donali

Sue - I guess it would depend on how big your arm is... lol My counselor made me write these things down and put them around the house where I would see them everyday! I felt it was silly, and embarassing, but I did it because I was paying a lot of money for her help. Thank goodness I live alone! lol I have to admit that it did help. Well, I can't say that ONE thing helped, but the whole process together was effective.

Dear Amber - Please do not yell at yourself - you are doing the very best that you can. Whether you lose your weight this year, next year, or the year after - you still have this wondeful tool to help you when you are ready and able emotionally. food addiction is one of the very hardest to fight (I'm not making excuses, just "telling it like it is"). The good news is, IT CAN BE DONE!!! And the other good news is, IT WILL TAKE TIME. I call that good news, beause it gives us a chance to do this process gently, and with love. Please turn off your negative tapes - everytime a negative thought creeps in, say out loud "STOP." Then say something positive, that is true - something you honestly believe. When I started, the best "positive" thought I could muster that I BELIEVED, was "I am working on this, and I AM going to get better." As I began to love myself more, I was able to graduate to "I am doing the best I can. I am getting better everyday. Today I am EXACTLY where I am supposed to be." One day I was actually able to say, "I love myself just the way I am. I am not broken, and do not need to be 'fixed.' I enjoy living a more healthy lifestyle. I am worth life, love and happiness." You know what? The negative voice got KILLED. I do not hear that terrible voice anymore, and it had been a part of me for 30 years. I believe that was my emotional turning point. We all make less than healthy choices. We all become frustrated with our progress when it is not as fast as we think it "should" be. But no matter what has happened in the past, we CAN do better tomorrow! Nothing has been lost. We all focus on the weight part of this journey, but the more important side is what we can't see - the way we feel about ourselves. Once we feel good about ourselves, treat ourselves with love and respect, love OURSELVES unconditionally, the rest will fall into place. I send you unconditional love. You are EXACTLY where you are supposed to be at this moment in time. You are getting better everyday. You are doing the very best that you can. You WILL succeed. :banana

Sue - lol

Was the hospital you were in band-savy? Did they do fluoro on you to be sure the band was in place and all was well? This is unusual, so I am very worried for you. As long as your band doctor is well aware of what is going on and has checked you out, that is the most important thing. If not, your band doctor ABSOLUTELY MUST KNOW about what you are going through. If you continue to feel ill please do not hesitate to seek medical care. Accidents during surgery can happen, like a perforation of the stomach. Rare, but it does happen. Just do not ignore severe pain, and certainly not vomiting. Please keep us posted, and I hope you are back to 100% soon!

Oh, Bright.... ROTFLMAO!! I cannot imagine why they felt the need to SHAVE you! And dry, too... OUCH! lol Don't worry, honey, it will grow back...:chinese You know, the funniest part of that is that when I was in high school and did a tour of Europe with a symphonic band, the fact that the French women did not shave their legs or arm pits was a big point of interest to us young American girls... Maybe that's the only place they DO keep shaved... ow, ow, oh, it hurts to laugh this hard! Please, I do not mean any offense to any French members we may have. :nervous

lol - I think my stock of rum is low. Now I have a good reason to run out and buy some!!! Thanks for this heads up... ROTFLMAO

It is possible that your stomach is swollen from the trauma of a fill - mine does not. It sounds as though you may be too tight. However, remember that most people are very tight in the mornings, so it is possible that mushy Beans first thing in the morning is not going to work for you, but perhaps later in the day they will. As long as you are able to get in your liquids, I personally would give it a day or too unless the restriction gets worse. Even if you are eating mushy things, be sure to chew, chew chew and eat very very slowly. Of course, you know yourself best, and waiting may not be best for YOU. If you do wait, make sure you are getting in your Protein drinks. This will help keep your blood sugar even and keep you nourished - if liquids are going through slowly, it should also help with your hunger. Keep us posted!

WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Okay, I'm not excited for you, or anything... lol Sorry you were not one of those who did all the town walking tours the day after surgery, but at least I know I'm not the only one who didn't. Thanks. I felt pretty much like crap for two weeks, but I blame the second week on my going to choir and trying to sing just a week after my surgery. Notice my name is NOT "Bright"... lol Anyway, welcome to the "other side," and I know we all look forward to sharing in your journey! Lotsa Love!

Oh, forgot to mention I have heard several Bandsters complain the first few bites are the hardest, myself included. For myself, I blame eating those first two bites too fast and not chewing them enough. It's almost like my stomach needs "priming" first. I try always to drink a quart of Water before I start to eat - that helps keep me hydrated, gives me the benefit of water loading, and helps prepare my stomach for something more substantial. This is not chugging a quart prior to my meal, but getting it in during the hour prior to eating. Then I try to remember not to let myself get too hungry before eating, so that when I do eat I can make my first two bites very small, chew them very well, and wait a few minutes in between to give my stoma a chance to get "primed."

Not knowing exactly what she's eating/drinking, my guess is that the weight is due to Fluid retention. If she is not drinking enough pure Water, she is not flushing out all the fluids the salty soup will have her retain. Also, with all this focus on her fill/food, maybe it's her time of the month and she's forgotten. She could continue to work with this fill if she is willing to forego solids for a few weeks, but the only way to do that safely would be to make sure she's getting in her Protein with Protein shakes. If she is not getting in her protein, the weight she does lose is more likely to be divided between muscle and fat, not mostly fat. Let's all remember that MUSCLE is what burns fat, so we should protect ourselves as much as possible from losing any of that stuff!! Also, as good as exercise in and of itself is for us, the more important part is the fact that it builds MUSCLE, which raises our metabolism by burning more calories. Whatever she chooses to do, she must at all costs avoid PBing, or she's opening the door to significant problems. So my advice is either consciously choose to do high protein liquids with a gallon of water a day (.5 oz per pound of body wieght - whatever that works out to for her), or to get a slight unfill. Wishing you both the best -

Poor Chantal... Yes, of course losing 80-100 pounds can happen to you! But your doctor is not being a part of the solution. The band is ALL about adjustable restriction - without restriction, the band is virtually useless. One cc is not a horrible first fill for most people. That's the problem, though - everyone is different. An empty band is too much restriction for some, and 3 cc's is still not enough for others. If a doc does not do the fill under fluoroscope he/she is just playing a guessing game with restriction. There is absolutely no way to judge how tight someone is that way, if they can't see how fast the barium is passing through the stoma - they're just blindly putting in Fluid. I know a lot of docs do it this way, but having only had mine done under fluoro, I just can't imagine doing them without. Don't give up hope, but insist that the doc help you be successful. Show him the posts about fills - explain to him how important they are. It is his responsibility to HELP you, not hinder you. I can't imagine going for a year without a fill - I would have gained back all the weight I lost initially right after surgery. Good luck -

Yay!!! Thanks so much Sarah for letting us know Bright is okay. Tell her that she should outrageously flirt as much as she wants - if her husband complains, she can always blame it on the pain meds. When is that ever going to happen again?!?! lol Please send Bright love from her porn lover... :cool:

Whooo hooo!! Montana! lol Our sheep jokes were always about Wyoming-ites - lol This post came up on the SoCal Bandster board yesterday - what a coincidence, huh? *********** SoCalBandsters Mon, 27 Oct 2003 Subject: My first fill - with an even bigger surprise! So Friday I go for my first fill. I met with Condy and Elaine in the am - down 27 pounds doing well, blah, blah, blah. Then into the imaging center with Dr. Cunneen for the fill. It seems to be taking a really long time. Then I start getting this uncomfortable feeling in my chest and I tell the doc. He says, "It seems like the saline isn't going in - you must have a port disconnect. What you feel is the contrast I just put in which came right out the side. We'll have to bring you back in for surgery to correct it." And I'm thinking, "Melanie and I are living parallel lives!" Then I sit up and I feel a little nauseous. I ask for Water, which they give me and the water makes me feel worse. I tell the doc, "I feel like things are getting backed up here." "Hmmm," he says. "Maybe the saline did go in." They have me swallow some barium and they watch on the scope as it goes down .... and stops. At this point the uncomfortable feeling in my chest has blossomed into a dull throb and I'm starting to have little gurgling burps. So the saline did go in and now the band is waaaaaaay too tight - not even my saliva is getting through. But the good news is no surgery - they just need to take some saline out of the band. They prep my stomach again and lay me back as far as I will let them - which is not all the way because the flatter I get the worse I feel. He sticks a needle in the port, attaches a syringe and starts to pull the saline out - and maybe a drop comes out. He keeps trying with bigger syringes. Meanwhile I am vomiting up barium and saliva. So after about 10 minutes he gives up and tells the nurse to switch his schedule around and I'm taking the next available operating room. By the time I get up to the operating room, I am begging them to give me something for the pain. Almost an hour later admissions finishes the paperwork and they put me out. Emergency surgery over, I'm awake and back in my hospital room. Dr. Cunneen comes in to tell me there was a kink in my tubing - so he couldn't tell the saline was going in #1 and he couldn't get it back out #2. They removed my port, straightened out the kink and drained all the saline out. Bottom line - no fill yet - have to go back in a couple of weeks. Dr. Cunneen also told me that's how a blockage feels - so if I feel that way again and it lasts more than 10 minutes, get thee to a hospital. I could be persuaded to never eat anything that even might cause a blockage EVER after that experience. I am home for a few days - I felt pretty wrung out after that. Clara ---------- I have known 2 people this has happened to. Sucks...but glad you have everything straightened out (no punt intended) and on your way to having your band work properly. Let us know how things go. Mon ********** So there you have it, from the horse's mouth, so to speak!

I guess it is possible to get a kink in your tubing so that the saline won't pass through, but I doubt it is a common problem as I have not heard about it in 9 months... uh, maybe one time, not positive. If your doc does fills like mine does, it would be easily apparent that the band was not tightening. I think it is likely that if there were a kink, the pressure from the incoming saline would straighten it out. The way my doc does fills is under flouro. With the fill needle inserted into the port, he injects the saline, asking me if I can "feel" anything. When I am closed off totally, it feels as though an elephant is sitting on my chest and it seems hard to breathe. Then he backs a little Fluid out and has me drink barium, tracking it as it flows through the band, adjusting the restriction until he's satisfied. If there were a kink and the saline wasn't going through, he would be able to see that the restriction was not increasing with added saline, or the saline just wouldn't inject at all (I think the tubing is thick enough that it would not expand to accomodate saline, so the kink would either straighten or the syringe wouldn't budge). I grew up in Montana, right next door to North Dakota, although I'm embarassed to admit that North Dakota is the state Montanans poke fun at. I guess every state has a favorite state as the butt of their jokes - who does North Dakota make fun of? :cool: Hope you PEEling better soon! lol

Whooo hoooo!!!! A thousand congrats!!! :banana :banana :banana :banana

Amber, there is no doubt in my mind that you are special but I am not implying you are the ONLY one who has/is experiencing this phenomonen - only that I had not heard that complaint yet. The next time someone posts that same question, I can tell them, "Amber had that same experience - check in with her!" lol I think the tubing can be quite long. Diane in San Diego's tubing was so long it was poking her under her ribs, so she had to have a simple revision surgery where Dr. Lopez shortened the tubing. Actually, now that I say that, I was experiencing pain way down low in the left of my abdomen. I asked Dr. Lopez about it, and whether it could be the tubing, and he said no, the tubing was deep in the abdominal cavity. But we know how things move around... :cool: Anyway, that feeling finally went away, and as you can see, I had forgotten all about it. I also found myself hypersensitive/aware of every little thing that I thought was new - probably stuff that I felt everyday prior to being banded, but never noticed before because I wasn't paranoid about my new equipment. lol That, too, has faded somewhat over time, I am happy to say! One last possibility... You're not pregnant, are you?

Hi Beth! So glad you're feeling better. It is VERY important that you are emotionally ready for a fill. It is an emotional adjustment to consciously choose to eat less. The reality is, in the past, eating less = hunger, misery and self-deprivation. While fills do restrict the amount, the hunger, misery and self-deprivation should not be a part of your new journey. You can take this as slow as you need to - there is no reason to rush into your fills. Some people ignore how important the EMOTIONAL adjustment is, and then suddenly they are frustrated that they cannot eat. Tapering off your amounts slowly is a very healthy and comforting way to travel. Remember, for most of us, food is our drug of choice! Weaning ourselves off of quantity is much more gentle than going cold turkey. This is not a race! I was banded 1/23/03, and had my first fill mid-March. I had my fourth fill the first Saturday in October. If I feel panicky about dropping my intake, even though I am not losing, I wait to get a fill until it feels emotionally comfortable. I'm not speedy, but I'm steady - and happy! Whoo hoo! Best of luck on your journey.

Hi Elizabeth - You're absolutely right - there is no "good" food, "bad" food - just more and less nutritious food. And we are NOT "bad" based on our food choices. There is no "cheating," no reason to "sneak" or feel guilty about what we eat. Guilt is a waste of energy, and benefits no one, least of all ourselves. Understanding our choices, and giving ourselves options for alternative behaviour without judgment is key to our success, IMHO. As far as your calorie intake goes, you really should be losing at 1700 calories with your exercise schedule, as that HAS to be less than what you were eating before - the problem is the speed... :cool: It's never fast enough, is it? I get antsy too, but when I really sit and analyze, I realize that I am HAPPY. Yes, I'd love to be at goal tomorrow, but to be honest, "goal" really is a misnomer - my REAL goal is happiness, health, and peace, and I have those things. I'm greedy, though... I'd like "slender," too. lol But it will come, sooner or later, and focusing on living instead of loosing is a healthy distraction from what I hope to someday be able to say my "old" obsession. Keep us posted on how you're doing! So glad you're feeling better. Losing weight shouldn't be about suffering. That was one of my problems I discussed with my counselor. I told her that I felt if I was not suffering in some way, if I was not doing something drastic, that I wasn't TRYING hard enough. She assured me that wasn't true.

Hi Elizabeth - Sorry no one has addressed any of your questions. It sounds to me like you are tight enough based on your description of how you feel. Have you really looked at what you are eating? How many calories are you getting in per day? If it's lower than 1200, you probably need to eat more. How's your activity level? I guess we'd have to know some more details to help you troubleshoot your plateau. I'd be hesitant to say you need another fill based on your current physical feelings, regardless of what you are eating. If you are getting in around 1200 calories a day, exercising 30 minutes a day about 5 times a week, that should put you on the road to weight loss. Many people use www.fitday.com to track their calories and exercise. Perhaps that will help you analyze that side of it. I don't know how many people experience the discomfort you describe, but I tend to have a little pain my first two bites and then I'm usually okay. I think my first two bites are a) not chewed as well as the rest and :cool: are eaten too quickly. Let us know the answers to the calorie/exercise question, and be sure to take it easy! But it does not sound like you need another fill.

That has never happened to me, and I have never heard of that. My port will sometimes ache right after I eat, and I've heard some other people say that too, so my GUESS is that when there is pressure in the stoma from having eaten, it pushes back against the restriction in the band, which in turn tries to straighten out the tubing, which is connected to the port, which is fixed, hence the discomfort. Maybe your tubing pushes agains your bladder when your stoma is full? Again, this is just my own personal theory and has nothing to do with what is or isn't, but until I hear a better idea I'm sticking with this theory. :cool:

Hi Sarah - Thanks so much for keeping us posted! I can't wait to hear how everything went and how she's doing. Tell her we're all pulling for her!

I went to Mexico because my insurance only covered the RNY. I looked briefly for docs here that would do it, but was having problems getting any names to come up. I am in San Diego, and Tijuana is only a jump away. Dr. Lopez was recommended to me, I called, they set up the appointment, and wham bam I was banded! I paid $10,000.

Hey Wendy - Thanks for the kind words - I'm afraid I come across "preachy," too, or that my posts imply that I've got all this down, which I don't. It's my "vision" of all being right in the world, and I like to share that beautiful vision with my fellow travelers...:cheeky My vision is continually challenged, refined, updated, and re-evaluated based on what I learn about myself and from others. Don't be afraid to post!! Everyone has important insights and experiences to share, and I believe we are all the richer for it. And people "hear" information in different ways - it may be your more strongly voiced advice is just what someone else needs to hear, the way they need to hear it. :cool:

Yep, definitely sounds as though you are ready for a fill. My previous post wasn't aimed at you specifically, it just seemed an opportune time to post the info. I had just read some posts on other boards by people who were obviously too tight already, but had another fill because they weren't losing, and of course were then experiencing a worsening of their problem. The fill should be a piece of cake. Most people recommend not eating prior to one so that the barium swallow is more accurate. I am of course assuming you will have your fill under fluoro, which may not be the case, I guess. :cool: It will be interesting to hear how your doc does fills - mine starts at the closed point and backs the fill out until the barium passes. It sounds as though most of the American docs just put in a certain amount.

Poor Alexandra - :think At least it's a day you got through, and it's over! I have found that my first two bites are the super critical ones - they have to be THE most thoroughly chewed, and THE most slowed down. It's almost like my stomach needs a "prime", and time to fire up. Unfortunately, it's the first two bites that are invariably the ones I want to wolf when I'm very hungry - ANOTHER good argument for not letting ourselves get too hungry!! When I don't chew those first two bites thoroughly, or eat them too close together, I can literally feel my stomach moving them around, almost like being stirred, and part of the revolution is painful. Gotta love that aversion therapy... lol :cool: