LapBand, then you had to be approved by the surgeon that you were a good canidate, then the nutrition appoinment, then the Psych. eval.....Sigh.....The psych people took 3 MONTHS to get the results back to the surgeon. I was so hoping to be losing weight by now. My son is getting married in June and I was hoping to be down at least 20-30 lbs. I sometimes wonder if it's ever going to happen for me.

Well, I've certainly gone on and on...forgive my rambling.

Kim,

Thanks for the kind words.

MY journey has been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I take the good & the bad and learn from my experiance.

As far as the cc's go, its just letting each other know. Everyone is different. 2cc's was my "sweet spot" for about a year. Since my port revision I get my fills in tenths. I am at .80cc. I am pretty restricted. I eat one good meal a day. Drink my 64oz of Water, coffee fiend here! and some snaks.

I know the wait is a pain. I called my surgen Aug. 01, got my cosult Dec. o1, my ins appoval March 02, and my surgery May 14. 02. I thought it was a life time!! I am very lucky since now it can take up to 6mos here for a cosult and my former ins is doing it case by case and also taking up to 6mos for approval.

Good luck on your journey keep us up to date.

XOXO~Teresa

Ok....another question. What is a Port revision? Is that a fill? I haven't heard this term before. Also, I am horrible at math. Is 2 cc's less than .80 cc's? The higher the number of cc's the MORE the restriction or the LESS? If .80 is MORE restriction, why is that? Why do you have to have more and more as time goes by? Sorry for all the questions, I am by nature a very curious person and have to know every detail before I am satisfied. Thanks;)

Kim,

Answer to your first ? A Port Revision is when your port becomes disconnected. I had to have my port removed and a new one put in a different site and reconnected.This does not happen very much anymore because the company that makes the band has fixed the problem.

Now your second ? .80cc's is less that 2cc's. Hence the higher the # the tighter the restriction. To me it seems that you would have to get more cc's to get better restriction. But since I had my revision being at .80cc is just like being at 2cc's for me. That is what is great about the band. It can be ajusted to fit your needs.

XOXO~Teresa

Wow! You are quick at answering! Thanks:D

I think that is where I was confused about the cc's. It makes more sense to me that the larger volume of saline solution they add the tighter the restriction. Thanks for clearing that up.

That's awful about the old ports! Now that you mention it, I think my surgeon mentioned that problem to me when he was showing me the Lap Band. He said something to the effect that this was the "new" kind. I didn't understand the significance of it until now. How much of a process was your port revision? Was it done as surgery or just under local anesthesia?

Kim,

I am answering quickly because I am surfin the site. It was minor surgery. I went in at 5am and got out that night.