Cascavel

Hi all, Not only did I start with 200+ pounds to lose, but I started with 300+ pounds to lose. Yikes! :cool: Even when I meet that goal my BMI will still place me just shy of being Morbidly Obese, but still Obese. Maybe when I reach my goal I'll re-evalute from there. Although I've had good success so far I still get down on myself when I don't follow the Bandster rules so well. I've hit a couple plateaus, but thankfully am moving downwards again. I haven't started exercising regularly yet -- hopefully soon. Anyone else in the same boat as me? I'd love to hear of your success and achievements as well... Cascavel

Awesome job! I've lost the same as you to this point (with the same slow down at 170 pounds). The big difference is that I'm now where you started -- hopefully I can duplicate your success from this point on! I just had my third fill and it's definitely helping.

Welcome, Kylie! Yes it may be a long road, but it's the right road and one you'll never have to travel again. We can do it!!!

Hooray! I'm down 100 pounds as of this morning... :clap2:

Tomorrow is the three month mark since the start of my pre-op diet, and I've lost about 95 pounds so far. Before you get too excited you should realize that I still want to lose about the same as a lot of your starting weights! :omg: I haven't had a fill yet since my progress has been steady and I haven't really been hungry (I have seen my doctor, though, and they agreed no fill for now). I still get full on 3/4 cup or so of food. The only thing that has given me problems so far is fresh veggies -- don't think I chewed them well enough. The only thing I've given up 100% is carbonated beverages, though I try to limit my sweets to 1 or 2 special occasions a week. I can already feel a big difference in that it's easier to move around and such, and I've lost 2 pants sizes, but I still don't see it in the mirror all that much. The Band works if you do your part!

Days 6-7 were the worst pains (woke me up at night) but by the end of 2 weeks the gas was gone...:clap2:

...but this is what my surgeon told me. He said that the liquid children's ibruprofen is fine, as are the gel caps. He said to never take an ibruprofen in pill form as it can sit in the small pouch and cause big problems. I guess talk to your doctor and see what he/she has to say...

I wasn't hungry at all -- I only had about 1/2 cup of water total the day of surgery...

Congratulations on being banded! :clap2: My gas pain wasn't bad until day 6 and 7 -- those were the worst, but then it was gone. Gas-X strips helped a lot...

I bought a bottle of the Benefiber chewables... Benefiber

The steri-strips didn't leave any residue but my port incision bled a little the night of surgery so they slapped a big gauze pad over it with lots of tape. It's been almost 3 weeks since surgery and the tape marks are still there. I was able to get the tape marks off my arm where the IV was by scrubbing HARD with a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol on it. My port area is still just sore enough that I haven't been brave enough to do the same around there. Anyone know of anything that works w/o vigorous rubbing? Cascavel

Hi all! I was banded on 8/30 by Dr. Darrin Hansen in Salt Lake City. Since I was able to gleen so much help and support on these forums before and after that time I though it only fair that I post my experiences so far so that I can return the favor to those that follow... My pre-op diet: Dr. Hansen put my on a 2 week pre-op diet. He didn't dictate any special diet, he just wanted me to 'lose some weight' to help with my liver size. I decided to stick to 1100 calories/day eating as much vegetables as possible. It wasn't easy and I was often very hungry, but I stuck it out and lost 35 pounds. :biggrin1: Operation day: I had never had an operation before, so I had the normal fears and anxieties as everyone else on this board. As long as I didn't think about it I was ok. I managed to avoid the 'last meal' syndrome and tried to not eat much the day before just to make things easier post-op. Despite my worries they got an IV in me just fine. They didn't actually say 'we are going to put you under now' so I eventually woke up in recovery. Dr. Hansen said things went perfectly -- my liver wasn't a problem and I was only under for about 60 minutes. Hurray! Post-op: It took my about 2 hours to clear away the haze from being put under. Due to my sleep apnea they had already planned to keep me in the hospital overnight so I was in my own room with my wife by my side. I ended up with 4 teeny incisions and one bigger one (which I still can't tell how big it is since it's covered in a mass of steri-strips). My pain level was ok until about 7pm (surgery was at 11am) -- they gave me some liquid Lortab and it helped. I was able to sleep off and on (with regular interruptions from the nurses for vital checking, etc.). Dr. Hansen called me that night to see how I was doing. He's a great doctor! He said he put in a 'bigger band' but I'm not sure exactly what that means -- I'll check at my follow-up next week. Day 2: Dr. Hansen came by early in the morning to give me a final look-over and then he signed me out. I was ready to go home. I had a Lortab prescription but never used it. I did end up using Children's Liquid Motrin about three times during recovery to take the edge off. Day 3-5: Dr. Hansen had me on Clear liquids for this stage -- I drank as much as I could but only had about 100 calories a day in Special K Protein Water and Gatorade and broth a couple times. I had a little Jell-o for a treat but couldn't eat much (not from restriction, just lack of desire and hunger). I used Gas-X strips to try and head off the gas pains, but they hit bad on days 5 and 6. Seem to be a little better today (day 8). Day 6-7: I moved to full liquids these days. I still didn't drink much though -- about 600 calories. I started my Protein shakes these days and had some yougurt. Still not too hungry, though I think my stomach growled a few times (it hard to tell exactly what it's doing nowadays). My muscles aren't sore anymore, but my port incision is, especially in certain postions. I still can't sleep on my side. Last night I was able to sleep all night for the first time -- that was nice! Before I was only getting 3-4 hours of sleep at a time, which precipitated lots of naps. Day 8 (today): I'm on to mushies! So far I haven't had any yet though -- just my Protein shake. It's 2pm and I think I'm hungry now so I'll go see what I can rustle up. I started taking my Multivitamin today (Horray for Flintstones!). I'm aiming for 800 calories during the next week I'm on mushies. After that I'm on a special soft food/mushy diet for three weeks to promote healing. I have my followup appointment next week. No fills scheduled yet. All-in-all it's been easier than I thought it would be so far, though defintely not easy. Including my pre-op diet I've lost over 50 pounds. For the first time in my life I have hope that I'll lose the remaining 250.:biggrin1: Cascavel

Hi all -- I just got back from my 2-week post-op appointment with Dr. Hansen. Things are going great. I did ask him about the Motrin thing and he said that liquid Motrin and Gelcaps are just fine to take -- it's the solid pills that need to be avoided. Now I'm not a doctor (nor do I even play one on TV) and your doctor may say differently, but I wanted to post what he said to follow-up on earlier posts in this thread... Cascavel

It's certainly interesting to see the wide variance in the prescribed stages. Dr Hansen's stages are: Days 1-5 Clear Liquids Days 6-7 Full Liquids Days 8-14 Anything thin and/or pureed enough to drink through a straw Days 15-35 Soft foods (calls this the 'Healing Diet') Day 36+ Normal foods Just hit day 15 today. I think I'll Celebrate with a scrambled egg... :hungry: Paul

I was expecting a somewhat longer surgery due to my size, but Dr. Hansen said that thanks to pre-op diet liver shrinkage it went smoothly and I was only under for 60 minutes. Cascavel

I had mentioned to him during my pre-op visit that I took Advil occasionally. He said that would be ok eventually as long as I took the Liqui-gels. I figured that since Motrin and Advil were essentially the same thing it would be ok, but I'll defintely ask him again next week. My wife said the only liquid pain medicine she could find at the store was the Children's Motrin -- maybe I'll have her look a little harder...

Hi all -- tomorrow (8/30) I join the band-wagon. I'm having the surgery done by Dr. Hansen in Salt Lake City. I've stuck to my pre-op diet like a gnat on flypaper and dropped over 33 pounds in 12 days -- still leaves me with a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong road ahead of me, but at least I'm on it! :girl_hug: Cascavel

I'll be banded 8/30 by Dr. Hansen in Salt Lake City...:nervous

Greetings friends, I've been very overweight my entire life. A couple of years ago I looked into RNY bypass surgery after my brother had it done and lost 200 pounds. Unfortunately my insurance would not cover it in any way, shape, or form, so that was that. I was talking with a family member the other day and was told they would cover the cost of the Lap Band surgery, so I've begun to explore that as an option. It's given me a little bit of hope back, which is nice. :confused: The question I have deals with the Lap Band and the severly obese. I'm at 600 pounds with a BMI of 77, but otherwise healthy (bp, blood work, all fine). Is the Lap Band a viable option for me? Is there anyone on the boards with such a high BMI or that has lost 100's of pounds? Any words of wisdom or encouragement are appreciated... Thanks!