I know that the weight loss is great and means the band is doing its job. But, I would like to hear bandsters sound off their true feelings about having a foreign object in your belly for the rest of your life.

Yeah, it's kind of wierd.

But I hope I die a very old woman with this thing inside me. I like it there. I need it there. I want it there.

That wasn't sounding off, was it?! LOL

I can't imagine that having this in my body is any different than having an artificial joint or a pacemaker or somthing.

It doesn't really bother me.

The Best Me,

That's sounding off to me! I go back and forth every day -- I want the band, I don't want the band . . . I know the gastric bypass is not an option for me, but I want to make sure that if my final decision is to be banded that I have considered as much information as possible from the people who know.

If you want to see something really foreign inside, Check out my pictures here, These are of my heart during an anagram, and you can SEE my band, ever so slightly, but there are two rings inside my stomach that appeared after the band was placed, I hope that its OK that they are there, my heart DR. didn't say there was a problem, anyway this is totally amazing to me, I also have a stint, another foreign object, only it is inside my heart vein!!

The band is a friend for the plate and bolts in my leg which were used to put my bones together after I fractured my ankle. :girl_hug:

Good point, DonnaB. Thinking about it like that will help me get mentally settled with eventyally being banded.

When I had no problems with the band, I had no problems "hosting" the band. Once I had problems, my perspective changed and by the time I went for a revision, I was WAY ready to have it out. So now, I have dental fillings, crowns, root canals (these things happen as we age) and about six jillion gastric staples and who KNOWS what the plastic surgeons have left in there?

But I think the "I don't want a foreign obect in my body" line is just silly. My husband didn't want a foreign obect in HIS body either, but once he had his heart attack he was DELIGHTED to get that stent implanted.

Thanks, Folks,

I'm catching on . . . now that I reflect, the material used to fill teeth is a foreign object as well. So, I guess my band will be a friend to my dental work.

Victoriana,

Where's the picture link?

GeezerSue,

Did you trade your band in for a bypass?

You're not banded yet, right, Randi? Well, let's see...

Hmmm, I maybe I thought about this issue as a PreOp patient - but I honestly don't remember even wrestling with it.

But I guess I saw it like this: pounds and pounds of fat was a type of foreign object that I carried around my belly for YEARS.

What's worse than lugging around all that flab that I had? So I was absolutely determined to get rid of the fat even if it meant using a tool on my stomach to do so. The fat was worse, in my mind.

I know people who have dental work from Crowns to fillings and brances, with contraceptive devices from IUDs, to Norplants, to NovaRings - and of course, staples in their knees, splints in their joints, and various cardiac implants and etc. So the LapBand (which I have been known to call my Silicone Freeloader, LOL ) is just another tool I need for medical reasons.

Good Luck with your banding.

Happy Band (And Life) Journeys To All...

Randi, I posted 3 pictures but only one appeared and it took me a while to get it online, I hope you can see it now. Thanks!

I don't really think about it much. And if I do think about it, it's with gratitude that it's available to us and working for me.

Emily

Now MY DH helped me so they are all visible to me at least. Can anyone else find them? The band is sort of the dark or solid lines that are geometrically smooth not squiggly like guts and stuff. I forgot that there were 3 extra ringy thingyies in there.

You're right, NewSho. My goal is to get rid of fat and I've experienced no long-term success on my own. So, it's definitely time to try something else.