Goodness, we are all really close to one another. We do really need to arrange to get together sometime. Maybe for dinner at Woody's, or lunch?

I would love that...am interested to see how, what, etc I will be eating for the rest of my life after my surgery. I live in St. Augustine off of I95 and SR16 so lunch anytime would be perfect for me. Let me know where and when...my surgery is not until April th.

Do ANY of your doctors do fills for patients from Mexico? I can drive an hour or 2 and go to FillCenters USA, but I would rather stay local. I am self-pay.

Thanks for any info,
Paula

Paula, I referred a fellow LBT'er who had her surgery in Mexico to my doctor last year. She has been going to him for fills ever since. I am assuming he would still be willing to do the same for others.

I live in Mandarin and would love to get together with some other bandsters! Lunch or dinner sounds great!

Sue

Woot! Thank you so very much! (I am assuming that you LOVE your doctor.) :)

Paula

What happened to our Jacksonville thread, it seems to have withered out?

Who did your surgery and do you know if they are still accepting patients who have had theirs done in Mexico? It would seem to me that they have nothing to lose by doing fills - extra money in their pockets.

Hi YA everyone! I just stumbled upon this site & low n behold there is a Jax Group! woohoooo I am a patient of Dr Cywes & I will be going for my final visit on Wed & then we will submit the request to Aetna.... This seems like a really friendly little group! I am excited to get the surgery & also full of questions :0)~

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery, Katie. I absolutely LOVE Dr. Cywes. My surgery was 10/11 and have lost 67 lbs. and this is the best thing I have ever done for myself. You'll be so happy with this surgery!

Thanks! I am really looking forward to it. I am really keeping my fingers crossed for Wed appt & for Aetna to approve it.. Thats the nail bitter! How long till they schedule the surgery if Aetna approves it? I want them to fax everything the second my appt is over..LOL but, hey don't we all...

Hi guys! (or ladies as it were)

I'm checking in! Sorry to have been absent but been busy riding and taking care of family matters. When I check in on the boards I have a tendency to go over to the February group. Guess I need to make a point to come over here as well!

Tomorrow is my appt for my 1st fill! I had to go in last week and see Dr. Babtista about some pain I was having and he tested to see if I needed a fill but he said he didn't feel that I needed one at that time and I had to agree with him. Since then I have gotten a major monthly visit and suddenly I have less restriction. At least I feel like I am able to eat much more than I should. It sure hasn't showed up on the scale though. Since my appt last week I have dropped seven lbs after being on a 2 week plateau! It's been great watching that scale drop. What's kinda cool is that we have a balance scale like you have in the doctor's office where you have to move the weights yourself. I just love pushing that thing down!!!!!

I'll check in tomorrow and let you know how it went! Nice to meet all the newcomers!!!!!

Got my first fill today! Just 2cc's in my large AP Band (my dr says it will hold 14cc's). I think he had me up to 3cc's but backed off a bit because the water just wasn't going down very well. I was gurgling quite a bit! LOL It didn't hurt in the least! In fact, at one point he said, "okay this is going to hurt a lot!" I was like, "WHAT????" He laughed and said, "just kidding!" UGH! LOL

He wants me back in three weeks! He was extremely pleased with my progress, he reiterated how big my hiatal hernia was! He seemed really impressed with it. LOL No wonder it took so long to heal! He said I may still feel pain in my left shoulder if I eat too much from the hernia repair.

I had to laugh at him today. I confessed about eating too many carbs on Sunday during brunch and I told him that I didn't beat myself up too badly and just got back on track. He looked at me at said, "No, that's my job!" I love that though, I need someone who's going to keep me on track and he seems to be just the person to do it!

Wow Karen, I was at Dr. Cywes' office yesterday (3/11) at 10:30 am for my 3rd fill, would have loved to seen you there (maybe would have recognized you from your little profile picture). Anyway, congrats on your first fill, glad it went well for you. You must have seen Dr. Baptista cos' he has a great sense of humor and is generally much more easy going than Dr. Cywes' (not that I don't love them BOTH). Anyway, I got my 3rd fill but ended up seeing Cywes' cos' Baptista got called to hospital for emergency and that was my 1st time doing a fill with Cywes'. It went fine, but I have to say that Baptista is much more gentle with his injections. Cywes' had to poke me like 4 times before he got the needle in the port (and that's after giving me a numbing injection so he could press harder to locate port) and that NEVER had happened with Baptista the other 2 times...but it ended up fine. He actually gave me a very agressive fill (his words) to really boost my weight loss (I hadn't gotten one in 5 weeks and needed it badly). I had lost an additional 14 lbs. from my previous visit so he was really glad to see that (although he made a huge point in telling me NOT to dwell on the scale at ALL). He gave me a homework assignment as well. A weekly sheet to fill out for daily carb levels and activity output, which I had been doing on my own anyway. He said he wanted to see it when I came in in 3 weeks (April 8th is my next appt.). Well that's about all for now. Hope to meet some of you soon...We REALLY need to get a group together in person!!! I'm available any Tues. or Weds. night, just lmk what ya'll want to do. Peace to all. KKG

Hey there Katie, welcome to our little intimate Jax Group, glad you found us! I'm Kelly and I live out in Orange Park (Oakleaf to be exact) and I'm also a patient of Dr. Cywes'. I was banded on 12/26/07 and have had 3 fills to date (3rd was yesterday actually) and have lost a total of 54 lbs. from my highest weight (lost 9 pre-surgery). I want to wish you great success on your journey and remind you that we are ALL here for you. No question is too big or small, so feel free to ask away, we'll help you in anyway we can. A few of us have expressed an interest in getting together in person to meet and get to know each other for support so make sure you check back here often to see when it will be and hopefully you can join us as well. Much peace and joy to you. KKG