Florida Pete

Hiya! Dr. Kuri was excellent. He was very calming and took time to talk to us the day before the surgery and even joked with us. There was 4 of us the day of our surgery and he had met with us a group the night before. My incisions are healing very well and are nice and small. Dr. Kuri has one of the best bed side manners in all the doctors that I have ever seen. He treated me as a person and not as a "patient" so to speak. The hospital was exceptionally clean and felt more like a hotel rather then a hospital. Fact was the hospital was actually nicer then the hotel we all stayed at the night after. The staff at the hospital was all very professional and polite. Most of them did not speak a word of english but usually there was one person around that could. If I needed anything there was always someone there who spoke english to assist me. The one thing I would suggest you do before going to any surgeon outside of the USA is to locate a fill center to get your follow ups and fills at. For me I have to travel about 45 minutes away to get mine done. Others I know have more problems and have to travel further and of course there are those that don't have to travel that far at all. To sum things up I would have to say it was an excellent experience. I would recommend Dr. Kuri to anyone considering traveling to Mexico for sugery.:tongue2:

In most cases the pre-op diet is all about shrinking your liver and not about "losing" weight before surgery. Your liver is a very large organ in your body and is right next to your stomach. So doctors put people on a pre-op diet to shrink the liver giving them more space to work around your stomach. I have seen a couple of people who have been told to lose a certain amount of weight before surgery but that often times has more to do with insurance then it does the surgery itself. Good luck to you both!

Don't be worried about the pain ladies. It's different for every person I have seen. When I went to Mexico on the 5th for my surgery there was 3 other gals there whom all had surgery the same day as I. We all got to know each other and are communicating via email now as to how we are all doing etc etc. Anyway one gal was pretty wore out and was taking the pain meds. Another lady was taking the pain meds but up and moving around with little problems. The third gal and myself both were not taking any pain meds and up and moving around no problems. All of us by the second day had improved. The one gal who was hit the hardest out of the 4 of us was on her pain meds for almost a week but is getting out and doing ok now. Of course the other 3 of us around doing really good too. Myself of course haven't taken any pain meds at all and have been back at work living my life as I should be. Well of course drinking liquids instead of eating foods. LOL So no worries. Just make sure you drink lots of Water, get some gas-x to help with any gas pains you might have, and get up and walk every two hours. I posted this on another thread last night.... Go to Graphical Tickers and Trackers: Weight Loss, Trying To Conceive, Pregnancy... and follow the steps to make your own ticker. Then copy the BB code and on this site go to the "User CP" link in the upper left and edit your signature. From then paste the BB code and bahda bing bahda boom your signature has a ticker!

Thanks for sharing Jitterbug and congrats on getting banded! Good luck on a quick recovery! One key I have found is to make sure to drink plenty of water and get out and walk as much as you can. The more walking you can do the faster your recovery will be not to mention it will help with the weight loss.

Go to Graphical Tickers and Trackers: Weight Loss, Trying To Conceive, Pregnancy... and follow the steps to make your own ticker. Then copy the BB code and on this site go to the "User CP" link in the upper left and edit your signature. From then paste the BB code and bahda bing bahda boom your signature has a ticker!

Very cool Sarah! I am following your blog now too! It's great to be able to share these with everyone.

I haven't had the hiccups at all but I am totally there with you that there has been several times that my stomach has growled and I did not feel hungry at all. Kind of cool LOL

The best advice to give for getting past the first initial surgery point is to drink plenty of water and get up every two hours and walk. The walking really helps with getting your body to adjust to having had being filled up with gas. Other then that time.

I have been really afraid of getting things stuck also. That's why when I puree my food I make sure it is as liquid in consistency as possible. No chunks what so ever. I tell you I was actually really nervous the first time I took my medications with the fear that they would get stuck. Thank God they didn't but I still haven't been even dare tried foods that are chunky. One thing I have noticed is I still really am not getting hungry. I will if I don't eat anything at all but so long as I have a shake in the morning and then the Soups at lunch and dinner I just never get hungry.

So yesterday was my first day on full liquids. So I thought for dinner last night I would puree up some Soup and see how that goes down. I had clam chowder. It was great! Funny how after a short time on the Clear Liquids how something like pureed soup tastes so great. So what have you tried for full liquids?

Hey all! I did my first weigh in today since my surgery 1 week ago. I have lost 7.4 lbs in the last week. So for my December challenge I am now at 11.8 lbs lost! WOOT!

First off congrats on your banding lojo! Well a big no no is drinking from a straw. When drinking through a straw you end up swallowing a lot of air which is not good at all especially during the healing process. So don't plan on using a straw at all from now on. Plus after restriction putting air into your stomach will cause false full feelings to and then you won't consume enough nutritian that your body needs. I have no problems getting 60 plus oz of liquid a day. I usually drink a glass (16oz) of Water first thing in the morning. Then while on the full liquids I drink an Atkins shake for Breakfast (11oz) and then will have another glass of water between breakfast and lunch (16oz). At lunch I have soup mixed with broth so it's very very thinned out but still has plenty of Protein and nutrition (16oz) then another glass or two of water before dinner (32oz). At dinner again soup (16oz) and the to finish off the night I will have another glass of water or apple juice. (16oz). So you see I am well above the 60 oz. Substitute soup for broth and there is your clear liquid phase. While teaching I just would make sure they are aware that you had surgery so that if you have a need to get to the bathroom that someone can cover you quickly. I've been at work (desk job) all this week except for Monday and I really haven't had any problems. Good luck too you and Congrats once again!

That has crossed my mind a few times. Before being banded it was all about low carb and I know that was to shrink the liver but when the doc went over what he wants us to do after surgery it was turning to low fat and no longer about low carb. Before getting banded on the Pre-op diet I had lost 23 lbs on that diet. So it does make me wonder how well I will do once not worrying about the carbs any more. I seem to have a tendency to still be watching the carbs.

Yeah when I did the chili it was actually Campbell's Chunky Chili which is about 2 cups of chili. So I took 1 cup of chili and 1 cup of beef broth and put that into the bullet. Worked out great. I have a normal blender too which is pretty nice and last night I was able to do a full can of the Campbell's Chunky Chicken Noodle soup which doesn't have all that much broth and then two couple of Vegetable stock and blended that right up too. So today for lunch I had some of that and it wasn't to bad. Between the bullet and my larger blender it's all going down pretty smooth.

A month a go or so I saw a topic where people were talking about the bullet and that's what pushed me to get one. Only $50 a Target and Walmart so I was like hell why not. It's been great. Keeps the serving size down and easy to through those cups into the microwave to nuke and heat up. I think it will be great for the mushies stage too! Just won't have to blend things as long. LOL

I do know what you mean Mike about the puree isn't as bad as I had thought it would be. I've had clam chowder, chili, and chicken noodle Soup that has all ben pureed to hell and gone. LOL - All of it has gone down smoothly and I feel more mental satisfaction being able to "real" foods. I am making sure to portion everything out closely and am keeping track of what it is I am eating. I want to make sure I am not blowing my diet.

Hey All - I do check on this thread on a pretty regular basis. I just usually post most of my updates and stuff in the December 2008 Bandsters - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum of these forums. It is great to see so many December Bandsters and to hear how so many people whom have had this operation already are doing so well! I know that everyone else will do well also! Stick to your pre-op diets! Get out and walk before surgery! Trust me that it has made a difference for me. My liver was small which makes a world of difference for the surgeon and I was up and walking within a couple of hours. I have been out walking everyday since and even been back to work. I can't wait to see how everyone is doing in 6 months and beyond! Good luck to all and get down to the December forum!

I actually know what you mean. I feel like I am consuming to much but from what they have been saying this is what I am suppose to do right now. I guess when the mushies and then solids come into play is when the real feeling of being full will come back and the restricted food control will become more controlled.

My pleasure! I tell you what I feel for those of you that are having the hungry feelings. I really haven't felt that hungry at all except maybe two or three times period. I will hear my stomach talking to me but still feel no hunger at all. Go figure.

Oh no what I ment was that the doc said the consistance of what could be sucked through a straw. He said we really should never use straws because it is easy to suck in a lot of air giving you a false sense of being full. So that really was what I was meaning as liquidy enough that it could be sucked through a straw. Not that I would actually be using a straw.

Ok so I did it. I started my own blog. LOL http://petesnewlife.blogspot.com/

I've been blogging on the one that is provided on the site here. I don't blog every day. Just when I feel like it.

Hi Susan! I will have to go and check that site out! Very cool thanks for sharing!