Sarah.R

Lol thanks, a porcupine is basically just mince, egg, capsicum, rice, onion, garlic mixed into a meatball then put into a pot with tomato soup and cooked. My mum and sister had it for dinner last night and technically I'm still on liquids so today I used a blender and blended it to heck and added tomato soup, thinned it out a little with milk and it was soooooo good lol, I was just having plain tomato soup but just the added flavour was great =)

What's farina? I was told that whatever the family eats I can as well as long as it's pureed and a mashed potato/pumpkin consistency, I think with some things I'll do that but not for alot of things my family has lol

Hey Jen, yes it's definitely a different feeling of being full, I was banded on the 12th and it's like the top part of your stomach is full as (which obviously it is) and then within 20 minutes or so it goes away, really weird for me. I just had some tomato soup with blended porcupines and had about a cup full and am full now, but I know within half an hour it's just going to feel like nothing is in there at all.

For me personally my port is located just right of the middle of my stomach, I've got 5 incisions, If you use a cream to help reduce scarring it'll probably help. Good luck =)

I'm pretty sure stuff was given before I came out, and then when I actually did wake up I felt like I was going to puke, they rushed and got the stuff and put it in my i.v but still felt like I was going to puke, gagged a bit and then all I did was burp up the gas thankfully. What gets me though, when I thought I was going to be sick I kept saying "I can't throw up, I can't throw up" lol all the while I was still half drowsy so I probably sounded like a moron lol. But as soon as you say you're going to be sick I'm pretty sure they'd rush and get the proper meds, they know that you can't throw up straight after the band so they would more than likely do anything to prevent that. Thanks for the comment as well and good luck with your surgery, 6 days left, excited/nervous much?

I agree with restless, every doc is different, mine never told me to have protein first so I'm not too bothered about that, the big one that they all push though is waiting a certain period before eating and then after before you drink. Mine is 15 minutes before, 30 minutes after but I've noticed some doctors push 30 before and 1 hour after, it just depends, overall though the major thing is so that you don't push the food you just ate down and get hungry again. And yes - Excercise lol

Walk around a little bit, I was done on the 12th and I've been getting a little pain this week near my port which I didn't have last week at all. If the walking doesn't help try a heat pack. But if it still persists maybe contact your doctor.

Lol, yeah the optifast is nasty, first one I had I projectile vomitted over the kitchen sink - Woops lol. Congrats =)

Hey bottle, yes you shouldn't have had it but don't worry too much - I'm also on day 8 so yay us lol and my instructions are mushy food on day 14 which is ages away . When I do go on those tho I was told to put whatever it is in a blender and if it's still too thick then thin it out with stock or milk depending on what it is - If the food is soft enough then theres no reason to blend it, like if it was a really soft poached egg. So if you want something again just try thinning it out with liquid. Good luck =)

I was banded on the 12th as well and the soap is just antiseptic so that your clean before surgery and after so that your incisions don't get infected. As for vomitting, felt like I was going to as soon as I woke up, they gave me the drugs to stop it but still felt like I was going to so they gave me a vomit bag, stomach muscles where painful because I kept convulsing them I guess and they where tightening - Gagged like I was going to throw up but all that came up was the gas that I burped up thank god lol. A week later today and I feel great. How about the rest of you?

The point of the preop diet is to shrink your liver, if your liver is fatty they can go in and say "No we can't do it, there's too much risk" and if your liver is fatty then theres a risk of it bleeding when they move it to get to your stomach which means longer recovery and possibly a blood transfusion - Preop diets are definitely worth it, at least you only have to do yours for 2 weeks, I was screwed around and was on mine for over a month, then I got a call and had to do the 2 weeks again but actually only did 8 days and when I came out from surgery they said my liver was a little fatty. Yes they totally suck, yes it sucks that some surgeons don't have a diet like that but if my doctor hadn't required me to do a 2 week diet before hand I would have been worried. If you can't follow it though only have protein foods like Ange said, I had maybe 2 boiled eggs and it definitely helped. The shakes aren't easy to stomach at all - First one I ever had I projectile vomitted over the kitchen sink lol, since then I just learnt to plug my nose, thankfully you can have low kj drinks - I had about 2 1.25 litre bottles of pepsi max on my preop and it really helped.

Honestly, I don't know why the insurance companies want you to do those surgeries before, yes it might give them insight into how you will handle this entire thing but getting the band isn't about dieting, it's more about a lifestyle change. It definitely doesn't mean your going to fail at your weight loss. Good luck with everything

There's another woman on here that has had it done that's usually in the chat room, although technically it wasn't a sils operation as there was more than one incision. I'm sorry I don't know the name but if your in the chat you can always ask around and someone will probably know her. Good luck

Well actually I've been going thru this process well over a year, I don't have insurance and the hospital I go to was willing to fund it for me. (thank god) In october 07 my doctor said that I would possibly need a transplant in 5-10 years and that I should consider the band - Hadn't even occured to me that I would ever need the band, next thing I knew I had an appointment with dieticians and the endocrine part at my hospital, then in may 08 I saw the surgeon, signed the papers to have surgery and he told me I was on the category 2 list (which is 3-6 months) still hadn't heard anything, then in december was supposed to get done, then the whole march part is just this year so yeah it sucks being pushed around but I couldn't do alot about it. As for counselling - I'm required to do it eventually and I'm glad they're doing it, not everyone is given that option mainly because the lap band isn't as invasive as the gastric bypass where counselling is a requirement before they even approve you. It sucks you can't go to your cousin but sometimes it's like that, you could always ask your surgeon if he can refer you to a counsellor just for your piece of mind. As for after, I went in about 2.30pm on the 12th this month, came out dunno when but didn't really feel great, stomach was horrible actually (not trying to put you off at all but this is what I went thru) around 7 went to a ward. Before that when I woke up my stomach muscles where convulsing so that was pretty painful, and then I thought I needed to vomit but they gave me something all I did was burp up the gas thankfully. Umm the next day was way better, wasn't as bad but still pretty sore. Went home that afternoon and had anap cuz I was pretty tired. The pain has been easing every day, I was taking some pain killers/aspirin in the morning, lunch and then before bed for days 2-4 and then just the past 3 I've taken one before bed and last night didn't take any. Haven't had any shoulder tip pain at all which is great. I think I answered all your questions, just message me if you need any more info =)

I've read numerous threads about people that have told others and if it doesn't go the way they imagined it, it's because the other person is jealous. Usually the person getting banded tells they're friends/family and if they themselves are big then they retalliate saying that it probably isn't the right thing for them. Then if the family member or friend is skinny the usual response I've heard is "Well why don't you just eat less and exercise more?" And it's so annoying, I can't believe some people are that small minded that they would even use that as an excuse. So why do you think they react that way? Because they don't want the person to be happy or the probably better option is that they are jealous because they themselves want the surgery? (the bigger family member/friend that is)

Pb is productive burp, basically where the small amount that is in your pouch you mini vomit back up. As for the others I know them but not sure on the meanings

If you read it again you'll see that I didn't say that everyone is like that, I realise there are people out there that are generally helpful and amazing when you tell them about the surgery - This is for the people that do get jealous or have a negative reaction to it.

You know it sucks, I have no clue what band I have, before I went into the op theatre I asked my surgeon what size it would be and he just said they're all basically the same and it's the biggest one - Yeah right, I know there are like 5 different types so it's kinda hard to know which one but if I had to guess probably the 14cc, he sticks with the actual manufacturer brand so probably the actual lap band as well but I could be wrong - Hopefully I'll find out next month when I go for my first fill =)