lovegrapes

Your weightloss is fine. 23lbs in 2 months is great. I lost around the same amount in that time. You need to remember that with the band your doctor expects a weightloss of 1-2 lbs per week.

The only place I've lost from is my face, ankles and mostly from my butt. My belly looks so disporportionate to the rest of my body, it's almost physically uncomfortable. I hope once I step up the exercise that my belly will catch up with the rest of my body.

I agree with Heather. This is a forum which in it's definition is a place to discuss questions and ideas. It's incredibly frustrating to take your time answering a post to only have the thread-starter complain about your answer.

Yes, you can have a colonoscopy. There are 3 preps that I know of. Fleets Phospha Soda, Golightly and Miralax. Of those three I would highly suggest the Miralax prep. You would take a whole bottle of Miralax mixed in 64oz of Gatorade or Crystal Light. The fleets phospha soda and Golightly are hard to drink and many people find that they throw up or wretch when drinking it which could be hard on your band.

I work as a unit clerk on a busy surgical unit. I do a lot of sitting but I'm up and down and walking probably about six times an hour. I went back after 2 weeks and I wished I hadn't, my surgeon's PA told me to take off a month. I was so incredibly sore. My surgery was a little more complex and involved because my surgeon took 2 hours just to take down the adhesions from around my stomach. Recovery is totally individual. There was a man that had surgery the same day as me and he told me he was back to work 2 days later. Realistically, I'd plan for a good week if you aren't anticipating any complications.

Before surgery I read everything a million times and knew everything. After surgery it was like they removed a portion of my brain because even though I had explicit guidelines I felt like I was lost. If it wasn't for my mother I probably wouldn't had ate at all. She made my Protein shakes and asked me what I wanted to eat and just did it for me. Once I started worrying less about what and when I needed to eat I naturally started to eat the way I was supposed to. I just wound myself up so tight about following the rules, I made them way too hard. Of couse I'm not saying that this will apply to you, but it was just my own experience. To me the key is getting in all your Protein wether it be from food sources or shakes and then worry about everything else. I try to get in around 15-25 grams of lean protein 3 times a day and then I allow myself to add other foods to that meal--mostly veggies, sometimes Beans or salads. If I'm on the run or falling short on protein for the day I'll add a shake. Just concentrating on one thing made the whole process so much easier on me.

This is a good reminder to all to not discount unusual symptoms. I had to laugh at your use of the word "puss-y" I work on a surgical unit and one of our night shift nurses used the term "pussy drainage" in her charting. Of course it was good for a laugh. People are now careful to use "purulent drainage".

I'm perfectly willing to pay for whatever a restaurant has to offer me. I do not feel that I should receive special treatment; I will not make myself out to be a victim. There are many people out there that can't eat a full meal or sandwich or whatever it may be. They still have to pay for their whole meal, why shouldn't I?

I was to be banded in May, then there was a retirement buyout, my co-worker retired on short notice and I was left to pick up the slack. I actually work where I was banded and my boss told me, "you know you can't have your surgery until the new girl is trained in right?" With FMLA she really couldn't mandate that, but I had already decided to be helpful and delay my banding. I was was pretty upset as my life was basically flung into total chaos from working outside my schedule and tons of overtime. I really made some extreme sacrifices that most people would be very unwilling to make. But, I was banded at the end of July and it's all water under the bridge now. You just got to believe its all going to work out.

I bought a variety of Protein powders before I was banded. I really wish I hadn't because out of the 5 products I bought I only liked two, and the two I liked were the same product, just different flavors. I bought Isopure--heavy protein taste, hate it! Also got Syntrax Necter Iced tea--so disgusting, smells like heavy elastic; my dietician thinks it smells like vomit, I agree. I also bought the protein bullets, the name escapes me at the moment--- they were expensive, they weren't that bad but they didn't fill me up like a Protein shake, I used one bullet out of a box of 12. I can't beleive how much money I wasted! I would have had more fulfilment lighting my $150 on fire. What I did like was Designer whey chocolate mixed with milk. I also got the strawberry, which is okay. What I suggest is just finding a good chocolate shake you like, then buy different shakes if you get bored. I'm at about 8 weeks post-op and I went down to one shake a day at about 2 weeks and at about four weeks I discontinued the shakes because I can easily eat enough protein. I just have an Atkins Advantage shake probably every other day when I'm in a hurry or don't feel like eating.

Have you been tested for the bacteria H. Pylori? I'm not sure of the exact statistic, but somewhere in excess of 70% of ulcers are caused by H. Pylori. If you are infected you need to be treated with a course of two antibiotics and continue your "Losec". I would hope that your doctor has already tested or treated you for this. I would probably just continue taking the Losec, eating cautiously and see where it takes you. If there isn't resolution of your problem or it gets worse, I would maybe consider getting the band removed at that point.

You can get papaya enzyme at GNC. It's really cheap, probably around $3 for a bottle of 90. It was buy one get one free when I bought it.

I'm perfectly willing to pay for whatever a restaurant has to offer me. I haven't patronized any buffet styled restaurants since my banding, but if I happen to go to one with family or friends I will pay the adult rate as everyone else does. I do not feel that I should receive special treatment. However, I do feel comfortable asking for reasonable substitutions like veggies or a salad instead of fries or asking for something to be broiled and not fried.

Any food that you do not chew well enough can get stuck in your stoma. You will also find that there are certain foods that get stuck no matter how much you chew them. I can't eat deli turkey no matter how well it is chewed. It is the only food I've got stuck. I just get a really intense dull ache and spasms for about 10 minutes and slime comes up my throat. It varies from person to person what gets stuck and to what degree you will "suffer." Sometimes the food will not pass; in that case you would have to assess the severity and decide what to do. meat tenderizer can be mixed in a small amount of Water and swallowed. It breaks up the Protein binds in food and allows it to pass. You can also try taking papaya enzyme or drinking pinapple juice; they have enzymes that help break down food. Ultimately if a food item doesn't pass you may need to call your doctor for further intervention. You will just need to try foods and find out what works and doesn't work for you.

My physicians office recommends taking one tablespoon of mineral oil daily the first month post-op to combat constipation. I know that at 3 days post op I had bad pain and cramps and it was due to gas. It was pretty awful until I was able to "realease" some of it. Using gas-x strips really helped.

I think what you've said isn' rude, it's actually verbal and mental abuse. Your wife will never look like an 18 year old again, and either will you for that matter. Just imagine what she could say about your physique; and you haven't even bore children! 200 lbs on a 5'9" frame isn't "packing on the pounds" it's baby weight. You are so very fortunate that she didn't pack on the same pounds that you did. Have you ever considered that your wife's lethargy could be due to untreated depression. Having an unsupportive husband and just having children can make the strongest woman depressed.

You can't wear jewelery when you are being operated on as it is common for the surgeon to use an instrument that cauterizes by using electric current. You can end up with burns or be electrocuted. You can not wear fake nails or polish as it obstructs the pulse oximeter that measures your oxygen saturation and pulse. The nurse anesthetist also can notice subtle changes in your circulation by looking at your fingernails. Why compromise your safety?

I bought one of those fancy kitchen scales that calculates the nutritional value of the food being weighed. I don't like it! I question the accurracy. If I were to get another kitchen scale I would just buy a good digital kitchen scale that weighs grams and ounces and has the "tare" function to zero out the scale. As for a body weight scale, I would definetely go digital as well. I don't own a scale myself, I usually weigh myself at work or at my boyfriends house. I know if I had a scale at home I'd be on it constantly.

There are many reasons that a lap-band patient would have to spend the night: intractable pain and nausea, inability to urinate or unstable vital signs are the most common. Some doctors just mandate an overnight after surgery.

I certainly wasn't insinuating that a second opinion wasn't valid. I was mearly stating my opinion which is based on working with many surgeons and knowing a bit about their pshyche. I would say that ego fuels 95% of them. Ego is a good thing in a surgeon because it makes them determined to do the job and do it right--unfortunetely it makes them incredibly hard work with. Frankly, I think surgeons in the US are making nearly enough money. For all the schooling they go through, all the liability and the poor reiumbursement they deserve every dime they make. What I am certainly advocating is being an informed health consumer. There are so many people who do not understand the gravity of their condition or the means that it will take to make headway against it. Fact of the matter is, an overweight diabetic with prior wound issues that now has a hernia is a recipe or disaster. Therefore taking off some of the weight and possibly improving or eliminating comorbid conditions before a hernia operation is certainly something to look into.

Just move on. It's not a big deal. You will have days when you eat crappy. I find that if I concentrate more on my protein intake that I have a better day foodwise.

The best advice I've ever heard is that you cant untell someone. You're early on in the game as well. If you're going to tell people I'd wait until your surgery date is imminent.

My seroma has resolved! I got a 3cc fill in my 9cc Realize band last Thursday. I still have no restriction. My dietician told the PA I didn't need a fill, but she filled me anyway. It's a little frustrating because yes, I am losing at the prescribed rate, however it's been all my own doing, and has little to do with the band. I never feel full, but I have learned to live on 3 protein filled meals, maybe 2 small snacks and one protein shake a day. I rarely feel deprived or hungry. Hunger manifests itself in weakness and irritibility now. I know I'm way past due to eat when the "bitch switch" flicks on!

I do not mean this to be insulting, but it doesn't seem like you truly understand your MIL's condition fully and secondly some of the answers you've recieved will not add any clarity to the issue. You really haven't given enough information for anyone to give you a good solid opinon. How much does your MIL weigh? What is her BMI? Is she diabetic? What kind of hernia does she have? I think you may be mistaking the repair of hiatal hernia's with that of an abdominal wall hernia, which are two totally different animals. It may be that your MIL is so obese that the surgeon is under the impression that operating on it will do no good because she is obese and it will probably just open up agan. Add in the comorbidities of age, possibly diabetes, and from what you said probably a VRE or MRSA infection, she would be setting herself up for event laden hospital course. What I suspect is that the surgeon would like her to take off a decent amount of weight before repairing the hernia. Also, there may be many other comorbid conditions that you have failed to mention that need dire attention and ulitmately will need resoloution or improvement through weightloss. I sincerely doubt that the surgeon is trying to make money. If you question his treatment course for your MIL do seek another opinion, but seek it with an open mind. Doctors are there to help people, not to screw them out of money.

My band is super tight most mornings and water hits my stomach like a ton of bricks. I just wait it out.