JustWatchMe

Oh and I wished I'd have vacuumed the upstairs because I wasn't able to lift the vacuum up the stairs for w week.

Laundry. No lifting for awhile.

Oh, you mean, "I understand I may DIE" about fifteen times in all the forms? Yeah, that can make you shiver a bit. I had to sign all those at my last doctor's visit before surgery. Good luck! (I didn't die, which made my nervous mom very happy.)

I survived the Polar Vortex. I survived Chiberia. I really thought I was going to make it through this lousy Chicago winter without a cold, but nope. Sneezing, runny nose, post-nasal drip at night. When I get a cold, I don't take antihistamines due to high blood pressure, just a preventive puff of Advair morning and night to head off any bronchitis that may decide to grab me. Here's what I noticed today. My lunch was a paltry 1/3 cup of Soup from Subway, because I had to throw out the pieces of food in it (I'm still on full liquids.) Since that seemed so sparse, I followed that with an Atkins shake and I had to stop drinking halfway through. It wasn't a stuck feeling or anything, just "whoa, better stop here." A minute later I was able to slowly finish the shake. Did I just have my first experience with restriction? I have zero fill. Does having a cold make your stoma swollen, or congested in any way? I've been on Soups and shakes for two weeks and never had to take them slowly until today.

Thanks, Lisa. I'm only two weeks post-op and still on liquids, so I'm not stuck. My morning shake went down fine today. I really appreciate all this feedback, because I'll be better prepared once I start solids!

I used to take zinc, vitamin c and echinacea before my band, but zinc just hurt my stomach so much back then I don't want to chance it now. The otc decongestants almost all raise my blood pressure. One positive NSV already is that with my weight loss so far in this journey, I've gone down from two blood pressure meds to one. Yay! I'll try the Robitussin mucus thinner stuff if needed, but it feels like it's breaking up today. It was just so weird to feel that "slow down" signal for the first time when all I was having was liquids. It was actually good to "know" my band was really in there!

I've got to slow down even more with my eating, even though my food right now is liquids. Those videos you posted that showed how a swallow of food goes down really hit home for me. I've been eating my soups slower now, but the shakes not so much. So today was an eye opener. Thanks for the feedback.

Good luck! I wish you the best.

Your post really is inspirational!

Hi Kelly! Don't worry, you'll have lots of support here. I was banded two weeks ago today and feel great. It's hard work, but so worth it. It always makes me so mad that in our country, our health care decisions are always based on money. I hope you get your surgery with insurance. Take care and keep us posted!

Good information. Congrats!

I was banded March 13. I'm on full liquids now, 800 calories a day, and doing fine. Exercising faithfully and starting to lose. No fill yet at all in my 14cc band. My doc wants to do the first fill April 28, which is also the day I begin solid food. He typically fills 4-7 ccs the first time. My NP says it's okay to wait until I come back from Europe at the end of May to do a first fill. She says the stomach swells when you fly which can add to the tightness. I personally would like to start feeling some restriction as soon as I begin solids, but worried about dealing with a new fill and swelled stomach when I'm not close to my doctor. I fly out May 15. My question is to those who fly, do you notice your band is tighter? Can you describe it? Does anybody have an opinion they would like to share? I'm sensing that my doc is pretty aggressive with weight loss. The nurse also said he wouldn't want me overeating on the trip. When I told him proudly that I was staying under 1000 calories on Soup and Protein shakes, he said, go down to 800 and ditch the shakes. I'm complying, but getting more hungry. Four more weeks before the big day. Thoughts?

Since the NP is the one doing it, I'm sure she would accommodate my request of the lesser 4cc fill in the 4-7cc range. Thanks for the help. I know it's a month away but I'm always calmer when I have a plan!

I did exactly that last week with a whole banana and one teaspoon of peanut butter. It was a nice change of pace!

The NP actually does the fills in the surgeon's office. She mentioned x-ray I think, back when I had my first pre-op appointment months ago. I don't remember hearing the term fluoroscopy. Is that the same thing? The conflict is that at first I was sure I just wanted no fill until after the trip. But then I found out this week that his protocol is to do a fill the first day of solid food. I didn't realize that before, as I thought it would follow eating by a few weeks. So that date is two weeks before I fly. The nurse practitioner said it's fine to wait even if the doctor was pushing for a fill. My worry is getting sick abroad. But he made it sound unlikely, and now I don't know which way to go. Is getting your first fill the day you start solids pretty standard? Do you think two weeks of band plus solids is enough to know if I'm okay before I leave? The idea of just liquids during the flight and maybe that day is appealing.

Good for you, Karina!

Maybe from the breathing tube? My throat was slightly sore the first day from that. I quickly learned plain water was easier than Crystal Light Lemon. Ouch!

Nat, I'm so happy you're finally feeling better! And congrats on that big loss! You're on your way now!

Delove, great news!

Parisshel, I have lived the last decade-plus on daily NSAIDs for arthritis. I went off them in October preparing for this surgery. Thank you so much for all of this valuable information. I've been managing with liquid acetaminophen and daily exercise. I also use a small water bottle at work now which causes me to get up from my desk often for refills, keeping me from getting stiff and sore. I won't tempt fate with even a single dose of ibuprofen or NSAIDs. Glad to know the reasons behind it. Thank you so much and good luck!

Christy, When it gets into your shoulder and collarbone area, ask a pal to lightly karate-chop rapidly on your shoulder and shoulder blades. This helps temporarily (several hours). It was about 9-10 days before my shoulder pain totally went away. Walk, walk, walk. My nurse had me on the treadmill fifteen minutes 3mph the day after surgery, adding a minute a day up to my goal of two miles. I'm up to 25 minutes already! It really helps that early gas pain. After that, it helps weight loss. Good luck!

This is concerning to me, as I haven't had my first fill yet. How does it move? I thought it was stitched to the muscles during surgery. Is that not permanent? Sorry if that sounds dumb, but I actually had my surgeon place my finger on my port the other day at my first post-op because I couldn't tell the lumps and bumps apart. Also, the NP does fills at my surgical center, not the surgeon.

Hurray!

Good luck! I'm 12 days post-op and feel great! It gets better each day.

Well, another thought is that bad or good, tracking helps you face reality. I'm sure they see how the numbers are broken down, and maybe that "bad" choice was balanced out over the week or was a treat or something and they exercised more so they could have it. I didn't know that the food logs were visible. LOL. Sometimes just logging the food is a big reality check. It always was for me in WW. I never wanted to log off-program choices. Then I eventually stopped tracking altogether...