Arrived in the mail today and you know - it's actually not as ugly as I thought it would be. Stainless steel with the standard little "alert logo" and the engraving is there but doesnt stand out like "HEY anyone can look at my wrist and see wtf is up with me".

In case anyone is curious it says:

On the front -

Adj. gastric band

w/abdominal medi-

port / no NSAIDS &

no NG tbue w/o scope

see back for more details

Back-

my name

Surgeon - Dr.Robin Woodhead

his phone numbers

More info in wallet

UMI - Home is the company I ordered it from. Came to just over $40 including shipping.

Got mine on Ebay in Sterling Silver, just has gastric banded, abdominal port, no blind NG on it. Waiting for it to arrive.

Congrat's!

I got mine from Lauren's Hope website.

Have a good night!

Is it reccommended to get one? Do a lot of banders have them? I understand the whys but it never occured to me..

Well I got the idea from this site, and when I asked in the doctors office they just said it wouldn't hurt. I travel quite a bit, and don't want to be somewhere where no one knows about the band placement, and I need emergency treatment while unconcious. I paid about $45 total, for Sterling Silver on Ebay, so at this juncture, its so worth it.

Is it reccommended to get one? Do a lot of banders have them? I understand the whys but it never occured to me..

I also got the idea from this website (if you do a search for Medical ID Bracelets or MedicAlert bracelets, etc you may find a few threads). The way I look at it is - for $40 including shipping it's probably worth it. I paid $14 grand for this band and I don't want someone who doesn't realize it's in there messing it up in the event that I am unconscious (or something of the sort). I hope I will never have the need to have someone look at it but I figure it's better safe than sorry. My band is my new life, and if $40 saves me from having that new life taken away from being ruined then I am okay with that.

Ok received it today, it says Adjust. Gastric Band, W/Abdominal Port, No blind NG. The medical symbol on the front isn't red either, so it looks like a regular bracelet.

On the front -

Adj. gastric band

w/abdominal medi-

port / no NSAIDS &

no NG tbue w/o scope

see back for more details

Ang, can I ask you a question? Why no NSAIDS? Is that a surgeon specific thing? It's one of my main reasons for getting banded instead of another procedure--because I CAN have NSAIDS post banding.

Ang, can I ask you a question? Why no NSAIDS? Is that a surgeon specific thing? It's one of my main reasons for getting banded instead of another procedure--because I CAN have NSAIDS post banding.

My doctor (and I know from other people having mentioned in the past it's not just my surgeon) doesn't allow NSAIDS because they can cause irritation to the pouch which I think (don't quote me on this) may have to do with higher chances for erosion, etc. Tylenol is okay, NSAIDS are not. Hopefully one of the more experienced banders will pop in here and give a better explination than I have. If not, you may want to post a separate post in a different thread (not under Jan 08 banders) and ask that very question.

I guess every doc is different because I can have NSAIDS, in fact, been on 750mg of Ibuprofen since Friday, and even took them 2 days after surgery on the advice of my surgeon.