Hi there,

I am considering Dr. Kirshenbaum in Aurora, CO (www.lapbandrockies.com) I know that there are a few of you in LBT that went to him. I am interested in knowing your thoughts on him and if you have had any complications. I am just a little leary since the price is so low, there is little on the internet about him, and I will be traveling from WI to have this done. Any information you could provide would be much apppreciated...

Thanks!

Sheila:)

Hi Ladies!

I love reading your updates so please continue to post them.

Thanks for the expressions of support for me. I had to do something because I'm at minimal restriction now. I decided to call the Fill Center, they have two locations locally, one in Tampa and one in St. Petersburg. I mapquested them both and the Tampa one is in a not so good section of town, east Tampa. So I contacted the toll free center and just asked a bunch of questions.

My consult fee for the first time is $299 which covers the office visit, adjustment, fluoro, and a "Lifestyle Book" that I have been urged to read from end to end. Subsequent fees are $155 each plus $85 for fluoro.

Right now I am just desperate for restriction.

I booked an appt. in St. Petersburg and go next Tuesday for my office visit and fill. (((( what can I expect a good IN THE ZONE fill to feel like?))

Once my sister gets back to work I plan on going back out to Denver most likely in the fall when the leaves start changing. I'm going to count on you all who live there to help me out with that.

I feel very good that I did something positive in the way of moving in the direction of a fill.

>>I was feeling mighty discouraged not knowing what to do<<

So that is my news today.

How is everyone else?

Did you have a good 4th of July?

Drews~That really does suck about Mary! When I was in there Dr. K said to me "I saw a friend of yours today" and I said was it Amy? He just smiled and said she was in here earlier today. I told him that I wished you were there to hold my hand and he just laughed and said "you are in good hands, don't worry about a thing". I lke your new avatar picture!

Lapdancer~Congrats on finding a fill Dr. out there. I can imagine it was a difficult choice, but I am happy to hear that you did what had to be done. Keep us posted on how it goes.

Dynamo~How was the mountains? Hope you had a great time!

I think my fill is working. Strange, I swear he said 3.10, is there such a thing? First he said 3.9 and then he put just a little bit more and then he said 3.10.

Anyway, I had my first mini PB. Don't want to feel any of that again!! SCARY!!!! I was eating a tuna wrap, first bite. I remember Woofay saying something about proping on all fours with head down...that helped (thanks Woofay if that was you??), WHEW what an ordeal! It didn't last very long and it wasn't really painful but enough to say to myself "yep, I do have a LB in there and I guess it is working?!?! and I slimed all over my bed (yuck), then made it to the bathroom.

Now if the weight will start dropping off, that would just be super fantasticulous!!

Have a GREAT DAY to all!!!!

Hey Woofay~How are you doing? Did yu have a nice 4th with your hubby?

LOL... so I have this mental image of you on all 4's trying to get unstuck Mal....that's hysterical!!

It was NOT a pretty sight that's for sure! My husband walked in the bedroom and was like "what the..." then he said "well, I guess it's working"...(total compassion).

I have been reading so much on this darn site, I cold have read something totally off the subject and there I was on all fours for nothing??? LOL, it seemed to work....or, did it???LOL

Hey Mal! Wasn't me who said to get on all fours! Hee hee! Now that's a true cat hack! :biggrin1: I'm with Drews picturing this! (just kidding...bet it was rather scary!)

Drews~sorry to hear about your bad experience with Mary. She's been nothing but kind with me. And she doesn't know a lot about lap band procedures. She's fresh outta school as a medical assistant. Dr. K's office seems to do a lot of training. Also, so glad your feeling better and able to eat better. It must be a relief! Does he take fluid out only if there is a problem or you request it? That would be weird to me. Does he put fresh saline in or the old? I don't know why that interests me.

Dynamo~ are you outta the mountains yet?

Angie38~it's about time you said hi! Hope all is well with you! Do you think that you are going to make it the 12th?

Is anyone going to the group meeting on the 10th? Just wondering.

Have a great day!

Oh Mal, hack...PB. Yup. I've had three now. No stopping what wants to come back up. It's almost shocking like "that came out of me"??? Weird. Congratulations on the restriction. It feels so good doesn't it?

sorry Woofay, I don't know why I thought you posted that...how funny! I wonder how much of my weightloss came from my brain?!

okay everyone can get that awful mental pic of me on all fours drooling like a dog! LOL... NOT a pretty sight!

I just had my fav of all time...ribeye!! No problems, YIPPEE!! It was hard (mentally) for me to cut that "deck of card" size, I wanted the whole thing! But that was all I ate and I feel satisfied. Had some mushrooms with it and dinner done just like that??? The rest of my family had the loaded baked potatoes, baked beans, and corn on the cob...hubby does all the cooking...oh, the torture!!!

How is everyone else doing?

:help:

I have a question for anyone~

Okay, didn't Paula tell us to drink Protein shakes between meals and one before bed? So here is a sample of my daily intake:

Kashi with soy

Atkins Advantage shake

water

South Beach Protein snack

turkey sandwich or tuna wrap

Atkins shake<

water

steak, chicken, or whatever meat

tiny bit of vegatables

water

low cal snack

atkins shake

water

I tried to use the fitday and without the atkins shake because I can't find them on there, I am at like 85 grams of protein?? That is a lot. Should I not do the shakes? Do we need the other stuff in the shakes? I am thinking that I am way over on Proteins and carbs. Kashi has like 42g of carbs?! I guess I need to stop the kashi too? My calories are 800-1000...any advice? Plus I am working out every other day 30 min cardio 30 minute circuit...any advice would b greatly appreciated. Oh yeah, I am not losing like I should be or want to be!

Funny - I've delt with Mary on the phone and she seemed pretty snooty...I called to ask a question about NSAIDS (on another thread folks are saying that they are a no-no after banding so I called to confirm this) and she seemed like she didn't have a lot of time for me and switched me over to Marilyn (funny, I THOUGHT I was already talking to Marilyn and she was having a bad day...didn't know there was a Mary too). Things went much smoother then. BTW, Dr. K said NSAIDS were ok...don't know where the negative info came from.

How do you all feel about medic alert bracelets announcing that you have a band. Several folks have gotten these that say things like "gastric band", "no blind NG tube", etc.

Sad news, my baby chicks are having a bad go of it. Immagine...they got OVERHEATED in NOME! The heat caused them to freak out a little (something called "splayed leg" - descriptive) and now they have a Riboflavin deficiency. So, imagine this woman, sitting on the ground, surrounded by chicken poo, hand feeding over 20 chicks Pedialyte and then liver all mushed up! I'd say I beat the visual of Mal PBing all over the place!

NOTE: Hand feeding/forcing chicks is not easy....this was supposed to be a summer fun thing! LOL! That'll teach me!

I'm leaving tomorrow to go hook up with my sister and head to Denver on Sunday. I hope all goes well and I can meet some of you Thursday!

I'm with you

Sorry, computer issues....

Mal - I'm with you on the "eating too much?" thing. I figure if I'm eating protein and veggies with my meals, isn't that enough? I shouldn't have to suplement...especially with liquid that will go down easy. I mean to talk to Paula again after I begin my recovery. Have you talked to her again?

I wll put a call into her tomorrow, I am just soooooo confused!!! I'm sure that I am making more out of it than need be????

I hope the baby chicks are going to be okay. that sounds like a lot of work!

:plane:There you are flying to Colorado to get your LB!!!!

Haha! So much for growing your own food! Yep, they've turned into a lot more work than anticipated. Especially since I had to euthanize 4 of them today (they were doing VERY bad and couldn't get to food or water). That just sucked!

I'll be back out later with my syringe of liver! YUM!

:girl_hug:awwww, that is sooo sad!