Dolittle

To make sure your legal with the IRS, I've been told by Lori,, all you need is a surgery receipt. The OCC should provide that before you leave the clinic.

I claimed everything on my taxes,, and I mean everything, Surgery, travel, hotels, car mileage, parking and highway tolls. Don't forget to count all of your other medical expenses that you have during the whole year, like dental, chiro and drug prescriptions. It all adds up. Remember, you have to exceed 7.5% of your gross income inorder to write it off. Those patients that have their surgery at the beginning of the year have a bigger advantage when it comes to writing stuff off. Because adding those fill trips along with the band surgery really helps.

June? June is the month that has the longest days of the year. Most of the kids are out of school. Family's start hitting the road and go places on their vacation. Your taking charge of your life and have decided to have weight loss surgery (WLS). The June topic is the place to meet patients that have also scheduled their WLS or fill. So lets hear from all of you that will be having your surgery or fill during the month of June.

I wanted to inform everyone that I'm still trying to get answers from Allergan/Inamed. One of the questions to Allergan referred to different band sizes. I started back on Jan 2nd and have been put on the run around from the people at Allergan. Over the last two and half months I've been going back and forth through emails and phone calls. This week I'm going to call the head of Allergans marketing and talk to her one more time,,, I just don't think they really care. I do have an answer to Bogies question about how they tell if your band is leaking. The easiest way they can tell, is when you have a fill, if the place you go to is any good, the fill doctor or tech will pull all the fuild out of your band to see how much is in there, then compare it to previous records. If there's a big variation, then there's a possiblity something is might be wrong. The next step would be to watch the refill via the fluoroscope and see if the fuild is leaking. All good bandsters should keep track of how much they have in their band. Try to use the same fill clinic and the same doctor, because they will keep records of this too. But sometimes you might end up at another fill clinic, that's when it pays to know your numbers. I personally have never heard of the band leaking, I've heard of badly done fills at shotty clinics where they have missed the port and hit the tube or damaged the port. Also,, some of these so called fill clinics can accidently not pull all the fuild out and then proceed to tell you somethings wrong. Talk about giving someone some anxiety. This is why it's to your best interest to check out fill clinics before you go to them. My best advise is to go back to the OCC for your fills. My opinion is that they still do the best job at filling your band. I live in the Midwest, if I plan it right and watch airline sales, it's almost the same cost to go back to TJ versus going to one of those so called fill clinics. I know its a little inconvenient to go back to TJ,, but I sleep better at night.

I'm sitting here in the same boat,,,, waiting.

There are several members here at the OCC forum that have posted their experience about their own plastic surgery experiences. There are several internet website forums that specialize in plastic surgery, that have doctor and patient posts and information. I'm not going to name those, you just don't know if the information is true or not. It's known that some Doctors wifes and office staff have been caught planting misinformation at these other plastic surgery websites. Patients of some doctors will make up stuff about other doctors. Other forum members at these websites will take bits and pieces and pictures and repost them at other plastic surgery websites. The list goes on about misinformation. Here at the OCC forum, our members you know, you see that they're here on a regular bases and more than likely you can personally email them and "I HOPE" you can get an honest opinion. Be careful on what you read at other websites, it's hard to tell what's true or fiction.

This topic,, "Plastic Surgery" is for and about our forum members. If you as a member of this forum wish to post "your" personal experience with plastic surgery, that would be great. Please do not post information or posts from other so called plastic surgery forums. The main reason is that sometimes it isn't true and you have no way of verifying this information. If we keep the plastic surgery topic confined to posts only from and about our members, it will be easier to verify and make this topic more creditable.

I'm sorry I haven't kept up on my blog. Here's an update of what has happened since my LBL at Cosmed in October 2008 and my last entry in January 2009. I have pretty much stayed the same weight. I have my band adjusted for maintaining my weight. I haven't lost any weight since I had my LBL, but maybe I'm 10 pounds heavier. My weight goes with the season here in the Midwest. When I'm exercising, my weight goes down, when winter hits, I gain some. OK, now to the LBL. As I was saying in previous entries, LBL plastic surgery is major surgery. It takes a long time to recover from this, I know some that have recovered faster, maybe its my age (56) I don't know. In August and in December of 2009, I had to go back to Cosmed and have Dr. Quiroz fix a couple spots where some of the internal sutures were trying to migrate out. I took him about 15 minutes each time to fix, but this is a side effect that happens sometime. As of today, I still have nerve issues that I think will never get better or it's the best its going to get. I'm still numb or tinglely on the top of both hips, the top butt area and the top front of my legs. I mean it got better as time went by,, but, I think it will never go back to the way it was before. I'm also numb where the incision goes around me. I have phantom aches and pains I never had before, I just learn to blow it off and the next thing I know the slight pain is gone. I think its due to the nerve damage that comes along with cutting you in half and the Lipo they do along with the LBL. I think it's something I'll have to learn to live with. I'm I glad I had the LBL? Would I do it again? Probably,, I'm glad that I don't have that big hanging apron anymore. My sex life is alot better since I don't have all that loose fat, in the way, hanging and slapping around. LOL. My clothes fit better. When I look at myself in the mirror, I look better to myself, which is a self image issue. The nerve damage is something I didn't anticipate, but that was a risk I took and have to live with. So, If your thinking about having a LBL, just remember, not everyone has the same side effects/complications and post-op issues. If your going to do it, do it for your own reasons and remember it is MAJOR SURGERY!

If your paying out of pocket, why not just cross the border and go to the best, the OCC?

Since the OCC closed their Dental office, they have been refering patients to Dr. Lugo at the Dent-Art Center. The Dent-art clinic is located between the Lucerna and the OCC, so it's real easy to find. In December I was in TJ to visit Cosmed plastic surgery clinic, but I needed a tooth crowned. I was only going to be in TJ 3 days. With good planning I could make this trip a 3 in 1 trip, so I scheduled everything accordingly. I arrived on a Wednesday and went straight to Dent-art and had the prep work done for my new crown. Thursday I went to the OCC and had Dr. So check my band and everything was fine there, then over to Cosmed to see Dr. Quiroz. My planning paid off and I had the afternoon off to go site seeing. I jumped across the border and went to the USS Midway floating museum. If you've never been on an aircraft carrier, this was very educational and it was cool. Friday it was back to Dent-art to finish up my new crown. Then cross the border, back to the airport and my flight back to Chicago. I can say that Dr. Lugo and Dr. Ana at Dent-art were very professional and did meticulous work. Plus I saved big bucks. You can check out their website Dent-art center They also have a shuttle driver/service.

I'm supposed to be talking with a Inamed/Allergan representitive next week. If you have any questions you want me to submit to them, send me an email to occforummoderator@gmail.com

I'm still working on this with Inamed/Allergan, I'm supposed to be getting a new contact person and it seems she's the head of everything. My old contact person retired. I've been told we're supposed to chat next week sometime. We'll see.

You need to call one of the OCC coordinators. We don't post pricing here at the forum. At the top of the website is the Obesity Control Center logo. Click on it to go to the OCC website and fill out the contact info. The coordinators will answer all your questions pertaining to costs for the Lap Band procedure.

Also, a well known fact, diet pop with the artificial sweetners can increase your appetite.

The following paragragh was from a news letter published by Dr. Watkins, a Chicago Lap Band surgeon. Carbonation causes gas to build up in our pouches (the stomach above the band) and puts a lot of pressure on the area. With repetition, this could eventually cause a dilated pouch, which with-out care, could result in re-operation of the band. Also, once carbonation passes the band stoma, it causes a lot of gas and discomfort that is not easily relieved naturally. In order to protect your pouch and your band, do not drink carbonation! This is what he tells his patients, it seems to be good advice.

To me, PBing and Slimming are the same. It sounds like you got something stuck and you had to PB or Slime to relieve the pressure it was putting on your sphincter. If you can only eat so much compared to before, you probably have some restriction. Whenever you schedule your first fill, make sure you have a barium swallow and fluoro. This way the fill doctor can see how things flow.

I found this information very informative. It was sent to me from Stacey at Synchrony Health Chicago. They were kind enough to give me permission to posts this. Synchrony Health also offers aftercare to patients that have been banded outside of the USA.

I'd have to agree with this post from Cottonwood, sounds like something I'd elect to do.

I still think it's an American doctor/surgeons attitude when it comes to patients that have had medical procedures done outside of this country. I know of patients that were banded in Mexico and recieve aftercare here in the USA. I have lists of American doctors that will do fills and aftercare all over the USA. You've seen posts here at the forum from those patients that recommend doctors in their area. But then you'll see posts from patients that are asking forum members if they know of any doctors for aftercare in specfic areas of the country. I don't know what the malpractice insurance rules are for American doctors, but its pretty sad that in the area I live in, they won't offer or give any aftercare to a patient that was banded outside of this country. I know of at least a dozen patients in my area that went to the OCC and got banded, we all have to travel either back to the OCC or to the Chicago area (180 mile drive one way) to get aftercare. Is malpractice insurance different from one town in my state from another town in that same state? I'm guessing that it's not.

Is it April already? Where has the winter went? April is a month that inspires us to make changes. Summer is very near and we know our activity levels are going to increase. We decide to take advantage of this and schedule surgery or a fill. With this increased activity, newly banded and with good restriction in our band, we should have a successful summer of loosing weight. This topic is where you'll meet those bandsters that will be joining you on this journey during the month of April. So lets hear from the April bandsters.

I finally got to talk to a real person at Inamed/Allergan about lap bands. I learned a few things that I was misinformed about. The 14cc AP band isn't the only band used in the USA. The 4cc, 10cc and the 14cc AP bands are all available to surgeons in the USA. They told me that it's always up to your surgeon on which band is used. Weather he uses the 4cc, 10cc or the 14cc AP band is a judgement call by the surgeon. Also, I was told the larger AP band is rated at 14cc's, not the 15/17cc's I had been told before. I still have a couple more questions about fills that needed answered and I'm waiting to hear back from Inamed. As far as what bands are available in Mexico, I don't have the answer to that yet. I do know that the 14cc AP band isn't available in Mexico. I trying to get an answer to that question too. It seems that Allergan/Inameds marketing in the USA is seperate from the rest of the world. Why? I don't know answer to that either. I'm trying. I know that in the area where I live, AGB surgeons use only the biggest band, Why? My opinion is still that of it takes more fills to reach restriction. I've been to to many support group meeting listening to post-op patients asking why after 6 months of fills they still don't have restriction. I've read the same stories at other boards. Why? I can say that I'm really glad that 'Smiley' and her friend are really lucky to have a great surgeon and that they want their patients to succeed and this surgeon has a great post-op aftercare/fill program that takes care of their patients. I just wish that all clinics/surgeons would do the same. I know of a couple surgeons in the Chicago area that really go above and beyond to help their patients achieve success. In fact I go to one of them for my fills if I can't make it to the OCC. My local AGB clinics/surgeons won't even look at Mexican banded patient. Sorry, maybe I'm a little biased and POed about my local doctors and it showed through some of my posts. I'll try not to do that again. I'm still trying to get some statistics about fills, like how many the first year, men versus women, etc.