Penni & Teresa, I hope you guys see this since it's in response to your posts on Alex's thread. Thank you so much for doing the research for me.

Dr. Kuri called me, and he did not check for erosion. He suggested I get a scopey if I'm worried. But unless something weird happens, I'm not making an appointment for one. I figure I'll let my band do the talking, and unless it's screaming at me, I'm going to leave it alone.

However, just to make sure I worried till I fell asleep, last night I lost all restriction. BOOM, gone. First time. Last night was my first mini binge since being banded. After dinner, I kept eating chicken from the roasting pan. Then I ate 2 Pringles (that's all that was left) then I ate 1/4 cup chile with chips, then 3 Cookies, then a few ounces beef jerkey. I have no idea where that came from or why it happened. Zero restriction. I could have kept eating. That's the first time since my band that I got out of control. I went to bed a little uncomfy, but no reflux or horrible pain.

I just ate a Protein bar this morning and feel it in my sternum, so maybe I have a little restriction back. Damn, I certainly hope so. But even without restriction, what the hell happened to my willpower last night? Worry warts eat it?

Get this, Sara at Dr. Billy's office said that even altitude affects restriction. She says people get fills at one altitude, but once they get home to either lower or higher, their restriction can change a lot. Now I have to wonder if bariatric (haha, I mean barametric) pressure works the same way.

We have a storm coming, and it always makes my eyes hurt. Our funny little bands might even be affected by lightening or the tides!

What's "rumake"?

Donali,

do they know why your band eroded? My surgeon said only 1% so far has done this. He is a percentage nut... If I am not mistaken, only 4% have slipped. At least these are "his" numbers. I am afraid mine is slipped or eroding. I have had burning in my stomach for a month. I posted this loooong post yesterday, and I guess I hit the "go into space and lose this post key" because it never showed up. It was a whiney little piece too. Ironically, it was similar to Delarlas episode, so I didn't re-post I only read the answers to hers. To put it all in a nut shell, I have gained from 204 to 218..... WOW!!!! I just have this burning in my tummy , I saw my surgeon, endoscopy scheduled on this next Wed. so I won't know much till then. Hopefully it is just an irritation from this diet I was trying called fat flush. But now, I am back to 214 today.. But I have never done this before and I was panicking.

What's rumake? Am I spelling it wrong? Rumaki? It's a Chinese (or some Asian) appetizer. A tiny bit of chicken liver & water chestnut wrapped in bacon & coated in teriaki sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds. Some places dip them in batter & deep fry before dipping in the sauce & seeds. But I haven't seen them on a menu in years, and they're a bitch to make. Shoot, now I'm going to have to make them this weekend. I just wrap it all up, then drizzle with honey & seeds before baking... gets all crispy & gooey. It's a very easy way to get liver down! But it's really hard for me to get them down because my hog (Chris) thinks the whole batch is for him.

S-Joe, I like a doctor who knows his percentages, but I learned some info from Inamed that I'll share here. First, the numbers can be off because all doctors are supposed to report slippages, infections, erosions, etc. to Inamed. But a lot of doctors fail to report their problems. Maybe they think it makes them look like better surgeon if they don't have problems, so they don't report them.. who knows? Inamed told me that there's one Mexican doctor that reports everything. If the rest of the doctors reported things like they were supposed to, we'd all have better, more accurate numbers.

However, I've read all over these boards and it seems the general consensus for erosion is 1-3%. But slippage is completely different, isn't it? Does slippage mean band-removal?

I don't know much... I just share what I hear. xo

No, I don't think slippage means removal. It is when the stitches that hold the band in place are somehow undone, and the band slips down the stomach like an hour glass, or even just a little slip. I had a friend with the hour glass slip.... But some slips are very small. The problem is that when one slips, it may cause the stomach to lie ove the side of the band and food could get into that pocket. If I am not mistaken that is not good. So, I may or may not have that problem, hopefully I don't , but I do have a lot of pain in my stomach.... In all honesty , I have to tell you that my MD gave me some Asiphex (may be misspelled) and it seems to have helped. Maybe it is an ulcer.... crossing my fingers....

I saved a pair of jeans from when I was in High school. BIG LEG jeans that had braiding around the top part of the back pockets. I had cut the hem out so the ends were frayed. They were the style then. I loved those jeans. They were a size 8 / 10. I was looking sharp in those jeans.

Well over the years I decided that I needed to get rid of them. But they were still wearable. So I gave them to my size 8 - 19 yr old daughter. She fit them perfectly and wore them to college classes. Don't you know she was the hit of the college. Everyone wanted to know where she got those really cool jeans. When she told them her mom. They said oh wow too cool. You must have a really cool mom. She said (are you listening) "YES I DO." Kids you gotta love them.

Sascijo - no, they don't know why my band eroded. According to my doc, I had a lot of adhesions around the tubing and port, which to him meant that my body was trying to get rid of it. So, maybe my body just doesn't tolerate foreign objects well.

DeLarla, rumake sounds delicious. I like my liver with lots of onions and mustard. But these days with all the pesticides and such, liver is not considered the "health" food it once was, since the liver is the organ that filters out all that garbage.

That was a cute story Penni. I long to fit in my moms clothes. I have never been able too. She was tall and skinny as a girl, now she is on the heavier side but I have always been far heavier. She is a clothes addict so I can't wait for the day I can raid her closets. LOL. Aren't kids cute:) T

This spring my mom and I split a home raised organic steer, so I love anything I make from it. Even the traditional tough portions are tender. I'm telling you, I dream of being a down home farm girl and raising my own meat and vegetables. I even do home canning every year. I raised pigs in FFA in high school many years ago. The best meats are at the countryside butchers. The ones here buy their meat from local farmers that raise grain/grass fed cows only. That liver (Ramake?) recipe sounds delicious. T

Thanks, Teresa. I just puked out my liquid dinner. Don't you know that meat is not real? It does not come from dough-eyed cows or pinkley little piggies. It's just stuff fabricated in factories. Nobody eats things with horns, we just feed them grass and flowers grown in meadows. The stuff we buy in grocery stores is just artificially-processed-foodstuff. Gosh, will somebody please help me explain to Teresa that we don't eat fur babies?

Penni, I was waiting for the line that those jeans fit you now, so tell daughter to wash them in cold and line dry them. Soon. Real soon!

Lisa: I told her to stop wearing them and to send them back where they belong. LOL!!! She is putting them in the mail tomorrow. LOL!!!

Lisa, I am from a long line of hunters. I don't hunt, I'm a gatherer. LOL. I know, I love cute sweet nice old cows too. I even loved my pigs. The nice thing is that wonderful local butcher drives right up to your driveway, loads them up LIVING and you pick up your dear old friend wrapped in nice white packaging. I know it is awful isn't it... I never even saw this cow alive so I don't feel too bad eating him but I do feel bad for critters I get attached too. I used to raise bummer (orphan) lambs for a high school teacher and I fell in love with the first one I raised. Unfortunately poor Bunky had the bad fate of being born a boy and was destined for packaging. In the farm animal world it is a blessing to be born a girl. The next two lambs I had were twin girls, I am sure they had nice long full lives.

So was that an official PB? LOL... Besides miss wholesome don't I recall something about you fishing and crabbing? I would have felt terribly guilty having to kill a crab last weekend. What about the poor worm you put on that old fishing hook? Don't he have feelings too? :Bunny Yours truly, Teresa

What about the poor worm you put on that old fishing hook? Don't he have feelings too?

Teresa, you made me spit out my coffee with that one... lol Yes, the worms have feelings, too! I have alternately fished worms out of puddles to save them, and then turned around and used other less fortunate ones as bait. Some life forms seem lower on the hierarchy than others. I have no problems cleaning fish, but do have pangs of guilt throwing a live lobster into the pot!

Yes, I'm with DeLarla on this one. Can we agree to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that all that wonderful meat grew on trees or something?

I did give up meat for about two years. Emotionally I'm a vegetarian - physically and socially I crave meat.

That old lady with the goats from "Cold Mountain" seemed to have a very balanced view of the whole thing...

If I were starving I'd have less problems making my own meat... But being so well fed, I'm grateful there's someone else to do it anonymously on my behalf... :sick

Yes Donali girl, we can let sleeping dogs lie. Meat now grows in the peruvian jungles on long quiet branches deep in the jungles, harvested only on occassion in a method passed down by the ancient grandfathers. And then shipped to the big hungry US of A. LOL.... I am not a killer either and have gone out of my way to save bugs and things. Never hunted in my life except for the rare fishing trip. I loved that cold mountain show. I was shocked when she killed that poor little goat but can not only understand how she lived but am almost envious too. I love people and socializing but I hate having to depend on the rest of the world for my produce and sustenance. Acres and acres of prime forest land is being cleared every day in africa and south america so we can have our coffee beans and this that and the other. My brother in law who lives on the big island of hawaii had the coolest house when we went back there several years ago. Much of the big island is "off the grid" not hooked up to water and power. He had catchment tanks for catching rainfall to shower with, a generator that ran the stove, the water heater, and the fridge, and lights. I LOVED it there. He even had bananas growing in his yard. We always say if we ever have to go homeless that wouldn't be too bad of a place since wild fruits and coconut grow there year around and temperatures are almost always mild. Many of these off the grid housed didn't even have glass in the windows, just shutters because they NEVER get below a certain temperature. Sorry all for the critter references, Teresa

Thanks...

I am so jealous of your brother-in-law. I would love to be more back to nature, and off the grid. Sigh...