PamRN

How exciting! The time will fly by and you'll be on the banded side before you know it. If you read over old posts and start your preparation checklist you'll be armed and ready when the time comes. Good Luck and keep us posted.

I went back to work in 2.5 weeks at a busy hospital, and in 3 weeks was lifting adults (with another nurses help). I was told not to lift over 20 pounds for a couple of weeks. I agree with with Leatha, you can let the baby help you lift, please do allow your friends and family to help, and go for it. My only regret with this surgery, is having waited so long to do it.

I vote for number 3, they're all good pics though.

Mine was sore for a while (a few weeks) after surgery. There was a kind of a tender area above my navel, but you cant see it. It is far enough under my skin that I cant feel it unless I press deeply into my skin, then it only feels like a hardened area. It is not protruding, and now 7 weeks out, it really isn't sore anymore.

I find this site to be an excellant resource for therapy, the support is awesome, the ability to discuss ANYTHING, read of others similar experiences, and sometimes just being able to read with no need to speak gives me strength, hope, & inspiration like nothing else. When I need emotional support, I come here, and try to repay what I gain by being informative and supportive of others.

Good luck on your journey, Jen, and welcome. There's lots of great info here, and with this awesome and sometimes crazy group, no question is ignored, no subject is taboo... as you can see for yourself as you browse the topics... I'm only 7 weeks out from being banded, and I've lost 21 pounds. I've had weeks of gain at return to solids, weeks of no loss, weeks of gain and loss, and now I'm back to losing again... I haven't seen 247 in years, and soon I won't ever see it again! Congratulations on making the decision to join us here, and in banding. I know I only regret not doing it sooner.

That must be such a relief! Congrats on your good experience, Here's hoping it's your sweet spot. Flouro sounds very reassuring. I'm looking forward to needing a fill so that I can have a look at how my band and port are. Part of the reason doc's are using contrast in the fills, is that contrast does not cause osmosis. Having just saline in the bands could, it used to for the midband anyway. Before contrast medium was added, the Midband would cause Fluid to come into the band via osmosis, causing super restriction, so they reformulated the band, making it less permeable, and added contrast for filling to prevent osmosis. Maybe in the swedish band saline somehow seeps out? Saline is a salt Water. One very basic example of osmosis is the body's use for fluid balance, including balance in it's salt levels. If an area of the body is "hyper" or 'high' salt, your body draws fluid in to dilute it, or create balance, which is why eating a lot of salt causes high blood pressure, or "hypertension". The salt draws extra fluid into the venous system to dilute the salt, causing the veins to expand to accomodate the extra fluid, thus making the heart work harder to keep up. It's like pushing fluid coming in to the heart from a garden hose back out through a straw. The straw end is getting a pretty high pressure flow. Sometimes high enough to knock loose a piece of plaque build up which could then be pushed into ever smaller arteries, until it blocks one, and causes a stroke. Your body also holds on to any extra fluids to keep from increasing the salt level by letting fluid out, so if the body is too salty, you get swelling, legs and feet, hands, etc...

Congrats on the easy fill! It's nice to see that even setbacks don't throw us off the wagon. LOL Greg you are a truly warped individual, I love it!

Congratulations on taking that big step in deciding to get it done. I seriously wish I'd been more motivated to do this sooner for myself. I've lost #20 in 6 weeks, and everyone is noticing. It sure feels good to pick up those jeans I haven't worn in years and slide them right on. Read the posts; would you do it again, and what have you gained, you'll find some serious motivation there. Good Luck in your pursuit, read, read, read, to be ready, 12/03 is creeping up on us, and do keep us posted!

I'm only 6 weeks out, but I'm doing fine with granola bars, we like the yogurt iced ones.

ROFLMAO if thigh measure were the case, I could put borden out of business... Lisa, go back a few posts, there's a link leatha posted that takes you to a site that describes how to measure with the cottage cheese, you have to measure Water in the container after you've eaten your fill of CC.

I'm restricted early on too, though I'm usually awake at 3 or 4 when I'm home (night RN) so by sunrise and a cup of coffee, I can usually have an egg, over easy, an omelet with veggies and cheese in it, or oatmeal that's not too thick, I like the low sugar maple and brown sugar, and I'm doing fine with cereal too. Several of the folks here talk about morning star veggie sausage, and this next visit to the store, I'm going to try it. I've tried the veggie burgers, and they are pretty good, so I think the breakfast sausage will probably be good. For lunch I'm newly loving the flavored tuna in a pouch, herb and garlic by starkist, no mayo required. There are other flavors, but I haven't tried them yet. For dinner I eat whatever I make my family, just in much smaller amounts, eating the protein first.

:Bunny :banana :Bunny :banana :Bunny :banana :Bunny How great is that? I read someone's muse that it was so nice to revisit the pounds on the way down, that we so dreaded on the way up... I have to agree! Congratulations!

ACK!! BITE YOUR TONGUE!

You're a smaller BMI so you're gonna lose slower, and from the look of your stats, you've done pretty darn well! I'll be thrilled to see 186!! It's been a decade since I've last seen 186! You've been on a downward trend, you're not 232 pounds anymore, and with the band, you never will be again. From 232 to 186 is a loss of 46 pounds...who cares when it actually started, you are DOWN 46 pounds. That is a pretty impressive loss. You ARE doing great, You ARE going to do even better, and YOU deserve to celebrate! As you head out to face the day turn on some good music and sing along nice and loud, You are doing awesome!

I eat anything I want, just in much smaller servings. I can't eat things that are doughy, like soft breads, because they stick in my chest and it hurts until it gets through, but I haven't really had much of a problem with anything else. The only time any other food hurts is when i eat too fast, or don't chew it well enough, both of these issues require paying attention to eating while eating, which is something I am still working on. If I forget, it only takes one or two bites to remind me, and it can be the first bite that will stop me and make me wait a while until it gets down before I can continue eating. I do however work on making better choices just because I do want to succeed at this, and since my intake is so reduced, I want to make sure I'm getting in enough of what my body needs.

On the high Protein front, I think the shakes are truly helpful, I use the slimfast optima low carb shakes, but to add variety, I've been looking for other sources. This week I found a new flavored tuna at wally world. It's a starkist flavor pouch, herb and garlic flavored tuna. I'm not much on tuna, actually don't really care for it, but I felt I needed something solid. I finally decided I'd try this, and it was really surprisingly good. I ate it right out of the pouch! It's supposedly a 2.5 serving pouch, so if you're pretty restricted, it could be, but I ate the whole thing. It was all I ate for that meal, and it really satisfied me. It's pretty high in protein, low in fat, and has the good omega-3's in it. There are other flavors I haven't tried, smoked, sweet and spicy, and lemon pepper. I guess, if like me, you get tired of just shakes, it's another alternative. here's the hickory smoked info: Servings per container about 2.5 Amount per serving Calories 60 Calories From Fat 10 Total Fat 1 gram Saturated Fat 0 grams Cholesterol 20 milligrams Sodium 280 milligrams Total Carbohydrate 0 grams Dietary Fiber 0 grams Sugars 0 grams Protein 13 grams **a whole pouch would be 33.5 grams of protein

The rooms are lovely, you did a great job Lisa. Your friend's comments are more than a smidge catty to say the least, and of course she's talking about it in front of her kids, if the kids are saying it too. Where else would they get the idea? Could she be feeling a bit inadequate? She may be comparing her own child raising skills to your's and falling short. You're doing wonderful things for your children, and giving them a fairytale childhood to the best of your ability. You're doing it out of love, so who among anyone has the right to negate that? If you're happy, and your children are happy, you're doing something right. As for the difference in the boys rooms and the girls room... of course they'll be different... boys don't want no stinkin' plush, they need guy stuff. Go ahead and offer your 6 year old clouds hearts and rainbows so he doesn't feel left out...& watch him run screaming to his dad, that mom has lost her mind! You're children are individual, you're a great mom, so you'll meet their needs and wants individually, that's life. You know... one of those things your catty friend needs...

Good for you Leatha, you're an awesome inspiration to all of us. Good Luck on this fill, maybe you'll find it's your 'sweet spot'.

No costumes? You haven't read about delarla's great gloves, or Ryan's hulk underwear? Disney's got NOTHING on us!

The window of opportunity for RNY is 18 months to 2 years. They lose weight both from reduced intake, and malabsorption. The length of intestine that is bypassed causes them to lose the ability to absorb not only fat and calories but also vitamins and minerals. After the 2 year mark the body learns to adapt, and regains the ability to absorb fat and calories. It never regains the ability to absorb vitamins and minerals. That means if they haven't learned a better eating behavior they will regain, sometimes all the weight, and sometimes even more.

I was banded about 6 weeks ago and have lost 20 pounds. I'm sure a good 10 of it was boobage. I'm thinking of investing in a set of sardine can keys so when it's all over and the twins have completely emptied, I can just roll them up and tuck them in...

He's SUCH a doll! Your kids are super cute Vera. btw: thanks so much for the reminder of Ryan's dream <trying really hard to ignore the mental image of Ryan in hulk undies>

Penni talked of some liquid Vitamin she takes, and other members tried it and all said it was pretty decent. I was going to try it, but forgot about it. I think it may have been life source or something like that. She'd be the one to ask for certain. There's a post about it, but I don't know if it was mentioned in another post or if she started a new thread on it. You could do a search and see what comes up. I was only sore at the 1 left abdominal site, and it only lasted about 2 weeks, with each day getting better. I only have 4 very tiny puncture sites, and after the second week, didn't have any pain at all. The dry heaves don't sound good, was it after trying to eat something? Some people experience post surgical nausea from anesthesia. I wouldn't think it should last more than a couple of days, I do hope you feel better soon! Congratulations for making the leap to the otherside!

That sounds awesome! I hope you have a great time... do be careful and if you imbibe in a little "Mexicali liquid diet" while there.... AVOID ALL DONKEYS unless of course there's pictures... <imagining a burrow in a boa and tiara>