Cocoabean

My surgeon tests for nicotine and cancels surgery if it is positive. Done deal.

Hi Everyone! Welcome Councilor! It has been a crazy week! My two managers have temporarily (4 months) traded positions for a learning opportunity. So, I have been helping with getting that all sorted out. Due to all the rain we've had many FAA facilities and equipment were severely damaged. So, the manager who has never been a field manager before has had a baptism by fire...well, Water as it were. I downloaded an app on ipad called "lose it" to track foods and exercise (ha!). I was curious how many calories I've been ingesting. I was up a few pounds from all the egg nog. So, I tracked a couple of days' worth. I thought I was eating about 1400 calories a day. Turns out to be 1700! Yikes! But I've lost the egg nog pounds. Like Elcee, I wonder what I could do if I put my mind to it--even a little bit. A friend of mine who lives a distance away had GBP in July. She's down 66 lbs. I asked her to send me a pic. So I get this picture mail of her feet on a scale!!! Too funny.

Hi to everyone new joining the thread! Welcome! HB, the quilt is beautiful! I am crocheting another baby afghan for someone at work. Leigha, Sugarbaby is adorable! Butters and Stella spent the weekend locked in mortal combat, which is both locked onto a tennis ball--lightly growling at eachother. Just sitting there waiting for something to happen! So funny! I spent the weekend reformatting DH's computer. An IT person, I am not! URGH. But, it is finally working again! It is raining again. I love it. My hope for the new year is to not get stuck...yeah, right! Here's hoping.

I am here! Happy New Year to all! Welcome, Deb!

Congratulations!!! Well done, keep up the good work!

Hi Everyone! I am here! Leigha, puppy congrats!! Shad, you are doing great, but I understand your disappointment. That is why I don't set pounds lost goals. We cannot always control what our body does. We can control what we put into it, and what we burn off of it, bu sometimes calories in and calories burned just don't equal pounds lost. Things are OK here, MIL is doing alright. Not bouncing back like the family had hoped. But hey, at 95, every day your feet hit the floor is a blessing. My SIL is doing a great job taking care of her with cooking and such. Our neighbor had the idea of getting a baby monitor as SIL lives in 2nd house on the lot. Home health has been coming out to check on her, do physical therapy, and bathe her, but that will be ending soon. Not sure how she will get bathed. She's got a c.diff. infection. Same as I had in April, ugh. So, I have to be very careful when I am around her, as I am highly susceptible. Butters has his girlfriend Stella over for the weekend, she arrived an hour ago! We just love her to pieces! Elfie, I know what you mean about life on other threads. Do some doctors actually tell folks that they should not be able to eat solid foods? Ok, a little exaggerated, but still...I eat quite a bit more than a quarter cup of food. I love the Beelz and mentos-pool story! My weight is staying stable. I don't even get on the scale any more. My clothes are fitting the same, and I just don't worry about it. Strange to not be obsessed with it!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Crystl, losing during the holidays, way to go!! Welcome to size 10 land! I guess I'll be fighting you for all those size 10 jeans now, eh? Put 'em up! Put 'em up!!! DH and I did some last minute shopping yesterday. I got stuck at lunch. That's been happening quite a bit lately. I think it's the stress from the MIL situation. That's when it all started. She's such a pain. Her legs are still very full of Fluid, but she refuses to elevate them like she should. So, they are just getting larger and larger. Shammah, how's your mom doing? Still well, I hope! We are going over to MIL's house for Christmas, as always. It will be very strange to not have her puttering in the kitchen. But at the same time, maybe she'll watch the great grand kids opening presents. She's usually fussing in the kitchen even when asked to sit and enjoy the gift exchange. So, this year she's going to be forced to sit and watch! I hope she enjoys it.

Hi Sonya, and welcome! With a band being restrictive only, you should expect 1-2 pounds per week loss. 63 pounds in a year is awesome! DON'T compare yourself to others. There are so many factors that go into weight loss. When I was actively losing, my average was 3/4 pound per week. Less than one pound. But I got healthy. My blood pressure dropped. My cholesterol dropped. My blood sugar dropped. If I had compared myself to others, I'd have lost hope, but you know what? I kept plodding along, and here I am at a normal body weight, with healthy blood work results. Focus on the positive! You can do it, you are doing it! Keep up the good work. Before you were banded, could you have lost 63 pounds in a year? I know I couldn't have. I know for certain, if I had, I'd not have had any hope of keeping it off. Now I know I can keep it off. I have a very powerful tool to help me. So you do! Come here for support, there are bunches of people here to help, it is where I come.

The anesthesia can cause urinary retention. Here's an article about it http://surgery.about.com/od/questionsanswers/qt/UrinatePee.htm Best wishes for a flowing river soon!

Hey! Where HAVE you been?!? Good to see you back! By the way, I still eat pizza. DH and I split a small Round Table Veggie Pizza, I eat two pieces he eats four.

Some bandsters have problems with popcorn, some don't. I have no problems with it myself, but I do have trouble with bread.

I also got liquid Vicodin (Lortab) it worked well. I got 1 bottle and a refill for a 2nd. I used both. Tylenol 3 should be strong enough, but you'll want liquid if you can get it, rather than tablets.

I don't measure my portions. Never have since being banded. I had an upper GI in September. I had no evidence of a stretched pouch. I eat to the level of satiety and stop. It would take more than one or two meals to stretch it out. Also, without a fill you have little restriction, so mostly the food just heads right on through. Chalk it up to experience, forgive yourself, and get back on track. My surgeon reminded me that my eating habits were 43 years in the making when I was banded, they were not going to change overnight. I am allowed to make mistakes, but he wants me to learn from them!

What did the ER say? Did they contact your surgeon? If not, you should give your surgeon a call today. Keep your pain medication going to keep on top of things. Everyone reacts to the surgery differently. I had a moderate amount of pain the first few days. After that, it was just fatigue and soreness. I was told to sip one ounce over a 15 minute period. So taking a couple of hours it drink a few ounces is OK, if it is going down. Hope you feel better soon!

I have been on 6 cruises, two post banding, one I postponed my first fill to enjoy. I actually lost one pound during that one. Do not get an unfill for it, unless you fear complications and will be to far from home. That is why I postponed my fill. I did not know how I'd react to the first one, and he had to fly cross country and would be doing Panama and South America. Not easy to get home if I had problems, so I waited. But getting an unfil to have fun? Slipery slope, as has been noted. For what do you unfill, then fill again? Vacation? Long weekend? Family event? dinner party. If you do buffets, scope them out first and choose what you want, then go back and fill your plate. I also took advantage of things I don't usually get to enjoy, like sliced, fresh pineapple and other pre-cut fruits. On our last cruise over a year after banding, I got stuck a couple of times. All due to operator error. DH and I rarely go to the main dining room during a cruise, which actually works better for me. I tend to be more likely to get stuck when eating in a group, like at a table for 8 in a dining situation and having a conversation. So, at the buffet, it would just be the two of us. Just remember, you are there for the fun and sightseeing, not for the food. I've found the food did not live up to the hype anyway.

The sleeve wasn't available when I was banded. To be honest, I am not sure what I would have chosen if it had been. I have done very well with my band, and do not regret it at all. Bypass was too drastic for me. Talk to your doctors, see what they say is best for you and why. Spend time here and on other board for the various procedures. Only you can decide what is right for you. Each of us have our own preferences. You will find people on the boards who says their choice of procedure is "the best" and please don't get any other one! I don't believe that. Each procedure has its plusses and minuses. As Dave said, the sleeve has been around for quite some time as step one of gastric bypass for extremely obese. The newer Plication procedure, I don't know much about. This site: http://www.thinnertimes.com/weight-loss-surgery/wls-basics/weight-loss-surgery-comparison.html has a chart of various type is procedures, except Plication. Here's an interesting article about the sleeve: http://www.yourbariatricsurgeryguide.com/gastric-sleeve/ Best wishes for your decision.

Crystl, that is soooo cool! I must admit when I saw iBand, i thought it was lap band related! Leigha, I am still not crazy about it, but I've been using Google Chrome browser with an Ad Blocker add on. It works much better than through Internet Explorer. I miss some of the search features, like unanswered posts. I liked that one. There might still be a way to do it, but not as easily as it was before. It is supposed to rain here all weekend and through next Thursday, so I have no excuse to not finish the baby afghan I am working on for DH's niece's baby who was born a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I am a bit behind!

Being overfilled is no fun. I've been there, done that, don't want to do it again! It was such a relief to have just a tiny bit taken out. I took one swallow of Water and knew it was all good. Best wishes for a good unfill tomorrow!

Got to agree with Nicole. Are you on Clear liquids for a few days to let things calm down? After a fill there is usually some swelling, if you were vomiting there would be more, then the unfill was even more trauma. If you are still miserable tomorrow ask for a further unfill earlier. But if you can get fluids down, you won't get dehydrated. You might only be able to handle very small fills at a time. Just go very easy right now. Sip clear liquids, slowly. Hope you feel better soon!

Hi All! Elfie, send the cookies my way! Yummy! I haven't felt like baking. So, I've been stuck twice more this week. I guess my stomach is a bit swollen from the Changs shrimp incident. Today it was a banana. I urped more banana than I ate, how that is possible, I am uncertain, but I won't be eating them for a while now. Much tastier going down than up! Anyone seen Karen lately?

If you are hungry after 3 hours, have something to eat. A piece of fruit or string cheese. Most literature I've read says you should be hungry every 3-4 hours with a band. I cannot understand the surgeons who say eat 3 meals with no snacking or food in between. We run out of time. I eat Breakfast at 7am, have lunch around 11am, dinner is not until 6 pm, that is a big long stretch from 11 til 6. My surgeon says no snacking, his definition of snacking is brainless eating. I thought it was any food between meals. He is fine with me eating when I get hungry, but he wants it to be something nutritious and planned for. So, between lunch and dinner, I'll have a banana or string cheese or a handful of nuts. But I cannot go 7 hours without eating, it just isn't going to happen, banded or not. The band is not meant to be an apparatus of torture. Although sometimes, I'd argue that.

Finger foods are bad because we tend to take big bites of them. That said, I can do OK with carrots, pretzels, chips (of course), crackers, drier cheeses rather than smooth ones. Little sandwiches are out due to the bread. Rolled deli meats are good. Cherry tomatoes can be bad because of the skin. Celery is OK if the string is removed, cucumber works for me. Broccoli and cauliflour are hit and miss.

You have done fabulously if you have a leak! I am sorry to hear of the problem. I don't know much about it. But once you get it fixed and get to restriction, I am betting you'll really get to losing without the hunger. Wishing you a speedy fix and recovery!

You're welcome, Stacie! My surgeon allows me to take NSAIDS occasionally. I was taking them daily before my surgery for joint pain. If you cannot take codeine, can you take Vicodin? It helps with bursitis pain. Cortisone shots aren't bad. They do relieve the pain. Sorry if I ruined your screen, Elfie!

Sometimes it's good, sometimes not so good. With bigger pieces I take them apart. It sort of defeats the flavor a bit, but it is still yummy. I have gotten stuck on it more than once, though. You have to be very careful with it. The seaweed can cause problems as well as the rice, it is hard to chew.