dawalsh

Hi, There are positives and negatives to everything. Firstly, did you not go for a psychological consult before having this surgery? I was forewarned at my 3 seminars that I attended of what to expect. If you do as your doctor and nutritionist tell you then you shouldn't have any problems. I had a problem because my port flipped but it was fixed in a simple day surgery. I was in and out within 4 hours. The band surgery my doctor makes his patients stay overnight in case of any complications. This is a major surgery and you really have to be ready for it. It was now or never for me and I heard and read stories as well. If you're scared I think a lot of us were scared. I was banded on 12/28/12 and I have no regrets. I did it for health reasons as well. The fact that there is a history of diabetes should be enough to do the surgery. Embrace yourself, you deserve to be healthy. My daughter is also a teacher so I appreciate where you're coming from. My daughter is having vertical sleeve surgery on June 18th. She too is also self pay. I wish you well on your new journey and here are some (((hugs))) from me to you. Good luck!

That is fantastic! Here's to more smiles on your face!

I think we all have slips that doesn't mean your bad. Just re-focus and you should be fine. Best of luck to you!

OMG You are gorgeous! Way to go girl! Hug yourself too because you did it!! The doctor operated on you but you did the work. Only you could lose that weight!

I've had the nausea where I couldn't swallow my own saliva but I was OK after several hours of not eating and I slowly drank a cup of hot tea. I took tiny sips but it helped. It was chamomile tea so it was very soothing.

How long have you been nauseous? I only experienced one episode of nausea and that was about 3 weeks post op. I was fine after I reassessed my diet and waited at least an hour to drink anything after eating anything.

CG you look fantastic!

First off, I'm disabled and walk with a cane due to equilibrium problems I suffered from two strokes way back in 1980, so I can't do the gym safely but I do walk and plan on swimming once I renew my Y membership. I wish I could do Zumba and all that. I have Non Surgical Victories however. I am now able to walk Sam's and Walmart without the use of a mobility cart. The fact that I'm walking holding onto a shopping cart is huge for me. I have not been able to do that for over 20 yrs. So it is exercise as far as I'm concerned. I am inclined to believe that swimming and walking are great forms of exercise without having to join a gym. Any exercise is good though.

Well, there is always the chance of any type of complication can happen. The port flip was not mentioned but Zi went into it with my eyes wide open. With my port flip I had gone into my doctor's office with a fill. My doctor could not reposition my port manually. I was in pain when he tried to manipulate the port so I had to have port revision surgery. I'm pleased to say I'm doing much better since the revision

I bought a quart of broth without the wontons and it was fine. I still get the broth without wontons to this day.

I'm here age 65 and feel great!

I was banded 12/28/2012. I've lost a total of 47 lbs and still have 77 lbs to my goal. I am not a fast loser and I do become frustrated but knowing that at least I'm losing is a comfort to me. My PCP thinks I'm not losing fast enough but I'll take 47 lbs over a six month period is not quite 8 lbs a month and that to me is fine.

Life is a big lot of "what ifs?" I know you will be happy once it's done. I still have the "what if I fail" in the back of my mind all the time. I was banded 12/28/12 and have lost 47 lbs but I want to lose 77 more. My doctor would be happy if I lost only 37 more pounds but I won't be happy. My goal is 145. So just be happy you're being banded and stay active on this forum. Good luck to you!

Is there a reason why you're not being put on a liquid diet? Do you have a high protein pre-op diet?

Your post is awesome and what I needed to brighten my day! Thank you! I try to avoid beans at all cost and I love beans.

Congratulations on your approval! Here's wishing you a fantastic journey and a new you!

I'm going to be honest, it took me at least a week before I started feeling better. I felt like a Mack truck had hit me between the post op pain and the gas pains. After that I felt great! My doctor does both the band and the sleeve. He requires an overnight stay for the band and a 3 night stay for the sleeve. It is important that you are prepared for some discomfort after surgery. I'm glad I had an overnight stay because I did have pain and I was able to get pain bed injections the first night. After that I was discharged with Lortab and can say I'm happy that I did not have ambulatory day surgery because I really needed that stay in case complications set in. The hospital gave me the famous clear liquid diet of tea, broth and sugar free jello. They also allowed me a very small apple juice. The clear liquid diet was soothing and I did it for a week. Then I went to full liquids like yogurt, creamy soup and I was on that for a week, then I went to soft foods. It's a matter of trial and error on what you can eat. I can eat most anything but much smaller portions. My favorite snack now is fresh pineapple chunks. It's sweet and juicy. So be prepared for everything and you should do fine. Best wishes!

I'm praying for her too. So I think as soon as she is up to it she will post. She has been through a lot and hopefully she just needs some recuperation time. Doctor patient confidentiality would be a reason her doctor wouldn't let us know how she is but I suppose we could all wish her well and hopefully someone who knows her personally will see these posts and pass the word to her.

Embrace it and congratulations! I started with size 26 am down to a 20 but I'm still wearing size 22 clothes. I find it hard to picture myself thinner. I'm a slow loser as well. I started at 267 and am down to 220. I am so hoping to get under 200 by August but I still see myself as looking the same as when I started this journey. People say I'm losing weight but I still see the same me in the mirror. So I guess what I'm trying to say is accept the new you and keep up the good work!

Oh don't get me wrong I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE FL. However it's sentimental, I got married in NY, all 3 of my children were raised from birth on Long Island, my husband is buried up there, he died at 40 yrs old and I was left to raise 3 small children alone.. I did all right with them none if them ever got in trouble, they graduated college in TX Except my youngest (almost 30 now) went to Alfred State SUNY but finished school here in FL. I would say he misses Long Island the most. He now lives in Atlanta but my other two kids love TX and wouldn't move back to Long Island for anything. My youngest however, would go back in a heartbeat if he could find a decent job there. He loves winter (not me lol) I got off the track, sorry, in answer to your question I have lived in FL since 2004.

Good luck to all those having surgery this month!

@hockeymom I fell off the wagon once when I went to the movies. I don't even remember the name of the movie but it was in February and I shared a large popcorn (no butter) and a large diet coke. OMG that was all I thought about was how easily that popcorn went down without a problem. So I was guilt ridden about the popcorn and the huge diet coke. I am so over it now and just picked myself up, dusted myself off and started all over again. Don't be so hard on yourself and pick yourself up and start over again! Good luck and here's to your success! You know it's funny how I remember what I ate but can't remember the name of the movie lol!

That is my biggest fear - failure! I am guessing the majority of us on this forum fit into that category. That is why I have not told everyone about my WLS. My own daughter just found out and I was banded in December. I didn't want my kids to worry about me but hindsight is 20/20. I should have told my grown children from the beginning. The point being however is my kids have seen me go through every diet known to mankind including OA, wright watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem and the list goes on and on and on. I went to TOPS (take off pounds sensibly) for years and gained 30 lbs. I loved TOPS but I did more yo-yo dieting which was not healthy. I even went to a group called Weigh-In that my cousin lost 50 lbs with and has kept it off for over 30 years. No, I failed at that too. The difference between my cousin and myself was she had never dieted in her life. She went to this weight loss program and it changed her whole life. She is a success story but those are few and far between. I have never, ever been thin. I was the fat kid growing up and it wasn't because my mother wasn't concerned; she constantly had me on a diet. I even went the pill and injection route but I now realize that I wasn't losing during my teen years. I was starving myself by eating an apple and an orange for lunch and nothing for breakfast and a low calorie dinner. I never lost weight and now I know what starvation mode means. I wasn't eating enough calories to burn them off. My body was hanging onto every calorie because my body was in shock. So getting back to the word failure, I know if I follow the rules I will hopefully be a success this time. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and the word success is positive and the word failure is negative so this time I'm going to think positive 24/7. Good luck on everyone's journey to becoming a success!