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I have been banded since 2008 and have done quite well with the band. Recently I have been having some strange symptoms of heartburn and occasional pain. I have tried to call Slimband and no one returns my calls. I heard from one of my friends in Toronto that they fired 15 staff last week including some of the nurses and dieticians. I am coming up to my 5 year mark and am worried about the follow up.

Has anyone else had problems?

Cindy

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I can't answer your question, but I would like to ask you one. What is slimband if you don't mind me asking?

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Wow, that sounds crazy! It also sounds like what happened at the CIBO CLINIC. I was scheduled for surgery with them and they went bankrupt and closed the doors without giving much notification. Thankfully they did not get any $ from me. Hopefully this is not the case with Slimband.

Slimband is just another "banding" company. They don't use the "lap band" trademark....

I'm currently in Pre-op diet for my lap band with SMARTSHAPE my procedure is next Friday! Getting nervous now.... I'm trying my best to stick to the diet and have dropped 8-9 pounds this last week! Hopefully my liver will be in great shape.

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Nenny101, am I correct smart shape was formerly SWLC ? Where is your surgery? And what surgeon?

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Nenny101' date=' am I correct smart shape was formerly SWLC ? Where is your surgery? And what surgeon?[/quote']

Hi! Yes, SmartShape is SWLC... They rebranded. I had Dr Cobourn perform the procedure. He is a lovely dr....

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I have spoken to them many times lately, everything seems normal. Have you tried calling during regular office hours?

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Hi! Yes, SmartShape is SWLC... They rebranded. I had Dr Cobourn perform the procedure. He is a lovely dr....

How did your surgery go? How are you now post-op? My surgery is in a couple of days...on Friday and I'm so nervous!

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How did your surgery go? How are you now post-op? My surgery is in a couple of days...on Friday and I'm so nervous!

Everything went great! I am one of the "lucky ones" that didn't get the shoulder pain. It could be that I didn't need a hernia repair.

My surgery was May 24th so I am 12 days post op. first few days were sore, I recommend piling a bunch of pillows behind you so you don't lay flat. The gas pains were rough... You might be lucky. I was taking gasX which helped a lot. I don't need them now and was off pain meds in a few days...

I'm enjoying ground and smooth foods now and have no issues. I've lost 15 pound since the start of my pre-op diet :) I'm happy with that.

Good luck! Stay in touch :)

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I had my surgery may 24th too! I've lost 14 lbs so it seems like we're on the same page! I didn't have bad shoulder pains either but I did take my medicine consistently for 3 full days!!! Haha good luck! My first post op appt is tomorrow @3. I had the plication so I don't think I am getting a fill yet.

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That's awesome! Way to go :). Did the doctor recommend the plication procedure? I didn't even ask about that.

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Yes my dr recommended that I try it because he said I would be a great candidate! I haven't had a fill yet but I have a lot of restriction just because of the plication!! The fill will only make things easier I suspect!!

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Can I ask if any of the Slimband people on here use the slimband community forums? I cannot post on there and half the forums are locked.

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They

Can I ask if any of the Slimband people on here use the slimband community forums? I cannot post on there and half the forums are locked.

They only let patients into the groups, so you have to request access. If you can't post you just need to call or email support and they can fix it, I had that issue as well

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Thank you. I was informed that I will get access after the 21st. :)

They

They only let patients into the groups, so you have to request access. If you can't post you just need to call or email support and they can fix it, I had that issue as well

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I have been banded since 2008 and have done quite well with the band. Recently I have been having some strange symptoms of heartburn and occasional pain. I have tried to call Slimband and no one returns my calls. I heard from one of my friends in Toronto that they fired 15 staff last week including some of the nurses and dieticians. I am coming up to my 5 year mark and am worried about the follow up.

Has anyone else had problems?

Cindy

My coach at smart shape would say heartburn is usually a sign of being to tight, I know they get slim band patients that pay for long term care due to lack of care through their clinic, hope this helps :-)

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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