Bobalooey

I wrote this 3 years ago this month. People still tell me these observations hold true. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/pre-post-surgery-observations-8033/ Enjoy!

To All, I was banded 3 years ago, have lost over 130 pounds with the last 10 - 20 still remaining to come off due to my own stupidity and milkshakes. Anyway, I've had 6 - 7 fills (some to remove restriction) and have been at an acceptable "sweet spot" for over a year. I can only drink liquids for Breakfast, Soups & muchies for lunch and more solid food like fish & veggies for dinner. For the last 3 weeks I've experienced more restriction than ever before for no apparent reason. Just drinking Water brings on that feeling of constipation in my chest that we all know and love and I get anxious over whether or not I'm going to PB. My question to you is: have any of you had other factors effect the tightness of the band like stress, heat, humidity, having flown in a plane, etc? Right now I can ride this out to get the remaining weight off of me but I know I can't go on like this forever. Any advice or similar experiences you could share would be helpful.

MrsFlipFlops, you may be right on the allergies or congestion as I've been sneezing with a runny nose for at least 2 of these last 3 weeks. I'll try a Mucinex tonight and try to chase it down with some solid food. Thanks, that was helpful.

I took it for a few months when it was first released. Seperated all of the fat from the food I was eating and neatly deposited it into the lining of my pants. Most disappointing diet med I ever took and I took them all! The worst part was that you had no warning when the leak was going to occur, and with a smell that would knock the buzzard off of the shit wagon! If they start selling this stuff over the counter, I'd only buy it as a prank to play on somebody else.

TexasLady, I was banded by Dr. Spiegel at the end of June 2005. I weigh in at his office every two weeks and I'm down over 70+ pounds. You have everything to be excited about, but truly nothing to worry about. After the surgery, I remember thinking to myself, "That was it?". He has a very professional staff that are so well practiced in the procedure that you'll feel like you did nothing much more than get in line for a flu shot. A funny memory just returned to me. I remember the morning of the surgery that I (along with 20 others) were all waiting in some room on the 8th floor of the Surgical Center. It was really early so everybody was groggy, especially since most didn't sleep the night before. Around 6:30, some overly perky lady pops into the waiting room and yells out "SO...WHO'S READY FOR SOME SURGERY?". There were a few groans, but absolutely nobody gave her the rah-rah response she was looking for. I remember thinking to myself...."Yeah, yeah, blow it out your ass!" and why couldn't she just let us all sit there in our denial. This lady (believe her name was Shirley or Sheila, short red hair) was the business manager for the whole operation and she turned out to be an angel of mercy. As I was being prepped and the adrenaline was really starting to flow at the thought of being put under, she was by my side and nobody there could have calmed me down the way she did. Hers was the first face I saw when I came out of the anesthesia as she was by my side to make sure I wasn't freaked upon waking up. Dr. Felix will weird you out a little as he'll approach your gurney as you are being prepped. First he'll ask how you are doing, then he'll say "So, do you have a check for me?". I remember handing him the certified check, he read it, folded it and put it in his pocket. Then he patted me on the shoulder and moved on to his next patient. He came back later to check on me after I was revived and told me everything went flawlessly. The Anesthesiologist was an absolute magician. Usually, I can feel myself going under and since I hate the feeling of being artifically knocked out, I usually try to fight it until the drug kicks in. In the past, I've experienced a ringing in my ears while under and sense a dim color of orange the entire time I'm out. This time was different, he inserted the IV, they started wheeling me down the hallway to surgery, and the next thing I know I was waking up in recovery. I don't even remember feeling f---ed up for any of the pre/post procedures. If I hadn't looked down to see the bandages on my belly (and right nipple....another story) I'd honestly had thought that they never did the surgery. Somewhere on this site there is a thread I started on my Pre and Post-Op observations including some pictures they will give you of the device in place around your stomach. I'd be interested in hearing of your experiences after your surgery, please make it a point to get back on and share with us. Good Luck, but I assure you that you won't need it!

Nice Job! I just figured you sweated most of that off knowing the catheter was coming!!!

I was banded last Thursday, June 30th 2005. I feel compelled to share a whole list of personal observations regarding pre and post surgery. In some cases these end up being recommendations. If they don't help maybe they will at least raise a smile or two. I should qualify all of this in advance though by saying that this was the smartest decision I've ever made. --------------------- Pre/Post Surgery ---------------------------------- 1.) Hairy Chest - If you are a man (or ....gulp....maybe even a woman) with a hairy chest, shave the damn thing yourself before surgery. The rat bastard who shaved me during the procedure nicked my right nipple so bad to where I have more discomfort there then in all my incisions put together. I should have suspected something was wrong when I discovered a bandage over the nipple as well as the incisions. 2.) Urinating Right After Surgery - Do it! Even if you have to fake it. The nurse standing there with a catheter in her hand had a real sadistic look in her eye and something told me she was hoping I'd fail. As fate would have it, its hardest to go when threatened like that. Don't panic and don't watch the nurse with the catheter! 3.) Barium Drink After Surgery - Don't smell it first! Just swallow the damn thing or you'll really piss off the orderly when they have to mop the floor and clean off the Flouroscope before they can take the X-Ray of the crap dripping down into your "real" stomach. Plus they'll make you drink a second one. Definitely don't smell the second one!!!! 4.) Pictures of Your Lap-Band - If you hurled during the Barium Drink episode (see 3. above), don't dwell on the color photos of the Lap-Band attached to your belly that they'll hand you in the recovery room. Especially avoid looking at the photos that the other patients (and their proud family members) will want to show you as well. Seems sadistic people come out of the woodwork when they know you are close to blowing chow, and they'll start talking about things like the "hair in their eggs" they found that morning at breakfast! 5.) Wheel Chair - When they bring the wheel chair out to take you out to your car, examine it closely first to make sure you can fit in it. The one my nurse brought was ridiculously too small and I had to endure the embarrasment of having to be wedged free from it in front of all the other patients. --------------------- At Home, liquid Diet ------------------------------ 1.) Your First Sip of Liquid - Make sure its Water, something with NO smell! Drink it while kneeling in front of the toilet, it will save time. IMPORTANT NOTE: Beg spouse to clean toilet well before kneeling in front of it!!!! Be prepared to also beg spouse to clean toilet again after. 2.) Day 2 at Home, Removing Bandages - Do NOT ask spouse to rip off bandages real fast so you won't feel it! These wounds ain't raspberries you got on your knees from falling down in the driveway!!! SLOWLY remove the 3 - 4 small ones first. If there is a bandage over one or more of your nipples, save those for last! You should probably do this while standing in a warm shower. DO NOT try to scrub off the yellow iodine stain from your belly, give it a few days to wear off! IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you've waited a while after drinking liquid before attempting this. Make sure your spouse hasn't eaten recently before showing him/her your "staples". 3.) Gas - Nothing can prepare you for the amount of methane you are going to release into the atmosphere on the first 2 - 3 days at home. Because you'll probably be pretty bored by now, try timing the duration of the releases to see if you can beat your "personal best"! My record holds firm at 40 seconds today. IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't have blind faith that a gas release won't be "productive". Wear old underwear the entire first week. 4.) Your First BM - Unless this already happened by accident (see 3. above), you may start feeling a little apprehensive about your first BM since the surgery. Fear not! But there are some things you should be aware of. Barium glows in the dark after being exposed to the Flouroscope. Make sure lights in the bathroom are on at all times unless you want to freak out your spouse. Also, Barium does NOT flush well. It may require 10 - 15 flushes before all traces are gone. IMPORTANT NOTE: Examine toilet paper roll first to make sure adequate quantity of paper is available before commencing. 5.) Your Sense Of Smell - In case you didn't have a real strong sense of smell before surgery, prepare yourself. Your body seems to know that its not going to get food and will improve your sense of smell ten-fold to try to find it. I made the mistake on day 4 of going grocery shopping with my spouse and was able to tell the person behind the deli counter which of their meats had met their expiration date. I was even able to point out to the lady in the bakery that the spinach she was adding to the dough (for the batch of spinach bread she was making) was grown in the Phillipines...in 2003....before the monsoons! And I was right! 6.) TV Commercials - You will become more aware of food oriented TV commercials than ever before. IMPORTANT NOTE: Refrain from throwing can of Ensure (chocolate Royale) at TV when Taco Bell commercial introducing NEW Crunchwrap Supreme comes on. IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure young family members are not present when giving middle finger to Jarred in the Subway commercials. That's it for now, I'll write more as the days progress. I think I'm really looking forward to starting in on the solid foods again. Did I already state that this was the best decision I ever made in my life?

Click on UserCP in the upper left hand corner of this site, choose Edit Options then choose the type of Default Thread Subscription Mode you want including None which will stop all emails.

I haven't been in hiding, just lurking without much to contribute. You can't go wrong with Spiegel!

JoMama & Nancy. I'm still alive and kicking, thanks for asking. JoMama, you chose your surgeon wisely, and his support staff are all professional and will bend over backwards to make your procedure as easy as possible. On the weight loss side, I'm closing in on 70 pounds lost since June 30, 2005 and I'm feeling great. I've started some good excercise regimen. I play golf twice a week and walk with a hand cart instead of riding the electric carts. That may not sound like a big deal, but it forces me to walk over 4 miles every round and I'm so busy golfing that I don't notice the walk. The nipple, although now completely healed, scarred over where it was cut and the nipple now points north and watches me shave instead of watching me tie my shoes. I'm thinking about going back to have the other one nicked just so I can have a matched set again. At least half of me now looks like its always excited! It hasn't been a cake walk though, I've had my share of depressions, PB's, anxiety attacks over what I could have for my next meal, etc. But I'm very happy I did this. I know to have lost this much weight on my own without an assist would have been another futile attempt to conquer the beastie. I'm confident that I can reach goal and I'm satisfied with the 3 - 4 pounds a week loss. I've been able to stop taking the f---ing Wellbutrin XL completely and I'm starting to be able to sleep withing the CPAP. I really have no complaints.

PamRN, Perhaps you've installed a Spam Blocker (often embedded in some of the currently available security suites of software like Norton or McAfee) and its possible that the messages are being picked up as Spam. I only suggest this because it happened to me as well and I had to train the Spam Blocker to allow any and all mail from LapBandTalk. If this is not the case try setting up an alternate email addy for yourself like Yahoo, or AOL, MSN, HotMail, etc and switch the your settings in your profile to send mail to that new address. Good Luck.

While you are there, see if the good Dr. can do something about that enlarged font of yours!

Here it is.

Kare, Take heart. You have no idea how many guys (older and younger) would kill to be with somebody as hot as you. Why does this all seem so ironic? You must live out in the desert. Christ, but you remind me so much of a girl named Carey that I had the worst crush on in high school. Thought I had finally gotten over her and I just turned 52. Thanks a lot!

Delarla, Just reviewed (and thoroughly enjoyed) this thread. I had no idea you all were into Harley's. As fate would have it, I do a lot of work for Motor Trike. http://www.motortrike.com And besides designing and hosting their website, I own a 2004 Harley Ultra Classic that I had them convert. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow if I can find a good one post-band. When I was at my heaviest, I started having trouble riding and now with the Trike, I've had a new lease on my biker life. I knew there was something (in addition to everything else) that I liked about you. Hopefully parties like that one will become more commonplace, I know I would have loved to have been there (women in underwear or not).

Calico, I can't tell from your profile or previous posts whether you are male or female. The_Best_Me may think that having a catheter after surgery was "great" but as for me (and ALL other guys I know), the mere thought of having a tube jammed into your "wee wee" is enough to bring us to our knees. You can read my catheter episode (among others) at this link: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8033&page=1&pp=15 Immediately after surgery, a nurse was waiting impatiently for me to urinate and had a catheter all rigged up waiting to go if I couldn't. She gave me a 3-minute head start and she followed me into the bathroom to make sure I wasn't faking it because I firmly believe she wanted to impale me with the f---ing thing. Expect to get poked if you can't pee!!!! Bring a recording of Niagara Falls or something if it will help. Good Luck!

Jeez, Check out the video at this link: http://www.zippyvideos.com/211129792726595.html and your days of bulimia and eating stuff that causes the PB's should be over! You've got to stop experimenting with the band and follow the Dr's instructions. Those aren't just suggestions you know, they are guidelines to keep the band working and intact.

Everyone knows that Gene Kelly was gay with a penis the size of a Tic-Tac. Time to move on. Anthony Hopkins???? Why not just get it on with barnyard animals.

Yeah, Men are from Mars. That's what you've all been telling us.....or was that a lie too????

Whoa....don't take this personally DeLarla, but now you've got me back to thinking about a "poke in the whiskers" with my dead Grandma.

DeLarla, as a Romance Consultant, you are losing credibility with me every minute. On your recommendation I went out and bought one of those f---ing Rabbit Pearl thingies. The instructions said to "place on organ". I didn't have an organ so I put it on our piano. Its been two weeks now and I still haven't had an orgasm. At this point my only sex fantasy is to try it with my left hand.

Now you women are all turning into necrophiliacs. Having sex with dead people is sick sick sick! Now I know why its so hard for us "living" guys to get laid. Sheesh!

Check out to see if they shaved your back instead. They may have "gone in through the rear"! My belly hair is finally getting back to normal and my "now legendary" nipple has a permanent scar on it and it points upward! Not cool on a guy.

You don't happen to still have those ......gulp....burgers lying around....do you?

On this site, people don't lie about their weight!