TravelGirl22

I'm at three weeks now, and have lost around 26 lbs (including preop diet). Feeling great now and looking forward to my first fill on February 18th!

I would strongly suggest calling your doctor's office and letting them know about your pain. It could be a lot of things, and your physician is the best person to determine that.

Good morning, all! I had my post-op visit yesterday with the nurse, and she said everything looked great (I was banded on 1/10/14). I finally found out where my port was! I am still losing weight, albeit more slowly, and am really trying to watch what I eat, although the nurse said that a weight gain is fine at this point. She said the main idea is to heal. Right now, I've lost a little over 23 lbs. She also moved me off mushy foods and onto soft foods - yay! I'll stay on those until the 31st, and then get to move to regular foods. I've decided to make this my week for really planning my diet in the weeks ahead, so I'm sorting through recipes and making my grocery list. I feel like this is a whole new life for me! My first appointment for a fill is on February 18th - I asked that it be after the weekend of the 14th because I will be out of town at a business retreat, and will be eating out a lot, so I figured that would be easier. Hope everyone here is doing well!

Someone I just found this link that someone posted on another threat that might help - there's tons of recipes for all phases of banding. http://www.advancedbariatricsurgery.com/forum/?c=2

If you add 2 Tab. of PB2 (powdered peanut butter) to the chocolate shake, it's really good! And only 45 calories! Like drinking a chocolate Peanut Butter shake. You can find PB2 at most grocery stores - I buy mine at Whole Foods.

I'm an attorney, so most of my work is at a desk. I was also able to do some work from home remotely, so I only had to go into the office for a few hours. I'm being careful, though, and if I start to get tired, I leave and come home and take a nap. I deliberately scheduled my hearings so that I didn't have anything this week, so mostly what I'm doing is paperwork. I think I'll hold off on the Peanut Butter for now - thanks!

Hi, all! My surgery was last Friday, the 10th, and things of been going really well for me. I still don't have as much energy as I would like, but I also think that I went back to work too soon. Regardless, I'm feeling pretty good now and I've lost over 20 pounds, beginning from the day I started the two-week liquid diet. Tomorrow I'm very excited, because I get to move on to foods that are the "consistency of baby food." I'm already planning some cream of wheat for Breakfast, and some really mashed really smooth sweet potatoes for dinner. I am curious, though, because the nutrition timeline that the doctor's office gave me offered up smooth Peanut Butter as a food I could eat this week. How would I eat it? Certainly not with bread, or apples, or celery. Just out of the jar? And I'd be afraid it would get stuck in the band. Is this ever an issue?

I was just banded 6 days ago and had to do a full 2 week liquid diet. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought - I added supplements to the shakes with my Vitamix (highly recommend getting one of these or a really good blender!) such as vegetables and fruits, and made a lot of green Protein smoothies. I really wasn't hungry - they do fill you up. I bought the unjury brand of protein, which you can find online, and liked that the best. They specialize in bariatric patients. Oh, I also recommend the PB2 (powdered peanut butter) - it tastes great with the chocolate Unjury powder! And I bought some ready-mix shakes for work and travel as well. I used the EAS Advantage shakes, which was on my list from the doctor - your list may be different. I wound up losing 17 lbs. as of the day of surgery, and the surgery went perfectly. Now, in my first week post op, I am still drinking Protein Shakes but supplementing them with smooth soups. I've even bought chunky soups that are low fat and sodium, and just puree them in the blender. So far, everything is going great!

I'll be honest - the main reason I told my siblings and daughter is because I figured I owed them that. ANY surgery with anesthesia, no matter how minor, carries risks, and in case something happened, I wanted them to be aware of the circumstances in advance. I just knew how I would feel if one of them had surgery and didn't tell me, and something happened. But if you don't have any close immediate family, then I can see keeping it to yourself.

Just curious - if you didn't tell anyone, who took you home from the hospital? Or did you spend the night?

Did you buy the dress off the rack or is there someone available to do alterations? If the first, find someone! If the second, I would talk to the person who will be altering your dress and explain what is going on, then ask that person how much time they will need to fit you and make any necessary changes. You may or may not choose to tell them you had surgery, but you certainly can tell them that you are losing weight and you expect to lose more by the wedding. Then just meet with them on the appointed deadline, and see what needs to be changed at that time. In the meantime, you can put it out of your head and concentrate on something else.

I just had my surgery this past Friday (at an in-town location) and like you, chose to keep it a secret at work. However, I did tell my siblings and my daughter, and I'm glad I did. They gave me a lot of support and it really helped. My sister stayed with me the first 24 hours, as I live alone, and I'm so glad she did - I could never have gotten out of bed on my own that first night. She really helped out. I would strongly recommend that you let at least one or two people know, as you will need help. And there is nothing wrong in asking for help. You don't have to let your work know - after all, it's really none of their business - but for your own sake, tell a friend or a sibling or someone you can count on.

Today I felt better although I overdid it and went to work. I should have stayed home because I was exhausted and feeling miserable when I left work. Now I'm okay and enjoying some red roasted pepper and tomato Soup. Ah, the joys of finally having something other than those Protein shakes! Don't worry - they're still on my diet for at least another week, but I'm really excited about adding soup back in. My coughing is almost gone (yay!), and hopefully the small amount of residual gas will go away soon. I only feel it now when I hiccup. :)f Oh, the best news is that my weight is 19.2 lbs down from when I first started the liquid diet on December 27th!

I was banded on Friday, and as of Sunday, I am still coughing a lot. Sometimes it's productive and sometimes it's not, but it's keeping me awake, and making it hard for me to rest. Plus it hurts when I cough. Is this typical? I knew they talked about the dangers of pneumonia and gave me the spirometer to breathe into, but I'm just wondering when it will go away. Other than that, things are going well for the most part.

Thanks so much for all your advice. The cough is getting better as the day goes on, and I'm hoping that it's gone by tomorrow. But I will call the doctors office in the morning just to check and make sure.

I was banded yesterday and am now taking it easy at home. Feeling much better today than yesterday, although I'm still coughing a lot, but I guess that's normal. i had some pain in my left shoulder from the gas, but nothing too bad - I used a heating pad on it, and that really helped. I did a 2 week pre-op liquid diet, which the doctor mandated in order to shrink the liver, so I don't think he had to use as much gas. I'm just trying to decide what to eat now - I'm still on a liquid diet for 7 days after, but I'm not really hungry now. I've had some hot tea and hot vegetable broth so far today (oh, plus a half a Protein shake in the morning). When does your appetite return?

That's what my doctor told me - I was on an 800 calorie a day diet (using protein shakes) for the 2 weeks right before the surgery. He's been doing these surgeries for a long time and said that before they started promoting the liquid diets, it was common to for the liver to tear during surgery because it was so big it would get in the way. After people go on a restrictive liquid diet, it shrinks the liver considerably and avoids a lot of risk.

Thanks for this information! I just had my surgery yesterday and it seems like I'm coughing every few minutes. They did give me a spirometer to breathe into, and I've been trying to do that (although probably not as much as I should). The hot fluids do seem to be helping as well.

That's interesting - I guess I'll ask about that and see what they say.

Hi, everyone - I am seriously considering weight loss surgery and have been browsing through some of the posts here, so I thought I'd register and introduce myself. I will probably go with UC Weight Loss Center, which is near Cincinnati in West Chester, Ohio (Dr. Brad Watkins). Right now, though, I am trying to decide whether to go with the lap band or the plication. My insurance will not cover any of the procedures, unfortunately, so I will have to pay for it myself, which means I won't be able to have the surgery till after I get my bonus at the end of the year. I know the plication is newer, and therefore riskier. But it seems less invasive than the lap band. I'm 240 lbs, with a BMI of around 38-39 and am 58 years old. Any thoughts or advice anyone can give me would be very helpful. Thanks!

That's good to know - I just found Bandwagon on Amazon and it's in the Prime lending library, which means I can borrow it for free!

A friend recommended this book to me - Is Lap Band Surgery for Me? Your Step by Step to Lasting Weight Loss - and said it really helped her. My cousin also read it and liked it, and it has excellent reviews on Amazon.

Thanks, Guy! They didn't mention anything about doing the plication with the band - she just discussed the plication as a separate procedure. I think, though, that I'm going with the band - it does sound like it's the least invasive method.

Thanks, Bandista! I vaguely remember the Farside strip you're talking about - I'll have to look it up.

Hi, all - I'm glad to meet up with some locals! I live in Cincinnati about 15 minutes east of downtown and work in downtown Cincinnati. I haven't scheduled my surgery yet (I have to wait till the first of the year as I'm self-pay and will need my end-of-year bonus), but will be using Dr. Watkins in West Chester. I grew up in Mason so I know the area well and still have lots of relatives in the WC/Mason area. My mom's family came from Middletown originally - in fact, Coles Road in Middletown was named after my maternal great-great-great-great grandfather. it used to be a lot nicer when I was a kid - I haven't been there in a long time, but I understand that it's really gone downhill in the past 20+ years.