Bensmum1109

My doctors rule of thumb is that coffee is allowed as long as you also consume 64 oz of water.

Well, I'll let you know how it goes. I have the Emla cream now and I will probably also take a Valium-or 10 :-)

Wow, way to go Michelle!! You really are an inspiration!

Ask the doctor to prescribe Reglan. I was horribly nauseous and by taking one of these pills every 6 hours, it helped tremendously.

I had glue. Itchy, itchy, itchy and it stuck to my clothes, but I think the scars look better with the glue!

Milk of Magnesia is the way to go. Fiber will bulk you up and the longer you go while taking the fiber, the more pain you will have when it's time!! It took me 8 days :-(

Hi Darcey- I also have Pacificare PPO and they do not pay for the band. I was also a self-pay.

Congratulations, Girl!! I am so happy everything is working out for you!

I am a Regional Sales Manager for a Mortgage Bank. I manage 18 Type A high maintenance Account Executives and also run our National Marketing Group. More importantly, I am a Mom to my wonderful little 11 month old boy, Ben. My husband is a stay at home Daddy. I think his job is harder than mine!!!!

I am a firm believer in a "cheat day". It makes the other days liveable and even gives you something to look forward to. What I love about the band is that I know from now on whenever I have my "cheat day" I am not going to overeat. I am just going to eat stuff that I won't eat the other 6 days a week. I am sure if you had those 1600 calorie ice cream, chocolate chip days every day you would not have lost a pound. But you seem predominately on track, so don't worry!! Great job!

I had: 14 Blood tests (only had to go in twice, though. I just got a $1400 bill for the bloodwork- self-pays look out for that!) EKG Full Physical and history Resting Echocardiography Stress Test Colonoscopy and Endoscopy Psych Eval But I had a starting BMI of just under 35 so I had to do a lot of this stuff just so the doctor would perform the procedure. If you have a BMI of 40+ my understanding is that they don't put you through as much.

I really need some advice about a situation I am in. If anyone read my post in the "are you a closet bandster" thread you will know that I have only told my husband and parents about my surgery. I initially did not intend to tell my parents, but my husband encouraged me to because I am very close to them. As for my colleagues, friends, and the rest of my family, they all think I had surgery for an instestinal blockage (which I actually did have, but it is GONE after 2 weeks of liquid-YAY!! I'm still on meds for it, though). My parents have been traveling and are currently in Italy. My mother called my sister-in-law last week, and apparently they had a conversation in which my mother revealed to my sister-in-law that I had the LapBand surgery. She alleges that the reason she told my SIL is because my SIL asked her if she knew I had surgery, and my mother's reply was "we knew about it before we left" (they were in Italy when I had the surgery). My SIL then proceeded to tell her that she was under the impression that it had been emergency surgery (this girl NEVER gets her stories straight-one of the reasons I did not want her to know- I called my brother, her husband beforehand and told him it was a minor procedure, the surgery FOR THE BLOCKAGE and absolutely nothing to worry about), SO MY MOTHER JUST WENT AHEAD AND TOLD HER. Am I justified to be livid?? I am not speaking to my mother and refuse to even pick my parents up from the airport. There is absolutely no way my parents could not have understood me when I said "the only people that I am telling about this are the two of you and Jim (my husband). DO NOT TELL ANYONE THAT I AM GETTING THIS PROCEDURE." My mother is not even apologizing for it- instead she is pissed at me for lying about what kind of surgery I had to my SIL, AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF my SIL is mad because she was under the impression that I had a life threatening health problem (which is not what I said). I actually did and DO have life threatening health problems, which is one of the reasons why my doctor allowed me to have this procedure with a 34.9 starting BMI. Obviously the weight loss will help me with my health problems, which is the main reason I decided to do this. We all know how misinformed people are about this procedure, and we all know how judgemental people are who have never struggled with their weight (my mother and SIL fall into this category). Additionally, my SIL is the one in the family with the reputation of never being able to keep a secret, and like I said before, always getting the story wrong. My guess is that within a few months the rest of my family members are going to think I had a gastric bypass because I didn't think I looked pretty enough, and I am going to have to correct them, educate them, and force some research on them. Am I being unreasonable to be furious and devastated over this?

There is a wonderful pill you can take called Percogesic. It is a safe analgesic with Percocet in it, and it's over the counter. You can get it at Wal-Mart, Longs, and most other drugstores. If I was 25 years old again (and I'm not :-) I would just tell you to smoke a joint. Oh, I miss the old days..............

Rorysmom, my mother didn't think that my sister-in-law was referring to LapBand surgery. My SIL told her it was for an intestinal blockage. And don't worry guys, my parents do have a ride home from the airport. My brother and sister-in-law will get them. I guess I just need some time to get over it. This is the first time (to my knowledge, anyway) that my Mom has betrayed my trust, and I am still in shock that she did it. The whole thing just kind of makes me want to get a little space from all of them and spend time with my husband and son. In fact, I just booked us in Lake Tahoe for Thanksgiving so we don't have to do the whole family thing. Snowboarding, gambling, shopping, just the three of us-that's my kind of Thanksgiving!!! I still have another week before Mom and Dad get home. Maybe I will feel a little less angry about this by then. And of course I will forgive her at some point, but I will be a lot more careful about what I tell her forever, and that is probably what upsets me the most. I have never had to censor myself with her before, but I guess I'll have to.

Happy Birthday, Jack!! Hope your day was marvelous!!!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I was banded 10 days before you and my stomach is still very bloated. I look like I am pregnant. But I am still losing weight so I just figure it will go away eventually.

You don't need a fill, Vanesa! I have only felt restriction once when I took a bite of soft bread. Otherwise, two weeks out, I am now eating soft foods and not feeling anything. I do feel full, however, very quickly and am eating much smaller portions than I ever have. I am now 14 lbs. down (post-op) as of this morning, and I was banded 3 days before you. YAY! Just keep doing what you are doing and remember that you need to stop eating before you feel full and wait for the full feeling to kick in. You've lost 12 pounds- you are right on track!

Candy, where are you?? We're worried about you and hope you are doing ok!!

My justification is simple- if you are obese as most of us are, you have a far better chance of dying from all of the afflictions that are caused by obesity than you have dying while you are being operated on. My understanding of that post was that her friend had a reaction to the anesthesia. If you have been under general anesthesia before and have come out of it OK (even if you haven't been put under before), you really have nothing to worry about. On the other hand, if you do not take this step to help correct your weight problem, you are an excellent candidate for heart attack, diabetes, hypertension, hardening of the arteries, intestinal blockages, etc. These things will kill you!! You will be FINE :-) and on your way to a healthier, LONGER life!!!

I am so sorry to hear about your situation! I know firsthand what you are going through and it's awful. I would tell you all kinds of wonderful positive things, but the truth is, you just have to go through it. I promise you, though, one of these days you will look back on all of this and smile, because the day you do that it will be because your life is a MILLION times better than it is today. And you will appreciate it because of what you are going through now. I was with a man for four years that treated me like a queen one day and a dog the next. It was a real roller coaster of emotions, and one of the reasons I gained so much weight. Finally after 4 years I couldn't take it anymore and left, but spent several months seeing him in secret and going back and forth over whether to reconcile. Finally, I packed all of my stuff and had movers move it to California (I lived in Virginia at the time), grabbed my dog, jumped in my truck and drove all the way across the country. I wanted to DIE, and spent months driving home from work sobbing every night. But eventually I was only crying once a week, then every couple weeks, and so on. A year after I moved to California I met a man who loved me for me (big butt and ALL :-) and who treated me like a queen every day. We have been married two years and have the most beautiful 10 month old boy in the world. Do I think that five years ago I could have imagined being in the place I am today? NOT A CHANCE. Because I was exactly where you are. But it will happen for you too, sweetie. Allow yourself to grieve, and lean on your friends. Do stuff he didn't like to do. Spend entire weekends in bed watching movies, only getting up to powerwalk once a day and breathe the fresh air. Listen to sad songs and cry, and watch silly tv shows and laugh your butt off. Exercise. Drive to different neighborhoods, and walk them, taking in their uniqueness (where do you live? I lived in San Francisco at the time, and it helped because it is a really cool city). Go to the beach or a lake if you can, Water is a natural calming element. Make new friends. Eventually, try online dating! You'll make it, but for a while you will feel like you won't. BUT YOU WILL. PM me if you want to exchange e-mail addresses, I am happy to be there for you!

I have the same surgeon as Karen and she is right. In fact my surgeon (Dr Feng, Karen) talked me out of the band and into a Vertical Gastrectomy, but after a few weeks of anxiety, research, and discussion with DH I decided to go back to the band, and am I ever glad I did!! You need to tell your surgeon how his assistant made you feel so that it doesn't happen to other patients. It definitely sounds like she is clueless, and don't let the skinny little b*%$# affect your decision to go ahead with this process! She may not understand our struggle but she no doubt has issues of her own. And if you need to be pushy or aggressive to get your process moved along in the system or your questions answered, don't be afraid to do it! Don't let anybody push you around!! Good luck. You have a wonderful support system on this board, truly a bunch of great people. They have helped me immensely!

Thanks, you guys are the best! I will try to stop worrying, and I have already ordered the Emla cream :-) I will certainly let you all know how it goes!

Way to go, Vicky!!

I'll tell you one thing I have missed so much in the last 10 days. It's the Food Network Channel! I love the shows, and have always been able to get some wonderful low fat recipes from the Food Channel (or convert some of the dishes to low fat versions), but until I get off the the liquid diet I decided it would be torture to watch. Only 12 more days :-(

Congratulations!! You must be so excited :-) Keep up the good work!