Dr. David Carroll

Hi All ! I went to my appt. with Dr. Carroll yesterday and it was just fine. I found Dr. Carroll to be very thorough and professional. He took alot of time to just talk to me about my surgery and asked alot of questions. We talked about using the ominpaque instead of saline, and he said he could get the omnipaque if I really wanted it, but he wanted to try the saline to see if it would stay in my band. I had 1.7cc of omnipaque in my band and he filled me to 2.2cc with saline. So now I have a mixture of omnipaque and saline. I feel more restriction for sure. I really wish I could get to the "sweet spot" - it's been almost a year and I'm not there yet. Maybe this will be it. We'll see. I'm very comfortable with Dr. Carroll and his office staff is very friendly. I'm very relieved - thank you God.

Congratulations CArolyn I hope that fill will be the boost you have been waiting for. I am going to read your profile now. My friend just had the band done last week and she is really excited. She is doing great.

I just checked your profile. You are doing and looking terrific. Keep us posted.

Donna: Thanks for your postings - Of course I will post things of interest - like a big gain (heaven forbid), or a big loss (yes, yes, yes). Actually I only have those blasted 13 lbs to lose to be at my goal (again). I can do it !

The only thing you are gonna gain is self confidence!!!!!!

The nurses at St Dominic's have really good things to say about Dr. Carroll, and I am so glad you like him!! Please do me a favor..I don't understand about this "fill" business. What is it? Why do you have to get a fill? Educate me, girl!!! Smoochies, Arlies

Arlies: The lap band works by creating a smaller gastric pouch, the LAP-BAND System limits the amount of food that the stomach will hold at any time. The inflatable ring controls the flow of food from this smaller pouch to the rest of the digestive tract. The ring is "filled" periodically through a port with saline (or, in my case, omnipaque) to a level of comfort. A patient may have to have several "fills" or "adjustments" in order to arrive at a level where the patient will feel comfortably full with a small amount of food. And because of the slow emptying, the patient will continue to feel full for several hours reducing the urge to eat between meals. The advantages of LAP-BAND surgery include: (1) Reduced surgical trauma and pain (2) Less invasive for the abdominal wall (requires small incisions of 5 to10 millimeters) and for the stomach (no cutting or stapling of the organ is needed) (3) Shorter hospitalization than standard surgery (4) Respect of the anatomical and functional integrity of the stomach without by-passing portions of the stomach or intestines (5) Individualized to the patient's needs via inflation or deflation of the band ("fills" or "adjustments") (6) Fully reversible by simply removing the band. Does this make sense???