ajoneen

Ah Journey... don't stop believing! I think we need an anthem here at the shamROCKS.

I have some stupid big scars. I don't know if this is just me or Dr's handy work. One is 2 3/4", two are 1" and three are 1/2". Is that normal? I've been thinking about taking up yoga. Nice gentle body work. Only thing is last time I tried my hands got so sweaty I slipped and almost broke my nose. Or maybe a personal trainer. I have an appointment with the Dr next week and maybe get a fill if the Dr thinks I'm really trying. I think it is interesting that some Dr hand out fills like candy and others like bestowing a knighthood.:confused2:

Harley go to the range with a BIG caliber gun. That will work those arms. Jon/fenton Five book series? I can hardly wait. Don't be shy about blowing your horn, for the book or weight loss. To all that have a bite here and there. Isn't that why you got the band? So you could still enjoy your life? Conscious eating, just don't stuff things in mindlessly. My friend is trying to get me to do yoga. The last time I did it my hands got so sweaty I almost broke my nose when I slipped off the sticky mat. It is supposed to be good for the body and mind, even gentle. Anyone want to weight in on the topic?

I have some stupid big scars. I don't know if this is just me or Dr's handy work. One is 2 3/4", two are 1" and three are 1/2". Is that normal? I've been thinking about taking up yoga. Nice gentle body work. Only thing is last time I tried my hands got so sweaty I slipped and almost broke my nose. Or maybe a personal trainer. I have an appointment with the Dr next week and maybe get a fill if the Dr thinks I'm really trying. I think it is interesting that some Dr hand out fills like candy and others like bestowing a knighthood.:confused2:

Yep ME. :tongue_smilie:

Mostly they help-Its called co-morbidity. As long as you are cleared for surgery you are fine.

Carrie- flush the candy!!! Throw it away. Give it away. Get away from the chocolate. NOW

I'm wondering do most banders go by portion size of a meal(weight, cups) or by the calories/protein content of the meal? I know that a well "tuned" band restricts the amount you can eat but I see folks all over with different eating habits. Some folks eat 3oz of protein and 2oz of "other" at a meal and that can really go over the 1/2 cup that other folks say they eat comfortably. I mean if I'm eating 1 to 2 cups of food at a meal and keeping calories in mind and stay within my range for weight loss. I'm satisfied. Does that make a difference? I'm I "breaking the rules"? I'm newly banded. I'm losing 1.5lbs a week, which is considered healthy. I keep track of my calories and protein. I haven't had a fill yet but if I continue to lose this way I won't need one. (wishful thinking) I'm a little confused. :confused2:

I went for my shin check up with the dermatologist today. She took off a "suspicious" bit of skin(and is sending it to the lab) and gave me a scrip for some cream to put on two other spots. Then she cut off one of my finger nails to send to the lab for a culture. What is up with that? Back story is that I lost my daughter-in-law 5 years ago to Melanoma and my husband has been battling with skin cancers for about 10 years. I don't need this now. I'm trying to focus on this band and getting the weight off and now this.

I tried putting oatmeal in my protein shake this morning. It is really filling. Thanks for the tip!

:thumbsup:Fingers crossed X

I went for my shin check up with the dermatologist today. She took off a "suspicious" bit of skin(and is sending it to the lab) and gave me a scrip for some cream to put on two other spots. Then she cut off one of my finger nails to send to the lab for a culture. What is up with that? Back story is that I lost my daughter-in-law 5 years ago to Melanoma and my husband has been battling with skin cancers for about 10 years. I don't need this now. I'm trying to focus on this band and getting the weight off and now this.

kljared- Everyone hits a plateau at some point. As to the roller-coaster, it's supposed to freak you and make you feel like you are going to fall out. You were perfectly safe. Your body doesn't know that though and yes it sometimes feels like you were in an accident. Take a Tylenol and go for a walk to stretch your muscles. jencys- with the bodybugg do you track your diet with it or input foods into the computer and sinc with the bugg? Have a great day Shamrocks!!:thumbup:

anymore veteran bander want to chime in?

So true!!!

yep that was nice.:crying:

mindovermatter- Holy crap!!!! I don't know what else to say. I guess out of all us march banders there have been, (ah?) 3 that have had what I would call serious stuff. Someone else had to go back to have their band refitted, and there was that rash. Im glad you have an up beat attitude. :crying:

Taxes suck, ab work sucks, but we have to do them both. Good work!!

Are you on the verge of giving up on your dream? Are you just about to let all your hopes and dreams slip through your fingers? Has the thought crossed your mind? Are you despairing because things are not working out the way you expected? Are you wondering how you will ever accomplish your goal or even whether you really have what it takes to achieve them? If you are already feeling the familiar feeling of despair that accompanies the fear that your dreams and hopes might go down the drain: DO NOT GIVE UP! Get up and fight for your dream. Fight for what you believe in. Here are 8 tips to help you hang on and not give up: 1. Take charge of your life. When you give up, quit, lose hope or abandon your dream or goal, you give both yourself and other external circumstances permission to sabotage your efforts. Don't give in to self-defeating, self-sabotaging and dream choking thoughts. No matter how bumpy the ride is, don't abandon your dream. Get on the drivers seat of your life, wear your seat belt and drive to your destination. It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it. ~ Douglas MacArthur~ 2. Reconnect with your vision. Before you decide to throw it all away, ask yourself why you had the initial desire to achieve that goal/dream. What compelled and stirred your heart toward that vision? Why was it so important to you? As you reflect on your answers, allow the passion for your vision to give you the strength to carry on. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~ Kahlil Gibran~ 3. Focus on your big picture. When things go wrong, don't betray the plan. Don't let short-term obstacles snuff the life out of your long-term goal. Work on overcoming whatever is momentarily standing in the way of your dream. Bear in mind that achieving the goal is the big picture and not the obstacle in your path to your big picture. Stick to the plan for your life. The race is only over when you reach the finish line. Honor you desire to achieve your goal. Run the race of your life and until you get to the end. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~Stephen Covey ~ 4. Believe in yourself. Having your hopes dashed can damage your self-confidence. No matter how bad the situation seems, believe in yourself and in your ability to succeed. The fact that you thought about your idea, worked on it and turned it into reality counts for something and is evidence enough that you can do it! With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. ~Thomas Foxwell Buxton ~ 5. Persevere The journey to success is usually filled with many obstacles. Dealing with obstacles aren't only time consuming but can also drain your energy, motivation and drive as you struggle to overcome them. Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich 6. Be resilient. Resilience is an ability to bounce back and stand on your feet after a hard knock out punch. Simple thoughts such as "I will survive" and "I will try again" are enough to get your hopes high again and to set you rolling and in motion again. When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try it one more time." ~Author Unknown~ 7. Change your perspective. Perhaps you just need to see things from a different perspective in order to understand how you can do it better. You may have to rethink your strategy, revise a few things or be creative. The saying goes that "It is hard to see the picture when you are in the frame" Perhaps it would help if you got out of the frame and really looked at the Big Picture! Problems are not stop signs; they are guidelines. ~Robert Schuller~ 8. Hang on! There is no better way of saying this. This quote sums it all up: Hang on! Don't give up! There is surely something in that dream or goal that's worth holding on to. Find it and hang on to it. When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. Whatever it is that you aspire to achieve: Never, ever give up! ~Franklin D. Roosevelt~ by Caroline Jalango

I was taking some warm weather clothes down from the attic today. They are in plastic boxes and a bit heavy. I was bracing one on my belly, (like I have always done, nice soft landing zone), when it slid down over my port. OUCH!! Man I thought I scrapped that little bugger off my muscle. I have a bruise now and the port area is tender like when I first got it. Geeze I hope I didn't rip/pull a stitch. Update on eating/drinking- Im doing great on calories/protein. I could do better on getting my water in. The scale is still going down though.

I had surgery on 3/4 at 10am. Great time cause I got to sleep in a bit. Arrived at the hospital with my sister and husband and was directed to the surgical waiting area. They called my name, I was taken to pre op and given a gown , slippers and a hat, pointed to a tiny restroom. I changed, put my clothes in the bag with my name on it and came out into the pre op area with the beds separated by curtians. I was weighted (255) and assigned a bed. Note on the gown- nice and big made of soft paper and had velcro at the shoulders for-I found out later- ease of removal in surgery. The nurse asked me a million questions-allergies, what I was there for, name, is the ID band correct, medication Im taking. She started the IV, gave me a shot of Lovenox(hurt,stings) and my family was brought in. Anesthesiologist came looked at chart and left. Sidebar- I contacted the complementary medicine department at the hospital about relaxation therapy before surgery and was told to purchase a cd in the gift shop and listen to it before surgery. Than this lady, Irene would come up to pre op to help me with the stress of the surgery. Ok Im game. I buy& listen. In comes Irene all cheery, did I listen to the cd? yes. Am I still nervous? yes. How about listening to the cd again? screw the cd, I need more then the cd. She rubs my forehead and ears kind of like a massage, but not. She has stinky perfume. Ok I smiled said she could stop. Now she just hovered next to the bed talking about grace and mercy. I tuned her out. My Dr comes in & starts talking about the procedure and how everything will be fine. OK here it comes- I say It will be fine as long as I don't have a catheter. Dr says well thats not how they do it here. Wait for it..... Amanda FREAKS!!!!! I banged both hands on the rails of the bed and started in on how I was the patient and what I said goes. I gotta give the Dr credit he didn't freak (Irene jumped and disappeared) He just continued talking like I never popped a fuse and said maybe I wasn't ready for the band. My sister gives me the look and said I needed to explain why I wasn't going to have the cath. Now Im a little embarrassed about popping off and pissed that the cath has anything to do with getting banded. Staring off into the ceiling I explain why- infection, pain, and (the kicker) if no cath I will get up and walk more in recovery as with the cath I will remain glued to the bed. I will be a happier more willing patient. The Dr stops, blinks, says OK, and walks away. I am so pleased with myself. The Anesthesia nurse comes in with the good drugs, asks me who I am then pumps them in the IV. They start pushing the bed out of pre op. Sister squeezes my hand and husband gives me a kiss. I totally freak-again. Am I doing the right thing? Did I think this through? Someone is going to be CUTTING ME! This all passes though my head in about 5 seconds. Deep breath. The drugs must be kicking in. I don't care any more. Im just enjoying the view. Rolled into the surgery suite, asked to slide to other table, centered myself and told them I was "equadistance from both sides of the table". Ha ha. Next thing Im waking up in recovery. Im asked if Im in pain, rate it 1-10, I said 3 or 4. nurse said you mean more like 7 right? Nope , then I remember about how if you say you're nauseated they give you something that has a side effect of making you really sleepy and Im thinking sleepy would be really good now. So I say Im nauseous. In go the drugs out goes Amanda. I woke up about 2 hours later with the nurse saying that I needed to be moved to the bed I would be in overnight. HA? Bed? You mean moved to room, right. Nope. No room at the hospital, Im going to be staying at the back end of the recovery with 3 other Lap banders. Great. So they tell my family to leave and get me out of bed. Here is where I found out about the velcro on the gown. noone redid it after putting it back on after surgery and as I go to sit up I flashed the recovery room and my fellow patients all my new incisions and my boobs. Great. I get wrapped up, moved, pit stop at the john where I have to pee in a container they called the hat and connected to monitors and compression bootys. So starts my first overnight stay in the hospital. I could keep going about all that happened. The bed didn't work, the compression booties stopped working about midnight, pain shot (that I took only to get some sleep) gave me a headache, I used the sore throat spray on the scrape the Anesthesiologist made on the top of my mouth, ate alot of ice, tried to sleep, 3am ripped out of sleep by the fire alarm clanger next to my bed, the people running through the fire door also next to me,(the false alarm was never explained but since my hospital was in the fire district my husband volunteers in I knew I was in good hands), 8pm 12am,5am 8am temp and blood pressure, 2 more Lovenox shots(ouch), multiple trips to the john (about 500cc each for those that were counting) 8am trip to radiology for the barium and x ray. They messed up the first picture and had to do a total of three which meant that I drank 16oz of barium. Then Im sent home with instructions to drink 1 ounce every hour. (I asked about the 16 0z of barium, no one had an answer or comment) a pain scrip (later at the pharmacy I found out it was one that Im allergic to) and the instructions printed out from the nutritionist for my meals for the next 5 weeks. I dont think I want to go to the hospital again. At home all things are better. Heating pad for the shoulder, liquid Tylenol(good stuff!) for pain, lots of juice and broth with unjury added. Im a happy camper now. Very minimal discomfort. I don't think I will ever stop passing barium. (ya-TMI) Before surgery I drew a smiley face (my signature as I have one as a tattoo somewhere) and a green shamrock on my belly for the Dr to find. It was the first thing he mentioned to my family after surgery. Said everyone got a good laugh and he put the port right under the shamrock. Im thinking of getting a shamrock tattoo there later. So I guess Im really committed to this shrinking shamrock thing. TTFN

I guess we've moved from banding stories to fill stories.

or the regional forum

I was taking some warm weather clothes down from the attic today. They are in plastic boxes and a bit heavy. I was bracing one on my belly, (like I have always done, nice soft landing zone), when it slid down over my port. OUCH!! Man I thought I scrapped that little bugger off my muscle. I have a bruise now and the port area is tender like when I first got it. Geeze I hope I didn't rip/pull a stitch. Update on eating/drinking- Im doing great on calories/protein. I could do better on getting my water in. The scale is still going down though.

sounds like one of the corners came un-stitched.