My Lap Band Experience

[magpel]

Hi folks,

I thought I would share my experience, start to finish with the OCC, and the lap band.

Arrived 2/14/08

Banded 2/15/08

Departed 2/17/08

I arrived at the airport just before 2pm, and Fransico was there to meet me. I was under the impression that I was going to the hotel, but Fransico told me that the Nutritionist was expecting me. He took me to the clinic, and I ended up having to wait 2 hours for the Nutrtitionist to get to the clinic. I was kind of upset - I thought she was there waiting for me, turns out I ended up waiting for her! She took me in her office and spent less than 5 minutes talking to me, going over the diet after surgery. All the info she gave me was already emailed to me. I feel like my time was really wasted. While I know they have a Nutrionist there to help guide us, I felt like it was all robotic. She was just running through what she tells everyone everytime they step into her office. I was a bit dissappointed.

I finally was taken to my hotel, checked in and relaxed a while. I decided to get some soup at the resturant downstairs (it was yummy) and then come back to my room and jsut relax and prepare for the next morning.

There was a group of us that were told to be ready and waiting in the lobby first thing in the morning - I think it was 8am or something like that. While waiting down there, I met a few other folks who were getting surgery too. I was so SHOCKED!!!!!! to meet a gal who was getting surgery that day (everyone there was SHOCKED - it wasn't just me). She was average height, and average weight. We all thought she was going to pick up a friend who had the surgery - she just did not fit the profile for Lap Band surgery. She told us that it took her a few weeks to convince them to give her the Lap Band. She was told NOT to do a pre op diet or anything. She told us that she wanted to loose the extra weight she gained during early menopause. I suspect she was about 5 feet 6 inches, or 7 inches and her weight - taking a guess was probably 145 or so. She was super nice and was really looking forward to loosing 35lbs. This also confused me! I get that if she's gained weight since menopause that she might be looking at herself much differnt - however while talking to us, she told us how much she loves to eat, and how hard it was going to be to give up her diet soda and other things. It seems like if she were to change her eating habits and drinking habits she might have some success loosing those few (not 35!) extra pounds she's added. --THIS is nothing against her - she was very nice - this rant is directed to the CLINIC. I was very dissappointed that they agreed to this surgery. This surgery is supposed to be for people who are OBESE, not those who need to shed 10lbs. The ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR ladies and gentlemen THE ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR!!! This was the most dissappointing thing, truely.

Anyway - to continue -

I ended up waiting in the waiting room for about 2 hours, with doing a fast dental check and a EKG. I was then taken to my room, got into my gown and stuff. I was given a pill for relaxation, and got my IV and all that. I think I waited another 2 hours (fell asleep) before it was 'my turn'. I met Dr. Ortiz - he's very nice.

In recovery, I slept most of the day. I thought somone would wake me up to make me go walking - they keep saying all the walking you need to do after the surgery. I woke up 2 times after surgery. Once I had to use the restroom, so I thought I would walk a little. Then several hours later I woke up and did a few more laps. No one checked on me, either - which I thought was a bit strange! I wish they would be more aggressive with the after surgery care.

I slept great that night.

The next morning, I was told it was time to go, so I got up,dressed and then - haha - waited about another 2 hours (I could have been resting those two hours) before I was taken back to my hotel. I went shopping for about 1 hour, then back to the hotel and rested for the rest of the day/night. I thought that someone (nurse, doc, etc) would call and check on all of us - nobody did.

I got a call from Dr. Ortiz's mom letting me know that I had to be ready at 9am the next morning for my transport to the airport, even though my flight wasn't until 4:11pm. They told me that it takes a few hours, minimum, to cross the boarder - and the only other time they offered was at 1pm, but she told me I would not make my plane. So I needed to take the 9am transport. I ended up being the only person going on that transport - which I thought was funny - they could not have taken me a few hours later -- knowing that no other patients were needing to get to the airport before my flight. So, I had to sit in the hotel from 10:15 am until my flight at 4:11pm - that's 6 hours!!!!

Anyway, I'm home - it's been 6 days since my surgery. I'm doing pretty well. I'm sore on my left side (port side) but trying to take it easy. Yesterday was the first day I started to feel a little hungry, but then realized that I had not had enough to drink which is likely the cause. I made some homemade cream of mushroom soup and cream of broccoli/chicken soup last night. I look forward to enjoying that later today.

All in all, I'm happy I had the surgery. I really just wish they had a tighter regiem of how things are done. AND I will never be ok with them doing surgery on people who just need to drop a few pounds. I feel that's abusing what the Lap Band was intended for.

The entire staff IS very nice. I just wish they were more together - knowing that I was not walking - getting me up and walking. Instead of asking me if I've already had medication, they should have it charted what they've given me, when and who gave it to me.

With a little effort, I beleive this clinic could run more more smoothly.

Much Peace to you all,

Maggie

[Mackenzie]

My surgery is sch for feb 27 and im just wondering if everyones exp is like this....or if she was just unlucky? i guess i will just have to go there with a lot of patients!!!!

[Kim2BSlim]

It sounds like your experience was not very pleasant. I am sorry to hear that..especially since I am going next month to have the surgery. I have read many, many stories on this forum and I think this is the first one I read that didn't make the experience sound great. :-?

[Clynn]

If the clinic truly were only after the almighty dollar, wouldn't they have agreed to band the lady in your party from the start rather than having to be talked into it? I have experienced and heard of other instances where they are not in fact only concerned with the almighty dollar. When I went down from my first fill I decided to take a cab. The cab driver abandoned my 11 blocks from the clinic and I was hopelessly lost. Fransisco came and rescued me. Even though they usually charged for fill rides to the clinic, no mention of payment was made. Another example involves one of the people banded with me. He had a large bump over his port area. Dr Ortiz told him that it was not an issue health-wise, but if after loosing a bit of weight it was still there to come back down and he would re-seat it for free. These are only two examples, so please understand when I get a little defensive about your accusations that they are only after a buck.

[God4me]

Maggie,

Wishing you the best and a speedy recovery!

God be with you!

[magpel]

I'm not suggesting it's ALL about the mighty dollar. But I (as all of the other surgery patients) was just so shocked that she was getting banded. She told us she had to convince them for 2 weeks to give her the surgery. I can't beleive that you (any of you) would go for the Lap Band if you were in need of loosing 15lbs. Really - after talking to her, hearing hear talking about it - you would question why they agreed to give her surgery. There was a gal there waiting for her fill, and she was making comments, too, on how she didn't understand why this gal was getting the Band.

I'm not suggesting they are not nice, and kind.

I'm just sharing my experience, recalling what happened from the time I landed until the time I got home.

Clynn, honey I take no offense. We are all free thinkers. I know you had an awesome experience at the clinic. I think that's great!!

Much Peace,

Maggie

[God4me]

Maggi,

I'm am sitting in the hotel in Mexico as I reply to "your experience", ready to be banded 2/21/07. Sorry to hear that "your experience" was not great! However, I noticed that you never mentioned the "real issue" that you came out out of this surgery safe and sound. I would hope to think that, that would be your real concern. Life is so short, but yet we focus on trival experiences and waste our time in so doing! I am glad and praising God that you got thru your surgery safely. I would like to reiderct yoru attention to the healing that you must now do and not focus on what they did not do while you were visiting in their care. I too went thru the process of waiting today to have my tests done, however I would have never gotten on this site and posted such negative accounting for others to read!

The Cinic is the bomb, those people are doing what they do and you, so happen to be one in thousand that will pass thru their center. The bottom line is Dr. Ortiz is good at what he does. period. I am enjoying my time here and remember, in the US you go home the same day. For $7,900 I was treated like a queen. Im not sure where you live at, but I wish you the best and a speedy recover. Remember, life is a gift given to all of us, pick and chose what is the real issues of life. unforantanly, I would say that this is not one of them. Focus on learning your band, and I'm sure you will be busy enough! May the peace of God be with you.

Others reading her post l and are coming to the center to be banded, trust and believe your in good hands and the experience is wonderful and exciting. The staff is humble and professional and are gracious and kind. Pick and choose what you read so that your hopes and dreams are not tanted God be with you!

[dreamhappy07]

Hi all,

Just to put my two cents in...I am really sorry about your disappointing experience. When I had surgery last year, it was AWESOME! Really great experience. BUT...there was a woman amongst us from Florida that had a great figure and maybe needed to lose about 10 or 20 lbs if that. We never gave a second thought about OCC going after the almighty dollar, but pretty much all looked at her like is she NUTS?! She said there is diabetes in her family and that she doesn't want to risk getting it. Sorry, but you can be a toothpick and develop diabetes if you have a strong family history of it. Also she said she couldn't digest protein very well and we felt kinda sorry for her, but WHY was she getting the band?!!! She came by herself and pretty much was non-existent except for the walk around the floor the night of surgery. She kept to herself I guess. We hardly saw much of her, but hope she is doing well. She isn't a member of this forum either. Kindsa wish she was, so could kinda find out how her life has changed.

I guess what I am trying to say is, everyone and every experience is different. They all want the band for the same reason. To lose weight and become healthier. I guess maybe some people need further psychiatric evaluation if they aren't considered obese.

Hope your weight loss journey is successful and happy.

Peace,

Judy

[magpel]

God4me,

I'm a bit confused. I almost feel like you are attacking me for posting my experience. This was MY experience, and this forum is open for all kinds of posts.

Of course I am focusing on my healing, health and future, but please don't discount my feelings. They are mine and I own and honor them.

I never said anything nasty or horrible about the folks at the clinic, or the clinic itself. Nor did I say they didn't do a good job performing the surgery. I simply told my story, as others have told their stories.

I wish you the best tomorrow. I have no doubt that you will be great, and I wish you luck in your journey.

Much Peace,

Maggie

[MamaMichelle]

I have yet to be banded (9 more days!) but I also want to reassure those who have booked their surgeries and are feeling concerned about this post, that 99% of the trip reports I have seen posted have been nothing but praise towards OCC, and it's human nature that when things go flawlessly people don't really feel the need to post that praise, it is only when they are dissatisfied that you hear an opinion.

Here's an example of what I mean, many of us go to the dry cleaners every week- pick up our clothes with little more than a quick "thank you" but the one time the dry cleaners shrink your favorite skirt or burn a hole in your husbands work shirt you will spend 20 min complaining to them about how badly they messed up, and most likely tell all your friends about the 1 bad experience while neglecting to mention that for the past year you have never had an issue with that cleaning service.

I think that Maggie's experience, while unfortunate, is totally valid and I applaud her for sharing it. I believe I read in another post that Lori has forwarded the story to the powers that be which is exactly what needed to be done so hopefully those issues and the circumstances around them will be evaluated and corrected if needed so no one else will have cause to post a similarly negative story in the future!

Don't worry, Be Happy!

[God4me]

Maggie,

I am simiply am responding to your post. You have a right to say what you want. Please remember that others are coming and may not want to see " your view on how you were "negatively treated". I know for a fact the one person coming next week, you scared her. Maybe what I'm saying is that you should look for the "good " in your visit and focus on that. Your comments are about "other peolple's business" and why someone should or should not be banded. You also implied negative thoughts about the doctors and their motives. All I'm saying is that others are coming, so some things we need to keep to ourselves, and let others experience their journey Thank you for your well wishes, I appreciate them. By the way how are you doing other wise?

Grace

[magpel]

It sounds like your experience was not very pleasant. I am sorry to hear that..especially since I am going next month to have the surgery. I have read many, many stories on this forum and I think this is the first one I read that didn't make the experience sound great. :-?

I wouldn't say that my experience was unpleasant. I'm just sharing what I did experience. I would still do it all over again. My journey has just started.

Good Luck with your trip to the OCC, and I wish you all the success.

Much Peace,

Maggie

[magpel]

Maggie,

I am simiply am responding to your post. You have a right to say what you want. Please remember that others are coming and may not want to see " your view on how you were "negatively treated". I know for a fact the one person coming next week, you scared her. Maybe what I'm saying is that you should look for the "good " in your visit and focus on that. Your comments are about "other peolple's business" and why someone should or should not be banded. You also implied negative thoughts about the doctors and their motives. All I'm saying is that others are coming, so some things we need to keep to ourselves, and let others experience their journey Thank you for your well wishes, I appreciate them. By the way how are you doing other wise?

Grace

Grace,

I beleive it would be unfair to misrepresent my journey. People are reading on this Forum to hear other people's experiences, have questions answered and share their stories. I'm simply doing the same. Would people rather have me lie?

My comments about other peoples business --- I've done months of research on the Band, where to go to have it done, asked all my questions and was satisfied will all my answers. The gal I talk about - she made it our business when she shared why she was there, that she had to convince them to do the surgery, etc. She was not a canidate, as far as a canidate is define by the specs of being banded. That is a fact.

Wanting people to only share the 'good' is just saying you don't want people to be aware of everything.

I feel is was very fair, kind and honest in my writings. After your band, you are welcome to write about your experience. I pray that people don't come at you questioning how you felt and what your experience was. It's not a very good feeling to have people imply or say that your feelings are not your own.

I am doing well. I'm healing on schedule. I'm out walking a few miles a day, and looking forward to being completely healed.

[magpel]

I have yet to be banded (9 more days!) but I also want to reassure those who have booked their surgeries and are feeling concerned about this post, that 99% of the trip reports I have seen posted have been nothing but praise towards OCC, and it's human nature that when things go flawlessly people don't really feel the need to post that praise, it is only when they are dissatisfied that you hear an opinion.

Here's an example of what I mean, many of us go to the dry cleaners every week- pick up our clothes with little more than a quick "thank you" but the one time the dry cleaners shrink your favorite skirt or burn a hole in your husbands work shirt you will spend 20 min complaining to them about how badly they messed up, and most likely tell all your friends about the 1 bad experience while neglecting to mention that for the past year you have never had an issue with that cleaning service.

I think that Maggie's experience, while unfortunate, is totally valid and I applaud her for sharing it. I believe I read in another post that Lori has forwarded the story to the powers that be which is exactly what needed to be done so hopefully those issues and the circumstances around them will be evaluated and corrected if needed so no one else will have cause to post a similarly negative story in the future!

Don't worry, Be Happy!

Michelle,

THANK YOU so much! I was feeling a bit attached. I thank you for respecting what I had to say, and let it be my experience.

Have a blast while you are there!! A tip - I brought a jar of sodium free chicken stock powder and enjoyed that in my hotel room the day after I was banded. I just heated water in the coffee pot and had instant chicken broth! The hotel sells a bowl of broth, for like $5 or $6 a bowl. This was much cheaper. I saved my money and went shopping instead.

I look forward to hearing all about your experience.

Much Peace,

Maggie

[ella]

Hi. I thought I would add my experience at OCC. i too had a lot of waiting time at the clinic for pre-op stuff. I really didn't think about it much since there were six of us that day to get banded. I work in a doctor's office and there always seems to be alot of waiting. I know from first hand experience that medical staff try to do the best they can with the small amount of time they have. All in all my time in TJ was enjoyable. The shopping was fun. I hope you all have a wonderful experience. Be prepared to do some waiting.

Ella

[mona-camille]

Maggie,

I am simiply am responding to your post. You have a right to say what you want. Please remember that others are coming and may not want to see " your view on how you were "negatively treated". I know for a fact the one person coming next week, you scared her. Maybe what I'm saying is that you should look for the "good " in your visit and focus on that. Your comments are about "other peolple's business" and why someone should or should not be banded. You also implied negative thoughts about the doctors and their motives. All I'm saying is that others are coming, so some things we need to keep to ourselves, and let others experience their journey Thank you for your well wishes, I appreciate them. By the way how are you doing other wise?

Grace

WHOA there! I absolutely want to see ALL opinions, good or bad. That is the whole point of this forum. If people do not want to see negative, then they shouldn't come on here at all. Besides, how can you make an intelligent decision about the surgery without knowing ALL the facts and all the opinions? I wanted to hear everyone's story before I made a decision. Good and bad. In fact, I was a little shocked that I hadn't heard anything negative at all. Until now, that is. But everyone can have a bad day and maybe there were extenuating circumstances that day. Maybe there was an emergency of some sort that screwed the whole day up and she just happened to get caught up in it. Whatever, she has every right to come here and state her experience and I for one, am very grateful to hear it. And I also didn't hear a tone of bashing the center either, just stated her experience.

Nio offense to you or anyone else here, I wish everyone the best of luck but don't tell someone what they can and can not post. Thats not fair. It's also not realistic. to expect to hear only positive things.

[snowbird]

Maggie, when I read over your experience at OCC I don't see that you had an "unfortunate" experience at all, so I find it curious that people are reacting that way. You had to wait. Uhhh, I don't think I have ever had a medical treatment experience where I DIDN'T have to wait. I think people are picking up on your dissatisfaction, which in itself is unfortunate, because the patients yet to be banded are nervous and pick out the parts you didn't like and start obsessing over them.

I have had to accompany my mother to the ER several times over the last year and believe me, the waits we have to endure at OCC are nothing to what you would have to experience at any US hospital. OCC has everything down very well, and take you through the banding experience with ease. I think you either have had little experience with hospital procedures or just like to emphasize the negative. Sounds to me like you had a successful, problem free experience at OCC and should be happy with it.

[magpel]

Mona,

Thanks for your reply. My stroy was intended to by read as just that - my story. I appreciate your comments.

Snowbird,

Thanks for your reply. Of course I'm happy with my decision to have the Lap Band. As I've stated before, I'm simply sharing my experience while there. I've been in the hospital a few times, and know sometimes things take time. I was simply recounting my expereince at the OCC, nothing more, nothing less. I hope you can appreicate that.

Well wishes to you all.

Much Peace,

Maggie

[LoriBecky]

Just remember, you can't always tell someone's weight or other health factors just by looking at them. The minimum BMI for surgery is 30. If a person has been heavier and managed to get slightly below 30 we may consider them for surgery based on other risk factors. Believe me, we turn down more than we accept.

Because I won't discuss a patients medical profile I won't tell you what that patients information is, but they did qualify for surgery.

While you may have had to go back to the airport earlier than expected, it may be possible that we had another patient needing pick up at the airport and there may not have been time to make more than one run to get you back in time had we waited. I don't schedule the driver, so I'm not sure. I'm sorry this was an inconvenience. We would just rather you get there early then miss a flight.

I hope that overall you had a pleasant experience at the clinic. We do welcome suggestions and I have forwarded your post for evaluation.

thank you

Reposted by Lori - didn't realize original post was in 2 different locations and was still getting emails about this one.