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I am Banded!

I came home from the hospital yesterday. It went ok. I'm in a lot of pain because of a gas bubble in my right upper quadrant of my belly. The funniest thing is that the incisions themselves don't hurt that much but the residual pain into my shoulder is killing me, LOL.   I'm having trouble eating very much. I'm averaging about 2 ounces of carnation instant breakfast every meal. Not much but for now it will have to do. I had a pretty good night last night and slept ok bed for a while and then moved to a chair. I am most comfortable belly wise on my right side but after an hour or so in that position my hip starts to hurt and no other position laying down is comfortable yet. So it's off to the chair, which is fine.   I'm just working on getting this gas bubble out, trying to walk as much as possible.   Christy
christymarie

christymarie

6
 

4 days post-op, why does it feel like it's been so much longer?

It's been 4 days since my surgery and I'm struggling a bit. The pain is still pretty intense and I'm so ready for this gas bubble that has been causing me so much pain to go away!   I'm able to get about 2-3oz in per meal but I think I'm going to have to change to something lactose free. I'm having horrible diarrhea and am so ready to be done with it. I know that many people have this and once you get to mushies it gets better but I'm ready now, LOL.   I'm down 12lbs from two days before surgery so I'm excited about that. I know I will not lose at this rate for long but it is nice to see the scale doing down everyday.   On the whole I'm doing well but just have a few glitches here and there. I know the worst is over and it should get better from here.   Excited to continue the journey   Christy
christymarie

christymarie

4
 

I'm so bad at blogging!!

It's been a while since I posted I'm so lazy!!   Things are going.....ok. I'm not having the weight loss I wanted to have but I also have not had a fill yet. I was hoping I would be one of those people who have restriction from the beginning and drop weight right out of the starting block. Nope, not me. Oh well, I'll deal with it.   I'm doing ok since I've dropped like 15 pounds in the last 3 weeks but I've been down to 19 pounds dropped and gained some back when I started on regular foods. Blech. It's my fault. I am definitely not getting enough water, no where close and I definitely need to exercise (not just haphazard stuff like grocery shopping or parking a bit further away from the mall entrance). I'm making pretty good food choices but I'm having trouble keeping my fats low. Proteins are fine and I'm watching my carbs. I have had no foods that are a problem except dry meats. I can even eat salad which is wonderful. I love salad.   I went to my first buffet post banding and did very well. It was a salad buffet and I had about 2 cups of salad and a baked potato. Yum. I would have been perfect but dummy me decided to eat that mini blueberry muffin, it tasted good but not so good as to make up for the fact that I was uncomfortable for the next 15 minutes. No blueberry muffin is that good.   I'm on all regular food now and have my first fill on the 3rd of March. It'll be interesting to see how much restriction I can get from that one.   That's about it for now...   Christy
christymarie

christymarie

1
 

Things are starting to even out

I survived the first week post-op. There were definitely some glitches along the way but I'm doing ok. I still have a stitch in my side and my shoulder when I breathe deep so I'm assuming there's still a gas bubble in there but I'm not having to take pain meds for that anymore so that's a good sign.   I developed an allergic reaction to the steri strips so they had to come off and I've been taking Benadryl for a few days for that. So far it's been helping but it will be nice when the rash has gone away.   I've moved on to puree and that is helping with getting more protein in. Since moving to puree I'm able to get around 500-800 calories which is better than the 200-300 I was averaging last week.   I'm starting to get out more and went to the grocery store again. I was able to walk around without as much nausea but I still found myself looking at things that I love to eat and not really being drawn to them. I did, however, find myself reading just about every nutritional guide on all the foods, it was pretty funny. I'm able to have apple sauce now but when I looked at the nut guide I could not see any real nutritional value to it. What exactly does apple sauce give you? Very strange. I got some kids peach pieces that were fortified with vit a and c.   I think I may be having trouble with blood sugar. I'm finding myself waking up in the morning very shakey. I'll have to ask doc about that next week.   Hugs   Christy
christymarie

christymarie

2
 

Pre-surgical testing was today...

And what a fun day it was. I had already had the abdominal u/s so all I had to do was the bloodwork, nurse's interview, EKG, chest x-ray, and upper GI. What a load of fun all those were. Bloodwork was ok, I just have the worst veins known to man. Seriously, my husband keeps offering to get me new veins for my birthday (he feels sorry for the techs to have to get my blood). This woman was fantastic and got me the first time. Way to go blood lady (I can't remember her name but she had a cute pink teddy bear scrub top on)!!   Then it was on to the Nurse's interview. This was fun because I got to finally see what time I was supposed to be at the hospital (6:30am) and all the pre-op stuff. They are having me wash with the special antibacterial soap twice before surgery. She told me it would leave my skin feeling sticky but that it will go away after a few minutes, however, she did say it would make my skin an orange color. How lovely!! I'll have to wear coordinating socks to go with my orange glow!! Jaundice has nothing on me!! :thumbup:   Then it was off to the X-ray people. I feel sorry for them, no outside lights (not many lights period), I would have to imagine they would spend their days off outside as much as possible. OK, for those of you who have never done an upper GI (you lucky Dogs!!) be thankful, for those of you have God Bless You! I tell ya, that was pretty gosh darn bad. They give you what they call "crystals" to put in your mouth (they seemed kinda like really really really sour pop-rocks) and then they give you some water....yeah like a half an ounce. Then they tell you..."ok this will make you want to burp but don't burp".. What the heck?? :tt1: That's like giving someone a diet coke on an empty stomach and telling them not to burp. The word bloated does not begin to describe the sensation you are trying to deal with... then the topper...drink the barium.   Barium, let's consider that word for a moment... when you hear the word barium what do you think of? Dessert? Flowers? Warm spring days? No, you think Bury 'em. And believe me you would probably rather they just go ahead and bury you. That stuff is like milk of magnesia on crack. And here's the best part...they flavor it. Reallly, why flavor something called barium.   Ok, so moving right along. After you get the barium (shudder) you get x-rays taken of you swallowing it. Not so bad except for the barium..and the fact that you are standing in front of an x-ray machine trying to drink (and drink, and drink, and drink) and hold the bottle of barium out of the way. Graceful it is not.   Talk about graceful, here comes the really graceful part. Here I am a 337 pound woman on this 2ft wide slab of something cold and they are telling me "roll over on your side, now immediately on your stomach, now on your other side, now on your back." This does not sound bad until you realize that they are done saying the on your back and I'm still trying to figure out how to roll on my side without rolling off the table. I decide to just go for it and will my poundage over to my side...suddenly the table shifts. Seriously, the table moved while making this horrible grinding noise.   Now, let's talk about this for a minute. Here I am a huge woman on this slim slab and it's moving a making a grinding noise. Several things went through my mind. First: Oh gosh, I broke the table. Second: This is my first table breaking episode (although I have been known to break chairs now and again, just the cheap ones that you get at outdoor weddings). Third: I am so fat that I just broke this skinny table. BUT, the x-ray people just kept going on like nothing had happened. This left me very confused (and still trying to figure out how to turn) because if this was a design mechanism in which the table was made to move and grind when large 300+ pound women tried to roll over on it, THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT!!! Seriously, please let fat people know that what you are going to have them do may sound like the table is breaking but not to worry it's made that way.   Ok so back to rolling around on the two foot slab. I finally get on my side. WHOOO HOOO! Then low and behold they say, roll onto your stomach...Ok stop right there. Here's some background, both my mother's and father's side of our family are well endowed...very well endowed. This trait was passed down to me. I am (on a good day) some where past an I cup. So here I am on the table (two feet) and they say to roll onto my stomach. My first thought, and I kid you not about this, was "what the heck do I do with my boobs?" Seriously, this is a hard table, there's no give to this table, if I were to roll onto my stomach my head may not be able to touch the pillow. Unfortunately they had continued on with instructions and I had to keep going so I flung myself over onto my stomach (grinding noise once again) and laid there. Suddenly the tech shoved a bottle into my hand and told me to drink the barium. What the heck!! I already drank the barium, as a matter of fact I had downed the whole dang bottle (I really thought that I was supposed to drink it all and then I was done drinking...big mistake...huge). Nope I was back to drinking barium but this time they wanted me to do it laying down. On my stomach. With my boobs threatening to cut off my oxygen. Seriously, at this point I considered hopping off the table   (side tangent: isn't that funny, hopping off the table, this is an action a skinny person can do, however I do not suggest anyone over the weight of 220 trying it without medics nearby)   and asking one of these techs to show me exactly how you lay on your stomach, drink BARIUM, and breathe.   Finally, it was over. They did the chest x-ray, which, after all I had been though was refreshingly easy, and told me goodbye.   Whew. What a morning, but I feel good that I have one more think to do marked off my do to list. I have the surgeon appt this afternoon and then I get a c-pap machine on Thursday (that will be another post)   Hugs everyone!     Christy
christymarie

christymarie

3
 

My first trip to the grocery store.

Well, I got out of the house today and did some grocery shopping. It surprised me how I reacted to the experience.   When I first go there I ran into a woman that I knew who was a greeter and chatted with her for a few minutes. I was there with my husband and after a couple of minutes excused myself to begin shopping as I am still in a lot of pain (gas bubble) and very tired. I headed to the back of the store and found myself wanting to go down the last isle which is the soda isle. It was very interesting how my mind/body is so conditioned to head that way as I would often just check to see if my favorites were on sale and then usually buy a 12pack even if they were full price. This time didn't even go down that isle.   We got some new juice (pear) and discussed the pros and cons of egg substitutes. Then I continued up the isle. We didn't need a ton of things but we needed to go around much of the store due to the placement of the items we needed. I walked by the discounted bakery items that were on a cart in the middle of the main isle. This was a place that I usually stopped at and splurged on a "treat" for the family. This time I didn't even give it more than a brief glance. To be honest I was starting to feel a bit sick to my stomach. Too many foods that just didn't sound good to me at this time. It was funny, however, my hubby (who was banded last month) did stop and look over the discount bakery. He didn't choose anything though (yeah baby!)   I did find myself wanting fresh fruit and fresh veggies. I was also craving deli roast beef, muenster cheese, and mayo rolled up in a lettuce leaf. A few more weeks but we're getting closer.   All in all it was a good trip. I was so tired by the end of it and overwhelmed by the amount of food in the store (very strange) but happy that I was able to get out and not be tempted by the food. I'm curious to know how long this will last (as I know it is very temporary)   All in all a good day. Weighed myself tonight and I'm down 14lbs since surgery. Whoo hoo.   Christy
christymarie

christymarie

1
 

Pre-OP meeting with Doc went ok with some glitches

I had an appointment with Dr Rantis today to do my pre-surgery consultation. We were scheduled for 4pm and I got there about 4:05. Since my hubby was with me and we were going to the Bulls game afterwards I figured it was not a big deal when it had been 30 minutes and they hadn't called me yet. There were others being called in who had come in after me but I wasn't sure if they were seeing Dr Rantis or another doctor.   After about an hour they came out to get the last person in the waiting room and I made eye contact with the nurse, who asked if I was waiting to see the doctor. When I told her yes, that I had been there for an hour, and that I had already paid my co-pay she quickly told me she would be right with me. Bless her heart everyone else in the office had left and asked her to work late but she was usually just the scheduler. They couldn't find my chart and while they could see that I did have an appointment they had no idea why I had gotten lost.   They finally put me into a room and the doctor came in and was very apologetic. Apparently their office manager was out sick with the flu and things had not gone smooth with her not being there.   I have been cleared for surgery. My bloodwork all checked out, my chest x-ray was fine and my upper GI looked great. I asked which band he was going to put in and he told me he decided that once he started surgery as it depended on my anatomy. I found out about lifting restrictions, fill schedules, OTC medication restrictions and what to expect on Monday. Apparently I am the first surgery on Monday so I'll probably be on time.   Now my next biggest thing is picking up the c-pap machine on Thursday. After that there are no other appointments or tests.   So, I'm going out today to pick up some groceries and stock up on liquids for next week. I've decided to go with carnation instant breakfast as opposed to the ensure protein or boost protein.   Not much longer now, on the home stretch!   Christy
christymarie

christymarie

1
 

I have a date!

I am having surgery on Monday the 26th at 8:30 am at Alexian Brothers Hospital. It's the same hospital my hubby had his lapband surgery at last month. I was kinda hoping for a sister hospital that has private rooms but I'm still excited. I don't have any pre-surgery diet I have to follow but I do have to take two juice box sized advantage recovery drinks everyday until Next Sunday when I go to all liquids and take the stuff to flush my system. I can still eat normally this week.   Did anyone else find themselves going to more buffets and favorite restaurants the week before they had to stop eating normally? I do realize that I will most likely be able to go to these same places after surgery but I also realize that my relationship with food will change. I'm not going overboard but do find myself choosing more favorites that I may not be able to get after surgery.   I'm excited about this!
christymarie

christymarie

3
 

It begins

Well this is my first blog entry. I'm excited about this new journey but also realize that this is not going to be easy. I have been told enough and have seen that you still have to make good choices...the pounds will not just melt off and even if they do at first, it probably wont last.   I have my sleep study tonight and am supposed to hear from the hospital today or tomorrow what day they are getting me into surgery. I know it's the last week of this month but I'm not sure the exact day.
christymarie

christymarie

1
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