SElaine

Hello all! Here I am! I'm sorry it has taken me so long to check in. It's been a crazy week; I'm sure you both know! Virginia- It was great meeting you at the hospital! Your husband seems great, too. LilMonkey- Were you the lady with medium/long brown hair? How is your husband doing now? My surgery went OK. The first thing I remember was being woken up to do the barrium x-ray. It was awful. I just kept thinking to myself, "OMG, I'm not even awake yet. I haven't even stood up yet, much less walked, and here they are trying to put me in all of these herrendous positions". I didn't have any balance and couldn't even keep my eyes open. There was a nurse there standing by me as they moved the table up and down yelling in my ear to wake-up and drink, wake-up and roll-over, etc. They could clearly see I wasn't fully awake yet, so you think they could have waited a few hours; especially since I was spending the night. After that, I was back to my room and things progressed from there. Apparently, my first IV was not inserted correctly and it hurt like hell. Everytime they inserted medicine in it I had an awful burning sensation. I have had Iv's before but they have never hurt like this. Anyway, once back to the room the IV machine kept beeping. Four times the nurse would come in and turn it off and back on again because it wasn't flowing. Finally she called the lab and had someone come and insert a new IV. After that, everything was fine. On the arm where I had my first IV I am still swollen with a bruise on the inside of my arm that goes from the wrist up to the elbow. My port sight still hurts and I have had gas pains. Today I have felt a big lump in my chest and can't figure out if it's gas or the feeling of being full. I think it's gas and hope it goes away soon. So far, so good on the liquid diet, although I don't think I'm getting enough Protein. After two weeks of Protein drinks, I have pretty much had it. What have you all done about your incisions? Did you take your bandages off? And when you did, did you take the tapes off under them, too? I did. I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake. Thanks for the support. I have my post-op appt. on Friday June 1. Virginia-- where do you live?

To all of my fellow bandmates tomorrow and the rest of this week: Good luck, you are all in my heart and prayers. 12 hours to go. I didn't think I would be this nervous, but I am. Hopefully, the time will go by soon because I am jumping out of my skin. My doctor prescribed antibiotics to be taken the day before surgery. I have been sick all day! The bottle clearly says "take with food", but what are you supposed to do when you are on a liquid diet? Suffer, I suppose. The nerves aren't helping, either. I will (most likely) be staying overnight, so I will check in with you all Tuesday or Wednesday. Thank you all for your support and encouragement during this highly emotional time. See you on the band side! I'm excited to join the team of a-MAY-zing bandsters!

Ewa, Thank you so much! Yes, if I find any info, I'll post it. LilMonkey, OMG! Only a few hours left! Being that you are going in first thing in the morning, you probably won't read this until after you are in bandland.... but, if you do, good luck! The antibiotics we have had to take today have made me sick. They clearly say on them "take with food" so what do you do when you are on a liquid diet? They were awful, awful, awful.... but the nerves aren't helping, either. I am so freaking out right now. Nobody has called to pre-register me! What's up with that? Now I'm worried something is up. I better not be delayed because of it. When I went in for my EGD they called three times. Yes, three. Maybe we will run into eachother tomorrow roaming the halls! See you on the other side!

Hey LilMonkey, I was starting to wonder what happened to you, too! I haven't been able to find much information about the new band, either. What did Dr. Orris say about it? Yes, I am getting nervous, too. Fear of the unknown and fear of change. Yikes! Since you are first in the morning, are you planning on going home the same day? I was told that since I was the last one scheduled that day, there is a chance I might stay overnight in the hospital. Especially if the surgery gets pushed back any. They said I would have to stay there a minimum of four hours but I had the option to stay up to 24 hours. Did they tell you the same thing? Also, did they give you a prescription for heparin injections? How's the pre-op diet coming? I'm doing pretty good other than a tiny little slip up yesterday where I ate a handful of popcorn. Bad, I know, but I am back on the bandwagon. Only Protein drinks and liquid today. It's good to hear from you. Only a few days left!

I haven't had my surgery yet. I am scheduled for this Monday. My doctor gave me a prescription for the heparin shots to be taken for two weeks. I do not have a history of blod clots and there is no family history, either. I believe the doctor routinely prescribes this for every surgical patient. Man, it sounds awful. Where are you all injected at?

Hi Wenjea! I am on day 9 of pre-op liquid only diet. The weight loss has been steady so far, but I'm only where you were three days ago, so now I'm interested to see if I stall, too. Even though my weight has been going down, my pants feel just as tight as they did before. (Or maybe 11 pounds is just not enough to be noticeable yet?) Is it possible we could be retaining water since we are drinking so much liquid? I really don't know. As for your second question, we are in the same boat. I really haven't been too concerned about it. I figure liquid in=liquid out. If we are only drinking liquids, I don't think there could be much in the bowels to clear. Please someone let me know if I'm wrong.

Hi radgoll! It happens to me, too. I think it's just because there are so many of us a-MAY-zing bandsters out here and unless a post is directed to someone in particular, we can feel overwhelmed sometimes? :omg: I know if I miss a day, there are pages of new posts! Good luck, friend, I'm here for you!

Susan, I am the same way. When I get stressed out all I want to do is eat. That's one of those changes we are going to be forced to make. I'm just trying to keep busy and I find myself on this sight more and more. It's helping, but it's still hard. We'll get there....

Rebecca, That is awesome! Be sure to check in with us and let us know how it goes. Oh, I can just imagine how you are feeling. I'll be in your shoes next week at this time!

Hi Susan, I'm on the 21st also, and on the yucky liquid pre-op diet. I feel for you! The hardest part for me is feeding the kids. If I can stay away from the kitchen, I'm pretty OK. But, inevitably, it's "Mom, I want a snack... Mom, it's time for dinner... Mom, can we have dessert tonight?" My nutritionist told me if I have to have something to chew that I can eat skinless chicken breast or boiled egg whites. To be honest, I'm finding that if I do eat the chicken or eggs it makes it harder! I just want to eat more, does that make sense? So, for today, I have had Protein shakes, broth, Water, and 2 egg whites. Yes, I understand what you are saying about life changing. It's a scary road. I've always been the fat girl, that's who I am. Now that I'm loosing that (hopefully!) I need to work on myself and figure out who my real self is and appreciate that. Hang in there. You are not alone. If it helps, we can check in with eachother to verify what we are eating... rather, not eating, and making sure we are sticking to our plans. We can do this!

Hey LilMonkey, You should e-mail him; I'm sure it would be OK. I think he just hasn't gotten around to getting it on the list yet. Although, I'm finding it easier to not eat the chicken and egg whites; when I do, I want to eat more. Does that make sense? Overall, I'm doing OK. It's a struggle but I've yet to cheat. (Unless you count the one mini-marshmallow I swiped while getting my son a bowl of Lucky Charms before I even realized what I was doing!) I ended up self-pay. Well, really I paid for part of it and financed the rest. This better work because I am going into debt for it. Who is your doctor? I was told I would be getting the new AP band. Did they tell you the same thing? Hang in there! We can do this!

Hi Faith.... I am in Arizona. According to someone at my doctor's office, my surgeon is the only one in AZ doing the new band at this time. He said something about there being a training on it and only select doctors around the country were invited to the training of the new band.

Congratulations! That is great you are back to work so soon. Wow. My doctor also told me I would be getting the new AP band. I googled it and did a search on this forum but couldn't seem to find much info about it. What's the difference?

OK. Thanks for the info. They did tell me not to touch the site afterwards.

I don't think so... What's the little bitty air bubble technique?

Hello, My doctor also gave me a prescription for heparin today, but I haven't got it filled yet. They told me basically the same thing-- 3x a day for two weeks after surgery. I have never had a problem with my blood and don't take any medications. Apparently, my doctor prescribes this for everybody? Anyway, when the nurse was showing me how to give the injections, she did fill the line to 1ml mark. I can only assume that is what the dose will be, but I certainly will confirm with you once I actually go pick it up. They also told me to rotate between arms, legs, and belly when giving the injections and to never do it in the same place twice. The nurse said I would give myself the first injection while in the hospital so they can supervise that one and make sure I am OK with it. Anyway, glad to know I am not alone.

In my opinion, the vanilla Unjury doesn't taste very good. The chocolate and strawberry are much better. It's still a protein drink, though....

LilMonkey, When I talked to Mike today, he told me I could have chicken breast w/ no skin and egg whites in addition to the liquids on our list! Yeah! I think it will help me A TON to have something to chew on, especially if I get the munchies. He also said sugar-free gum was OK. Day 2 of the diet, so far so good, but it hasn't been easy! How are you doing?

I thought that, too, but when I called to schedule my pre-op appt. Vanessa asked if I wanted to go ahead and schedule the surgery as well since she had me on the phone. Of course I said yes. I'm off to pre-op appt. in the morning. I'm assuming it will go well. Less than two weeks to go!

I have my pre-op appt. tomorrow and plan on starting the diet "officially" tomorrow after meeting with Mike the nutritionist. (Have you had your pre-op appt. yet?) So far today I've had just water and an Unjury drink. Yuck.

JulieSlu, It all makes perfect sense to me. I'm not as much worried about my surgery as how I will be able to handle all of the changes afterwards. I think for me the hardest part is dealing with the mental struggle, not the physical one. Less than two weeks to go! I start pre-op diet tomorrow.

Hey LilMonkey, I am also scheduled for May 21! How ironic is that? Which one of you is going first? What time is your surgery scheduled for? Mine is scheduled for 11:45 to check in at 10:45.

That's a great idea! I wonder, too. Personally, I like Mayflowers. It reminds me of the pilgrims journey to the "new world". In a way, we are all new pilgrims on our own journey to find our "new worlds".

Hi Marjorie! I'm on the 21st also! Yes, this is a scary process. At least we have eachother for support! Good luck to you.

OK.... so, yesterday you vowed to start your diet TODAY. How are you doing? Did you make it through your first day?