riley4183

Yikes, shake that cold right away! They do ask you about any cold or sore throat in pre-op, and it can delay your surgery! I was so scared of getting one that I took Airborne, Zicam, Zinc, Cold MD and mega-doses of Vitamin C for the 2 weeks leading up to my surgery! Hopefully it will have run its course by Monday!

YAY Christine!! So glad you are doing so well. I DID get the big weight gain after surgery, and it took 10 days to leave! Then I dropped like a rock tho, LOL. Enjoy this fast loss time! I had the same pain under my left rib for a month - it's from the port. Are you swollen there, too? Still not losing . . . .playing ping-pong with the same 2 lbs. . . I am working off 1000 calories a day tbrough excercise, eating loess than 1000, and NOT LOSING!!! I am VERY frustrated. I hope my fill on Friday really works. . . . .

Sending up a prayer for your right now Christine, flat liver perfect band placement & speedy recovery!!! You will do great.:smile2: Nicole - I never had bandster hell, I seriously was just not hungry. I tried to delay advancing food stages even! I did protein and only protein, which probablky helped a LOT. I lived on canned chicken & tuna . . . . unsweetened soy milk turned them to soup - let me know if you want recipes! I still don't get hungry very often - I am 6 weeks out today - but I don't get the "full" feeling anymore, either. It stopped suddently last Sunday - it was like my band just fell off! All of a sudden I have zero restriction & I have been battling the same 2 lobs. for the last 9 days!! Grrr . . . . but I see Dr. Baggs on Friday and hopefully he'll give me a big, fat fill! Happy Monday to all, Happy Band Day to Christine! Riley:thumbup:

Oh, everybody is doing so great, I am so happy for all my girls! Nicole, I kept telling everyone that I thought I had a little scale-model train inside me, it just kept kinda chugging back and forth and making these weirdo noises! It was sorta like shen the babies would move around in there . . . or like how the intenstines shift around again after the babies are born. But MUCH LOUDER! Super weird! Christine, WOOT! WOOT! I had the first slot on a Monday with Dr. Baggs too, you will do great and be on your way home by 1 in the afternoon!! All my best! Do take a bit of your pain meds before heading home, that's the bad part. YAY!!!!! Youre getting a band! For sure you will be at your goal on THAT scale . . . been there! :thumbup: Kepp up the good work all! Riley

Oh my gosh, this sounds like ME!! I also gained 4 lbs. between last Saturday AM, when I weighed in at 219.2,and that Monday monring when I weighed in at 224!! What the HECK(*^@*??? Happy not was I . . .I too fell into a funk, then did the WORST thing I could have done and skipped my support group meeting because I was failing! Dumb dumb dumb. They called me on it - thank God - and turns out that several of them ALSO gained this last week, and they are all RNY! We decided that the earth had shifted and the magnatism was off, and EVERYones scales weighed too high . . LOL. I am back down to 219 now - a full week later - but it feels like my band suddently just fell off! I can eat WAY too much and not feel full - just like before I had it. I had also added the carbs (fruit only) back into my diet early in the week, and I read somewhere that for every gram of glycogyn you also store 3 grams of water - don't know if that is true of not, but I am going to cut way down on the fruit. Frustrating! I do go in for my 6-week check this Friday, and HOPEfully he will give me a fill. I guess we just gotta stick with it! Best to all, Riley

The 6 week appt. with Dr. Baggs IS for an exam, and you decide together if you need a fill at that time based on what you are eating, how much, and your weight loss. Last week I would have said that I don't need s fill, but now I really think I do. Yes, I am back with logging calories & excercise, and I am burning off more than I take in so it's a puzzle. It's actually harder than before the band right now, because I am still on mushies so that means no hard stuff like vegies, salad, many fruits. It was lots easier when I could eat 2 salads a day that it is eating 2 cans of tuna a day! Not really hungry tho, so that IS a blessing.

I'm OK . . not thrilled. I have gained back 2 lbs in the last week, back and forth with the same 2 lobs is getting really old! I don't know if it is from the Flexeril that I've been put on for back spasms or what, but it's very discouraging!!!! It makes me SUPER thirsty so maybe it's water retention. I still don't really get hungry, but unfortunately I no longer get full on less than a cup. I need a fill! I go next Friday to see Dr. Baggs and I'm going to BEG for one. I think I have lost so much fat from my upper stomach that the band is not as effective now and it needs to be adjusted. So I guess it is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing; it's just so dissapointing to not be losing after only 5 weeks! Riley

Nicole, you are ripping it up girl! Congrats! regarding the getting weak part,l I did too and blamed it on not eating, turns out my blood pressure was getting too low! If you are taking BP meds, contact your PCP and get off the darned things! Christine - 3 days!! WOOT WOOT!!!

That's true! I had something called "non-alcoholic fatty liver disease," so for me it was cutting out alcohol AND carbs. I say, enjoy your pasta! And have a couple bites for me please!!! With parmesean . . . . .YUM!!! Riley

Oh on the contrary Nicole, you are probably the only normal one here! LOL

I forgot to say, in SSF (1/2 of my support group is SSF, the other 1/2 is Richmond) the pre-op diet is either replace 2 meals with SF carnation instant breakfast mixed with soy milk or non-fat milk, or replace all 3 meals with same. That would have been too much carbs for me unless I used the Soy Slender - which is only 1 net carb. I get it at Lucky's or Raleys.

I am on soft foods, frankly I do not have any problems eating ANYthing. Lasagna even! No noodles tho. I am just now getting hungry, it is 11:30 and I have not eaten since last night, when I had extra firm high-protein tofu, zuchinni, and a sugar-free pudding.

I was only 1 lb. less than I expected to be, so I don't know that it worked THAT well . . . . I lost 3 lbs from Sat AM to Monday AM, according to their scale - would have been 2 lbs. on my scale at home. I did a LOT of diet cranberry mixed with Tazo passion tea (decaf, sweetened with Splenda) - like, a gallon a day. For protein I did sugar-free chocolate soy milk (Soy Slender) with no-carb soy protein powder from Trader Joe's. I also did smoothies with tofu, Soy Slender vanilla and sugar-free torani syrup. No yougurt or regular milk because of the carbs. I avoided carbs like the plague! Yes, my BMI was 39.6 and my liver was so flat the in the surgery pics you can actually see the band through my liver when they passed it behind. A year ago I had fatty liver disease, so I wanted to be extra careful!

I didn't eat . . . put myself (and did not tell Kaiser) on a liquid diet the weekend before surgery (mine was on a Monday) because I REALLY wanted my BMI under 40 for surgery, and my liver "flat like a pancake." It worked! I have another friend going through SSF who is on a liquid diet for 2 weeks before, but she is very high BMI. You are supposed to eat your normal 1200 calorie diet. My friend the other Jane went out to Chinese in SF the night before, then was scared to death she would weight too much on surgery day, and was SO relieved when they did not weigh her!

OOP! Sorry Nicole. Yes I got weighed, on an old 2-beam scale. They weighed me then asked me what my goal weight was, so I coulda said anything! No, I did not get to keep my panties on! They make you strip everything off, put on little non-slip booties that they give you, and give you this HUGE gown that you can wrap around you several times. Then they weigh you, then take you to the "spa". they put all of your clothes in a patient bag and you have it next to you, I had my cell phone in there (pre-op) and stuff. You sit in a recliner and they give you nice, warm blankets and "fluids" (through on IV!) The heparin shot is in your arm and I did not even feel it. They also gave me stuff for naseau in my IV, it felt sorta warm but that's it. Dr. Baggs came by & said hi (& assured me that he had had a good night's sleep, since I asked!) & the anesthesia guy came in, then the OR nurse came and said she'd be back to get my in 2 minutes and she was even faster than that, she walked me in to surgery. The only embarassing part was win they got me to sit up on that skinny OR table, Dr. Baggs had to run around behind and "unwrap" the gown from around me before I could lay down! Oh well, at that point I didn't care, I knew I was going to be naked in surgery anyways. I wanted my band too bad to say no! But do tell Dr. Baggs when he comes to see you in pre-surgery that you are shy about that stuff, he is very kind and won't expose you more than he has to. My friend Jane (the other Jane) just had surgery at SSF and she didn't get weighed, either! The scale at Richmond was kind, tho - no worries! I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!! Riley:laugh:

Seriously, it was pretty wonderful! Lap-bands go first, so there is no waiting or anything . . .Dr. Baggs gets there early too. I was in surgery by 8 and out of the hospital by just after noon. What do you mean by pre-op? I had pre-op labs, etc. done up here, then just had anestesia appt. the AM of surgery.

Prayers are a' comin' babe, for the next 3 days and as long as you need them! Use your "successful surgery" CD, and remember it's OK to be super-excited! I hope you get Icy tomorrow morning (pre-surgery nurse), she is uber-great! Riley

Woo-hoo Nicole, so CLOSE!!! Are you excited!! I was super excited, but I did sleep on surgery eve - used my CD! It totally works! Yes, I am on real food now and I still get totally full on very little food. I log everything I eat at caloriecount.about.com, and I only get 500-600 cals a day, but 50 grams of protein. NO I am not starving between meals! If I do not drink for a couple hours after eating, I stay full for hours and hours. WARNING tho: just because I am not hungry doesn't mean that I don't want to eat! I feel like I COULD eat between meals, but I am not physically hungry very often. I am getting hungry right now, but it is 20 minutes before lunch so that is totally appropriate. I am not hungry in the mornings, but Robin has me eating breakfast anyways. My biggest "meal" is at night, when I can eat 1/2 cup and still manage to get down a sugarfree pudding cup, woo-hoo! Now that's living! I don't think I need a card to eat out, if I had one I would not use it. I just tell them that I am very limited in what I can eat, can I just get 1/2 of a plain grilled chicken breast, they bring it, I eat 1-2 ounces and put the rest in a box for dinner that night AND breakfast the next day! Seriously, that was lunch + dinner yesterday and breakfast today! At Starbuck's in the mall I just get a banana, I eat 1/4 of it and one of my boys will eat the rest. I used to just bring my little 2-oz. containers of puree, of course I am VERY open about my surgery and can laugh along with everyone about it. For me, going out to eat is about the people not the food (now) and no one at a restaurant has ever said boo to me about it! They even offered once to warm up my little purees! I think Kaiser does not want you to go out to eat for a few months, so I would not ask Dr. Baggs - would wait and ask Liz or Robin. About the port. . . . well the pain itself is gone, but that little bugger is a pain in my as*! I feel like it sticks out and totally gets in my way when bending over, typing my shoes, etc. I don't know HOW I am ever going to do cruches, and believe you me I need to do crunches!!! I see Dr. Baggs on the 10th and I sure hope he tells me that it will get better as my stomach fat goes away more, but I am down to a 16 (yes ladies, I started at 22 and I am in a 16!) and it's still in my way. But you know what? Even if it never gets out of my way, I LOVE MY BAND!!! Riley

Yay Tina, welcome back! I think we're all doing good . . .MomC, you are living my fear! I have stopped losing now, I wanted to slow down when I got to 60 lbs. lost but this is insane! Riley

Holey cow, a single shake and water! Yikes! I lived on sugar-free jello, sugar-free popsicles and chicken broth my first week. I never got to do the shakes, so don't know if those fill you up??? Can you only drink like 2 or 3 ounces at a time?:crying: Maybe food will come sooner for you & you won't have to wait as long as I do, LOL . . . meantime, think of all the weight you will be losing, and it's NOT comin back girl! Yay!

Hi Christine, I'm doing great! I got more excited and less scared as I got closer to my surgery date, too. Being in pre-op was so surreal! I don't think that I really believed that were going to give me a band until I was in pre-op, then I was just so happy and smiley! When Liz told us in pre-op class that no one had ever died on the table, 99% of my fear vanished because that was my big irrational fear! I was doing a lot of affirmations that it would be easy and I would recover quickly, Dr. Baggs is very positive and affirming too, and it was just - easy! You will do GREAT! You can just put the CD on to sleep, it WILL help you sleep and your subconscience still gets the messages. I didn't start using it until a few days before, they want you to use it al least a couple days I think. Worked for me, that's for sure! Robin should be calling me to move to Stage 4 early next week, I'm worried about going on "real" soft foods! Needing to have everything liquid or pureed was nice and limiting, I could not just "grab something" but soon that will be an option for me, and I hope I'm up for it! Time for me to live in the real world again!! Riley

Yay Goose! So glad it all went well! Don't assume you will get hungry later on, because lots of people don't! The trick is to not drink after you eat, and Protein protein protein! I am not on solid food yet (still Stage 3) and I rarely get hungry. I LOVE IT!! Hi Boopie, yes I did go through awfully fast, in fact 3 1/2 months. I was not really trying to, but when I had lost more than my goal by the time I saw my surgeon on a friday, he got me an appt. with the case manager for the monday 3 days later, and she scheduled my surgery less than a month from then! A lot of it was just luck though, none of my appoinmtnts ever got rescheduled or anything. I'm at Richmond Kaiser, I think they are the fastest place but a bit too far for you! Take care all! Riley

YOW Christine! Woot! Woot! Only 2 weeks left!! This was the point when I got scared, and really needed my "successful surgery" CD. Did you get one?

Oh I hear GREAT things about him! You go girl, you know what you want! You will BLAST through his 230. You just tell him you are going to be his most successful lap-band patient ever! You'll prove it soon! Congrats on getting your surgery date . . .it's REALLY real now!!!

Silly Goose, how are you? Check in girl!!!