giveyouthemoon

Yay you! :throws confetti: Congrats! Hope you are doing well and be good to yourself during this time. Rest. sleep. Sip. Walk. Take your pain meds if you need them, don't be a hero.

Okay, I have struggled with this problem. When I had post op restriction, I would eat a small meal, be full, then it would pass through to the big stomach which told me it was not amused by tiny portions. So I had to eat again. Now that I have less restriction, I'm eating bigger meals. I'm doing 1200 to 1400 calories a day and seem to be losing okay. I think the "deal" is that not only are there "feelers" at the top of the tummy to send waves to the brain to say "I'm full" (my doc said this too) but also with restriction the food stays in the pouch longer which keeps the "feelers" tingling and making the brain belive you are still full for a few hours. THAT's why having Proteins first is key, they take longer to go through the stoma. Or at least that's the theory according to my doc.

I have a year of fills included in the price of my surgery, but I think they are like some ungodly amount like $300. Yes, everything really is hella expensive in California. I haven't had my first fill yet (the 17th, yay!) so I don't know if they do them under flouro. I somehow bet they don't. I'm a little burned at the lack of customer service at my dr's.

Yup....me too. Only for me it was more like ten years. It was pretty bad, there were times I was so weak and my heart was beating so fast that I was sure I'd die in my bed overnight. It also eventually caused rampant paranoia and agoraphobia. My glands under my neck were swollen. The insides of my mouth were raw. It was pretty goddamn stupid in retrospect but it made so much sense then. Then again....probably the most outrageous thing I've ever done in order to lose weight is to allow a surgeon to cut into a perfectly healthy body in order to attach a strip of silicone around my stomach. I mean, when you stop and think about it...it's pretty crazy. Thank God I appreciate crazy.

Most doctors will say that they want you to lose some before doing the surgery because they want your liver to shrink a bit. Since they have to push the liver around a bit to get the band in there, any little bit helps. That being said, I didn't HAVE to diet before surgery but I did and I was glad that my little seven pound loss was a super kick start for this whole process. By the way, get it out of your mind that you have to "eat while you can". All those foods you love are still available to you. You're still able to eat them. You will simply be satisfied with less.

Heck, my dr prescribed Vicoden! Liquid Vicoden and it was faaaaabulous. So many people here said they hardly had any pain. That was not me. I had pain. LOTS OF PAIN. And I'm kind of a weenie about it so I took what the dr gave me. I would think your dr would give you something? The best advice I got (from my sister) is to stay ahead of the pain. Take the meds BEFORE you get into too much pain. You will heal better and more quickly if you are not miserable so if you hurt, take the meds. Good luck and report back to us how it goes!!!

In total I took off eight work days (one of those days was the Fourth of July). I'm kind of a wimpy girl when it comes to pain, so I needed that time. I'm very glad I did, I took like three hour naps every day, I was VERY exhausted. It's important for healing to make sure you feel strong. Even after a week and a half off, I was still pretty weak and woozy on my first day back on the job (seated work).

I collect vintage rhinestone jewelry. My mom had quite a collection that I have always been fascinated with. My mom was QUITE the looker back in the day and she worked as a secretary in a place that was all men. She got A LOT of presents from admirers. Good quality stuff. I'm hell on eBay for 40's and 50's rhinestone stuff. I just LOVE it. I also seem to have accidentally stumbled into a fridge magnet collection. I'm having to pull back on that as I too am running out of space.

I'm 36....how are my odds? Wait...don't answer that.....

Okay, I was scared you-know-what-less about the anesthesia....I mean FREAKED. Best part is that you are only out an hour or less. It goes in your body fast and leaves your body fast. The whole pre-op parts goes FAST. You are sitting there in the oh so fashionable gown waiting.....then suddenly whoosh, it's game on. You are going to do GREAT!!! I'm a COMPLETE candy @ss about pain and about anesthesia and stuff. I'd never had ANY surgery or anything done so imagine how freaked I was!!! You'll do great. Girl, soldier up!!!! Laugh at yourself, be open and nice to the nursing staff and they will treat you SOOOOO well. And let us know when you are through so we can coo and ooh over you and tell you what a brave little girl you were!!! Big hugs!!!

Call that mean lady back and tell her that after surgery your tummy will be swollen and you won't feel this frapping hungry! Tell her if you could just "get through it" you wouldn't need banding in the first place. And then tell her that her customer service skills SUUUUUUUCK. Dayum, that's terrible! Now, I'll admit my drs office isn't much better than that, but they do have SOME customer service capabilities.

First, ALWAYS be drinking something. Always have something ready to go. Drink broth, then start juice, then a Protein shake, then more juice, then tea. NEVER STOP drinking. You have to stay ahead of the hunger. And for me...a lifesaver...Cream of potato Soup, extra milk added to make it super thin, blended. For some reason that stuck with me longer. Also try changing up your flavors. If you drink only sweet stuff, get some chicken broth in to keep it interesting. Add some season salt to the broth. Keep it more interesting. Most of all..STAY STRONG!! You WILL get through this.

Margo are you able to add in sugar free flavoring? I'd ask the nurse because it adds negligable calories and can REALLY help the ol' shake go down. GO here: http://www.davincigourmet.com/page.php?page=742&s=0&&category=2 There's a bunch of flavors and they help make things easier. Just a thought. Sorry you are struggling!

Yay you! You sound like you are doing great. I was SUCH a weenie I felt puny for about a week so that you're feeling so bright just a few days out? Well, I bow to you!! Congrats on your band!!!

I am ALL ABOUT Avenue (avenue.com). LOVE that store, pretty much everything in my closet is from there. Trick is to wait for their sales and they ALWAYS put things on sale. Plus they also send lots of coupons that you can use on top of the sale price. Yay! alight.com is also a good spot.

Yup, that's me as well. And the problem is, Aunt Flo wants me to eat EVERYTHING I put my eyes on. It's a bad deal all around. I WISH I could feel some restriction right now......

You probably didn't mess up anything, but do bear in mind that (according to my dr) that band has to "set" and giving it things that are harder to digest can mess with that....and if it doesn't "set" right, then fills won't be as effective. So I'm sure you are fine and you KNOW what to do. Get back on the liquid wagon. (by the by.....in order to SURVIVE, I got some cream of potato soup, added some extra milk, blended the CRAP out of it and drank it. YUMMY! And all potato-y. It will help with your sanity and is a better choice than mashed taters)

Ah yes....loving me just like I is.....tough one for me. REAL tough. As I've already confessed on these boards, I was a terrible bulimic for about 10 years. The very epitome of self hatred and not just about my body. So I worked my ASS off and recovered from that evil snakelike disease. I am strong, I am powerful. I beat a real bad addiction. But still, as hard as I work on "I'm okay in this body" for every one day of being okay with that, I have several where the demons whisper in my ear "you're ugly, no one will ever love you again looking like that, no man will ever pay attention to you". And so sometimes I succumb and sink down into the murky tar misery. But then my toes scrape bottom again....and I tread my way up to the surface of the muck. And I drag myself back out, clean up and try again. I'm a survivor, make no mistake about it. And I'm going to keep fighting. I was feeling so great, got some lbs off after surgery, but now it's screetched to a halt. And the demons start to play. Tonight I'm working on shouting them down, reminding them they don't belong. Give me strength, some days I get weary about this fight. But there is no other answer, I must battle on. You ARE an inspiration Delarla and I'm personally grateful to you for being so candid about your experiences. I saw your hole in the belly thread like one week before I got banded. It didn't scare me off...it actually emboldened me. When I spin out with worry, I have to ask myself..."What's the worst that can happen?" Well, your case is pretty close....and you STILL survived and FLOURISH today, and that brought me peace. I know it's odd to say your horrific experience brought me peace, but it did.

do you feel like you can burp pretty good? It helps me to burp and burp and burp....like force out the burps. Walking around helps too....even in my living room.

Oh Star....that sucks. Honey, stay strong. Make sure you are taking your pain meds on a regular schedule. Stay AHEAD of the pain and don't let it get too bad. Each day gets better to stay head down and determined. And congrats on your surgery!!!

Well.....we all use our excess weight as a shield, an excuse, a scapegoat. Suddenly you are taking that away and it can be super scary. When all the weight is gone what will you have to blame life's tragedies on? I understand this. About 12 years ago I lost a ton of weight, was mentally unprepared, freaked out, and became a rampant bulimic. Nice choice huh? So the work on your head is just as important as the work on your body. You are quietly sabotaging your success because of fear. It's normal. But this is a very key point for you. To figure out how to press through. It's okay to take a rest from losing. Get used to your new body, get used to this level. But it's important to stay strong and keep rolling. You know what to do. If you need help with the head work, maybe see a counselor? It's a sign of strength to say "I could use a little guidance". I'm only a bit over a month into this thing and already scared sh*tless. I fear I will fail at this like I've failed every other time.

SF Bay Area here, I live just south of San Francisco and that's where I had my surgery. Yay to see some signs of life on the California board!! Looks like just Vera and me from up North!

My doctor said it's the fluid in the body (the first point that Alex made). He sad that as we walk around all day the fluid collects in our extremities (hands, feet, ankles) and overnight, it all balances out again to all our tissues, thus making it tighter in the tummy. As the day progresses, the fluid drains down again to the extremities taking the pressure off the band and make it feel open again.

I sometimes get little burps WHILE eating. Like, I'll feel some food kind of "catch" and I'll burp and then it goes down fine. I think burps are just a part of the band. I also fart WAY more than I ever have. It's bizarre. But just a fact of life with the band. GasX does help some if I take it constantly.

Hey, if he wants to talk farting, tell him about the "medically necessary farting" that came with band surgery! Make sure you have a VERY somber face on when you do. He sounds to me like a typical doo doo headed brother. Mine is like that too. He's a dumb @ss but he's MY dumb @ss brother and so I deal. Good luck and enjoy! Savor the moment that he'll be speechless when he first sees you. Don't expect it to last long tho, he'll recover and find something new to pick on. It's what big brothers do. Also, you said he has kids? Tell his kids "Heeeey, have I got some stories to tell YOU about your dad!" I had to endure my brother in June and THAT line shut him up REAL good. He whispered to me "hey, you know...there are some things Mom doesn't need to hear...so watch it". I gave him an evil smirk and that was all it took.