Hello All,

Well I had my revision on Thursday with Dr Ortiz and his staff. I must say I was totally blown away by he and all his staff. They were exceptional. As long as you know nothing will happen on time you will be extremely happy if you should go with them. The facilities are very clean and everyone was very knowledgable. I am glad I went to him.

The surgery itself went very well. Revision surgeries take longer since they have to remove any scar tissue and the old band. But I now have an entirely new band - the LapBand and the port is now in my side instead of on my sternum.

I don't have any fill yet and the doctor will not give me a fill for eight weeks since a revision causes a significant amount of trauma to the stomach. He doesn't want to traumatize the stomach any further until it has had plenty of time to heal. Getting a fill too soon my cause another slippage and he said he doesn't like replacing them a third time so I need to take care! I don't plan on doing this again so I'll follow his rules!

They didn't start me out with any fill in my band (like they normally do) so unfortunately all the liquids I'm drinking now are going RIGHT THROUGH ME and I'm starving every hour which is a pain but well worth the trouble of having a properly fitted band. I haven't suffered any acid reflux since the surgery so I take that as a very good sign!

I am sore but the majority of my pain is in my shoulders from the gas they used for the surgery. Getting up and down are pretty painful though. But just sitting doesn't hardly hurt at all. I find this surgery was more painful than my first band surgery.

Question for those of you recently banded:

Do any of you remember if Swiss Miss chocolate mix (that you mix with water) is allowed the first few days? I had some today (my third day) and I am wondering if that's alright. My first band doctor said it was and I can't get a hold of the nutritionist until Monday, so I thought I'd see what you all have to say here.

So some additional news I'm very excited about...

I'm getting a lower body lift this September 8th by Dr Quiros! It is only $5700 which is far less than I had anticipated - because I don't have nearly as much skin as some do, so prices vary from person to person. I am beyond excited to finally be getting some plastic surgery. I won't wear shorts because my legs sag and I have no butt and my belly looks like an 80 year old's! This is a major step for me in my "final transformation." I know it'll leave a scar, but a scar is WAY better then hanging skin - even though its not that much skin.

I asked Dr Ortiz if it was okay to get plastic surgery so soon and he said it shouldn't be any problem. So yippee!!!! I am so excited. Next I'm getting an arm lift (saggy arms run in my family) and a boob job!! I'm so excited!

You can see Dr Quiros' website at http://www.cosmedclinic.com/

I hope you are all doing well!

Mae

Mae, thanks so much for the update; I'm really glad all went well. Dr. Ortiz is sort of strict about the clear/then full liquids, but he does not do a mushie stage--he doesn't believe in it. If you have questions, Dr. Miranda, the nutritionist there was very helpful to me. When my daughter was banded, I did tell him I started Slimfast a few days early cause I was STARVING & I thought I was getting weak (get out the violins) & he didn't seem to mind too much. He's always available on his cell, as is Dr. Martinez. (I love him) The might be stricter w/you cause it was a rebanding.

I did hear from Dr Miranda today and she said I could start eating yogurt today and shakes on Thursday. Hurray!