Hey all

I've heard that some people were given fills during their surgery, and I had considered talking to my surgeon about it as my insurance only covers everything until a certain date (hoping to be banded in Sept, date ends in october).

I'm curious to those whove had the fill with the surgey if they felt that the healing process after was more difficult than those who had their fills at a later date?

Anyone can chime in on this - including people who had fills later - would you have opted to have the first fill done during the surgery?

As far as I know it's a Dr's preference whether they do this or not. My Dr did not, as he feels the stomach swells enough with surgery, adding a fill would/could make drinking a lot more difficult right after surgery.

I had a small 2 cc fill at the time of surgery and that was enough. Each doctor is different in what they find works with their patients.

It's easy to look in the rear view mirror and say I'd like 5 CCs please, now that I know I needed 6 fills. But, it's unpredictable to assume every patient will recover the same. Some may only need 1 fill and others 6 fills before they feel any restriction. Filling the band early with a patient who has control issues could jeopardize the sutures holding the band in place.

Just make sure your doctor gives fills under fluoro so you can move right up to and kiss restriction in the first 60 days. And it won't hurt to ask him to put some in during surgery if he feels comfortable with doing it.

tmf