Ok Banded pro's this is my first time posting , I would like to know if n e 1 has been banded in columbus, ohio at the Mt. Carmel hospital and if so how was your experience? I have just sent in my first set of paper work to be approve by their Dr. Also they are charging $300.00 for administrator fee (paper pushing to the Ins.), not to mention I will have to spend another $200.00 for their nutritionist and this $500.00 is not covered by my insurance:faint: . Are fee's normal? I was just wondering because I feel as much as the surgery cost, these things should be included! N E help would be nice

Good morning! I was wondering if any of my Fill Friends felt restriction the morning? I was told that this morning might be a little tight, but I didn't feel anything. I guess I will need a few fills before my sweet spot. Hope all is well with everone!

Good morning, I don't know about feeling restriction as far as trying to eat (if you call "full liquids" eating) but this is the first morning I can remember waking up and not wanting to eat anything (and I've now been up for almost 3 hours). And it's not just not being hungry - I can always eat even if I'm not hungry. But I feel like I am already full and have no desire to eat. Works for me! :smile2: But then mornings were never my problem. It's the evening grazing while sitting around the house watching TV that always kills me.

Congrats on your first fill everyone! I'll be getting mine on May 6th. I sure hope it works because I gotta tell you.....my appetite has returned full force!

I have to tell you I think Melissa was a little disappointed with my loss of about 18 lbs from surgery day to yesterday but I didn't remind her that I had voluntarily done pre-op liquid diet and lost about 8 more lbs and by my scale I'm at about 28 total so I'm fine with that and my primary care doc was thrilled with what I lost. I did mention to Melissa I had knee surgery in the middle of this first 6 weeks and thought that could have affected things plus the last 2 weeks had been really hard to stay low on calories.

I'm like Greg where I could just get up this a.m. and have coffee for my first hour or two, I had a protein shake at about 10 or so and now I'm wanting something else. I'm on my way to our cafeteria to see if they have some soup that will work for me. Last night I just had my Unjury chicken soup (broth) and was fine.

special k--I can't imagin Melissa being disappointed with your weight. I think 18 lbs in 6 weeks sound good to me! Besides, you have added exercise into the mix now, so things will only get better from here!!!

Kathy, that's crazy! You're doing awesome... so many patients don't lose a thing until they have restriction, yet here you are losing above the 1-2 pound average... she should be telling you how proud she is of you.

Since she didn't I will... I am so proud of you! You are doing awesome :-)

I'll post the one they took before the fill with and without the arrows to help you orient what you are looking at and then a third picture post Fill where you can see the barium has emptied down into the intestinal tract.

The band is tilted on a 45 degree angle just as it should be. Thanks Dr. Price!

Edited May 1, 200818 yr by SpecialK

special k--I can't imagin Melissa being disappointed with your weight. I think 18 lbs in 6 weeks sound good to me! Besides, you have added exercise into the mix now, so things will only get better from here!!!

Thanks Niki and Heather - I definitely am happy with progress at 18 lbs in 6 weeks or about 3 lbs a week. It may have just been my perception from nervousness that I had heard others saying they've lost 30 lbs and 40 lbs and I wish I could say that. Plus, I think Melissa does see alot of the gastric bypass patients who easily drop 40-50 lbs in 6 weeks so I just need to remember this isn't a race...I'm so competitive :thumbup:

P.S. It took me 18 Months to lose about 15 lbs on WW so I'm thrilled for this tool to be working.

Special K you are doing great!!! I only lost 14 before my first fill everyone else that day had lost 19. I am very pleased since my 2nd fill. I am losing pretty steadily now. Vomited for the first time since surgery yesterday after a granola bar and water bad combo!! Say no to granola. I am down about 6-7 lbs since April 24 when i got filled. Very pleased with the restriction:thumbup:

Thanks Sarah. I think this Fill is helping. Down about 2 lbs since getting it!

Special K--I think you might have heard wrong...Melissa told me that I was the "biggest loser" of the day, and I only lost 27lbs by their scales. AND, I am a week ahead of you, AND I have been exercising for three weeks! SO, you are doing much better than you think. It is funny how our "head" hears what it wants to.

Melissa also said that I should call for the emotional eating support group. I am going to do that today. If I don't fix that prob I will never get anywhere!

Wow Sarah! You are doing great! I am sorry about the granola-thang, but over all, the band seems to be working for you!

Niki let me know about the support group when you get the information. I seem to have a lot of Head Hunger I don't get physical hunger too often(other than in the middle of the night at work) It is weird to actually feel hungry though cause i used to never let myself get hungry.

I am so impressed with all the weight everyone is losing here. I can hardly contain myself waiting for a date. I got my approval a couple of days ago and received a call from Charlene saying she would set me up with a date(I believe that is what she said.) Who knows for sure as all I heard was I was approved....YIPEEE!

The only hold up is my dear old Sister, who has one thing left to do next Wednesday. Well actually she is done, but she needs the cpac and wants them to show her why they think she does. She also is going through Medicare and was wondering if anyone else has, and does it take a long time for approval? We would like to schedule our Band Days (surgery)together. And everything else if possible.

I don't know what is left at this point other than our day for pre admission. If anyone can fill me in, Please do. We havn't done a pre-diet and wonder if that is something we will be required to do before surgery. Anyway, I can hardly wait.

Edited May 2, 200818 yr by Call me Joy

Congratulations Call Me Joy! Approval is the biggest hurdle. You should be hearing about a surgery date soon. Be prepared that they could call you and give you as little as one week or maybe 2 weeks to go for surgery.

The pre-op admission testing day is about a week ahead of that. You go that morning for pre-op admission testing and they do an x-ray, draw bloodwork, then you go for bariatric surgery class with Melissa, then a nutrition class with the nutritionist (Andrea I think her name is), then they take you to a different floor where you get into a gown and they weigh you, do an EKG, blood gasses (another blood test), then finish you off with a physical by a hospital staff doctor. I was surprised that the process took maybe about 4 hours that day. Here's a heads up- go early enough that you get the x-ray and bloodwork drawn done early (you have to be fasting) then you can go to the Tim Hortons and get coffee and a bagel or something to eat, before going to the 2 classes and the other testing.

On waiting for your sister... humm.... I can kind of see waiting and kind of not waiting... If they offered me a surgery date in May and I was ready to go but she doesn't have her approval from Medicare, I'd go ahead and get my surgery. If she gets her approval before they give you a surgery date, then maybe I'd wait to synch up but I was chomping at the bit to get banded as soon as possible to so I could start losing.

Pre-op diet -- Dr. Choban and Dr. Price didn't make us do pre-op diet but I did voluntarily on my own and lost about 6-8 lbs by doing 2 Protein shake meals and 1 meal with lean meat and veggies only, sugar free popsicles for treats. So, other than the night before surgery, nothing to eat after midnight that night, not even Water or ice chips, you don't have to do a pre-op diet.

Now, some of us, me included had one last fling or "Last Supper" or "Farewell to Food" meal the weekend before our surgery on Monday -- I chose to do mine on Friday p.m. (PIZZA) so that it had more than a good chance to be digested and out of my system by Monday a.m. surgery time (actually I had a 1pm surgery time). I have heard of folks having some huge meal on Sunday evening as their last meal and then think they are good for after midnight to fast for Monday surgery but I really think some of that food is still moving through your digestive tract so just to be safe if you're going to have a splurge I'd do it Friday or Saturday for a Monday surgery date or something similar.