dawneb

Hi there, I'm planning on going to the meeting tonight at St. Joe's. Hopefully I'll get to meet some of you. I'll be wearing blue scrubs. See you tonight.

I'm so excited!!! my first fill is scheduled for tomorrow. Do any Dr. Srikanth patient's know what the diet is supposed to be for after. I'll find out tomorrow, just curious. I know that I'm on clear liquids from midnight on tonight. I'm planning on going to the support group at St. Joe's on Monday so hopefully I'll get to meet some of you. Question - I've been stuck at this weight for the last two weeks. Should this fill help with that? Does anyone know typically how much they put in at the first fill? Thanks everyone,

Good morning everyone, Insub - I just wanted to let you know that St. John's Wart is on my list of "no no's" Something to do with how we absorb it differently now. You might want to check with your doctor about this. Maybe you might just have to cut it in half or something. Just wanted to let you know since it's on the list from my doctor's office. I understand what everyone's saying about feeling the blues. I definitely have my days when I feel like that. My DH says that exercise will help but it's hard to get up and do that when you're feeling down. Hope everyone has a great day.:clap2:

Hi everyone, Is the next support group meeting at St. Joes' this next Monday? I think that it is but just wanted to check.

I'm with a lot of you. I was doing really well until about a week ago. Now I can't stop eating things that I shouldn't. I'm on my 7th week post-op and I still haven't gotten my first fill - arrrrrrgh!!! Maybe that will help. I keep saying to myself "OK - tomorrow we're back on track" I start off good then by mid to late afternoon I'm done. It's sooooo frustrating. What's wrong with me?!!!

Hi all, thought I'd "check in". I read the posts a couple of times a day but don't usually write. I'm doing pretty well. I'll finally get me first fill this coming Thursday (unless they cancel me again - YIKES!!). I can't wait. I'll be almost 8 weeks out of surgery by then. I feel like I really need this fill. I just joined the August exercise challenge. Last week I started exercising - I did three days. That's huge for me. I haven't exercised in years. Not really. A day here and there but nothing with any consistency. I feel pretty good about it. I have to do something since my weightloss has stalled. I've been at the 31 - 32 pounds lost mark for a couple of weeks now. VERY frustrating. Take care everyone and continued prayers for all my fellow Junies. Dawn

Hi there, I'd like to join the challenge. I just bought "The Biggest Loser" workout DVD from Sam's club. It's pretty good. I did it 3 times last week. This is pretty good for someone who hasn't consistently exercised for over 10 years. At first I thought I was going to die but it was definitely better by the third time. It really showed me how out of shape I was. My 3 and 4 year old were even trying to do it with me - YEAH! I would love for them to be really physically active kids. I was never really active as a kid. So, I'd like to challenge myself to 600 minutes for August. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Good luck everyone! Dawn:clap2:

RiahG Thanks for all your words of encouragement. It really helps!!! I'm doing OK again. Now that I've gotten it into my head that I have to wait another week it's not so bad. It's amazing how much our heads have to do with eating - kind of scary!!! I'm glad that you've got everything scheduled now with all the stuff that you have to do for your insurance. What a pain but it will be soooooo worth it in the long run. Plus, you'll already have great eating habits for after surgery when you're back on solids. You're always in my prayers - I just know that this will work out for you! See you soon,:car:

Ok, I'm really bummed right now. I was supposed to go for my first fill (banded june 12th) this Thursday and the doctor's office called and canceled it until next week!!!!!! I'm sooooooooo hungry!!! I understand that things come up. I work for a surgeon so I really do get it, but man oh man I'm just feeling really upset. I was counting down the days saying "OK, just hold on this much longer" now I've got another 8 days!!!! Oh well, I guess it could be worse. More time for my tummy to heal, right?!

Ok, I'm really bummed out, I was supposed to have my first fill this Thursday with Dr. Srikanth and his office called and had to re-schedule it for next week. I kind of feel like "how can they do this to me"? I understand abouting rescheduling - I work for a surgeon so I know things come up. I guess now I'm seeing how the patient's feel. Still, I feel like I've waited sooooooo long, and I'm starting to pick at little things I shouldn't (food). Probably because I'm so hungry!!!!! Oh well, more time for my tummy to heal I guess. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Sue, that's awesome. Hope you're having a great time on your vacation. I went to my 20th class reunion last night. It was pretty fun. Interesting to see how some people have changed and others look exactly the same. I'm two pounds away from "onederland" and I'm so excited. I haven't been there in many years. It hardly seems possible.:clap2:

Sue, It would be great to meet all of you too. It was a very small group so I was able to tell that there wasn't anybody from here at the meeting. yes, Laura lead the group. She's great. She also did my pre-op nutrition class at St. Francis. She's just a wealth of information. Hopefully we'll meet up in a couple of weeks at the next meeting. I work till 5 in Maple Valley so I wouldn't be able to meet before hand. I'm stretching it to get there by 6:30. Have a great vacation.

Hi all, My sleep has definitely been different since the surgery. It seems like I need less of it. I wake up a lot earlier and then can't get back to sleep. On another note, one that scared the you know what out of me!- I had a patient come in yesterday who after talking for a while found out that she had had GB about 4 years ago. She looked great. Her and her brother had GB and her mother and sister had Lap Band. I thought that was pretty cool. Anyways she proceeds to tell me about all the problems that her mother has had (her sister hasn't had any thank goodness). I guess that she had to have her port replaced three times!!!! The port was punctured three times!!!!! Of course she was never told how this happened but I would assume that it was obviously from the fills. Anyways, each time she had to pay the full price again. She's spent over 30,000. for her band so far!!! YIKES!!!!! I thought that if they had to replace the port that they could just "unhook" that part and replace it only. I assumed it would be alot less expensive. I've been praying ever since that this doesn't happen to me. I can't afford to pay for this again, not even once!!!! She did tell me that now her mom will only let the doctor do her fills. Maybe I'll have to ask for the doctor only. I hate to be like that especially since I work in the medical field and I know how great nurses are - but when it comes to the money involved here, I guess I want the most experience available. Any thoughts?:phanvan

Hello all, I haven't written for a while but I read the posts every day. I went to the meeting last night at St. Joes', very interesting. Lots of good information. It was nice to talk to people who have been through the same things we have too. I was definitely needing support too. Since I've gone to pureed foods my weight loss has just stopped. I actually went up a pound. YIKES!!! Terry from Dr. Srikanth's office said that can happen because the body is not used to food so it holds on to all that you're giving it. Glad to say that as of this morning I lost the extra pound and a couple more ounces. YEAH!!! It's very discouraging when you see that weight go up instead of down. Especially when I feel like I'm starving all the time. Luckily I get my first fill next week. YEAH. I'm hoping that will help. Hope everyone's doing well.

Hello all, thanks for the words of encouragement regarding the pureed stage. I've found that I really like chilli. Last night I realized that I still have to battle the "head" munchies. I'm not sure what else to call it. My hubby and I got into a little tiff, well I thought it was a tiff, he seemed to think everything was fine. Anyways, what do I do, I march right down to the kitchen and eat some graham crackers!!!!! YIKES!!!! I had forgotten all about emotional eating til then. It wasn't until I was done with 2 of them that I even realized what I was doing. Another scary thing was that they went down just fine and I wasn't eating slow. I guess I don't have any restriction yet. I guess I'm going to have to try to find something else to do when I get upset, which is better for me anyway.

Hello all, It's been a while since I've logged on. I've just been sitting back and reading everyone's posts. Seems like most everyone is doing very well. YEAH!!! Question - is anyone else really nervous about starting back on regular foods. My doc has such a strict food guideline that it's got me very nervous. I've basically been on a clear liquid diet for the past 6 weeks, with 2 protein shakes a day. Now I'm starting on pureed. I thought that I would jump for joy when I could have something else but the funny thing is that I've basically still been following the clear liquid diet. I've only added a can of soup or chilli pureed. I'll have some for lunch then the rest for dinner. I'm a little afraid to start trying too much in case I go "crazy". The other part is that I'm big on texture so there really isn't that much that I can puree. Any thoughts, ideas on that?

Thanks for the words of encouragement. It does help to hear from people. Also, just knowing that I only have 5 days til the next phase (pureed) helps alot. It doesn't seem like there is much difference between pureed and soft foods so I might end of mixing them up a little bit. Example, cottage cheese chewed a "million" times is basically pureed, right?

Hi all, I really like this part of the thread because it let's me know that I'm not the only one who's hungry. I'm three weeks post-op right now and I'm pretty sure that there's no restriction. It's a little hard to tell because I'm still on a clear liquid diet but with two Protein shakes a day. My doctor is really strict with his diet. We started on clear liquid 10 days pre-op and are on it for 4 weeks post-op, then 2 weeks of pureed then 2 weeks of soft, then a fill and regular food. YIKES!!!! I've been pretty faithful even though I'm starting my 6th week of Clear liquids. I will be so glad to have some kind of food. The good thing is that I've lost pretty fast. I'm down 27 pounds since June 2. That's the only thing that keeps me going. It's hard when I hear many people talking about eating regular food already. It makes me wonder why he's so strict, but he does have a .04% complication rate since 2003 so I guess maybe that's why. He hasn't had a band slip in a very long time. His weight loss percentage is also higher than the national average. Even so, please God let this liquid stage end quickly!!!!!

Hi all, Just thought I'd check in to see how everyone is doing. Things are going really well for me. I'm down about 26 lbs since June 2. (surgery June 12). One more week to go of clear liquids then on to pureed. YEAH!!! I'm really ready for something besides clear stuff. Glad to hear that eveyone seems to be doing well. To those of you who just got their first fills, congrats. Does it seem to help with the hunger? I hope so. Right now it's just complete will power that I have'nt cheated. I'm sure that it will be better when I'm off clear liquids.

Hi all, I'm 11 days post-op now and I'm starting to get really hungry. I also would just like to "eat" something. I started a clear liquid diet 10 days pre-op and I'm on one for four weeks post-op - that's almost 6 whole weeks of clear liquids!!!!! I was doing really well until last night when the wanting to chew something came on. Even cottage cheese would be good now. Oh well, at least I'm down 21 lbs since June 2nd, so that's good right?! I just wish that I could at least do mushies right now. Anything would taste wonderful. My husband and kids had pizza last night!!!!! I thought I would go crazy. I actually went upstairs till it was gone just to be away from it. When I came down a piece of bacon had fallen off onto the counter so, I can't believe I'm telling people this, I chewed it forever then spit it out. It tasted sooooo good! I'm going to try to stay really busy, maybe that will help, at least till I can go to the mushie stage.

Hi all, OK, so I'm almost two weeks post-op now and I have two weeks of clear liquids to go. All of a sudden (today) I'm really wanting to eat something. Even fat free cottage cheese sounds really good right now. It doesn't have to be something fattening, just something solid besides sf popsicles and sf jello. Any thoughts?! I tried the Miso soup a couple of days ago, yummy! Maybe I'll go back to the store and get some more of that. I wasn't sure if I'd like it so I just bought one. Hope everyone's doing well.

Hello all, Feeling pretty good today. I would say that just about all of the pain is gone at this point except at the port site. It worse when I sit upright, like in a car or at the computer. I get a really uncomfortable pressure feeling where the port is. It makes car rides almost unbearable. Has anyone else had this?? Please tell me it goes away!! It's kind of like something is stuck there, to which my primary care doctor said "it is!" She said she's sure that the feeling will get better. I don't meet with my surgeon (Dr. Srikanth) until next Thursday so hopefully it will be better by then. I'm very glad that I did this. I'm down 20 lbs since June 2nd when I started the pre-op diet, then surgery was June 12th. I was thinking yesterday that if I hadn't done this then even if I had tried again on my own I would probably only have lost maybe 5 lbs by now, if that. It's so gratifying to actually see results after alot of hard work. I can't wait til next summer. No more dreading summers because I have to shed my bulky winter clothes. Also, every year I knew that I was going to have to buy more clothes because last years probably wouldn't fit. Next year I'll have to buy more too, but praise God, it should be because this years are too big!!!! Well, enough of my rambling. Hope everyone's well.

Hello everyone, Well, I made it through and am now an official bandster!!!! YEAH!!! I was banded on June 12th. It actually went alot better than I thought it would. Not anywhere near as painful as anticipated. The most problem that I've had is with nausea / diarhhea (sp?). I'm on an anti nausea so that helps with that end but I can't get the other end under control. I'm probably on the toilet at least 3 -4 times an hour. Makes it a little hard to keep hydrated. Sorry if this is too much info. I think that also because of that I'm having a little bit of a hard time standing up or sitting for long periods. That's why I haven't checked in before now. I feel great other than that though. Just sooo glad that it's over. My whole family has been a great support. I'm on a clear liquid diet for 4 weeks now. Totally clear for the 1st week, then I can add 3 protein shakes a day for weeks 2 - 4. Then 2 weeks of pureed food, then 2 weeks of soft food. I'm totally OK with that though. I'm a little scared to eat "normal" foods again. I'm not really hungry right now either which definitely helps with that. I hope everyone else from this past week is doing well. Good luck to those coming up this week. You will all do GREAT!!!

Hello everyone, Well I'm two days post-op now and feeling pretty good. No gas pain really to speak of. Lots of diarrhea (sp!) though. It definitely does help to sleep in the recliner. I did that part of last night and it was much better than laying flat. The laying flat part isn't too hard it's when you try to get up. OUCH!! I'm feeling pretty good. SOOOOOO glad that it's over and ready to start the new me!! Thanks for everyone's support.

I'm trying to update my ticker - let's see if this works.