Kim_8

1. stand on the scale :-) 2. watch tv (Lost, House - good shows during the week) 3. read a book - preferably not a cookbook 4. talk on the phone - preferably not to pizza Hut :-) 5. start repainting a room in your house.... then another, then another :-) (I'm big on this one) 6. take a walk - this one really does work if you can make yourself go for the walk. Sorry - I'm being somewhat silly - I quit smoking and eating and am trying to find anything to do besides smoke right now. These have good for me so far. Good Luck!

Hey Bandayed- I'll try to start "listening" to what my band is trying to tell me. So far all I hear is don't drink or eat! :-) At any rate - you must have been absolutely right.... I can now drink my soup and it doesn't hurt! I guess the swelling has gone down enough to let liquids through more easily. I'm feeling mucho better. Even made it to 777 calories today (a first). I was feeling drained of energy from not being able to eat and scared that would last forever. It's mucho better now! Thanks for the feedback. Kim

Sherry, Congrats! I was just checking back in on you to make sure you did ok. You are way lucky with the no gas thing - if you don't have that, I think you'll find it to be a walk in the park..... sore, but nothing you won't be able to handle! No marathons - I agree! Be good on your food this week. I found that I was so swollen that even liquids were going down really slowly and causing me a little pain. I just got better tonight and tomorrow will be 1 week since surgery. Just know that if you experience the same thing I did that it WILL eventually go away when the swelling goes down. I thought I was going to be like that forever and was stating to get worried :-). We'll see if the fill puts me back to square 1, but for now I'm good. Best wishes to you and keep us posted on how you're doing. Kim

Kim - Yikes - what a day! I had to go look up hematoma to see exactly what it was :-) - heard it before, but I thought it was a bruise - i was wrong.... he·ma·to·ma ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hm-tm) n. pl. he·ma·to·mas or he·ma·to·ma·ta (-m-t) <DL><DD>A localized swelling filled with blood resulting from a break in a blood vessel</DD></DL>That's got to be great fun along with everything else going on in there. Wish I could be of some help with the ?'s but I'm in the same boat you are. Hang in there!! I'll keep watching your post to see what you find out! Good Luck! Kim

Congratulations on setting a date! You know - I purposely scheduled surgery over a month and a half out so I could go through the holidays before going in. I thought it would seem like forever before the day came - but actually it went really quickly. I ended up eating like a pig for a month and a half was the only downside.... I knew something life changing was coming up and I had to get every last bite in before it was done :-). Go enjoy yourself - I highly reccommend having fondue!... We went to the Melting Pot and that was one of the best treats I had before surgery.

Good looking family! Tell Brittney her hair is absolutely gorgeous! Cute new grandson you got there, too! Kim

Margo - hang in there - you can do this thing! I agree with journaling food eaten - when you eat it if you can. I've been using fitday.com to log food (free and cool site) - I have access to it at work and at home and try and go log food when I eat so it keeps a reminder in my head of where I'm at. I did this with weight watchers, too and as long as I recorded what I ate I did ok and lost weight. Once I was encouraged by weight loss, I could kinda go on autopilot for a while without journaling but would eventually fall back to old habits. I'd have to start journaling again to get back on track. Something about the journal just keeps it in your head about how close to max calories you are. Good luck pumpkin - you'll be fine - Go get a massage and de-stress!

Hey - congrats on that first fill - let us know if you can tell a big difference! 13 lbs is wonderful - you should be very proud of yourself! I don't know too much about the difference in bands - I understand the 10cc is a little bigger and the port is bigger, too. My doc was going to try and do the 4cc on me if he could (and he did) because I'm so short and the larger port would probably have caused me to have a 2nd surgery later to downsize. How accurate or inaccurate this is, I don't know. I asked this same question and somebody told me it was like a belt and came in different sizes to fit. Wish I could be of more help. Take Care. Kim

Well there you are Kim! :wave: Blockage huh? Could be - although what in the heck could have gotten stuck that I've eaten? My menu has consisted of Soups and drkins no thicker than a milkshake with NO texture. You at Mac and Cheese! I would give my left boob for Mac and Cheese! I chewed up a chip with hot sauce and spit it out. It was so hard not to swallow it! Well, at least if you got down the Mac and cheese it must mean that your swelling has gone down. From what I read - there is not real "restriction" at first except from the swelling... my HOPE is that we are/were just REALLY swollen and allowing very little through at a time. This too shall pass! *cross fingers/legs/toes/eyes* Hey - glad to finally talk to you! Keep in touch!~Kim

You look great! You can really see a big difference! Congratulations on starting back to school - my husband just graduated last month after a 20 year hiatus. Good luck!

Sus - that was hillarious.

Good luck and congratulations! You'll do great! Sleep good - big day tomorrow!

hey guys - thanks for the feedback - it's exactly like pressure behind the breastplate - except I don't even feel it coming. ah well - as the days go by my meals will just keep getting smaller and smaller I guess :-). Hopefully it is just the swelling and it will subside and I'll get a new indicator for "full". Thanks again for the feedback.

Hey Doc, Congrats! 7 lbs already - wow, that's exciting! Good Luck.... Kim

Hi and welcome! Congratulations on setting your date! Just think, 7 days from now at this time, you'll be banded! Best Wishes! Kim

Hy Dody - I haven't eaten much at all at a time for the past 4 days. And defiinitely haven't mixed foods. I've had 1/2 pudding cup, 1/2 protein shake, 1/2 cup soup/broth, etc. I really haven't felt like eating... but tonight I was feeling better. I know it's important to get the protein in so I have to drink the shakes, but I was just craving a different taste so had the few sips of soup. All in all, I've been at 400-500 calories a day since surgery and haven't felt like I could do any more than that.

I had to take a written and computer test equivalent to about 900 questions or so. Questions were pretty straight forward... Do you think people are watching you? Do you think there's a conspiracy against you? Do you wig out in closed spaces? etc. etc. No big deal - I did enjoy talking to the psychiatrist who gave me info on what to expect in the way of success and how to get there. He told me a meal for me would be 7 bites - I still can't believe that will be true :-). We'll see!!!

Klynn - Hang in there - can you eat pureed soup? Something warm with a little salt and pepper did wonders for me for a change of pace.

If you go to www.bandbuddies.com, I saw that they were talking about getting together - it sounded like they do it frequently and I thought I might check it out as well. The board is much more difficult to interpret than this one - more of an email chain, but most people are from around here I think. Kim

Laura - Glad you got everything sorted out. You'll have to let me know how you liked getting a fill/unfill at SCOR. I go for my first one on Valentines Day. Hope things improve for you. Kim

I just got ReclaimRX - from doc's office tho - don't know where else you can get it. It's soooooo much better than Myocel I can't even tell you.

Ahhhhh, that's too bad! Wednesday is just 2 sleeps away though! Hang in there!

Ah Kellie - GREAT job! :clap2: You look absolutely wonderful!

Go to www.tickerfactory.com and follow the instructions to create your ticker. When you're done it will give you a URL - highlight the URL, then press Ctrl+C to copy the link. Edit your signature on lapbandtalk.com. Click the little link that looks like two mountains and a sun (insert image). A message will come up with a box to enter the URL of your ticket. Put your cursor in the box and highlight the text already there, then press ctrl+V to paste in the URL you copied from tickerfactory.com. Good luck!