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:)

I am glad you're not gaining! That is good! I have really struggled for these last few pounds that I've lost. I got a fill a very months ago and I think it has helped a lot with portions, but it seems that the scale is hardly moving. I have done the low carb diet and am about to start the Insulin Resistence Diet. It's very balanced and is identical to the diet that I gave my diabetic patients. I hate to think of it as a diet, since I should be on it the rest of my life due to the PCOS. I never want to be a diabetic and with my PCOS the chances are high - regardless of what my weight is. I am very carb sensitive.

I wish I could pick you up and see you! I still have some things to give you that I never got to last time you were here. I won't be in town that day! Tell your Mom, I said, "HI!" I really enjoyed meeting your family!

I'm sorry you won't be in town. It would be nice to see you again. You are an inspiration!

Marie-

No problem on the 9th. Sorry it took so long to reply back to you. Had to make sure the hubby could pick up K after school. He said sure. I am looking forward to meeting you. We'll talk before then.

Thank you so much for working it out! The shuttle costs so much that it is a relief to have someone to get me! I really appreciate it!

I had to get a total unfil on Monday. :cryin: I had been having terrible gaslike (though worse) pressure/pain that kind of billowed out... starting in my chest and going up towards my ears. It was quite unbearable. I called Dr Metz's office in the morning. His NP told me to come in for an unfill. She told me if the pain did not go away she would get me in for a for a upper GI Tuesday, then if all was well she would give me some fill Wednesday. I am going to MI tomorrow and did not want to go with a empty band.

I went to a support group at Dr Snyder's Monday night. (He is at Rose) The pain was getting worse so I went to the ER there. They did a CT and said my stomach was dilated (though the band looked fine) They called Dr Snyder and he said I could come see him the next day.

I went to see him yesterday. He left the exam room to go look at my CT in his office. He came back, opened the exam room door and said "Your stomach is HUGE!!!" He said it was the size of a football. :eek:

He ordered a Upper GI and they got me in right away. Turns out my stomach was not emptying. The good news is the band is fine... no erosion, slip or dilation. :purplebananna: The radiologist had me lay on my right side for 45 minutes in the X-ray table. She told me that if it didn't empty they were going to send me to the ER so they could get gastro in for me. It emptied very little (if at all) in that time. They had just gone to get a wheelchair for me when the radiologist called and told me she had just talked to Dr Snyder and he siad I should be able to go home, that there was not much they could do for me in the ER. She told me she did not see anything obvious in my CT or UGI. No masses or anything. This made me feel MUCH better. Everyone agrees there is definetly something wrong.... just have no freakin idea what <sigh>

Before I went for the test Dr S said no fill until this is taken care of. So.... I guess I will be white knuckling it for the next month or so in Michigan. I am praying I don't gain too much weight, though the full stomach is a lot like a full band. Hopefully I will do OK.

Hopefully this clears up so I can start re-filling it when I come back.

I had to get a total unfil on Monday. :cryin: I had been having terrible gaslike (though worse) pressure/pain that kind of billowed out... starting in my chest and going up towards my ears. It was quite unbearable. I called Dr Metz's office in the morning. His NP told me to come in for an unfill. She told me if the pain did not go away she would get me in for a for a upper GI Tuesday, then if all was well she would give me some fill Wednesday. I am going to MI tomorrow and did not want to go with a empty band.

I went to a support group at Dr Snyder's Monday night. (He is at Rose) The pain was getting worse so I went to the ER there. They did a CT and said my stomach was dilated (though the band looked fine) They called Dr Snyder and he said I could come see him the next day.

I went to see him yesterday. He left the exam room to go look at my CT in his office. He came back, opened the exam room door and said "Your stomach is HUGE!!!" He said it was the size of a football. :eek:

He ordered a Upper GI and they got me in right away. Turns out my stomach was not emptying. The good news is the band is fine... no erosion, slip or dilation. :purplebananna: The radiologist had me lay on my right side for 45 minutes in the X-ray table. She told me that if it didn't empty they were going to send me to the ER so they could get gastro in for me. It emptied very little (if at all) in that time. They had just gone to get a wheelchair for me when the radiologist called and told me she had just talked to Dr Snyder and he siad I should be able to go home, that there was not much they could do for me in the ER. She told me she did not see anything obvious in my CT or UGI. No masses or anything. This made me feel MUCH better. Everyone agrees there is definetly something wrong.... just have no freakin idea what <sigh>

Before I went for the test Dr S said no fill until this is taken care of. So.... I guess I will be white knuckling it for the next month or so in Michigan. I am praying I don't gain too much weight, though the full stomach is a lot like a full band. Hopefully I will do OK.

Hopefully this clears up so I can start re-filling it when I come back.

Sorry I haven't been on for a while. So sorry to hear about your problems!!! That sucks! But I am glad they found out what was wrong. It must be hard to go through. Let us know how you are doing now, and if we can do anything to help!!

Gosh Julie, I hope you have recovered and that your tummy is back to normal. Good for you for paying attention to your body and taking care of it. I hope you did well "white knuckling" it over the holidays!

Just the last two - three weeks out of the blue - wham! I can't hardly eat more than a bite or two. I have had the same fill for at least a year and been so happy. Now I can't eat! I made an appointment to see Dr. K. for a partial unfill tomorrow.

Now that the holidays are over, maybe we could have a RR get together? It's been awhile and I'd love to see everyone in person again.

I was wondering why no one was on here, then when I finally checked in, I notice that they've changed this site so much that I had to re-register. I hadn't been getting email notifications that there were new postings. Julie, I hope everything works out for you...and soon.

I'm up for Red Robin whenever anyone else is.

Wow this site has changed a lot!

I was wondering if Julie had posted how things were going. I hope you're doing okay Julie and they figured out what was wrong with your tummy!

I would love a Red Robin get together! How does January 12th sound? I will be in Denver and would love to see everyone!

Been a LONG time since I have been here. Dee posted on my profile so it brought me back. lol. Just wanted to say hi!!! I will be having revision surgery on the 17th. My band has had a slow leak in it for the past two years and it is going to cost me way too much to fix the leak. I have re-gaind 50 of the 100lbs I lost.

So I decided to revise to a VSG for numerous reasons. The band just was not the right tool for me unfortunately. I could never find the "green zone" and dealt with pain and chest pressure constantly. I am looking forward to no longer having a "pouch" to deal with.

Wow this site has changed a lot!

I was wondering if Julie had posted how things were going. I hope you're doing okay Julie and they figured out what was wrong with your tummy!

I would love a Red Robin get together! How does January 12th sound? I will be in Denver and would love to see everyone!

The 12th works for me! Who else??

The 12th works for me! Who else??

Great! Do you want to contact Julie and see if she's available?

Anyone else? The more the merrier!

Great! Do you want to contact Julie and see if she's available?

Anyone else? The more the merrier!

I'm looking forward to it! :Banane45:

Wow this site has changed a lot!

I was wondering if Julie had posted how things were going. I hope you're doing okay Julie and they figured out what was wrong with your tummy!

Hi, thanks for asking. I am somewhat better, though still having issues. At least I don't feel like barfing the minute I swallow anything anymore. I keep hoping it will "go away" on it's own. I still have lots of restriction. Not sure if it's the swollen stomach or the empty band still offering the restriction, but whatever it is, I'll take it The pain is a lot better than it was, though I do still have occasional pain.

Looking forward to getting completetly better so I can have my fill back!!!!

Still "interviewing" plastic surgeons, look forward to talking to you about it (and getting everyones input) on the 12th.

I would love a Red Robin get together! How does January 12th sound? I will be in Denver and would love to see everyone!

I'll plan to come to RR tomorrow too. What time?

I'll plan to come to RR tomorrow too. What time?

That's GREAT! WE haven't had the pleasure of your presence at one of our RR events in a long time!

We meet at 7pm. Do you remember the RR? Arapahoe and I-25. Can't wait to see you!

Hi girls. Well, looks like I'm probably gonna lose my band :hurt: . I'm still in a lot of pain, only now it is 2 very distinct types of pain. One is what I have had all along... the crushing, spreading pressure/gas-like pain, the other is what I call the "ball of pain" that is the feeling that someone punched me in the right boob and left their fist in there. This occurs when I eat or drink anything and lasts for hours.

I ended up going to the ER 2 weeks ago for this new pain. They told me my stomach was still distended (like I didn't already know that). They also called Dr Metz about this. He called me back about 4 days later (nothing like customer service, huh?) And told me that he thinks the band is pressing on the vagus nerve and is probably is going to have to come out.

This scares the HELL out of me!!! I still have at least 50 pounds (my goal) to 90 pounds to go (where the BMI charts say I should be). I am so afraid I will put all this weight back on.

We just started with Kaiser, evidently so did Dr Metz, so he recommended I call the head of the bariatric program at KP and ask for a referral to see him. I did this and she told me she had no problem referring me, but she wanted to talk to him first to see what his plan of action was. I am still waiting to hear back from her, too.

I finally got into a gastroenterologist, it took me 3 weeks to get an appointment, while I was steadily geting worse each day. I have gotten to the point that I am barely eating/drinking for the pain. Now I am so weak I can barely stand for more that a minute or two at a time.

I figured they were going to jerk me around... "Here, try this med and come back in a month" type of thing. But she was like "I can get you in tomorrow for an endoscopy" This would have been at St Joe's but admitting was already closed for the day, so we made an appointment for tomorrow at 11 AM at the Kaiser office downtown.

She will be looking for an ulcer or stricture, though she told me she doubts it is either of these things. I told her of my weight gain fears without a band and asked her if I truly have gastroparesis (basically your stomach muscles aren't working to push the food through... it just sits there and rots) if a bypass would fix it (that seems to be one of the few things that works for people).

She told me that if she doesnt find anything tomorrow she is going to call Natalie (the head of bariatrics) and suggest she refers me to Dr Metz for exploratory surgery <Yikes> and a bypass. She said she feels that this is being caused by something structural, and I will definetely have to have exploratory surgery, so they "might as well do a bypass while they are in there".

I am reallly freaked out about needing X surgery. And if I can't have a band I will take the bypass.

Now I'm stressing thinking that Kaiser will not want to pay for the bypass, since they tend to have a lot of hoops to jump through before they will pay for bariatrics. I am hoping that they will not deny this since:

1). This would be done to alleviate a very real, dangerous stomach condition. And,

2). I have "proven" myself and my commitment already by losing 113 pounds with the band.

Of course, now (for the first time in probably 20 years) I am under a 40 BMI. This may come into play also.

I didn't elect for bypass in the first place because of the risks and more danger associated with it.... but I guess the risks of ballooning up to over 350 pounds are pretty high too.

Figures..... I decided on who I was going to go to for my PS, and to have my boobs done too. Now this is most likely going to be put on the back burner for quite awhile.

Best case scenario: She finds an ulcer, and I am all better after 6 weeks of meds. I can get my band refilled and have my lower body lift.

Second best case scenario: Kaiser pays for a bypass, I quickly lose even more weight, and look even better after my LBL.

The last scenario: Kaiser refuses to authorize the bypass. Dr Metz removes the band and I see how much it would cost for me to pay cash for a sleeve while he's in there. There goes my plastics money..... OR ..... I go to Mexico for a sleeve or the new sleeve plication. Again, bye bye plastic surgery. :broken_heart:

Sorry for the long post, and I'll post back tomorrow after my test.