MamaJava

My surgeon is Dr. Schram! I adore him. He's quite literally the best of the best. I was banded 1/4 and don't get my first fill until 2/18. Grrrr. I want it sooner than that. I'm going to try to get in earlier so I'm gonna call them tomorrow. PM me if you have any further questions about Schram or the facility (Forest Health Barix Clinic). I went to the Ypsi location...are you going there or to his facility in Holland?

Hey Woodsy! I also got banded by Dr. Schram the day after you did...Jan. 4th. I don't get my first fill until Feb. 18th. UGH. I also got the Realize because that's all he does...he doesn't do any other bands anymore. I'm HUNGRY. I really think I'm gonna call Monday and see if I can get in earlier. I like the Realize band website, but there are many problems with it. They only have certain foods listed in their food bank, and if your exact food is not listed in there, you have to fish around and search forever to find something similar?!? That's not very conducive to getting accurate information in the system for each one of us. My friend Lisa was also banded by Schram on 11/20...she's had one fill and he only put 2.5 cc in her. She feels absolutely NO restriction. She's upset. She hasn't lost anymore weight since she was 2 weeks out. I hope he listens to me when I tell him I need a very aggressive fill. This is so frustrating. I love Dr. Schram and I love the facility, but this band is making me mad. I have some port site pain, but it's only when I bend over. The general post-surgical soreness is gone. Oh...and I can feel my port. Low profile or not...I can definitely feel it when I lay on my back or if I press firmly on my port site.

I haven't had my 1st fill yet, and I've recently graduated to soft foods (anything you could eat if you didn't have teeth), so I'm pretty much back to normal. It's weird...I must have a little restriction because I sometimes can't eat more than 1/2 cup of food. Other days, I have to walk away around 1 1/2 cups because I KNOW I could eat more, but I know that I shouldn't. If I am away from home and if I'm not paying attention, then I could easily mess this all up. I swear I honestly forgot I was banded once and I just kept eating...I put away 2 cups and then I was miserable the rest of the night. I learned a lesson. Normally, however, my body begins getting gassy (burping) around 1 cup of food, so that's my average. That's my signal that I need to walk away or just hurry up and throw away what's left on my plate. My doc can't get me in before Feb. 18th for my first fill and we both agree it can't come soon enough! LOL I've explained my hunger and he agrees we have to get it under control. Like I said, other days I eat perfectly...and that's around 1 cup or a little less. That's normal when you don't have restriction. But you have to be careful! I actually was eating some mashed potatoes and baked chicken the other day and was eating too fast (was chewing it up a lot so that wasn't the problem)...and it got stuck. Oh, that was misery for about 30 seconds until I finally sat with my hands above my head and I could literally feel it go through from the top to the bottom of my stomach...so the band is trying to do it's job, I just need that fill!!! I have learned to slow down. It's a HUGE learning process, all this band stuff. :smile:

For those who were asking...dysplasia and HPV has nothing to do with being overweight. :biggrin: Human Papilloma Virus is a sexually transmitted disease and it's not biased against obesity. It can affect anybody, fat or thin. Back in 1997 while pregnant with my first baby, I was diagnosed with mild dysplasia, had the biopsy and LEEP procedure and all was well for 9 years with completely normal PAPs. After having my baby 6 months ago, I got another abnormal reading and I have to go back for biopsy again. This time it's even more severe dysplasia than before so I'm sure I'll need another LEEP. It recurs almost all the time. Some women get lucky and it never recurs. Just depends.

They are treating me with antibiotics for 10 days "just in case" it might be cellulitis. It's slowly getting a little bit better...and it's good that it hasn't gotten worse. I'm just supposed to keep an eye on it and go to the ER if it gets worse. I think it will be okay. Thank, everybody!

I'm all healed and my incisions were all perfectly closed. In fact, 16 days out I had to pull off my last 2 strips cuz they were getting dirty and they looked bad. Well, 3 days ago I noticed some redness below my port incision. I figured it was just irritated so I took 2 hot showers that day and kept my eye on it. Now, it's even more red and it's back to being sore again. It's also warm to the touch. The red patch runs directly from below my port incision down to the 5th incision on my lower right abdomen. It's kind of strange. I don't have flu-like symptoms, no fever, no chills. I was so worried my body was rejecting this thing. I had my best friend who is a nurse look at it, and she said it appears to be a bit of cellulitis...which is not good, but I can have it treated. But how do you get cellulits AFTER something is all healed and looks beautiful? That's just bizarre to me. I'm off to the doc today to have him look at it. PLEASE keep me in your thoughts and PLEASE send positive vibes my way that my body is not trying to reject this band & port. I couldn't bear it. I need this band to stay where it is. I haven't even had a fill yet and to have it removed due to rejection, well, that would send me over the edge after everything I went through to finally get this. :eek:

I'm not having a really hard time during the meal. I can go without drinking something while I eat. It's AFTER that gives me the hardest time. I usually give in and end up taking a few sips before my 30 minute wait time is up...but it doesn't make me feel hungrier, it makes me feel fuller. *shrug* I must be built differently.

I'm still in puree stage and have 1 more week of this followed by 1 week of soft foods. However, I'm preparing for normal eating again by gathering band-friendly recipes and figuring out great meals now. I will be joining WW again for the 11th and FINAL time of my life. When I was participating in WW in the past, polenta became a main staple of mine. I made all sorts of things with it. Namely homemade pizza. It makes a phenomenally healthy & delicious crust. Is it easily tolerated by the band? I think it would be a great alternative to crusts and breads in many situations. I found a good sale on it and thought about heading out tomorrow to buy a bunch on the sale and stock up my freezer...but if it has a tendency to stick or to be PB'd, then I won't waste my money. Thanks in advance!

Ok...so I'm having issues with portion control when I'm out of the house. I'm still mostly eating purees, but I'm also slowly easing my way into soft foods due to the fact that my stomach and bowels weren't too happy with my first few attempts at soft foods. That could be the issues I have with IBS...but I digress. LOL Also, I have NOT had my first fill yet. I also have very little restriction. So when I eat out, I stick to the rules. But, I'm having a really hard time controlling my portions when I'm out away from home and I've definitely eaten over a cup of food on a couple of occasions. I try to visualize but I'm really bad at that, apparently. I'm hoping this will get easier once I have fills and restrictions, since my stomach won't be able to hold that much. Right now, it's tough and I'm still learning how to stop when I'm satisfied, and NOT when I feel full. The reason for this is that if I eat until I'm full, then I'm easily eating 2 cups of food. I can't be doing that! How do some of you get your portions right when you're at restaurants? Do I have to carry a measuring cup in my purse to get this right? I would be willing to do that unless I can find an easier trick. Quite frankly, I'd rather not have to pull out a measuring cup in public. But if that's what it takes, then bring it on! LOL

Again, the wrong list got updated. I was deleted from the list....again. I'm still on the main list on page #1, though...so is that the official list? If it's not, please put me back on. The wrong list was copied again about 2 pages ago.

In addition to my previous post I wanted to state that my doctor does the Realize bands exclusively. He dumped the old bands and only does Realize. He doesn't do them just because they are new...he does them because he personally feels they are a better band overall.

I have the REALIZE and I set myself up on the website just yesterday. The anchoring system is awesome and helps prevent port flips. The Realize is also the first band to cover more stomach surface area by making it wider (now other bands are doing the same thing) since that is believed to prevent PB's, prevent slipping, keep you feeling full longer, and offers greater restriction on average. It really is the best band out there at the moment. I'm sure another one will eventually take its place down the road...but right now we are all so lucky to have the greatest band technology. :eek:

My post-op doc recommended stages are: 1. full liquid 2. purees 3. soft foods So...this "mushy" talk all over these boards is even more confusing to me...so I can't help you. If the mushy stage is supposed to be similar to my soft food stage, then my doc says that is anything you could chew if you didn't have teeth. If your mushy stage is equivalent to my puree stage, then that's anything you can throw in a blender and puree down to baby food consistency. I don't know if that helps cuz I don't understand "mushies"...

I was told anything non-carbonated, and sugar free or diet drinks ONLY count toward water intake. That would be Iced tea, Crystal Lite drinks, sugar free Koolaid, water...things like that. I don't know the rules for the protein drinks but I would ask your doctor.

It makes no difference if your surgeon is a "bad" one or not - many docs do NOT require any pre-op diet at all. My doc is a top one in the world for lap bands and he has found (in his experience with requiring them in the past) the pre-op diets to be virtually ineffective in shrinking the liver...so he doesn't require them either. Don't let that be any kind of red flag. I only had to be on Clear liquids for 24 hours before my surgery, take a couple Dulcolax and stop eating at midnight the night before. If your surgery is a whole 4-6 months away, why would you get instructions for that right now anyway? I wouldn't worry about it. Also, you will probably get a PAT (pre admission testing) day where they do all that bloodwork. Since you have a very long time, they probably just didn't tell you about it yet. I didn't learn about my PAT requirements until 3 weeks before my date when they called me and said I had to have a day of PAT 2 weeks before my surgery. That's when they scheduled it. You are a long way away still. Don't worry about so much right now. It will probably all happen the way your surgeon sees best. It does not always signal a red flag, and it does not always mean you need to find a different location. That rationale seems kind of absurd to me. Also, I'm surprised you didn't need that psych eval before your insurance approval? Mine would not approve me without it. So...sounds like your surgeon is ahead of the game and things are actually happening faster for you than for most people.

You do not need to see your doctor every time you begin a new phase in your post-op healing diet. If the instructions say to begin mushies @ 4 weeks, then by all means, begin them at 4 weeks.

My doc says to drink liquids for the remainder of that day of the fill, and then solids the next day is fine to start again. I would think 48 hours probably isn't meaning literally down to the 48th hour...I would think a regular breakfast the 3rd day after would be fine.

Hmm...not sure what you're gonna do then. If you don't wanna take anything to class, then you'll have to either eat before class or after. I guess I'm not sure what the dilemma is. You can eat both times or pick one or the other. It doesn't seem that difficult to me. Also, there are plenty of beverages offered on airplanes. You don't always have to worry about Protein shakes being available 24 hours a day.

We share the same FANTASTIC doctor! Isn't he the best? Actually, I mean that in many ways...he really *is* the best. He's one of the top teaching surgeons of the band in this entire country. I'm still on purees but beginning soft foods today as it was okay by the nutritionist as long as I stick to very soft foods for the next week. That's great, because my hubby is taking me out for my birthday dinner tonight (my b-day is next week). Hey...lets stay in touch! I have my first fill exactly 6 weeks post-op...that will be February 18th. I'm getting excited! I need it so bad (hungry, hungry, hungry) and I'm really hoping I get some restriction right off the bat. I'm gonna tell Schram to be as absolutely agressive with my fill as he can be. Take it easy and I'm so glad you are doing so well! They really take good care of ya over there at Forest, don't they? :redface:

I'm also in school and tons of fellow students including myself bring snacks and eat during class. Take some pudding, yogurt or Jell-o with you and eat during class. Or you can make a smoothie and drink it during the class.

I've gone every single day since my surgery. I had my first bowel movement the morning after surgery. It does hurt, though, because it is harder than normal. I just began taking Colace yesterday, which is okay by my instructions. I'm hoping that will make things a bit easier in that department. I do want to warn you that when I was pregnant I had once gone 5 days without having a bowel movement. It was during the time I was on Zofran for nausea related to hyperemesis (severe morning sickness). HOLY CRAP that was the worst 12 hours of my life trying to get that thing out of me!!! I would not wish that on anybody. I will spare you the details, but the size and texture of that b.m. was shocking to my physician and my husband both. If my body would have gone just 12-24 more hours without getting it out on my own, I would have become severely impacted and the hospital would have had to take matters into their hands to help me pass it. It was the most horrific nightmare I've ever been through. Honestly, it was worse than the births of my children. So...just to avoid what I went through...you might wanna take something strong, and call your doc.

My doc said to leave them alone and they would eventually come off on their own, and that would be best. 4 of mine over my small incisions all fell off on their own around days 7 & 8. The 3 strips that covered my port incision acted like they would never come off! Doc said to go ahead and remove them to avoid harboring bacteria. That was on day 18 post-op! I was like you...I didn't think those suckers were ever going to come off, but my skin was getting irritated and it was best to remove them myself at that point.

Awww! Bless your heart... This place can really freak somebody out. I totally understand why you'd wanna take off and not come back until later. Stuff that my doc has never even mentioned is in these boards and it can make you go "What?!?!" Do what works best for you. If this place gives you anxiety (I can relate!) then it's probably a good plan to just walk into your surgery with a positive outlook than to be worrying about all the stories and bodily functions that are mentioned around here. I've also called my doc on a couple of occasions over stories that I've read on here and he just kinda says "the internet can be a good tool, but it can also be a great big pain in the a$$ with a whole lotta false info." So, I've cut back on believing everything that I read will happen to me. In fact, I haven't had even 1/8 of the issues I've read about...of course I'm also new to all of this and my time may be coming! LOL I can't focus on that, though. I gotta focus on THIS moment, and MY issues, and not everybody else's stuff... Hope to hear how you're doing when you return! Stay in touch. :frown:

LOL! It's funny you posted this cuz I almost posted something similar to this before. I thought I damaged myself or my port once when I bent over to tie my shoes ( I was sitting down) and the waistband of my jeans jammed into my port sight incision. I thought I had done some serious damage because it hurt pretty bad when I did it. You might wanna mention it to your doc, just to be on the safe side. I'm sure it's just the muscle that is still healing under there and probably didn't do any damage to your port. On many of the new bands (like mine, the REALIZE band by Johnson & Johnson) the port is anchored differently now, so ports can't flip. I don't know what kind of band you have, but I'm sure you just irritated that healing muscle again. Again, ask your doc if you are really concerned. :frown:

Again, you are typing to me as though I'm the one who began the thread and wrote the original post. I really don't understand what on earth you mean when you say that I can't accept some truth? Huh?? I believe you may be a bit confused. These posts aren't information that I wanted...they are answers to a question posted by somebody else. I believed you were not paying attention to the orginal posters question and you were harping on stuff that didn't make sense to the thread. Plus, you directed everything toward me like I had majorly offended you when I had never directed a word toward you in the first place. Sorry you misunderstood and that your sensitivity is getting in the way of a productive banter between bandsters. I am always open and welcome to the truth...but your experience is YOUR experience and you should not post as though your experience is the truth (that's like trying to say what you post is FACT, and that's definitely not right)...it is simply, honestly and ONLY your opinion and should be treated as such. I totally respect your opinion. I'm sorry to hear that you can't accept or respect mine. Best of luck to you in your weight loss journey. to the OP (mindy)...if ya wanna send me a message, feel free. All docs and bands are different (Yes, most new ones ARE different...the new ones are wider and cover larger stomach area for a reason...it was researched and perfected over time and they are meant to offer longer restriction times, longer feelings of fullness, less instances of slips and lowers the amounts of PB's). I really think the 3 eggs and couple bites of tuna salad was probably okay. Over time, and after you begin getting fills and you actually HAVE a pouch, that type of behavior might not be the best option. right now, I can totally see where you are coming from and that amount of food probably hasn't done any damage. If you are super-concerned, speak with your surgeon. Don't be afraid of getting your rear spanked by him for what you ate because it wasn't as bad as you think it was. I think open lines of communication with our personal doctors are definitely the key to success for each one of us. While these boards can offer a lot of differentiating views and experiences, they cannot give you concrete answers because none of us actually performed your operation. Relax! Breathe! You're gonna tackle this journey in your own way along with the rest of us. :frown: