Mrs Firth

Yesterday I posted that I had a swelling around my op wound and asked if this was normal. People on here suggested I see my doc which I did. It is a seroma and it seems it is not infected, thank goodness. It should go down of its own accord eventually but if it hasn't by my due date to have my saline injected, that will have to wait. Thanks for your help....and if anyone is worrying post-op, I really recommend going to the doc. If the site is infected, the band may need to be removed so best not to wait too long or take chances.

Try cutting and pasting them into your message.

Don't panic! Doctors vary dramatically on how long people should stay on liquids before moving to solid food. If you have chewed the food well, have no pain and are feeling fine then you probably are fine. Ring your doctor to confirm it is not so bad

Banded 16/3/11. BMI before pre-op diet was 40. BMI now 35.6. Weightloss to date 10.5 kilos. I have a seroma which is painful but will go naturally I am told. It is fluid in a pocket formed when the surgeon cut into the muscle area to fix in my port. It is the size of a tennis ball and looks awful but there is no infection. My eating has been ok but I still like a drink of wine, though it takes all night to get through one small glass, which is good. I am craving bread and pastries - tried half a savoury scone yesterday and was crippled by excruciating pain from indigestion, like knives in my back and buckled over. I will be glad when things settle down with regards to the surgical side so that the pain lessens. I haven't lost anything this week, because I have been extremely inactive with pain. Trying to go to the gym now though - I reckon increased exercise will either increase the fluid in the seroma or help it to dissipate through my body so I need to conduct a little experiment and see what the results are.....

Feeling glum when you have been brave enough to put yourself through SURGERY in order to try and manage your weight and health better, and you have strived hard to follow your diet plan, and you have been admonished by your doctor (!!!! how dare s/he!!!!) for your pre-op weight loss, and you are being deprived of all the ways you soothed your moods with food previously, well feeling glum sounds absolutely normal and acceptable to me! And so you reached out and asked for support....well done. What all this says to me is that you are being human, normal, acting in your best interest, are persevering, are trying to cope with temporary disappointment, and are going to be ok, because you have the self-caring to ask for support. Well done, but not because of the seven pounds but because of your honesty and dedication. You now need to look at yourself and glow with pride at your courage and tenacity mixed with vulnerability and authenticity. Time.....healing.....getting there....and you will, I am sure. Thanks for sharing. I for one have felt glum, angry, despondent, wondered why on earth I submitted my otherwise healthy body to surgery, why I can't just get on with it without all this, felt helpless, bordering on hopeless....then elated, proud, happy, energised....and then bored, forced to look at my weight gaining behaviour, forced to be brutally honest with myself....and accepting that a body is a body and has its own means of rebelling, doing things its own way, being complex and difficult to comprehend...and still having faith that in the LONG TERM it is going to be ok and it will work. It has been 23 days since surgery and I have stagnated, but this WILL change because this is how I have previously given up on dieting, and with a lap band implanted in me, well it is drastic, and I can't give up....so I won't...and that is why I had it put in me, because KEEPING GOING is what has always defeated me. Thank you so much for your honesty. Lynda

Being a psychologist I am a bit biased but you can get support through seeing someone who can help you with your emotional eating. You still do the work but get good education as well as empathic support, and help with behavioural monitoring. I also help clients with some very simple aversion stuff (linking 'don't like foods to binge foods). I hope this helps, binge eating and emotional eating are very real psychological issues to struggle with and they generally can be helped. Good luck

Thanks for the motivator Trish, I finally got my gym pants on today and am off to join th gym again. Your post helped!

Hi lapbanders, I had ladpband surgery three weeks ago, all fine except I am swelling around the surgery site and that has now become the size of a tennis ball. Is this normal?

Thanks to everyone who replied. I am seeing my surgeon this afternoon and hopefully will get this swelling fixed asap. Thank you so much for you help and good advice.

Hi everyone, My name is Lynda and I am 58 years old, married with three adult children and six grandchildren. I am originally from England and two of my sons and four of my grandchildren are over there. My other son and his two children and adorable wife are over here. I have been married to my new husband Bill for a year and four months, finally finding him after twelve years of widowhood. I was always a slim person, throughout my early years, my first marriage and having my three children. I was between 54 and 57 kilos all my early adult life. Then my rather violent marriage broke up and things didn't go smoothly and I started to turn to food and beer to self soothe. Within a year I had blown out to around 130 kilos. Amazing. I was there for a while then lost most of the weight, down to about 80 kilos. Stayed like that for a while then back up again, then down then up, to 126 kilos, then using Weight Watchers I went down to 68 kilos and stayed there for two and a half years. Then I met Bill and my lifestyle dramatically changed as he was living in Sydney and I was in Brisbane. Life changed and so did my weight, very slowly, almost imperceptibly and that was the real problem. Two years later I had ballooned back to 108 kilos and knew drastic steps had to be taken. I had gall stones and the surgeon refused to operate, directing me to lap band instead. I had my surgery three weeks ago on March 16th, 2011. I have lost 10 kilos since then. It is tough, particularly feeling like I have no energy with the very low calorie foods. The indigestion can be excruciating, and I have a swelling which I am seeing the surgeon about today. But nothing is insurmountable now. What needs seeing to will be seen to and this is going to be the best journey of my life. I have a 'before' photo up on my fridge and I am working towards the 'after' photo. I have been out with Bill today looking at clothes and declaring that I will no longer look at plus sizes because I will have slimmed out of them very soon so will not buy anything new until I am comfortable in a size 16 again - the top end of the 'normal' sizes. I have been between size 8 and size 32. How difficult for me to appreciate my actual body and how distorted my body image must be. I am a psychologist, practicing in my own clinical practice in Brisbane. I have clients who struggle with their weight and body image. I am also a trained hypnotherapist but refuse to use this on people with weight difficulties because we need to look at their own personal issues first. Then we can be using behavioural modification to help with the new life styles people are learning. I am very fulfilled helping people in this area, more so because I know personally how difficult weight problems are. I am also convinced that the main issue is that we don't know the reality of our bodies, and find it extremely hard to track what we are actually like in terms of size and shape, and relative to what the media and retail portrays to us as 'normal'. So all you beautiful people in lap band land, aren't we awesomely brave, deeply caring about our loved ones by caring about our own health, and ever so full of true grit to be able to face the challenge, feel the fear, and go ahead and do it anyway??? Very proud to be in lap band community, where people who know they are worth it reside and share. Lynda (Mrs Firth, and also Dr Firth.....and hoping to be svelt Firth eventually!)

This sounds exactly what it was like for me the day after surgery. Painkillers may have been given intravenously with your fluids and after that is stopped basically the pain kicks in. It is because you have had operative work on your body and it is reacting to being cut, I suspect. The pain went in a day or two. The other pain I have found bad is indigestion but that starts going soon as well. If the pain gets worse, make sure you let the medics know. It is to be expected at first but should lessen rather than worsen. Keep smiling, you took the brave step and it is a great new journey of your life and health from here on in