Wheetsin

I *really* want to do this - facial areas. But I've heard it hurts REALLY bad. Eager to see the responses you get...

My surgeon asked me which I would prefer. Outpatient all the way... Surgery was 10:30 - 11, if I remember correctly (things were kinda blurry) and my release was approved right around 1:30. But from what I was told I came around unusually fast in recovery, and had virtually no pain so they didn't have to keep me for... something they do if you're in pain. Got home and slept most of the night thru to late morning in my own home. Couldn't ask for better medicine than that.

I have a hard time gauging this myself. For a few days I was wondering if I was too tight, was having lots of problems, but took it with a grain of salt since it was also TOM and I had recently flown. Had a really rough 2 weeks though. But I've now not had so much as a stick for over a week, so I think it was a combination of body changes due to TOM and travel, and me needing to pay even more attention to how I was eating. Once I really stopped and paid attention, I was doing a lot more "swallowing without thinking about it" than I should be, which was leading to swallowing a larger mouthful than I should at a time. I think this was probably 80% of the problem. Now when I PBed on soup... probably not the problem in that case. Is it within 1 week pre/post TOM for you? If so, that could have a lot to do with it, as it's when we begin to hold/release the extra fluids.

Hi BRD. Everyone's experience will differ, and in theory you should lose faster than a female, but I had a similar starting weight and am down just under 100 lbs in 5 months. I've already lost over 50% of my excess weight, so in theory I should beat the statistics in the next month or two. Now - please PLEASE don't take that as "look how great I'm doing" -- but take it as reassurance that it CAN be done. I too had doubts about the LB being able to help me lose as much weight as I needed to, so I asked on another board for people who had lost 100+ pounds and got TONS of responses. So then I asked for people who had lost 200+ and still got TONS of responses. That really helped give me reassurance! I too practice martial arts - Aikido - and haven't had any problems but I don't do it competitively either, don't test for belts, etc. I just do it b/c I enjoy it. So sparring is very limited, and mostly just for the motions. I wouldn't see any problems continuing, but when you get to the stage of looking for more information, it would be a great question to ask the surgeon. I did it. It is transorming my life. I can't help but be full of hope and thoughts like, "Just think where I'll be this time next year!". For the first time in a very long time I truly feel like I just might be able to get there this time, and stay there longer than a week!

If you don't want to read more IL horror stories, just skip this entire post. Hehe, this got me thinking about a thread that ran here a long time ago. Worst gifts. This is such a trend with them. They'll typically send DH $5k - $10k to "buy whatever he wants" for xmas. I typically get a little resin magnet gnome (I seriously have a whole collection, and they're truly the kind of thing you'd find at the dollar store), and something else stupid. Something so stupid and irrelevant that it just makes it poignantly clear that they put a lot of effort into not putting any effort into it, you know what I mean? This year it was a tiny, tiny black leather purse - like an evening bag just large enough for your lipstick - made of patchwork leather (ugh) fringed with pinking shears (ugh) and a closure made of reindeer antlers (ugh) and reindeer tail (ugh). For b-day it was a pair of silver (I hate silver and they know it) earrings that look kind of like a cross between a catepillar and a big huge incisor. One of the first years we were married they sent DH a ton of money and a framed picture of his x-gf (they lived together for about 2 years) with a note about how his mom ran into her the other day, and how good she's looking now. For our first few xmases together, they would also send decorations, like telling me what to put up for the holidays, and always ALWAYS included at least one church (like a cermaic one that would hold a tealight so the windows would glow, or something). Like - hello? You guys know that's not my thing... or DH's for that matter. He has a sister who's one month younger than me, to the date. They're building a house there, but couldn't afford the garage so they were going to go without. Winters there can get like 40 below during a bad year, and they have a baby that MIL/FIL also obsess over, so MIL/FIL were like "uh-uh" and gave them $20k to cover the cost of the garage. Then out of the blue they called DH one Saturday, earlier this year, and told him they wanted to give him the same amount of money, since they were giving it to his sister... they should give it to him, too. So they wired the money over with an electronic memo that said, "This is for you, don't spend it on her." Like we don't have our retirement savings portfolio held jointly or something. I've been dealing with this from, literally, the first day I met his parents, and there hasn't been a single break yet. It used to bother me, but I'm to the point know where since I expect it, I'm able to truly get a good belly laugh over it.

I'd be up for trying a different place *if* they don't mind people outside of the group joining in, e.g. people not banded at HL going to the meeting there. My in-laws are in Sweden, so a trip there would be a really nice trip if they weren't there. And if that wasn't where we end up going just about every time we take a vacation. Unfortunately we go once a year on average (or DH does, anyway - I've managed to get out of it a few times), and they come here about every 2 years. We pay our own way so that no one feels we're "obligated" to spend the entire time with them. DH's parents are loaded, they basically retired in their 30s (FIL owns a huge international company that makes all kinds of lasers... medical lasers, lasers auto makers use to weld the pieces of the cars together on the assembly lines, lasers to engrave brand names on things, etc... for which he still presides over the board of directors, but that takes maybe 2 days a month) and they obsess over him being so far away -- between those two factors, we get offers for tickets about 3x a year. And a house/car, if we'd move there. (Yeah, right - just kill me instead.) I definitely have a rocky relationship with the IL. On our 8th anniversary they sent me an email that said, basically, "we still don't like you married to our son, and hoped it wouldn't work out, but now that it has been 8 years I guess you'll make it after all so we better get used to the idea." And that's them on a nice day. I really don't think it's personal, so much as it's - they're an old-fashioned family, very close, very tight-knit, and I'm the evil American girl who took their son away. 6,000 miles away.

Let us know what your doc says. Sounds like coincidental timing maybe? Or if you were bent over for your PB, perhaps a function of the blood flow starting up too suddenly, or being restricted for too long. You say "PB to eliminate the pain". Do you "force" the PB, or does it happen naturally? If you force, could there be something in the forcing that would cause a headache -- something that would affect the natural flow of blood?

This statement really concerns me. If that's truly how you feel, I would strongly suggest you find a therapist in your area and make an appointment ASAP. You have things going on that need medical/professional help outside of your weightloss. It sounds like you've been put on a low carb diet. Try some ketostix and see how they read. Maybe you're sneaking in enough carbs unknowingly, that combined with your portions, balanced against your weight/height, is just enough for maintenance (sounds like you've maintained very well).

Love refried beans, chile lime, with a few tablespoons of hot sauce added. Everything you eat has the potential to cause gas. Beans don't make everyone gassy, it's very individual. The issue with carbonated beverages is more a matter of the carbonation, which is in the food. Flatulence is a result of digestion, not something that you're consuming.

Scrambled eggs, applesauce, and bananas. For whatever reason, of all things, they really hurt me. I don't do red meat - don't like it that much, but post-banding when I've tried, it's just not worth the effort of chewing it so much.

Ugh. My in-laws are always offering to buy us tickets there, and take us on some included trip. The only problem is -- they are there too. :heh: The dog got to come home today. He's been resting most of the day, except for eating twice and peeing on the floor twice. But he's so pumped full of IV fluids I can't blame him. Yet. :ermm Really, it doesn't matter - we're just happy he's home and healthy.

And BTW, I don't think it's the easy way. And I don't buy into "earning your stripes" - except for one scenario - men who want to become women. On some level, I just think you have to go through cramps and realizing you don't have any more tampons on the day you wear white shorts before you can call yourself a woman. :heh:

You know... so what if it is an easy way out? Does that make the outcome any less valid? Does it have to be "the old fashioned way" to count? Is a size 8 somehow not a size 8 if you got there with the band? If you have to somehow "earn your stripes", I'd say the trauma of surgery, discomfort of healing, and pain of stuck foods pretty much earns them. You know, there's the old fashioned way. And it's called "old" for a reason -- because there are such things as progress and technology and advances. Medical advances, like the band. I could lose the weight the old fashioned way. I did it. Twice. And it came back each time. I'm proud of my band. I'm proud I found in myself the courage to have my first surgery, voluntarily. I'm proud that I'm losing the weight for good. 90 something percent of the people doing it "the old fashioned" way aren't. So maybe this is the easy way, but maybe it's also the smart way.

Hi Sea, it was nice to meet you yesterday. They're keeping the dog another night but we should be able to pick him up tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I've yet to have a true, authentic, COMPLETE public NSV. By "public" I mean something that doesn't relate to what size I'm in, or what my nekkidness looks like. Something that someone else says to me or notices. I have all kinds of what I consider "semi NSVs". You know - those NSVs that are going great UNTIL the person adds that last little something that just brings the car to a dead stop. Today a lady I work with (not my favorite person) comes over while I'm eating lunch and starts talking to me. While talking she keeps looking at my body. I'm sitting in my chair leaning back with my hands across my stomach and she keeps looking at my stomach, at my arms, at my hips, etc. while she's talking to me. She says, "It looks like your weightloss is going really well." (that's the NSV part) Then she proceeds to say, "I saw you walking down the hallway the other day and I thought to myself, "Oh, yeah, she's losing weight, I can kind of see it. Not real noticeable, not real obvious, but still there, just a little bit." So I wanted to let you know that even though you can't tell that much yet, you really can almost start to see a difference." *sigh* Then she's asking me all about what I can or can't eat, and how much. So I pointed to my lunch plate (chile lime refried Beans, turkey pepperoni) and tell her, "Well, I grabbed the last of what I had in the fridge since it's Friday, but I'll actually eat about half of this." And she says, "Yeah, I noticed your plate and was thinking you really had an awfully big lunch to be eating if you're trying to lose weight." (My lunch was about 20 cooked pepperonis and 2 spoonfuls of beans). *sigh* Dammit, what does a girl have to do to get a real, bona fide, no-strings-attached, public and COMPLETE NSV? :target: *sigh* BTW - no, I don't take what this lady says to heart. It's who she is. When my co-worker was pregnant - very pregnant (sz 4, carrying twins - she was HUGE) she pretty much started just wearing knit skirts and the basic tanks from Old Navy. One day she and I were headed to lunch and this other lady tells her, "Wow, you're usually so feminine, and so classy, I never figured you'd be the type to wear a 'wife beater' like trashy people do."

It's pretty easy to cope with, once you understand that this is all the better she is. She has hew own self-esteem issues, she's in general "not one to talk". Funny how they're the ones who do all the talking, huh? :target:

sleepyjean, I'm right there with you. I used to be a few times a week. Not I average maybe once. When I do go, it often hurts, almost like it's too big to get out or something, or it gets... well... you kind of have to have no shame to have this conversation, but it gets "stuck". Like comes out a little, but refuses to go any further, so I have to suck it back up and try again later. I bought some stool softeners, without thinking, and ended up with capsules. I managed to get some of the liquid out and mix it into some apple juice but it was SO nasty... not only did I literally gag on the tiny sip I tried, but it HURT. It burned/made my skin tingle for like an hour afterward. There are two times when I have a "normal" BM. One is when I start my period. A few hours before I start I have to have a significant BM, every time for the last 19 years. I asked my doc once why and she said it was hormonal. The other is when I'm going to PB, or as I now refer to it, PBM. Right around the time my back starts to hurt, I'll get that intestinal pressure that says, "Yep, we want to come out and play too, so plan on dropping some kids off at the pool in the near future!"

Bowl Prep. I didn't have to do one, even though my admitting nurse said that up until about a year ago all of their WLS patients had to. Thanks goodness I didn't! I watched my mother go through one of those, and I would not want to be in her shoes, chugging that nasty stuff then trying to keep it down.

It was his "program manager" that called. Alleged, anyway. I still don't know how they got my home number, or why they would call that late. Which is part of why I say alleged. For all I know, it's one of the people I work with pulling a prank. Otherwise, my best guess is through my mom, very indirectly. She works with some ladies who want LB and have been asking me tons of questions. They've also been on the 'net trying to petition the hospital, and asking lots of surgeons what it would take. Part of what I edited out included how the hospital where they live is completely against WLS, and the politics around that and other attempts to get a WLS clinic established. My best guess is that the surgeon got one of the ladies' emails or something -- probably from one of the info sites they go to -- and maybe asked if they knew someone already banded who would be willing to share their story, and they provided my number (my mom gave them my number - I told them to feel free to call with any questions, but my advice was only worth what they were paying for it!) It's not really my thing anyway, I don't like the spotlight at all. It was just so out of the blue -- so completely bizarre -- to be sort of asked to "market" for a surgeon you've never seen or met, and who in turn has never seen or met you (how would they know what kind of progress I've made? Anywhere that I post that info, I don't post my home phone number... ok, so there are still ways, but even yet, not applicable to me) That's all part of what makes it so absolutely bizarre.

I BMed the morning of surgery, and I think my next one was 4 days post-op. I'm almost 5 months out and I BM maybe once a week. Sometimes twice in one week, sometimes less than once a week.

They're keeping the dog another night. Talked to the vet today first thing this morning. He says he really thinks he'll be fine - they've been able to rule out the organ failure theory, his cell counts are normal, he still doesn't have a fever, etc. But since he hasn't taken solid foods, is still on meds for nausea, and is still having some bloody diarrhea he wants to keep him another day so they'll have a chance to give him some solid foods, make sure they're staying down, etc. They're going to take the catheter our today, give him some i/d, and see what happens. He said he fully expects to call us Saturday morning and tell us he's ready to go home. My fingers are crossed. It's just not the same coming home to the house w/o the dog there. School will keep me terribly busy the next few days (two part final, part 1 due tonight, part 2 due tomorrow night), so at least there's something to help keep my mind off of it, as much as possible -- which isn't much. :rofl:

As always, nice to see you guys again, and nice to meet new faces. So a really weird thing happened when I got home lastnight. Kind of funny, yet strangely bizarre -- in lots of ways. (edited out b/c on second thought I should know better than to post things like this here. Long story short, a different surgeon in a different state has asked me if I would be interested in submitting by before/during photos and writing an account of my WLS experience, etc. for him to use in his materials for his practice -- bizarre, no?!?)

Submitted my paperwork in December, I think. Had my consultation in January, and surgery in March. The time between December & January was getting the insurance taken care of, and waiting for an open consultation time. The time between January and March was all the pre-op testing and waiting for an open surgery date. My surgeon was booked out about 6 weeks, if I remember correctly. It's really not "that long" when you think about it. For me it was just about right. Plenty of time to make sure I was comitted (to the surgery), get things prepared, get my last minute questions answered, etc.

Couldn't do it. I enjoy a mellow conscience.

Banded March 1. 3 fills putting me at 2.5cc in my 4cc band. I've lost 92 lbs and 5 sizes, coming up on 6. I cannot believe it's nearly been 5 months. The first month creeped by, and that seems like it was yesterday.