Janiece

I think it might be time for another fill. I can eat toasted bread by itself but just thinking about taking a bite of a ham sandwich makes my chest hurt. Don't get discouraged! I had a month long plauteau and after a fill, BAM, I lost 10 lbs that month! I'm really a slacker with exercising too, but I try to do weights at least twice a week and I 2nd doing leg lifts or pushups during commercial breaks! Please don't think I'm jumping up on my soapbox, but just a suggestion: I think you should clean out your kitchen and throw away things like Lucky Charms and popcorn. The week before surgery my Dr suggested that I go through and donate almost everything in our pantry. My boyfriend has one cabinet o' junk that I don't look in so I can't be tempted. I have very low willpower when I'm home also. If I buy a bag of Doritios I will eat an entire bag of Doritos. So I just don't bring those types of things home. It's easier than torturing myself everyday and then feeling bad when I eventually cave in. I'm sure you've heard this a million times before, but try to eat high density proteins first. They take up room in your pouch and you'll feel fuller faster. I try to always keep imitation Krab, tuna salad, rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and other quick fixes in the fridge. When I get home from work at 4 I'm usually starving. Instead of munching on chips like my boyfriend, I heat up a chicken leg or grab a few krab sticks. Good luck! Remember we're all here to help you and we're going through the same problems!

I gurgle all the time. It's usually when I'm drinking liquids or eating pudding type stuff.. My boyfriend won't let me drink water before bed anymore b/c when I lay down the gurgling gets worse and he can't sleep.

My doc took pictures while he was in there. I must admit, they're pretty cool to have. And it cracks me up that I have an Allergan advertisement inside my tummy! :blushing: Look at my "surgery pics" album.

If you can't eat solid foods you might need a slight unfill. A few weeks ago I was getting stuck on random foods that I've eaten a million times and having reflux so I went to the doc. He only took out 0.1ccs of Fluid but it made a huge difference. Or maybe try only liquids for a few days then slowly progressing to regular foods to give your swelling some time to go down. I get really swollen after pbing and can't do solids for at least the rest of the day. I also try to have a sauce on almost everything to help it go down. I seriously put Heinz 57 or low fat sour cream on everything! Foods to try: - tuna or chicken salad - medium rare filet mignon (any other cut is too hard for me to chew thoroughly) - any fish as long as it's not overcooked - Beans - Chipotle burrito bowl (I only eat about 1/3 at a time) - crab cakes - baked chicken There's also a recipe section of the forum that you might want to check out. Good luck!

When I drink beer at home I just do a "bad pour" from the bottle to a glass to get some of the carbonation out and I'm usually fine. At a restaurant I order a beer and an empty glass so I can do the same thing. Sometimes I get a little pain in my chest when I drink it too fast, but then I burp and I'm fine.

One of the nurses at my Dr's office has a LAP-BAND® too. I asked her something similar during my pre-op stuff, and she said once a year, when she goes on vacation, she takes tiny sips of liquid while she's eating to wash the food through the pouch so she can eat more. Yes, I'm aware that's "cheating the band" but doing it once a year or whatever on vacation isn't that bad. As long as you don't make it a habit you'll be fine.

I just got a fill on Monday and I've BARELY been able to get down 32oz a day. I can eat solid food, but it seems like the water pools up in my pouch, gurgles/bubbles around, then drains down. I've been trying to take small sips, but maybe I need a straw instead b/c it's hard to sip out of this giant mouthed water bottle.

I agree with Sue. I had surgery on 11/6 and I'm still wearing a light girdle (:thumbup:). It keeps my pants from rubbing on the port scar and helps keep the jiggling to a minimum.

I am pleasantly surprised to report that I am almost completely back to normal. I go back to work on Monday, and I'm really glad I took two weeks of STD to recover. I mostly slept and walked, but I think my body needed the break from the stress. Driving is still a little uncomfortable, but unfortunately I have a 45 minute commute. Hopefully it's not too bad. My incisions, with the except of the port one, are almost impossible to find. The port incision is the only one that still tingles occasionally. I'll post pics later this weekend. My boyfriend and I took a weekend trip to Ocean City, MD. I'm still on mushies, but l count crab legs and crab cakes as mushies! This is definitely the hardest phase for me, b/c I can rationalize that everything is a mushie (if I chew it enough). I'm scared of screwing up my surgeon's hard work though, so I'm not taking too much leeway. Question: Any lunch suggestions? I'm going to end up with mercury poisoning b/c I eat tuna, salmon, shrimp or some kind of seafood almost everyday. It's soft, and easily mushed with light mayo or italian dressing.

I am pleasantly surprised to report that I am almost completely back to normal. I go back to work on Monday, and I'm really glad I took two weeks of STD to recover. I mostly slept and walked, but I think my body needed the break from the stress. Driving is still a little uncomfortable, but unfortunately I have a 45 minute commute. Hopefully it's not too bad. My incisions, with the except of the port one, are almost impossible to find. The port incision is the only one that still tingles occasionally. I'll post pics later this weekend. My boyfriend and I took a weekend trip to Ocean City, MD. I'm still on mushies, but l count crab legs and crab cakes as mushies! This is definitely the hardest phase for me, b/c I can rationalize that everything is a mushie (if I chew it enough). I'm scared of screwing up my surgeon's hard work though, so I'm not taking too much leeway. Question: Any lunch suggestions? I'm going to end up with mercury poisoning b/c I eat tuna, salmon, shrimp or some kind of seafood almost everyday. It's soft, and easily mushed with light mayo or italian dressing.

I think we made it 4 days. I put pillows under my hips to make it a better angle so he wouldn't lean over me and rub on my port. :redface: sorry if TMI .

I had the first post-op appointment this morning and I was moved up to soft foods 5 days early! Thank God. I was SO hungry the last few days. I also received some pics from the surgery that I will post later today. Dr Pinnar reviewed the pictures with me and I'm so hungry b/c there's a large gap between my stomach and the band since it's empty and I don't have much fat around my stomach. He said my first fill in a few weeks will probably be pretty aggressive to help close that gap. I'm off to search for the best refried beans around to have for lunch! :biggrin:

I had the first post-op appointment this morning and I was moved up to soft foods 5 days early! Thank God. I was SO hungry the last few days. I also received some pics from the surgery that I will post later today. Dr Pinnar reviewed the pictures with me and I'm so hungry b/c there's a large gap between my stomach and the band since it's empty and I don't have much fat around my stomach. He said my first fill in a few weeks will probably be pretty aggressive to help close that gap. I'm off to search for the best refried beans around to have for lunch! :thumbup:

I started writing this 2 days ago. I am suck a slacker! I can't believe I had LAP-BAND® surgery 5 days ago! Hospital: I had my surgery at the Reston Hospital. The pre-op staff was great. They kept me mildly entertained and tried to tell jokes to keep my mind off everything. My boyfriend almost fainted when they were trying to find a vein for the IV. It took them 3 tries but they finally found one (Apparently I have small, rolling veins...). After the anesthesiologist and Dr Robert Pinnar came in and left. I had about 10 minutes alone with my boyfriend before they wheeled me out. Those were the worst 10 minutes ever! Tears just started leaking out of my eyes. They wheeled me into the operating room, asked me to move over to the other bed, and I don't remember anything after that. I am disappointed with the post op nurses b/c no one seemed to know anything! They'd bring me some pills, I'd ask if this pill was too big and she'd be like "hold on, I'll go ask". Then she'd come back an hour later for her rounds, I'd ask if I could take the pill, and she'd just say 'yes' with no further explanation. I don't think any of them were familiar with bariatric surgery. In the morning, I waiting around for 3 hours for some Dr to come and discharge me. Eventually a nurse came in and said I could be discharged. I told her that the Dr never even came in and saw me! She just said to sign the papers, take my prescriptions and I could leave. So basically I was waiting around for nothing. Pain: From some of the stories here, I was expecting to be in excruciating pain. I guess I am lucky. I really haven't been in any pain. :confused: When I woke up in post-op, my incisions were stinging but that's the most pain I've felt. Since then it's been mostly discomfort and pressure under my diaphragm and gas. I spent the first night in the hospital and asked for the IV pain meds only when I was trying to go to sleep b/c I just couldn't seem to get comfortable. I took the percocets the next two nights when I came home. I probably didn't need them, but get into bed and trying to shove pillows around and get comfortable was a little painful. Scars: I think my scars are going to completely disappear. They look great already. one weird thing: my port is in the middle above my belly button! I thought everyone had theirs to the right btwn their waist and bust? I'll ask my Dr about this at my post op appt. I'll put pictures in an album. Overall, I'm mostly just tired. I've slept 10 hour nights for the last few days. I'm a little bored, but I'm glad I took off two weeks from work. There's no way I could make the 45 minute commute and my temper is still a little short b/c I want more than crappy protein shakes!

I started writing this 2 days ago. I am suck a slacker! I can't believe I had LAP-BAND® surgery 5 days ago! :confused: Hospital: I had my surgery at the Reston Hospital. The pre-op staff was great. They kept me mildly entertained and tried to tell jokes to keep my mind off everything. My boyfriend almost fainted when they were trying to find a vein for the IV. It took them 3 tries but they finally found one (Apparently I have small, rolling veins...). After the anesthesiologist and Dr Robert Pinnar came in and left. I had about 10 minutes alone with my boyfriend before they wheeled me out. Those were the worst 10 minutes ever! Tears just started leaking out of my eyes. They wheeled me into the operating room, asked me to move over to the other bed, and I don't remember anything after that. I am disappointed with the post op nurses b/c no one seemed to know anything! They'd bring me some pills, I'd ask if this pill was too big and she'd be like "hold on, I'll go ask". Then she'd come back an hour later for her rounds, I'd ask if I could take the pill, and she'd just say 'yes' with no further explanation. I don't think any of them were familiar with bariatric surgery. In the morning, I waiting around for 3 hours for some Dr to come and discharge me. Eventually a nurse came in and said I could be discharged. I told her that the Dr never even came in and saw me! She just said to sign the papers, take my prescriptions and I could leave. So basically I was waiting around for nothing. Pain: From some of the stories here, I was expecting to be in excruciating pain. I guess I am lucky. I really haven't been in any pain. :confused: When I woke up in post-op, my incisions were stinging but that's the most pain I've felt. Since then it's been mostly discomfort and pressure under my diaphragm and gas. I spent the first night in the hospital and asked for the IV pain meds only when I was trying to go to sleep b/c I just couldn't seem to get comfortable. I took the percocets the next two nights when I came home. I probably didn't need them, but get into bed and trying to shove pillows around and get comfortable was a little painful. Scars: I think my scars are going to completely disappear. They look great already. one weird thing: my port is in the middle above my belly button! I thought everyone had theirs to the right btwn their waist and bust? I'll ask my Dr about this at my post op appt. I'll put pictures in an album. Overall, I'm mostly just tired. I've slept 10 hour nights for the last few days. I'm a little bored, but I'm glad I took off two weeks from work. There's no way I could make the 45 minute commute and my temper is still a little short b/c I want more than crappy protein shakes!

I have gas pain in my shoulder, but I think my biceps and wrists are sore from trying to move myself around without using my abs. Pushing off the sofa and pulling against my boyfriend to get up. . .