Hi. I am new here. I saw Dr. Marina Kurian today for my first visit and have a tentative date for LapBand surgery for July 26, 2004. Dr. Kurian seems wonderful; Totally approachable, compassionate, honest, real and, by reputation, one of, if not the best. I am a 48 yr old man, with 2 kids and want to stay around to see them and my grandchildren grow up! I have a BMI of 50.9!! I have about 150 pounds to lose. People who do not have to live with this problem do not understand what it is like. I WANT AND AM READY TO DO THIS, even though I know all about the puree food, blockages, etc. however, it is difficult when people say, "oh just go on a strict diet and exercise, you dont need that surgery, that's dangerous"... They make me feel even worse about myself, pointing out that, yes, I am powerless over my obesity...For those of you who have been banded, WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN?? I need honest answers. Thank you so much. Phil.

Hi again, I forgot to ask...Do You have to be a CHICK to be part of this group?? I hope not!! Phil

oh good grief.. of COURSE you don't have to be a chick.. we have ROOSTERS as well. and there's also a men's forum, moderated by the wonderful JACK -150!!! he has a great dog named sam [see what's important to me????]

feel free to post anywhere and everywhere you want. ask all the questions you can think of. and if my memory is correct, scarletini - also a lapbander, one who's done GREAT with it - also went to Kurian...

welcome home phil!!!!!

Hiya Phil,
I would have the lapband done again in a nanosecond - and I'm not even that far into the whole process. The surgery itself isn't too bad at all and the results are amazing. I'm not really on a diet, just trying to make decent food choices most of the time. The thing is I eat so much less. I had my first fill and am deciding if I should have more saline added or not. For the first time in a very long time I'm not wondering if I will actually lose weight. I know that the weight will come off and STAY OFF with this wonderful, wonderful tool.

I know exactly how you feel when people give you the "just go on a strict diet" crap. It made me nuts - they have no idea! This is one of the most positive things I've ever done for myself.

Chickadee
p.s. I've read wonderful things about Dr. Kurian

hey Phil..i have 150 lbs to loose too. know just how you feel. Im starting the process of getting a lap band with my insurance. I am trying to get tickets on a jet to and from florida. Im going to need three tickets in coach for me and my husband or two tickets in first class witch i can't afford. I hate going into planes, everyone stares at you and thinks...i hope she doesn't sit next to me!! then you have to beg for a seat belt extender... I wish one smart *** 120lber could spend a day in my shoes. i'm sorry i'm whining Phil. don't feel alone my husband is just like you too. we roosters and hens are all equal on this sight. keep yourself cool tonight is going down to 35 degrees!! love Bats

Welcome Phil and Batman

I am very glad to see new lapbanders around here. Hopefully we can all help each other through this. --Pookie

Hi "Guys"; Chickadee, thanks for the positive comments and Batman, you're not whining! I KNOW exactly what you are talking about! Going on a plane is a NIGHTMARE and thank God I get to share a seat with my wife (all 112 pounds of her-the *****- but i LOVE her!! LOL) - we pick-up the middle armrest to make room for me -- but it is humiliating and when they openly hand you the seatbelt extender, it feels like the WHOLE world is watching and looking at me! It reminds me of the funny story of the 17 year old boy who goes in to the pharmacy to buy condoms and the female cashier behind the counter holds them up and screams across the store, Hey, Joe, How much for these Trojans?" You just want to find a hole in the ground and crawl into it!! Even when I go into a restaurant, I (think)(know) everyone is looking at what the "fat guy" is eating....AND my biggest pet peeve, is when people who do not know me or my name, think it is a good idea to refer to me as "Big Man" or "Big Guy"!! They have no idea how insensitive and hurtful that is!! Do I say, "Hey, Crooked Eyes" or "Hey, Man With the Ugly Wife", or Hey, Woman whose daughter has the reputation for the giving best fellatio in town"???? NO, so why do they call me "Big Guy"?
My wife actually spent most of the weekend trying to talk me out of the surgery by saying things like, "we are going to start a strict diet on Monday and I will watch everything you are going to eat"...and delicately trying to make me NOT do the band. She is concerned about the re-operations, etc. From a medical standpoint, there is a high incidence of reoperation, but you know what, without this surgery, I AM GOING TO DIE, so I MUST have it done...this is what (thin) (normal weight) people do not understand. Thank YOU all for understanding where I am coming from...Phil.

I know the problems your having with your wife, except my husband and parents..Im 52...kept telling me i needed by-pass surgery. I told them how dangerous it was and all the complications it has.. it didn't seem to compute with any of them. I am a nurse and i think they should outlaw the gastric bypass. that is buchery at it's worst. i have seen it. so far the LB is the safest bet so far. I'm batteling with my insurance company right now so i don't know how long it will take., but i realize i need help and can't do this alone. i just keep getting bigger and bigger and less able to move. I need a new right knee and i'm trying to hold off until i can loose some weight. Don't get down on your wife Phil. see loves you and is just thinking of you. she doesn't understand. no one does unless you weight 100 lbs or more what it is like to live like us. there is a new stomach balloon that is comming out, but that is for people who have less then 100 lbs to loose. there is also a new electronic device, like a pacemaker, that they are having clinical trials for now that sends an electrical charge to your stomach and it always thinks that it is full. maybe things will be easier in the future but right now we have to do what we can. hope you all had a great Memorial day ..God Bless America LoL Bats

batman... you are right that the lapband is a much less invasive form of WLS and has fewer side effects, BUT, not everyone qualifies for it. i had no choice but to do the bypass. i tried to get the band, but i was too heavy, too much of a health emergency for me to tolerate the slower weight loss that the lab band has, and the fact that the weight loss has been shown in clinical trials to be smaller and less durable. and yes, the weight loss is definitely related to the person's individual eating behavior, but it was decided that the high risk of regain - no matter what my motivation was - tipped the scales, so to speak, in favor of the bypass.

butchery? and should be outlawed? those are very strong words that advocate getting rid of the best hope that some people have of losing the weight and keeping it off.

there are very few rules - formal or informal - on this forum, but one of the biggest ones is to please respect the decisions that others have made concerning their health. that doesn't mean you cannot express your opinion on any topic, but please do so with the understanding that everyone who has chosen a form of WLS has made the decision after considerable thought and contemplation of the risks and benefits.


NOW... for all of you wonderful lapbanders, this thread is getting LONG... and i'd like to split it... ok??? NOW... how would you like it split? by month? by week?

let me know!!!!!

Hi Jiffypoo,
I say right now is a wonderful time to split this thread. My connection sucks these days (can you believe I live somewhere that no DSL is available?) and it takes forever to load.

As for me, I'm still banding away but haven't been on a scale in a while so I don't know how I'm doing. I'm kind of PMS-y so scales and my mood probably won't be a good match.

Later gators,
Chickadee

I went to a seminar at a place called the WISH Center. I have my first appointment on July 13. I can hardly wait. The appointment will be 4-6 hours long. That is when I will decide wether to do the lap-band or bypass. I am leaning toward the lap-band because it is less invasive. The doctor said, though that you can only expect to lose 50 percent of your total excess weight. Is that true. I have 100 pounds of excess weight and I want to lose all of it.

I don't even know if my insurance will cover it. If not I am desperate and will pay for it myself. They offer financing over an extended period of time at this center. Does anyone know if Humana(ppo) covers the lap-band procedure?

It still seems so far away. It won't be until the middle of November before I can have my surgery. There program is extensive and strict. You have to follow thier diet and excersise program for 8 weeks and meet the goals that they set up for you, or guess what no surgery. I just have to take one day at a time. It is just hard when you are desperate

Thank all of you for being there!

Hey Mac,
I have 100 pounds to lose too and I fully expect to lose it all. It completely depends on your willingness to follow all the rules and work with the band. I have read stories over and over of people losing large amounts of weight with the band. Some of the statistics floating around out there are pretty old and from old FDA trials. They don't include statistics from Europe and Mexico where the band has been around longer. I have found all kinds of misinformation about both LapBand and RNY surgeries out there. I think too many people hear something and just believe it without researching it for themselves and then pass info along as truth, so be careful!

Here's some other sites for you to look at:
http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobe...LapBand/posts/
or LapbandTalk.com forums

I wish the best in your quest for lapband surgery. I am really happy I did it.

Chickadee

Hey All. . . There is no doubt that bypassers lose much more quickly than lapbanders, however, lapbanders (at least the ones I know personally) do very well. My doc, Dr. Kurian, says after the initial 4-6 weeks of pureed food, you can expect to lose 2 lbs per week. I am told and I have seen that that is a very conservative prediction. With exercise, lapbanders lose bigtime weight also.
Dr. Kurian also says that lapbanders can expect to lose 75% of their goal weight, but what you have to realize is that "goal weight" is not a real weight --it is that "chart weight". That is not really our ideal target weight. I am told I have 125-150 pounds to lose. I weigh 365 pounds; I am also told it will take 1 1/2 to 2 years but I will lose that weight. Realize that will bring me "only" to 215 lbs. or so, not the 178 lbs the "chart" says I should be -- that is why the percentages sound off. ****, I haven't been 215-225 since high school, 30 years ago!!!

for many people, the lapband is an excellent choice. there's no doubt about it. one of the problems with the US experience, though, was early reports of more complications than seen in europe. and there were indications that US patients didn't do as well as European patients.

i asked my surgeon about this [he does both surgeries, and was active in one of the 8 centers that participated in the US clinical trials of the lapband that led to FDA approval, along with Kurian].

his response: there's no reason that US patients can't get as good results as the Europeans. he chalked it up to the differences in healthcare systems. in europe, the wait is soooo long for someone to see their surgeon for followups, that patients tended to complain less, and adjusted. in contrast, according to him, the US patients got to see their surgeon within a day or so of the discomfort, and that was recorded as a 'problem.'

and there were also early reports of higher failure rates out of one of the centers: UVA in charlottesville. and of course i asked him about it. his response was that there seemed to be something peculiar going on in virginia. they were having issues there that none of the other 7 centers were seeing. his view was that they were doing the surgery on poorly selected patients and perhaps doing it on patients who were too heavy to get the most benefit from the lap band. he also said that VA was the heaviest state in the country. i've since seen that it's mississippi, but i can't support either statement with real evidence here...

all i know FOR SURE is this: do your research. the best choice of surgery for YOU is the one that gives YOU the best chance of the result that YOU want, along with a lifestyle that YOU can live with.

Yar! I've been trying to post to this for days, but my computer does not like 3fatchicks.

Phil, Jiff is right, I had surgery by Dr. Kurian, in Feb of 2003. I was 350lbs at the time of surgery and am now down to 220. Dr. K is a wonderful surgeon, IMO one of the best. I have had zero complications, her staff is great, and Dr. K herself is very compassionate and caring, though she definitely can be tough if she thinks you need it.

Jiff, I too thought I was too heavy for the Lap-Band in the beginning, but then I joined a Yahoo! group called ExtraordinaryBandsters...most of those people have lost 200-300lbs with the band! I was amazed. And as far as Bandsters keeping the weight off, it's usually just as simple as getting another adjustment, even 10 years down the road. Of course, we all made our decisions with extensive research and thought, but now that US surgeons are more familiar with the band, the results and long term effects are just as good as the RNY. It's really exciting to have so many options available to us!