Looking for some advice and reassurance. I have been lurking through the site and I want to understand if TLBC a good place to have the lap band done? Is there a good support network -. i.e fill nurses, nutrition, etc? I was reading about nurse Nancy and her not being very supportive or sympathetic. Is Dr. Yau approachable - I have only had a consultation with Kathy - she seemed quite nice, but generally speaking I like to meet the person who is going to be working on me before the actual day.

I was also reading a fair amount about emergent situations and that going to emergency is generally a waste of time as Dr's don't know the first thing about it. I live in Ajax so its not like I am having to fly across the country.

I am quite nervous and scared any reassurance would be greatly appreciated. Knowing what your experiences were like would be great!

I really want to have this done but am a tad terrified.

Any thoughts would greatly be appreciated!

Angel Bear;

What a heart wrenching story! I am so glad you are FINE now... I agree that Dr. Yau is the best... no complaints from me either!

Thanks Heather. I'm seriously thinking about asking Dr Yau to put the band back in - it was so much easier living with the band. But I'm waiting until I'm a little stronger to approach that subject. When I hear about the few that have struggled with complications but have made it for years - it gives me hope.

Have a great week and thanks for posting.

Angel,

I have said since my first year of banding the trick is to get your head around the who, what, why, where, when and how you eat... give yourself some time to work out the head issues and go for the band again. It is a ton of hard work for anyone.

A lot of people do not realize that there are a lot of similarities between anoxeria and bulimia and over eaters and bingers have a lot in common.

Good luck and keep in touch and know TLBC will be there for you along with us

Heather

Angel,

I have said since my first year of banding the trick is to get your head around the who, what, why, where, when and how you eat... give yourself some time to work out the head issues and go for the band again. It is a ton of hard work for anyone.

A lot of people do not realize that there are a lot of similarities between anoxeria and bulimia and over eaters and bingers have a lot in common.

Good luck and keep in touch and know TLBC will be there for you along with us

Heather

I must confess, I am still binge eating. Mostly at night when I am alone and almost always on chocolate covered Almonds... I just cannot stop thinking about them, ways to get them, conceel them etc...

Any suggestions?

I must confess, I am still binge eating. Mostly at night when I am alone and almost always on chocolate covered Almonds... I just cannot stop thinking about them, ways to get them, conceel them etc...

Any suggestions?

Binge eating is consuming massive amounts of food 2000-3000 calories in a rapid period of time eating until you almost feel sick or do feel sick... consuming an entire tub of ice cream etc a few almonds isn't a binge but eating the whole bag in a matter of minutes.

It takes time to learn control and sometimes we all fall down and we get up again and start all over again..

Heather

Binge eating is consuming massive amounts of food 2000-3000 calories in a rapid period of time eating until you almost feel sick or do feel sick... consuming an entire tub of ice cream etc a few almonds isn't a binge but eating the whole bag in a matter of minutes.

It takes time to learn control and sometimes we all fall down and we get up again and start all over again..

Heather

I agree when peaches says that she is beinge eating because even if she is not eating the whole bag in a minute or eating 2000-3000 calories she has admitted that she is obsessing over them - Thinking about getting them how to conceal them etc. She is bingeing in her head and that is the more destructive behaviour.

I was doing the same with chocolate recently. Any kind of chocolate. What helped me is to give it up completely. Cold turkey. It was like quitting smoking the cravings were so bad at times, but take it a moment at a time. After a few days the urges will begin to subside. If you feel up to it, I would also recommend detoxing by avoiding all refined sugars and white foods (flour, rice) etc. This will help with the cravings as well.

Good luck.

I agree when peaches says that she is beinge eating because even if she is not eating the whole bag in a minute or eating 2000-3000 calories she has admitted that she is obsessing over them - Thinking about getting them how to conceal them etc. She is bingeing in her head and that is the more destructive behaviour.

I was doing the same with chocolate recently. Any kind of chocolate. What helped me is to give it up completely. Cold turkey. It was like quitting smoking the cravings were so bad at times, but take it a moment at a time. After a few days the urges will begin to subside. If you feel up to it, I would also recommend detoxing by avoiding all refined sugars and white foods (flour, rice) etc. This will help with the cravings as well.

Good luck.

I can agree but the technical explanation is as I stated if you need it you need it when you read some studies there are a lot of similarities between bulimia and obese binge eating, and anoxeria and obese people with body dismorphic order, so don't discount how close you can be... and possibly needing help to get over it or work with it.

We all have issues with food some are easier and some are harder detoxing is a great way to start I did it a few weeks ago mostly I needed to get the majority of the sugar out it really helps to stop it for 7-10 days when you are ready to do it.

Good luck, says the girl who is fighting the salt craving demon lately.

Heather

I was banded in Sept 2006 and my experiences with TLBC have been excellent. Nancy is a genius at giving a fill; she is in and out of that port without even a sissy like me feeling anything at all. Though she speaks rapidly, a personal quirk and one which might strike some of you as expressing her impatience, I have always found her to be very warm and helpful.

As for Dr. Yau, he helped to save my bacon. I had been having throat problems which I assumed were band-related. He had me into Scarborough Grace, his home hospital, in order to have this checked out by a fluoroscopy. Turns out I was just fine but he urged me to see an ears, nose and throat specialist and offered to set up an appointment with one. Good thing that I did follow his suggestion: it turned out that I have throat cancer.

The TLBC folks are a fine team. You will have to ask for help if you feel you need it as they are not mind readers. For me, a downtown grrl, the location was a big plus.

I was banded in Sept 2006 and my experiences with TLBC have been excellent. Nancy is a genius at giving a fill; she is in and out of that port without even a sissy like me feeling anything at all. Though she speaks rapidly, a personal quirk and one which might strike some of you as expressing her impatience, I have always found her to be very warm and helpful.

As for Dr. Yau, he helped to save my bacon. I had been having throat problems which I assumed were band-related. He had me into Scarborough Grace, his home hospital, in order to have this checked out by a fluoroscopy. Turns out I was just fine but he urged me to see an ears, nose and throat specialist and offered to set up an appointment with one. Good thing that I did follow his suggestion: it turned out that I have throat cancer.

The TLBC folks are a fine team. You will have to ask for help if you feel you need it as they are not mind readers. For me, a downtown grrl, the location was a big plus.

Green,

I am sorry to hear your news. How are you doing? Have you started treatment yet? You are a tough cookie and I know you will get through this!

Thinking of you,

Susan

Hi Doddie,

I live in Vancouver and am scheduled for a lap band at TLBC on Aug 6th. I would LOVE to talk to you. Do you have an email that I could contact you at?

Thanks,

Zena

Hi Zena; I too was banded at TLBC by Dr. Yau... I whole heartedly recommend him too. He is an awesome surgeon.

I had my 1st done in July 07, the op was uneventful... very little pain (took tyl for a couple days) I was out walking around the block the same night, and hiking the next day for excersise... I heal very well and perhaps I have a high pain tolerance or just lucky..

No nausea at all, they give you a really good anesthetic & meds.

Scars are SO minimal... and fade.

Now I did have a complication. During a fill in the fall the RN punctured my tubing in two places... this resulted in a LEAK of band Fluid and loss of restriction.

Needless to say, I didn't loose toomuch weight in the first 7 mos. until my Port/tubing was fixed (free of charge) in Mar 08.

The second surg was as uneventful as the first... and now I am getting fills again and on my way weightloss wise.

Just like any surg. proceedure there are no 100% perfect results. I was one of the unlucky's but I am still Glad that I went for the band...

It was and is still the best decision for ME...

p.s. fills don't hurt either, the tiniest of needles is used.

Hi there,

I am conflicted about my experiences with TLBC. On one hand, the surgeon is the best - no issue there and given the seriousness of the surgery, that reassurance is needed. On the other hand, I have found the follow-care to be quite poor given the $16K I spent. For instance, they switched the time of my surgery and forgot to tell me (I just happened to arrive early so I made it on time but they rushed me through and made me feel like I was inconveniencing them because I did not arrive at the earlier time - even though they acknowledged that they "forgot" to call me), they rushed me out like cattle, and no one called me after the surgery. I went 6 weeks with not even a phone call to make sure I was alive - I had better service when I had my thyroid removed and none one made any money off me that time! I have left messages for Kathy that she NEVER returned, I don't find Jill very helpful at all, and frankly, the only person who does respond promptly to me is Nancy. I admit that Nancy does not have excellent people skills, but I really feel this is a language barrier, not a personality issue. I communicate almost exclusively with Nancy via email and she responds very quickly, but one read of her emails and you can see very clearly that French is her first language and her communication skills in English are less than perfect. I think this is why she comes across as 'cold' to some. After some issues I was having, and a trip to the ER (where, as people say, they could do nothing for me but refer me back to the TLBC), I asked to see Dr. Yau again personally. I drove 3 hours to Toronto and got about 4 mins of Dr. Yau's time in which he shamed and humiliated me, suggested I must be lying about what I was eating and then promptly passed me back to Nancy. I just wanted him to listen to me. He gave the ER doctor who called him more time - perhaps because he was a doctor. I was humiliated and in tears. Nancy gave me a shoulder and a de-fill and I left. She continues to see me every few weeks - 11 months after my banding. I don't think their follow-up care is optimal and I hear better things about the other clinics, but my goal was to have the best surgeon and while his after-care skills seem poor, I still feel he is the best at the technical procedure. Being a registered MSW (social worker), I also feel that the TLBC does little to address the emotional issues related to over-eating and I do not feel that ANY of their staff are qualified to do this. I also questioned Jill's qualifications - she was a chef, they call her a nutritionist - I wanted to know if she is a "registered dietician" because there is a difference - they were not very receptive to the question. I think they need more psychological support and I feel they need more options for patients who can't take off work and just "drop by" any day of the week for a meeting, fill or consultation. Those are my thoughts.

Good luck!

Kero you have made some excellent observations, some of them I subscribe to. I do understand there is now a psychologist on staff but I don't know how you get to him before or after surgery.

I live in BC and know firsthand how long distant patients can get lost at TLBC. The aftercare support is second to none for Toronto and area patients. However, anyone long distance must give heed to support very carefully. For instance, for me to have a FREE fill, it costs me roughly $1,000 to fly to Toronto. Also, not being able to attend the "Boot Camp" and other support meetings can leave a long distance patient very much alone. As everyone knows the first few months everything that is unusual such as pain, vomiting, etc. can be very frightening. Not being able to get answers locally can equally be frightening. Where one clinic supplies fill nurses/doctors throughout Canada, TLBC does not do that. They rely on a DVD which has never been accepted by our ER or my GP as a training tool.

BC now has a Dr. that does banding trained by Dr. Yau but he will not do fills for any patient other than his own. Mercifully, I was accepted as his patient before he stopped taking on others.

All my points are yes TLBC is an excellent Clinic and Dr. Yau is the most experienced. Their aftercare is second to none, except for long distant patients, which can find it a bit tiresome getting help. Zena probably would back me up on this.

As for comments on Nancy, I don't think it is the language barrier at all. I I had arranged a surgical date to have my port corrected but she was the direct cause of the surgery being cancelled. She used two needles and 5 tries to get the saline in as a test and told Dr. Yau there was no need for surgery. As a result I lost $1,000 for that trip only to make it a few months later AGAIN and this time I had it corrected. Nancy knew I was from BC but that didn't stop her from "advising the doctor" there was no problem putting in saline. Even when I told Dr. Yau it took 4 needles and twenty minutes to get in a fill. I thought the next day I would get anoher fill before going home On this trip, I told them I only wanted the band corected not moved. In the dressing room, Dr. Yau asked where I wanted it moved to. I was furious and told him to fix the damn thing I didn't want it moved. I really wonder if they talk to each other!

FLASH! I just have received word that Nancy will be coming to Victoria, BC for fills. TLBC never told me. Communications anyone?????