Cocoabean

The next day, Elfie Poo? Wowser! You are Da Bomb!:scared2: How did you do that? I'd say your recovery was the exception, as are those that take more than a couple of weeks to feel normal. I could not imagine driving myself to work the next day, much less sitting at my desk hunched over a computer. Also, part of my duties is shipping and receiving. I can walk up to 1 1/2 miles a day around the building. Walking is good after surgery, but on my pace, not Fed Ex's or UPS's. :cursing: But, we all have our tasks that we must accomplish. I had no true need to be at work immediately after my surgery, so I wasn't. It is amazing what you can do when you have to get it done.

Hi Tweety, I am not really sure. It was most likely the cold. All that coughing certainly did not help the recovery :cursing: And the cold definitely sapped my strength. If I had abolsutely HAD to return full time the second week, I could have powered through it, but I have a great boss who understood and told me to take whatever time I needed to get back to normal. By the third week, I was fine.

I have a desk job, also. I had surgery on a Friday and was off the next week. The 2nd week I had planned to return. I caught a cold sometime around my surgery date and did half-time the 2nd week and was wishing I had taken the entire week. Many people return after one week. Some even return after a few days. I could not have returned in a few days.

I have to go with Melinda. Do it on Monday. That gives you the rest of the week to adjust and go back in if you need to. It is just a cushion of insurance. Although when I was overfilled once, I waited a week before going back in.

Thanks Betsy! I actually started a thread a little bit ago asking about Gas-x and the surgical gas. I didn't use Gas-x and could not see how it could help. What you say makes sense. I wore holes in my carpet from walking, though.

Get rid of that dratted scale! That thing will mess with your head! Glad you figured out what was going on.

Hi Ross, If the nutritionist is able to speak to someone at the surgeon's office, that would be great. Sometimes with weight loss plateaus you just cannot explain them. They go on and on even though you are doing things exactly right. I admire your efforts. Going to the gym and working with a nutritionist! I'd be at goal if I worked that hard. My bet would be that one of these days the efforts are going to pay off and you will have a big loss when you least expect it. You might consider checking in with your primary care doctor just to have some blood work done and make sure everything is working up to factory specifications.

Yes, you can. I had some wine has night. Main thing to consider is alcohol has no nutritional value, just empty calories. Beer is carbonated which some surgeons forbid. I find it sometimes goes down OK, sometimes not, and sometimes gives me the hiccups. But alcohol has no detrimental effect on the band.

Brainless snacking and eating for fuel are two different things. My surgeon doesn't want me snacking, as in brainlessly eating; but I can eat between meals if it is a planned out and healthy something. Usually a piece of fruit or string cheese. Once you find restriction a half of a sandwich will make a meal--but before then you will be white knuckling it to get by with that. If you don't have good restriction it is like the band is not there. Was 1/2 to 1 cup enough for you before? Of course not! I have good restriction and I get hungry every three to four hours, depending on what I ate. You might try bumping your intake up to about 1200 calories a day and see how you feel. You might feel better and make it to your next meal without starving. You also might find you lose weight a little quicker. At 500-800 calories a day, I think you are running the risk of losing a lot of muscle tissue.

If you don't have restriction, then your successes are from willpower. As you get fills restriction will come and portion control will be easier. Also, less than 1000 calories a day can put your body into starvation mode and it becomes very hard to lose weight. So, why do you think you are eating more than you should be if you are not taking in enough calories?

Yeah, if you were feeling fine it seems they should have done the test first before changing the meds. If you had hyper symptoms, I could seem adjusting them down a bit then doing the test again in a few weeks. Again, treating the numbers and not the patient. ggrrrrr!! Before I had the radiation treatment I made the endo promise to base my doseage on ME and not just the labs, but I had to agree that he would keep them within the normal range. But I left that medical group for a bit. Now I am back with that group and it is that Endo I am seeing in March. Thus I am hopeful he will bump me up and get me to the high end of normal rather than the low end where my PCP has me now. I have been on a huge weight plateau. But I am happy where I am at weight-wise and not too concerned. But if I can get the metabolism going a bit more, maybe I can knock off these last few pounds! Best wishes!

I don't get any warning. Just a dang it! Really? You dork! After I swallow the offending item. Sometimes it is even a while after swallowing that it hits.

If your TSH was low, then your thyroid levels were too high. Hyperthyroid can be dangerous. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Rapid heartbeat (resting pulse was 120), twitching muscles, shaking limbs, foggy brain, racing thoughts, can't sleep.... But being hypothyroid is no fun either. I think that is where I am at right now. I don't have a thyroid any longer as mine was overproducing hormones and would not shut off, so I had to have it radiated. Now I have to take meds daily, and I think I need to have it upped. My PCP tends to just treat the numbers on the tests. I was a little low, so he adjusted me up to barely get into the normal range, but I still have hypo symptoms. So I have an appointment with my Endo in March. I am hoping to convince him to treat ME and not my test results and bump my dosage up. Test results have a normal RANGE! But it seems so many docs don't want to invest the time in tweaking the dosage to get us to where we feel well and are happy. OK, my rant is over. But I am right there with you!

You are doing great! You are averaging 5 lbs per month. Way to go!! Being tighter in the morning than the evening is common. If you are having pain/PB every day, I don't think you need a fill. If you are going to pay for a nutritionist, can you go to the one at your surgeon's office instead? The one you are working with may be fantastic, but might just be saying she knows about WLS so as not to lose a client. Do you have a true need for the Protein shake? Could you not swap that out for a solid protein in the evening or after your workout? Solid foods will sustain you longer than a shake. My surgeon does not want me consming any liquids with calories, as they just go right through the band and don't give you the feeling of fullness.

I had a two week pre-op diet that I had to follow. So could not have alcohol during that time. Otherwise, prior to that I was on my normal diet. I don't recall anything specific about alcohol prior to surgery. If you want to be sure, call your surgeon's office and ask. And for what it's worth, I disagree with Last Meal Syndrome. You will be able to eat your favorite foods again, just not in the same proportions.

It could be that the pill got stuck for a time and now you have some swelling. If nothing is going down, including liquids call your doc. If you can get liquids down, take it easy and see if it resolves in a day or so. I find after a stuck episode that I feel tight for a day or two. Now, as to day to day band life. Some days I feel tighter than others. One day I can eat something, andthe next day it won't go down well. I asked my surgeon about it. His response is that the stomach naturally moves up and down within the band.

LAP-BAND®.com - LAP-BAND®® System Procedure - Watch Video "Also, to help hold the LAP-BAND System in place, stomach tissue is folded over it and stitched together." From the above link http://www.obesitylapbandsurgery.com/tectec.html #12 has an image of the stitching. The first link is from LAP-BAND®'s website. The second has an image of it on #12, its not the best picture, but it gives you the idea. These stitches anchor the band in place making a slip (where the stomach comes up through the band) less likely to occur. You really want to give those stitches time to heal and become solid. Our pouches still grind food. I'd think once we are on solids that lots of gyrations occur around the band--that is my guessing only, not medical fact--the gyrations part, that is.

For coughing, which you should do to clear the lungs from the anesthesia, holding a pillow to your abdomen while coughing really helps. It still hurts, but gives a lot of support. The hopital's bariatric program where I had my procedure done has "Barimoose," a stuffed moose they give each patient to hold when coughing. He is so cute. But I am a sucker for stuffed animals.

What were your post-op instructions? Conventional wisdom is there for a reason. You really want to let your stomach heal. If you are very hungry, call your surgeon and ask what you might be able add to your post-op choices. I was doing very well and able to move to mushies earlier than expected.

Just a word of caution about a tight band. I mean one that is causing trouble. It becomes easier to drink meals because it doesn't hurt. It can also lead to going for slider foods because they go down easier. Then boredom strikes and you think that a milkshake would be mightly tasty and you really need the calories because nothing else is going down. Just something to think about.. It can become a downward spiral.

Jodi--curious, why are you not a bypass candidate? Ok, Heres to the future: Only you can make the decision of which is right for you. The reasons I chose the band for me: I was a "lower" BMI, I started the process at 38. I did not want my "innards" scrambled (the malabsorption and subsequent need for high amounts of supplements were a deterrent for me). I wanted to be able to still eat some sweets. I thought I would still be able to eat "all" foods, unlike bypass where I would have dumping. I have learned now that I cannot eat soft breads and dry meats like chicken breast. The surgery is less invasive and is reversible. I was not diabetic; my surgeon will not do a band on diabetics. He feels that bypass is the best treatment for them. Those were my reasons for my choice, you need to make your own list of pros and cons for each procedure. It can help you to see which is best for you. Best wishes in your decision.

Before my insurance started covering bands, they specified they would not cover complications. Also, remember with the one year coverage mentioned, slips and erosions can happen much farther out than that. Although a year is better than nothing. Even now my coverage specifies it will not covere a second WLS. I get one shot at it. They will cover complications, but not a revision to RNY if I wanted it. Not sure if I were to need it because the band eroded or something. That is a fight to be had it if happens. (With a prayer that it does not!) There was a recent thread of a bandster who had a slip at 13 months, that would be a pooper with that one year coverage, eh?

Hi Shari! I had gas pains in my shoulder from the gas they put in the abdomen to pump up the area to see what they are doing. I'd hardly call it severe. Walking really helps. DO listen to that one piece of advice if nothing else. Also, keep pain meds on board. Do not let your pain level go over 3 on the 1-10 scale. My worst time was the first night. I got out of the hospital around 5pm the evening of my surgery. I went to bed and woke in the middle of the night. I could not sit up or roll over. I had to wake my hubby to get me some meds and help me to sit up. After that, all was well. I used all my pain meds because I hate pain and the doc said I could :ohmy: Best wishes for a speedy recovery! Never having had childern, I can't make a comparison for you, but I don't think this would rate very high on that scale! :biggrin:

Hi George, welcome to the board! If you could be more specific, I'd be happy to answer questions. Do you mean immediately after surgery or longer term? Pain levels, what to eat, follow-up? There is so much you could be asking about. I am two years post-op and am very pleased with my decision. Ask away!

Sometimes there is only slime, sometimes there is gunk (food) with the slime. Sometimes there is slime for a while and then the gunk comes up. I haven't projectiled yet...urgh! It is a rollercoaster, ain't it?