Hi all,

I'm new to this board having originally been on the OH board presurgery. Now am looking to make new friends with others like me that are already banded and who can help me by sharing their own experiences with their bands, the good and the bad. Looking forward to meeting you!

Laurel

Sorry, should have introduced myself!!!

I'm 53, married with 1 son who is 9. I had my surgery 10/29/07 through Kaiser in Richmond, CA. My surgeon was Dr Im and I think he is the BEST. I dawdled and it took me almost a year to lose the 32# needed before Kaiser would do my surgery. (yes, started at 326#). Was 285 on the day of surgery and although I did lose 18 the first three weeks, I have regained 5# since. I somewhat overdid it during the holidays and allowed myself to eat what I wanted, when I wanted it. Thankfully I was still eating so much less than I would have normally that I did only regain a small amount. Well back on the bandwagon now. I have the APS (?) band and have had only 1 fill, so I have 2CC in my band and feel no restriction. Biggest problem (I had a great surery and recovery) is still my portion control. 1/2 cup of food just doesn't do it for me. I am working on reducing my portions to get back to the qty Kaiser thinks we should be eating during a meal.

Laurel

Hi Laurel - I'm Vicki and I had my surgery at SSF Kaiser on 12/12/07. I had my first fill on Tuesday and now have around 3cc's in my band. So far I'm doing ok. I'm still waiting for the weight to start going down. I had to wait around 6 months for my surgery and I lost most of my 78 pounds prior to surgery. For some reason I got really motivated to do it. I was on the liquid diet during Christmas so there was no overdoing it for me. I did regain 3 of the 14 pounds I lost after surgery when I started solids. I'm down to eating approximately 1 cup of food at meals. They're going to have to fill me more if they want the 1/2 cup you mentioned.

Feel free to contact me by PM if you want to.