tiggergramma

So, I just had the procedure Friday, this is Sunday. This morning I woke up feeling like I have heartburn, only without the burn. There is pressure. I realize the area of the band is swollen and healing, but I am wondering if this is what feeling tight feels like?

My doctor recommends 3-4 oz per hour of fluids with at least 30 grams of protein per day for the first week. costco sells a premade Protein Drink that is 30 or 32 grams of protein, so I drink one of those over about an hour. Yesterday I did not drink enough during the afternoon and could definitely feel a difference when I started taking in enough fluids again. I am learning what true discomfort is, hopefully learning how to avoid it as I move forward down this path!

I'm not so worried about eating, just trying to learn what 'restriction' may feel like so I know what to expect moving forward. I think I did probably drink too much yesterday, but today feels much different than yesterday did. Thanks for all the responses, this is a definite learning curve!

I was able to get some coffee down, but definitely feel more swollen than yesterday morning. I will take it easy for a while before I try anything else to drink. If this is what restriction is going to feel like, I can see why the band helps you lose! Gah!

I had my surgery yesterday morning. The only surprise was that the procedure had been rescheduled from 7:30 am to 10 and nobody told us! I had a migraine, but they finally gave me some fentanyl about half an hour before surgery. Left the hospital around 1:30 I think. I spent the rest of the day in bed, dozing off and on, sipping fluids and walking a little bit every couple of hours. Whoever released my pneumoperitineum did a great job, hardly any gas pains! Gas-X strips helped with that. I did have some nausea on the ride home, but I think it was mostly because I wasn't breathing deeply enough. I forced myself to take deep breaths and that helped. Another thing that helped was having my neck travel pillow with me. I could close my eyes and doze the whole way home. I've seen a few people talk about how active they were right out of surgery...not me. I know we all react to anesthesia differently, but I sure wasn't up for anything yesterday! I have some pain in one of the incision areas, not sure if it where the port was placed or if it is radiating from the stomach itself. Not anything too bad, and I have been taking the pain meds just to keep it low. It feels like a pulled muscle is all. So, today is all about trying to figure out how to drink enough water and protein...Oh! And a friend of mine turned me on to a product called Greens First. It is a powder that is all veggies and spirulina and other good stuff. Mix it with water and you get your RDA of veggie nutrients! Not cheap, but worth it if you are worried about that, like I was. Here is a link to the place I found it the cheapest, and they will discount quantity orders. http://www.vitamindiscountcenter.net/servlet/the-141/819354001003/Detail?gclid=COe8ntKzybICFeeDQgodKkkAwA Glad to finally have surgery behind me, now to the next phase of this path! Good luck to everyone else! Lori

It may be possible that part of the reason the NP is no longer in that practice is she was running patients off with her manner of treating them. I'm not banded yet (9-21), so I don't know, but it doesn't make sense to me that she would refuse to fill because you were eating too much...isn't that the whole purpose of the fills? Anyway, good luck with your visit and your journey. I agree with the others, be honest and ask for help. If you are not able to get help in that practice, it may be time to find another. edited to try to fix font size...suddenly my font has lost all its weight!

What a great blog! Thanks for sharing and thanks for the food ideas. I don't get what the magic pop not bread things are, but am going to look them up and see if they are available in my area. eta: Ok, they look really good. But, do they give you that 'full of air' feeling rice cakes do? I can't eat rice cakes because of that...they almost make me nauseous.

My doctor told me to just do what works for me. After I stopped laughing and pointing at myself...I reminded him why I was there. So, I have cut red meat out completely for the past week and have only had chicken and fish a couple of times. Mostly eating veggie curries with tofu, oatmeal with fruit, and the occasional peanut butter sandwich and have lost 3 pounds. I see him again on Monday, which is 4 days preop. He may put me on fluids then, we'll see. I am going to try to go to fluids only on Saturday and see if I can get to surgery with a few more pounds off.

So glad to read the update! Sorry your social gathering kicked off such a sad reaction, but I hope you can work on not worrying about anyone but YOU for the time being! Glad you got away, sounds like it did you good! I'm getting my band next month, and I am not looking forward to the melt-downs, but at least I know they are coming!

I'm finally scheduled for banding Sept. 21st. Had to wait over a month for insurance to be satisfied with my prerequisites, then had to find a time when my surgeon could get the surgical suite at the local med center. So...now I'm just biding my time and counting down the days.

Believe me, I have had that conversation and more with my mother. It is easier just not talking to her.

I refuse to tell my mother because she is so truly horrid about anything I have ever done in my life. The very first words out of her mouth would be "Well, you'll never stick with it." How do I know? Because the one time I did share with her that I had lost weight using WW and Curves, her remark was "You know you won't stick to it and it will all just come back." Yay mom. I have a very difficult time understanding how exactly she birthed my sister and I, perfectly nice, kind, thoughtful, and decent people...The only time anything nice comes out of her mouth is when one of her friends' kids does something she admires, then she goes on and on about how special they are. bah! eta: LOL...reading this, I had to wonder...gee, I wonder if my eating is stress-related?

That's understandable, I like algebra.

Yeah, but you love math, so maybe that just follows...LOL (couldn't figure out how to highlight Weird, so I changed the color)

Bibi, your ideas sound great! I love the idea of muffin-sized entrees!. Thanks, I am going to try to remember them when I get to that point.

This is a huge problem for me as well. I am pre-op now and trying very hard to increase my fluid intake. I am chronically dehydrated, and I know that. However, I pee about 30 times more than I drink, so increasing the intake pretty much means I am chained to a bathroom all day! Gah! Well, baby steps are happening, and I am starting to see a slight improvement in the ratio of intake and outgo...still can't swallow sometimes because I am so dry. I figure if I get past that being noticeable, I am on the right track.

I just looked at it on Amazon and I cannot see anywhere that says how many servings you get from a 2# tub of it. Can you give me an idea? The Nectar runs about twice what I am paying for Protein shake mix at WalMart, but I don't know if I am comparing apples to apples. Thanks! Lori eta: I just looked at Vitamin Shoppe and it says 130 scoops, so that helps. And I see they have Pink Grapefruit...may have to try that for sure! eta: I looked at a different site and it showed that each serving size is 1/4 scoop! So you use 4 servings per scoop of mix, which gives only about 32 actual servings...the WalMart mix gives 24 servings for about $12...I did order some packets of the pink grapefruit to try though.

hmmm, I don't know if they gave a surgery date to mine...they haven't given me a date yet...now I really have to call Kelly tomorrow and see what is happening with it all.

I have BCBS federal and I am hoping the authorize quickly. I think the gal at my surgeon's office submitted everything last Thursday, so fingers crossed we hear back this week...I am calling them tomorrow when she is back in the office to see if there is any word yet. I'd really like to have surgery in August, so I have lots of time to recover before a scheduled trip at the end of September.

mmmm, spaghetti squash! One of my favorite foods, so glad I will be able to eat it after surgery!

Good for you hanging in there!

But that article is from 2001, so Allergan was not even making the new band my surgeon is using then. We are now into a 3rd generation lap band, plus laparoscopic surgery has improved as well.

Terrified. Irrationally, ridiculously, mortified. Not of the procedure itself, that should be a breeze. Petrified of going through all of this with the best intentions and motivation, then not having the willpower to keep it up. Went to a seminar given by my surgeon last night, and the one thing he said that really helped me was that the banding helps maintain an "indifference" to food. That may be enough to get me through to surgery! My biggest problem with food is taste. If something is tasty, I will eat it all. I am hoping that will be overcome by having to work so hard to make things small enough to process. I have an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow. I am going to ask for an anti-anxietal Rx to get me to surgery.

Good! Let's remind each other this is what we intended to do when we are down because someone has bothered us, ok?