reqgoddess

I had it done in the states. My doctor takes what ever the insurance gives an dosen't come after me for more. No regrets. My care was wonderful, the hospital and nurses were fantastic. I stayed at Centra State in Freehold, NJ. Nurses were right there when you needed them. Care was thorough. They made me stay through 2 "meals" to make sure i could handle them with no issues. So, surgery was at 915 am, and i went home 6:00 pm the next day.

I have a medifast ready to drink on my way to work each morning with a cup of tea. Watch that slimfast. It is about 50 cents cheaper then the medifast, BUT it is double the calories, half the prtein and 6 times the fat . Not kidding. Also the medifast has move vitamins in it. Tastes better too (but not the powder ones, the ready to drink ones). I order them offf the web and put them in my fridge and off I go. Lunch is leftovers from night before and dinner is whatever everyone else is having but much smaller. I have notice that for the last 2 weeks, i am eating about half (probably a bit less) of what I used to which is way too much. I think that is why I am at a plateau. I will get my first fill on April 13, so hopefully that will help. Also, i only started working out , I felt too tired before. I just joined the water and excercise challange on here, so that will keep me going in the right direction too, I hope.:nervous

okay, count me in!!:girl_hug: I have exercised the 2 of the last 3 days for 30 min on treadmill, but the Water situation is bad, very bad I have a headache right now, because i get dehydrated so darn easily. I just forget to drink when I am at work. I have plateaued recently and i think you are correect, that the water and excercise may do the trick. Can't hurt, can only make us healthier right? Banded 2/28/07 First fill on April 13. By: Dr. Ragui Sadek Lost 35 lbs (including pre-op diet).:biggrin1: Started at 285 Current at 250 (+/- 1-2 lbs everyday) Personal Goal at 135

I was feb 28th, 2007. I will go for my first fill on April 13th.:clap2:

Monkey, I was operatedon the 28th , thought I would be back on march 6th, but winded up going back on the 12th. i have a long drive on a very heavily traveled road, so didn't feel good enough to drive the first week back. But drove this week and I feel great. Each person is different. My case, body turning 45, but my mind thinks I am 20 (LOL). You should have someone there when you first come home from hospital. but next day, you may be fine, depends on how soft your bed is and how low to the ground. Because i had some pain getting in and out it helped to have someone there.

My doctor told me that it is a common mistake that when people hear thier stomach growling that it is hunger. He said it is not. So, now i don't worry about it and let my "innards" do thier thing :heh:

Crishell, Iknow what you mean. I keep looking for things from lapband folks to see if they have had to have plastic surgery. Seems like the gastric bypass folks are worse in that respect. I feel like I haven't lost enough. I lost 30 then able to eat soft foods and seem like I gained. To be fair i just got my monthly and am hoping it is water weight. However, i will start walking today when I get home. I wasn't feeling energetic enough before (coming off liquid diets and going back to work full time) but now i am starting to feel much more alive. Find my self singing a lot. I am afraid but am looking forward to overcoming that fear little by little. Remember , change is often scary, even if it is good change. BUT....it also gives us inner strength as we overcome it.

Thank you so much!!

Syrah, Each doc is differnt, they are right. I was on a medifast diet for 1 month prior to surgery. I was allowed 5 medifasts a day and 2 cups of greens with 1/2 cup raw or 1 cup cooked vegtables per night. Wasdn't bad, but it was to shrink the liver for easier retraction. After surgery, i was Clear liquids for 10 days; full liguid for another 8 days then soft foods for 8 days then regular. I am still in the soft foods mostly because you will find that sometimes when you go too fast in advancing tot he next phase, the foods do not agree with you. Like it will feel really uncomfortable. Remember...you DO NOT WANT TO THROW UP!! Better to be more cautious. believe me the time goes fast. The clear liquid is tough because you have no energy. But the full liquid is ice cream, cream Soup, mashed potatoes,etc. I googled each type of diet and got great ideas. The full liquid is also called the puree diet at times butI refuse to puree anything. GROSS!!! I would rather just wait. After all, we need to show a bit of restraint anyway or we'll wind up just as big as before (lol).

Pam, Where/how do you get those tickers on you signature?

HPB, It is horrible timing on his part but you will get through this. Even though , believe it or not, you may be better off without him (do you really want someone who does this to you at a time like this?) your main focus needs to be "get better, heal stomach heal; get thin". You need to take care of you. You need to get BACK to you. I know what it is like to lose that person you were, not just the skinny person you were, but the self assured, confident skinny person you were. Now you took the healthy steps to get YOU back. Do it and keep saying to yourself that you can do it, you will do it. Even if you do it with the idea that it is for getting HIM back as you get skinnier. Fine. Show him you are strong. Believe it or not, men like that. Show him that you don't need him , and thatyou may want him , but you don't need him to get to health. What will probably happen is that you will look fantastic, you will be healthier body and mind and you will be having to choose which guy for which night for dates, there will be so many. It may turn out that you won't be chossing him for any of them (lol). But even if you do, he will respect you more and be amazed at your beauty and strength. BTW, i had an ex who used to tell me that "no man (other then him) would want a fat piece of s_it" like me. I threw him out and 2 months later was dating a man that I am now engaged to. He is a wonderful man that I loved when I was in my 20's. He knew me when I was a bone, and loves me now even though I am not (a bone any longer). However, now that I had the surgery, I am looking forward to being a "bone" again , of course not a 20 yr old bone, but a nice 40 something yr old bone (lol). Cheer up. Believe me, get YOU together and THEY (even him) will coming crawling.

Hi all, My name is chris and I was banded on feb 28th. With pre surgery and post, I have lost 30 lbs thus far.

I noticed some pangs that felt like they were coming from the inside, but I was banded on the 28th and am still not totally healed. However, you have 2 more incisions then I do. So that would add to it.

I stayed until 6pm the next night. So banded at 0930 on the 28th and went home the next night. They wanted to make sure I had 2 "meals" of liquid diet and was able to handle it before they let me go.