1 Yr. Bandiversary Update

This has turned in to an absolute ****storm of a post. Nobody is getting any useful information here whatsoever!

Some here probably do blame you for whatever is going on with your band, but honestly from my perspective in following these god awful argumentative posts, it is somewhat confusing following your problem. Some statements almost seem somewhat contradictory.

I don't blame you whatsoever- we just have a piece of plastic strapped to our stomachs, it's not really a long shot to see that there might or will be some complications. Nonetheless, I would really like to figure out what's going on here. I think it's a disservice to you to go through all that and not know what's wrong. And frankly, even if you'd lost 500 pounds and didn't have any complications, you're still entitled to hate your band.


So, here are my questions and hopefully you'll answer them for me!


1) It seems that we're all going in circles over your phrase "I have no restriction." I think this is mainly where I'm confused. Is LuciousLA right in the respect that you maybe aren't using the right terms for the issue here?

One time you say that you have trouble eating bread and pasta and that you must chew dense protein well otherwise you could get stuck. Then you told me that you could eat well over 2 cups? Is it that you do have some sort of restriction yet it's very variable? That some days you can eat a lot and some days you can't eat anything? (This is very much so the case for me- any sort of restriction for me really depends on hydration level, the damn weather, my stress level, the time in my cycle...! Ahhh! ) And, at least for me, there wasn't an actual fill level where it bam! was all of a sudden perfect. I feel like reading between the lines of your words makes me feel like you're looking for one special point where it's perfect and not going to change and all of a sudden it'll just work. I don't think that's the case, but in some respects that's what it almost sounds like. Personally, the "sweet spot" seems like a mythological entity that doesn't really exist. Maybe that's just me.

1.5) What's a normal day's meal look like for you?

2) You've had 13 fills, which absolutely seems like a lot! Basically one fill every single month plus one more? Did you have any sort of restrictive feeling at all after any of your fills and it decreased as you lost weight or has it stayed the same and never changed whatsoever after any fills through the year? I know you said your surgeon checked for leaks and you didn't have one.

3) Did you have a barium swallow or fill under fluoroscope to see how liquid passes through the stoma? If so, what did your surgeon say? You don't remember how much is in your band (not that it even matters, if you have some sort of restriction), but what if the situation is that your doctor gave you 13 fills of 0.5ccs bringing you to 6.5ccs out of 11ccs total? Meaning you'd only be half full. I'd hate to see a doctor be that damn conservative, but has that been ruled out yet? Again, this still sucks, but maybe your band just isn't adjusted correctly yet.

4) Perhaps your band is legitimately broken and no matter how it's adjusted, it's just not gonna work- which statistics show totally happens. It's a manmade piece of plastic, for crying out loud! In that case, cut your losses and get the sucker out!


You seem like a very up-front sort of lady, so I hope that you went or will go to your surgeon and demand to get to the absolute bottom of this and somewhat work with what you've got (you have lost some weight, so that's something!) while you wait and figure out what your next step is. You paid quite a lot of money and regardless if some people think you did "well enough," it's really only your opinion that matters. It sounds like you have worked your ass off and then some and you deserve to be happy!



Take care and good luck!