Oregondaisy

yeah, I have come to terms with it. It's what I need. I gained 10 lbs in Arizona in 10 days. Having a band with no restriction is worthless. I can't get a fill or all the night time problems will come back. I am looking forward to restriction without getting filled and unfilled.

My dad lives in East Mesa. I just got back from spending 10 days there. I was very surprised that I was cold the entire time I was there. Wouldn't you know it, the weather people said it was going to warm up again as soon as I left. I'll be back this summer or sooner. My dad needs a lot of checking up on.

Congratulations Mac! You have really accomplished a lot. You should be very proud!

Are you exercising? Most of us in our 50's have to exercise to lose. Our metabolism slows down.

Funny thing is I already do most of this stuff other than the peri bottle. I haven't worn pantihose in years! I have been diagnosed with interstitial cystitis and have been told not to drink cranberry juice as the acid is too harsh for my bladder. The D Mannose has whatever is in cranberry juice, with out the acid. since I started getting up in the middle of the night to take my probiotic, it's made a difference. Someone at the health food store told me it has to be taken on a completely empty stomach. I haven't had a yeast infection in awhile now. I have to take a low dose anti biotic before sex though and I see the urologist again on the 15th .

Thanks Elizabeth. Surgery is scary. LP surgery was not that scary for me, but this one is. For one thing, I will be completely alone down there, and another, it's a little freaky to think they are removing a lot of your stomach and there is no turning back from that.

Hi Orea and Katy, I am glad to hear from both of you! I hope you are both feeling much better soon. Dee Dee, Long has given you good advice. You do need protein to lose weight, and white carbs will slow down the weight loss. Things like noodles, potatoes, rice, etc will stall weight loss. There is a slow loser thread where you could get some ideas, but you do need to eat hard protein which will keep you full longer and not eat in between meals, plus exercise!

I think the internet has opened up a whole new world to find people. Even when I was thin in H.S. I was always afraid to approach guys. They approached me or we didn't talk. My last two relationships were guys I met on dating sites. It's nice because you can weed them out through emails fairly quickly to find out if they are jerks. The guy I mentioned it a post above last June and I are still together. He is a great guy and we are really happy. There is no way we would have met if it were not from match.com. He is a homebody and so am I . We would never have "just run into each other" anywhere. I suggest everyone put up a profile and start having fun looking through profiles in your jammies with no make up. On the other singles thread, there are 3 of us who are still with our bf's that we met online.

Great Post! People are afraid of the sleeve because they think they might regret it and there is no going back once they remove all that extra stomach. It does scare me when I think I might not be able to eat the size of portion I want, but then I remember it's the size of portion that I need. Any other size portion makes me break out in big rolls of fat.

Thanks for the warning on the cold room. I had just asked my daughter which robe I should take. I have a cotton one that is like bedsheet material. I think I will take the fleece one. It's not that heavy, but I get cold easily. I am so glad to hear those tumors were benign. I so wish all of us had been there at the same time. I am glad we are going through this fairly close together though. You are both teaching me a lot of what to expect. Lucky for me, the plane ride back will not be all that long. but I do have to change planes and take a tiny plane back to the town I am flying in and out from. Can we put any protein powder in the tomato soup? I am really worried about my hair falling out again. It's still so thin from LB surgery.

Do you guys think I should get the spinal instead of the general? I have had both in the past. I had general with LB surgery, but my dr. gave me a patch to put behind my ear the night before which he said would control nausea. I had a spinal with a C section and it came up too high and I could not tell if I was breathing . the whole thing was very freaky and I would be afraid to get another spinal. do they do epidurals with these surgeries? I am glad to hear you are both coming along great and I can't wait for all the continued up dates.

I am glad to hear that it didn't sound very painful for you Elizabeth. I so wish I could have had my surgery at the same time as you and Susan! I will be anxious to hear how you're feeling over the next couple of weeks, since I have no idea how much time I will need off work. Please keep us all posted!

I am in Arizona visiting my dad and I am going to be afraid to weigh myself when I get home. I am really glad I am getting the sleeve surgery next month. That surgery will not let me eat the way I have been eating here. That tiny stomach will only hold so much. My band lets too much junk go through when I am in a mood like I have been this past week. I know part of it is that I don't have the right fill, but if I got filled, I am afraid I would go back to puking in my sleep. I just read on another thread that doctors are saying band surgery will be obsolete in about 2 more years.

I only took the papaya tablets if food was stuck and nothing was going down. I usually walked around wtih my hands in the air, stretching upward to try to make the food pass first, before chewing up the tablets. This worked sometimes. By stretching upwards, it opens the area where the food is stuck. If it didn't work, I chewed 3-5 tablets and waited for the food to disolve. I never use them anymore. I have learned to chew well and nothing ever gets stuck anymore.

Susan, It's so good to hear you're on the other side of this surgery. I am on pins and needles too wondering about your liver. The band is out and you're on the road to recovery! Yay! Yay for Dr. A and Yay for sleeve surgeries! We will all be such happy people once we are all losing and living with the sleeve!

It's really easy to add in extra calories without even thinking about it. I used to taste this or that if I were cooking, or pop a hersheys kiss in my mouth at a friends house when I passed her candy bowl. It's takes concentration to make sure you don't put anything in your mouth other than what is on your plate for your 3 meals. If you snack, it has to be something where you figure in the calories for the day, not grab something on the go, and managing to forget you have eaten it. At least that was my problem. A handful of chips, a piece of candy here or there, and boom! that scale will not move the right direction.

I can't wait. I went out to pizza with my dad daughter and SIL last night I am banded and I was able to eat an entire salad, 3 pieces of pizza and one slice of sour dough bread. That is just wrong. How can they call this restriction? The band is pretty worthless until it's so tight you can's swallow your own spit. If I were to get a fill, I would go back to throwing up in my sleep. No thanks. Sleeve here I come!

Hey I have a question that might sound like a dumb question. I have looked at pictures of sleeve stomachs but the part I don't get is the end of the stomach. I guess I need to keep looking at pictures. The stomach ends and the intestines begin. What is between the two? Can someone direct me to a good picture. The one I saw showed the staple line with the part of the stomach that is removed, but I don't quite get what is at the end of that or the bottom. thanks in advance.

If you are getting stuck often, you are taking too big of bites and not chewing enough. We are supposed to take bites the size of a pencil eraser. then chew it up until there is nothing left to chew. If you are doing that and still getting food stuck, your fill is too tight. Being too tight is dangerous as well as throwing up often is what causes the band to slip. when I used to use the papaya, I chewed up 3-5 of them. Sometimes it would make the food come back up, but sometimes it would disolve what is stuck. I haven't had to use them in over a year though because I learned to chew my food well.

Read the thread "how the band works. Fills and Refills (something like that) by Wendall Edwards in the section in the forums called fills. That explains a lot. I would not get a fill if you are getting food stuck regularly. That will just make the situation worse. Choking and vomiting are not a good thing and are not good for the band long term. vomitting is what causes the band to slip.

I am in Arizona visiting my dad and using library computers so I won't be posting as much. I can't make it to the library every day. I use the Miralax too. I use it every other day instead of every day. I drink a ton of water but the Miralax still seems to be necessary.

I will be celebrating my dad's 90th birthday and my daugters's 28th on the 1st, but I will be thinking of you, celebrating the beginning of a whole new life for you!

I am having mine taken out by Dr. Aceves. I can't wait. I am really afraid that even though I am not having problems at the moment, it's just a matter of time until I do. I am gaining weight too, because my band is pretty much empty to avoid the reflux I was having. Dr. Aceves is a wonderful doctor and I am sure you can use one of their credit options they have available to get that out before it does more damage to your stomach.

We are supposed to take calcium citrate not calcium carbonate

Where do you get a liquid multi Vitamin? I am kind of worried as I take a lot of supplements for a bladder problem. I did dump all the capsules into Water one time, just to find out if it was nasty to take them that way. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I am hoping with the sleeve, it won't be as hard at it is banded to take stuff. I take a lot of stuff.