Lynette617

Icy, I'm actually not allowed to have the gum by Dr. orders, but some Dr say you can. It was on a list I copied from the pre op list on this site. dmtjet, Thanks for the compliment on 'MY Boys'. Love 'em to death. Very happy. Kathybad, we haven't had a question of the day today, not a lot of people on. What did you decide you are telling people post op about your surgery, and why it effects the way your eating??? Cazulay, don't forget to save some of that money for our Bandaversry Cruise next year!!!

Sorry all, had to make the dinner for the boys, and then something for me. This could get old easy!!! Nurse76, I really dont puree my eggs. I scramble them, and while they're cooking I chopped them with the spatula pretty small. I chew them thouroughly, and they go down great. I could have been on mushy's a week ago how things are going down now. But then there's the fill coming up at the end of the month and I'm sure things will be different. You'll love the magic bullet. Got mine a Kohl's. Sheelagh, welcome. We have a great group here, and know you'll love it as much as we do. Dini is our other "little sausage" from Ireland. She hasn't posted today, but should be on soon, hopefully. I also push the refresh button to see new posts.

Mango and nurse76, thanks for the heads up on the grits. I guess they don't totally cook, or maybe if you cooked them and let them sit a while they can soak up all the water they can, and then proceed. I wonder if you let some sit overnight in water and then heat up if it would be ok? Weird thing is I can eat pureed scrambled eggs and cottage cheese right now, and I don't feel hungry after these meals. It is filling, so once you can start your mushy phase I'm sure it will be more filling for you.:clap2:

Christy, OMG how did you get all 20 ozs in???????? I'm only allowed 4 ozs at a meal. Last night I had 5, maybe 5.5 ozs and I thought I was going to burst. I know it was too much as I was unfomfortable to move. WOW, I think I'd be gettig sick at the 6 oz mark. But if you've been doing this, you may be used to it. Oh, the mushies I've been looking forward to, but can't have until I go back to Dr on Tuesday, are mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes with brown sugar splenda, eggplant parmesagne, refried beans with melted shredded cheese, cream of wheat, oatmeal, grits. These are all at the top of list next week after that Dr. appointment.

Trystell, best of luck to you tomorrow. We'll be glad to hear from you afterwards. Have a sppedy recovery and stop in when you can.

lindaa, well said. I too had a hard time with the money, but I try to think of all the money I'm going to save. Take for instance, on Sunday I was out and stopped to get some soup for lunch at my favorite Chineese take out. I love egg drop soup, and for $1.35 I was able to get a pint, not sure exactly how many ozs was in it, but I had lunch that day, dinner that night, and lunch the next day on it, and I just threw the remainder of it out today. There was ever bit of 5 meals for me in that $1.35 I spent for lunch that day. Before surgery I would of spent $5.00 on a lunch special, brought it home and ate on it once, because I hate heated up Chineese, to me it just doesn't taste the same. So the benefits of the surgery and cost outweights the money I'd be spending on lunches and dinner out. Even eating at home, the food goes a lot longer than you'd expect, so we'll definitely see a diference in our food bill at the grocery, even if we do still have families to feed.

Tinkerbell, another thing I did when on Atkins was taking large pieces of leaf lettuce, and adding tuna salad and cheese and rolling in up like a wrap. I'll keep thinking of more as I go.

Tinkerbell, have you tried any of the southbeach frozen dinners in the stores? I like the pizza they have. Also, I don't know a lot about the South beach diet, but I know it's similar to Adkins, so what about celery with peanut butter, or salami roll ups (take salami and spread cream cheese on and roll up- they're also good with the small dill pickles in them)

Peaches, great to hear from you and that your home, doing so good.

Gladster, I agree with icy 100%. You have to find what works for you. Pills never worked for me, and as soon as I'd start a diet, I'd do great for 2 or 3 weeks, then I'd start doing bad again and gain. Seriously, After walking my marathon in October last year and realized that I just couldn't do it alone, I stopped dieting. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, and I denied myself nothing. When I weighed in at my pre op appointment I weighed the same as I did in October. That whole time I had not gained or lost anything. I do better when I'm not on a diet. To me this tool is just that, a tool. You have to use the tool and make it work for you. It's not going to do it for you. It's not easy. I have a huge yellow cake with chocolate icing sitting in my kitchen, just 10 feet from where I sit. It's not easy going in there and fixing my shakes to drink and see it there. But by having this band in me, I know if I take just one bite, I may get sick, and if I get sick and vomit(sorry), my band may slip, and if my band slips, then I'm back in the hospital getting it removed, and if I get it removed, then I'm out $16,000 as I am self pay too. This is how I think now. Would it happen this way, I don't know, but I'm not ever wanting to find out either.

My grocery shopping list included: bottled water- easy to keep track of ozs. this way tea packs, coffee, artificial sweetner packs Sugar free items:popsicles, fudgesicles, jello, pudding, hard candy, gum, flavored packs to put in water bottles clear broths low fat items:creamed soups, yogurt liquid Tylenol gas x (only has 18 strips per box- may want 2 boxes) pill crusher (in case you can't swallow the pills) multivitamins protein drinks (slimfast, boost, etc) protein powders These items were considered to be on the liquid list for my Dr: small curd cotage cheese, pureed scrambled eggs, pureed

unruhlyhd, I posted this last week for others, and it may help you. Someone wanted to know about things I had for surgery that I was glad I had, and things I wish I had. Well, I won't be much help for this. I was in and out quick, and actually used nothing from overnight bag. I had it all, chapstick, gas x, hot waterbottle (for gas pains), robe, slippers, socks, few extra pairs of underwear (in case I strained myself getting up out of bed when I had to go to the bathroom), change of clothes (I wore home what I wore into the hospital) deoderant, a book (not a magazine because there are pictures of food in most of them), a note pad and pen (to write down questions for the Dr. so I wouldn't forget them when he came to visit) kleenex, my MP3 player, cell phone, scrunchie for my hair(if it has no metal they should let you wear it during surgery), brush, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a watch (but they had huge clocks in the rooms) and slip on shoes to wear out of the hospital (I wore sandals in and sandals out- no bending down required)

Jeanie, usually when I shut everything down and leave it off for a while it's ok when I turn it back on, but I've done this a few times in the last week, and some days it's great, others it just pokes around. Like now my printer's not working as I just tried to pring Chimborees new calendar, so I'm turning it off for a while and will try again later. I have cable connection which is supposed to be fast, but I'd love to have it faster than this, LOL.

Icy, I'm a tummer sleeper too. I'm still scared to sleep on tummy even a wek and a half post-op. I just don't want to feel no pain, so I'm willing to wait a little bit more. I agree with calling the Dr. I was told no Aspirin products anymore as it will cause erosion. I heard some people say their Dr. say just not to take too much. How do you if it's too much or not, and why take the risk of running into erosion later down the line. Glad you're feeling well.

I dont even want to try to edit the last post but here's lets try this again, LaNalga and ckbw, welcome. Sorry about the spellings in the last post.

Good Morning all. I finally slept in my bed all night long last night (the last time I tried my DH was snoring and after listening to him for 1/2 hour I went back down on my recliner) so get this, my son and I didn't get up until 9:50 when my DH called. We were out cold. Felt great to sleep in, and in my own bed. It's the little things we miss the most I guess. Welcome LaNalgs and ckwb to the Lucky 7's. Tinkerbell, sorry about having your surgery postponed. Was something wrong with the hospital itself, or what? What are you actually allowed to have on your pre-op? Maybe I can help you out. lindaa, I was able to shower the next day. I was glued, and my biggest incision had tape over it, still on too. mango24, sounds like you're doing well on your pre op, no killings yet!! Chimboree, thanks for another great calendar. Have to figure out what's going on with my computer. It's taking forever to change pages, and post, read my mail, etc. It's driving me batty. Going to work on it today and fix it it it kills me!!!!!!!

Good Luck to all the people getting banded tomorrow. Sorry don't have time right now to type it all, have to get my little one to bed.

Nurse76, Mine have not went away but I don't do it as often anymore. We were banded on the same day so it should be slowing down.

Hi Phyl, yes, I bought a small insulated bad to keep in the car with me. I love it, now I don't feel tied to the areas surrounding my home, I can get out and drive farther away because I don't have to get home for my next snack or meal.

Hello all. Glad to hear all out bandsters from the last couple of days are doing well. There is so many of you, it's getting exciting to see all of you posting your success. Thanks to everyone for their compliments on my son, I just love him so. He's a momma's boy, and he has me wrapped around every last finger he has, and his toes too!!! I don't care where we cruise to, but I hate long flights, so how long is the flight from Kentucky to California? Anyone know? They'd probably have to knock me out!!!:notagree So I went out today, had soup for lunch at the mall with my DH, and came home to log my calories and protein. Went to the restraunts web page and they have no nutritional information avaliable for any of their soups.:omg: So I guess I just guess the numbers, and go on. Dini, went to Holister for the first time today. Had to get my niece a birthday present. I wasn't sure what I was walking in to, but the staff was nice. They didn't treat me like I shouldn't be in their store. Very professional, loud, but smelled great in there. OMG, I almost bought my DH that cologne, Jake I think, that they sell. It smells awesome. When I was at the mall I saw a new store called Torrid- Plus sizes. So for the heck of it I went in, only to find out that their store goes from size 12-26:omg:. Now I don't know about you all, but when I reach that size 12, I consider myself a Misses Gal, not a Plus size gal. I don't know what they were thinking. What size 12 person is going to shop in a store that says Plus Sizes right under the name of it!!!!!!!! I be they have a lot of 12 and 14's on the clearance rack!!!!!!!:heh: I'm going to check on those cards. I don't know why, but I want one. lindaa, sounds like you have a busy year ahead of you (next year) Marcy, Yeah, you can paint your toe nails too:clap2:!!!!!!! It's not too bad is it. Have to match the nails, especially in the flip flop season!!! My port is in the middle too, and I can't feel mine either. I still think I have some swelling and that could be why. Cazulay, have you tried adding protein into your pre op diet? You'll have more energy if you can get some extra in with the powders. Ashrae, how's the pain pump working for you? I got pills instead but I've heard there's a lot of Dr.'s that use it now.

Hey, I finally have a picture of my little man in my sinature. Tomorrow I'll put up the one I just got of both my DH and Hunter!

OK, I have a question for all of you. Has anyone received a card from their surgeon that they can take with them when the go out to eat? This card states that you have had gastric surgery and your stomach capacity is less than 6 ozs and to please allow the patient to order off the childrens/senior menu? I'm going ask my DR when I go next Tuesday, just wanted to see if anyone has received one.

Jen, good luck finding your flip flops, and on your surgery tomorrow. Let us know how you're doing!! onmyway, chimboree puts out the calendar. I believe she just updated on Monday, so check back a couple of pages. You'll have to hit on a link and it will open the calendar for you. You're on for the 24th!! mommamirana, the slimfast optima shakes are good in the cappuccino flavor. I buy Body Fortress powder at Walmart (chocolate and vanilla) and my unlavored is from Jay Robb (jayrobb.com.) dmtjet, you're home. You feeling better now?? Hope your doing well. Our big news is we're planning a Lucky 7 Bandaversary crusie next year for those who would love to meet your fellow supporters from the group. We thought about doing it in August, 08 so everyone that gets banded in July this year will have had their 1 year anniversary with their band. So we figured we'd get together on (or around) 08/08/08, on a cruise to the Carribean, or somewhere. If it sounds like you'd be interested, PM miss Dini and let her know. She making a list of people, and we have two others checking on pricing deals, etc. with the cruise lines. I'm excited about it, to actually meet face to face with the people who have been the most supportive people in my journey!!! I downloaded a new pic today of myself for the avatar. Let's see how it looks. ***posting***now

Good Morning everyone. Marcy, great job on the 14 lbs before surgery. Wow, you'll be losing a lot more here soon too. Getting ready to head out for while. My MIL is going to keep my son and I'm going shopping for a presend for my niece. Hope to have a great outdoor experience. I'll a little worried about lunch out because I won't make it back before then, but I plan on having soup wherever I go, and I'm taking frozen Go Gurt for my snack, and bottles of water to drink. Anyway, I'll check back in later.

Chimboree, I got the power poin but I can't open it up. Don't know why I'm having problems with it, any ideas what I can try? Cazulay, I did take it easy the first week, very easy, but the house looks like a tornado went thru, again, so I'm picking up things here and there. I have a 3 year old, so it doesn't stay clean very long, and I hate it looking messy. So my DH and son are having their cake and eating too right now, right behind me. They say it's good, as my DH just belched in the background, so I told him to go eat a piece for me too. It will be gone by tomorrow, no doubt about it. Signing off for a few. DH wants to look up a place to hunt this fall. Tata for now!