ShellShock

Jewels68- I have the AP Lapband. I actually just got it on sept 30th. Mine holds 10cc, but I don't have a fill yet so I don't have any restriction. For the Ticker, you have to paste the bbCode in your post for it to work.

I was also banded on September 30th. It is funny that each of us have different instructions. I am to do a clear liquid diet for seven days getting in 80 ounces of Water and as much broth as I can. Then day seven I add three Protein shakes a day. I don't move on to mushies until week 4. Then soft foods at week 6 and regular foods at week 9. So pay attention to what your surgeon or nutritionist gives you because you can get really mixed up if you go off what everyone else is doing.

Simon, I was banded on the same day. I am starting to feel better today too. I am able to manuever better today and sit in more positions. Good Luck to you!

fleminld, I don't have any more leave but if I have to take more time off I will. I do feel better each day though. I changed into some jeans today and went out for a walk. It was good to get out, but I couldn't sit in my jeans comfortably so I had to change back into sweats as soon as I got back. I hope your 2nd fill is working for you. It sounds like you are doing great though considering you don't feel any restriction.

JWRN, I hope you are feeling better soon!

It is hard to believe it is over. I am doing well but before I get into that I want to try to recap before I forget everything. The night before the surgery I decided to go to bed early since I had to be at the hospital so early the next morning. I was required to be there by 5:30 AM which was riddiculous. I arrived on time with both of my parents and checked in. We waited until they called my name and they took us to a waiting room. One by one people were called back. Hours went by and my name wasn't called. I of course couldn't eat anything, but I felt bad because my parents weren't eating because they didn't want to eat in front of me. I forced them to eat at lunchtime. Yeah... I said lunchtime. I wasn't called back until 11:00 AM. When I got called back they weighed me. I was excited to hear her say that I was 297!!! I had started my pre-op diet at 316 so that meant that I lost 19 pounds. She then took me to a small room with instead of a door there was a curtain. There was a whole line of them down the hall. I was to take everything off and put on the gown and robe. There was also a haircap and socks with skid resistant rubber on the bottom. A nurse came in to start my IV and I was happy that she decided not to do it in my wrist but higher up my forearm. She then asked me lots of questions that I had been asked a bunch of times already. Once she left they let my parents in. An hour had already passed. My poor parents were so tired. I stayed there another two hours and then they came to get me. I had say goodbye to my parents and I walked to another room where they made me lay in a bed. More people came and asked me questions then I got to close my eyes and wait some more. When they came to get me they pushed the entire bed down the hall to the operating room. Once I was there I had to slide over to another bed. They gave me the anesthesia and I was out quickly. I only remember them asking me to take deep breaths once in a while. When I was all done they pushed me to another room to recover. It was similar to the first one that I was in earlier. They put my bed in an almost verticle position and it made me slide down to the rail. I was so uncomfortable. Luckily a nurse later helped me fix it, I just couldn't change the angle at the top of the bed but I at least got to change the ange at the bottom so that I didn't slide out. I really didn't get any rest that night. They were doing my vitals every three hours and I had to walk at those times too. I didn't mind the walking, I just minded the getting up part. My port site hurt when I had to get up and sit back down again. The next morning they had me change clothes and hang out until they were ready to do my upper gi. I got discharged about 9:00 AM. I asked for more pain meds before I left since I was starting to hurt again and I had an hour ride home. Luckily I found a comfortable recliner at Goodwill last week and that is what I have been sitting in since I got home. I was even able to get a good night's sleep last night. I just have to force myself to get up and walk so that I don't get a blood clot. My cats have been great. My little girl kitty really wants to sit on my lap and I have place a pillow on my stomach so that she doesn't jump on me and hurt me. I have to guide her to my shoulder so that she doesn't hurt me. My incisions look pretty good. The port incision is really indented and hurts a lot. The nurse said it was normal. I do feel better than yesterday. I just have to keep drinking water and broth. I would write more but I am now feeling sick. My head is starting to hurt so more later...

It is hard to believe it is over. I am doing well but before I get into that I want to try to recap before I forget everything. The night before the surgery I decided to go to bed early since I had to be at the hospital so early the next morning. I was required to be there by 5:30 AM which was riddiculous. I arrived on time with both of my parents and checked in. We waited until they called my name and they took us to a waiting room. One by one people were called back. Hours went by and my name wasn't called. I of course couldn't eat anything, but I felt bad because my parents weren't eating because they didn't want to eat in front of me. I forced them to eat at lunchtime. Yeah... I said lunchtime. I wasn't called back until 11:00 AM. When I got called back they weighed me. I was excited to hear her say that I was 297!!! I had started my pre-op diet at 316 so that meant that I lost 19 pounds. She then took me to a small room with instead of a door there was a curtain. There was a whole line of them down the hall. I was to take everything off and put on the gown and robe. There was also a haircap and socks with skid resistant rubber on the bottom. A nurse came in to start my IV and I was happy that she decided not to do it in my wrist but higher up my forearm. She then asked me lots of questions that I had been asked a bunch of times already. Once she left they let my parents in. An hour had already passed. My poor parents were so tired. I stayed there another two hours and then they came to get me. I had say goodbye to my parents and I walked to another room where they made me lay in a bed. More people came and asked me questions then I got to close my eyes and wait some more. When they came to get me they pushed the entire bed down the hall to the operating room. Once I was there I had to slide over to another bed. They gave me the anesthesia and I was out quickly. I only remember them asking me to take deep breaths once in a while. When I was all done they pushed me to another room to recover. It was similar to the first one that I was in earlier. They put my bed in an almost verticle position and it made me slide down to the rail. I was so uncomfortable. Luckily a nurse later helped me fix it, I just couldn't change the angle at the top of the bed but I at least got to change the ange at the bottom so that I didn't slide out. I really didn't get any rest that night. They were doing my vitals every three hours and I had to walk at those times too. I didn't mind the walking, I just minded the getting up part. My port site hurt when I had to get up and sit back down again. The next morning they had me change clothes and hang out until they were ready to do my upper gi. I got discharged about 9:00 AM. I asked for more pain meds before I left since I was starting to hurt again and I had an hour ride home. Luckily I found a comfortable recliner at Goodwill last week and that is what I have been sitting in since I got home. I was even able to get a good night's sleep last night. I just have to force myself to get up and walk so that I don't get a blood clot. My cats have been great. My little girl kitty really wants to sit on my lap and I have place a pillow on my stomach so that she doesn't jump on me and hurt me. I have to guide her to my shoulder so that she doesn't hurt me. My incisions look pretty good. The port incision is really indented and hurts a lot. The nurse said it was normal. I do feel better than yesterday. I just have to keep drinking water and broth. I would write more but I am now feeling sick. My head is starting to hurt so more later...

Hi all, I had my surgery on September 30th so now I am two days post op. I am doing well but have major pain at the port site. I hurts really bad to sit down and stand up. I called the nurse though and she said that was normal. It is weird though because that area is indented. She said that was normal too. I don't have any other major pains exept when I have to cough. Unfortunately I have to do it often. I hope the pains go down over the next few days since I plan on going back to work on Monday.

tammytx ...I am sorry that I wasn't online Monday but I had to be at the hospital by 5:30 am the next morning for my surgery. So yes, that means I am now banded. I just got home a few hours ago. I was in super pain at first and was grateful for the meds. Once I finally got comfortable in the bed I started to relax. The pain eased up until today now that I am home. I am sore around the port and have gas pains. I also have a cough that hurts like heck each time I have to do it. I am excited to say that they weighed me when I checked into the hospital and I lost 19 pounds on my 12 day liquid diet. It was weird though because they weighed me again in the middle of the night after only having an IV in my arm and a few ounces of Water I put on 5 pounds. I will have to pull out my scale and see what the results are after getting back on my liquid diet. Oh another weird thing... does anyone else have a weird indentiation on their stomach now. They numbered my incisions and my port is #6, but #5 (next to port) is indented. I hope it evens out after it heals!?

My nutritionist told me that pretty much everyone in Washington state is going to be Vitamin D deficient. My surgeon has me on 50,000 units three times a week and an over the counter 2000 unit daily. I don't know what my lab numbers were but he was pretty worried about them and that is why he is being so aggressive with the dosage. I remember reading an article that said something about not putting your sun block on for like 15 minutes so that you can get some Vitamin D. Also, we were talking about Calcium earlier and I found a health food store in the Kitsap Mall called Helen's Health Foods. They had lots of calcium citrate in multiple forms. She recommended a liquid called "Life Time". It came in many flavors and was between 600 and 700 mg depending on which flavor you chose. I bought the strawberry which was 600 mg and haven't tried it yet. After I try it, I will let you know if it is any good. They also had an orange flavored chewable that was 250 mg. If I stick with the surgeon's recommendation I would have to have too many per day so I didn't choose that one. But at least I know there are other options if I get board.

I only have five more days till my surgery. I am so excited!!! I was actually wondering the same thing about the calcium. According to my surgeon I am supposed to take 3500 mg of calcium a day and I am only seeing 500 mg of calcium citrate available. Do I really have to do seven servings a day? Or has anyone found a 1000 mg?

In January I got a new insurance since my employer switched companies. I had already planned on getting the band and had to wait until January 1st for it to start. I called on New Years day to make sure it was covered and got the requirements. There was no problem at all with it being the first day having the insurance. I did have to do the six month diet and a few other requirements but now I will be having surgery on Tuesday paid in full. Yay!!!

It is so close...I cannot wait. At least tomorrow is Friday and then I get the weekend to enjoy. I wish I had more leave though cause then I could take off monday too. Going to work for one day before my surgery is gonna suck. I am gonna be so anxious to leave. I will have a lot to prepare though before I take off four days from work. I have never taken that many in a row before so my customers will go crazy. They are the type of people that want things here and now since they think they are so important. (Doesn't mean I give it to them) So when they show up as a walk-in instead of making an appointment with me they will get my "Out of Office" sign. Unfortunately that will only mean lots of stickies and requests on my desk when I get back. Taking just one day off backs up my schedule a lot so I cannot imagine a week.

It is so close...I cannot wait. At least tomorrow is Friday and then I get the weekend to enjoy. I wish I had more leave though cause then I could take off monday too. Going to work for one day before my surgery is gonna suck. I am gonna be so anxious to leave. I will have a lot to prepare though before I take off four days from work. I have never taken that many in a row before so my customers will go crazy. They are the type of people that want things here and now since they think they are so important. (Doesn't mean I give it to them) So when they show up as a walk-in instead of making an appointment with me they will get my "Out of Office" sign. Unfortunately that will only mean lots of stickies and requests on my desk when I get back. Taking just one day off backs up my schedule a lot so I cannot imagine a week.

Every surgeon has their own pre-surgery diet. Not all of them are liquid only. I am surprised that your surgeon didn't tell you what you are supposed to be eating right now.

Yes, I am supposed to do a clear liquid diet with protein shakes three times a day. It is normally 10 days but the doctor wanted me to start the same day that I saw him for my pre-op appointment which makes it 12 days. I can also have sugar free Jello and sugar free fruit popsicles.

I really like Champion Pure Whey Stack Chocolate. You can get it or try others at Vitalady.com - Protein Supplements, Vitamins & Minerals, and Safe Snacks! They sell samples of everything they carry.