It’s been one week since my banding! The novelty has dieddown quite a bit for me. Here are my observations:

I don’t feel like I have a great deal of restriction-

I am able to drink relatively easy and without anydifficulty. I’ve taken a couple Tylenols caplets for headaches (which I figuredout was a caffeine withdraw – I don’t have much caffeine, but I guess enough tocause a withdraw headache. A Crystal Lite Tea alleviated that.) I was a littleconcerned about taking the caplets, as they would have been the biggestobstacles which my new pouch would have faced. I accidently took two at a time,habit, but they went down okay and I didn’t feel anything. I felt as if theywent straight through. When I drink my protein shakes, those do seem to fill meup a bit. I actually have had to reduce the amount of liquid that I mix myshakes with. I used to do about 20 ounces of milk-like-product (Hood CalorieCountdown), or just water. Now I’m down to about 10-14 ounces of liquid withthe mix. Those will satiate me for quitea while, enough that I’m able to just do three shakes a day, and then maybe acup of broth somewhere in the middle of the day.

Pain-

The only pain associated with the band right now for me iswith the cuts healing on my chest. I seem to rub them against t-shirts, and bumpthem against everything whenever I move. The ‘gas’ pain that I had only lastedfor the first two days. After that, each time I hiccupped, I would feel somepain just under my ribs (the surgeon did repair a hiatial hernia), but that toohas subsided to just a discomforting twang of a reminder that it hurt much morelast week.

The Port-

When I went for my post-op check up last Friday (Day four),my PA asked me if I felt my port. I didn’t, because I really didn’t go lookingfor it. Why? Because I know that my stomach area is bloated and filled withliquid from the surgery. Also, because I have a lot of bruising from thoseanti-coagulating shots I had to give myself twice a day, so I just left thatalone to explore another day. She did point it out to me, and that answered aquestion I had in my head about some swelling where I would have guessed myliver was located. I thought, from what my research suggested, as well as whatmy doctor told me, that the port would be located to my left side of my navel somewhere.My port is actually located to my right of my navel (as I am looking down atit). There is a small swollen bump over it, and I do worry that it might bemore prominent or visible in the future as I lose more weight.

Weight Loss-

I started the shake/protein/liquid diet at the beginning ofMay. Just about three weeks before my surgery. I was 320 at that time, and myweight at my post-op check up was 292.

Diet-

Right now, my doctor has me on the liquid diet for two weeksfollowing the surgery, then on to soft foods, then on to more advanced foods.My next follow up appointment would be for my first fill, and my PA stated thatI might not need a fill if I’m losing weight as is. The PA stated that thedoctor put the smallest band on me, and it could be possible that I might notneed a fill. We shall see. Personally, I don’t know if that will work, asyesterday and today I find myself hungry between shakes. Not an uncontrollablehunger, but I know that if it keeps up, I will have to put another shake, orcup of soup in my diet to satiate me. I’m quite eager to start the soft foods,and feel that I could introduce something of more substance than ‘jello’ rightnow, but I might introduce that later this week, maybe a couple days earlierthan planned, depending on the hunger. Right now, I try to keep my calories as close to 1000 as possible, myfat below 30, and my carbs as close to 30 as possible. I used to worry about myprotein, as I use the Isopure shakes, and they have about 40-50 grams ofprotein a serving, but in talking with my dietician and PA, they told me that Idon’t need to worry about too much protein. I’m 6’2, so they said that tallerguys will need more protein in any case. So, I’m going to roll with that. Myaverage day is 900-1100 calories, 20 grams fat, 30-40 grams carbs, and about140-170 grams protein. I keep track of all my foods and exercise on my iPhonewith a free application/program from www.fatsecret.com.I’ve found that to be the easiest and best program for me to keep track ofeverything.

Work –

I’m back at work full time now. I knew it was a bit earlylast week, but I thought I’d try it in any case. My PA yelled at me (tongue incheek) saying that she usually tells her patients to take three weeks off. But,I work in a place where I can take it easy and type on the computer all day ifI need to.