Feedback about banding from my doc.

 
There is no indication of the source of this article. It looks like a local gossip web site?

Spire is a private hospital, not NHS. I note the NHS did perform his emergency operation, presumably because the private Spire would not.

Not sure what this article actually shows except that one man is unhappy enough to want to share his woes. A second, Ms Coll says she paid for her op, so again, a self pay patient at a private hospital.

I also note that the local nhs are in fact offering alternative care options. Despite the lady saying she paid privately and was not a nhs patient. 

This is a very muddled account! 

Kate

Thanks, Kate. No, problems with the band are not inevitable, nor are you, Bette, and others in some rare group of endangered bandsters. There are problems for some people and that is very sad, but there is also success for others.

The Band Rescue Group gives me a hilarious image of people rushing into squalid quarters and saving the lives of dozens of poor little underfed, ungroomed, shivering little bands. I love it!

 Well, a lot of them may have come from band mills, so the comparison to dog/puppy rescue is not a big stretch.

 You were of course correct, Bette. I report on one specific hospital group and get an immediate reponse trying to show I am talking nonsense. Unfortunatetly, the poster appears to have no idea how the NHS works in the UK as in fact her article supports my comment that many problems are caused by private docs and the nhs picks up the pieces!

And can you imagine the reactionI would have got if I had quoted a web site which appears to be a local gossip column?

Anyone reading this....

I WAS SAYING WHAT ONE NHS HOSPITAL GROUP IN THE UK TOLD ME. Is that clear? i was not speaking for the whole nation. i was not saying the band is perfect. I was not denying band issues!

Ye gods!

Kate

 Is that clear? i was not speaking for the whole nation. i was not saying the band is perfect. I was not denying band issues!


 You know what people hear when you (and I ) say stuff like that?

 
Bette, it just gets so BORING! I fully accept people like Nic and Zee. They had problems, they share and warn. Or people like Hislady who joins in to say how wrong her band was for her.

But this board is just so tedious these days. I rarely post now and miss the camaraderie there used to be. There were always people with problems and despite what some claim, they did get support. Not from everyone, I admit. But from many. A small number of people have made it their mission in life to warn people off the band. Fair enough! But do they have to do it quite so incessantly? Why not just answer questions. These people are as aggressive and biased in their negativity as a certaini infamous lady was aggressive and biased in the other way.

I will probably now get told fhat I can't talk because I started this thread to praise the band. But I didn't! I just passed on what ONE set of professionals told me. i made it clear that the band can go wrong!

 What's wrong with praising the band? If people can post that ALL BANDS WILL FAIL (Oh nos!!), then we should be able to post that it's NOT TRUE and that there is a possibility (slim or otherwise) that it works.

Kate and Bette...keep posting...you both are a significant reason I still bother to log in every day.  And logging in makes me feel more accountable.  So you are helping me!

 Tarris, for about five years I was an addict! I read and posted on here every day. Initially  it was to get support and advice but as time went on that switched to offering my own experiences to help others. The board was never drama free! We had all sorts of major surgery wars. But it was very much a support forum. A few people were not supportive! They blamed people for band probems which were not their own fault. But most people were there to offer and receive support.

But now it's an unhappy place. Two veteran bandsters have recently told me and a few others privately that they have been having issues. Sadly they felt unable to post on here. They believed that the very people who complain they never received support when they had issues would be the first to say " I told you so". They were not embarrassed to admit problems, they were afraid of ex-bandsters gloating. Not all ex-bandsters are like that, but some are.

So I rarely post here now. My main board is a UK one. People talk openly of their problems, receive support and advice. We all sympathise and try to help those with serious complications but we all also praise each other and celebrate the new lives that so many of us have got with our bands. The whole ethos is supportive and positive.

Kate

My strong suspicion based on the newer data trends, is that the band is not what many of us hoped it would be when we had our surgery years ago,  I also have stated before, and will again, that I suspect the band will decrease greatly in popularity and may even be off the market in the future, as long term data becomes available.   

Having said that, there are many of us out here who have bands and are not experiencing major complications-at least not yet.  Some of us are at our goal weights and many of us are still struggling to get there.

I honestly haven't seen many of us cheer leading the band, encouraging the band to newbies without thought, or denying the problems.  We mainly try to be here for folks who have a band and who have questions about how to manage it.

I think Kate and Bette are two of the most honest and forthright posters on this site,  and a huge help to those who have chosen to be banded.  The site is certainly not what it used to be, and I believe the negativity here has even contributed to some lapses in success because folks are afraid of being attacked here. 

It is always good to see discussion handled with respect and accurate information from both sides.