HelenC

I took liquid lortab. Knocked me right out. It's surgery hon - it's going to hurt a bit. But it passes within a few days.

I started indoor tanning the other day. Since I won't be showing off my stomach, I put bandaids over the incisions and went about my business. Other than some funny tan marks, all seems good.

My doc gave me my first fill of .5cc on Tuesday the 20th. I ate fine on Tuesday, fine on Wednesday (although lunch was a PB because I apparently ate too much) and since Breakfast Thursday (which stayed down), everything else has come back up...oh wait, my oatmeal stayed down yesterday morning too. But literally, everything else has been causing PBs. I'm eating small amounts, small bites, and finally today, decided to go back on mushies and give myself a break. How likely is it that this is actually caused by being too tight with a tiny .5cc fill? And could it be that I'm tighter in the afternoon and evening, than in the morning? The good(?) news from this is that I've lost 2.7 lbs in the past 72 hours :/

Have you given any thought to having it done in Mexico? There are many threads here discussing how clean and professional they were in Mexico, and yet the cost is about $8500. Welcome to the boards

I happen to have one I took from my doctor's site. It's plugging his protein shake, so ignore that.

Sounds like you need a little unfill, to me

Welcome My best advice is to read this forum thoroughly. There's a ton of great info around here. Also, listen to your nutritionist...I mean really listen. I'm struggling right now because I didn't understand that a small bite meant a really small bite, among other things.

Since I've been getting ravenously hungry every two hours, I was really looking forward to my first fill today. I went in and the fill nurse and I talked for quite awhile, and she was concerned with the number of times that I've PB'd and vomited in the past week. I explained to her that I'm starving when it's time to eat and that I keep having to fight the urge to eat quickly and with too large of a bite. She told me that she really didn't think I should have a fill yet, but she'd go ahead and give me one, if I promised to work on those issues. I promised, and she whipped out the hypodermic and gave me a 1.2cc fill. I went to take my drink of Water and it was quickly apparent that I was too tight. We went back to the room where she proceeded to poke me a second time, and removed .3cc. Back to the water fountain and this time when I took a drink, I felt like I was in huge trouble. The nurse gave me the option of having the fill removed, or going over to the surgery center and having an x-ray because she was beginning to feel like I had slipped, with all the PBs and vomiting. They got me into the xray room and gave me my barium, and said the band was fine - no slippage (hey, some good news), but the nurse once again came over with her handy dandy hypo and after poking me for the third time, took out the rest of my fill. She said that until I learn to get PBs and vomiting under control - no fills for me, but that I can try again in two weeks, if I have the issues under control. I am totally bummed. I could really use some encouraging words, because I'm feeling like such a failure today. :think

Suzanne, you are WAY above the curve for loss! Most people expect a 1-2 lb loss per week, and you're at 5 lbs! You didn't gain the weight overnight, so you can't realistically expect to lose it overnight!

If you're having bad PBs, go on liquids for a day or two and give your stomach a break, then ease back into your food, being very careful to eat slowly, and small bites. I have started eating with a seafood fork, to prevent me from taking too big of a bite.

When I got banded, my doctor gave me a sheet with a few online support groups on it, and some offline groups. I checked out the online groups and really didn't find the support to be anything close to what this wonderful group of people offers!

I eat breakfast every day, and I personally am "looser" in the morning than at any other time of day

lol...there are a lot of stories, all over this forum. Spend some time reading them - they're very enlightening Congrats on your decision to get banded. Where are you from and where will you be having surgery?

The doctor decides by the size of your stomach. Sorry, but you get no voice on this one

I was a hard core Diet Pepsi addict, drinking 3-6 per day. In November, knowing I had the surgery coming up at some point, I gave them up. It was hard, and there are still times where I'll look at a can my husband is drinking and just sigh...but I won't have one. I've come too far to do something that is known in the WLS community as really bad for you.

I had a BMI of 37, BC/BS of IL (Plan 121), and I was approved. However, I did have to do 6 months of physician supervised diet before they'd approve it. Fortunately, my doctor said "just show up once a month, weigh, and give me a log of what you allegedly ate", which was good because at the point when I started the 6 months, if I had lost 10 or 20 lbs, I wouldn't have qualified. After I did the 6 months though, BC approved within 10 days, paid 100% of the surgery after deductible, and they paid 100% of the fills.

It sounds more like you're disappointed with your band doctor, rather than your band! Were you private pay?

I didn't find this forum until after my surgery, and the yahoo group I visited before that didn't talk much about the complications of erosion and band slippage. I wasn't even aware of them until I came here. Also, while the nutritionist spent a lot of time talking to me about how small my portions would be, she didn't explain at all about how small your bites need to be, and just how slowly you need to eat. I really wish someone had.

Just a reminder that everyone is different - a .5cc fill may be nothing to one person, and be far too tight on another (like me). I was also told that they DO initially give a .5cc fill during surgery, but it's not considered a fill...just part of the surgery. So you're not completely wide open. Do try to get a grip on yourself now though, because when you do get a fill to where you're getting restriction, you may have a real tough time (headwise) with eating the smaller portions.

Unfortunately, we can't pick our family. Some people are just toxic, and it's best to avoid them as much as possible. I keep my mother at arm's length for just that reason. It's sad, and I will always wish that I had had a close, loving mother, but it wasn't in my cards. I'm really sorry she hurt your feelings - but try not to give her that power.

Yes, but not a full size.

I've gone crazy over the Mango flavored Gatorade. I drink that and Water. Oddly, I used to love my water room temp...now I like it refrigerator cold. Also, peach or raspberry tea is very good, cranberry juice too.

I've never been a huge fan of sugar, or any other sweetener. I use any of it as little as possible, but that said, I use Spenda in my coffee (a recent change, after 25 years of Sweet N Low). I was always concerned about the amount of aspartame I took in due to my Diet Pepsi habit, so I'm glad that's no longer an issue for me. Other than in my coffee, and whatever foods I eat that already have it, I don't go out of my way to add sugar or sweetner to many foods/drinks. But if I had to add something, it would be sugar.

Oh Faith, I did have a valium injection before my cath...in fact, two of them because there was an emergency and my procedure got bumped for 3 hours so they gave me another one. Maybe that helped me? But the endoscopy - that was pure banana-stuff

Phase II is at the very least not until day 7 of any report I've read on this forum. I'm not meaning to be confrontational with you, but really, it sounds like you're jumping the gun, or your doctor is pretty new to this. Day 4, your poor stomach is still trying to recover from what was done to it. You still have internal stitches. Even if your doctor oks Day 4 "full liquids", consider giving yourself a bit longer.