AngieB

I have been reading on a different forum that newly banded patients are getting there first fills with in 4 weeks. I have my 1st fill scheduled for 6 weeks. I'd like to bump my apt up, but wonder if it will be to soon. Dr. Ortiz says 6-8 weeks. Anyone have an opinion on the two week time difference? When did you get your first fill?

Okay I have this strange hiccup think going on. That is the best way I can discribe it. It feels like my stomach is kinda contracting. Sometimes it can feel mildly uncomfortable. Mosty it's just weird. Sometimes I make a strange sound with it. I am wondering what it is? Does anyone have this happening to them? It happens when I have something in my stomach and when I don't. Could it be air? I am guessing here.... Oh, and on the subject of air. I have burped a few times, and man my burps have changed. They are louder and feel good.

Sure hope you had a great Birthday!

Mtred - Great post, as it has brought some good response. I wanted to share with you, even though I am not what you would consider a "success story" yet. I had my lab band placed on 4/24/09. I choose this tool because I have lost over 100 lbs before by way of healthy eating and getting the butte moving! My issues falls with keeping it off. The yo-yo dieting is very hard on a body and I want to love and respect my body, not torture and abuse it. When I began learning about the lap-band, I did my homework. What made me decide to choose Dr. Ortiz and the Obesity Control Clinic came down to experience, cost, after-care support, and reputation. Dr. Ortiz loves what he does and it shows because his staff treat you very well. If my insurance paid for this procedure, I would have found someone in the states to do it, but lets be honest here. Money does play into it. That being said, I do feel like I choose the best surgeon for the procedure and the money. Dr. Ortiz has placed over 6500 lap bands to date. What that tells me, is he knows what he is doing. I would personally rather have a Dr. who has a crap ton of surgeries under his belt then say someone who has 200. Experience translates into seeing many different issues. Before my surgery, I spoke with Dr. Martinez, asking him several qustions. One being, about the newest technic, that makes 2 incisions. (Hey, the less cutting the better right??) After listening to his response, I felt comfortable with having 5 incisions done, not that they would have done 2 anyway. The reason being is safety and getting the best view. Anyway, I am rambling now, but I do want to say this. After surgery I was up and walking with in the hour. I did not suffer from any gas pains. NONE AT ALL! I had minimal discomfort and left the clinic the same day. I was in surgery at 10:00 and out by 10:30. Walking by 11:00 and back at our hotel by 4 or 4:30. The next day, I went shopping for 4 hours with 3 other bandsters who had surgery the day I did. We all felt great and had a good time. I do read posts on lapbandtalk.com and as a matter of fact a few days before my surgery I spent time on the oh crap, I didn't sign on for this board. You know, the people who have the band and have suffered greatly for having it. It gave a personal face to the statistics. Band slips, band failures, ect. It was a great experience and really opened my eyes to what could go wrong. Of corse, I gambled on the odds and decided to be banded, that being said. So far I am satisifed with my decision. I also belonged to a board for pregnancy support. Once I had my son, I'd say a few months after, I stopped posting. Soon after that, I stopped reading all together. I have not even logged on to the site in months. I do keep in touch with some of the momma's on facebook. Let's face it, we use tools for a reason. Once that goal is reached we move on. There are a few members of this forum who have reached goal and continue to post and share their expierence. After you have been a member for a while you will see who they are. I know I have darn near wrote you a novel, so I will close and say, I wish you the best informed decision you can make for yourself and welcome to the forum! Angie

Good for you! You will do great! I am sure it will be hard but anything worth having usually is.....right?!

Well feel free to PM me any time you want to chat. No sense in you feeling alone. Especially when we are here for each other! If you want someone to talk to, I'd be happy to give you a ring. /biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' /><' />

I do have some suggestions for you. First of all, it is hard so don't beat yourself up. I struggled with the pre-diet myself, and had little cheats almost everyday. I did started my pre-op diet really early, and thank goodness I did becuase I did end up making my 5% body fat loss goal! Can I get a woop woop! LOL Serously, that was a mini miracle. I think the pre-op diet itself has some good benefits other than lightening your liver and getting rid of the fat deposits. It helps to shrink the tissue of your stomach, as well as the size of it. Getting you ready for the 3 weeks that come post op. The first three or four days are the hardest. I bought and ate ff jello as well as green salad. I got a few different kinds of salad spritzer too. Variety is a plus when you eat a lot of salad. TAKE the benefiber at 9 and 3 like the instructions say, it will help to give you a full feeling. Drink. drink, drink. Protein water will help curb the hunger pangs as well. You can buy the Special K protien water, crystal light, or the beneprotein in the can. (Beneprotein is a special order item.) Identify head hunger For me, I was so use to being "head hungry", but not ever feeling hungry. My stomach seldom if ever growled, or was empty. When I finally had a empty stomach this was a cause of concern for me. Really even mild panic to be honest. I have gotten much better at the head hunger. Stay focused and remind yourself why you are doing this diet in the first place. Ask yourself, am I really hungry? Is my stomach growling? Is it empty? I talked about my struggles and got some really good pep-talks. Which helped reinforce why I was doing this pre-op diet in the first place. Consider this your last ditch effort to diet. Soon you will have the help of a friend, and you will not have to do it will the sole will power you have to now. Remember, to do your best every day. If you have to, break down your longing to eat. Say to yourself, I am not going to eat ________ whatever food for this hour. Make it threw the hour and set a new goal. Keep in mind you are doing better on this diet than you would be eating "normal." The more weight you loose, the better you will feel! I have lost 17 lbs! A bit slower than most, but it's what I am doing. Pick up something that weighs 17 lbs! I am no longer lugging that weight around! To me that is a sucess. Doing well on your pre-op helps your surgery and recovery go better. It also primes you for post-op! You can do this! If I did it anyone can do it! Not sure if any of these suggestions help you but I can hope my experience will make yours a bit easier! I'll be thinking of you and your upcoming surgery!

He does indeed look like he needs a drink! How funny is that! I love these types of pictures!

When I read about how people live with the band, and think oh my, what am I getting myself into? I have to remind myself, that I will have my own relationship with the band. Each of us is different. For me this is a life change, and one that I sometimes look at like.....am I ready to give up my love affair with food. I enjoy food and find comfort in food. Sometimes when I read what people are eating I think.....I wouldn't choose to eat those foods. Like almonds for a snack. Really, I haven't choose almonds for a snack ever. What I have to do is remind myself I will have my own relationship with the band. I will be learning what foods are good and what I can not tolerate any more. I am going to focus on eating 1/3 of what I would have normally ate. I'll have much of the same foods as I did before. We eat pretty darn healthy at our house anyway. I don't plan on depriving myself of the foods I love. I do plan on having a better portion. I am a bit more laid back about my new band life. I have set goals for what I would like to achieve, but I am not going all intense. To me this is a life change. Life being the key word. I do not plan on dropping all my weight in one year. I'd like to drop it in 2. This is a lifestyle not a race. I don't have expectations that I will loose a ton of weight before my second fill. In my head, I am thinking that in July that is when I will see some good progress. (And who knows, I may not have a great level of restiction then either?!) I have to say that I can feel a difference in my cloths. I love that! It has begun! Weight loss has started! My first fill apt is on June 1st. I have not met with this Dr. yet, so I do not know what her time frames are on fills. I am sure she will tell me more when I met her. Best case senerio is I will have good restriction after my 1st fill! That would be awesome!

Well, I am back to work and living life! I am feeling great and if you look at me you would not think I had surgery four days ago. I think the fear people have about the swine flu is a bit blown up. My sitter had a mild panic attack about watching my son. My goodness, if I had swine flu, I would be ill. Odds are my family would be ill as well. I am feeling great and so ready for the healing to begin! I am 33 days away from my 1st fill! Been drinking and having a little head hunger from time to time. Nothing to aweful! I had a "no-no" moment yesterday. I was slicing some banana for my son Daniel, and put a piece in my mouth. I thought about spitting it out, then decided to chew it to mushy bits. A few moments after I swallowed, I had a mild chest pain and the "slimming" began. So, I walked and spit, walked and spit. My stomach said what the heck! Guess I had to learn the hard way. No solids for 3 weeks! I have not had any hunger, but have had head hunger. I ordered my surgery records today, and Melissa will be sending my kids meal card in the mail. I see the local surgeon on June 1st for my initial consult and first fill appointment. I am so happy to have this band around my stomach and hope it heals well and fast.

I had surgery on Friday, and was in Tijuana on Thur, Fri, Sat, and departed on Sunday. Upon my arrival back to the US, my boss sent me a text. She was informing me that my work may choose to put me in quarantine. (i.e. I was not going to be allowed to return to work for a few days) The company I work for is a global company and upon hearing about the swine flu they put there policy into place to protect the company as a whole. Personally I understand why they do what they do. I am going to be allowed to return to work tomorrow, given I do not show any symptoms. Yay for me! It is wise to be aware of the situation.

Surgery went well. I decided to stay at the Marriott instead of the clinic. A bit more comfortable. I am feeling very good, so far very limited pain. I have been walking and drinking. Think I will lay down an take a little nap. I have the the 10cm 4 cc band from Inamed. I was very happy when I met with Dr. Miranda. When I stepped on the scale to be weighed in , I was 265 on the money! That is what my goal was. Yippee! So I lost 5% of my body weight as asked. I am so happy my mom decided to go with me. I think her helping to get up and walking early on made a world of difference.

Lisal - I do the same thing with lemons at costco! How funny is that! Great minds think alike.

Vicki - sorry you have had issues sleeping. That stinks, I slept like a rock! I wonder if I will get a chance to meet you today? I am having surgery this morning! Woo Hoo! When does your flight get in? Congrats on the amazing weight loss. I have seen your before and after pictures and they are so cool! You are well on your way! Are you staying over night? Or heading right back out? Hope to meet you! Angie

9:40 in the am. When are you arriving?

All this waiting is hard on a girl! LOL Well at least I have left a few details for each day. By this time tomorrow I will be in SD!!!!!

I leave tomorrow bright and early for Tijuana, MX! I am excited, and for the most part ready. I do have a few details to tie up. My nerves have settled. It helped me to get my bag packed. That put me at ease, knowing I will not be in a rush to finalize any details. First thing this morning I printed my boarding pass. Yesterday I spent some time reading peoples negative experiences with the band. Worst cases! It was interesting, and I'll I can do is pray that those stories do not become my own personal experience. It did open my eyes more to what could happen, and what people went through. I am steping out in faith that I have made a good decision for myself and family. At anyrate, I am the person who reads stuff like that a few days before being banded! LOL I would not recommend it to the faint of heart. My friend who had her surgery on Monday is doing great! No need to take pain medication and has been out and about on Tuesday, shopping and what not. I am so glad she has had a positive experience! Now I await my own turn. I pray that this will be the experience I hope it to be!

Vicki - We will be there the same day! I look forward to meeting you!