plain

I speak South fluently. My grandmother is from Australia (she came over in WW II) so I've learned some weird Oz slang, Fanny....like "going to write a Gregory Peck", or "How's the cheese and kisses". A few summers ago, the wife and I had to go to Ohio. Every time we had to talk to somebody, it became a sort of mini-spectacle. Usually the clerks would say "Excuse me", and then "Where are you from", then "Hey <blank>, come hear this accent". It became a running joke that we were going to get a notebook and write: I am a mute. I cannot communicate verbally, thus this notebook.

I'm with all the people that blame your doctor for the lack of information. My doc was sooooo freakishly OCD about drilling "It's just a tool, you have to do your part" into my head that I was sometimes tempted to say the words in unison with him! I think the overwhelming consensus among us right now is don't give up!! Every day is another chance for you to get back on track and eat better. Every day! There is no too late until you take the big dirt nap. So do it! What is helpful to me is to not even buy junk food at the store, so it's rarely in the house. And never go grocery shopping when you're hungry. So, I'm a smartie, eh? I'm assuming you meant that in the worst possible way...

Yup. My doc cleared me to do full weight training workouts when I saw him for my 1st fill (about 6 weeks post op).

Ras, it's unlikely that you're losing lean muscle this early on. That is an incredible amount of weight to lose. Use it as a catapult to launch your "from no on" program! Like Jack said, the rate of weight loss will eventually slow down, so enjoy it now. When the docs clear you for a little more vigorous exercise, might I recommend body weight exercises? Good for keeping lean muscle, and if you do them in a "circuit" you can realize cardiovascular benefit as well. They're a favorite of mine!

Okpunkinpie- Just stop! Stop eating and start doing something else. Anything else. Walk, watch a movie, read....do anything but eat. It's a difficult phase, but it will pass. The important thing is to allow your stomach to heal, and to not stretch out the pouch by eating too much. Drink a lot of Water. I know it's hard, but you have to mind the rules, or all your hard work and money will be for nothing. The good news: It's not too late to turn it around. You can do it!!

aligmamma, good job. Yes, it's in the same room (or at least that's my understanding). That salad you get will be the best salad you ever had in your life, heehee.

Nobody better say anything negative about unicorns!! Or I'm going home!! (sorry for the hijack)

RAS, your incisional areas are itchy because they're healing. Yee-Haw! The tape is kind of trickier. I tend to dislike covering any wounds for very long. At the same time, you don't want to remove them too soon...pulling the tape when the wound is too fresh could "gape" it a little, resulting in a bigger scar. Hiccups...sometimes I get them when I eat or drink to fast. Sometimes they're just hiccups. As for the egg whites, I'm kind of a stickler for following doctors orders. Unless you can cook them as soft as the CC, I'd hold off (but that's just me. Different docs allow different stuff at different times)

I can kind of see your point, Tommy O, except that this is in the Rants and Raves area. Basically, everything posted here is opinion only. And there are a ton of banners, warnings and subtitles that state that very thing. It would be like me walking into a library and starting to play a trumpet, and then getting my feelings hurt when I got shushed by the patrons. At the risk of alienating Stay Tuned, he / she skipped a whole forum neatly organized in various sub catagories to express dismay at the attitude of somebody in the "Rants and Raves" section. Would have been easier to pick the most appropriate catagory and just ask the question, no?

Brandy II - I think people who haven't lost weight with the band may be a bit embarassed....or a bit ashamed.....whatever. I think I told you earlier that if somebody is giving you flack on this board then Eff them! Personally, I haven't seen many posts like you're describing, but I don't read every post, either. I did once try to explain to a pre-WLS noob that the band wouldn't really help that much with "head hunger", and was kind of shouted down by an angry mob (heehee), but that's the most I've seen with that sort of thing. When I first got banded, I was a little judgemental of people that would post stuff like "I can eat whatever I want - Help!" because they obviously were ignoring the rules....but I've re-thought that stance a little: See, everybody that gets banded pays their money, and ends up paying the pain price (not very painful, sure, but still.....it's not exactly pleasurable). And if somebody goes through that and wants to break the rules, now I think that's their business. I'll not rebuke somebody for making their own choices.

By profession I work in a sleep lab, where I have seen literally thousands of people sleep. The vast majority of people (probably 80%) poke a leg or foot out from under the covers. I have never seen any "pillow-flipping", LOL. There are a LOT weirder things that people do when they sleep than flip a pillow or de-cover a leg, so I think that Tapshoes' sleeping habit is perfectly normal.

Good luck Sue. Keep us up to date.

Awesome job, spk.

So far so good, Bill. Hang in there. It'll be here before you know it.

I think I still do. I'll look and see. I believe it went something like clear liquids for a week, then creamy liquids for a week, mushies for like 2 weeks, then soft foods for a week. I think it times out that you should be starting on real foods right before you go in for your first fill (about six weeks post op). That's how it went for me. Perhaps others have a more detailed memory?

I've done plenty of EKG's. 1 lead on each leg (or hip) and shoulder. Then, 1 lead on each side of your sternum. then, the "stickies" should have made a kind of semi-circle going down and under your boob, following the ribcage. There should have been around 10 "stickies" on your body for a good diagnostic EKG. If the tech only used like 3, then she did another kind of EKG......but that kind only shows 1 "view" of the heart. That may be why they want you to come back. *note - I just checked the link that Iowamom posted and that is the correct placement.

I might slap a fish, but I'm not gonna choke the chicken.

Hi Missy. Are there changes coming to the field in general that make you consider getting out of MT at home? The reason I'm asking is that I've tried to persuade my mom to look into this. She can type, like, a billion words per minute (she's been a secretary doing dictation for over 30 years). Sorry for kind of hijacking the thread.

My wife is a teacher, and she gets little trinkety crap ALL the time. It's not that she doesn't appreciate the effort or the thought, but all that stuff eventually gets thrown away. What she gives our kids' teachers (4th and 1st grade) are giftcards to Starbucks, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Books-a-million, etc. Doesn't have to be much money at all on the card, and helps the teacher buy whatever they want. As a teacher, she loves getting gift cards.

My wife tells me she's thrilled with the progress so far.

Very interested in meeting my fellow Texan-bandsters.

You are both wrong. You verbally threaten the fish. When it swims away, it has clearly proven itself to be "chicken".

Gadget, I'm nitpicking.......but there is a difference in believing that Adam and Eve were the first people created, and believing (just because they were the only ones named) they were the only people created (which was on the site I saw). Again, believe what you like, that's cool. Personally, I have no problem believing God created the Earth and life on it (perhaps by the big bang? IDK.....probably never in this life will know). Seven days could easily be a metaphor (Because it would be extremely complex to convey the idea of "millions of years" to a man that couldn't even begin to imagine electricity. Talk about mind-blowing), But that's just me. One of the best things about Christianity is that we can afford to not sweat the details. Actually, Mac, if you think about it, Einstein developed several "theories" without using the strict definition of "the scientific method". He famously used "thought experiments" to develop a number of early quantum ideas. And if you really want to get philosophical, there are few facts in science. Just by definition, most things are theories. All it would take is one time, under any circumstances, to disprove any theory. If a theory is validated 1 million times, there can be no scientific guarantee it will happen 1 million and 1.

Yeah, just keep walking. It helps (but you probably knew that from reading the boards). The discomfort gets better very soon. You'll be losing like crazy before you know it.

So how do I prepare fish so that it tastes like chicken?