Okay, it only takes a moment to vote, and it is anonymous. Please vote, I am curious. Please answer honestly and from the heart. No one will see what you personally voted. I just want to get an honest idea of how people feel. You don't have to share thoughts if you don't want to, just click a bubble and vote how you feel. Thanks so much for everyone participating.

Butch,

I don't think I can do as well as you!!! Your weight loss is awesome! I have lost 70 pounds since my surgery 9/2003. I was stalled for quite a while and decided to go to Weight Watchers which is something I never thought I would do since getting the Band but I find that it is helping.

You must have been one of their first patients since you were banded in 2002. Have you checked into getting the Plastic Surgery now since your excess skin really bothers you? I have heard of Dr. Grossbard in fact one of Dr. Geiss' patients goes to him since she moved down to Florida. Might I know your friend that gave up her appt. for you?

Have you had any problems with your band? I get nervous reading these boards with all the slips and erosions.

Good Luck and keep up the good work.

Chris

Chris,

I am not ready to do any kind of surgery just yet, as I have another 150+ to go. So you see why I want this next half to go a little faster then the first. The friend in Long Island lives on the North Shore and her name on this site is "TinaLondon" you can send her a message. She just had the band installed in November, so she is pretty new to this. What a pal, right? to give up her appointment, there is a 3 month wait. So I really lucked out. Someone on this chat gave me a site "fillcenterusa.com", so I filled out the reg. and I will see what they say. The person told me it would be like a $150 sign up and then like $60 per fill, or something like that. Down here in Florida Ins don't pay for fills, so if you go to a doctor, it's like $250 to $300, too much for me. Anyway.......... I will wait till I lose another 100 lbs before I look for a surgeon. The thing I need to have done is called a "Panniculectomy Surgery", it's like they cut you all the way around and pull up the skin like a pair of pants, and pull down the skin like a shirt, and take off the excess. They also tighten up the AB muscles, the ones that been stretched out to ungodly lengths, LOL.

I see you have had a lot of fills. You went up to 4 cc, WOW. The band only holds 5 cc, right? Well I might have a way's to go, seeing as I only have 2.5 cc's. I will never be able to lose weight eating the amount I am, so the fill is really important. Get in touch with Tina London and tell her Butch said to write, she is the best, really my best friend, I love her lots. Hope to hear from you soon. All the best.

Butch

I am glad to see those poll results. The day of me getting banded is coming nearer and nearer. There is not a surgery date set yet, but I have already jumped through a lot of the "necessary" hoops! Good luck to all!

I was just banded 8/17/06 and came home this morning.Surgery went fine but later that night I developed alot of swelling on the right side of the port. They gave me 3 injections of steriods and that seemed to help. I was bale to hold evrything down no nausea or vomiting. However my hips and knees are killing me Im not sure if its the way the positioned me on the ORtable or just the pain moving down.

I feel Ok though..I am home and having full liquids I have not been hungry yet. My weigh in was 214 and I gained 7 pounds inthe hospital from the liquids and gas frm surgery. Keep me posted my email is henderson925@comcast.net

The results of this poll are very comforting to me!!

I have my surgical consult on the 29th. The results of this poll are VERY reassuring. And right now I need all the confidence boosts I can get. Thanks everyone. Katt

It's too bad there's no way to correlate this poll with the length of time you've been banded because I think that would make a difference.

Nice poll princess_n_thep and I love your picture.

Blessed be!

Justy