soonergirl

My stomach is starting to grumble really bad. I am kind of hungry even though I know I couldn't eat anything! My husband was eating a steak and I was pretty tempted to go and take a lick of it no really! I went to central market where they have a lot of homeade Soups and found three of them that looked good to strain. chicken noodle, tortilla and vegtable. I brought them home and put them all through the strainer, so I ended up with the broth. It was really good, but I think the vagtable might be too spicy right now. I am really confused about my "liquids" list. There is a stage one and two, but they both refer to the same list. Milk is on there (reduced fat), but I am not sure that I am supposed to have it either. That being said, I had about 1/2 cup of promise land reduced fat midnight chocolate milk. It was like heaven!!! I found these EAS carmel coffee protien shakes that have a a little bit of caffiene that has given me some energy. What did your Dr.s say about the yogurt drinks the first week? Can you tell that I am already bored with broth and fruit punch gatorade? I took no pain meds last night or today. My port area gave me a little problem shen I rolled over a few times, but besides that I seem to be doing pretty well. Some of my belly swelling has gone down - only look about 6 months pregnant right now. My husband and I went to the Farmers Market yesterday - I was over lloking at something and he caught a glimpse of me - standing with my big swollen belly sticking out holding my back with one hand and my port site witht the other, he was cracking up - He said "your right, you do actually look pretty pregnant, take care of our little gas baby in there" HAHA!! I totally avioded a lady that obviously was pregnant, afraid she was going to come up to me and ask me when I was due How are you guys doing??? I want a hamburger and some baked Beans

I am just now able to burp and it really hurts actually. I also just had my first bm since the surgery as well. I don't even know if it would really qualify. So, it sounds like the time frames aren't much off. All of this happened for me within the last 30 onutes or so. Pretty eventful last hour How are you doing with liquids? I am doing pretty well. I think I drank some too fast, I kind of got a nausea feeling with a little bit of slime.

My o My - have you tried warm tea? I have been making warm peppermint tea with splenda and it tastes better than anything that I have tried so far. Fruit punch gatoraide seems to be keeping me hydrated. I am still workin on broth - it is going down pretty well too! I hope things start going down better!

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7896&highlight=teen Kylie, Here is a link to another thread in which someone asked about this as well. I attached some information about a girl that was 13 when she got the band. There is also a link to her Dr. where you may be able to get her information. Please ask us any general questions. There are some really great people on here that would be glad to offer support. This was a really scary and difficult decision for me and I am 31 - you have all of the same and normal feelings that we all had regardless of age. Just take your time and ask any and every question that you can think of. Good luck with your decision and I hope that everyone here can help you!

My Dr. gave me a pretty strict guideline for walking 5 minutes the first hour 6 the second keep adding every hour that I stay up until bed (don't go to bed until your regular bed time and no more than 1-2 hours of napping) next day - pick up where you left off - for me it was 14 minutes and then keep adding a minute every hour until you are up to 30 minutes of continuous walking. Although I didn't follow that exactly today - I have been up walking almost all of the day. I feel much better!!!!

I am getting banded at 8:30 in the morning! I wanted to thank all fo you for the great information and support. I am surprisingly not all that nervous - that will probably change in the morning. Actually, I am a little nervous about handing them over that check! Thanks again to everyone and wish me luck!

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words! What a difference a day makes - I have been up and walking almost all day. I did have an hour car ride to and from - picking up our new foster puppy. Ihave been feeling great except this huge bloat. Not much pain, just discomfort. I have had no pain meds today, but have been using liquid gas medicine. I can't believe what a meal broth tastes like at this stage - yummy!! But for those not banded yet, I highly recommend low sodium. I had one serving of regular and it took a lot of gatorade to feel not really thirsty again. I actually had an entire Protein drink - it took me half the day to drink, but hey! I did get that blue breathing contraption - and am really gald, because it has helped me clear a lot out of my lungs. Deep breaths actually feel good now! Thanks again to everyone, the support here is wonderful! Especially since my husband is the only one here aware I was banded. BTW - I am finding that I can sip more than 1/8th of a teaspoon now - is it ok to take a little bit larger drinks as I go as long as there is no discomfort - and when I mean bigger, I mean more like 2/3 of a teaspoon at a time????

Amen girls, I just had my first and I feel so much better. Today has been so much better overall. I have been up all day with minimal pain and I have been able to drink so much more! I even got down 1/2 of a protien drink. We went and picked up a foster dog today!! I hope my other band date buddies are feeling better as well - please let me know!!

He stated a few reasons - one is that he wanted me up and moving as much as possible, both to reduce the gas pain, but he said taht it would also help reduce incision and port pain. Also, after surgery, you can be prone to having fluid settle in your lungs which can cause post surgery pnuemonia. If you sleep alot, it may settle more than if you stay upright and then you will cough it out.

Clear Liquids for the first week, except I can add a Protein drink after day three. Then full liquids week two and three and then mushies week 4. After that start adding real food. So, mostly liquids for the first month. How about you?

I was wondering about the liquid thing - I have had 40oz of liquid and I am sooooo bloated!! I think I am done with my liquids for the day as hard as I am trying to get down the 64oz they recommended.

Bondgirl, I was banded the same day - They had me walk 5 minutes the first hour and then add a minute every hour until I got up to 30 minutes. She also told me to sit on the toilet or a chair and bend over as far as I can slowly and then sit up - repeat over and over. Then to work up to bending from the waist from a standing position. It seems to be helping a lot. Also, they told me to take really deep breaths occassionally. How is your pain? Mine was worse than expected, and I am still taking my meds every four hours. I am looking forward to the 10pm dose to put me out for the night!! Hope you start feeling better!

I am looking for my post op diet - but are the protien drinks considered clear liquid diet? I thought they said clear liquid for 7 days, but I also thought they said protien drinks after day two - I really need to find that list huh I got the EAS low carb protien drinks.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=6117 here is the thread to scar stages including stories and lots of pictures.

I was banded yesterday - I can only tell you what has helped me so far. I got a really nice cold pack with a felt like outside - this has felt really nice on my belly, as you are not supposed to use heat on your belly according to my Dr. I used the heating pad on my back - life saver - I have had a lot of back pain. I got adult strenght liquid tylenol and liquid gaviscon for gas pain. I got low sodium chicken broth, de-caff peppermint tea and fruit punch gatorade. Oh, and a lot of gossip magazines- - I am already out!!!! Make sure you take home those sexy surgical socks with the neat little grips on the bottom I also got my area ready before I left with plenty of pillows to sit up and some blankets - that way I didn't have to try and do it when I got home. Good luck!!!!

I was self-pay with Dr. Powell and it was $15,000 with free fills for one year and all aftercare for one year.

I posted this a while back, trying to offer some clarification on the insurance issue. The important thing to remember is that the POLICY dictates whether it is covered or not, NOT the carrier. The carrier may help make a determination of medical neccessity and whether or not the band is an approved method or not, but the POLICY HOLDER (IE your company) detremines what is covered in the policy. Private or individual policies gernerally will not cover this procedure. Clarification on Insurance <HR style="COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Just to offer some clarification on the entire issue of insurance in general on this issue - ( I happen to work for a carrier) 1) If you work for a large employer - chances are your group is what is called self-funded, this means that your company is actually paying the claims, not the insurance carrier. The insurance carrier is just administering the claim. The employer will actually set the rules around what is and what is not covered. The company will also approve the process that the carrier uses to determine elligiblity for this type of procedure. Only in some states are their state mandated benefits. Thus, you can have two people with the exact same situation, both with the same insurance carrier's name on their card with very different situations. (I know for a fact that Union Pacific is self-funded) 2) BCBS is mentioned a number of times - All BCBS companies are not the same, they all carry the BCBS logo, which only means that they are a part of BCBS Association. BCBS of Illinios owns the BCBS in TX and NM. Empire is a seperate BCBS of its own. Wellpoint owns BCBS in Colorado, California, MO, and 10 other states (previously known also as Anthem BCBS). 3) So- if the company that you work for, or the fully-insured policy that you have approves the surgery, then it will go to the medical review. They will often deny the claim in the first go around, but it would definetely be worth appealing in all situations. Most of the time the first refusal is automatic and NOT a decision made by an individual, but a computer that is looking at a number of different factors. Once appealed, most companies send it to a medical review board where individuals actually evaluate and make a decision about the claim. All companies and policies are different, take the time to put some research into it! Hope this helps to understand the insurance side a little better.

Thanks again for everyone's kind words and thoughts! I am doing much better today, tons of gas pain, but the toilet excercises that the nurses gave me seemed to work pretty well. Weird as it seems!! My stomach seems pretty swollena nd tight, but from reading everyone's post op threads, this seems pretty normal. I am able to sip plenty and still walking lots! Thanks again to evyone!!!

I was banded yesterday by Dr. Powell. He also operates at Surgery Center of Richardson - great experience with him as my Dr. so far. There are a number of Dr.s that operate out of the surgery center. Dr.s Benavides, Anderson, Powell and others. I don't know anything about dr. Bryce.

Just thought that I would let everyone know that you can also use money from an MSA, FSA or HSA(Health Savings Accounts) to pay for the surgery and surgery related expenses. I was self-pay and used $3,000 out of my HSA and then I will be able to continue contributing to is tax free for years to reimburse myself in the future. Note - you can only do this if your account was open at the time of surgery or the services that you are paying for.

I weighed when I checked in this morning and then I weighed on my scale at home to check it for my journal - I gained 5 pounds today in surgery. Geese this little silicone band is a heavy little booger! :cheeky Congrats!! I can't wait to read your progess reports!!

Hi everyone! I was banded at 9am. Everything went really smooth. I had a lot more pain than I had with a previous laproscopic surgery, but they took care of that with much sensitivity and concern! I have been walking every hour (I hadn't heard of this on the board before, did everyone have to walk 5 minutes hour one and then up a minute every hour for two days until you get up to 30 minutes?) Seems to have helped. I was having a little sharp shoulder pain, but seem to have walked it off. I have had gatoraid, some warm tea and about 3 tablespoons of chicken broth. Does this sound about par? i think that I may want some more broth in a few hours. It is killing me not to sleep - the Dr. said no more than 1 hour of napping, my husband was also told, so he is so cute - he is calling himself my recovery drill sargent and won't let me sleep to much. Thanks again everyone for all of the support! Did most of you actually feel like you could "feel" the swelling of your stomach? Not really bad, but kind of a sore pressure? Thanks!!!!!!! I a so happy to be one of you now!

Thanks everyone - off to bed. Under the knife at 8am. Will post asap.

Jen, I have brought up this subject in a number of threads and posts on here, as it was also a big concern of mine. Here is a link to a thread that I started a few weeks ago. I did ask my Dr. about this numerous times, and I also posted his suggestions. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7436&highlight=happy+hour Hope this helps!

My only suggestion is - Get the warranty. They tend to lose belts and need repair somewhat often. I have been eyeing the one at Costco as well - it is 899