momcof3

Yes I got my 2nd fill on Friday - Dr. Im added 2 ccs to the 4 I already had so now I have 6 ccs. I was probably in the parking garage when you were. I am definitely feeling restriction now. I found the sublingual B-12 he wants me to take at Wal-Mart for less than $4. One of Dr. Bagg's appointments didn't show and he asked if his next appointment was there early, but they weren't. (I overheard this while waiting to see Robin). So I would advise you to go to appointments early if you want to get out of there earlier to avoid traffic.

Richmond Kaiser tells us we can have 1/4-1/3 cup protein, 1/4 cup vegetables or fruit, and 1/2 piece toast for each meal. I eat 1/3 cup protein and about 5 or 6 wheat thins usually. I sometimes eat the 1/4 cup vegetables. We are not allowed snacks between meals.

I did not feel restriction after my first fill - which brought me to 4 ccs. I got my second fill on Friday and now have 6 ccs and I finally feel restriction. Even though I did not feel restriction before now, I would measure out my alloted amount of food and eat it and then stop. I would not be hungry but I wasn't full either. I will admit it was really hard to do, but I knew if I kept eating I would gain back weight. For me it became a psychological struggle telling myself that although I was hungry, I could not eat until my next meal. It really is harder than I thought it would be.

Dr. Im is also my surgeon and he is a great guy. I got to Richmond at 9:45 on Friday - way too early as my appointment with Robin was at 11 am and my appt with Dr. Im was at 11:30. Robin took me in early and so did Dr. Im. I left Dr. Im's office at 10:55. I got a thumbs up for my food choices and for losing 15 lbs since my first fill on Oct 6. I don't go back to see him for 2-3 months. My bloodwork looked good, but he suggested I take sublingual B-12 as although it is in the normal range, he would like to see it higher.

After he numbed the area, he put in the fill needle and apparently hit a spot that wasn't numb and I say whoa that hurts so he numbed it a little more. I think I am too chicken to try it without the numbing. I am finally feeling restriction - I ate one hard boiled egg w/ mayo this morning and then ate one slice of deli ham and 5 wheat thins for lunch. I almost couldn't finish lunch - I was starting to get a weird feeling. Hopefully the restriction continues. I'm a little afraid to try regular meat yet - maybe in a couple of days. So far I haven't had hunger pains between meals which is unusual.

I have 12 and 14 year old sons and a 9 year old daughter and I am single. I had a hysterectomy in March and spent one night in the hospital and they visited me and saw the oxygen, iv, etc and were scared. So when I was going to have the band surgery I told them I was having a procedure done to help me lose weight and would have to be going to Richmond occasionally for appointments. Their biggest concern was that I would have to stay overnight at the hospital. They went with me when I went to the Psych appt - they waited in the waiting room. My surgery was outpatient so I was home before they got home from school. They knew where I went as they had been there before. You know your son the best and what he can handle. I didn't talk about the risks with my kids as they would have just worried and why worry about something that is out of your control.

The largest incision is the port incision - that doesn't mean the port is exactly under that incision though - it could be slightly lower or to the left or right. They wouldn't want to do a fill straight into the scar.

I have had a hamburger protein style at In and Out twice - the burger is wrapped in lettuce. I am able to eat it with no problem as long as I take little bites and chew alot. I have pickles, tomatoes, and ketchup on it to give it some flavor.

I am by nature a worrier and get anxious about alot of things. Having the lapband inside of me doesn't make me anxious - but sometimes the whole what to eat ritual makes me anxious. I have been taking 20 mg of Prozac a day for a couple of years and my surgeon said to make sure I keep taking it for at least a year after surgery before trying to stop as this whole process - surgery, fills, weight loss, is very emotional.

I started taking my one capsule medication the day after surgery and still take it daily with no problem. I have 4 ccs in a 10 cc band. I take it first thing in the morning with water. If you have trouble first thing in the morning, try a different time of day.

I hope you aren't drinking something when you get food stuck? The worst thing you can do is drink something - it will make the situation worse as the liquid doesn't have anywhere to go so everything will come back up which is bad for your band. I find that when I get stuck it is usually because I ate too fast - I think I am eating slowly, but I am not eating slowly enough.

I had to stop my estrogen pill three weeks before surgery and wait 3 weeks after surgery to start taking it again. It is to help prevent blood clots and strokes. I was starting to get hot flashes by the time I could take them again.

I don't feel the band at all - never have. I can feel where the port area is with my hand. The band is on your stomach which is under your liver so I don't know how anyone could feel it. Yes you are reminded it is there if something gets stuck or if you are uncomfortably full. The first week I used the Lortab faithfully. I did sleep in the recliner for about 4 nights and was up during the night some. I wasn't really starving hungry until about day 4 or 5 - but I stuck to the plan. I just got used to the rumbling. It took about a month before I wasn't ultra tired.

My surgeon did my fill. Next Friday I have an appointment with Robin the dietician and then one with Dr. Im my surgeon - so I am assuming the surgeons do the fills. I don't think I'd want the nurse to even try it. :confused: The surgeon put it in and should know where it is so he should fill it.

I took 9 days of sick leave (one day was a Holiday) - I was going to be off 6 days, but ended up being off ten as I was too sore to even think of sitting upright in a chair at my desk all day.

Weight last Friday - 225.3 Weight today - 222.8 So I am down 2.5 lbs. Yippee! I have been at 225 for about a month - so I had to look a few times to make sure I was reading the scale right - maybe my plateau is over for now.

I take one Flinstone's Chewable Complete a day and one Kirkland Brand chocolate calcium chew. I get both at Costco. I just had blood work done and all my levels were normal so I must be getting enough vitamins.

the reason I was given for not eating pasta, rice, or soft bread is that they swell in your pouch and can stretch your pouch - even if you eat the high protein ones. I have had sticky rice once since being banded and chewed the heck out of it first but was still uncomfortable. I haven't tried noodles yet.

No, I am not allowed to have any snacks, but sometimes I have one anyway - I just don't write it down on my diary - which I know is cheating. But when I wrote everything little thing down on my food diary and still lost weight, I got scolded by my surgeon. From what I know, they don't do your first fill earlier than 6 weeks after surgery as they want you to be healed and then I guess it is up to your surgeon when you come back for your second fill. I had 1 cc already in my band and he added 3 ccs at my first fill so now I have 4 ccs. A lot of the posts say that some people get fills of less than 1 cc at a time, but I think Kaiser does more each time, but you don't get them as often. Has anyone else gotten a fill yet at Richmond?

Momcof3, How are you doing with your food intake? Do you really feel as full as they say? At this point (I have 4 cc in a 10cc band), I am still hungry before it is time to eat my next meal. I am hopefully going to get my 2nd fill at my appt with Dr. Im on Jan 16 and maybe that will help. I eat breakfast at about 7 am (usually 2 hardboiled eggs mixed with mayo and mustard) and I am starving by 11 am - so I eat my lunch (1/3 cup deli roast beef today and 5 wheat thins) - then unfortunately I am starving when I get home from work about 3 pm so I usually eat a few wheat thins or a handful of peanuts which will hold me until dinner at about 5:30 - which last night was 1/3 c chili and one turkey hot dog cut up in it. I was hungry before I went to bed at 9:30 but went to bed that way. I pray a second fill will help this as it is getting harder to not snack. I drink my 64 oz of water a day, but try to not drink too much in the evening so I don't have to get up during the night.

I was told that about 90% of the people who go to the orientation don't continue on with the process. I had my surgery Aug 26 and my first post-op appointment wasn't until Oct 6 and I got my first fill. You don't go back until 6 weeks after surgery. I did get a phone call from the surgery nurse the day after I got home checking on me and then calls from Robin when it was time to go to the next food phase. I sometimes wonder if it is a good thing to get through the process really fast - it is a life long change in they way we eat and what we eat - I think most of us need time for that to set in. Also they want to make sure we understand that and that we are good candidates for surgery. Obviously they don't want us to have other bad health habits (smoking, drinking etc) - why would they pay to fix one health issue if we have habits that will cause another health issue.

If they can get your surgery scheduled by the end of Feb you should be able to. During the pureed stage I pureed hard boiled egg with mayo, pureed Wendy's chili, smashed cottage cheese, and pureed refried beans. Luckily I was only on pureed 7 days before going to the next stage. I would have to look at my food diary when I get home to see what else I ate. Are you at goal weight?

I had cream of wheat for breakfast - made it kind of thin, sugar free pudding, tomato soup, no sugar added fudgesicles, sugar free popsicles, yogurt without fruit pieces in it. That is all I can remember eating for that three weeks. I only ate my three meals a day plus a fudgesicle or popsicle in the evening. My stomach was growling like a lion. Looking back, I don't know how I did it. It is harder when you have more choices later on with regular food.

I also went cold turkey the day of my surgery. I had a monster sized diet Coke the day before though. I used to drink Diet Coke and/or iced tea all day long - no regular water. I haven't had any caffeine or soda since the day before my surgery and I am fine. I tried a sip of Diet Coke once and it tasted horrible - don't know how I drank it before. I also drink the sugar free Hawaiian Punch - I use the individual packets you can add to your water - I also use the Walmart brand ones. I tried decaff iced tea, but didn't like the taste so I don't have that either. I guess I didn't notice the withdrawal headaches etc as I was on pain meds for the surgery already.

The surgeon did the fill. The fill needle didn't hurt, but the numbing needle stung. The fill iteslf didn't hurt although I was a little woozy afterwards. He had me drink some water right afterwards to make sure it would go down. I ended up sitting in the waiting room for about 15 minutes afterwards before driving home. I did the 2 days of clear liquids, and then almost 3 weeks of full liquids - which was okay at first but then I was starving - serious hunger pains. I was so happy to go to pureed - which I only had to do a week, and then to soft foods. I think they forgot about me while I was on full liquids - you have to wait for the call from Robin before advancing to the next stage. I finally called them as I was about to fall apart. I had to do clear liquids for 24 hours after the fill and then soft foods for 24 hours. I went out to Mel's Diner that night after getting my fill and brought a sugar free jello with me and ate it while my family ate food.