DeLarla

Just a quick word about my Nutrigrain bar. It's garbage, only 2 gm protein, but I bought a couple boxes before getting banded so I'll finish them off. Then I'll switch to a protein bar or a few nuts.

Thanks Alex, it's nice to see me up there instead of that pig! Funny how a few pounds can make one not want to be represented by a pig any more. Boy, what a change in my smile in only one month due to my newfound Hope aka band. We're on the same thought pattern because yesterday was the first day I forced a snack down at 3pm. I just reached in my drawer and threw my Nutrigrain bar on my desk as a reminder for before I leave. Same problem here that I go home ravenous. Funny how we have to force ourselves to eat Snacks while it's no prob whatsoever to go on a major binge. My girl parts are having a party of their own during all this new band stuff. I wondered if maybe because I've been so bloated by being a couple weeks late that all the bloat was actually cushioning my band. The past couple days are the first that I'm actually aware of its presence. I'm going to be ready for a medical degree after a year of reading these boards! There's better info here than in my own doc's office.

We are all beautiful in here! That's why I keep coming back. Thanks for all the love my mom never gave me. These boards rule. GET BANDED! Who hooo!

I don't even know what to say. First, thank you guys for the kind compliments that have got me teared up. You guys make me feel beautiful when the outside world lets me down. I feel awful today. I have a whole new set of gurgling waves & strange sensations going on. Donali, you're scaring me. I have a huge history of anxiety disorder, so I'm more than familiar with psychosomatic illnesses, but what you have doesn't sound like something in your head. Go to the ER so we all don't have to worry, especially yourself. I'm too busy at work to be here but this board means more to me than my job. I have all the same fears about not losing more weight. One day at a time, one minute at a time if need be. Once I chucked my scale out the window. My husband was mad cuz it was brand new. Neighbors thought I was crazy (lived on 2nd floor.) I never went downstairs to pick it up. The landscapers must have got it.

Thank you! Actually, my face is really huge but Donali made me look cute and tiny!

Sorry, but I'm laughing that you had to sit there cuz that happened to me last weekend. My neighbors are my best friends, and I'm super close to the kids. Mekha is 14 and makes me go to all her dance recitals. Last weekend she made me show up before 2:00 because her class danced exactly at 2:00. Joke was on me cuz that's when the entire program started. I had to watch from WeeTot Tumbling through Karate Kids, then up every age till the teens. It was a tiny library theater with Sesame Seat sized chairs. My butt was wedged in tight that entire time!

I'm glad you posted that, Don, cuz I never thought of it that way. My band works only one way so far: It feeds me fear. Fear of vomiting or busting my band open. Fear of gaining weight back. Yes, I will go get that fill when my friend is ready. I just want to make sure my port is healed and secure before messing around. My band has only made me feel restricted a couple times since I got it a month ago. And at the oddest times!

Can you guys explain how your port feels? Mine feels like a marble that's just about to pop out of my skin. Is it supposed to be this close to the surface? It feels like it's just under the top layer. By the way, I have the new mini-port.

I'm feeling odd, acutally. I thought the pain would be less severe today. I'm actually feeling it creep just a hair into where I usually get my menstrual cramps - just a tiny hair. Thanks for asking. I'm taking Motrin by my doctor's advice. Motrin is supposed to be avoided, so I'm doing liquid Children's Motrin in the morning, then taking my daddy 800 mg pill with dinner. I'll do this for a couple days. If I'm normal, it should feel better by then. If I hurt myself, I'll know it and schedule a trip to Mexico. I wasn't planning on getting a fill for many months because I want to use the unfilled band to summon every ounce of strength and willpower to fight the emotions that cause me to overeat. I don't want to rely on my band. Like Donali said, fix the emotions first. That's what I'm working on. However, I'll get a fill for convenience sake in as little as a few weeks if necessary because my friend wants a fill in 6 weeks. We'd be able to share the 5 hr drive to Mexico. Or if there's a problem with my port and I need to go to Mexico, I'll get a fill while there. But they'll probably tell me "no fill till boo boo is healed" at which point I'd have to steal the saline and have hubby do it in the garage! I don't want to rely on restriction. Like my doctor said, my band is a tool, not a solution. Darn, I have to go to work.

Yawn. Thanks for the morning laugh! That was sarcasm, it hurts like heck to laugh! Funny tho! Tinkle tinkle!

Tellie, I haven't told my family. I'm certainly not telling my inlaws. It's easy to get away with it though. Just make a huge pot of Soup or stew for dinner. Pretend your starving and dish up an enormous bowl for yourself, then play around with the big stuff while eating only the liquid. Chew the liquid! They'll never know. I was at this huge dinner party in my liquid phase. Everyone asked why I wasn't eating, so I looked at them all guilty and apologized to the birthday boy by saying I was so hungry that I pigged out right before I got to the restaurant. So I ordered a frozen cocktail and ate it with a spoon. They like that and we all got along fine. Nobody needs to know about your band till you're ready. Or never, for that matter. ShellyJ posted that she'd be unfilled before getting pregnant. Maybe that means she discussed it with her doctor? If so, maybe she can add to Donali's words of wisdom.

I've heard wonderful things about him. It's nice to know we have choices of some fabulous doctors in Mexico. It's a shame the procedure is 4 times more here.

Tellie, I'm the wrong person to respond, but I noticed nobody else has yet. I have no children, but I do have a band so I've read a lot of posts. All I can tell you from what I've learned is that doctors usually tell you to stick with liquids for several days if you're vomiting or PB-ing (productive burping) where you food comes up along with some slime. If you do a search on this site and put in the word vomit or PB, you should come up with a lot of info. But stick with liquids for now. Sorry, but I had to laugh a little at the poor little poopy diaper story. I'd gladly change it if you were near me. Lisa

Alex, I've been wondering about sushi. Sorry you had the experience but maybe it will save me. Darn, seaweed coming up? Heck, sushi is one of my faves. But my band surprised me at lunch. I've never had a fill. I'm a newbie. But I never feel restriction, and today I did. I've only felt restriction a few times since I had my band. Suddenly out of nowhere I got restricted, hallelujah! I had one very tiny PB. I'm a lucky girl. Karen H. is the person responsible for my band. We met on line, she told me about her surgery, and then she came to Vegas for a convention. My husband was so impressed by her that he told me to go borrow the money. Now I'm banded... and Karen is currently packing her Idaho house and business and moving to Vegas! She just had her first fill but wants to go back in 6 weeks for more. I'm gonna try to hold out for that long so we can go together. I'll finally have a Nevada band buddy!

This might not help, but I could not afford a band either. But my husband told me that I was always good at getting new credit cards. We were way in debt, but I tried anyway and the credit union approved me for another $8,000. It sounds insane to accept that loan, but my band is paying for itself. If the credit union refused me, I'd have written checks in advance to a bunch of cheesy quick-cash places. I'd have pawned all my jewelry, cashed in all my change. I was dying. There was no choice. In order to pay for my band I made a couple sacrifices. I used to get manicures 2ce a month. No more. And I cancelled our Arrowhead Water delivery and bought a $20.00 Britta filter. My food bill is crazy now. I don't pick out anything for myself. My meals are whatever food my husband doesn't finish. I was spending tons on Taco Bell, Jack in The Box, etc. Fast food 5-10 times a week. Now fast food sounds gross to me. After the surgery all I wanted was liquids cuz I was afraid to eat anything else. Once they allowed me real foods, my body craved healthy stuff. Like my body knows it needs Protein. I was craving tomatoes and asparagus. My credit card payment is $130.00 a month. I found ways to come up with the cash. It's worth every red cent. I have dual coverage. I have Blue Shield through my work and Health Plan of Nevada through my husband's. Both approved the bypass, neither approved the band. I could have appealed it, but I wanted to start living right this second. Screw the insurance companies. As far as this new debt, hell, the credit union shouldn't have given me the money cuz I was behind on my mortgage with them, so let them try to repo my band!

Swan like? Wow. That's a first. For a minute I almost felt beautiful, but then I started laughing cuz the grass is always greener on the other side! I spent my whole childhood taller than all the guys. I was the 2nd tallest in school. Then when all my friends were wearing their high-heels to dance clubs, I'd look like a circus freak. So naturally, only circus freaks hit on me. I was 6 ft in heels, yet only guys under 5 ft would hit on me. They'd stare way up at me and ask me to dance. So weird. As far as being tired of puree'd foods, hey, it can't be much longer. I know youre diet will be harder to follow because of your gall bladder. Maybe you just need to add some different puree'd stuff. I loved my Cambell's Cream Soups when I was in that phase. Michelle also told me about refried Beans. I was able to eat them with cheese and hot sauce. I'm eating tons of hot sauce. I put it on everything. With my luck someone will respond with "no hot sauce if your're banded." Neicy, you sound like my kinda gal! I've never been to the south but it's one of those places on the list of vacations I dream about. I'm not going to worry too much about my kiloid since it's only been a month. I read about some scar Patches for kiloids. Nothing will make it disappear, but I'm sure I can get it to go down some. I wish it didn't look like a damn nipple tho!

Thanks, Alex. I just wish I would have waited longer to do any exercise that involved my side or ab area. I've been going on awesome walks, which felt great, but no, I just had to push it further. I knew I was pushing too hard, but the fact that I was able to actually exercise without dropping dead of a heart attack was so great that I just didn't stop. Now I can't even walk. Every time my heel hits the ground it sends a spark to my port. My doc said take Motrin a couple days. That goes against the "no Ibuprofen" rule, but that's what they told me to do. I just hope I didn't do "a Donali" and flip my port or something. Don, if you read this, that must have really sucked. You're lucky to be near your doc.

Knock knock, I have 2 more cents to put in. Actually, us chatty Libra girls give 200 cents every time, so no wise cracks out there! I want to mention something about goals. I'm one month post-op and have already achieved my goal (smiling inside while typing this.) My doc asked each patient what their goals were. Most said they wanted to wear a bikini or lose X amount of weight. My goal was to be healthier, feel better, and feel like being alive. Boom, goal achieved in the first month. Sure, the 25-ish pounds helped, but my new-found hope really did the trick. My new goal is to come up with a new, easily achievable goal, which will not be related to the scale or my size. We are more than just objects of mass. If you set a realistic goal, you'll achieve it. Hmm, now what's my next goal?

You people are killing me! Vera, it hurts to laugh plus I'm trying to keep down my dinner, so stop it! Cut and paste, that's a good one. I have to wonder if that was sarcasm from an old post where I whined about my insane sister who "fixes" my fat pictures on her puter to make me thin. I apparently humiliate her, like I give a rat's ass what anyone thinks! I can just see the horror in her face if she knew I posted a pic of me in my bra on the web. Shit, now I'm laughing again. And I've done some pretty dumb stuff in my days, but I wasn't about to get my face in the bra pic. Too many enemies out there would have too much fun if they found it. When I was a teen, I had a cyst removed from my shoulder, and my mom freaked at how the scar exploded (like my port incision.) She took me to doc, who injected 9 needles in that little area (ouch.) I think it was cortisone. If I lose weight I plan on doing my grocery shopping topless, so I'll ask my doc for injections when I get my first fill so the produce clerk doesn't stare at my third nipple. Don, thanks for the description of your boo-boo. That doesn't sound like my pain. I exercised through a little dull pain but didn't feel this stabbing stuff till the following day. There was never any "pop" or "heat." I've explained to my port that she will be better in a few days. I'm not even sure if I have a port. I never felt it inside me till this week (one month post op.) I can't physically locate it either. How can we be sure we've been banded and not programmed for some future bizzaro X-Files episode? And now I shall attempt to post my picture but I don't understand pixel requirements. Last I knew, Pixels flew around NeverNeverland in green tights. Here we goooooooo!

OH MY GOD. I had no idea that pic would show up so big. I hope I don't give anyone nightmares! And really, my boobs are so NOT that big! It's the angle of the camera and this bra... gonna go find me more of these big hooter bras now! I was an A-cup before I gained 100 pounds! The incision is tender but doesn't hurt. It's just leaking a tiny bit. It stopped, but I bumped it (yes, OUCH) and it opened a tad. I called my doctor in Mexico and she said to send her the pics. She'll look at them and tell me if I need to worry. At this point, it looks like a normal kiloid to me (abnormal scar formation from trauma.) But look how good the other scars look for one month post op! Sexy belly, eh? HAHAH... can't believe I posted my naked bod to the world!

SEVENTY pounds in three months? Geeze, that's amazing! Are you eating anything?

Donali, I'm reading old posts looking for information on port pain. I'm quite sure I hurt myself at the gym. I didn't do anything drastic, but I did five minutes on an eliptical machine that has arm posts that move along with the legs. I hurt for a couple days, then yesterday decided to simply do the treadmill - big, fat mistake. Today is the worst pain since my surgery. Now I'm reading that you ripped a port stitch. I called Dr. Carmen. She said if liquid comes up through my incision, or if I get swelling, or infection then I'll need to see a doctor. How did you know you ripped a port stitch? Damn it. Why couldn't I just relax like they told me instead of hitting the gym?

Finally got my period, and yes, it certainly has effects on the band. It's like my cramps moved up higher and to the left near the port. Definately very uncomfy feeling. Glad it will be over soon. First time late in years. Came about 3 weeks late. Just thought I'd share the info. Truth is, I just felt like avoiding work and came here to look for posts regarding port pain after exercising. Anyone ever do this? Do I need to see the doctor, or should I just rest for a week? Ouch.

I remember hearing something about seeds, but I think that only goes until the band is healed to avoid a little bugger getting trapped. Great, one more thing for me to be paranoid about considering I put berries in my protein shake every day. Mmm, berries!

I'm often lonely. But it's my own doing because I keep a very limited amount of friends. I've learned that it's better to be lonely at times and have only quality friendships than to get hurt by people that are non-genuine. However, I didn't tell my loved ones about my surgery till after I had it. Only my husband and my oldest friend knew. She agreed to be my voice in the rare event something went wrong. I'm one month post op and have only shared with one co-worker, who I have the utmost faith in. My close friends all know now. And I recently told my brother and sister. My brother will keep the secret, but I wonder about my sister. My parents don't know, neither do cousins, aunts, etc. for the exact reasons Birdee suffered. And I'm mad at myself for telling my own sister, so I understand how you feel. As far as her comments, it sounds like textbook jealousy to me. Instead of her supporting you, she tried to one-up you cause she can't stand that you've done this amazing thing. I agree that she's not a true friend.