Shinyhappymommy

Cathrine Ray, Hang in there! It is scary coming into the unknown, but it has been so worth it for me. I started this thread a while back to let people know that it isn't necessarily as scary as it feels. Now nobody can know ahead of time how your surgery will go, but those are my experiences. Read my thread and know it's only continued getting better and better. Maybe I should update the thread.

Kathy, Mushies rock! It's so nice to have something semi-solid after liquids. You probably won't have as much trouble with your hunger once you're eating foods. Some of my favorite mushies were: refried Beans with a little bit of cheese, light sour cream and guacamole; oatmeal, cream of wheat, cottage cheese, Soups (Campbell's Select are pretty yummy.) pureed chicken is nasty, I wouldn't bother. I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot more ideas on this site. It's a great resource. Just remember to still stick with your surgeon's guidelines, no matter what everyone else is doing.

Gail, Big hugs! Sorry you're so down about things. You haven't been banded all that long yet. You still have plenty of time to get things working for you. Not that it's ever too late, but don't give up, you're just getting started. First of all, I just have to say that I would change surgeons in a heartbeat if my surgeon treated me like you just described. Accusing you of lying to him about what you're eating would be the deal breaker for me. We have endured enough with being morbidly obese, we don't need to feel like we're being beat down by our surgeons. Of course it sent you on a downward spiral. This step of having surgery is one of empowerment. Let that continue into how you demand to be treated by your surgeon, even if it is just switching to a new one. It wouldn't hurt to call around and see what you can find out as far as other surgeon's policies, etc. Also, are you possibly depressed? If so, you might look into getting that addressed. I've struggled with that over the years and it can sure be a motivation killer. Once you get to a good spot with your restriction, the band will help you. But ultimately it is going to be up to you what you put into your body. You will be the driving force behind the healthy foods you eat. For me, it really helps to control my environment. If there are homemade Cookies on the counter, I am going to eat them. If they are a problem for me, I either ask dh to take them to work, or hide them, or I give them away or have the kids eat them. So the stuff that you can't stop yourself from eating? Get it out of the house. Your family will survive. For years I ate because I felt like I was entitled to having whatever and however much of it I wanted. I felt like I deserved this food and nobody, but nobody was going to tell me how to eat. Well, I have come to realize that I'm also entitled to living a good and healthy life and that just because I can eat junk, doesn't mean I should, and most of the time I don't. You are worth it. You can do this. It's never too late to make better choices. Much support, Melissa

Kathy, Hi! Nice name. My mother's name was Kathy, too. Not being able to drink with meals: For me, this hasn't been a problem, but I know that some people struggle. I don't follow the rule of no drinking before I eat. I usually have my drink of Water right before my meal and then sit down to eat. I don't think it fills my pouch up prematurely which I think is the reason for the precaution. I'm able to eat plenty, so that's why I'm able to do that. I just don't have a drink at the table. If I did that would be silly since I won't be drinking it. My family knows to not set out a cup for me. At a restaurant, I'll drink water before the food comes, but I will move my glass far away once the food is there. Out of sight out of mind for me. Which aspect of eating and drinking together are you concerned about? It is something you can learn to do. Once or twice I have popped something in my mouth, like a bite of my child's waffle, chewed and swallowed it and then tried to take a drink, without thinking it through. I came very close to PBing, the water pretty much just came back out of my mouth. I think that would be the problem if I was drinking and eating at the same time. It does work out and I don't even miss it. Before I give you any food suggestions, what phase of eating are you in?

Hi Susie. I hope you mistyped that he put in 10ccs in your band at surgery. That's full for the smaller band and even if you've got a 14 cc band that would be a lot to start off with. I found out at my first fill that I had actually had a couple of ccs in already from surgery. I was surprised, but it didn't matter, just got me a little further along the road to getting restriction. I hope you heal well and don't struggle too much on your post-op diet. My main problem was not knowing if I was doing it correctly. My surgeon's instructions weren't detailed enough for my taste.

Sounds like you're off to a great start! I still struggle to get in my exercise. I'm going to, though. I know it's an important part of a healthy lifestyle. It just hasn't played a huge role yet. I mostly go for walks when I can. That is my main exercise. I have a dvd I want to do too. Hubby was asking today how he can help me get it done. I just need to do it. :eek:

At just over 300 pounds I wasn't ovulating and wanted to be. I was put on Clomid. (Not sure why this doc agreed to do that with me being so obese, but I'm grateful he did.) One cycle later I was pregnant and had a very healthy pregnancy. My depression lessened, I actually lost weight, ending my pregnancy 5 pounds less than I started. I quickly dropped 30-40 pounds after having my little guy. After it was over I wondered why I had waited so long to get pregnant. I had wanted to drop weight, but actually the pregnancy helped me do so. Of course everyone is different, but that's what worked for me. If you can work on getting pregnant now, I'd worry about the surgery once you've had the baby. If you're not able to get pregnant, then look at the surgery again. Also, there are surgeons, specifically in the Denver area, that will do surgery for less than 10K. It would be worth a plane ticket to save 8K, in my mind.

Sorry for you. Yuck. I'd check with my surgeon if you can wait until business hours tomorrow. Good luck!

I have plenty of energy and I'm eating more than 1 cup of food in a day. I don't necessarily measure, but I am eating fairly good sized portions of healthy food at each meal and I'm still losing weight. You don't have to starve with the band.

Sounds like preparation for a colonoscopy, not a lapband. I've never heard of anyone having to do this preparation for this surgery.

It wouldn't hurt to check with your surgeon. Mine seemed to think that heartburn is a cause to worry. It might be nothing, but it might be something.

I like to sweeten Ricotta cheese (part-skim) and add cinnamon to it. Not sure exactly what your question is, I'm guessing you need to curb a sweet tooth? What phase of eating are you in?

What will you be doing for insurance after this one is gone? Personally, I think that having the band inside you without having the security of insurance is scary, so I hope you have plans to get it. Even once you have the surgery, there could be complications down the road. We all pray there won't be, but that's one of the things insurance is for, is the unknowns. I hope this all works out well for you. Good luck.

We didn't even talk it through beforehand, but I wasn't able to prepare food when I was on my post-op diet. The few things I did make, I ended up feeling entitled to eating them and somehow convinced myself that a muffin could count as mushies, and that meatloaf was okay before it technically should have been. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. It will be hard if you can't come to an understanding, I hope you can work through it.

That's wonderful! Congratulations. I felt like I was waiting for Christmas during my pre-op preparations. A bit of a scary Christmas, but exciting at the same time. All my worries were for nothing. Everything has gone very well for me. Keep us posted on your progress!

Check out the complications forum. (But after making the choice to get the band, I'd stay out of there, it's too much of a head game at that point.) The band can slip, or erode into the stomach. Your port can flip, your tubing can get a leak. Most things are repairable, some more complicated than others to do so. I educated myself before surgery, but now that I'm banded I don't dwell on what could happen. I just hope it doesn't and go on with my banded life, losing weight and loving every minute of it.

There is nothing I have tried to eat that I always get stuck on. I can pretty much eat everything I have tried, and I've tried most of the foods that people talk about getting stuck on. I have about 7 ccs in my 10 cc band, but I'm not what I would consider very tight. Since I'm still losing at this restriction, that's where I'm staying for now.

My hubby took some pictures of me today. Thought I'd share my favorite one. Before was February 2008 at 303 pounds. Today I'm 225. That's a 78 pound difference. I love my band!

I had a discussion with my surgeon about this Dr. R. Rutledge. He posts tons of youtube videos bashing the Lapband and promoting his surgery of the Mini Gastric Bypass. Basically, among the medical field, this Dr. is considered a joke. His procedure is (according to my doc) dangerous and not widely used. His are most of the negative videos about the band on youtube. Once you realize he's selling a product, you can see through his motives much more clearly. I've been banded almost six months, lost nearly 80 pounds and couldn't be happier with my results so far. I am aware that down the road there could be complications, but I freak myself out when I focus on those. I just try to follow the rules the best I can, not get overfilled, which from the posts on this site seems to be the number one reason for complications, and work on changing my lifestyle, so that band or no band, I'm living a healthy life. Also, I can eat anything. pineapple, broccoli, red meat, chicken breast, bread (though I usually choose not to), etc. The only times I've PBed (2x) were from one time eating too much and one time eating too fast. You learn and don't repeat the same mistakes.

Kylie, You're more than halfway to your goal! It may feel slow numbers-wise, but you're in a similar position to me on your ticker. I honestly don't think my calves will ever be small enough to fit into cute boots. They have always been disproportionately large and are not really shrinking yet. Maybe they'll the last thing to shrink. We'll see.

That's wonderful for you to be supportive of her. It will help an amazing amount. My dh didn't need to be banded, he's a very normal weight, always has been. Even so, the changes that we've made in what we eat have contributed to him dropping 10-15 pounds, depending on the day. My surgeon said that's a good sign when a spouse loses weight because it shows that they are being supportive. If you're the one doing the cooking, then you really will be a key player in how she does, though ultimately what goes in her mouth is her decision. You can certainly make those decisions easier for her by providing her with healthy choices. I have had such an amazing journey with the Lapband and would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to.

At my average rate of 2 lbs per week, I will have lost 80 pounds by my 6 month mark. It's been such an amazing six months. I feel like such a different person in such a short time. I'm amazed that some of you are approaching 100 lbs lost. That's so great.

Wow, you've certainly put a lot more thought and research into the whole thing than I did. My baby boy turned one later the same month I was banded. I nursed him all throughout the pre and post op stuff, even a few hours after surgery when I was unable to get anything via the pump and dh was taking him to our friends' for the night. Dr. Sears' website had an article which said that it was safe to nurse as soon as you were able after surgery, so I didn't worry too much. I've had no problems nursing my little guy since surgery. I haven't felt like I have a whole lot of milk, but it was like that well before surgery, I just never leak or feel full, but I see milk on baby's mouth, etc. after nursing, so I know there is some. I'm still nursing him at almost 18 months old and he's doing great. My milk isn't a very large part of his nutrition, he eats lots of table food and drinks plenty of milk. Good for you for your dedication to breastfeeding.

Good luck! I hope it comes through for you.

We've been using the General Conference talks as lessons. We are using them with our kids, even having them take turns teaching, but it would be a perfect adult-teaching-adult lesson as well. We just started at the beginning of the Ensign issue and we're doing one talk a week. Good for you for having FHE with just dh and you. My bishop when we first got married really emphasized the importance of doing that.