NukeChik

I would not being doing banana with the shakes IMHO. I could only have clear liquid protein the week after surgery. Special K Protein water was my friend. Make sure you are not swallowing air when you sip also. Do this by allowing the liquid to touch your lips before drinking. I was inhaling a lot of air by breathing in prior to drinking when I first had surgery.

I'm a healthy person, just overweight, that being said I was very anxious to get home. They wanted to keep me longer, but I was saying what do you need me to do to get out of here. I became anxious after I was sure 1) I could keep liquids down and not get nauseated 2) I didn't have any problems peeing and 3) I could lap the building without assistance. I was out of surgery by 9 am and headed home at 11. Just the way I wanted!

There are a few threads dedicated to this subject. This is the last one I know of and a good one at that. Click on the following link: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/don-t-over-shop-before-surgery-49283/

Okay, here's my before pics. These pics were taken in August of 2007 while on vacation, my weight was the same as it was presurgery. I can post the pics that we took of me on the night before surgery but I have some seriously bad hair and facial expression going on. I should've retook it but oh well.

Actually my surgeon chose the Realize, I didn't get the choice. I wanted to choose, but the girl that did the pre-op class at the office said that he chooses on a case by case basis. I think that he's probably doing them exclusively though due to him also being a proctor.

These are my kitties, Marley (Marlin Firearms) and Mauser (Swedish Mauser). If I got to buy them my dear man got to name them?! I have 2 doggies. For some reason I can't find their pics on my computer and all the camera batteries are dead!!! I'll get them a little later after the batteries recharge!

I just called the ethicon people to get my surgeon's id number. They are supposed to call my surgeon's office and tell them all they need to know to support their patients. Pretty bad that my surgeon is one of the guys doing all the little video snippets on their website and his staff doesn't know their identification code:confused:

I'll have to try calling that number cause I would like to get on the website. I'm not positive about the no stitching thing. Its just what I've gathered from my research. I could eat a lot at a time if I let myself. I get hungry after about 4-6 hours on about a cup to a cup and a half of food. I'm following all the doctors rules. I haven't started exercising regularly yet. I plan on it though. Time to dust off the old treadmill. I do get really, really hungry. I'm trying to hold myself back from snacking right now. I've only actually been full once. I usually just measure out a small portion of food and work on that. If I'm still hungry after about 10 minutes of finishing I'll have a little something else. I'm usually "satisfied" though. Thats how I'm trying to live my life now, eating till I'm "satisfied" not till I'm full.

Thanks for answering the cc mamato. My doc still hasn't figured out what his code is for the website so I haven't gotten into that yet. They gave me a little card when I was at the surgery center but the number on it is 16 digits and the website wants 12. Oh well, maybe they'll figure it out. My surgeon is one of the docs on there doing all the little videos, Jaime Ponce. From everything I've seen, during the surgery they don't stitch the band on like the others. Thats probably the reason I woke up from surgery hungry. I don't think that I had much swelling at all. I have an appt to get my first fill on Feb 5. I think that the amount of time to the first fill is less than the other bands. I think most bands are 6 weeks for first fill. The realize literature says you can get a fill after your first week of solid foods (week 4). I start solids tomorrow. I was banded Jan 7. Oh another fun fact about the Realize band, the port is only 1/2 inch tall. I'm not sure what the other bands stats are, but I'm thinking that is much smaller.

I have the realize band. I don't know that its much different. Do a search and look at a previous thread that was started. I think the biggest difference is the port. On the other bands the port is stiched into the fascia (sheet of tissue/fat over abdominal muscles), in the realize band the port has a self anchoring system, which basically means they kind of rivet it in. At this point in time J&J's research states that there is a lower occurrence complications with the port (flipping and so on). I'm pretty sure that the REalize band also has a low profile port standard. I can feel mine (I don't have much fat in the area they placed my port) and it feels pretty small. My surgeon placed mine so that it shouldn't show up too bad, its kinda hooked to the edge of my ribs.

My account on top toolbar, then edit signature. Copy and paste it in the area at the bottom, then you can even preview it afterwards

Everything I've ever read says that any liquid that doesn't have caffiene in it can be counted against your intake. Examples- Sprite (I know its a no-no due to carbonation, just trying to give examples), decaffinated tea, broths, and so on. Anything that you drink with caffiene in it works against your 64 oz for the day because caffiene is a diuretic.

I was self pay and it was 13,800. Of course if you want to get techincal I had to pay the consultation fee of 250 bucks and I also had to pay for the psych evals which were 300 dollars. So I guess my cost was about 14,350. I don't really care, I invested in myself. Also my fee includes a year of followups (they are scheduled, but it is still as many as I need) and fills are 45 bucks a pop. Then after the year my followups are 50 bucks each and fills are 125. So I think that makes my surgeon pretty competitive with the aftercare included in the package. My surgeon is also the leader of a center of excellence, so that made me a little more comfortable. I got the insurance to pay for my pre-op testing by getting my regular doctor to send me for the tests. I had to have several blood tests and an upper gi. For the upper gi my doc just said, "So you have heartburn, right???"

Well its official, I think. Tonight we went out to eat and I think I actually got full. I had about 4 ounces of hamburger steak, some turnip greens and almost all of a muffin. Then all of a sudden there was a feeling like something in my chest. I had a bite of muffin in my mouth, and I just stopped and said oh!? I put that bite of muffin in my napkin and stopped! I did not wanna go too far. I'm just so glad to know now that 1) I can in fact get full and 2) I now get full off of much less food than pre band. I'm just so excited now.:rolleyes2:

I ordered my Unjury a thursday and it was at my house on Monday.

Just make sure that your mocha is less than 130 degrees, otherwise you will get floaties.

I'm sorry that you are feeling down L.A. I can't really relate, I guess I've dealt with it in a different way. I have started an organizational attack on my home. Every day when I go home I organize something. It started with my closet, I organized all my clothes (ranging from size 20-12) in descending order. This is how I have always dealt with what would be called depressing situations, I just keep myself busy so I don't have to think about it. Just know that I'm here for you if you need to vent or anything else!! I have gone through bouts of depression in my life. I've been on several different types of meds. I guess I never figured that the depression was as bad as the side effects of the meds I was taking. Try and feel better in knowing that soon the weight will be dropping off!

I should clarify one thing. The reason why I'm hungry all the time is I haven't had an adjustment yet. If I were you I would research the band (if you haven't already) and see how it works and such. I will have an adjustment on Feb 5 and I shouldn't be as hungry then. Oh and the problem with the seminar. My doc and the others in the area, will not let you even get an appt until you have gone to a seminar. One of the secondary reasons that I got my band was to encourage my father to do it also. I have an aunt that had gastric bypass and has had a very rough time. Watching her struggle with that has definately turned him against a bypass, but I would still like to make an impression on him with my success and hope that he will consider doing it also.

I can't answer your question as in a long term answer, I can just tell you how I feel right now. I had surgery on Jan 7, 2008, so I'm almost 3 weeks out. I feel great. My energy level is much higher than it was pre-surgery, I've lost 20 pounds. I can eat great. I do have to diet, I am hungry most of the time. I'm trying to keep my calories from 1000-1200 per day. Thats plenty to keep your energy up. I even felt good when I was only getting about 400-500 a day though. I think that your father's energy level after surgery is the least of his concerns!

So glad that it was nothing major. I was so worried about you!:redface:

Just wondering if I can get into the Lower BMI Bandsters. I'm down to about a BMI of 34 now. I think I was about 39 when I started this journey. I was banded on January 7. Doin great, get to try regular foods on Monday. I haven't had any problems with anything I've eaten so far.

I'll be thinkin about you Chrisann, sorry you have had such a crummy time!! Let us know what your doc says.

Mia, Let me share a little habit of mine that may be the root of your problems. I noticed quite quickly that when I drink I have a bad habit of inhaling prior to taking the drink. If you do that it will cause you to swallow air and lead to more discomfort. This is what was causing the problem that you are describing (when it happened to me). So when you are drinking something, pay attention. Let the liquid touch your lips before you drink. See if you do it too because its just something that was habit for me and I didn't think about it.

Seajules, That quote is from Henry Ford. I went on a website to get another one he has that is something like Whether you think you can or can't, either way you are right, but I ended up liking the one I've got better. It just sums me up.

I also found that now that I'm eating pretty normal again my incisions are finally healing. I had a lot of concerns about infections in my incisions and holes in my stomach. I was really scared because they just weren't healing (BTW I'm not diabetic). As soon as I started eating fish and my protein shakes and such I"m healing. I'm not losing any weight right now, but I'm okay with that, this is all about being healthy.