Hi all -

I've posted very seldom, but was banded on 2/29 at Magee Hospital in Pittsburgh. I'm down 45 pounds from my highest ever weight and 35 since surgery. I was feeling pretty good about that. Magee's program is very conservative so with my first fill I got 1 cc. I feel like my success so far has been driven by will power. After the first fill I got an occasional slight stuck feeling so I was hoping that an additional fill would begin to make a difference and give me that feeling of fullness that I keep hearing about.

So on 5/20 I went back for my second fill and according to their protocol they only gave me 1/2 cc this time so I'm now at 1.5 cc in a 10 cc band. Since that second fill I have felt absolutely no restriction, no stuck feeling, nothing. I haven't lost an additional ounce since that fill, and over the weekend did my first "cheating" including a hot dog in a bun (yep, it went down with no problem) and a piece of birthday cake. No ill affects except guilt and I've gained back 2 pounds.

I called the docs office and they said that since they withdrew the Fluid and then refilled they are certain the fluid went into the band and to "be patient." They won't give me any more until my 4 weeks are up.

Has anybody else experienced a "disappearing band?" Any suggestions?

Thanks much -

Lisa D

Pittsburgh, PA

278/268/235/175

Lisa, why don't you call Kelly and ask her what she thinks? I know that some people have issues with flying...that's what I would be concerned about rather than the health care in Cambodia. There have been too many inconsistencies with Rachel for my liking. Have you considered speaking to Dr. McClosky? I'm not sure if she is approachable or not but I would certainly voice my concerns. I've learned to follow my gut instinct when it comes to the office. I've been very pleased with the nursing care and the surgeon but I am very cautious when it comes to the PA.

I would ask to speak to Dr. McCloskey....she's the one the really knows. Since you don't have any restriction I don't see why you need to be unfilled. I think the problem would come if you felt restriction and something would get stuck. But....i'm not a dr.....good luck....tell us what happened.....i'd like to know how the situation was handled...susan

I'm still waiting to hear back from Kelly about my scheduled un-fill tomorrow. I'm really reluctant to go in for it, but I'm not sure how they'll treat me if I decide just to cancel. I flew to California and back a week ago for work and to be honest upon arriving home I was a little tighter, for about a day. But at this point.... 4 months into it with 1.5 cc and no restriction, I think I'd welcome a little tightness. I'm hoping that once they discuss it they say just go ahead and go with the 1.5 but we shall see. I'll keep you posted!

Lisa

Lisa,

I meant to get back to you after my first fill. Bill, the Nurse Practitioner that does my fills said that I didn't have to get an unfil when I travel to Peru. I have a 10cc band and Bill put 2cc's in upon my request to be conservative. I asked him to put 2cc's in because I was reluctant to be aggressive on my first fill. He was initially going to start with 3cc's. I wonder if you could request that he does your fills? I'm not sure if Dr. McClosky requires her fills to be done by certain people...but it's worth a try if you want someone that is more aggressive.

Thought I'd update you on what ended up happening. I called and asked to speak with Rachel since that is who my appointment was with. I was put through to Kelly's voicemail. She called me back and said that she really wanted me to come in to discuss this with Dr. McCloskey, so I did so yesterday. I still didn't "see" Dr. McCloskey, but I saw her surgical fellow and heard them talking about me in the hall.

They were very concerned about my going to Cambodia with anything in my band since I would have to go to Thailand (a short plane flight or long car ride) to find anyone who knows anything about bands. Since I was supposed to have 1.5 cc in the band, they wanted to take .5 back out. I reluctantly agreed.

Kelly came in to do the withdraw and could only get .5 cc out. It was NOT my imagination that going from 1 cc to 1.5 cc left me with less restriction than I had before, because God knows where it went but it sure wasn't in my band. She ended up simply putting .5 cc back in. Kelly was great and assured me that as soon as I get home she will give me my 1 cc and I can come back in every 2 weeks to get more as needed until I have restriction.

When I went to check out and make my appointment for my refill, they told me that I already had an appointment for that on July 22. I knew that appointment was to be with Rachel so I asked if I could change the appointment to either Kelly or Bill. The response was a hushed, "Rachel is no longer with us." So maybe I wasn't the only one having problems??

Anyway, we're off today for our trip. I'll let you all know how an almost empty band does on a 15 hour flight since that's our travel time from Newark to Hong Kong. Thanks again for the suggestions and support from the Magee folks! I really appreciated it.

Cheers -

Lisa

Have a great trip! I'm so glad that she's gone and that you will get your fills from Bill or Kelly. Be safe and have a good time.