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

KT--My fill has really settled down, and I hope yours does too. You might want to stick with mushie for a few days, and then try the solids. Maybe by then you would be able to handle real food. Good luck!

Since I have only been able to keep down 2 yogart cups since tues. and can't keep water down. Missy said I have to have an .5cc unfill. So, I am now going in tomorrow at 1.

Hi KTBUGG,

I hope you don't mind me asking but what kind of problems are you having with your band? It sounds like you're not losing much weight either.

I had my band put in by Dr. Choban on 12/26/07. Yesterday, I went for my 4th fill and now I have a total of 6 cc's in a 10 cc band. Right after my surgery, I lost 30+ pounds. However, after that first 6-8 weeks, everything has remained still. I have been following all of the guidelines and making sure to get in enough Protein. Dr. C told me to try and stick with 800 - 1,000 calories after my 3rd fill and I actually did pretty well with it. I even took in my food journal yesterday so that she could see what I'm doing. I asked for 2 cc's but she was afraid that I would be throwing up all the time so she gave me another 1 cc.

Another big challenge for me is exercise. I have a horrible disease (Systemic Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) that prevents me from doing very much at all. Dr. C. mentioned that maybe we should have done the gastric bypass instead. Too late now! I have another online friend who has the same disease as me but hers is confined to one area where mine is systemic. Anyway, she went to someone in Cleveland and they told her that they would only do the gastric bypass on her because if they did the Lap Band, she probably wouldn't lose any weight due to the problem with her disease.

I am so depressed over all of this. Like you, I feel that the past 5 months have been for nothing. Dr. C also told me that it's probably going to take 3 years for me to get my weight off using the Lap Band. I understand it doesn't work as fast as a GB does but I should be seeing a few pounds drop off each month. I even asked if she thought that maybe my band had a leak in it and she said that everything was ok. Don't get me wrong, I love Dr. Chobin and she has been very good to me. I'm just trying to understand where the band is going wrong or is it just me.

Do you have a 10cc band as well or is yours different? Sorry to keep writing but when I read you post, I thought maybe we both have something in common going on with our bands. Any info you could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Marie

:confused2:

I just recieved word from Charlene that my surgery will be July 16th. I was hoping for Jne, but Dr. Choban is going on vacation. Probably needs a vacation after all you June bandsters!!! I have a couple questions:

1. If surgery is on Wednesday do you think I can go back to work on Monday?

2. I have vacation scheduled (Florida) for July 26th???? Do you think this will be a problem?

Thanks for all the support and advise, Lynn:lol:

Lynn~ Thats great news!! :tongue2: Just a few more weeks.

Question One:

I am in a teetering situation. I (fortunately) have a low end BMI for the Lap band surgery. I want to loss weight NOW! But will that hinder anything with my surgery? I have my surgery date (July 16) I weighted in at 199.6 @ 5'2 when I saw Dr. Choban. I have been on Atkin's since then. Today my weight is 191.6. Do you think I should hold my weight where it is or is it ok to keep on the Adkins and trying to loss as much as possible prior to surgery. What would you all do?

Second question. I read a lot on this site about people who have gotten their bands removed for one reason or another. It seems that most of them do not want to "live" with the band restriction any more. Was this a concern for you prior to your surgery?

Any input is appreciated.:(

Lynlynkr, Since you've already had your initial consult with Dr. Choban and your insurance has approved your surgery, I'd say keep on going with losing weight before surgery. I'm sure Dr. C probably told you she wants you to lose at least 10 lbs. before surgery. In fact, she even threatened that if you don't lose enough (or gain), she might cancel it that day. (I don't really know if she would.) Anyhoo, she said that since the procedure is done laparascopically, losing weight before surgery will shrink the liver, which makes it a lot easier for her to work on you. As far as removing the band, I've only heard of one person on this thread that had problems. That is with - presumably - a leak, and I think she might end up having the band replaced due to a malfunction. And while it is, indeed, a reversible procedure (unlike the RNY), they don't encourage having it removed and I certainly have no intent of doing so. .... Good luck with your surgery in July. It'll be here before you know it! (It's the old "hurry up and wait".)

Thanks Greg, I appreciate your thoughts. It does make sense.

According to you tickler, you are well on track with your progress. (Pun intended) I hate waiting for things. But, it is always worth it in the long run.

I have been practicing chewing more. That is a new skill for me. I ususally swallow things almost whole. and I understand eaing slowly is a skill as well.

My 50th Birthday is tomorrow. To C:wub:ke or not to Cake; that is the question?

Lynlynkr,

Yeah, I'm kind of like you. I still struggle with not chewing enough and eating too fast. As a result, I get hiccups ALOT! I'd say you should go for the cake (a small piece, of course) for your b'day. Might as well enjoy it while you can! Also, you had an earlier post with a couple of questions. Dr. C told me if I had the surgery on Monday to plan on taking a week off from work and if I had it on Wednesday, I should be able to go back on Monday. I am a part-time church organist and had the surgery on Monday of Holy Week. I went back to work on Thursday and part of Friday, but then had 3 church services to play for on Thursday & Friday, so by the end of the week I was pretty worn out (with 3 more services to play for on Easter). I know some people took off a week or two, but their jobs involved lifting patients and the like. I have a desk job, so sitting at work wasn't much different than sitting at home. It just depends on what your job entails. As far as vacation, originally I was going to go to Niagara Falls two weeks post-op. I asked Dr. C about it and she said I should go. (I ended up not going b/c Skybus cancelled the flight.) My main concern was being able to follow the post-op diet while traveling. I'll stop rambling. Hope some of this is helpful.

Hi Greg,

I noticed you had your 2nd fill on June 5, were you by chance in the office around 10:30am-11:00am? I thought that I heard the secretary say "Hi Greg" but I could be wrong. My appt. was at 10:30am. I also noticed that you are from Picktown, me too. I used to live off of Diley Rd., but when I got worse, we sold our 2-story and built a ranch so that I could get around a lot easier. Oh yeah, Congrats on your weight loss. You appear to be doing very well. Good for you!

Sorry if I interuppted your conversation but i just wanted to say, "Hi".

Marie

Marie,

I had an 11:00 appt. and got there right at 11, but was in the waiting room a while. There were several of us bandsters (ndwife and a couple others) at one end of the room having our own little support group meeting. Don't feel like you're interrupting. Everyone is always free to join in.

Edited June 7, 200818 yr by gregw

Greg - nice to see a post from you and your ticker is showing great progress. I get my 2nd fill this Tuesday June 10th and then I am getting on a plane on Friday a.m. June 13th.

Lyn - I'm flying Friday after getting a fill on Tuesday noontime. I think I will be fine. Plan to stick to my liquids until I get through flying that day. I went back to work on Monday after having surgery the previous Monday. I'd say flying 2 weeks after surgery should be fine. You'll be on full liquids or mushies so be thinking ahead on what to eat while out to eat. I leave for Florida Friday...can't wait!

Palarin - KTBugg's ticker says something different than her actual weight she has posted as a tag line-- it says "Can't figure this thing out. I am down 54.8 lbs total so far!!" versus her ticker saying lost 7.6 lbs so far. I'll let her explain more. When Katie and I were both at MCW for our fill with Missy, Katie had lost I think 30+ lbs at that time and she's handing off clothes she can't wear anymore.

I'm so sorry to hear things have been such a slow loss for you. I think you are doing the right thing working 1:1 with Dr. Choban to find the sweet spot for you. I wish you all the best on this path -- since its the path you are walking on now... and keep us posted if she advises you to revise to RNY due to your special circumstances.

BTW -- have you seen the forum thread call SLOW LOSERS UNITE! or something like that... Seems there are some people that it just takes time. I'm losing slower than Greg who was banded on the same day as I was with the same size band AP-L 14cc's and I think I got a different amount of cc's in my first fill 4.5 for me, and he only got less cc's that 1st fill day than me.

Any whoo, to borrow a phrase from Greg, I am totally happy with my -33 lbs total at this point. I had done WW very faithfully for 18 months prior to banding and had only lost 12 total lbs. I was very very discouraged to lose so slow so I can say I do empathize with you.

Best wishes and keep us posted how its going.

Greg, SpecialK,et al,

I appreciate your comments, I do not consider it rambling at all. I am a Nurse manager at the Women's Health Center at St Ann's. I do not do heavy lifting, so I you are both right, I think I will be fine with surgery on Wednesday and returning to work on Monday. I feel better hearing your thoughts.

Hey, do I understand this correctly. Dr. Choban does not allow put a fill in at the time of surgery? I also think I just realized that there are different size bands. Hummmmm, what is the determining factor on size?:thumbup:

When I was at Dr. Choban office there were several people in the waiting room and I wonder if they posted on this site.

I mentioned to Dr. Choban that I watch a LB surgery on You Tube; she was amazed it was on there.

I have spent way to much time trying to get my weight chart to show up. I created it but can't figure out where to insetrt it. Help!