MistyD65

Hmm, maybe Sunday at 2 pm would be better. So far it's only me, for certain, on Saturday and that won't be any fun!

Slimteacher, my surgery was the first time I had ever been under anesthesia, aside from some gas for a wisdom tooth extraction. I didn't have any ill effects from it at all. I pray the same for you!

I had to change clothes before going out today because the pants I put on were FALLING OFF!! I thought I could get another wear or two out of them, but it just wasn't going to happen - not if I wanted to keep my dignity lol. I think I may keep that pair of pants as my BEFORE pair. Just had to share!:biggrin2:

Last Friday 283.8 Today 279.5 Yaaay! o/ I've left the 280s!!!

I was banded on 8/4 and am on modified full liquids for 3 weeks...basically Clear Liquids plus Protein shakes. On the Monday after my surgery my hunger came back - my stomach felt like it was eating itself lol. That's when I did a calorie count and realized I was only getting about 300 a day. I added a different Protein Drink with a few more calories and now I'm up to about 500 calories a day. Am I hungry? Yes. But I have embraced it. I know now that being hungry isn't the end of the world. I feel like I have gained some control and have gotten in touch with my body a bit more, which can only help once I add soft foods next Wednesday. I am determined to follow my surgeon's instructions and give my stomach plenty of time to heal before advancing to soft foods, even though, in my mind, I feel I could have added them at least a week ago. But I'm not the doctor. :wink2: So hang in there, do what your doctor tells you and you'll soon be out of "bandster hell"!

GasX isn't going to help this pain, I'm afraid, because it sounds like the gas used in the surgery to inflate your abdomen. I know it doesn't help your pain, but most of us went through this and it WILL get better. That was really the only bad pain I had post-surgery too. One thing I did try, a suggestion I had run across somewhere on this forum, is to get down on your hands and knees (yeah I know, not the easiest thing to do after surgery) and lower your head and shoulders to the floor as far as you can go. It did give me some relief. It seemed to move the gas bubble out of my left shoulder for a while. I kind of thought of the gas as a helium balloon that had gotten stuck up in a corner of a room, so turning the room upside down was a way to move it. :smile2: Other than that, just keep moving and know that it should be gone in a couple of days.

Hooray! I just got your email reply too! Glad things went well with your fill.

I went to the FillCenters website to see what they are all about. I was impressed. It's good to know that there are places like that if I need them in the future. :smile2:

lol It's their big "Southwestern Open House" or something like that. Lots of food samples....and I haven't even started soft foods yet. :smile2: So I'll be staying away...too tempting!

Evenings and weekends work for me too. Shall we dive in and plan an initial meeting this Saturday or Sunday at 2 pm at the Starbucks on 290 at Spring-Cypress, in front of Best Buy?

Becky, I can't speak for everyone else, but mine includes the pre-op loss, which wasn't very much because I got approved and scheduled so quickly. 302 was what my surgeon recorded for me at my first appointment with him. The pre-op diet is just as much a part of this journey as the rest of it, so I'd think most people include that on their tickers. :smile2:

You may be drinking more water than you think. A "glass" is really a cup - 8 ounces. So if you are drinking big glasses of water you may be getting more than 8 ounces with each.

I'd make the trek up Fry Road from Katy if we could get a group willing to meet at that Starbucks!

You can go to SlimFast.com and check out the nutritional info for all the SlimFast shakes. In short, the Low Carb has 20 g Protein, 5 g carbs, 190 calories per can; Optima has 10 g Protein, 24 g carbs, 180 calories per can. So, yeah, there's a pretty big difference, especially if it is protein that you are after.

That comma before the "and" is often referred to as an "Oxford comma." I was taught to not put a comma before "and" unless it was needed for clarity. The AAMT Book of Style for medical transcription says it is optional "unless its presence or absence changes the meaning." The Gregg Reference Manual says to use it. *shrugs* The important thing is to make sure your reader understands your meaning. That's the importance of proper punctuation. (commas give me a headache) lol

I was actually considering refried beans! mmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

I've seen several people say they can't handle scrambled eggs. Why is that, I wonder? I'm going to be moving to soft foods next Wednesday (yaaaay o/) and eggs are first on the list. Scrambled is about the only way I eat them, aside from hard-boiled sometimes. What if they are more wet-scrambled than dry-scrambled? I'm a little nervous about starting to add foods too Kristen. Part of me wants to dive into a bowl of potato Soup after my appointment with the nutritionist next Wednesday, but I've been on such a low-carb, low-fat diet since my surgery that I'm afraid my body will rebel! I was thinking about going to a restaurant, but it may be safer to go home and eat something. lol And I'd just as soon NOT get my body to craving carbs again. I know my energy level is going to go up once I start adding them carefully though.

Ah, fellow sticklers!! If you have not read Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss, I highly recommend it. Your neck will get sore from nodding in agreement with the author. I found myself laughing out loud more than once. :eek: One that I see ALL the time is using "then" instead of "than". But I think my biggest peeve is the misuse of apostrophes. It has become epidemic and even has a name - greengrocers' apostrophe. "Apostrophe s" is for possesives, not plurals!!! **can breathe a little easier now**

My Comcast email is being screwy right now, but I'll get that off to you as soon as it decides to cooperate! :thumbup:

Hi MissBS and welcome to the club! You may be referring to my chart of Protein drinks. I did put some info in paragraph form in a post, but i also have an Excel file that I can send you, if you like. You can send me a Private Message if you want to go that route. The chart only has the Protein Drinks that I looked at - there are so many out there - but it could be a starting point for you. As far as what else you can have during your pre-op, that's pretty much up to what you doctor has told you. I live in Houston, so let me know if I can help you with anything as your surgery day here approaches!

But what about follow-up and support AFTER the surgery? It seems that's as important, if not MORE important for your success with the band. I chose my surgeon because of the post-surgery support he could offer, with a Nutritionist and Life Coach who work through his office. I knew I couldn't go with a "here's your band, now make it work" kind of deal. I'm sure most people who decide on Mexico have done their homework and research about what it means to be banded, and the changes that MUST be made in their lifestyles. But I fear that many won't, especially if it is such an easy matter to set up a surgery date without pre-op visits and other important preliminaries. From reading some posts here at LBT it's obvious that a lot of people went into their surgeries with a lopsided view of what they could expect after the surgery, living with the band. And not just people who chose Mexico. And I step down off my soapbox.

I ran across an old (1993) notebook where I had written down daily advice from Richard Simmons' Day-by-Day Video series. As I read through it, looking for anything I might want to keep, I came across this: use a length of ribbon to track inches lost. I thought it was a great idea, and plan to put it to use. I'm thinking about getting a separate length of ribbon for each place I want to measure, and use a Sharpie to mark the ribbon as I shrink, even add the measurement date right to the ribbon. I think it'll be a wonderful record of inches lost, even more than just seeing the numbers on a chart.

OMG that one made me REALLY laugh out loud!

I'm pretty sure the biggest incision is your port incision. Mine is on my right side. I asked my doctor where exactly the port is, and he pointed to the area just below that incision. And no, I can't feel the port...buried under lots of fat, I imagine!

DWRD, that sound much like my doctor's Soft Food stage, but at 21 days rather than 15. His post-op doesn't mention mushies either.