Fanny Adams

I think the key to your situation is this: "I don't feel hungry". If you're not feeling hungry between meals, not able to eat over 1.5 cups at each sitting, not fighting the urge to snack all the time, then you probably don't need a fill. Later, when (if) all that starts to happen, is the time you'll need it. Your band only holds so much fluid, why fill it up, when your body isn't asking you to? Better to leave that in reserve for when it's needed. If you are not hungry most of the time (allowing for fluctuations from ToM), a fill will only make you too tight. I think your doctor did the right thing.

Feeling MUCH better today. Still staying on mushies for today, just to be safe, but hopefully will move back to full food very soon. I don't like living on mushies - goes against the whole point of the band, IMHO.

I'm 8 months out from surgery and so far have had a dream run, until my latest fill. All of my earlier fills went well, I stayed on liquids for a day or two afterwards and quickly returned to solid foods, albeit in much smaller portions after each fill. First was at 1 month, 2nd at 2 months, 3rd at 3 months, 4th at 5 months. That last one had lasted me up until the last couple of weeks, when my portions started getting larger and I was fighting the urge to snack a lot more. I was eating good solid healthy food at about 1 - 1.5 cups per meal - time for another fill, right? So I organised the visit for last Wed for fill #5. The doctor only put in a small amount and warned me as usual to be careful and stay on liquids for a few days, gradually moving off. I thought I would be fine - hey, I've done this successfully several times now! Except from the first attempt to eat after the fill, it seemed SO much tighter than ever before. I had all my Soups ready to do the liquid thing, but the first Soup (one I've had many times before) was creamed chicken and corn and from the first bite it made me gurgle and burp and gurgle some more. I only managed a few bites before it all came up. No worries, I thought, I'll leave it few hours (the first attempt was lunch) and tried again at dinner time - same thing, only this time it upset my stomach so much I ended up heaving for hours before I finally remembered the anti-nausea medicine I got when I left hospital and had never used. The next day I went out and bought clear consommes instead of cream soups and managed to get some of that down. Day 3, Friday (when previously I was just about back to full food), I managed cream of mushroom soup but another try at the creamed chicken and corn left me gurgling, burping, sliming and PB'ing all afternoon. Gradually over the weekend, I managed to progress to soups and mushies again but never full food. On Monday night, I had to fly back to my work (at a remote mine site) and on the plane, I ate some of the Lamb Rogan Josh (a soft casserole) without too much trouble. The next morning I thought I was fine again and tried a poached egg for Breakfast (several hours after getting up). Big mistake! I was right back to Day 1 again! I didn't think there was much to that idea of flying making you tight (cos I fly once a week), but now I do! By Tuesday afternoon, I was so sick of PB'ing constantly and my stomach was swelling that I went home from work. Wednesday, I stuck to coffees and Water. Thursday, I went back to soup. Today (Friday), I tried thinned out oatmeal for breakfast - PB'd all day, skipped lunch. Couldn't get soup in the mess tonight so tried the baked fish in mornay sauce (really soft) and some really soft mashed sweet potato - PBing that up as I type! I don't fly home for another 4 days, I can't get soups at every meal (usually only dinner and not always then). What am I going to do? About the only thing I can tolerate well is coffee and water - I can't live on that for the next 4 days. I'm going to get some of this taken out as soon as I get home but what do I eat in the meantime? Any suggestions?

Well the one before was only 0.5 and he specifically said "I'm only doing a small one this time because we need to be careful", so I doubt if he put in a whole 1. Good news - I spent the morning sipping the ginger tea and didn't have any problems with that. I was hungry by mid afternoon, so had the Soup I had brought and, although it caused a bit of gurgling, I wasn't throwing up from it. dinner only offered tomato soup and I really hate that so I tried some actual food (because the soup had gone so well). I put the lamb & mushroom casserole on my plate, ate the gravy and mushrooms but not the meat - I could tell by the little pieces in the gravy that anything more wouldn't go down well. Only managed a few bites but I felt so much better. Even managed some jelly and mousse later on for dessert! I think I might have this thing licked if I just stay careful for the next few days.

Welcome Big Damo and good luck!

I'm having similar problems at the moment and have to recommend going to liquids for a day or two. I'm finding it quite hard as it's been several days now and I'm getting really hungry, in spite of my stomach feeling so tender. Good luck!

Whoohooo! I found a huge hunk of fresh ginger in the fridge and I snapped a little piece off of it. I hope the owner doesn't mind - I feel bad but it was only a little bit and I really need it. I've scraped a few bits off that and added some honey and hot water, to make honey ginger tea. Not exactly the most elegant tea I've had, but it smells wonderful and I know the packet ginger teas helped me in my first few post-op days, so maybe this will do me some good. I'm going to sip on that for the day and see how I go.

Well it's now 7:30am and it doesn't look like it's getting much better. I'm starting to think I should arrange to fly home early, except that the first flight out is not until mid Monday morning (I'm due to go home late Tuesday night). So far, I've had a few sips of Water and half a cup of coffee and it's taken me a couple of hours to drink that. It's causing gurgling, sliming and burping but I haven't actually PB'd yet. I'm not sure how long that will last though, as I can feel my pouch filling up with slime :thumbup: ewww... I'm going to have to lay off the coffee I think and maybe just drink hot water until later on tonight, when hopefully things have loosened up a little. Right now, I don't even want to risk milk, as that tends to make me phlegmy and I don't think that will help. I'm really not looking forward to the flight home either, as it might make the whole problem even worse. Ack! I'm just gonna have to tough it out till Monday at least, as there are no flights on the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me, folks!

Thanks for the advice folks. I think I'll hold off on trying the yoghurt for a couple of days and will stick to milk and juice for today and tomorrow, until all this swelling goes down. I know that once I start PB'ing in the day, the rest of the day is shot and I really really need to give my stomach a rest. This morning I'm having trouble sipping Water, but it's still very early (4:45am), so I'm hoping it will get better when I get to work and have a coffee. I think it has been a combination of being really tight, flying and my ToM started yesterday. Maybe it will all sort itself out in a few more days. If not, I'm going in for the unfill, coz this sucks! PS: And thank you, Heather!

I would, except I haven't brought any with me - haven't used them since the first month after the op. I'm going to try the yogurt for brekkie tomorrow and see if I can tolerate that, but it's pretty limiting eating out of the mess. Maybe I should just try drinking milk? I don't normally drink a lot of milk because of the calories/fat, but if I'm having nothing else, it shouldn't be bad, eh? I can get 1% milk here and I don't mind that.

Ummm...yeah, pretty much. Let me analyse it for you: Paragraph One: "You have to understand the history..." = "Aww but they started it!!" Paragraph Two: "They call it the laugh band, choke chain, leash, etc..." = "But they're doing it toooo!!!" Paragraph Three: "It was so bad OH banned a few of them..." = "And they're so much meaner than we are!!" "To imply we are doing the same is a bit of a stretch. Well, it's a hell of a stretch." - I don't think it is a stretch at all... Sure they seem to be all of the things that they are being accused of, but that's not my point. How many mums in here would accept any of those 3 excuses from their kids? However, you're right, I shouldn't be in this thread. I've read it a couple of times before and mostly stayed right away from it because I find it hypocritical and full of pointless bitchiness. Pointless bitchiness can be a lot of fun, but this thread goes way beyond my personal tolerance levels, and I shall return to my previous practice of ignoring it. You guys have fun!

Oh give me a break, Wasa! Are you really going to try the "Awww...but Mom, they started it!!" line as an excuse for this thread? I guess it is on par for the maturity level shown in this thread. So they've called our band a "laugh band, choke chain" etc...so what? Are the responses in here of "stinky britches" or "farty pants" any better? All it needs now is for someone to say "you're a poopyhead" for the kindergarten repertoire of insults to be complete. I understand that many of them seem to be attacking the band and bandsters, and agree that they seem incredibly judgemental, convinced that their own choice was the only right option and eager to point fingers at others and laugh... but I also see exactly that behaviour in here - almost 500 posts of it. "But they're doing it tooooo!! And they're meaner than me!! *whine*" is not much of an excuse really.

Hehe - seems like some can dish it but can't take it... It was meant as a little jab but it really wasn't meant to nasty - I thought it was funny and fitted the thread perfectly :crying:. Sorry, Froggi, but hey - you mooned me first, chica! Re the kink: Booked in to get it fixed on October 1st :rofl: It hasn't been giving me any trouble but the doc doesn't want to leave it like that forever. It hasn't even felt sore or bruised since I stopped poking at it every night, wondering what the hell it was - imagine that? LOL!

@MacMadame: Yeah I know this is R&R and it can be fun to get down and dirty with the bitchiness - hell, I belong to a forum where that is the sole entire aim of the place, and believe me that place can get nasty! But this thread still strikes me as incredibly hypocritical - all the things that people in here are accusing people in the DS/OH forum of being (and most of the accusations are true), are also exhibited by people in here, in spades. @Plain: Hehe - now I've got that stupid song stuck in my head, so I suppose that counts as instant karma, eh? @Froggi: It was meant as a friendly jab, not a thrust to the heart, so keep yer knickers on and don't get all het up about it, ok? :crying:

*sings* I know you like to think your... With me now? Hey, I thought it appropo for the thread :crying:

LOL! No worries, Caroline.

It is my youngest granddaughter's birthday next week and I have to admit, I do the doting grandmother thing and usually buy a big present. This year, I'm hiring a pony for the party (with her mother's permission, of course). Yeah I know, only spoiled brats get ponies on their birthdays but this is something I've always wanted to do. I'm really looking forward to it but I am pretty sure that some of the mums of the other kids there are going to be sending daggers my way, for inspiring their kids to ask for the same...oops :crying:

You know, I've clicked on several of the links to the DS pages on the OH forum and thought to myself "Wow, so many of them are judgemental, nasty, bitchy and self-righteous about the choice they made". Then I reread the posts in this thread and think, "Pot...kettle...black".

It's going to depend upon how much of your boobs were fat and how much actual breast tissue. If you can remember being thin at any time, your boobs will probably return to that size (although maybe not as perky). I've gone from a really tight 22E to an 18F (Aus sizes) and I'm still spilling out of the cups, although I probably need an F-long :whatchutalkingabout I'm less than half way to goal and I'm figuring that at goal, I'll still be a 12F (our 12 = US 8). When I was young and skinny, I was a 12E but I think with all the extra skin in there, I'll still fill an F cup. Once that's done, all I'll need to do is have the boob lift, so my nipples don't keep getting stuck in my belly button :tt2:

Not to ignore the rest of what you said, because they were all good points, but I think you got to the heart of it with this statement. I think what I am feeling when I hear of friends successfully losing weight without the band, is that their efforts invalidate my choice to have the band. It's like they are saying "See? I can do it, so there's no reason why you couldn't have done this too!" I know that they are not saying that, but that nasty little voice in the back of my head is putting those words in their mouths. I guess it's just another manifestation of the insecurities that we all have deep inside. Also, I think it has a lot to do with mood :whatchutalkingabout. My comment about these thoughts being triggered by PMS weren't entirely inaccurate and I'm feeling much better about things now :tt2:.

I spoke with my insurance company about this recently and their comment was: "If the doctor states it as 'medically necessary' and assigns a Medicare number, they'll pay out on it. If not, you get nothing." It's a long way off still for me, but worth looking into now with my GP, to establish the history for 'medically necessary'.

Another Sandgroper here! I haven't had a problem with the early darkness but I don't work when I'm home in Perth (work away on a mine site), so I can get out during the day. I love walking on the crisp clear cold days but have to admit, I do it in the middle of the day, rather than early morning or evening when it is FREEZING! I guess we're all feeling the cold more as our fat blankets are melting away. That's an NSV in itself, as I was always too hot before and used to drive other people nuts by running the airconditioning flat out.