heartfire

Thanks for sharing! It sounds great!!

Congratulations Kristen!! Glad to hear you're doing okay! Latrice, best wishes on your surgery tomorrow. Let us know how you're doing as soon as you can!

I agree with you! I'm getting anxious to get this done now! I'm so excited and scared spitless at the same time! Got a call from surgery today and I meet the surgeon on Friday. Along with a bunch of tests I'll also be getting all of my instructions so that will help a lot! Best wishes on your surgery tomorrow. Be sure to let us know when you can, how you are doing. Take care!!

I just started Depo but I'm not banded yet. We were going to do pills but had MAJOR breakthrough. GYN put me on the pill form of Depo before he started the shots to make sure I wouldn't have any side effects. I'll be getting my second shot about the middle of Sept. A couple of weeks after my surgery. I'm still able to lose (have to before surgery) but have noticed this last week, I'm really hungry. Scares me b/c they said if I gain ANYTHING they will cancel my surgery! Talk about panic!! Anyway, I don't know about an 11lb gain though! Could some of that be Water weight or bloating or something?! (I'm trying to help!) Unless you ate copious amounts of food, I don't know how you could gain that much unless you're bloating too. UGH! Best wishes and hope this resolves itself!

I'm really sorry that you had to deal with this in the middle of the night! How scary! I'm sure no one responded b/c they had no idea how to help you! I sure as heck don't know what to say about it, except to call the on-duty dr and you already did that! I'm glad it seems resolved. I hope it continues to heal well. And don't be like I would probably be and keep staring at the dumb thing to see if it's changed at all!!! :thumbup: Take care!!

Wow! What great stories! And both of your stories are true in that we are ultimately doing this for ourselves but we tend to forget that and focus on others, as usual! Women are very good (bad) at doing that! thanks for sharing!

If you're really worried about it, call the office and speak with the nurse. She/He can tell you if it's a problem. If you're able to drink Water though, it doesn't sound like you're stuck. So, if that's what you're worried about, I think you might be okay. They could be sitting there b/c they're going to have to fall apart before going through the band. That might be what you're feeling. As far as taking pills in general, as far as I know, that's okay. I think the biggest issue at this point is them getting stuck. Call the office to double-check. Take care!

See, Wasa, this is why I love you and Jacqui, Chickie, BBK and several others. B/c you DO tell it like it is. There are times for tough love and times for hand-holding. You all seem to know when someone is just having a tough time and needs some bolstering and when someone just isn't playing by the rules and needs a butt-kicking. I don't understand why people would send nasty PMs and harass those who've gone before us and can help us in our journeys. I need/want all the help y'all are willing to give. If I need a butt-kicking, I want you guys to be the ones to do it BECAUSE you've been there. You can probably tell where my head is at since yours was probably there at some point as well. If I need a "you can do this b/c we've been able to do this" speech, I want it to come from you guys, again, BECAUSE you've been there! I want to grow up to be just like y'all!! I don't mean exactly b/c to a certain extent every one of us is going to have different experiences. What I mean is that I want my head in the right place, I want to work this band properly (and I'm scared to death that I'll fail, yet again!), and dammit, I want to get to goal!! So, yea, I want to be just like y'all! And if someone doesn't like something about another person, why get nasty and send PMs? Just ignore the person! Sheesh! Be an ADULT!!!! Okay, I'm done now. I think! (And thank goodness for spell-check b/c I can NOT type today! Must be Monday!!!)

You need to call the surgeon's office tomorrow AM and have them look at it. I'm surprised you haven't done that yet. The office that did the fill needs to see it, not your PCP (I'm figuring that's who gave you the Rx). Don't let this go too long. Best wishes and hope it clears up soon!

Oh THANK GOODNESS!!!! I'm so glad because I seriously had NO other ideas on how to help!! :teeth_smile: Take care!

Pj, click on any ticker then. When the page pops up it will probably show the ticker that you clicked on (it showed yours when I clicked on it). Then enter your pin, click on update and then go from there. I don't know why you can't click on your own ticker. That's strange. I can click on mine from the thread or from my options when I Edit my Signature. If that doesn't work, you might just have to make a new one. Let me know if that helps at all. Hope it works!!

I have to do a 10 day all liquid, high Protein diet and I'm a little concerned but mostly because I don't have enough information yet as to what the surgeon means by liquid yet. (Meaning only shakes or can I do any liquid and add protein to it? Soups, smoothies, etc.) As far as tracking your calories, I'd recommend Calorie Counter, Diet Tracking, food Journal, Nutrition Facts at The Daily Plate. It's free to sign up and you can enter everything you're consuming and track your totals for the day. It's helping a lot right now as I also added my weight and the fact that I want to lose a pound a week and it gave me my total calories for the day to accomplish that. Then I enter my food throughout the day (and track my water) and see how I'm doing for the day. If I'm a little high for lunch, I can cut back at dinner and still stay within my calories for the day (like today!). It's great and I'm finding it a huge help to me. Give it a try!

Congratulations!! Now you have to change you siggy line from this: "Will be banded 1st August 08!" to this: "WAS banded 1st August 08!" Seriously though, take care of yourself!!

Hi PJ. Welcome! Click on your ticker and it will take you to ticker factory. Input your password, update your weight then click on "next" the bottom of the page, close it and refresh the page that you clicked on your ticker in the first place and it should show the new number. Hope this helps. You can also do this by going in to edit your signature and clicking on the ticker in the preview area above. Congratulations to our new bandsters!! Hope your surgeries went well and you're feeling good!!

Hmmm, good question. Maybe we'll do a big trip. We're thinking of taking DD (2) to Disneyland next March or April (we try to go every few years) but I'm thinking more along the lines of a bigger trip. Maybe a cruise to Alaska or something like that. I'd also like to get more tattoos so we'll see. Definitely something to think about though!

I weigh almost daily as well. BUT I use it to just keep an eye on things. Now on Thursdays, it gets a little obsessive b/c that's the night I have to weigh in at class for the "official" total. So, I'm jumping on and off the dumb thing all day! Now that I have my surgery date, and they told me they will cancel me if I gain ANY weight, it might get a little more obsessive for the next month! I tend to fluctuate a little and for them to say that, freaks me out!! I'm just going to have to be REALLY careful!

I'm glad you got in to the doctor today. This sounds too serious to wait another week! I do hope it's not too serious and they find the problem quickly. Take care and keep us informed. Prayers are being said!

Wonderful news!!! Still praying for a full recovery!

I might do a "last meal" on the 14th b/c I start a 10 day liquid diet on the 15th. It's going to be tough but worth it. By the time I get to mushies, it'll be close to 6 weeks with out "real" food! UGH! Seeing that in print sure makes a difference to just thinking it! AHHHHHHH!!!

Wow! I guess I get to finally join a group too! I just got my surgery date TODAY!! It's tentatively set for the 25th. They have to double-check the date with the proctor. My surgeon is new to Kaiser and has already been cleared but the assistant surgeons need to be cleared so it looks like I'm going to have 3 or 4 surgeons in with me! I just turned 40 last Saturday (26th), have been married to my DH for almost 21 years and we have a 2 year old DD. I work at home 5 hrs a week doing the books for our church. We like to travel, camp, and mainly just be together. Doing whatever or nothing at all! I started gaining weight in my early 20's. I've lost and gained so many times, it's time to do something to stop the yo-yo! Between being hungry a good portion of the time and eating way too much at a sitting, I've managed to get here. DH doesn't have a weight issue and if he does gain a few pounds, he just decides to lose it and it's gone! It's good to meet everyone! I'll be seeing you around! TTFN!

And I've got a SUGERY DATE!!!!!!!!! Oh My Gosh!!!!! We're looking at August 25th!!! I'm so excited!! So, just wanted to share!

Hi! First of all, Welcome to LBT!! My first thought was that you need to do more research before having the band installed. Where was this article? As with any WLS there are mainstream media and society that looks at surgery as an easy way out and you should just "do this on your own." Okay, well, if I could do this in my own, I wouldn't be here right now, waiting for a surgery date. With proper restriction, you should be able to eat just about anything without getting stuck IF you are eating small amounts, slowly and chewing well. There are some foods that t become intolerable for some. Bread, Pasta and rice seem to be the main ones. Drier pieces of meat are another. It's different for everyone. As far as a pre-op diet and the post-op diets, those are all dependent on what your surgeon requires and can vary. The pre-op diet if there is one is usually to determine if you're serious about your Quest to change your lifestyle as a bandster and to shrink your live so it's easier to get under it to the stomach. The post-op diet is strictly for healing purposes. A liquid diet of 4-6 weeks is ideal for healing but most surgeons are only requiring a couple of weeks at most. Which I think is a mistake b/c slippage rates have been increasing due to the shorter liquid stages. After liquids, you have the mushy stage where you need to be eating soft or mashed foods. This is usually a couple of weeks then you start adding more solid food slowly to tolerance. The reason for this is to heal the stomach well before you put so-called "real" food in it. If the stomach (it's a muscle) is moving while digesting food, the band doesn't have a chance to "seat" itself to the position it's been placed in and that can cause a slip which requires more surgery to fix. A slip can lead to all sorts of problems if it's not caught soon enough and you can't always tell if it's slipped. The advantage of this new TOOL that you are thinking of is that with proper restriction, you can feel less hunger, you are eating only when you should- at mealtime and you are eating a lot less food (hopefully it's healthy food that you're eating) and not feeling deprived or starving. There is something called "bandster hell" which is the time between surgery, during healing and proper restriction with your fills. You will be hungry and most people do try to follow some sort of calorie guidelines so they aren't out of control until restriction happens. That's it in a nutshell. I think. I'm sure I've missed something. But my advice to you is do your research. Don't let one article put you off. This can be a wonderful thing if you use it correctly and go into it with the thought that it's a TOOL and not a miracle cure. Ask questions and seek answers and you'll come to a decision that's right for you. Take care!

Oh gosh! That is funny! Congrats on having to jump through hoops to prove you are YOU!!

UGH! I totally agree with all of you. I used to be able to find nice things at Target, not now! I thought it was just my store that only has a couple of racks and it's crammed in with a huge assortment of maternity. On top of that they usually have other stuff and clearance and sizes amongst all of it too. I don't even bother any more either. Their website is just as bad. Hardly any selection and what is there is something I would NEVER wear! I've been shopping at womanwithin.com and a couple of others. Sick of trying to find something to wear!

Wickedme, Try using 1/2 Splenda, 1/2 Sugar, that should work better for you. You can also try hedging a little more spenda than sugar and see what happens. Don't know if you could go as far as 2/3 to 1/3 but you might be able to. Also depending on the recipe, you can usually only substitute about 1/2 the oil or fat for applesauce. After that it changes the texture too much. You'll have to play with it. Some recipes you can go as high as 2/3rds applesauce to 1/3 of the fat. Learned this in a nutrition class. Have fun!!