RestlessMonkey

Welcome! You'll do fine! I bought a couple of cook books but the post op diets don't really last long enough (IMHO) to require them...and once healed, I eat what the family eats, just less.

See, there you go! This is a great Board but hope you've learned to always WAIT to panic until you confirm with your own doctor/insurance/team! :cursing: This procedure is NOT cookie cutter and each person's experiences are a little different; what is true for one person isn't necessarily true for the next! Good luck to you!

Check to confirm that restriction with your doctor. It's dated advice. They "used" to think you had to wait HOURS but new data shows you don't....my surgeon recently revised his rules from 1 hour pre and post to 15 minutes pre and post. So do what your surgeon suggests, of course, but reverify with him.

If you'll check the statistics band slippage/erosion rates are VERY low, 1-5% over the life of the band. That's NOTHING. Even if it happens, often it can be fixed! Not to push the band, of course, if it's right for you you'll know. But other WLS and staying FAT both carry higher percentages of risk than that small rate. You should go to the seminar my doctor runs at Northeast Baptist. He's really informative and realistic.

Tyme2getrite: Sorry you can't eat it! And that your doc told you NO! It's always safest, rather than to assume a food is taboo, to ask our docs/surgeons/team..for example, mine says ok if well done, yours says no. It amazes me the variation in "rules". You need to do what works for you and what your doc says, of course!

Call your surgeon's office and ask! Good luck! :thumbdown:

There are many different things an ecg can show with varying degrees of danger. Not all things will require an elective surgery to be cancelled. Just wait and see what your doc says.

You need to call your surgeon and find out what THEY suggest you do. Only he knows what kind of knot, suture material, etc etc. And Hugs to you when I say this...you need to line up local care and fills. This won't be your only issue. That's the big drawback to going out of your city (and I mean that...next state, next country, doesn't matter) the aftercare is as important as the band itself and you need to have access to it. Line it up now. (Who'd buy a car if you couldn't get gas and oil changes for it? The band without follow up care is pretty similar)

you'll lose if you take in less than you expend. Period. If you take in 1000 calories of fat and refined sugar and burn 1500 calories a day you'll lose 1 pound a week. You'll be unhealthy and your hair and teeth will fall out, but you'll lose! If you have insulin issues (not just diabetic either; many obese people have insulin resistance) then eating the "wrong" thing can trigger hunger and also have you hold on to the calories rather than using them up. (you get sluggish...and your body stores the "energy" for later). In an otherwise healthy indivitual though, if you want an occasional cookie or some whipped cream or a cocktail it isn't going to hurt you as long as that IN is less than the OUT. And even insulin resistant people can have an occasional moderate (key word there) indulgence and lose.

Mariposa: I'd think you don't want to have eaten just before a fill but that's just me and thinking it through...if you have already had a fill and are getting some restriction you don't want to tinker with the size of your stoma (hole between pouch and the rest of your stomach)....and even if it's your 1st and you just ate it MAY make you nauseated (people react in different ways) so I'd say, to be on the safe side, no eating 2-3 hours before, and only water etc up to 15-30 min before. IF you have time though it would be safest to call your doc. He may have NO restrictions. My ideas are just that...ideas. Use only as a last resort! :tongue2:

Good luck! I hope it's only 6! :tongue2:

If you're still worried, then discuss it with your surgeon so s/he can put your mind at ease!

Just do what YOUR insurance says and you'll be fine. That's the downside to this board, what is true for one person isn't necessarily true for another, and you need to do exactly what your surgeon and his support team tell you to do. Same with insurance; employers can modifiy it and it can vary from state to state depending on state law. This place can be a great source of support and information but you need to always check with YOUR team if you get contradictory info!

Hey Aggie...I would ask HER why she's so negative. Tell HER what you've told us. That may just be her personality, or she may have experience that tells her they are going to deny you. Only she can really really answer your question. I weighed 405 and got approved in 2 days with no comorbidities, so I'd say "NO that's not "normal" but that doesn't really apply to your situation. Call her Monday and ask her. If she's just negative by nature, then blow her off. But she may have been denied by the company for cases similar to yours; in which case you could ask her what to do to appeal!

When were you banded? Have you followed your surgeons directions? If you have deviated from his instructions, how egregious was the deviation? Did you, like one poster, eat a hamburger at 2 days post op? Or did you eat a hamburger at 6 weeks post op? (big difference there) Do you have pain? The band CAN slip for no apparent reason. Usually, however, slipping and erosion (and both are rare; less than 5% of all cases) is caused by the person abusing the band in some way. Either by "cheating" on their post op diet, or by, for example, being too tight and vomiting and vomiting and VOMITING (once the band is healed I think it takes a LOT to dislodge it) Erosion and slipping are nothing any of us want. So if you just follow YOUR SURGEON"S rules (not what someone here tells you they got away with) odds are that you'll never ever had that problem!

Stella.. Don't know about being hit but like the OP said...you'll likely be fine unless it's a hit hard enough to have really harmed you even without the band. In other words, a hit that would rupture something else in there might hurt the band, but otherwise, no. A good surgeon can answer that for you completely! As to the diet...guess what? After the Preop diet (if you have one, and if you do it's important that you follow it to a T so brace yourself) and the postop diet (which is even MORE important because it allows your stomach to heal around the band, where it's been sutured into place, and allows your esophagus and digestive organs to heal and settle down, to "get over" the trauma of surgery) then if you diet or not is totally up to you. Some are rabid bean counters and weighers and charters and will say their way is the only way, and they are probably right, for themselves! Some "keep an eye on it". Some just try to make "healthy choices". Some just go about their lives. Once you are restricted (reread that because it's vital and not stressed in the seminars etc) you will be able, if you follow the rules, to be satisfied with less food and stay satisfied longer. What you decide to eat is up to you, and if you want to calorie count and weigh and journal and balance you certainly can. If you just want to "eat less", that works too. The band doesn't really DO anything but sit there at the top of your stomach. You really do work it. You have to go in for fills and work with your doctor and his team to hit your "sweet spot" where you can eat what you want, just not ALL you used to. Some like super restriction but that's really not too healthy. (trading one extreme for another, in my most humble opinion!) You choose what you eat, you choose to follow the rules (like not drinking liquids with your meal) It's a tool. Everyone uses it a little differently but in most cases, if you work it, it works for you!

Hello and welcome! The answers to all your questions: It depends! Number of appts required and time to complete depends on surgeon, other consults, what YOUR insurance requires, etc. Preop diets are very individualized and vary by surgeon and patient. They range from "easy" to "I'll starve" and in time from 2-3 days to over 3 weeks. Some don't have one. How soon you are able to return to work depends on the work you do and how quickly you recover, which again varies widely from person to person Your best bet is to go to a local seminar. That'll get you started!

Respectfully, did you read this post? If so then you know the answer! Please contact your surgeon.

If anyone asks I tell them I got the lap band. I'm happy to have it, proud of doing it, generally pleased about it. Besides, it IS diet and exercise.

Hello and welcome! Some wake up hungry (I surely did!) some don't (lucky people!) Just follow your docs post op diet exactly and you'll be fine. A warning...it will get hard to do as you heal and feel better, but stay strong!

Hmmm...on the chart on my surgeon's office wall it says "RED ZONE...only "easy" foods go down, can't make healthy choices.." So I'd say you are too tight. WAY too tight. I know some choose to use the band the way you are, but for me, I think it's imprudent. Why shouldn't you be able to eat protein? You're in control; I suggest you make an appt with your surgeon ASAP and get some of that fill removed.

The guaifenesin in mucinex thins your secretions, making it easier to cough them up and kind of "preventing" congestion. It isn't a traditional decongestant. It won't interact with your band. Furthermore, traditional decongestants (which cause vasoconstriction and can increase your blood pressure) shouldn't impact the band. Carbonation does mess with us once we're banded, as you know. Depending on which mucinex you take (they have different formulations now) you should be ok, but an "alka seltzer" type cold rememdy would probably not be your best choice.

I'm a nursing student...not working yet but do have clinicals. My doc said many of his nurses go back after 1 week off. I truly don't think anything less than that would be prudent if you have an active job, which you MAY. The bending, any lifting over 10 pounds, etc will be hard...AND remember at first you only get liquids so your energy may lag a bit.

I too was told that and I too did NOT have that issue. In fact I drank 32 ounces of water IN THE HOSPITAL before I went home, just 3-4 hours post op. Once they determined it was safe, I drank it. No one tackled me and took it from me (I would've fought, too...I was very thirsty! LOL) I think honestly from my post op readings (books and internet) that in the old days, bands were one size fits all and some people really did have swelling and inability to swallow post op. Now they have more "give", different construction, different sizes (for example I have the new lap band Ap LARGE) and so there isn't as much trauma or swelling post op as there was in the "early" days 2-3 year ago! Please call your surgeon Monday; you MAY need a test or two to make sure everything is ok in there. Don't feel guilty; you aren't the first to eat "ahead". Just make sure you're ok, STOP IT!...and move on!

You're 18 days post op...how far will you be when you have the pizza party? AND more importantly, what stage diet will you be on, per your post op instructions? MOST important is that you follow your doctor's guidelines on that. IF you are cleared for all food, then have some pizza and/or a wing or two. IF you avoid the chips and dip, and eat and chew VERY slowly (per bandster rules) with no liquid before, during etc per your doc's orders, you may surprise yourself to find you are full much more quickly, eat much less, etc. Some will be HORRIFIED that I say eat Pizza but I guess it depends on your lifestyle. You're young; you're not going to go the rest of your life without pizza or a chicken wing or GASP a brownie or some such! The band is for life; it's not a diet. As one friend of mine puts it (who is losing weight like there is a sale on!) "I did NOT have surgery to eat cardboard". So quit thinking "temptation, evil, bad". Just have a little. You'll feel happy and proud of yourself. The band puts YOU in control, not the pizza. And one WARNING: Many docs say "NO GUM"...because once you have restriction, if you do swallow it, it can get stuck. Then you have a trip to the ER to have it removed. Not worth the trouble. And even if you NEVER swallow it, sometimes we forget and do. Just have some pizza. You won't go to hell or gain 100 pounds, really.