salsa1877

The less you stay in bed the better. You will most likely have some shoulder pain caused from the gas that they use to inflate your belly when they do the surgery. The pain in your shoulder can be quite excruciating at times and the best way to take care of it is to walk, walk, walk. Stay on top of yor pain meds and you should be fine. For me it hurt for about 2-3 days but overall it wasn't that bad. The more you can walk the stronger you will be. The lack of refrigeration is what concerns me the most. Most of the things that you will need to consume are going to need to be refrigerated (protein drinks) or cooked (soup). However, it shouldn't be hard to get to and from the fridge. For me it really wasn't that painful of a surgery. I just got a small pillow to hold in front of me so that my tummy didn't feel like it was falling out. Just that small amount of pressure seemed to help. If you have any questions or need advice, please feel free to ask. I am here for you!

I am 10 months post op and I still get port pain when I really exercies. When I read that you had upped your exercise, I gave a reassuring nod to the compouter. I ran 11 miles on Sunday and for the rest of the afternoon the area around my port was swollen and cramping. It was sore to touch. I have asked my fill nurse about this and she didn't seem concerned and she is banded too. It is most likely just the increase in activity.

My doc requires 48 hours of liquids after a fill. He says that it is because your stomach swells after getting a fill and food can get stuck easier. By letting your swelling go down you have less of a chance of PB'ing (vomiting) and therefore less risk in slippage. I would certainly follow your doctor's orders. I have and always will advocate that.

Phyl - We are having below average temps on the other side of the mountains as well. We still get to see the sun but not very often. Last night while I was laying in bed hyperventilating and NOT sleeping the wind was whipping! It has rained several times in the last week and on the high desert that is apparantly rare. Funky, funky weather. I am actually hoping for a cool summer (I know frown at me) but because I am going to be in the compression binder for who knows how long... I don't want 100 degree weather. Going to immediate care after school today. I can't handle the hyperventilating any more and the doc can't see me until Thursday. I just don't think that I can wait that long...I have been waiting for this to go away for the last 2 weeks.

Well I certainly don't think that you are weak...I think it takes a strong person to do something that will compeltely change their lives. I would love to be a support for you. I have my own mentoring thread http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f260/ready-willing-64799/ or you can post here and I will be glad to answer. Try to join a board for the month that you are getting banded. I actually joined 2...August 07 is my original and then I also joined the July 07 board. There are so many people that are willing to be your friend and not judge you on this board. It will give you the confidence to stand up to those around you. I have found that I while I have lost 100 pounds, I have gained 150 pounds of ME. Congrats on taking a wonderful step to get your life back. No matter what anyone else says, I am proud of you and you should be proud of yourself.

Mine did not cover the lap-band surgery nor will it cover my PS, but the combined total of 27000$ (17000 for lap-band, 10000 for PS) is well worth it. People drop that on cars all the time...I will have this one for life!

yeah the whole doing nothing for the last 2 weeks of school is a big pain in my backside because MY students work all the way until the end and it causes major problems when everyone else is showing videos. Pisses me off to no end! Then they don't want to work in here. okay off my soap box. Congrats on the size 4s. it is amazing. I put on a pair of pants today that are a size 10 and when I accidentally stepped on the leg, they came off. Decided I can't wear those any more. Too risky for my job!

Congrats! Yeah for you. I am so excited. I think that we had a lot of the same philosophies when it came to losing weight. I had more than 1 fill, but everytime I did get one I ended up having to get it unfilled! I have lost my last 10 pounds being completely unfilled. My doc doesn't believe in giving fills unless you want and or need one. I NEVER hope to have another one. As for the easy part being over...I totally agree. I am actually having some major anxiety over being at maintenance. I am so afraid of gaining weight that I am actually stricter than ever. We are trying to work through it, but it is tough going for me right now. I hope that you have better luck. I keep losing...and I truly am at my goal weight. I am in a size 4 and wil be even smaller after surgery in a few weeks. Congrats again...we have come so far!

The hyperventilating has got me run ragged. I went to bed at 5:30 last night. It is so exhausting when you feel like you are not getting enough oxygen. I have tried all of the home remedies and techniques that they showed me when this happened a couple of summers ago. However it just isn't going away. I thought maybe I was dehydrated, or exhausted but after drinking over a gallon of water each of the last 2 days and then going to bed before 6:30 each of the last 2 days...the symptoms still have not gotten any better. In fact...they are worse. I think it is most likely anxiety and I have been avoiding medication, but at this point they symptoms are interferring with my job and my life. I hate eating because it makes the breathing worse...running seems to be the only thing that doesn't make it worse! Oh for the weigh in day I was only down 0.5 pounds so I stayed at 1800 calories. It looks like that number is holding for now. Next couple of weeks I will be doing double workouts so I may have to increase them again. I am going to drop down to between 1300-1500 when I have surgery since I won't be exercising at all. Okay so the dates are as follows: Last Day with students: June 12 Last Day at work: June 13 Half-marathon: June 28 Birthday : July 1 Surgery: July 3 I haven't even thought about the surgery to be honest...I have been so focused on the half-marathon instead. That is exactly what I wanted. I have my pre-op on June 16. We are going camping this weekend and then to graduation at my old school. Sunday will then be my longest run until the half-marathon. 12 straight miles. Well I had best get back to baby sitting these kids. They are taking their last test of the year for me.

It can be caused from stress of the surgery. I know that a lot of people who had plastic surgery had issues with hormone levels going crazy. You may just want to take extra precautions.

Half hour before, one hour after. It REALLY does help.

Not bad at all. I eat more than three times a day and you are on mushies so you are still in the healing phase. When I was in the losing phase I ate 3 meals and 1 snack per day. My doc told me every 3-4 hours when I was on mushies. You are doing just great. Keep up the good work.

I am on orthocyclen and crushed my pills until I got onto mushie foods and I didn't have any problems. I would call your primary care physician OR your local planned parenthood. They would both be able to assist you.

Hey ladies...I wanted to let you know that my doc suggested stool softners (I know ...wonderful conversation starter!) for after surgery because of what pain meds can do to you! Are your pain meds pills? That was the only thing my lap-band doc required, was that my pain meds be liquds...and I am unfilled!

Then: Breakfast Carl's Jr Load breakfast burrito meal with large OJ and extra hash browns. AFTER BREAKFAST SNACK Doughnuts my students brought me everyday because they new how stressed I was BREAK TIME SNACK : 1-2 snickers bars or an ice cream bar...or what ever "prizes" I had for my students. Prizes are what I told DH they were! LUNCH: A salad or soup or sandwich if I ate in the teachers lounge...chips, pizza pockets, more snickers, pizza if I ate in my classroom. AFTER SCHOOL SNACK: 2 Big Hamburgers from Carl's Jr (would eat them in the 4 minutes it took me to get from the restaurant to my apartment) dinner : Whatever DH fixed. Usually on the healthier side (until you eat 3-4 servings!) DESSERT: Ice cream, cake, Cookies...whatever. BEFORE BED SNACK: Whatever I could sneak into my mouth so that DH wouldn't know that I was eating AGAIN! And I said I had a slow metabolism. I must have a great metabolism considering that I only weighed 250 pounds at the time of surgery! Now (This was during weightloss. I eat more now that I am maintaining and training for a marathon) BREAKFAST: 1 turkey sausage and 1 egg LUNCH: Ground chicken meatloaf with veggies AFTER SCHOOL SNACK: Protein Bar DINNER: Spaghetti with WASA crackers instead of noodles. Yeah...major life change!

When your friends ask you how much you have lost, ask them how much they have lost (...or gained:sneaky:). Tell them that you are not stepping on the scale right now. Tell them you are in the process of changing your life and that your identity is not dependent on the number that the scale is going to give you. Tell them that you appreciate their concern, but right now your head is still swimming with all the new ways that you need to learn and that you aren't focusing on some stupid number. Take the time to educate them on how hard this process really is. Glad to hear your expectations have returned to a normal level. It will make life easier if you have reasonable expectations. Read my blog if you want to know what unreasonable expectations will do to you...as I sit here hyperventilating!

You certainly can be so tight that you won't lose weight. I know that happened to me early on. A small unfill can do the trick for you. I lost my last 10 pounds being completely unfilled! i didn't tolerate fills very well, so I had to stay loose most of the time. When I did get a fill I ended up having to have some or all of it taken out within a few weeks.

Actually walking while shopping does count. If you go to the mall, walk the whole mall, then go to the store you want, then do it again. It is like a reward for doing something you don't like. Giving yourself a reward is a great way to stay motivated. Actually for me, getting to exercise was one of the reasons I wanted to lose weight. You should set a goal for the month and if you meet it, then you get a reward. You should join us on the June Exercise Challenge board http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f95/june-exercise-challenge-65032/. It is throught the Crazy Ates (August 2007) board but we invite everyone. There you pick a challenge and you check in with your workout. So you wanna run. START NOW. Maybe you will only be able to do 10 steps...if you don't start...you won't even make it that far. Seeing yourself make progress is the greatest motivator. If this week you can only run for 10 seconds out of a 30 minute walk, then next week see if you can make it to 15 seconds. It sounds silly but set milestones. If it were easy, we wouldn't look forward to doing it. You can only be proud of yourself when you do something that you didn't think you could do. I hope this helps!

I really wish that doctors would stress the fact that this is NOT a piece of cake. This really is VERY hard work. For my weight loss I would give the band only about 5-10% of the credit. I did everything else myself. I am the one that chose the right food, I am the one that drove myself to the gym and worked out, I am the one that didn't give in to head hunger. The band did none of that for me. The band just made sure that I didn't eat TOO MUCH food. Though as most of you will figure out...the band does not stop crap food...Chips, ice cream, Cookies all go down with ease. Rarely do people get stuck or PB on those. However, even totally unfilled the band will sometimes bring you to your knees...I just pb'd on chili! I have worked out since the beginning, but I was pretty sporadic at first. I did find however that you do have to increase your intensity...find a place with hills or do interval training and walk fast for a few seconds/minutes (whatever you can start with). Then ADD WEIGHT TRAINING! This is huge...it has totally helped reshape my body. After I had lost about 50 pounds I REALLY started working out. 5-6 days per week and an hour at a time. I would increase the intensity every week. When I got to the point that I couldn't increase the intensity...I added something. Now I run 4-6 days per week. I just ran 11 straight miles yesterday, I will run 12 next Sunday and then 13.1 (my half-marathon) on June 28. I didn't do this overnight. I worked myself up to it. Exercise has to be part of your new lifestyle. The band has HELPED me change my lifestyle, but 95% of this is mental work. Have you tried eating home cooked food? Those TV dinners are full of sodium and refined carbs that often don't stay with you for very long. If you go to my Mentoring Thread there are a bunch of recipes that take very little to put together. They are the staple foods that I lived on...and still do! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f260/ready-willing-64799/ Karri

Forgot to report in yesterday but I did in fact run my 11 miles and walked 1. Actually I got sick of walking and just ran the last .5 miles. I just wanted to get home.

Try to eat no more than 1 cup of good quality food...mushy veggies, Beans, cottage cheese, eggs. You are going to be hungry as you have little to no restriction. Make sure to not drink while you are eating as it will make you hungrier. Try and stay away from Soups if at all possible. If you are hungry eat low calorie foods. At this point it is about healing and your body does need calories to heal. My doc told me about 700 calories a day is what I should be shooting for at this stage. Eating a lot of food has many different connotations: 1...eating a lot of calories and 2...eating a large volume. The two are not necessarily connected. Right now I am unfilled and eat large portions, but very few calories. If I would have known how much food you could eat for 1800 calories...I would have saved myself a few thousand dollars:rolleyes2:! Are you exercising. A walk every night will help you maintain or lose weight even if you are eating more. Good luck and keep us up to date.

This is going to be a long day so I wanted to check in early with everyone. Denise - I hope you are feel great and are on the mend. Phyl - I went to Victoria with my mom one year and had to push her everywhere in a wheelchair:confused_smile:....Victoria as a whole is not very handicap friendly!!! However, it is gorgeous. We would love to do a cruise...but not until after all the medical is paid off :thumbdown:for me or DH gets a better/second job. Steph - I know what you mean about clothes. I got rid of most of mine but I will have to do another sweep after surgery. As for me...I ran 11 straight miles yesterday:thumbup:...and I have the battle wounds to prove it. There is a picture of my "run" burn on my blog if you want to check it out. Basically all of my clothes (except for the outfit that I am currently wearing) are WAAAAYYYY to big.:smile: This includes my spanx-ish type garments that I have to wear when I run. They are too big in the legs but not so much in the belly. Well while running yesterday they chaffed my leg....well really both legs. :tongue2: Then my sports bra rubbed so much that I am chaffed under both breasts (blood on the sports bra) :crying: and on my arm. Damn loose skin!! Despite all of that...I did get in my 12 miles. I am pretty certain that I can finish the half-marathon. I won't be 100% certain until I cross the finish line, but my confidence is growing. :smile: Last week of school:thumbup::scared2::thumbup:, but that means a lot of work. Finals to grade, classroom to clean out, inventory of chemicals to do, ordering for next year, final grade calculations...yadda, yadda, yadda! So I will check in when I can. Then next week...free to do double workouts!:wub:

It is so true...drinking during a meal will make your food empty quicker...banded or not. I know someone who is not banded but was constantly saying that within 20 minutes of eating she seemed to be hungry again. I asked her how much she was drinking with her meal and she said "a lot" it is supposed to fill you up quicker. I told her to try that with veggies instead and cut the water/drink out before and after a meal. Guess what...she said it made a huge difference!

I did the no drinking thing even in the liquid stage. I had my meals (which yes were liquid but usually thicker...like a Protein shake or soup) and then I would wait the 1 hour to drink my Water. For the mushy stage I would definetly start to the no eating and drinking thing. This is one of the hardest things for most people and it is good to start getting into the habit. Also, I think it will help with the hunger. It will keep the mushies in the top part of your stomach for longer. If at all in doubt, contact your doctor or your nutritionist. This is just what I did.

I know my doc will be giving me a pain pump, but I am assuming that because you ladies will be staying in the hospital that you might actually get IV drugs to. I am an outpatient so it will be me, my pain pump, and my liquid vicodin with a straw! Not really...I actually have very good pain tolerance. 10 bouts with kidney stones will do that to you. OMG it is so soon...so excited for you. I am getting less and less green with envy because if I would have had it any sooner I wouldn't have been able to run my half-marathon.