To Seminar or Not Seminar... a question from Kath

Or Nola... as the case may be :)

Last Wednesday, I dragged my husband along to a banding seminar by Chris Couch (the doctor I'm going to, to get this band of mine in) and really, I shouldn't have bothered. I didn't learn anything new. I suppose it was okay in one respect: I got to see and listen to the man thats going to be digging around in my insides for the better part of an hour... he seems ok, he know's his stuff, but I just didnt learn anything new, and to be honest, it seemed like he was doing a hard sell. All of us at the seminar were there due to the fact we want a band and yet he went on quite a bit about how he only ever does bands because he thinks gastric bypasses and sleeves are very dangerous etc etc. I have been a band junkie since first making this decision and I honestly believe I have pretty much picked up all I need and want to know all on my ownsome through you wonderful women blogging in your journals and trawling through the myriad of information on the net. 

 I guess the only thing I really got out of it was that I was able to see a band up live and close, have a hold and examine it (the port is way smaller than I had realised) and to meet a patient of the great Doc's who was banded eighteen months ago and has been maintaining a forty kilo loss that she managed to slough off over six months ago. That was pretty cool. I remember actually seeing this woman at our shopping centre (she works for a boutique there) and she stood before us all, a trim and terrific size ten ....... down from size 20 originally ...... (so whoo to that.. there's hope for us all, if she can.. we can!!) in a lovely pair of dressy slacks and a nice blouse, done up to the nines. She looked great! It was interesting to ask her questions like ... Did she count calories and weigh and measure fat and carbs etc to lose the weight? Her answer was no, she just ate everything her family ate, but in much much smaller proportions (wonder why that was lol.. ) This was a relief for me... as the one thing I get bored with, and if I'm honest I suck at, its counting calories and weighing and measuring.  Another question: Do the fills hurt? No again apparantely Dr Couch doesnt even numb the area first... he just puts the fill right in. (This scared me a little as it's a damn big needle as far as I know.. but perhaps he uses something a little smaller.. here's hoping!) What kind of exercise did you do to lose the weight? She said she just walked. She's allergic to gyms ... (me too!! I wanted to yell!) There were a few more questions put to her from others... What kind of food do you eat now to maintain? Stuff along those lines.. and then.. Do you ever PB?.. and have you ever PB'd during the course of losing the weight. Dr Couch jumped right in here. He mentioned he goes cautiously at first, much to the chagrin of most of his patients. He will only give 2 mls with the first fill. If you want more after, then fine, but 2 mls is all you get to start. I baulked at this. It doesnt sound much? Do others agree? How much did get in your band the first time? Anyway, his reasoning is, he doesnt want the weight flying off and I guess thats reasonable, as we want this to be a forever thing and its teaching us good habits along the way, AND he said that in early days, too many people were ending up in emergency with stuck food. So now he goes gently, gently. Hmmmm... thoughts to that, good people of the blogging world? 

(Her answer to the PB question by the way was she only ever got stuck once, when she pigged a piece of lemon sponge cake and it took hours before it went down and she never ever tried it again.. the woman must be a saint to only have this happen once me thinks.. or did she make it sound better than it actually is.. verdicts out on this one as yet.)

First appt. with Dr Couch is on this Thursday. Will update when I know a date... YIKES! This is actually happening lol. 

From me to you,

Cara