Soxking

My wife and I adopted our sons, a pair of biological brothers, from DCF when they were 5 and 6. A month after the adoption was finalized, we were pregnant with our daughter. From no kids to three plus we had an addition built on the house that year. That was the year my hair turned gray. The life of our family has been worth every one of those gray hairs and much much more. All the best from our family to yours.

Since banding, I've found a few foods that just don't go down right. Tonight's discovery was couscous. Humble and seemingly innocuous, the first three small forkfuls went down just fine and then pow! For the next 15 minutes I'm strolling around the house jumping up and down, trying to make it go through. Finally, I decided enough was enough and swallowed a tablespoon of olive oil to grease the skids, so to speak. Couscous = no-no. You?

Got up bright and early and went to the Doc's for my first fill today. I'm not at all squeamish around needles but the area around my port is still a bit tender so the thought of being stuck in that spot did give me pause. I shouldn't have been concerned. The Physician's Assistant let me know beforehand that the tenderness is muscular in nature and located a bit deeper and around the sides of the port. The port itself is just below the skin and the needle doesn't go near that tender part. She was 100% correct - a bit of a pinch was all that I felt and no problems. 4 cc's in. Since its the first fill, some of the liquid stays in the tube between the port and band so the restriction is minimal. Still, I could feel the difference in drinking water. I'll spend a couple of days on liquid and mush again, then back to the stage 4 diet. Forward!

I had a third fill scheduled for this past Tuesday at 8:30. For the second time in a row, the PA was late getting to the office, so I rescheduled. grrr.

Good luck with it. Addressing my apnea problem probably saved my life. Hope you have as much success with the process as I've had.

Sorry you're feeling so badly. The first week is the worst - it almost seems like punishment. Building up to the surgery with the pre-op diet is tough, but then after the surgery, to have to live with just the Clear Liquids for a week along with the post-op discomfort... I can empathize. It will get better. Gasx and milk of magnesia for any G.I. discomfort. Walk, walk, walk! Can't emphasize that enough. I had one of those exercise Water bottles filled with ice, 1/4 bottle of Isopure and 3/4 water with me at all times. That stuff saved my bacon, so to speak. Took the edge off the hunger and helped me avoid dehydration. One blessing I found during the clear liquid phase was that my local Chinese restaurant would provide me with excellent chicken broth. It was really a morale booster. I also made certain to take my liquid Vitamins every morning - as grotesque as they taste, they really did improve how I felt. Soon, you'll be able to go to full liquids and your calorie intake will go up a bit and that will really help how you feel. For me, sleeping was an issue the first week or so. I generally sleep on my stomach and couldn't because of the port incision, so I learned to sleep on my side holding a pillow there. After about three weeks, everything was healed up and I could go back to my old sleeping position. Hang in there - it will get better. Hope you have a better day today.

I've tried experimenting with this recipe - the basic one is great, but substituting swiss for jack cheese and corn muffin mix for the flour works well too. High Protein, low carb, portable (which is a big plus) and very tasty. I can't claim the recipe but found it here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Egg-and-Cheese-Puffs/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

So much of this adventure is subjective - what works for some doesn't necessarily work for others. I think this couscous thing may have had more to do with dryness than chewing - couscous is already mighty small and grainy. I've pretty much got the mechanics of eating down vis a vis chewing and bite-size and taking time, but it seems that certain foods just don't take well to slipping though a smaller space. I'm seeing a personal pattern that dry foods and things that can create "flaps" that might not break down properly in the mastication process are the major culprits for me. Live and learn

Always less than 1200, but I'm concentrating on hitting the protein numbers as a goal. Some days I end up at 1200 but more often, I'm ending the day with somewhere between 800 -1000.

In preparation for the lap band, I had an endoscopy which showed that I have the beginning stages of Barretts Esophagus. I probably should have known something was up because I have a long history of heartburn. Now I take a 20mg Omeprazole (Prilosec) every morning and have no problems with it at all. It didn't affect my decision to get the band, and the doc said to go ahead with the procedure.

Yes, it wasn't obvious to me until the second fill. I've read that this may diminish if there was any post-fill swelling that goes away. Hope not...

I know what you're saying about the band "speaking" and what that feels/sounds like. I'm a few days post-second-fill and I have noticed that a physical fullness is much quicker and easier to achieve. I think it is that sense of fullness in the pouch that people refer to as the band "talking". I've had a couple of situations since the surgery where I've either not chewed enough or eaten too quickly resulting in a very unpleasant protest by my stomach. That's the band talking, too. For me, avoiding that feeling has become a real incentive to pay attention to how I feel while eating and that awareness is having benefits.

Well, here's the scoop on yesterday's second fill results. Yesterday was an all liquid day so it was a wash (awash - get it?) as far as testing restriction. Today was a mush day up until dinnertime. Breakfast and lunch were yogurt and cottage cheese - each a measured quarter cup. dinner was going to be scrambled eggs, but the chef made a slice of ham steak also. I gave it a try, with chewing a priority. I only needed about a quarter cup of scrambled egg and four small bites of ham before hearing that small voice of the lapband saying enough...any more and you'll be overdoing it. I'm both surprised and pleased at the feedback that I'm getting from the band. It does speak - but its up to me to listen and obey. There used to be a series, I think on Masterpiece Theater, called "Rumpole of the Bailey", about an English lawyer who called his wife "She who must be obeyed". That is going to be adjusted slightly and my lapband will henceforth be known as: " It Which Must Be Obeyed!"

Day 40 since the lap band installation, and I had my second fill early this morning. Once again, no problem during the procedure and I am now at 5.6cc of the 14cc band. liquids today, and mushie tomorrow. After the first fill, a failure to chew thoroughly resulted in a couple of "situations" that I would prefer to avoid in the future. I noticed that these seem to occur during the first few bites of a meal when I haven't thought things through and just chow down like in the past. Since we say grace before meals, I've added a silent "small bites, big chew" reminder to myself which has helped. Learning to work with the band seems to be quite an art! Walking any meaningful distances tends to be problematic due to some old injuries, so weightlifting continues to be my primary exercise. Its having some benefits as I can feel myself toning up, but the added muscle weight is sort of balancing out the weight loss. I'm pretty confident that the additional restriction of this second fill will help me cut down on portion size and result in a downward trend again. Good luck to all of you August bandmates!

Remember that water weighs 8 lbs. per gallon. Depending on where you are in a hydration cycle, you can fluctuate 4 lbs per day quite easily, especially if you are drinking 64 oz. of water each day.

Second fill for me on Tuesday, 9/10. I really didn't notice any difference in restriction or appetite suppression after the first fill and so its been primarily discipline and willpower working for me (and a few "reminders" from my bride!). I've continued to lose very slowly so I'm grateful for that, but I'm definitely looking forward to some assistance from the newly tightened band.

Love the NSVs! New belt for me last night - ran out of notches. Integrity of the pants was in danger!

I am sorry for your sad news and can certainly empathize. Four days after my lapband was installed, my 82 year old mother-in-law, who I am very close to, contracted pneumonia on top of her chronic COPD. Very close call, and she got to the hospital in the nick of time to save her life. My wife and I were in the ICU with her for a solid week (while I was on the post-op clear liquid diet). We are Catholic and in difficult times like this, are prayerful. It helped me get through it and I would recommend that if you are so inclined. God bless you and your whole family with love, peace, hope and the strength to endure.

I'm a month post-surgery (Aug 1), and I was feeling pretty wiped out at the end of the day until I had been on the stage 2 diet for a couple of days. At that point, the caloric intake went back up from 200-300 to around 500-600. Protein shakes, soup and yogurt made a big difference. Good luck!

I roasted some vegetables in the oven - red peppers, onions, yellow squash, roma tomatoes - and then put them in the blender along with some chicken broth, salt, pepper and a little jalapeno relish. Pulverized it all and then heated it back up on the stove. Another one involved sauteeing a chicken breast, then placing that and some of the aforementioned roasted veggies into the blender with a raw egg and a bit of tomato sauce. Again, pulverized it to a pulp and then reheated it. Almost mousse-like in consistency, but good flavor and high in protein. Last one - my wife made meatloaf, mashed potatoes and carrots for the rest of the family. I'm partial to her meatloaf, so I pulverized it in the blender along with some cooked carrots and added that to some mashed potatoes. I'm sure I overdid the carbs that day, but the result was mushie and good. Good luck!

This is why I took the week after surgery as a vacation. I knew that I would be a bear on a liquid diet, and my doc's protocol called for a full week of clear liquids post-op. Thankfully - nobody got hurt, I had plenty of time to adjust and by the time the week was over, so was my grumpiness. Never has a protein shake been so appreciated as when the doc said "Stage 2 for you!".

I had a bit of that pain under the left rib as well. GasX, Milk of Magnesia and walking were advised but I'm not certain which one fixed the problem. Hope you both feel better.

About a month before surgery, I started taking a liquid vitamin from GNC. Gave me some time to get used to it. The taste is horrible but the vitamins in it are top shelf. I have definitely noticed the difference.

Day 19 since the surgery and all is well. I'm in the midst of Stage 3 of the post-op diet. Since beginning the process, I am down a total of 33 lbs. The incisions have healed up but my stomach is still a bit tender to the touch where the port is. I'll be getting my first fill this coming Friday and not really looking forward to getting that spot poked with a needle, but hey, if that's what it takes, I'll just grit my teeth. Stage 3 is mushy food, so we've experimented with things like pureed chicken and vegetables and different Soups. Meh. I've been sticking to the Protein shakes for the most part. Scrambled eggs once in a while also. At this point, after so many weeks of liquids, I seem to be a lot less enthralled with food at all. Been walking more, now that there is less weight on my bad ankles, and this has been great. Stepped it up to 1.5 miles down at the beach this morning and was hardly lame at all for the rest of the day. Best of luck to new August band recipients!

Try a half-cup of clear, non-fat chicken broth (which was on my stage 1 post-op diet). I asked my local Chinese restaurant for some and they obliged. I left it in the refrigerator for a day to congeal any fat so I could skim it, but it had already been defatted. Warm and slightly savory - helped get me past the low points in the first couple of days.