RestlessMonkey

If you'd like, send me a PM and I can talk with you about anesthesia and how it feels. I'm a nursing student (graduate in May YAY!) and a person who's been through 3 surgeries, so I can maybe help alleviate some of your fears.

It was easy. I've had dental appts. that were worse. I had little pain, I recovered fast. The preop tests were nothing, either. (I had upper GI, ecg, blood drawn, chest x-ray, and an abdominal ultrasound, plus the psych consult. Easy breezy all) It's your call...a life of health for a little discomfort...to me it was a no-brainer.

i don't know, but I do know our nutritionist said if we eat pasta (and rice) to make sure it's very well done so it won't swell once we eat it and make us fuller than we intend. It makes sense since pasta keeps absorbing liquid even after we cook it....

I am another one who dieted about a million times...very successfully...then quit eating rubber cheese or only baked chicken and POW gained it all back plus another 20 pounds or so. Each time. Diets do NOT work for me. The band works because I eat "normally" but less and lose weight. As I lose weight I am more active and do more and exercise and eat less and lose more weight. It's a great cycle. While there are successful bandsters who weigh and count and chart and journal, that is not me. And that's the beauty of the band; you make it work for you. I lost 2.8 pounds the last week and i had some birthday cake (love that icing!) I had pizza (couldn't finish even 1 piece but I had it and enjoyed it and it was plenty) and even bean and cheese nachos. Also had a rib eye steak and a baked potatoe one night. OF course I only ate about 3 oz of steak and 1/2 of the potato, but I was happy, it was delicious. See? You have to be ready emotionally, though. If you aren't there, don't force yourself!

I think you should be calling your doc, not posting here! Good grief if it hurts enough for you to double over, why are you waiting?

Hi and welcome! I bought a couple "WLS RECIPE" books and they gather dust as I type this, because pre band I was on a very restricted diet and didn't need a recipe because I couldn't have much of anything, post op for the 1st 2 weeks I didn't need a recipe because I couldn't have much of anything, and then before I knew it I was through mushies and soft and back on real food. And Post band, while you CAN diet, you don't have to. I just make good choices (Most of the time) and practice the guidelines I was taught (small bites, chew well, no liquids with or for a bit after meals) and no carbonation (aside from the fact that it HURTS, most usually carbonated bevs are just empty calories) She will have to break the Pepsi habit; don't proceed until she's ready. Bands can "fail" and that's one way for it to happen....for the calories as much as the mechanics of carbonation, the band, and the pouch. Good luck! :ohmy:

I'm shocked your surgeon won't do a slight unfill! That sounds really wrong to me! Per the chart in my surgeon's office, when you can only eat "slider" foods then you are TOO TIGHT and need an unfill! If I were you I'd demand that it be loosened a little; it's not healthy and it isn't the point of the band, to suffer through meals!

Alisa, I'm a nursing student (graduating in may YAY) and one thing we are taught is that if the patient is nervous, there's a reason. Please talk to your surgeon. Make an appt and go. (If he ignores or belittles you, don't have him do your surgery) You are right to be aware that clots are an issue, but unless you have a predisposing factor of some sort, the odds are very high that you'll recover well, as do most of us. For most of us, frequent walking, wearing those support hose, staying hydrated etc means no clots, but there are additional measures that can be taken if there's a medical necessity. For example, if they are needed, your doc can prescribe an anticoagulant for you. So talk to him NOW. Yes, presurgery jitters exist and are usually just "nerves". But if you are worried to the point of nightmares this far out, take steps now to educate and inform yourself. Better safe than sorry, as they say! Your doc will know best what to do for you.

Hey SLIM! HI! Jetsy...they explained it pretty well. A chart in my doc's office calls it "the green zone". It's when you are adequately restricted so that you eat about 1 cup of well chewed food and stay full for up to 6 hours. If you can't eat most foods, or can't eat at least 1/2 cup, or find yourself going for mushie or "slider" foods that don't hurt, you are too tight. If you can eat more or get truly hungry (not emotionally snacky, but really hungry) in less than 5 hours, you are not tight enough. And I have a 14 cc band and didn't feel restriction until I was at 5.5 ccs It's even more obvious now that I have 6.25 (and it makes a HUGE difference...that's what the band is all about). So hang in there. It took me 5 fills too and I'm not in the zone yet.

Welcome! It's good to "meet" you since I started out at 405...not many people here start out as high as you and I did. Perhaps they are directed to bypass instead? Anyway you GO losing another chunk of weight. From what I've read, the band is only limited by us. You can keep losing 3 years, 4 years, etc. Good luck; I personally will love to watch you succeed and blaze the trail for others of us who want to lose more than the "stats" indicate!

CarolAnne, if you are a volume eater, then as long as you maintain the band (fills) and follow the rules (chew well, small bites) the odds are very high that it will NOT fail you. If you are a snacker or a grazer and aren't ready to give that up, then you are right to wait. Good luck to you!

JENfs5 Thanks for taking the time to clarify for me without blasting me for fussing at you! I'm sorry you've had so many tests but glad for you that nothing will stop your band. Good luck! I'm sure you'll be very successful!

Yes but is downtown Texarkana on the Texas or on the Arkansas side? Very important info, that! :tongue_smilie:

Ok then ignore it! I mean, obviously it works. In fact, during my seminar, the statistics my surgeon quoted showed Aussies to have even BETTER results that those we have here in the USA, and 3 years out losses are equal to, or better than, bypass patients. So ignore that negative mumbo jumbo. The band is just a tool and if you use it properly it will do wonders. If you don't use it, it won't. Just like a hammer...it just lies there unless you pick it up, grab a nail, and wham away! :tongue_smilie: Welcome and good luck to you!

Where have you seen the negative reports? Is it from a reliable source?

Tell your doctor your symptoms and when you get them. He may do an unfill, or he may prescribe a medicine, or he may tell you to change your diet. He's the pro; get some help from him! and congrats on your losses so far!

The ONLY thing I know that is a "no no" is carbonated beverages. Otherwise, where did you get that info? It MAY be a food SOME people have trouble with; but that is not the same as it being a "no no". My doc says we should be able to eat just about anything in smaller quantities. So far, he's dead on.

Get some therapy for your (understandable) depression. I don't eat when sad but realized I was a reward eater. Now I'm a "recovering" reward eater...I have to fight it. Apparently when down you eat, and in life, you'll have ups and downs throughout the years. You need to learn a different way to handle depression, like I needed to find better ways to reward myself. So my suggestion for therapy. As to the other, you've already gotten good advice. Until you have good restriction the odds of you expanding your pouch overmuch are slim. Feeling bad about that is probably part of your depression, so get you some help, and get back at it. The band is a tool; you can still use it!

You need to talk with your surgeon...and so should Jenfs5. I don't know if it will stop you or not but you need to advise your doc and ask him. You would be furious if he withheld important information from you; to intentionally omit data like Jenfs5 is doing is no better. Odds are he'll have you do extra tests and perhaps put you on some medication (there are others besides Reglan) but you need to be up front!

Make sure you're chewing very well and taking small bites before you get an "unfill". I was banded last August and haven't really had restriction at all until my Feb 5 fill. Even then I could still eat a good deal. My Mar 5 fill really tightened things up and I thought I was too tight until I realized I wasn't following my doc's orders regarding eating. I sit at the table without distractions, cut my food up into small bites, and chew each bite to mush. And guess what? No problems! I get full on less but don't have problems with the first bite. So try that before you get unfilled. how large is your band? You may very well be too filled but before you pay to have some taken out, try really thinking about what you are eating, paying attention, chewing well, small bites. That worked for me, anyway!

Ok don't really know why you're mourning food. Once you've healed and are a few months post op you should be able to eat anything. I've lost 2.8 pounds this last week and ate steak and a baked potato, some birthday cake, a burrito, a grilled cheese (not all in one sitting) I can't eat as much, but I don't miss it. When I'm full I'm full. I've even had lemon chicken once (lost 2.8 pounds that week, too) I DO make healthy choices and I do sometimes make choices that may not be as healthy. Just like life...you do what you can. No need to mourn food. Just hang in there on your post op diet per your doctor!

My fills are $400 and that's what my insurance pays, just fyi! (well I have a 20% co pay until I reach a cap so I pay $80 and my ins 320)

My husband was dead against it because he's a nurse and worked in a GI lab and saw bypass patients with horrible GI issues. He felt the band would have the same results. He attended a seminar with me and my wonderful surgeon took the time after conference to address my husbands concerns. They talked about 20 minutes or so, and my husband went from dead set against it to enthusiastic. I wanted my husband on board because I know he loves me, he's not jealous or afraid I'll dump him, and so on. I knew his reluctance was not because he was afraid, but because he was afraid for me. Knowing that, I wanted to allay his fears rather than just "ignore him". However, honestly, if I felt he wanted me to stay fat for fear of losing me that would make me leave him so fast his head would spin. AND if he were reluctant because he thought I was just fat and lazy and could do it on my own, well,....I'd leave him over that too. After 25 years of marriage he knows I'm not lazy, he knows I love him, he knows I'm a darned hard headed woman and if I haven't been able to lose on my own, then there is a good reason for that. So what I would do may not be what you would do. But that's how I solved the problem....education. Because of that he's been a GREAT help to me...even doing liquids when I had to and so on. He and I are adults and a team, and very respectful of each other. I understood where his fear was coming from (and he was right about bypass)...and he respected me enough to go along with an open mind and make a decision after the seminar.

As far as I can guess (and I'm only guessing) the preop diets are different because of different surgeons and different patients. I weighed 405 before my surgery and apparently because of information provided by my tests I needed a longer preop diet to shrink my liver. Not all people have thicker larger livers. One thing I've learned is that info on here is nice but you can't really compare us; we may be alike in that many of us have (or are interested in) a gastric band to control obesity, but that's where the similarities stop. Each surgeon is different, each experience is different, each patient is different. There are some fairly hard and fast rules (like not eating post op because you can dislodge the band and cause trouble) but mostly we just have to do what our doctors tell us and trust that they are the "pros". As to hair loss, my doc said most all of his patients loose hair at about 3-6 months post op, extra Protein and/or supplements don't seem to impact it, and that no one ever needed a wig or toupee, and that it stops and the hair grows back. I lost hair exactly as he said..from month 3 to month 5, and am fine, and even my hairdresser said it never thinned.

Melly obviously it isn't an outpatient procedure for everyone...and most insurance companies consider it "outpatient" if you are there less than 24 hours (which can mean you are there 23 hours). Some people stay overnight; some if complications arise stay longer. Some docs REQUIRE an overnight stay just to be on the safe side. We're all different.