Elizabethdb

Good for you! Do you have to diet for 6 months now with Lindsey? Time will go by fast. I know what you mean about the weather. I have been having the munchies and a little sweet tooth. Sugar free pudding or something like that helps the sweet tooth, havent found anything for the munchies yet. Good luck

We had a good meeting tonight. Big group and several new faces. The topic was "Open forum" her speaker backed out at last minute so we just did an open forum type thing. It was good. Next month she will have some doctor there, I didnt reconize his name, and will talk about marriage with the changes and stuff. I think I will stay out of that one due to the fact that I am VERY single. Anyway, for you newbees it was great seeing you :thumbup:

Some people are like that. I heard people in support group not even a week after their surgeries complaining about how hungry they were. I didnt even have an appetite for a couple weeks. Are you getting enough protein? I know they say that protein keeps you from being hungry, I dont think it helps me though. I dont know what to tell ya, Im sorry. Drink lots of fluids.

I dunno. When they first started doing it here they started protein on day 1, I guess now they are telling people to wait a couple days to a week before worrying about getting the protein in. I guess it depends on the doctor as to when they want you to start on the protein.

There is a lot of gas after this surgery. They actually pump gas into your belly to expand it for surgery. Right after surgery I stayed full. I couldnt even get my liquids in I would take a tiy sip and that would be all it took. Your stomach is mad right now and swollen and all that lovely stuff. Thats why they want us to do liquids for the first 2 weeks and then purees. Everything is just mad its been worked on and now there is a foreign object on the stomach. Just take it easy, you will eventually get nice and hungry then it will be getting time for a fill. Hang in there. Like my mom and I kept telling ourselves during this stage "This to will pass"

I didnt have the pain but after I was banded and eating solids, I woke up almost nightly heeving (spelling) I told Jeannie about it and she asked about the time Im eating before going to bed. So I paid attention to the times and when I would eat a couple hours before bed is when I would wake up say I stop around 7 and not eat anything after that, I wouldnt wake up. I say that and now I am sitting here eating a snack and it is 9:30 at night lol.. guess I have no one to blame but myself.

Hey Smiley, how you feeling??? The meetings are held in the same building as Jeanies and Lindseys Office are in. I call it the Banding Center, I dont know its "official name". Hope to see you there. Dont push yourself.

shes good at telling you that :tt2:.. I called Brenda the day of moms surgery after surgery had been going on for 2 hours and asked if it were time to worry yet lol. Good luck on your approval. They can be pains sometimes(insurance companies that is) when it comes to approvals. Let us know as soon as you find out. :crying: Reminder to the already banded. Support Group is Monday at 6 pm, see you there :w00t:

That REALLY stinks.. I wonder why they changed it. Well at least you will be healed up before summer comes, I guess thats one plus. Hang in there

Lack of Calories or did your sugar drop? Either way that is pretty scary. Anymore you have to be strick with that preop diet. I will admit, I dont think I took my seriously but that was back in the day that the diet wasnt strick and you didnt have to lose a certain amount before surgery. I know after surgery I have had some spells of my sugar dropping and coming close to passing out but I was able to catch myself and get some sugar in me. IT is a scary feeling. Have you talked to her or your doctor about the spells? Did the ER doc have much to say about it? I dont know how the diet is now but I know when I did it, it was protein protein protein and veggies, YUCK, . My cousin is getting ready to have it done also sometime around that date. I want to say either the 24th or 26th and she has to lose 10 pounds by friday.... Good luck with your surgery. I hope everything goes ok with you afterwards. You NEED to take it easy after surgery. If you are passing out now, the postop diet is clear liquids for a week, then full liquids, then pureed There is not much nutrition there for the first month. Good luck and keep in touch.

When did you start the program?? It seems you have been doing it for a good while now, I cant believe its been more then a year now since I started the program Oh yeah, I found out when the next meeting is. It is next monday. I couldnt remember if it was the 3rd or 4th Monday. When is the Zumba instructor planning on having her surgery?

When is the next support group? This monday or next monday? Anyone know

YEAA for getting your surgery date!! You will do GREAT! Try not to be nervous. I was so nervous that my blood pressure went sky high to the point they had to discuss even doing the surgery but once I got a shot of versed I wsa great lol. Gotta love that Versed. You will do great, it will be over before you know it. What kind of eye surgery are you having done?

I dont remember too much from my first appointment. It has now been a year since then. I had my 6 month follow up with Lindsey today and am down 52 pounds!!.. Anyway. all I can say is just be honest with Jeannie. I think she will go through your medical history and stuff like that and get you set up with all the consults you will need if any. I had to have a sleep study, ECHO, wear a holter monitor for 24 hours, and of course the psych appointment. Like I said, just be honest, relax, she is really easy to talk to and enjoy what is to come :cursing:. Speaking of insurance, I am looking at changing mine due to I cant afford the $450 per month payment I am making just to have insurance. I called BCBS the other day and they told me that since I have had the band less then a year ago, I will probably be denied due to being "high Risk". HIGH RISK MY BUTT!!! I was more high risk before the band then I am now. Anyway with this insurance if I get it the prescription insurance only covers 50% of generics only which will leave me with $800 worth of prescriptions out of pocket a month. So I dont know if I will be able to change or not. Anyone know of any coverage out there for full time, unemployed students?

4ccs is not much at all.. Just make sure you wright EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth down. Are you exercising? I didnt even feel a difference in my stomach when I was at 4ccs. I didnt feel a difference until I was up to about 6cc. Everyone is different with their fills. Are you hungry? Are you eating more then a cup of food at a time? Have you cut back on your carbs?? That is everything they always ask me even though I havent gained anything back since the band. They are just questions to think about. Jennifer good luck. It will be here before you know it. :)Now that the holidays and funeral are all over with, it is time to get back on track. I think I actually still lost during this time, but I know it isnt nearly enough. I go back to Kaplan in Feb and Im sure I will get chewed out for not loosing enough in his eyes. I also dont think I am getting enough nutrition though. My hair is coming out in big wads and my skin is all nasty so I dont know what is going on. I start back to school Monday BLAH. Not looking forward to taking psychology but 10 weeks and I will be done with it. Im gonna have to figure out about what to do about eating. My first class is at 9 and I usually cant eat solids until 11 and then I wont get out of class until after 1 so I dont know what I am going to do. Anyone know what happens if you dont go to your required amount of support group meetings?? My friend has only been to 1 and she was the very first one to have it done so I dont think she has time to get them all in before her year is up. Just wondering.

yeah, he's not a patient anymore..... We are doing alright. I bought me a kitten last night. Dad isnt too thrilled about that. Dad is really spacey right now and he just wont stop and rest. Viewing will be Friday 2-4 and 6-8 at Levetts(spelling) Funeral will be Sat at papaws church South Parkersburg Baptist at 2pm. We decided it would be best to wait until after Christmas to do everything.

wow.. sorry to hear that.. is there any help out there with it? can you mke payments?

Just to let you know that at 10pm Monday night we got a phone call that papaw was gone. The nurse said that he was up just got back in bed from going to the bathroom, was telling a story about Grandma and was laughing then he grabbed the rail looked at the nurse and he was gone. They said it was very very fast. They actually just had a meeting Monday morning about his discharge planning. They were sending him home Wed, Christmas Eve, and he was all excited about going home. ..... Well.... He went home. He is with Grandma now. He will be very missed.... My poor papaw... He is home now and happy no more illness, no more pain..... Just thought I would let you all know. I am still in a bit of shock. I just dont know what to think right now............I dunno.........

HAAPY EARLY BIRTHDAY!!!! That had to suck as a kid having a birthday the day after Christmas. lol I havent been exercising since I have been trying to come off the Effexor. MY head is spinning so much, I almost fall just walking I can imagin what I will do exercising lol. I joke saying I will drown in the pool if I do laps right now. I havent taken an Effexor since Wed night and my head is STILL spinning.. Thats awesome that you bought a pair of 14 jeans. Im still in the 20s :biggrin: but I will be down there one of these days .. I bought a shirt this weekend at Catherines that was 2 sizes smaller then what I wore this summer. I dont even remember the last time i wore a 2x shirt and it is still a little baggy... I just wish Kaplan would see it the way I see it :scared2:.. Is it bad to go on diet pills with the band??? Ive thought about trying Slim Quick "how women lose weight" Everytime I think of how Kaplan talked to me, I want to go take them but then I think about how diet pills scare me so that is what keeps me from going to buy them. When I was younger I took Redux, I can now sue if I wanted to, but I dont think I took them long enough, they made me way too sick within just a matter of days. Then I took this one, I forget the name, but I was working at a daycare at the time and I scrubbed that daycare down in just 1 day lol, then the next day I decided I wanted to paint the daycare, then in a couple days I crashed, energywise, so diet pills kind of scare me, but I dunno.. ANYWAY, I got way off topic lol. Maybe after Christmas we all need to get together and do some "last chance workouts". Ive been watching too much Biggest Looser. I wander if they would let me on the show, I dont have to tell them I have had the band lol. I think this is just a bad time of year to be on a diet. I will say, I am so glad I dont work at the hospital anymore right now because SO MUCH junk food gets brought in at this time of year. We had our church christmas party yesterday and all they had was pop to drink. I did find a drink that was non carbonated. LOL it was good... After about my 3rd cup of it I decided to check the nutrition facts..... 37 carbs!!!!! OOPS!! lol no wonder it tasted so good. I think I will start checking the facts before I drink now lol. Just got a call from my dad from the hospital as I was typing this. They had a family meeting today to talk about papaw and his care. He will be coming home Wed, Christmas Eve. He seems to be doing well right now. I think the doctors of learned not to give a time frame on his life because he will out live it lol. He is the only known "Graduate of Hospice". He graduated from Hospice about 3 years ago. Then this time around they said only a matter of days, well that was about 2 weeks ago and now he is going home. Only God knows when it is our time. He isnt ready for papaw yet.

you know. Im doing the same thing. Its so aggrivating. I went for my unfill about 3 weeks ago and I have only lost maybe 3 pounds since then and then Ive gained those 3 pounds, then I got on the scale today and Ive lost them again. WHAT GIVES!!!???? I thought about going back to get another fill even though I really dont think Im ready for one, but I know I will get chewed out by dr kaplan because Im not losing as fast as he would like UHG!!!!! Does anyone else have this trouble?? Mom is having trouble with her band. He would fill her when she was a month out because she still wasnt hungry and had lost 9 pounds. So she hasnt had a fill yet but she is having trouble getting food down and keeping it down. I told her that she might need a little taken out that he put in when he put the band in.. Who knows. I hope she mentions it to Jeanie tonight. She is pretty much back to liquids, I put her on them, do to vomiting. I'll see some of you tonight at the meeting. Mom and I will both be there. Im going to try to drag my friend who was the first one to have it done. I dont know if she will come though, she is considering having the band removed. She should have never had it in the first place. I would love to look at her and say "I TOLD YOU SO" but that would just be mean lol.

Well I think that the support group meetings are mainly just for the people that are already banded. I think it would be nice for a support group for the pre band people, but I dont know if they would ever get one going. Anyway, once you are banded they are every 4th monday of the month at 6pm at the banding clinic. Good luck with everything. Do you have to do 6 months of dieting? It will go by really fast.

Just sending a Reminder for you all who already have been banded. Support Group is Monday, the 22nd at 6:30. Im hoping to be there, just depends what all goes on with papaw. I didnt go see himtoday but my aunt called and said that he no longer has any goals to live to. His goal was to make it to Christmas, but I guess he isnt looking at making it to then now. Who knows. Only God knows when it is his time to go. Just a bad time of year to be going through this. Any of you take Effexor and tried to get off it?? It is making me down right sick. I mean Head in the clouds spinning, my insides feel like they are quivering and I just fill down right sick like Im getting the flu. Any suggestions on how to get through this?? Im taking it every other day right now but it is time to try to go to every 3 days. Mom just keeps telling me I gotta get through it there is really nothing to do.. Any suggestions?? I dont know if I told you all but I went to my regular doctor last week and he was very excited about my weight loss and we are trying to get me off of some pills. I am taking half my blood pressure pill now, I did come completely off of them for a month then my blood pressure crept back up. So I take half that, I have gone from 200mg of toprol(heart pill) a day which I am told is a very high dose to just taking 100mg a day, my doctor said he wants to see me come off that before I come off the blood pressure pill, and I am trying to ween myself off the effexor. So, I am already seeing results health wise with the band. Unfortunatly, I have had to go back on Advair, which is for my asthma but I think it is just the time of year, the cold air hurts my lungs, and I have tried to cut down another pill that is a very high dose that I take for my PCOS, but after 2 weeks, I could tell I was full of cyst again.. But hey 5 months after this band I am already coming off some pills, that is AWESOME! Well just had to brag onmyself a little bit. I think my compazine is kicking in right now so sorry if there are any typos or if something just doesnt make any since. Talk to you all later. MERRY CHRISTMAS

good for you!! :mad2: Are you just starting the program?.. Good luck with everything. Just a little update. Im getting ready to go see papaw. He has been moved to TCU. He wants to be home for christmas. I really dont see that happening, but who knows. I havent went to see him for a couple days. Im trying to come off some of my pills, especially the effexor, and Effexor causes withdrawel when cutting it down so I havent felt like doing much at all but laydown and keep my head under a blanket. I havent even gone to exercise this week due to that :blushing:. Ive been walking laps in the pool at the family fitness center ( I have a 3 month free membership) and I told mom if I would go right now during all this, I would probably drown lol. My sister and brother-in-law just went back to Idaho yesterday. They went from 60 degree weather to at least 2 feet of snow and -28 degree weather. Yes MINUS 28 degrees.. Thats COLD. Now we can get all the junk food out of the house and get back to normal here. Which even with all the junk in the house, I still lost 2 pounds this week so thats not bad at all... Anyway, Im gonna get ready to head to the hospital. Talk to you all later. if I dont talk to you by then I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. I will see some of you at the meeting Monday :crying:

Things are ok for now. It is still touch and go. Papaw wants to be home by christmas and as stubborn as he is, he will make it. My cousin from Colorado will see him Sunday so we will see what happens after that. After that, the whole family will have seen him. I noticed the other day that modling(spelling) has set in. You can really see it in his nailbeds. I actually saw it in his ears and up his fingers so that is not a good sign. Circulation is shutting down. He actually has urine in his cath bags instead of pure blood now but he is still requiring about a unit of blood a day so, where is the blood going? Like I said, everything is still touch and go. They did move him from CCU, to ACU, and now he is on 1 east room 123. Visitors are unlimited now, thank goodness. I couldnt believe how strict they were with visitors when he was in the unit and ACU. They are talking that when or if he is medically able, they will put him up on TCU. We are just taking it 1 day at a time. Thanks for asking :wink2:

just a little update. I just got home from the hospital. The doctor told everyone today that it is just a matter of days until he goes :biggrin: My sister and brother-in-law are flying in tonight from Idaho they will get here sometime tomorrow morning. This house is going to be a challenge. Dad already made a comment that we need to get some junkfood in the house for them. Then when he does go, oh my the food that comes, you wouldnt believe how much food came when grandma passed last year. Papaws right kidney stent was accidently pulled out today and the decided not to put another one back in. They have stopped giving him blood, pretty much stopped everything. He was moved to ACU tonight due to him being a DNR, I guess they dont like to keep DNRs in CCU. Thats ok, more visitors can go back now at a time.. Just thought I would let you all know. Please keep my family in your prayers. Elizabeth