melissalee

I know how you feel!! I was trying to have a couple of bites of a breakfast sandwich on my way to work about 3 weeks ago and after only the first teeny, tiny bite that was meticulously chewed, I felt like PB-ing. And it was a choice of doing it all over myself or on the curb right in front of the smokers at work. Needless to say, the preggers rumors started almost immediately!!

I can't wait to see that smile Greg!!

I'm having a problem too. I've tried a million times, changed the size of my pic and it still doesn't show up. I reset everything, removed my aviator and still now pics. Any more suggestions?

WHat does a port erosion feel like or what are the symptoms of that? I seem to be doing fine most of the time, but lately, I've had pain on my side where my port is, almost like the type of pain of a cramped muscle if you do too many sit-ups or something (though it's been a long time since that's happened!). Does this type of pain/discomfort sound familiar to anyone?

I can completely understand where you are coming from. I had a particularly difficult time as my doctor had me on liquids for the first 6 weeks. Need less to say, I cheated a little. But now that I am on solids and have recently gotten my first fill, I am beginning to learn which foods I can eat the same as before and those that just won't go down and then the best are those that I eat little but fill me up fast. I guess the most important thing I've learned is that no matter what, I am still resposible for myself and though the surgery is a means to help me along the way, I still have to make the effort to deal with and get over my head hunger and look at why I feel the need to eat so much, even when I can.

I can completely understand where you are coming from. I had a particularly difficult time as my doctor had me on liquids for the first 6 weeks. Need less to say, I cheated a little. But now that I am on solids and have recently gotten my first fill, I am beginning to learn which foods I can eat the same as before and those that just won't go down and then the best are those that I eat little but fill me up fast. I guess the most important thing I've learned is that no matter what, I am still resposible for myself and though the surgery is a means to help me along the way, I still have to make the effort to deal with and get over my head hunger and look at why I feel the need to eat so much, even when I can. Good luck to you!

Thanks all. I had and still have alot of confidence in my surgeon. He is actually one of the first to do the band in the Chicago area and he has a ton of patients. I should take some blame for not attending the support sessions before I had the surgery as my schedule doesn't coordinate but I do think that that could have been mentioned in the paperwork that was given to me pre-surgery. I'd have to say that the overall experience was not bad but I would feel much more confident if it was my own surgeon doing them as I could address all the questions directly to him at the time and I am certainly confident in his abilities. I think it's true that the doctor that did the fill was not nearly as experienced as my surgeon. Oh well. My surgeon said that if I don't lose 4# every two weeks that I needed to come in either to discuss my eating habits and/or to have another fill. I guess I shouldn't complain too much as long as I keep losing and the insurance keeps paying!!!

Lauri, I completely understand where you are coming from. I have BCBS and I had to fight the fight for 2 years and they are still trying to deny after I've had the surgery (on a technical reason of which I have all the documentation for). But I had a very supportive PCP who helped me in getting all the necessary requirements fulfilled. I did take Meridia (and I was on an anit-depressant at the time as well though I don't know about thyroid medications-ask you PCP) and she had at one time or another given me written information regarding my weight and different diets or nutrition plans that she was suggesting. In other words, she did consider that her support and advice and the fact that I, too, was seeing her for one type of medical problem or another was in her opinion a medically supervised weight loss program. The insurance likes to make us work for it and sometimes they like to think that we all just like being overweight. My PCP made the comment tha although she understood that I had a weight problem and was a compulsive eater that it was not like I was trying to make myself fat and the fact that I was addressing the issues with her everytime that I saw her was true evidence that I wanted to be successful but that obviously regular diets were not going to work. I was 32 and had spent over half my life on one kind of diet or another. I needed a little more help and the older I got, even when I lost a little weight, my body could less and less work with the weight it carried. So just try to hang in there. You have all of our support and talk to your PCP to see what he/she may be able to do move the process along. For me, it was so worth the wait and frustration because I can now see a true light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck!

I'm not quite sure if I over or under estimated how difficult this would be. I feel completely pathetic for not being able to get over my basic NEED for food. I try so hard to be good by drinking my water and getting my protem but I just can't get over my obsession over food. I am constantly thinking of cheeseburgers and fnes, pizza and chicken fried steak. And I realize that it is purely psychological because I obsess over it even after I'm full. My daughter begged me for a Happy Meal today so I conceded. More out of tiredness and frustration of personal matters. So I got one for her and one for me thinking "I'11 only chew a little on the meat itself and spit it track out." But you know you still inadvertantly swallow a little, couldn't have been more than half a bite but I thought I would die. I couldn't move, I wanted to throwup and I was in pain for 2 hours. And I kept thinking to myself that l'll never do this again. But don't you know that 2 hours later when the pain had passed and my husband got home and fixed himself some eggs and bacon all l could think of was having some. Does this ever go away?

I say VEGAS HERE WE COME!!!

Sorry for my fret fest last night. But I certainly feel much better today. I must be honest Michelle, I am not anywhere Near the solid food stage and I was cheating but I was so obsessed, I actually thought I could just chew it up and spit it back out (remember Sex and the City) but I still swallowed a little and so... But I have tried to get up today with a better attitude. Got up and made breakfast for my daughter and dropped her off at school passing by about 3 Mcdonalds and a couple of Dunkin Donuts and though my old habit would have been to drop by and grab a fast and fattening breakfast, I managed to make it home to my chocolate flavored protein shake. So I'll reward myself with a little coffee later to give me a boost. Thanks Lisa, Greg, Pam, Anne and Marie for your kind words and to the rest. I have been enjoying reading the past posts, knowing that what I am going through is not so unique and that there is support out there. Here's to all of us SUCCESS!!

Just got banded on the 19th myself. Had my ups and downs but hopefully looking forward to getting off these liquids and enjoying some thing a little more fulfilling soon. Good luck to you! And Have Faith!

I just gut banded the 19tn So I'm just about coming up on ny initial recovery from the surgery itself. Good luck to you and have faith!

Just want to thank everyone who responded to my earlier thread. It is so great to have found a forum to talk about all this with people who can truly relate. I know my family means well but I also know that they cannot really understand all that I am going through right now and it does seem to leave a gap in some ways. I guess one of the hardest things I am going through right now, besides the basic recovery of my body from the surgery, is the true withdrawal from food itself. I would never have wanted to admit this to anyone before and it is very difficult to explain to my husband and family but my life really did revolve around food before. When I was happy, I ate. When I was mad, I ate. When I was stressed, I really ate. When I wanted to celebrate, I ate. So suddenly, I find myself going through one of the biggest changes in my life and I dont have my usual comfort to get me through it-FOOD. And I pathetically, truly feel the loss of it and I am embarassed by that. How can I explain to my husband that my evening grupiness is not about pain or discomfort but honestly about some anger or sadness over the fact that I can't grab a diet coke and run go get a bacon cheeseburger and fries from my favorite place. How pathetic is that? I mean, I can't even enjoy a midnight bowl of cereal. And to add insult to injury, I have to live on jello and crystal light and chicken broth for the next 3 weeks. But I'm not as depressed as I sound, these feelings only seem to hit me at the end of the day when I'm tired. Overall, I am just so excited to be moving forward with this and looking forward to the changes it will bring both to my life and my body. So again, I thank you all for the very fact you are here and look forward to sharing it all with you and vice versa.

Well, it took almost a year of fighting with the insurance to finally get approved so I decided to have the surgery as soon as possible (of course). It was originally scheduled for this Friday but the surgeon's office called me Monday afternoon to reschedule FOR THE NEXT DAY. Although it was a little stressful having to reschedule work and daycare, I am actually glad now because I had very little time to stress and obsess before the actual surgery. The pain today is not so bad, I just seem to be having a problem with one of my incisions but nothing that I can't handle. My main problem seems to be the hunger pains and gas as well as the diarhea. Since I didn't have the full week to be on a clear liquid diet as recommended before the surgery to clean out my system, I feel like I am certainly dealing with that now and I have to go to the bathroom about every hour or less sometimes. I have been sipping on the Dannon light yoguret drinks and tried a little cream of mushroom Soup, strained and thinned with skim milk and I think I am handkling it ok. I guess I just am not sure how I should be feeling and what is really important in doing these first days. I'm sure once I have my followup, I'll be a little more sure of what to do but right now it's just weird. I get alot of gas pains in my chest. Is that normal? It's nothing that is really killing me, it all just feels like I haven't eaten in a week so I guess I'm just paranoid to know if what I am feeling is normal. Any suggestions on foods or things to do during this initial time? I really want to start this off right and be positive. THis is the most important thing I've ver done in my life (short of giving birth to my daughter) and I want to be successful at it. Otherwise, I 'm so glad to have found a forum with fellow banders for support. Any and all suggestions and advice is welcome. Thanks! Melissa banded 10/19/2004 Dr. Tiesenga Oak Park, IL starting at 365

I know exactly how you feel during the waiting game and then once you are approved it's like "WOW!!!". Don't stress yourself out over anything and just look forward to a great future. Good luck to you!!