how fragile is this band????

i have finally gotten the portions, size of bites, amounts of chews in, etc. set.    lol, took me long enough. being alone with 2 little active ones for most of the day does not provide me with any time to sit and slowly eat, so i would eat and get sidetracked and swallow a big bite, etc. 
So I had quite a few 'stuck' episodes.... PBs.... slimes and, ummm, food returns (trying to come up with a nice way to say throwing up, hehe). I am hoping those days are long gone, but i am concerned that i possibly could have done damage in the process???? i would assume that band slippage, for example, is a gradual process. same with pouch dilation. these are things that i am obsessing over the past few days and was hoping for some insight. i am not yet a year out. i was not awful to my band, per se.... i just should have been more careful sooner and i would be so sad if i had to ever part with my finicky friend. thanks.

I did talk to my doc about pouch diliation .

You really really have to over eat for you to stretch your little pouch out .   I told him there are some days I might eat a cup and half of food for a meal that isnt going to do it  according to him .

You have to eat some major meals, eating them meals all the time .  He basically said for it to happen I would have to go back to my old eating habits of over eating like I use to.  Example eating 3-5 pieces of pizza and  a12 inch sub for lunch then turning aorund and eating my huge dinner.

It takes alot of food and it takes time to do that in .

My friend has had her lapband for almost 2 1/ 2 yrs she dont follow the rules, she eats what she wants, when she wants and does not follow the one cup rule she hasnt stretched hers out and she is a eater.

thanks for getting back to me and for the info.... i really worry about that stuff. do you think that the band is more forgiving if there is not much restriction? 
more importantly, J-E-T-S, JETS! JETS! JETS!!!!!!!!

I think it's fairly tough! Not the band itself, of course, but us inside the band!

A reasonable number of PBs and a few over-eatings aren't going to do harm as long as the band is firmly embedded.

What is past is past! I wouldn't worry about what may happen, just try to avoid PBs etc from now on. I think we all PB sometimes. And as for stretching the pouch - my doc says it takes dedicated hard work and regular over-eating to do that!

Every now and then, i got worried about the "what-if"s as well. But I look at it like Leila (Zee Starlite) does. She has lost her band after about 5 years but says she doesn't regret being banded  at all. Who can say whether my band is for life? But it got me from size 26 to size 10. It has kept me there for years. If I lost it tomorrow woudl I regain? Statsistics say i would! But it is not worth worrying about!

Kate
 

I had an upper GI done Dec 31st... almost 3 years post-op. I was worried that because of my up and down restriction and poor eating habits over the past year (eating more than I should, sliding food thru with hot tea etc.) that I may have stretched my pouch. My Dr also said that it pretty hard to do. Well my upper GI came back clean. No pouch dilation, no slippage, etc.

I would not worry about it, and just treat it well!! I think if you had a slip you would know, and unless you are really packing it in, a lot, I wouldn't worry about pouch dilation.

Now that my port is fixed, and I know my band is placed right, pouch is good etc, I plan to finally follow the rules to a T. I lost 100lbs the first time, despite a slow leak... so I am excited to work this band properly to see the pounds I can drop!