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So glad everything went so well! Congratulations! Take it easy and rest! Best wishes on your recovery!! :rolleyes2:

Yeah, I know. :rolleyes2: Thanks. I decided to not get on the treadmill today. It's not going anywhere either! I'm also NOT going to do all the laundry today either. Just enough to get us thru a little longer. It's downstairs in the garage so I don't need to be hauling all of that up and down right now. I guess I'm just getting a little anxious. I'm such a slow loser and had really gotten into the walking (at least of the neighborhood, I actually hate the treadmill but it works) and was hoping things were really starting to move. I've been stuck in the 180's for so long too. I'm just kind of a wreck right now I guess and just want to get GOING again! All the drama is probably just NOW catching up to me too! I've noticed, since my daughter, I'm always stuffing a lot of my emotions, especially when something is wrong with me. We're pretty close and she can read me really well. We don't have family close by and she had to go with us to the surgeon Monday night. DH and I were both anxious but trying not to show it. Thanks, Beth. Sounds good! I didn't notice any deep-frying tho. Sounds like it's baked. That'd be A LOT better!

Congratulations!! WTG!!!

Blessed Easter! I know everyone is struggling right now. That is why it's so important to stay with the website and our threads. To give support as well as receive support! Take any losses we have, whether it be in pounds or inches and Celebrate them! Celebrate our NSVs!! A lot of us are having those even tho the scales may be stuck or not moving in the direction that we'd like. Let's finish up this challenge and move on from our disappointments! There are some of us who have done well. Let's celebrate with them! Post your final numbers! I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and a very Blessed Easter! HE LIVES!!!

I agree with RM but as I just found this, I'm figuring you're already having or had surgery. Umm, another thought, and I'm going to be blunt. :rolleyes2: If you can't stick to the pre-op diet, what makes you think you can stick to the post-op diet? That is also VERY important- to healing and setting the band. If you blew off the pre-op, what's to say you're not going to take an equally serious post-op process and throw it out the window? Ya gotta get your head straight about this. The band won't help the head stuff. I really hope your surgery went well. Take care. Follow your surgeon's orders and let us know how you're doing! Best wishes!!

In some cases, it may still be swelling from surgery. The first year you will still have some swelling. I can tell, depending on what I've done during the day, my stomach will actually stick out more than it had in the AM or even the day before. You need to remember that everything that had to do with surgery took place right there. The port is located right below the skin, after fills (or unfills in my case Monday) I'll be swollen for almost a week. I get bruised too and the port area will even bump out a little. The band/stomach is all right there at the front of the abdomen. Ok, under all the muscle and other tissue but it all still presents to the front. I think if you're under a year out from surgery, and you're noticing that you seem to be presenting all on the front, then you can safely say, it's probably swelling. As long as you're exercising and losing weight, I think it'll eventually take care of itself. I'm sure hoping anyway! LOL! Best wishes!!

That is an interesting concept. I'd be interested in reading the book. I'll have to look for it. Thank you.

It might be. I have no idea. I'm thinking now that I was actually bleeding. That's why all the questions. I hope to get to that point. I still like the icky stuff. Honestly tho, I don't eat the stuff very often. I have always loved peeps but this year, didn't have a one. Pretty proud of that. Good for hubs for taking you out. If the food doesn't solve things at least the "getting out of the house and relaxing while someone else fixes dinner" helps a BUNCH! That's what I was thinking too. Thanks. And I agree about the damn pills!! UGH! I so totally KNOW better! Especially just a couple of days after a fill! Dumb, dumb, dumb! Thanks. I think it was old blood that I was throwing up. Sunday was way worse than Monday and I think by Monday afternoon, when I finally stopped trying to get little sips of anything down, the rest decided to start coming up. It was like flaking rust, I guess is the easiest way to describe it. Your episode must have been very scary! I know I was scared! You (and he) must have absolutely terrified!! I'm so glad it all turned out okay but too bad the original doc messed up. Almost had some pretty permanent consequences! I'm really curious and scared too. I've just been praying that she's getting help and is going to be okay. And I REALLY hope she lets us know how it all turned out. I agree. It is getting a little better for me since we signed up for the farm veggies that we get every week. The stuff is so good and I get so excited about it that I'm trying to cook more- cleaner (meaning not overcooking or overloading with "stuff"- simpler foods to use the yummy veggies in their best state. I grew up on junk- a bag of chips with every lunch, the big cans of Hi-C punch, sodas, ice cream, etc. We had lots of veggies, that were overcooked and covered with butter or mayo, and fruit... in jello, etc. so I'm still trying to overcome my growing up tastebuds!! Ouch, sorry! I still have a hard time not being able to finish some things. I take a lot of stuff home but it's just not the same sometimes. Have a great walk! With my fill last Thursday I was finally getting to that point of 1/2 -3/4 of a cup of food at a time. I was really sure that fill was going to be my sweet spot. I hope to get back there soon. Before that, I was eating a cup+ depending on the day and my activity level. I wish for that feeling some day. I get tired of thinking about food all the time. It actually pisses me off! I don't want to think about it all the time!! Can't be helped sometimes tho. DD is going thru another growth spurt and I can't seem to keep her filled up! She literally eats all day long!! UGH! Oh and Ebony. I want to thank you and Diva for your tips. I found some great ideas and DD's hair is doing SO much better! I knew I was making mistakes b/c her hair was so fly-away and her curls were actually coming out in spite of what I was trying to do. The site that help the most was the long, curly haired gal. Her hair is a lot like DD's. DD's hair now looks "done" all day instead of looking like I hadn't touched it an hour after I had! Her hair isn't tangling as much and it's easier to brush out when I need too. I bought a new brush that doesn't have the little balls on the ends of the "bristles" and I can't believe how much easier it is to do her hair! So, THANK YOU!!!!! :wub: I am determined to get on the treadmill today in between doing like 4 loads of laundry! I want to get out in the neighborhood but I'm afraid I'm not up to it yet. (And DH went to work today and won't be home til Sunday, so he can't come rescue me!) I'm supposed to be taking it easy too tho. I woke up this AM to find that my weight is only a few 10ths from what my ticker says. I was a little disappointed! It's all the water weight but I was hoping that since I've been on liquids and now soft foods, I'd be able to keep some of it off! Oh well. I am determined to not GAIN by the time I get to my appt on the 30th! Ok, gotta get! Have a great day!!

Whoo Hoo!!!!! WTG Beth!!! That's why DH does our taxes. I have to deal with payroll taxes at work. Not touching ours too! And I'm sorry but you made me LOL at the 13 kids thing! I just figured that's what I was throwing up by Mon afternoon. It was acidic brown stuff. My mom said it was bile. But I was hurting so much maybe it's what Plain said below. I may have been bleeding somewhere. Everything before that was clear once I cleared out the initial mess. I seem to be okay now. And I haven't tossed anything since an hour before getting unfilled. She may be but I sure hope not! Pretty sure you're right tho. Plain, could I be bleeding and not know it? What would I look for? I'm not worried per se, just wanting to make sure I'm paying attention. I'm still really sore, I'm assuming that would be normal after what I went thru? I hate to even ask what it looked like but part of me is curious. I should have gone into the medical field! I'm always curious about stuff! Tests, how the machines work, that kinda thing. When I was going thru infertility stuff, they tested my fallopian tubes and I got to watch the screen while the dye went thru and he told me all about what was happening. It was so cool. I also had to have a CT Scan and MRI (migraine diagnosis) and they're telling me to lay still and not move and I'm trying to see the machines work and how it's doing it with only moving my eyes! I'm such a dork! I'm hoping she's quiet on the boards b/c she's with her surgeon or getting help at the nearest hospital. It's what I'm praying for anyway. 'Night all!

Sure! All you'd need to do is soak the beans overnight. You could boil 'em for an hour, then drain and rinse like you would after soaking overnight then throw them in the crockpot but I never leave enough time to do that in the AM! Oh and soaking overnight or boiling for an hour, then draining and rinsing BEFORE starting the cooking process does a couple of things. 1. Starts the cooking process for the beans, softens them up, otherwise you're cooking the beans for DAYS! 2. Actually takes some of the stuff out that causes gas and abdominal pain. That's why you drain (and NOT re-use the water for the actual dish that you're making) and then rinse really well. You could cook up the sausage in a pan first too. (No need if it's precooked.) Tho you don't have to, it'd just be for browning purposes anyway. Then on low for 8-10hrs or so should do it! You could even throw a diced potato in it (red, white or yukon gold would be best, russet (or baking potatoes) don't hold up well to long time cooking). Or if you like greens, that would be SO good!! Kale, chard, collards, spinach - yum, yum, yum!!!! And so healthy with all of the vitamins that greens contain. Sorry, I can never leave recipes alone! LOL! I'm always adding or changing something!

Sounds yummy! I think this would work with ANY bag o beans! I've got some pintos in the cupboard and have everything but the sausage. This may call for an extra run to the grocery store! Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations! That is so exciting! I bet you were walking on Cloud 9!!! LOL! Are you still floating through your day or have your feet touched the ground again?! Enjoy your success and CELEBRATE!!!! WhooHoo!!!

Blue, I'm hoping by your lack of posting that means you're off to see your surgeon. Please let us know how you're doing as soon as you can. We're all worried about you. This same thing happened to me Sun AM. First swallow of the day and with my blood pressure pill, and it got good and stuck. I couldn't even keep my own saliva down. Called my surgeon's nurse Mon. By that afternoon I was vomiting bile. I'm figuring that's the brown stuff you're talking about. He saw me that evening and I got completely unfilled. Instant relief! I had gotten so swollen that I couldn't get anything to stay down. I see him again in 2 weeks and we'll start my fills over again. In the meantime I'm to take it easy, drink lots of fluids and very slowly re-introduce soft foods back after a couple of days of liquids. Then I can slowly start to see how regular solid food does. He says everything should be okay but only b/c I got in to see him ASAP. Please, please, don't mess with this. It's serious. Not even factoring in your band, the dehydration alone is nothing to mess with. I lost over 5lbs just overnight with what happened to me. I wasn't severe enough to need an IV but after several days I would have been. Take care and let us know how you are!!!

Susan, Congrats on the lost poundage! WooHoo!

CC, glad to hear the news on Shane. Here's hoping and praying he makes it home this weekend!! We tried to snow last night and yet we're supposed to be in the high 80's this weekend! Crazy weather! UGH! Total bummer. I'm praying you are back to normal very soon! Yummmmmm!! Fantastic! WTG!!! Not that I've seen!! Not wrong at all. Keeps her busy and helps you in the process! I always hated filing! If ya ever figure this one out, let me know! That's cool! You just never know how you touch people. It's neat that you saw him later and he could tell you how he was doing and what you meant to him. Thanks for the well wishes! It sure was scary! I'm doing okay now. Really sore but that's to be expected I guess. Sooooo glad I was able to get to him Monday night. I couldn't imagine going another day or 2 doing what I was doing! Beth, I took a look at that link you posted about the 19yr old who's having a lot of the same problems that I had. I can't imagine going as long as she has. I'll have to find it again to see if she's updated at all. Drive-time, phooey!, get thee to the surgeon NOW!!!! I pray she and her band are okay but I don't know after this long. Sounds bad. I'm thankful I'm still not much interested in food. Still pretty swollen, I'd imagine. With DH and DD they're eating regular food and I could care less right now! I'm even fixing some of it for them! Speaking of which, I need to go puree some bean soup for lunch. It's been awhile and I should go eat. Have a great day!!

Thanks, y'all! I'm doing pretty good now. I'm really sore from all of the trauma but that's okay. Taking it easy and going slow. I'm whooped but that's to be expected. Lellow, thanks for letting me know how you did un-filled. It is so scary to me! I'm not too interested in food right now, I do get hungry but I fill up fast. I know that will change once the swelling all goes down! I've got my next appt w/him on the 30th. Hopefully he'll be re-filling me starting then. I'm sure he'll want to go slow. Thanks again! I :wub: you guys!! Welcome! Congrats on your numbers! Great job! We just finished up an 8 week challenge. We just picked a number of lbs that we thought we could lose (all individual) and worked on trying to lose it by Easter! If you just click on one of our banners, it will take you to the site to make one. Then you put the code into your signature. I can't exactly remember how to do it tho. I think there is a thread somewhere on the site that tells you how it works. Take care and keep posting!

Well, hell. Here's my story for what happened today after getting stuck Easter AM and since my earlier AM post. I called my surgeon's nurse knowing he's in surgery all day on Mondays. She made me an appt for WEDNESDAYYY!!!! But said she'd talk to him when she could to see what he wanted her/us to do. This process is new to my facility and he's new to Kaiser AND they hadn't had an emergency yet so there was no plan of action. By mid-afternoon, I was puking bile. NOT good! HE called me himself at 5PM. Nurse only heard I was now getting things thru, not the part that it was coming back up again! As soon as he heard that, he was mad. At her. Then he heard about the bile and ordered me in the car NOW! Well, lovely for me, I live ONE HOUR away. He was NOT happy. Anyway, he completely unfilled me. All 6.5ccs. I came out of surgery with 1.5 already in my band so I'm actually starting back before surgery! I'm scared! He's not worried about a slip. Whew! I'm to do liquids for a day or so (I'll try to go a little longer) before re-introducing foods. I'll basically, be doing a shortened version of my post-op diet. Liquids, soft/mushies, then harder foods. Oh! Then the nurse called my DH's cell phone and left a message. We were on the road and missed the call. She said DON'T go to urgent care, go to ER, then have him paged. They don't do that at ER, no matter what, you have to wait and see their docs first! We were there almost an hour when my surgeon came looking for us! His poor nurse is going to get an earful in the AM!!!!! As soon as he took the fill out and sat me up, he had me drinking. I was so afraid to take that drink as much as I wanted it! He said, drink, no worries! I drank and drank and drank! And then it dawned on me! NO PAIN! I'd been in sooo much pain and it was gone immediately!! I've had 2 bottles of Water since 7PM and a bottle of chocolate milk (good for the electrolytes, plus nutrients) and am now working on a shake before I take my exhausted butt to bed! Yesterday AM I weighed 182.6, this AM I weighed 177.4! NOT a recommended way to lose 5lbs! Wish I could keep the loss tho! I go see him again in 2 weeks and he'll start re-filling me. So, that's my drama. Thought I'd share! Have a great Tuesday! 'Night!

Drive by post: I'm sure I'm missing a bunch but I'll just have to catch up later. Easter didn't go so good. First off the bat, I got stuck. I was trying to get us out of the house and grabbed a shake out of the fridge, grabbed my BP pill and acidopholis pill and first swallow, got stuck. Dammit! I know better! AND it was about 2 hours earlier than I normally eat AND I'd had a fill on Thurs, so I usually take better care to go slow. So instead of taking a drink and checking to see how things might go down, I slammed it all down at once. DH and DD went to church by themselves. I stayed home and PB'd my own saliva for the rest of the day. Finally some pill parts came up and later some grittiness but nothing would stay down. Was hoping that a good night's sleep would help. It did in that I could tell things were going thru the band BUT everything then came right back up. I called my surgeon's nurse knowing he's in surgery all day on Mondays. She made me an appt for WEDNESDAYYY!!!! But said she'd talk to him when she could to see what he wanted her/us to do. This process is new to my facility and he's new to Kaiser AND they hadn't had an emergency yet so there was no plan of action. By mid-afternoon, I was puking bile. NOT good! HE called me himself at 5PM. Nurse only heard I was now getting things thru, not the part that it was coming back up again! As soon as he heard that, he was mad. At her. Then he heard about the bile and ordered me in the car NOW! Well, lovely for me, I live ONE HOUR away. He was NOT happy. Anyway, he completely unfilled me. All 6.5ccs. I came out of surgery with 1.5 already in my band so I'm actually starting back before surgery! I'm scared! He's not worried about a slip. Whew! I'm to do liquids for a day or so (I'll try to go a little longer) before re-introducing foods. I'll basically, be doing a shortened version of my post-op diet. Liquids, soft/mushies, then harder foods. Oh! Then the nurse called my DH's cell phone and left a message. We were on the road and missed the call. She said DON'T go to urgent care, go to ER, then have him paged. They don't do that at ER, no matter what, you have to wait and see their docs first! We were there almost an hour when my surgeon came looking for us! His poor nurse is going to get an earful in the AM!!!!! As soon as he took the fill out and sat me up, he had me drinking. I was so afraid to take that drink as much as I wanted it! He said, drink, no worries! I drank and drank and drank! And then it dawned on me! NO PAIN! I'd been in sooo much pain and it was gone immediately!! I've had 2 bottles of water since 7PM and a bottle of chocolate milk (good for the electrolytes, plus nutrients) and am now working on a shake before I take my exhausted butt to bed! Yesterday AM I weighed 182.6, this AM I weighed 177.4! NOT a recommended way to lose 5lbs! Wish I could keep the loss tho! I go see him again in 2 weeks and he'll start re-filling me. So, that's my drama. Thought I'd share! I hope everything is okay with everyone. Have a great Tuesday and I'll try to catch up with everyone later! 'Night!

Larry, I don't know much about the sleeve. There is a sleeve forum on here. The lap band also comes in 10cc and 14cc sizes. I have the 10cc. I don't know what the difference is between them either.

Last week: 183.6 This week: 182.6 Total Loss: -1lb Brad, Congratulations! Great job! Lellow, WTG!! You're going to have swelling issues for awhile. Just so ya know.

I waited to WI yesterday AM then never got online to post. Got stuck on my pills first swallow of the day and was sick ALL day yesterday. Still kinda iffy this AM. Able to keep Water down but just PB's something but it wasn't the water. Strange. I'm wanting to try some milk but a little afraid too! Anyway. Hit no where near my goal. Start: 184.4 Goal: 174:4 End: 182.6 Loss: 1.8 That's just pitiful! LOL! Since I couldn't even keep even my own saliva down yesterday, I woke up to 177.4 this AM! That's not going to be a keeper but I thought it was interesting. And too bad I couldn't keep that number! I worked hard enough for it! LOL! If I'm still having problems today, I WILL get in to my surgeon tomorrow. So no worries! Have a beautiful week everyone!

Pete! Good to see you again! So sorry about the emergency surgery. Really glad everything is okay now. Sorry about the complications after surgery tho. Ouch! Best wishes on your recovery!! Larry, I second what Cathy said. It's all about being informed, following dr's orders and paying attention to what your body is telling you. Stories like Pete's are good information for all of us and let us know what to look out for and what to do. You never know if your story is going to cause a light bulb to go off for someone who has been struggling but wasn't sure what was going on or if they should be concerned. It also lets newbies, like yourself, know ALL of the POSSIBLE ups and downs with the band. The more information you have, I believe, the better. Best wishes with your journey. Ask your questions, read as much of the board as you can (a lot of your questions might be answered without having to post, even!). There is a lot of great information on here and people to help! Best wishes!

Yep, my mind went straight to the gutter with that title! LOL! :cool2: Now to your question. RIDE YOUR FREAKING BIKE!!!!! Who CARES if they think ANYTHING about it? You want to ride, then ride! I have ALWAYS admired women who ride their OWN motorcycles. I have never once paid attention to their size, I'm just thrilled to see 'em out there! And a side note: I would have KILLED the boyfriend for taking the bike and WRECKING IT!!! :thumbup: I'm shocked he became your DH and without even having to fix the bike first!! Must be love! :party: LOL!

I would love to attend a focus group... paid or not. BUT as I live in CA, I don't live in the southern part. Too bad. Would've been interesting, I'm sure. Hopefully there were some takers. Maybe they just didn't post about it. Hope they do so later to let us know how it went and what it was like.

Plain, you crack me up! And on a regular basis, btw! I voted #3. I go 2x a year but I never floss unless something's stuck. What's crazy is that I have GREAT teeth but I have structural issues that are causing me to lose teeth and break them. My jaw didn't "grow" right so I clench my teeth and my "bite" is off. I can't afford the $30,000 for braces, reconstructive surgery and implants which would include bone grafting. Sooo, I wear a bite splint at night and have a bridge across the front where I worked my front teeth loose and lost bone almost to my nose. Yeah, lots of fun! But what's left is very healthy!!! And the bridge looks fabulous!!!