Hi ya'll! I live in Katy, TX and just had surgery on 10-18-06. My doctor is Felix Spiegel. The surgery went OK with very little pain afterwards, just very tender and sore. I did have alot of difficulty swallowing liguids without feeling like I was choking, but that is getting better. I am having pretty bad acid reflux which I also experienced before surgery. I was told by Dr. Spiegel that this would go away after surgery and that I would no longer need to take medications for this. So far, not true. I have lost about 15 lbs so far, but what can you expect with a liquid only diet and difficulty swallowing. I have to admit that I wanted the band removed after the first day because of the ball in the chest, choking sensation. Has this happened to any of you? Does it get better? Also, does anyone have any feedback about Dr. Spiegel, how well he does fills or any complications after surgery? I have found so much information on this website so far. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences.

Welcome,

I've just joined recently too, hope you find this site as helpful as I have have, I love it. Best of luck to you:biggrin1:

Welcome to LBT and to bandland! :D

Shelgrif,

Hi, I am from Katy, TX too and was banded on the same day as you. I used Dr. Spivak and fortunately have not had any complications at all. I felt great the day after surgery and haven't had any problems swallowing or otherwise. I'm back at work today and feeling great. So far, I'm very happy with the way things are going.

Getting a little tired of the mushies and am looking forward to being able to eat real food again. I've tried a variety of stuff, even had fish last night and didn't have any problems at all with it. This weekend I made meat loaf for my husband and it was hard not having any because I really like it, so I got myself about a tablespoon of it and chewed until it was mushy and didn't have any difficulty, but I was afraid to try any more than that because I don't want to mess anything up. I can tell that the thing I miss the most right now is BEEF. I've always been a meat and taters kind of gal. Breakfast has been easy, I can eat a poached egg and a half a piece of toasted bread without difficult, but I am very careful to take very small bites and chew and chew and chew. No drinking any Water for at least 30 minutes after a meal helps too.

Oh, and I went to the Vitamin Shoppe over by Garden Ridge and found some great Protein drinks, Isopure I think is the name, anyways, one 20 oz drink has 40 grams of protein, so those will definity help with the problem of getting enough protein. I also found a liquid multi-vitamin there too. I looks really NASTY, green, gooey, murcky looking stuff, but if you shut your eye, swallow it fast and drink some water right after it, it's tolerable. :speechles

Hi and welcome to LBT! I think you will find that as the swelling from your surgery goes down, you will get to feeling better. If not, the best thing to do is contact your doctor and let him know what you are feeling and experiencing.

Not to sound like a broken record but, again Dr Spiegel did my surgery & the only problem I had was gas from NOT moving around like I was told to do. I haven't had any problems with anything, I've been pretty compliant with what I was told. As far as his fills,he is very good & very accurate. He is in & out in a matter of seconds!