Through earlier conversations in a separate thread, it was suggested to have a specific thread for Spivak's patients to share experiences. Please feel free to join in.

Lynn, Terry and Deb hope to see your updates here.

Take care,

Kim

*To be banded Monday, February 5th

Does anyone know why these gas pains settle in the shoulder area?

I actually asked this question several surgeries ago. Apparently the gas can stretch your diaphragm and because of the way that the nerves run the pain is perceived in your shoulder area. One of my hoodoo remedies is to remember to take very deep breaths from the moment you wake up from surgery - it is uncomfortable but seems to really help with recovery.

It is so neat to see so many Spivak patients on here! I am interested in his Tuesday night support meetings... but it just isn't a good time for me since I live an hour away and have a little one.

I just wanted to comment on something some of you were saying earlier about certain foods you can't eat.

I can not eat a lot of foods, but they are the ones that we shouldn't be eating anyways.

I can not eat bread, and I don't even want to anymore. I can't drink sodas, they just don't do it for me.

I just want to encourage people to stick with it, even if you are worried you can never eat your favorite food again... Most likely our favorite foods are what got us so overweight in the first place.

Good luck to everyone with their upcoming surgeries!

Hi there,

I was banded last August and follow the ABC (August bandsters) march 07 thread as well as the Spivak thread for info. I had heard that Spivak had recently changed his policies and is now requiring all fills to be done by him at his office. But if I understand you correctly , Spivak is still having the fills done at the Surgicenter. Is that correct?

did anybody go to the first Spivak support group meeting last night? I went begrudgingly and was pleasantly surprised. I got alot of good information and enjoyed myself. I think the man wants us to be ultra healthy party animals! He's having a Christmas party...sponsoring us in the Komen walk/run, and offering belly dancing, along with the usual educational stuff. I had heard that Speigel was making rule changes and wanting all fills done by him, etc....so I asked about that for Spivak, and he's not changing anything. I'm so glad.

He is still doing fills at both places until he gets all the equipment installed in his office. I am going next week to do a fill in his office. I believe most folks that use surgicenter are for first fills - but not sure.

That would be fine with me if he did all of his fills at his office... I only go to him anyways. I think it is great they are getting the flouro machine in the office.

I'm curious about the support meeting also. I felt good enough to go even though my surgery was only on Monday, but was afraid I might be the only man there. Did many (any) men attend? I'm afraid it'll be awhile before I'm ready for any belly dancing, but I'm game if you are.

There were about 4 men there. Jose Gonzales from the Yahoo group HoustonAreaBandsters was there and had helpful advice. You should come next time.

I'm not too sure about the belly dancing either. I can't imagine that my belly will ever look good enough that I'll want to show it off. But there's nothing wrong with a man giving it a try. Did you see that episode of King of Queens when Doug pole dances for Carrie? It was hiliarous.

I have always wanted to belly dance - besides some of the best dancers have shaky bellies.

I plan on going the plastic surgery route when I have lost my weight. It is amazing what they can do now with the body lifts.

....I plan on going the plastic surgery route when I have lost my weight.

Me too.

It is amazing what they can do now with the body lifts.

I'm just scared of the scars. I'm looking forward to the meeting in April when a plastic surgeon will be speaking.

I thought it was really a good meeting.....but it's an hour away...

I am so glad I am a patient of Dr. Spivaks. I am 6 days out and DH is making Tilapia for dinner tonight and I will be able to eat some.

I have seen some people on here who have to be on clear liquids for 2 weeks, and then full liquids for 2 weeks, and then mushies for 4 weeks.

Yeah, He definitely is the easiest. I wonder what the research will eventually show is the right way to approach it. All I know is that I'm slowly and sporadically losing wieght and I'm happy with that!

Yeah, He definitely is the easiest. I wonder what the research will eventually show is the right way to approach it. All I know is that I'm slowly and sporadically losing wieght and I'm happy with that!

I probably would not have followed the rules at all if Dr. Spivak's pre and post-op diet had not been so lenient. A lot of people seem to believe that the sutures in the lower stomach will not heal properly if you eat soft food, but I think a constantly growling stomach is a much bigger threat to the healing process. If my stomach is growling so loudly that people across the room can hear it, you know some serious movement is going on in there. And if I had stayed on liquids for more than 48 hours, my stomach would have been growling up a storm. The hunger pains from a diet of mushies is bad enough. All liquid for weeks on end would have been impossible for me.

I am so jealous that you all live so closely to Dr. Spivak's office. I live 3 hours away in Temple so it is just too far to make it a regular trip.

I read that he is sponsoring the Komen run? Who can go? How far is it and when? I would love to try to make it down to Houston for that.

Frankly, I would love to come down just to have a chance to say "hi" to that marvelous man!

I just heard a radio show today with a lap band Dr. being interviewed. He said that the people who "get it" (meaning lose a lot and consistently) are the ones who use the band for one thing----to realize they don't feel hungry anymore. Consequently they limit themselves to 3 solid low fat ,high protein, high fiber meals with no snacking....and then spend their time dealing with the emotional issues of losing food as a companion. Period. That's his summary.

He said that those people who "get it" from the beginning may not even need any fills. Everybody else has to learn it somewhere along the way.

He said the Atkins diet works best, and said eating mushy foods (and sliders) is as bad as eating liquids: Food should have to be a big effort to chew chew chew until liquid. Period. "No fat person has ever chewed their food well enough...They couldn't and still get all those calories in in a meal." "One reason for the mushy diet at first is to get people used to chewing food well enough."

What do you think?<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

I'm not banded yet, BetsyJane....so I'd like to hear what YOU think!?

From what I understand so far, what the good doctor said seems reasonable to me....but what do i know?