Wheetsin

I think it was related to dinner. Usually I finish eating several hours before I lay down for bed. Lastnight we were running late and I ate within an hour or two of going to bed. As I laid down, I remember thinking that my stomach felt weird. Yes - you are correct, my oversight. I should have been more specific in - does this sound like an instance of acid reflux, and not a condition.

I think I may have had this lastnight, but I'm not sure. When I read descriptions it sounds like it "might" be what I experienced, but not exactly. I'll def. talk to PCP (she doesn't work Mondays) to find out for sure, but I know a lot of you suffer from this so I thought I could get some informal yeas or neas. So lastnight after I'd been asleep for a few hours I woke up with a feeling like vomit in my throat. Not like I was nauseous/needing to vomit, but like it had just come up a little while I was sleeping. I wasn't really aware of waking up, it was more like "bolt upright" out of my sleep - like a reflex. I had the taste of it in my mouth, and it felt "caught" in my throat. I was swallowing a bunch, and had to cough/clear my throat quite a because it felt like it was just sitting there "stuck", and of course each time I did this, the taste was fresh in my mouth again. I never felt nauseous or ill in my stomach, but I did think to myself that if I had to keep on tasting this, I was going to lose it so I ran downstairs and grabbed some mints from the cady dish & sucked on one. It definitely helped get rid of the taste, and seemed like the swallowing cleared everything from my throat. I went back to sleep shortly after, but propped a couple extra pillows behind me, just in case. This morning I feel fine, like nothing ever happened. Does that sound like acid reflux to you? If so it's the first time it has happened... and when I met with my anesthesiologist last week I told him several times I'd never had it (he asked maybe 8 times) -- so if it sounds like it could be, I probably need to call him up! Thanks!

I asked about in, just in case. I asked specifically if I could wear a "plug" to the surgery. They said to wear one in to the hospital was no problem, but I would have to take it out before surgery. She said they would put some kind of a pad on the table, can't remember what it's called, and put another one between your legs.

Congratulations! I am getting banded on Wednesday and am off and on nervous. Right now - off (thank goodness!) Please update when you can and let us know how it went.

Oh, you know what? I'm a big fat liar. At all times I can do Jell-O, so I guess it depends on whether you consider that a liquid or a (semi) solid.

2 days prior to surgery (today is day #1 of those 2), and I *think* 3 days after. The pre-op liquids is sugar free, the post-op is sugar free & clear.

I'm not really a nervous type. Especially not *before* -- usually just at the moment of. But yesterday and today, as I've really started making preperations for my surgery Wednesday, little pangs are definitely hitting. If I really stop and think about it, I border a "WTF am I doing??" sensation. I may be the only patient in my hospital's history to need the anti-nauseau medication before I get there. Since I don't know how I will feel, I went ahead and bought everything I'm allowed to eat through day 7. My post-op foods are grouped by days post-op (e.g. "Days 0 - 4 you can eat these things, days 5 - 7 these things, days 8 - 10...") I have everything tagged with the day it can be eaten... in case DH has to prep a meal for me. I bought doubles of most things, so I could have "at work" and "at home" versions -- well, food things, and also my pill cutters & crushers. liquid Tylenol, etc. Ooh, something else I bought -- 4oz measuring glasses that measure in half oz increments -- to help me in the beginning be able to visualize & record how much I'm eating. I need to repot my portions back to the nutritionist. There's also a small Gladware container that's exactly 4oz. I bought some of those to carry my broth to work. All of this really has no point... in truth, I'm burning nervous energy. I've been cleaning all day, being comforted by my husband, but if I slow down, the anxiety edges in. :nervous

Oy... yep! 2/14/1976. I just turned 30 2 weeks ago.

Oh man... I felt like such a tool when he had me do that in the consultation room. I've been thinking about this a lot. I'm not nervous about the band, or the recovery, or complications. Not yet, anyway. I'm nervous about the surgery process, and most specifically -- about going under. I know I won't remember it, etc. - but just the thought of it unnerves me. I had surgery once, but I was only about a year old. I have complete confidence in our doc & his team. I feel like I am in very good hands. :nod:

Sorry, I missed the note that there were replies here! I am getting banded by Dr. Hoehn at SMMC. I am in NE Kansas City, about 35 - 40 mins from SMMC if I miss the traffic on 35. I got all my PATs done last week... my last appointment with Dr. Sabapathy... and my surgery is Wednesday.

I told my co-workers that I was having lap-band surgery because I'm tired of being overweight & underhealthy, and ready to do what I need to to make a positive & permanent change in my lifestyle. These are my reasonings. Please don't take them personally or as self-righteous. This is purely my thoughts about me any my decision put on virtual paper... not any type of opinion or indication of how I think anyone else should handle their decision. I told them because for one - it's not "me" to lie to people. For two, I eat lunch out with these people, and they're going to notice a change in my eating anyway. For three, not that it would, but in the unlikely event that I should need emergency medical care and only co-workers were around, I thought it would be safer if my co-workers could tell the medical personnel I had LB. For four - I have no sense of shame, or that I need to hide anything, about this. I'm worried about getting my body in better shape, not what people's opinions of my decision are. In my experiences, for me, it's better to be up front and honest from the get-go. That's what works for me.

This happened to someone else, but I saw it from a distance. We were at Home Depot. It was the first warm day of spring -- you know how packed they get with people coming in with a fresh case of spring fever. There were some Rubbermaid chairs set out on display inside, right by the garden center. A large lady went to sit on one of the chairs and as soon as she settled her weight on it, it broke apart and she fell to the floor on top of a pile of broken plastic. And then she couldn't get up on her own, she had to try and crawl over to a shopping cart and use it to get herself up, but it rolled away from her and she fell down again. Then she just sort of layed there looking around at people, obviously humiliated and probably having no idea how she was going to get up. A guy went over to help her up but couldn't do it on his own so he yelled to his buddies, "Guys give me a hand, she's too heavy for me to get up on my own." It took him and three of his friends to get her up. I've had very few "public" embarassments. I've been told that I'm "intimidating", so I would imagine I've gotten it much worse behind my back than to my face... plus in the days when kids are their meanest I hung out with a group of awesome epople who looked really rough, and were very protective of me, so I never had to take a lot of flack... but I had a day from hell once... one of those days where you want to give up and move away and leave life behind. I was about 18 and had just started gaining weight... was probably a sz 20... this was one of those "all time low days" because so many things went wrong in such a short time... I went to a 5-7-9 shop to buy a friend a present. I was flipping through things on the rack and a girl walked up to me and was like, "You're looking for someone else, right?" It took me a few seconeds to process what she had said, and in the meantime I must have just been looking at her blankly, because as soon as it hit me, she piped up with, "We only carry up to size 9 here. But there's a Lane Bryant across the way. They carry your size." I had planned on going to LB anyway, so I was heading over there and passed a group of younger boys (maybe 13/14ish) and as I walked by they all started yelling out, "Boom baba boom baba boom..." and one of them coughed phlegm into his mouth and tried to spit on me. Later at the mall I ran into some friends and we stopped at a pizza place in the mall to eat. The chairs were very small, and when I went to get up my hips were stuck and the chair came up with me. Later that night I had a soft ball game... the other team's bleachers were right behind me, and their pitcher's boyfriend was in the first row. The first pitch I hit over the fence, but it went foul. I went back up to the plate, and heard the girl's boyfriend yell, "Throw her something she'll hit on the ground. She's so fat she can't run. She has to hit home runs to get around the bases. Make her run and you'll get her out." Well - I hit it on the ground, and tried to run, but it had poured down rain during the game and the dirt between home and first was super slick mud. I got about 10 feet down the line, slipped in the mud, and fell on my face. All I remember is hearing the girl's boyfriend yelling, "Beached whale! Beached whale!"

There are direct causes, and indirect causes. Directly, and long story made short - your body is hitting the infamous "starvation mode" and channeling its energy & nutrients into keeping itself going, sacrificing your hair in the process. When fat, our bodies are well fed -- including our hair. Especially if you're Protein intake is not what it should be - muscle, then hair will likely be the first things to go (starving animals will actually pull out & eat their own hair -- protein). The most sifnificant hairloss should peak about 5 - 7 months after surgery, and should stop once your body reaches a point of equilibrium. Indirectly - your body has a lot of things going on. Weightloss bring a lot of "baggage" -- for instance, hormonal fluctuations. Think of it like "fat = hormones". The more fat, the more this is true. That's why MO women often suffer from atypical hair growth that "normal" women don't, and atypical usually means growth that we consider "man's" hair: on the chest, beard or moustache area, etc. Your hormones impact your hair, and as your hormones go through wild changes, so can your hair in turn. Be sure to get in your protein and keep hydrated. Taking silica complex and even pre-natal Vitamins, as you can, should help.

I was at the hospital today for my last round of tests - chest xray, EKG, labs... and when I left my nurse told me, "Ok, now all we need you to do is show up on Wednesday!" That really hit me like a ton of bricks. I've known it was coming, but there has always been the "I have so much pre-op stuff left to do" between me and the surgery. Not anymore. During the drive home I realized that (if all goes well) this will be the last Thursday of my life that I'm unbanded. That has a certain finality to it... Not nervous yet. I don't usually get nervous about things until it's right then and there, so I expect that Wed morning I will be a bear. We'll see. 5 days & counting...

"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon. I don't think I"ve ver heard that song... actually who's Paul Simon?!? Oh wait - is that Simon from ...& Garfunkel?

PhotoNut - thanks! It's a PITA with the adhesives... this cottony tape did something weird though. My skin is STILL sticky, like there's still adhesive there, but I've been over it in the shower, with nail polish remover, even with GooGone - there can't possibly be anything left there! There's certainly nothing visible, and when you feel it, it definitely is hard tot he touch and "slippery", but against other skin it's "sticky". *sigh* The welts are also gone, but it's still red, and when you look closely there's a bunch of tiny, red, smaller-than-a-hair veins all over. *sigh* I asked my anesthesiologist yesterday not to kill me. Maybe I'll have to ask my nurse not to bandage me. :confused:

Well, thought I was all done... Apparently I'm allergic to the tape they use to cover the bandages with. I know I'm sensitive to latex, mot highly but a little - after prolonged contact - and certain adhesives (Band-Aid brand "melts" to me and leaves nice welts), but the cottony-looking tape the used to attach the cottonball to your needle prick site? Yep, it too - apparently! I only left the tape on long enough to get out of the lab room... never thought twice... looked at my arm this morning to see if I had bruised, and I have big sticky welts everywhere the tape was. So my options for keeping bandages in place are starting to run low! They want me to come back and try a few different types of tapes /strips on, to make sure we find something that won't cause problems. This is the only thing I'm (knowingly) allergic to. Go figure!

This is another topic, like pre-op/post-op diet, that seems to vary from Dr. to Dr. My Dr. & nutritionists guidelines are "no drinking for 15 minutes before or one hour after".

My surgeon's pre-op diet is for two days. It consists of sugar-free clear liquids. Sample foods the nutritionist provided include SF Jell-O, popsicles, flavored, non-carbonated waters, diluted SF cranberry/grape juices. For diabetics there are additional provisions.

Hi Daisy, that's a horrible loss. I'm sorry you're having to go through it. I won't be banded until next week so I can't give a lot of band advice, but I would urge you to contact the psychologist in your aftercare program, if there is one, or a local therapist if there is not. Everyone handles their grief differently, and copes with it in different ways. I think getting some help to get you grieving in a way that isn't self-sabotaging would be a really great thing for you.

Building from this... I hate "12 items or less" signs in stores. Less is for an amount, not a number. Fewer is for numbers. A pound or less. Twelve or fewer.

The good news is - that book hasn't been updated since 2003. :welldone2:

No Mexico, the hospital is only about 35 mins from home. I do have a robe ready to go, and easy slip-on shoes. Thanks for the input!

I would suggest asking the question to your insurance company. You may not even need it. I wasn't required to submit letters, but I did get a copy of my PCP's dictation from our last meeting and submit it -- no formal letter though.

Ok, take 2 -- you have lost over 100 lbs in just over 6 months?!? Holy crap! Great job! :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: