Brinabrina77

Laurenmcarter, You post just sent my hurdling at light speed back to the week before my surgery. We both had the same worries and everything. A coworker dropped me off the day of the surgery. I felt like a kindergartener being dropped off at school for the first day. I stood outside of the entrance to the hospital with the whole weepy-eyed trembly lip thingy going on. I sucked it up, went in, and did well until they put the IV in and I started with the Emmy winning tear flow. Dr. Baganto happened to be passing by and patted me on the knee and told me it would be okay. Of course, him being so sweet only made me cry more. I tell everyone that the reason they put the IV in was becasue of all of the fluid loss I suffered from crying. I am in the medical field (veterinarian). I have done surgeries, but never had one performed on me. So in addition to being nervous, every worse case scenario is running through my head in living technicolor while I am laying on the table. Then they gave me some happy drugs and yup...no more worries for the crying big girl. The last thing I remember was the anesthesia tech putting a mask over my face and tell me to breathe normally. Next thing you know I was in my recovery room. Did I have any pain? Not really. Dr. B gave me this big amber bottle of liquid pain meds. I did not use even half of that bottle. I used a little here and there, and that was at a reduced dose becasue it made me sleepy. I got that discomfort in my abdomen and shoulder from the gas that they use to fill up your abdomen you will hear about but that was it. I occasionally got these extremely mild pinches of discomfort near my belly button when i would lay a certain way...then I foudn out I had a stitch there. The rest is history. You will be fine. You'll start dropping pounds before you know it.

Hello Everyone: I'm checking in for the week. Things are okay. I fell off the exercise wagon due to a bad combination of being consumed by work and being too tired to do anythign but sleep after being too consumed by work. I hate that cycle. However, Leslie Sansone and I will be back at it this coming week. I actually left the house this weeking and attended this amazingly fun class about Gourds. I had no clue that gourd making was such a big thing until I attended the class. I know I'll be going back. I went to that class with no sleep. And I am not exaggerating. At 6 pm Friday i realized I had been up 24 hours with no sleep. Seriously. But in that time, i made a discovery. When i am up and doing something I like to do, I dont get hungry. Before I went to the class i got a large popcorn chicken, tater tots, and a large cranberry slush from Sonics. Yes, terrible choices, but it was quick, I dont do that often, and I was starved. It took me about 8 hours to eat the popcorn chicken. Not because they got stuck or anything, i was just so into gourding and laughing with the fun people I was with that I was not really into eating. When I did get a littel hungry, I'd eat 2-3 pieces then go back to gourding, and repeat. When I got home, I threw out the tater tots because I had not touched them, put the remainign half of the drink the fridge. I wandered around the house for a lil bit, took a shower then went to bed. Friday, i had nothing to do. I sat around the house and ate crap. Then I realized there were a few more things I wanted to do to my gourd. I worked on that for about an hour. I looked up and realized that I had actually put my food to the side while I was working on the gourd. Summary of self discovery: Not only am I an emotional eater (which I knew), I am also a boredom eater. My goal is to now find things that I like to do. I know that is part of the reason i have been so depressed lately. I have been here for 3 years and I practically don't know anyone. Id ont have any close friends here, no husband, no boyfriend, no family....nothing. So all I do is work, sleep, sit around the house and eat, and wallow in the misery of being bored and lonely. If I was not banded i know I would have gained 30-40 lbs in these last three years. If I had not been exercising (which I just started doing in NOV after being banded for 1 year), I would have plateaued out and stop losing weight. That was my check in. How is everyone else doing? Any interesting insights to share?

Hello everyone: I had my surgery in February 2008 with Dr. Bagnato. I am just a few pounds short of reaching my first goal of losing 100lbs. I'm a slow loser, but I'm still losing. And for that, I can't complain. I am looking for any good humored, good natured lap band buddies in the area. I'm doing alright with my band, but I just don't have much of a support system. I would love to meet some people who understand what I we are going through. I know about the Support Meetings held at the bariatric center, but due to my job I end up not being able to attend many of those. :thumbup: I used to go to the Bagnato Bandit boards alot, and you have no idea how motivating that board was. Sadly, it just kinda fizzled out and peopel stopped posting. So if you are interested, let me know.

Recently anytime I try to insert pics, something goes wrong. Either they turn out gigantic or they show up as little X's. If you go to my profile you can see the progress pics that I have been brave enough to post here. Thanks for the compliment. I am still far away from my goal, but I am trying to focus on the fact that I am closer than I was.

Hello Nip50: I am sorry to hear about the leak, but look at what you have acheived prior to the leak!! You are still one of my Lapband heroes. I wish i knew how everyone else was doing. This booard used to be so active with Bagnato Bandits, then it kinda fizzled. Maybe some of the newbies will pick it up and refresh the board. Just talking to people who were going through the same things as I was was so helpful.

Hello happytrucker280: I attend as many of the support meetigns as I can. Unfortunately, I work 3rd shift, so I am mainly able to attend only those that are on Fridays and Saturdays. I was nervous as all get out about having my Lapband surgery. Matter of fact, I was a soldier until they put my IV in. Once that was done, it suddenly hit me that I was having surgery and the tears started rolling. Not normal tears either..I'm talking ones that would rival Oprah Winfrey or Oscar winning tears. Dr. B was walking through the surgery prep room at that time, kinda patted my thigh and told me it would me okay. After that, all I remember is them putting a mask over my face and telling me to breath normally. Next thing you know I was waking up in my room. Yes, I got the shoulder pain and the gas pain like many of the Lapbanders talk about. It is because they have to blow up your abdominal cavity with air. Anti- gas pills dont work cuz its not intestinal gas. The only thing that works is walking around so your body naturally gets rid of the gas. Overall, the gas or the shoulder pain was more annoying thanpainful. After the surgery I was in virtually no pain. The only time I really ever hurt was when I did something stup that tigged on my incisions or something. The Sugar Buster's diet was a PIA. Only because I was a cherry coke, and sugar junkie. But I survived it. And you will too. No problems with the questions. That is what we are here for. You'll have plenty more and that is fine. April 1st will be here befoer you know it. You'll start dropping pounds like nobody's buisness. Hopefully, you will love your band as much as I love mine. If you see me at one of the meeting, don't be scared to say hi.

Hello happytrucker280: I am still very happy with my band. I am one of the "slow losers", but I am still losing. 2/25/10 will be my 2 year bandiversay. The worse complication I had, was being filled too tightly once. I was folled to tight and the food was not going down. It would just sit there. Not much, PBing but a lot of acid reflux especially after laying down. I ended up getting all my Fluid taken out and of course gained back 20 lbs. However, the fluid was gradually put back in and i lost it all back. I am now about 5 lbs away from reaching my first goal of losing 100lbs. I have (yes, after 2 years) realized that I have to exercise. I have been doing Leslie Sansone "Walkaway the Pounds" videos since Nov 2009. I try to do at LEAST 2 miles at least 4 times a week. Right now I am up to the 5 mile one that I do 4 times a week. Nope, I am not an exercise fanatic, but I know it needs to be done. When people used to even say they walked ONE mile..on purpose..and not cuz their car broke down or they were being chased by something, I used to give them that crazy look. :thumbup: <--that Crazy look, right there. Now, I can do a five mile exercise video. That shows just how much my band has changed me. I still can eat almost anything, but I know my "trouble foods" and try to avoid them. The only thing I have omitted from my diet are carbonated drinks. I have not had a soda or carbonated drink sinc feb 2008. I still don't regret getting banded. I still recommend it to anyone who is really overweight and has been struggling with their weight for years.

Simple Shrimp Scampi and Rice Recipe: Ingredients: I normally buy everything at our Super Walmart due to the price and convenienc. -1 box of Gordon Fisherman's Garlic Shrimp Scampi (NOT the lemon shrimp scampi) -1 bag of cooked, SMALL, peeled, deveined shrimp, with tail off (the small shrimp have about 100-150 per bag, but you can use whatever size you want or use fresh, raw, shrimp. Just ensure that you cook all seafood until it is done!!! We are bansters, and we shouldn't be puking..especially from any seafood related illness) -2-3 cups cooked rice. Ladies, if you do not own a rice cooker...go and get one. I usually use my rice cooker and make this with jasmine (NOT jasmati) rice. Jasmine is a fragrant rice and smells soooo good cooking. -Garlic powder (optional) Directions: Lightly grease a skillet. Saute Gordon's shrimp in a skillet until done. Add rinsed shrimp to Sauted gordon's shrimp. (Shrimp is frozen when I buy it from walmart. So I rinse the shrimp under warm Water to thaw them. They are already cooked). Stir well so that scampi sauce covers all shrimp. You can add garlic powder if you wish. Add the cooked/sauteed shrimp to your cooked rice. Mix well. Enjoy. *Poof* You are done. Note: I will cook like Paula Deen for everyone else, but when i cook for myself the meals are quick and simple as demonstrated by this recipe. The reason I mix plain shrimp with the Gordon's shrimp scampi is becasue the Gordon's shrimp has only about 10-12 shrimp. I add the small shrimp becasue it gives me a ton of shrimp. They may be tiny shrimp, but they are Protein. And since they are tiny, that is even less chewing for me. Once you cook the Gordon's shrimp, it sauces very well and seasons both the rice and added shrimp. When I reheat, I normally put a small portion in a bowl, add butter, and microwave.

If you are okay with shrimp, then I can give you a simple three step less than 30 minute shrimp and rice recipe. Let me know how you are with shrimp, so I'll know if I need to post it or not.

I have had the same problem. I banded 2/25/08 and now on occasion I get dizzy. Most of the time I notice it if I get up really fast from sitting. The other day I was standing and I had my head resting on the arm of the couch which meant my head was lowered. The phone rang or something and I lifted my head quickly...and whoosh...helloooo Mr. Dizziness. I get this warm-and prickly-all-over sensation, I feel like I am walking under wwater, and sometimes (but very rarely) I may feel kinda nauseated. Then I sit down for a minute or two, and it passes. The thing is I don't recall having this before being banded. I mean it is not something so horrible that I wish i was never banded. But it is just aggrivating. I told my general physisican about it and she told me that I may have positional (orthostatic) hypotension. This means that my blood pressure changes with my body posture. I do routine blood work all the time and it was all normal except for my low Iron and low B12, so I take tablets to correct those. I was worried that I may be hypoglycemic (which made me giggle at the thought for once in my life I could not be eating enough :tongue2:). My doctor also told me to drink more Water as this will sometimes help. I have lost close to 80lbs in a year. Overweight people are known to have high blood pressure. I luckily have never had high blood pressure. However, I sometimes wonder if my weight was keeping my blood pressure steady and high enough that I my blood pressure never fluctuated. I wonder if now that I have lost weight, my blood pressure has gotten lower (last check at my last fill appt it was 129/73) or flutuates as my body is trying to adjust to the ongoing weight loss. My advice, talk to your doctor. Especially if it is a cause for concern for you. When I first started getting dizzy, I looked at a lot of old posts on this site. A few..not a ton..but a number of people state that they have been getting dizzy sometimes since being banded as well. Again, I highly suggest you talk to your lapband doc and/or your regular doc for assurance and guidance.

The one in the green is me right before surgery in 2/2008 weighing about 322lbs. The other one is current of me at about 230lbs. I am now an iPhone junkie. The photo of me in the b&W shirt was edited with ColorSplash. I did not change my photo, but it allows me to decide what I want in color and what I want in B&W. In this case, I put me in color and the background in B&W. I think I have about 50-60 lbs left until I reach my goal. Thanks to everyone for being such a source of inspiration. Congrats on everyone's successes.