NurseKelly

Hi there, I am not sure about whether you have had a slip or not, but I got banded on the same day as you and I am still on pureed foods, so I haven't been able to eat yet. Are you following your post-op diet? I agree this is torture and what the veterans refer to as "bandster hell" because my appetite has come back with a vengeance and I want to eat everything is sight!! Luckily I have a touch of OCD and am a rule follower and am sticking to my post-op plan for fear of popping my stitches and causing problems with my band. I would suggest getting in touch with the support team where you got your band and speak to the Dr or dietitian and get checked out!

I am excited at the thought that now when I make my favourite food, instead of devouring three or four servings at a time mindlessly and hardly tasting it, I will now be able to have it for lunch or dinner the next few days and enjoy it every time!! :wub:

I have felt mine since day one and that worries me because I am afraid it will be right at the surface when I lose all my weight! How deep do you have to press to feel yours? I can feel mine just lightly rubbing my hands over where it is

I couldn't find the strips anywhere, but I found chewable peppermint and cherry ones. The peppermint ones were gross, but I liked the cherry ones. I found they worked wonders for my gas pains! They took away the gas in my stomach so it wouldn't migrate to my shoulder!

All of the above and taking gas-x really helped me.....and my boyfriend massaged my shoulder lots, it stopped hurting while me massaged it, but the pain came back when he was done. It will get better though!

Congrats! I am so happy for you and can't wait for that milestone!!

I'm still on full fluids for one more day (YAYY)!! So tomato soup with protein powder it will be and onto purees tomorrow, can't wait!!

Sweet!! I am going to make some as soon as I can eat regular foods!! lol I love that they have a good amount of protein!!

Wow I cannot believe the difference in all our post-op diets. I was banded before many of the last members posted (Feb 21st) and I'm still stuck on full fluids until Wednesday. I actually didn't have much of an appetite until today (thankfully), and now I am so ready to move to pureed foods!!!! I would love to be eating oatmeal and eggs, so hopefully I will be able to tolerate them! How is everyone doing with their gas pains? I no longer have the terrible pain in my neck and left shoulder, but I find every time I drink my full fluids, I get bloated and gassy and have to burp....this can cause me a lot of pain and I can't stand up straight for awhile. This worries me because I am starting back at work tomorrow. I do make sure I sip slowly and have only a cup at a time.

Congrats and good luck tomorrow! I do recommend bringing a pillow to hug for the ride home, it helps with the bumps in the road!

Trust me its gas!! I am 10 days post-op and happy to say the pain is finally gone (I hope), and I swear that was the worst thing out of all of this!! I walked lots and took plenty of gas-x because I found that helped! Hope you get rid of it soon!

I would love to have this list Leslie80! I am on day five of full fluids and will be progressing soon. Thanks

Congrats on being a bandster! My doctor told me not to count the day of surgery, so day one is actually the day after. One thing I have learned while reading these forums is the amount of variation all of the surgeons have for when to start clear fluids, then full fluids progressing to mushy or pureed and then finally regular food. I suggest calling your clinic and asking them, I am surprised they didn't send you home with detailed instructions. I had to spend five days on clear fluids and now am on my fifth day of full fluids (soups, pudding, yogurt), I have one more day then onto mushie pureed!! I am glad you are feeling well!

I used a hot water bottle, so I am sure a heating pad is fine! Congrats and get lots of rest! I am a tummy sleeper too and finally was able to sleep on my tummy comfortably for the first time last night (one week after surgery) it was heaven!! So there is a light at the end of the tunnel, use lots of pillows and it did get easier on my back after a night or two.

Honestly, I was in and out so fast that I didn't use ANY of the stuff I brought! Unless of course you are staying overnight? I would bring a pillow to hold onto for the ride home, that really helped with the bumps on the road! I do recommend having the gas-x strips for when you get home as well as some chewable or liquid gravol, but as for bringing it with you, my clinic gave me one as soon as I was awake enough to swallow it. The one thing I do wish I had brought was a bottle of water to sip on or swish around in my mouth for the ride home because my mouth was so dry. I hope this helps, good luck

My clinic told me that I should be able to swallow pills as soon as I am able to eat solid food (after the swelling from surgery has gone down), I have been crushing my meds and putting them in a syringe filled with white grape juice as it is fairly strong tasting and just squirt it in my mouth followed by a chaser of more white grape juice (sips), I have found this has worked best. I also went to the pharmacy and got chew-able forms of gravol, gas-x and even children's chew-able advil, you have to chew three to five pills, but it sure tastes better then crushing the adult doses. Hope this helps!

Well today is officially a week since I was banded, and I can finally say I am starting to feel normal again! I went to Walmart today with my boyfriend and got a little sore walking around, but I made out just fine! I am so happy I made this decision and happy to have such a supportive group of February bandsters!! :wub: Wishing everyone the best of luck as we move into March, and look forward to hearing all of our successes!

Congrats on being a Feb bandster! Hope you are feeling well!

Yayy!! Congrats, hope you continue to feel well!

So the full Fluid thing didn't go so well for me today. I started off slow with a small Protein shake, and then a few hours later had a small amount of fat free greek yogurt, and then I started noticing my stomach was blowing up like a balloon and I started having bad gas pains.....by the time I had some tomato Soup for dinner, my stomach was horribly distended and my left shoulder pain was unbearable! I took some gas-ex and used the hot Water bottle and it has subsided a bit but obviously my stomach wasn't happy with the introduction of full fluids. Which I am having a hard time understanding because I was strict and stuck to clear fluids for the full five days my surgeon recommended. I tried calling the after hours number for the clinic but they could only recommend going to the ER if I felt it was bad enough. So I am going to just drink water for the rest of the night and call my clinic tomorrow. I am also worried that if my stomach distended to far, could it move my band? I am also concerned because I was only able to get 575 calories and 47 grams of protein in which is way below where I should be. I am afraid I am going into starvation mode and it is going to mess up my metabolism! Did anyone else experience this when switching to the next phase?

Thanks everyone, you have eased my mind a bit and my gas pains have subsided quite a bit. I will take it even slower tomorrow and maybe less at a time.

I stopped taking my pain meds yesterday, and yesterday was only one dose, but maybe my stomach is still moving slowly?

I don't think I drank to fast, I made sure to sip slowly, but maybe I had a bit too much? I had a whole boost Protein shake.....took me about 20min to drink and a whole tomato soup to go (170mls) and that also took me 20 min or so to drink?

You're welcome....I hope tomorrow is a better day for you

Congratulations!! That is always very exciting news! This month is sure to fly by!