the best me

Praying!!! The gurgle was excellent news. Here's a thought, not to give medical advise and not to encourage you to do this as well...BUT. Dr Kuri told me to take Prilosec OTC for my reflux at day 8. I said "it's sustained release and it says do not crush" and he said "crush it, twice a day" and I did. Worked wonders. If you can take it without crushing it, great. But if you're scared, it wouldn't be the end of the world if you decided to crush it into some applesauce anyway. Just my opinion. A stuck pill puts you back on that swelling spiral downward. The gurgle is super encouraging though. Yay!

Poetry, I say. That is so lovely. Thank you.

Leener, did you lay down too soon? If you had Water in your pouch, or just extra anything in there...like stomach acids, when you lay down it refluxes back into the esophogus. Drink your bedtime Aloe Vera juice at least a 1/2 hour before laying down, or drink it and snooze sitting the the recliner or propped up on the sofa till you wake up again, then get in bed. Proof to me you are still very tight. Be careful as you move to another food stage. Just because you are 15 days post-op doesn't mean you can eat like one. Follow your band's cues, and it's telling you NO right yet. How much are you able to drink during the day? Give me an example of your menu yesterday...what was comfortable and what wasn't? That will help me to advise. You acid reducer meds should be helping with that. Which one are you taking?

One word: NORMAL! Sparkling, check out the Food Stages thread under the Foods Forum. You should get some good ideas for other foods to eat/drink at this stage post-op. Remember to follow YOUR docs orders for foods, though. If your doc says no mushies at this point, please wait. You need to heal. Don't eat anything that causes your stomach to move alot. Find your calories with liquids and you will feel better. Egg Drop Soup was a big hit with me. Most docs don't give fills for the first 6 weeks, and as you are doing liquids anyway, you don't need one. A fill will restrict well-chewed foods, and you aren't there yet because you are healing right now. Hang in there. It does get better!!!!

AMEN! :amen: "for His purpose" being the operative words. His plans are sooo much better for us than anything we could dream up. And sometimes His plans aren't for something as Grand as we'd like to dream up. Sometimes it's the love of everyday life that is so fullfilling and keeps us going, knowing that we are living His purpose. THAT'S THE GOOD STUFF!!!!! You need to start your very own "Lethal Woman's NSV List" Not that I mind you posting here...you deserve your own thread!!! That is wonderful and so empowering, Leatha! You go, girl!

Cream of Potato Soup. Guacamole (fresh). Refried Beans heated with milk or Water to keep them from being too thick. Eat with a toddler spoon. CAREFUL. Green beans, cooked well and chewed extra carefully, one at a time. Check out the food Stages thread in the Food Forum for more ideas, too. And remember, if it hurts, stop and stick to full liquids. You WILL be able to eat again, maybe just not when and what your doc says you should at this stage in the game. Proceed with caution!

Yeah Baby! I discovered spray butter and it's wonderful. You need so much less of it because more butter is spread around from spraying...just try it and you'll see. It's less than 2 bucks a bottle and I find coupons all the time. It's the answer to your question!

Both statements are true for me, too. I did better with Gatorade than Water, and once I did the thicker foods like cream Soups with the chunks blended out, ahhhh. And of course, the Egg Drop slid on down all nice and warm and gooey and yummy. Man, did I need those calories and that protien! Good advice form Carlotta. There is hope!!!!

Aloe Vera juice, reflux/acid-reducer type medications, a soft diet, and a call to your doc. Sounds like reflux to me. Good luck!!!

Okay all you diagnostic hounds, all you nurses and shade-tree doctors, all you opinionated folks who know something about anything...whaddya think? Here's the deal. I have been banded just shy of 4 weeks now. I had a rough first two weeks with swelling in the stoma, reflux, very tight restriction, and I could feel everything pass through the band. Slippage has been ruled out. So i was doing a very liquid diet since then of protien shakes, Soups, broths, etc and have been very slowly adding in thicker things like guacamole, cream of potato Soup, even some steamed broccoli (well-chewed with sips of soup) and mushy green Beans. So slowly the swelling seems to be going down. To the point that I might, just maybe, hopefully, might be getting that wide open feeling I have been searching for. Today, I had 12 oz of white meat chicken salad. WOW! And I can take my medicine now without crushing it. Very good progress for someone with no fill. I am hopeful. Now, I have been taking Prilosec OTC 1-2 times a day (sometimes I forget that second dose and really don't think I need it?) and today I bought some Aloe Vera juice after I read Kelly's (Dylansmom) thread about esophogitis. Also went back and read Michelle's (La Madam) Esophogitis thread. The reason I did this was because I have a sore throat. It's okay in the mornings for about 10 minutes, but then it gets sore. It feels like my throat burns from the back of my throat down into my chest, like the esophogus. Kind of like when you wake up in the morning after partying the night before and you smoked a whole pack of cigs just that night (wow, been a long time since I did THAT!) and your throat burns, but with the smoking your lungs hurt. My lungs don't hurt. I breathe great, but my esophogus hurts when I take in and hold a deep breath. And the kids next door have Strep. So, should I treat this like it's esophogitis and keep up with the Prilosec and Aloe Vera juice and wait for it to heal, AND stick with liquids too? (the liquid part I don't like, getting really ready to enjoy the wide open feeling I have been longing for) or do you think the Strep has something to do with this? confused and need some good advice even if it means going to my PCP to rule out the Strep? I hate to do that but I will... ya know, this band can really put a stick in your spokes when it comes to self-diagnosis. hmmmm.

hehehe, there are 4 of you reading this old thread from a year ago...that's the prob with bumping, now I have to go back and relive all the drama! LOL Wasn't all that fun? Don't I talk alot?! Geez, I make mySELF tired!

Everybody e-mail your pic to argon, which is an inert gas, and let her work her magic on her next sleepless night. Yay! Kidding, but how cool is that?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm here, I'm reading and keeping up with all my funny friends. We are quite a LOT these days. We all have stuff going on!!!! But I'm keeping track of you all and sending (((hugs))) when ya'll need it. Happy Birthday Curtis!!! 3 is so cooool! Saturday is coming fast! I can't wait to see you all!

Bumping for Leenerbups

Bumping for Leenerbups

Bumping for Leenerbups

Hold on there, Leener, don't give up yet. I'll go looking for my threads from last year. But picture this, first. Back then, when I went to the ER for IV fluids, they did an upper GI to see if the band was blocking passage of liquids. It wasn't, but the contrast Fluid went through with a thin trickle. Slow, but going through. This visual was helpful when I was drinking, er, sipping. The other thing that happened that was helpful to know and understand was this...the upper part of the stomach above the band is still stomach, and when food/liquids gets in there, it does what stomachs do, and it starts churning. The pouch is not a holding pond for food and liquids. It lurches and churns and squeezes and pushes the food and liquids through the band. When the band is tight from swelling, the stomach tries to push it down and it has nowhere to go but up...into the esophogus. This is what causes the discomfort in the chest. I saw it "live" in action, and the discomfort was from the contrast fluid up in my esophogus. After that I never swallowed more than could fit into the pouch without being squeezed back up. Once the swelling subsided, thanks to the hydration of the IVs, the band wasn't restricting the liquids and my stomach was able to squeeze it DOWN and not UP. That's also why the Aloe Vera juice is good. Anything irritated gets soothed. I'm going thread digging now. No more talk just yet about band removal. You aren't there yet. You won't know anything until the band swelling goes down and if you do it right, you will be successful. I'll hold your hand as best I can from here. Look for BUMPS.

OMGosh, Rhondako! I'll be praying for a full recovery for your husband! Keep us posted as you are able. (((hugs)))

I went cheap and easy and did High Protien Boost in Chocolate and Vanilla. Cold from the fridge. I'd sometimes blend in some ice and blueberries with the vanilla. Or you could add some low-fat ice cream to either, if you are at a stage where you can afford the extra calories. For my protien, when I was pushing to get that in post-surgery, I did Egg Drop Soup. I have no idea how much is in there, but it sure felt good when I drank it.

Leener, I think I found you here, right? How are you? I have yet another suggestion. Aloe Vera juice. Have I suggested that before? Did you find my old threads? Let me know!

How cool! I'm so glad ya'll posted a pic! You all look wonderful and happy in the good ole Texas sunshine. Oh I just keep staring at how pretty each of you are and so wonderful to know on this board. Mikey, you are one handsome feller and lucky, too! That's quite a "harem", huh? LOL Thanks for the pic. I LOVE it!

Ooooo, it will be SOON!!!! Yay! Can't wait to hear the news you have been waiting to hear for soooo long!

Sunshine, check out the dates on this thread...it was a year ago! We have been banded a year! well, almost. You have reminded me to look up my friend Chris, I haven't talked with her in a while. We DID meet in MX and got our bands on April 8th. Wow. A whole year, and what a difference it makes! Have a safe and successful surgery on the 7th. It's gonna be a great day!

http://familyfun.go.com/ they have a tab for April Fools. I'm going again, I'll let you know if I find some good ideas. My kids are 6 and 3, so I could use some creativity. Okay, here's some cute ones... Paint their toenails red after they go to sleep, then quietly put them in the other's bed so they wake up in the wrong room. Then call them their sibling's name all day. "That's whose room you came out of this morning!" In the car, on your way to...wherever...make the car lurch and act confused, pull over to the side of the road and say "we are out of gas! how will we get to..." and take it from there. Green food coloring. Milk, eggs, Pasta, any food! "Oh no! It's spoiled! Ewwwww! April Fools!" And there's more ideas you can read and "make them your own" depending on the kids ages.

Are ya'll having fun? Who brought the digital camera? Huh? Someone DID bring a camera, right? Oh how I hope so.