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on July 1, 2008 10:57 pm
185 lbs.I have been steadily holding my weight at 185. I need to return for a fill since my doctor took out 2.50 cc's due to acid reflux problems. I Love My Band!!!
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Surgeon Testimonial Ninh Nguyen (Orange, Ca) I must say that there seems to be alot of bad vibes going around about Dr. Nguyen and his staff at UCI. I must stand up for him and the EXCELLENT Dr. that he is. I will admit that upon first meeting him I was a little uncomfortable but frankly I needed surgery and UCI was the only place my insurance would cover at the time. Dr. Hguyen, his staff and UCI have all made this possible for me. If it wasn't for the fact that they would accept my insurance who knows where I would be today. I am very thankful to Dr. Nguyen and UCI. I had a very successful surgery and have lost 110 lbs. I did not have any complications or any problems since surgery. Dr. Nguyen is very receptive to my feelings and how I feel with the restriction in my band. I have had to visit with him almost every 3 months since surgery and each and every time he has always allowed me to voice my opinion on how I feel as far as needing a fill. When it comes to getting a fill....he's the best. He gets it the first time always. If you have the Lap Band you'll understand what I mean. What people need to understand is that UCI is a teaching hospital. I am a very good patient...so I've been told. Because of this I am able to aid in helping our future doctors learn how to do their job. I enjoy visiting Dr. Nguyen, who always has someone new that I haven't met following him around. I enjoy the new faces and cheerful personalities that I encounter each follow-up visit. Everyone needs to see there doctor for who they really are. Dr. Nguyen has been my doctor for 2 years now and each time I see him it's always a pleasure. He really enjoys seeing the progress of his weight loss patients. He is so good at what he does, which is why he teaches others, and loves to see the outcome of success with his patients. I love Dr. Nguyen and hope that others see him the way I do. And never hesitate to ask questions. Come meet Dr. Nguyen at one of his orientation meetings on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. You can find him online or see his face on the side of one of the new UCI busses. Latest Surgery Support Comments
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  My Life Long Journey
Songs From The Heart B W's Blog
Stripes!! I never thought they were possible on July 1, 2008 10:57 pm 185 lbs.I have been steadily holding my weight at 185. I need to return for a fill since my doctor took out 2.50 cc's due to acid reflux problems. I Love My Band!!!
Comparison Photos 18 months span after WLS and PS on November 18, 2007 8:30 pm  199 lbs. 11/11/07 276 lbs.The picture on the top was taken over Veterans weekend while camping at Mountain Lakes Resort. I feel so much healthier now and I'm able to enjoy myself so much more without all of the excess skin weighing me down......oh and those big ole boobs too!!
Last Aspiration on October 8, 2007 9:26 pm I had another aspiration 1 week after the first and to date no more fluid....yeah. Of course there's still the swelling thing. I have learned to live with it now. It only happens in the evening when I'm home anyways. So I don't fret about it much anymore.
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Waterbed Belly.....aaaaahhhh!! on August 20, 2007 4:18 pm No biggie though. Just had to have 35 cc's of fluid aspirated from below my belly button area. After the drains are out I guess it's a tricky thing. I'm gonna keep wearing my binder until next week even though doc only says to wear it for 3 weeks. I am hoping it helps combat the fluid build-up. So I'll update again next Monday with info on what I call the "Waterbed Belly". Watch for new pics soon....I'm gonna post some 3 week updates on Wednesday.
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First Drain Out!!
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on August 8, 2007 6:59 pm Today I saw my Dr. who took out my first drain. One more to go. I will possibly see him on friday. They are so attentive at Dr. Kent's office, I just love the staff. Today I received flowers from them and they were just beautiful. Dr. Kent says that I am the ideal patient....no complications, no pain, no delayed healing with my breasts, just peachy. I'm sure he tells all his patients that!!! LOL I do heal pretty quick though. I'm so excited for my new body to take shape and when it does I will posting some excellent pics. Thanks everybody for your support. Everyone here at OH has been so helpful and thoughtful. I have made so many new friends and I'm so greatful for my new lease on life. Thanks!!
Be the first to leave a comment.My Story
3/18/06 Just celebrated St. Patty's Day and had a great time! Went out with friends and drank Irish Car Bombs and ate Corned Beef and Cabbage. I wonder how all this will affect me after surgery. I've been preparing myself for better health by drinking diet soda, tea, crystal light, water and anything better than reg. soda. I have quit smoking....even though I only did it ocasionally, it's a nasty habit that I need to live without. It's been going really good...not even 1 in 1 month....I'm over it! I will start my exercise regimen once released to do so. I am so excited! I am so impressed with this website and it's supporters. I have received e-mails from people I don't even know that comment on my upcoming surgery and give their best wishes and prayers. It's nice to know that there are thoughtful strangers out there that are so caring and loving to another unknown human being. Thank you so much to my OH family. Here I am rambling on.....This means a lot to me because I am not telling very many people about my journey, which is why I chose to remain anonymous. My mother, husband, cousin and 2 good friends are the only people who will ever know about my WLS surgery. It's just a wish of mine to keep it confidential. So this site is very much a place for me to pour it all out! I really enjoy recieving e-mails from my fellow peers about their experiences as well. It helps me to learn what they have been through and use that to my advantage during my journey. So thank you to so many people who read on and care!
3/21/06 Just a little something I wanted to add: today and yesterday, for some reason, the same little girl who has been riding my bus for several months now asked me how I got so fat. I was taken back at first because she never said anything before. I didn't know how to put it into words for a 5 year old to understand. So in a sense this was a great time of reflection for me....to admit to the things I do wrong when it comes to eating and taking care of my body. Just a little note I wanted to remember....Not like I could ever forget it!!!
4/3/04 Well, tomorrow I go for my pre-ops and I'm just a little nervous. I heard some things and read a few on this website about how intense they can be. I'm not quite sure what they're gonna do yet. I am looking forward to my surgery though.....I have been having thoughts of whether I should have gone with the gastric bypass instead. I know it will take longer to lose the weight but I am afraid that I won't lose enough. I don't know, I guess everyone gets these thoughts before surgery.....don't they? I went to the LA Zoo with my son yesterday and had to stay home today because I could barely move. I am so looking forward to the day that this won't be such a challenge for me. I can't wait to be able to move freely and not suffer for a week afterwards. I will post more after my pre-ops to let you all know how it went.
4/6/06 I went for all of my pre-ops and everything went fine.....I will be starting on my clear liquid diet tomorrow. I hope I don't go crazy...thank god for tea! Surgery is monday at 7:15 a.m. I've been instructed to arrive at 5:45 a.m.......one less day I'll have to feel like I'm starving. I'll have to report after I return home....wish me luck!
4/7/06 OMG!!! I made it through my first day of clear liquids...yeah! I think it wouldn't have been quite as bad if I didn't stay up so late. I started feeling hungry around 8:00. Two more full days till surgery. Can't wait! 4/10/06 Well today's the day and I made it!!! 9 lbs down in three days with the liquid diet and I'm ready for surgery! I woke up at 2:30 this morning and it's now 3:00. I have to shower and be at the hospital at 5:45. I guess I won't be getting back to sleep. Wish me luck, I will post when I get home. 4/11/06 I'm home and I'm banded! Still having alot of gas pain but other than that I feel pretty good. I am going to try a protien shake and my chewable vitamins. Surgery went great, I had a very good Dr. with a terrible bedside manner. But he knew how to do his job and that's what really matters. The surgery crew were great with me.....had a few troubles trying to get discharged but I think it was mostly because of the nurses attitude.
4/12/06 I didn't have anything when I returned home from the hospital last night....just didn't feel up to it. This morning I had 8 oz. of protien shake and my multi-vitamins. I then sipped water troughout the morning. Around noon I had a 6 oz. cup of Yoplait yogurt (reg. husband got the wrong kind) and at 3:30 I had a 1/2 cup of small curd cottage cheese and 1 tablespoon of pureed peaches on top. This was my regimen today and everything seemed to go fine. I can definitely feel a difference in my stomach when I'm done eating as apposed to pre-surgery. I have a lot of gas pain still and am having a hard time telling the difference between the pain. Is it the device, port, gas or food settling. Still don't know but I'm sure I'll learn soon enough. I am 10 lbs down from 3 day pre-op diet and surgery. Yeah! I'll fill you in on my next eating experiences!! Bye for now. 4/15/06 My am I feeling a lot better today! Last night was the worst GAS night ever. Not only was I starving but as my stomach would growl it would send a gas pain shooting up into my left shoulder and neck area. This would happen about every 2-3min. I couldn't sleep of course and was up and down all night. I finally resolved to eat a little something and put some heat on my tummy. I took 500 mg. of pain meds. and fell asleep in the recliner where I was able to catch a few hours sleep. This gas stuff is for the birds.....my god it's like someone is stabbing you and twisting the knife. Other than that I think I'm healing pretty well. I return to the Dr. for post-op check on the 20th and hopefully the pain will be gone by then. I can't figure out why I am so hungry! I seem to fill up when I eat on not very much food. But am feeling the need to eat several times a day. Kind of feels like I'm defeating the purpose here. But I know I'm still healing so I won't worry too much for now. I'm trying to keep the calorie count under 1000. They say that if you lose now before your 6 week fill it's a bonus. So I'm trying really hard. I'm 12 lbs. down now!!!! 4/19/06 16 lbs. down!!!
4/28/06 I am 2 weeks post-op and I feel great! The pulling pain has gone away from the port. I have no more gas, less hunger and I am getting foods down perfectly. I am now down 18 lbs. and losing much slower now. Of course, this was bound to happen. I will return to the doctor for follow-up in 3 weeks and hopefully he'll talk with me a little about getting a fill. I can't believe I went through all of this and after only 2 weeks I feel super!!! 5/2/06 Well, I did my second day in the gym...I peddled my heart out....yesterday I peddled and walked. 30 min. each day. Tomorrow I will rest....need to fast and do blood work for upcoming doctor visit. I hope we will talk about having a fill....I need it!!! My husband and I went to Chili's for dinner. I did really good today on food and would have had a small bowl of soup for dinner. But instead....we went to CHILI'S!! I had a bowl of chicken enchilada soup....OH SO GOOD! And munched on chips and queso..... when we got home.....I blew up. OH, guess I ate too much.....BIG DUMMY!! I have to get on track tomorrow. I can't wait to have a fill so I wont feel this hunger all the time. I don't want to be hungry anymore!! I am constantly going to the forum for advice. I'm sure they are tired of my repetitive questions about my mistakes. Well I will report again after my doctor appt. next week. I think I'm gonna stay off the scale until then. 276 lbs.5/14/06 It's Mother's Day! I just returned home from a nice relaxing weekend at the beach and thought I would update my profile. I visited my doctor on 5/9/06 and he will see me in 4 weeks for a fill. I am down 20 lbs. now and I still, of course, have no restriction. It's been a little rough!! I lost 1 inch in my neck, 1 inch in my waist and 3 inches in my @$$ (hips). My cholesterol is down to 180 from 209. I feel really good except for the hunger all the time. I'm learning to cope with it though. I'm looking forward to my visit on 6/6/06 (oooh bad numbers) for my fill. I am now eating soft foods and have much more of a variety (don't know if that's good or bad). I will post more on my success as it comes, thanks for looking. 6/10/06 Well, I had my first fill on Tuesday and found out that I have an 11cc Vanguard band and received a fill of 3.0 cc's. At first I was having to go really slow. Last night I kind of blew it and went to happy hour with a group of about 35 people and got way too happy! I probably had 10 drinks throughout the evening. I weighed this morning though and I am down 3 more lbs. since Tuesday. I really love this band. I finally have enough restriction to not eat everything that I see and I am not as hungry. Hopefully it will last, my doctor won't be seeing me again until 8/31. So I will post my victories up until then and hopefully they'll be big ones. 6/11/06 Well I've done it, finally tested the band and felt what it is really like to have restriction in the band. I had my first fill and was on full liquids for 3 days. I attended a wedding where they served prime rib. Of course, I couldn't have that but was able to request chicken. It was fabulous....along with it I ate mashed potatoes salad and very hard sourdough bread. It all went down fine and I was full all day long. Then we went to another party that evening where they also had food. I wasn't hungry but couldn't resist the rosemary fresh baked bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dip. Wrong!!! Very wrong....after several bites I got to the one that......GOT STUCK!!!! Oh how horrible......so I stopped that. Today we went to breakfast and I had eggs over medium with toasted sourdough bread and all was going well until.......I ate the potatoes and they got stuck. So, I am going to have stay with the soft stuff for a few more days and learn how to slow down. This eating stuff is tricky. I have found that I to am tight in the morning. Why is this....so wierd. I guess maybe because the stomach has been shrinking all night while we're sleeping. I can't eat anything solid until around 12:00. So I just have my protien shake and coffee in the morning and wait until then. It's strange though how I can't eat anything solid in the morning but when I can eat it's like there's no end. 6/23/06 Well, I'm there now........after the fill is gone. I have lost some of the initial restriction that I had. It's becoming harder to lose now. My weight has sort of slowed down a bit now and I dont go in until 8/31/06 for my next fill. It's going to be a rough summer! I have finally hit 260....one more pound and I'l be down into the 250's yeah!! 7/1/06 I may have spoken too soon about slowing weight loss. I have totally changed my eating and I have reached the 250's now and only 6 more pounds til the 240's. I weighed in this morning at 256 (down 34 lbs since pre-op diet and surgery). I can't wait to start reaping the benfits. 7/14/06 Let me tell you how I am struggling.....I have been tossing around the same 3 lbs. since I last updated my profile. I am now at 257 lbs. and still trying to keep going down. I started the gym again this week and vowed to go Mon, Wed and Fri. It has really made a big impact on the weight loss and keeping it off. I also contacted my doctor for another fill......I have an appointment on 8/1/06. I hope it will help me to not feel as hungry and stop me from eating so much. I can still eat quite a bit of food.....which is the reason for having this surgery. We'll see how it changes things.....if it does at all.
10/25/06 I am down to 233 lbs. now....I go in for a fill on the 31st. I think I am going to take just a little tweak to get to my sweet spot. I have lost a little more restriction......would like to get back what I had. Going on my first cruise in November on the 17th. I don't want to be able to eat too much! 10/31/06 I had a fill today for a total of 6.25 cc's in my 11 cc band. I have had three fills so far. The last fill I had was tight for awhile and then all of a sudden it was like gone. I will take in only liquids for three days and then on to pureed foods. I am going on a cruise in 2 1/2 weeks and told the doc that I didn't want any part of the all you can eat thing. He said I was just the opposite from most patients......usually they have some taken out so they can eat. I'm like....WHAT! I don't want that.....after all that is why I had surgery. My doctor is really great about listening to my input. He lets me be the judge as to how I feel.....and always tells me that the advantage is that we can always take some out....No Big Deal!!! He is great.
1/15/07 Well unfortunately, here we are in the new year and I have not had 1 lb. of weight loss since my last fill. I was filled to 6.25 cc's in my 11 cc band and was feeling pretty good restriction for awhile. I just recently started going to the gym again to boost my metabolism and have not shed any pounds. I am so discouraged at this point and am eturning to my doctors for another adjustment on the 30th of this month. I hope that it does the trick. So far.....I think this has really been the toughest 3 months between fills. I haven't necessarily followed all of the band rules but have definitely been eating the appropriate portions in the right order. I am currently at 232 lbs. with 32 lbs. to lose to get to "onderland". 2/1/07 I went in for my 4th fill on 1/30.....I believe it's the 4th. The doctor took out only 5 cc's from my band. I was filled to 6.25 last time. I noticed that it seemed like I was able to eat alot more. He then said that he would fill it to 6.50 this time and see how it works for me. I have only lost 5 lbs. over the last 3 months and was getting a little discourged. It is so strange how the amount of saline dissappears after a while. We'll see how this one works!!! I hope to lose at least 10-15 lbs before I see him again in May. I weighed in at 227 today....27 lbs to go until my surgery consults for a tummy tuck.
3/5/07 Well, I still weigh 227....and oh it's so frustrating to not be able to lose at this point. I purchased a new sports bra with the intention of starting to run of the rest of this weight. A new pair of running shoes will complete the package. I'm sick with the flu right now and can't wait to get better so I can start. I will report when I start getting some results. Thanks for looking. 3/6/07 I hit 225.5 on the scale today. I have been sick though and haven't been eating much at all. I know that once I can really eat again I'm gonna have to be careful. A pound is a pound though in my book. I am going to start running when I'm well.....can't wait. 4/10/07 Today is my 1 year bandiversary....I am down 70 lbs and am searching for my plastic surgeon at this time. I am thinking of having a tummy tuck and breast lift done sometime in December. I have 30 lbs more to go and figure this should be enough time. Wish me luck!! 5/1/07 Today I had another fill up to 7.0 cc's I only lost 7 lbs in 3 months according to their scale. I am now at 225 and slowly trying to take off the rest (about 35 more). I hope to take off at least 15 before I have PS which I am starting my consults soon. I will be having a Tummy Tuck and Breast Reduction. So we'll see how all that goes. I will probably post before pics once I get word about surgery and have lost a few more lbs. Till then.
5/8/07 I scheduled PS for 8/1/07....I'm at 222 now and trying to take off 12 lbs. before surgery. Wish me luck!!
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1/1/07
