n2win

How exciting!!!!! Huge congrats!

1st: was yesterday when at the end of my 30 min walk on the treadmill I actually JOGGED the last few minutes!!!!!!! 2nd: was today during my walk; when I started walking 2-3 minutes, then jog a minute and then walk, jog, walk, jog and repeated this the entire workout! 3rd: was this morning when my husband said "WOW, I can already tell you have lost weight and your belly, its almost completely gone!". --Tomorrow will be 3 weeks & I'm scheduled for my first fill-- I'm down 21 lbs from surgery & 32 lbs from my heaviest weight.

That was a joy reading, very detailed...LOL wish I could answer your question but my first fill is tomorrow. --staying tuned b/c I would love to know the answer--

Congratulations!!!!! What a big bundle of joy... I pray you & the baby have a safe & speedy recovery!

Wow... didn't those 4cc / ten year old bands pave the way for our "new" & "modern" bands! Shouldn't we be slightly interested in any & all complications for "future reference" and education? Note to self.... never ever ever ever ever ever ever post anything about a bad experience on this forum... geez!! -I just felt like I witnessed a slaughter- I'm a newbie and reading these brutal replies to someones post is the only scary experience I have had thus far! WOW

Thanks!!! -how about how long between bites? -also do you have any tips on how to control the amount you drink -and how fast you drink

Congrats !!! What an amazing victory.

Congrats!!! Wishing you a safe surgery and speedy recovery..... welcome to your new life! Fyi: Get your pain medicine filled before leaving the hospital... use the outpatient hospital pharmacy or send friend/family out to have it filled when you get settled in a room (ask the pharmacy if the have it in stock). Walk walk walk as much as possible !

Mag citrate would be taken to help you gave a BM (poop). The dizzy/weakness could be from lots of things.... blood loss, low blood sugar, blah blah blah Not sure when you had your surgery but make sure you get in your protein, stay hydrated and be very careful walking, stooping, or bending etc...best to have help!

Ok, before surgery I had very general instructions about diet protocol for week 1,2,3...ect and was told that when i saw the Dietitian he would make more specific recommendations for my particular diet. FYI: these general instructions were chaotic at best, not well defined... like a disorganized run on sentence that lasted 4-5 pages. So I could not wait to see the dietitian in hopes of really distinguishing parameters for my diet. So just before week two I had my apt with the dietitian. He told me in a few days I would be starting mushy's and named greek yogurt, cottage cheese, fish, egg whites, and tuna salad as examples of foods I could have. Ok, here is where it went SOUTH! At the end of our brief visit he repeated the above but said: tuna salad, but you absolutely cannot have the bread, so you will have to find other things that you like. I thought really, you can't just throw me a bone and give me some hints ... I should have asked for clarification! (He had a very dry disposition, did not make a lot of eye contact, basically did not look up from the papers he was scribbling on. Our session was 10 minutes tops & my husband, like myself, was thinking --what a waste!). -- So I took what he said very literal! -- Boy was i W R O N G!!! I googled what could you replace bread with when eating foods like tuna salad.... lettuce... seemed to be the winner. Did not go back and review those chaotic general instructions and thought these were my new guidelines. Holy Smokes.... week 2, first follow-up apt with my surgeon. The day before I had a spoonful of tuna salad on a piece of lettuce (palm size) and thought I was doing great and chewing well. When my surgeon reviewed my fluoroscopy films he saw ...you guessed it... lettuce! No damage to my LB but appeared as though I was just on my own little rogue diet !! I take responsibility: My Fault - My Lap-band! There was no discussion about eating the lettuce but you better believe I am going to dissect those general instructions and put them into some kind of order that I can relate to; that make sense to me; that prevent this from happening in the future. So when in doubt ASK QUESTIONS!

Agree!! I would be very suspicious and would seek a second opinion. You have options: schedule an apt with your primary care doctor, utilize the services of a walk in clinic/urgent care clinic or perhaps even the emergency room.

NO Advil (ibuprofen), NO Alieve, NO Aspirin... no NSAIDS! Tylenol is not an NSAID (non-steroidal anti inflammatory drug) You can google the info! Do not hesitate to call your doctor!!! There will always be a doctor "on call" and it is not that late. It may be your doctor or another doctor in his practice. His office number should dispatch you to an answering service. Whomever is on call can make a recommendation.... reality, this has happened before and they have protocol.

After surgery on the (150 mile) drive home, we came into bad weather (rain/lightening) and stayed in a hotel for the night. All I had was liquid Tylenol (bubble gum flavored children's (up 12)). I had one dose (30cc or full medicine cup) and that was it for the next 28 hrs until we got home. I was up nearly every 2 hrs to urinate and while up I would walk up laps in the room. Its 10pm now, but if that pharmacy is a 24 hr Wal-Greens another option would be to have them contact any other 24 hr pharmacy closest to your location and either see if they have the medication & have them transfer to whomever/where-ever is the closest. -I would contact them ASAP to attempt this & your family member may have to actually go pick the original script up and hand deliver to another 24 hr location. --- best of luck I will spay a prayer for you!

Huge congrats! Doesn't feel GOOD!!!!!

Advocate: AGREE 100% about fluoroscopy! I just got banded on July 16 and I am not scheduled for a fill until Aug 6th but this was a key reason I chose my surgeon. He has 3 offices and ALL have fluoroscopy machines..... that speaks volumes!!! It cost $250 per fill but he does them himself. Through research I learned its not just a fill, the doctor is also viewing your band and looking for: slippage, erosion and various other abnormalities. Having fills under fluoroscopy could possibly detect these abnormalities EARLY vs later (which could potentially save: your LB, a costly hospitalization/surgery or your life. $250 is a ding in the ole' pocketbook and I am self pay so SURE I wish it was ($25 vs $250) but its more precise and that's added peace of mind.

I'm a newbie and have only used my i-phone LB app for this forum. I had a log-in name, filled out surgery info and made a few posts. Well today my husband encouraged me to use my i-pad and Holy Smokes--- no longer worked! I am not sure what happened but I was locked out and unable to log in. So after repeated attempts I just decided to create a new profile....bummer!! Has this ever happened to anyone else? Oh, and it was not my password.

Whew... what a relief! I have learned so much from this forum and today when it would not work, well I just felt lost! --thank you

My dad has ALWAYS been into the genealogy Quest.... LOL, one if his favorite quotes is by Mark Twain, it was something like: It took me a lifetime to search my family tree and then I spent a fortune trying to keep it buried! In fact, as I recall, that was the only reason my dad ever bought a computer, then after he reached a stopping point in his genealogy research, he said the computer was useless and sold it... cracks me up...LOL (currently he is 80 and this reminded me that I need to give him a call)

For fear of cRaZY responses and not wanting to feel i had to "defend" my decision, I have ONLY told selected people: 1 sibling (out of 6) and maybe 5-6 friends. So out of the FEW that i have shared with: Most have been very supportive. The first words out of one friends mouth was congratulations...(which i will treasure)!! -initially my sister FREAKED but has come around and is very supportive (it was one of those: I know someone who got it and lost weight but gained it all back)... well that describes every diet I've been on ..lol -then there was 1 friend who actually started naming diets and asking if I had tried it, and if not, I should try that FIRST! .....R E A L L Y....... yes, she's thin)! NEWS FLASH: most of us have struggled with our weight, our entire lives and its pretty fair to say have made COUNTLESS EFFORTS to drop weight; our decision to have a lap-band was not taken hastily-- trust us!!

..... Typing blunders....meant to say I do not have babies are children but puppies...LOL

I so not have 2 puppies (around 8-10 lbs each) and I avoided picking them up for at least the first week after surgery. I'm nearly 2 wks post-op now and still try to be careful. Internal sutures need to develop scar tissue to "anchor" the band and port. Picking up heaving objects of any kind too soon can damage or weaken those support anchors. Later down the road these weakened areas could lead to slippage, port flips etc. (now this does not mean that only heavy lifting is the cause of these types of complications... just known and avoidable risk factors)... this is how it was described to me! -- utilize any and all your support systems at least the first couple of weeks because it is not worth risking damage/trauma of any kind to your new lap-band --

Mis73... How do you add friends

Wow! I appreciate your honesty; your story is relevant to this forum and I think you are a remarkable person for experiencing all those complications / near death experiences and being able to disclose it.