KristiP

TMI WARNING!!: Yeah I haven't seen my hooey (borrowed that nickname from Scrubs ) without mirror assistance for a loooong time. hope to lose a lt of fat from that area - sorry, but honestly, when I'm just in underwear and looking in the mirror it looks like I've got a Cornish game hen in my underpants! It's embarrassing to look like I've got more junk than my husband! I wear "shape wear" to flatten it out, and any other areas that benefit are just bonus. I mean you know you've got a problem when you have a camel toe while wearing a skirt! (ok, just exaggerating on that one but still......) I hate probably 98% of my body - abdominal rolls, side rolls, back rolls, neck rolls, gigantic double chin, sagging belly apron, huge arms, back boobs, under arm boobs, fat and flabby thighs, huge calves....the list is almost endless, but my, uh.....well, my crotch is my biggest issue, the part of me I hate the most. I refuse to go to the gyno simply because of it. I'm too mortified, and I don't care what anyone says about how they see it all. See my surgeon on Monday to discuss my surgery on 7 Jan. Woohoo! Can't wait to get my stomach 85% removed!

I saw Dr Blamey yesterday for my 1 week follow up (band removal). Everything looks great. We calculated 10 weeks out from surgery, and he said, since I did so well this last time, he'd do me a favor and offer to make it only 9..... But admitted that worked well for him too! Haha. I was like GREAT! But then I realized it was 26 Nov, the day after my BIL is getting married in WA (in the evening). Tried to think of any way of being able to do m sleeve on 26th, but weve already bought our non-refund plane tickets, accomm and hire car, and are not coming back until Tues, 27th. Mon 26 Nov is the last date he's doing surgeries in 2012. The rest of that week he's just doing follow ups and then he's on annual leave until 3 Jan. Soooooooo.......I'm being sleeved Tues 7 Jan at Cabrini Hospital, Malvern. I was a little disappointed, because I had envisioned having it done BEFORE 2013, but now that I think about it, it works out better. For one, I can actually enjoy Christmas and not have to worry about how to dodge the eating and food questions. And 2 there is the financial side of things. Its going to cost me $4800 gap, and that gives me longer to save and Christmas won't be quite as skint! So my instructions are to maintain my weight, don't gain, and try to even lose a bit - which I'm working on now, so I can look and feel a little better at the BILs wedding. I won't look good, not as big as I am, but I always feel a little more comfortable just knowing I've lost some weight. It usually shows on my face first, and I'm a master at obstructing my body when having my picture taken! Then I've got 2 weeks of pure Optifast prior surgery-not even any non-starch veg, he said. Just Opti, preferably just the shakes. :-/ Well, fine, but I'll be doing just 13 days! I'm NOT having Opti for Christmas dinner! I will just be sensible and have whatever I want just SMALL, SINGLE serves. Really my only weakness at Christmas is trifle, anyway, and if I wait until everyone else has a go at it, there will poor little for me to have, I assure you! (the Great Trifle Fight of 2005 still hangs over my inlaws house like a weather balloon hung up in a tree!) Christmas pudding and Christmas cake I can take or leave. Hate hot Desserts and don't like Christmas cake because it's hard as a brick bat and has all those pips from the raisins or sultanas (whichever have pips I I always forget!). Oh and I'm a turkey junkie........but I don't think that is bad - PROTEIN! So, now it's just a matter of doing pre-pre-op, practicing patience, and making the best use of the time I've got. With that in mind, I'm going back to weight watchers, going to start walking before and after work and during lunch on days it doesn't rain, and also see if I can find a therapist who specializes in emotional/compulsive eating so I can try to get a grip on that before I'm sleeved. Because it's a big problem for me. Anybody know of a good therapist in Melbourne area? Also, anyone heard from Lila? :-)

Hi mimz, I wouldn't mind having a recovery buddy nearby as well! My surgeon is Dr Blamey. I had my band out at Waverley Private, but when the nurse was asking me about my plans, she wasn't familiar with the sleeve, and wondered aloud if they did it there. Do you know where you'll be having your sleeve done, when you get a date?

I wish the 'upset stomach' explanation would work, but believe me, it won't. Most of my family in the US would take that, say 'oh what a shame' keep eating and mind their own business. But my husbands family is far more pushy and apparently if you choose not to eat or drink something then it just wrecks it for everyone else. Not sure how that works exactly so cue rolling of the eyes and avoiding "wrecking bit for everyone else"! Hahaha Still, my surgeon might have other ideas so I will know in Monday. In meantime, just trying to keep up my fluids. Still can't tell if I'm very slightly nauseous or very slightly empty and hungry. I did have an Optifast shake earlier which quelled it for a bit, but the feeling is back. I tried eating dinner with my husband last night: steak and a veggie casserole of sorts, but a few bites in and I was feeling like I might pop. I feel more human today though. Boy anesthesia sure does a number on you! :-)

Thanks Kelliv, I'm sure to be back to normal (whatever normal mean!) in no time. Initially I wanted to have it done before christmas, but now I'm thinking of just after Christmas. I'm not ashamed of getting the sleeve, but I don't want anyone to know. Becausei don't want to deal with the BS of everybody telling me what they think when I didn't ask. As it is, I'm already getting the old 'self mutilation' lectures for not only having had the band in, but now having it out. I can only imagine the sleeve will be much the same reaction. If i can avoid major functions that revolve around food i could do it in Nov. But My brother in law is getting married in November so that's out, because I'd be on liquids....a dead give away. If I do it between his wedding and Christmas then Will be on liquids or puree for Christmas, so again dead give away. There is nothing between Christmas and Easter involving food that I can't easily avoid, so I think after Christmas is the go. Hopefully my surgeon will be able to do it then! Would like to be sleeved by the new year, start it off right foot! Cheers!

First hurdle crossed......lap band came out on 25th Sept! Recouping at home now. Very sore,much more sore than when they put it in. I guess because the tissue had grown around the port and whatnot? 5 incisions, 4 of which are from the original implant. The top 3, including the on where they cut the port out are the most tender. I have a funny sort of feeling in my stomach. Not quite nausea, not hunger. Feels......hollow? I don't have any food restrictions, but I can't eat much, not hungry anyway. I went into surgery at 1030-ish and I think I was out by 1200-ish. I didn't use the little self medicating thingo even once.....I didn't realize I even had it! Never called the nurse. They came in and kept asking what my pain level was out of 10 (10 being 'kill me now'). I kept telling them that just laying in the bed it was about a 1 and about a 4-5 when I coughed, which I was doing a lot on purpose because I felt like I had all this phlegm half in, half out of my lungs! I didn't have one of those spirometer things to use, so thought coughing was best kept up. I said, "if I can get up and walk around a bit I can assess the pain level better." But they didn't want me up.....which is odd because usually they're trying to get you up and around the minute you peek an eye open! They said my oxygen level was just a little low, and to breathe deeply, through the nose and out the mouth. I said, well there's a problem with that, because my septum is so jacked up I can only partially breathe through one side and none on the other! So I started breathing real deep through my mouth and the levels increased dramatically, immediately. They still wouldn't drop the bed rails, and I couldn't work out how to myself! By now I needed to pee so bad I thought I'd wet the bed, but they wouldn't let me get up! I finally used the nurse call button and said, "look I just need to pee, really really bad, and I'm NOT using a bed pan or that plastic funnel thing. I would like to go to the toilet like an adult, please, and then I will do whatever you want." they were really nice, but I wonder if they thought I wouldn't be steady on my feet and would fall over and crush one of them or something! Haha The nurse finally agreed, and said she couldn't believe I could walk around without having any pain meds or losing my balance. I have to tell you that when I finally got to the toilet, it was THE SINGLE MOST PLEASURABLE SENSATION I HAVE EVER FELT IN MY LIFE!! It was like, aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I was there for several minutes......sounded like a cow Pi**ing on a flat rock! Lol. I changed from my OR gown into my t-shirt and trackies and got back into bed. Watched some tv. Drank a whole litre of Water. Ate some strained chicken Soup and lemon jelly/jello. They finally disconnected the pain pump thing, the saline drip and the oxygen. The nurse came I to check my BP and asked if I was a day patient or overnight. I said I was supposed to be over night but would happily go home if I could get discharged! Didn't see the point of taking up a bed and giving a nurse one more person to look after who didn't truly need it. She said she'd speak with my surgeon. He came to see me, told me I was a trooper, said he'd write me a script for pain meds and I could go home if I wanted. I was on the phone with my husband before he got out the door! I was really tired yesterday; kept dozing off while reading or watching tele. Better today but still dosed off. Woke myself up snoring! Hahaha Haven't taken the script pain meds (some derivative of morphine that made my nose itch like crazy) have just used Nurofen and Panadeine forte, once. I'm mostly still just tired and dried out, both of which I think is anesthesia side effects. So just taking it easy and drinking a lot of water. My ankles are pretty swollen.I think they pumped me too full of saline in hospital. So I've just been keeping them elevated. Aside from that, I could honestly probably go back to work. Have a follow up on Monday with the surgeon to look at my incisions and discuss date for the sleeve- cant wait to get a date for THAT. Back to work Tuesday. That's about the only update I've got. Hope everyone is doing well. Hope Lila is on the mend. Boy she's had a bad run, I really feel for her.

Plus, it's only a temporary measure, and it eventually stops working, and you have to a break from it for a while. at least with crows feet and eye bags. Trust me, this is a beauty treatment I have used for the last 8 or so years! Haha I now leave it for special occasions.

Oh don't even get me started on Nitwit Romney!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr.......as a yank expat my absentee vote is going in the other direction. Anyway..... Lila you seem to ge having the worst luck but here's hoping things are starting to go in the right direction for you. I mean, can it get much worse? (well, I suppose it could, theoretically, but how much more crsp can the universe throw at one person???) Everyone else, hope you're having great successes and wins. I myself and counting down the hours to disbandment like a kid counting down to Santa Claus! And ain't that funny because 4 years and 3 months exactly ago I was so excited to be able to say "I'm with the band!". I thought my little catch phrase was son cute and clever. HA! Somebody shoulda told me to shove a sock in it! Hahaha. Cmon Tues 25th Sept 1030am!

Hey aussie kelloff, I have 40 kgs to lose to get to MY goal weight, and 60-65 to get to my SURGEONS goal weight. Even at my goal, i worry heaps about the amount of skin I'll have hanging everywhere. I've been so fat for so long (and this is TMI, but my fat rolls are like.....deep? deeply creased? I dunno how to describe it) that I just know I'm going to look like a sharpei sooner than later. I have dreadful images of me looking like Fat B@stard at the end of The Spy Who Shagged ME, when he's all hanging skin and says his neck looks like a vagina! hahaha Because I've got a serious double chin, and I will most certainly have the old chicken wattle. But, I'd rather have loose skin that I can hide under clothes than all this fat that I can't even hide under a tent.

Hey petite, I haven't been able to find the Nestle ones anywhere, not even the pharmacy's I've been to. I can find Optifast, Celebrity Slim, Sliim Fast, and a slew of others but I haven't even seen Nestle. I'm on Optifast right now (pre-op) but I noticed last night that the carb to protein ratio is about 50/50, and I want something that is more protein heavy, with minimal carbs. I have such a hard time with them, really bad insulin resistance. Aside from not liking fruit, my IR is the other main reason I don't eat it! Cheers

I am not scared at all to go into surgery. I wasn't with the band and I'm not with this. The way I see it, if I die on the table I won't know, and if I don't get my weight and susequent health issues under control, I'm going to be on the coroners table much sooner than necessary. I wish I'd known about the sleeve at the time I went looking for help. I initially went in wanting a RNY, because my best friend had such great success with it (albeit with some major and ongoing complications.....she had hers done in 2004/5? and is still having recurrent issues with hair loss in cycles, chronically low in one nutrient or another and still has such hellish issues with dumping that I'm glad they talked me out of the RNY), but I just wish I'd known about the sleeve option. My surgeon said the whole sleeve-on-it's-own came about actually in WA where I lived at the time because so many people getting DS lived remotely. I don't know if that's exactly right, but dang, why didn't MY GP know about the sleeve and offer me that option, instead of talking me into this stupid god awful band? I loved it until I started getting fills and then it just went to hell in a handbag from there. I hate this thing and have hated it for almost 4 years and I can't wait to get it out......although I want it as a souvenir! I figure people with gall stones get to keep their stones in a little jar to show all and sundry....why shouldn't I have Agnetha (my band) for the same? God knows she cost me a fortune and hasn't been worth a dime of it! I just want to keep it in a jar on my bedside table, as a reminder of sorts. The more I read and watch vlogs about the sleeve the more I feel I will be able to make it work and not need the DS portion.....but I like knowing that the DS is there, IF I need it. My surgeon is one of the last in Australia doing it, and the only one I know of in Victoria, so count my lucky stars I guess. Cheers!

Hi Ozeedonkee, I am having my band out because after 4+ years I have not been able to make it work for me. Either too tight and can't eat ANYthing, or too loose and can eat EVERYthing. Got sick of the constant "stuckage" and needing to know where the toilets were whenever food was involved. Tired of doing what I was told to do and it NOT WORKING and then getting told I WASN'T doing what I was told. Learned to eat around it. My sleeve is the first step towards a Duodenal Switch, although I'm going to try to avoid the DS.

Hey all, Sounds like everyone is doing great, some set backs (poor Lila), but over all well. I have been only reading and not posting as had nothing to post about, really, but today I am only one week out from having my lap band taken out, which means I'm (hopefully) only 11-12 weeks out from getting the sleeve. It feels like it's taken FOREVER to get to this stage, but this last week at work Im busy getting everything done before I head off so that the handover to my co-worker isn't so huge. Her team is really self sufficient and she's often just bored to tears, where as mos t of my guys are the kind that need me to sew their name in their underpants before they go off on a business trip (read: they be some needy males!). I don't want to overwhelm her, because when I go into have the sleeve someone will have to babysit my guys a lot longer, so don't want to scare her off! Hahaha Right now I'm pre-op ing with Optifast, though my surgeon asked me why. I explained the whole liver shrinkage thing and he just laughed and said if I felt I needed to do it then go for it, but that it wasn't necessary. Come to think of it when I had my band in the surgeon who did that didn't require a pre-op VLCD either....hmmm. I wonder why some say you have to and others don't. But I can tell you I'm just about choc Opti'd out, going today to see if I can get some bars to help me through. I don't like the strawberry or vanilla, but I think I remember seeing a choc-caramel or toffee opti bar. Hopefully bit more savory sweet. Once the band is out I'm going to try to use the ol' Jedi mind trick and convince myself I've HAD the sleeve and eat like a new sleever until I get it for rea! Hahaha Aside from that just reading here and all over the net about sleeve experiences and watching every YouTube video on VSG and DS I can find (since DS is possibly the last stage). Hope everyone continues to do well and I will update when I'm disbanded! Cheers!

Im having my band out 25 Sept. I either never had enough/any restriction and could eat eat eat plus never feel full or had too much restriction where everything got stuck and I would vomit leaving me still hungry all the time. The bit of weight I lst I gained back 80% of when I got frustrated and discovered how eat around all that. I also have the most dreadful pain in the mddle of my abdomen I'd I sleep on my right side (but not the left where my port is....which baffles me). The maintenance of fills/unfits is a nuisance. The port sticks out too much and looks like I have somw weird growth you can see through clothes. I didn't want the band, but got talked into it. Have regretted being such a pushover since about 6 months out. I won't get my sleeve until min 10 weeks after band is, which annoys me, but 10 weeks was the best quote I got from consulting 3 surgeons. I just pray I don't balloon up between surgeries.

Wow. This is me. I have no off switch. I do not feel hunger cues, either way, but I am clearly on all the time. Although i can go all day without eating, like literally from the time I get up nearly until I go to bed. I have actually found this to be the norm ever since I got banded. I have often wondered if i am addicted to food and eating, but reading some of these posts m inclined to,think im not technically addicted. I don't don't find myself preoccupied with food or eating; I don't generally sit and think about food, or mentally raid the fridge or plan my nex meal. But when I have the opportunity I can/have kept eating until there was nothing left or until I was sick. I think this is the result of eating mindlessly and too fast. I don't know why I developed the eating 2 fast habit.....it's not as if I had a large family to compete with and we were lucky enough to always have more than enough. will ready admit that I AM an emotional eater, with my main emotional triggers being upset/sad and boredom (although I guess boredom isn't really an emotion). Loneliness too is a trigger. When my husband is away for work (he works away from home 2 weeks at a time) i find myself eating a lot of comfort foods which are much more carb based. When he's home I make better choices without even thinking about it. have had the odd sneak-eating episode, but it's not a frequent thing, and it's generally only when certain people (food police) are around. They make me feel like if I want it at all I better have it now when they're unlikely to "catch" me. Which is stupid, right? I mean, I'm 40 years old......if I want to eat a brick dipped in ketchup I can, if I want, right? Hahaha I'm the boss of my underpants and no one else......but these particular people.......they know how to get under my skin. I sometimes get a hankering for a specific food (as an example not just something sweet, I want ice cream.....and not just any ice cream, I want Rocky Road, and not in a cone, I want it in a bowl....) This hankering might even last a couple of days, but then I get my fill and the hankering goes away. Times like that I feel it might be something my body craves, rather than my head or emotions...? So I don't know. I don't know if I'm classically addicted to food and eating, or in some kind of sub-group. But I do know that I am going to have to train my mind so I can get my body in order. I know it's all upstairs, but knowing that and being able to work that knowledge are two entirely different animals. I need more help and the sleeve is where I'm going for more help. :-)

Kgirl (I'm a Kgirl too, only I now live in Australia ) and I know those pops and bangs you mean. They are super embarrassing.....because everyone knows what they are, and who made them. Especially if you're me and your the only fat girl in your wing. Actually........I'm probably the fattest person in the building. There are 500 of us. And I have an intense fear of steps on campers and motor homes. To the point that I refuse to climb them. Period. Which means I only see what I can see from peaking in the door. Being fat has pretty ruined my life, but like you I'm changing that. Good luck!

Thanks! First, I hope they get your reflux issues sorted out. That must be super uncomfortable! Lila, congratulations on getting your approval! That must take the press off enormously! Well, I saw Dr Skidmore today. He is just the nicest guy! So pleasant and approachable. I have to go through some pre-op stuff (barium test and gatroscopy) and then band removal. The only draw back - and for me it's a VERY big drawback - is that he has a band revision patient wait even longer between band removal and sleeve than Dr Blamey. Blamey is 10 weeks. Skidmore quoted a minimum of 16, or more depending on various factors. Plus, it will cost me more out of pocket, about $2500 more. And he does not do the DS. Blamey does, and I feel more comfortable knowing I can still get that done.....if I need it. (I'm going to do my darndest to not need it!) So........I am sticking with Blamey, and due to some personal and money issues that have surfaced, i have rescheduled my band removal to 25 Sept, and all going well I will be sleeved on 4 Dec. It seems a long way away, but......mid-Jan 2013 is even longer! Looks like I might be on full liquids for Christmas.....That will be interesting! :-)

I'd said a few days ago that I'd decided to stick with Dr Stephen Blamey to do my surgery, but I'm scheduled to go into surgery to remove lap band on 14 Aug and they STILL haven't sent me the paperwork! Which makes me rather mad because I saw him back on 19 July. I'm sorry, that is FAR more than enough time to get it out to me. So I'm glad I didn't cancel my second opinion appointment with Dr Adam Skidmore. I see him today at 12. I wanted to stay with Dr Blamey, even though I wasn't terribly happy about his protocol, because I wanted the option of DS if the sleeve wasn't enough. He's apparently the only one still doing DS in Victoria, and I can't go out of state. But I've called his secretary 4 times about the paperwork and I STILL don't have it so I'm going to see Dr Skidmore. He may do the lap band removal and sleeve at the same time rather than me have to wait 10 weeks between like with Dr Blamey. If I have to give up the DS option, then I'd like to not miss a moments sleeve time! It's not guaranteed, he might make me wait too, but it's worth asking. I haven't had any complications with the band, so hopefully it's all straightforward. Anyway, I'll know today (hopefully). And besides some of the people who've gone to Dr Skidmore said he's got a nice bedside manner. Dr Blamey was nice enough.......but kind of talked down to me, in that patronizing condescending way. You know, says things but in that way that has you-ignorant-stupid-fat-person-that-won't-be-able-to-follow-a-simple-concept written all over it? Anyway, that's where I'm at in my sleeve journey. Getting one step at a time. I'm glad I have had some time to read through this site and absorb information and first person accounts of life with the sleeve. To be honest before I started researching the sleeve I thought it was a procedure that was created mostly for failed lapbanders! The only people I knew with a a sleeve were those who'd had a band and had not been able to make it work for them. Now I realize it's much better as a first option. I'm prepared to do the work required with the sleeve. Most of it I already do - daily supps, Protein first, exercise daily. The things I'm working on now are not drinking with my meals and working soft drinks out of my life. I'm doing better on both, but still working on them. I also have some emotional eating and compulsive eating issues I'm working on but I now understand that I cannot get these under control on my own. If I could I probably would not be so big right now! So seeking a therapist with eating disorder expertise BEFORE surgery. I don't want to have to go crawling back to Blamey begging for a DS if I don't have to! :-)

While I have not had any co plications per se with the lap band, I have not been successful with it. I'm sorry but I don't count losing less tha. 20kgs, gaining back nearly half and maintaining at that for 3.5 years a success story. To be fair, I knew from the word go it wasn't what I should be doing--I originally went in asking for a RNY, but was talked into the band. Big mistake on my part, huge! Should have stood my ground. Now here I am 4 years out from the band and still morbidly obese. I no longer want a RNY, and am revising to a sleeve (which to be honest is the second procedure in a 3 stage DS surgery......hoping I will not have to follow through with the DS next year). When I hear of anyone looking into the lap band, I offer them my experience and tell them to look at all the options carefully before making a decision. For some the band will be a god send, but from what I'm reading, it's usually a nightmare. :-)

For me it's being able to wear tops in the summer and not have to keep pulling the fabric out of a crease where I've got a roll. TMI, I know, but it's the reason I wear too big tops, which is more comfortable but sloppy looking. Can't win for losing! And I would like to be able to tuck my shirts into my pants or jeans and wear a belt just for show. :-D

Yes, I am always there too,anxious and on pins and needles. Even though I've never been unable to fasten my seatbelt and I don't hang over into the other seat, I know it's only a matter of time before I get "Southwested" at the airport. I have had the unfortunate experience of having a seat mate ask the flight attendant if he could move seats (didn't want to sit next to a fat woman) and then sit with his contempt rising off him like steam when told no he could not (flight was FULL). I saw the look of disgust on his face when he saw me approaching that row of seats and then his reluctance at getting up to allow me to get to my seat by the window just confirmed it. I spent 4 hours squashing myself against the plane wall, holding my elbows in tightly making sure i didn't 'get any of my fat on him' and pointedly refusing refreshments.......thinking if I made it obvious I was trying not to inconvenience him that he'd at least stop all that hostile sighing...... which was a waste of time because he was just infuriated the whole time anyway. I'm sick of being fat and being hated for it! I won't miss it at all.

Yep. People I general are pretty good, but like apples there are always those few bad ones that wreck the whole lot. Like I said, I refuse to engage with them. Nothing I'd say back would do anything but aggravate the situation. Still hurts though. Oh, and you are so spot on about that whole picture thing. I am so anti-picture that I'd run my own mother over with a car to get away from a camera, unless I'm the one taking pics! Gnotobiotic really, cause I love my mama! But I use that to express the lengths I go to avoid snaps). I actually desperately desire to be in pictures BUT I so hate the way I look in them that I just don't. It's morphed into a paranoia now. And it's only because of my weight and size. I think I am otherwise not horrible looking if not somewhat attractive. One day! One day I will be able to join others in pictures! :-)

I know. I was minding my own business and having lunch - a salad, without anything "good/tasty" in it (no cheese, bacon, croutons, nuts etc) and no dressing either. Just some grilled chicken. 2 men (guessing mid-late 20s) sat down across from me and every time I took a bite one would make pig noises and the other would laugh his head off. It went on for several minutes, until I finally just abandoned my salad and left. No point in saying anything, it would just inflame the situation. I've learned not to start fights I won't win, no matter how right I am simply because you cannot reason with a moron. Well, ultimately I WILL win, because I will not always be this size, BUT, I likely will never see those guys or people who have stared, whispered and given me filthy looks again to say HA! Plus I believe in karma, so it's out of hands now. Oh and good luck to you as well!

Yeah, I'm thinking that too......that it's going to be HUGE and the impression I have of my surgeon is he's the type who likes to take something like that and make a meal out of it--figuratively, not literally! Pun intended though! :-D I'm sure my stomach I general will be larger than a "normal" persons, and I am also sure that my pouch above the band is going to be stretched out because after I got frustrated and gave up I started drinking diet Pepsi again. A mistake I will NOT be making with the sleeve; it was the point I worked out how to eat around the band.