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I felt fine. A month later you should be able to work, drive and go about all your normal daily activities with no problems. The most important thing is to plan your trip and take food with you that suits your postop diet at that point. And DO NOT attempt to eat anything whilst driving, it can result in you being stuck as you are not paying attention to how you are eating. Not fun and not pretty. Take Protein shakes, lots of Water so you can keep hydrated and do not advance your diet beyond your Dr's instructions.

You need to look at what you are eating and how you are eating it. Are your bites too big? Are you chewing properly? Have you been waiting between bites to make sure it has gone down. Are you eating dry tough foods or fibrous foods or foods with skin as these often cause problems. You may already have some fill in without realising it. You also need to talk to your Dr about what is happening so that he/she can assess why it is happening.

The noises are food ,liquid and digestive juices moving from the digestive tract. they sound louder because the tract is no longer continuously filled. Pockets of air bubble up through the digesting food as it makes its normal path through the body. So it is perfectly normal and not as many people think, an indication of hunger. (info from gastric band guide , Trudy Williams)

Lie you on a bed in the Xray dept. Swab your port area. Check the position of the port with the special xrays. jab you with local anaesthetic. Stick a cannula in. Recheck the position then attach a tube/needle to the cannula and draw some liquid out. It was really easy heidi hope you get some relief soon too. It is awful when you can't drink anything and you can't even swallow your own spit.

Well at about 7.30am yesterday morning I decided I couldn't stand it any more so i drove myself to Ballarat Base Hospital - emergency dept. About 30 minutes away. Was the second person there but still waited an hour before I was seen. They weren't sure what to do with me although I did suggest Xrays etc. They did obs. Then they put a cannula in for blood tests and a drip, it only took 3 different people and 4 attempts! Apparently I have very thin, wonky veins and I am sure being dehydtrated didn't help.They got me to drink some antacid and some other local anaesthetic. Not a very good idea as hours later I was still spitting it up and it didn't taste very good. They also called my Dr. Apparently one of the other Drs was on call yesterday so he came to see me just before lunchtime. He apparently doesn't do bands so we had a discussion on what to do. I said I thought he needed to do Xrays to check the band and he agreed that was one of the things he was planning. He also said we should aspirate some of the liquid. Unfortunately as he hadn't done it before when he tried he wasn't successful! At least he only had 2 attempts! So he then said that he would send me over to have it done via fluoroscope. He checked my notes and I apparently have 6ml so 4ml got taken out under fluoro. It is amazing how you feel immediate relief. I was lying on the bed with a Vbag in one hand and a cloth in the other as I was unable to lie flat without reflux when the urge to hurl just disappeared. I then had a glass of Water which tasted great and proceed to go to have a CT scan. The downside is I had to drink 2 glasses of the contrast Fluid. You have to wonder how when it was invented how they decided on the flavour. Surely there can't be too many people that like licorice ? My theory is the inventor was Greek! Ct was over quite quickly and then it was back to Emergency. I was told that the scans looked fine but that the Dr would come back and see me at 5pm. By 4.30 I was starving and complaining to the nurses but they didn't know if they were allowed to feed me or not! Dr came at 5.15. Said the scans looked fine although the fact that the band had just been aspirated would have made a difference. He also asked If I had Gall bladder problems.I told him i had some suspected attacks in the past but the tests they had done were inconclusive. He did say that CT is not the best way of picking them up but he suspects that I probably do have an issue. He wanted to keep me in overnight for obs but I managed to negotiate going home at 7.30pm if I was keeping food down. I hate trying to sleep in hospital plus my excess would then have been $450 and I don't have that to waste at the moment.I have also been told to make an appointment to see my Dr this week. So I eventually managed to get some food - jelly, yogurt and then a bit later icecream and some pears. Maybe not the healthiest choices but in hospital you take what you can get. Was able to leave and come home and had a fabulous sleep in my own bed.However poor hubby didn't sleep as he has bad toothache and today being a public holiday means he will have to suffer at least until tomorrow. That is probably par for the course as we seem to be having a run of really bad luck lately. Hopefully that will come to an end soon- whatever it was I did in my previous life I am sure I have now learnt my lesson, unless of course I really was Attila the Hun! I was quite impressed by the hospital. I went to the public one as I didn't realise that the private hospital next door also had an emergency dept.They were really busy but the nurses and Drs were all really nice and helpful. Even though they were unable to solve the problem i was sent to the right depts so that it could be resolved. Now to see how I cope for the next few days with only 2ml. thanks for the concern, I appreciate it.

At this stage high calorie drinks like shakes and smoothies are NOT bad. I was told by my Dr that I could have high calorie things at this point that I should avoid eating later on. Custard, ice cream, milkshake etc. That is because this stage is all about healing not weight loss. So to CHEAT by having high cal liquids as fine - they are still liquids. To CHEAT by having solids , even if they are healthy and low cal is not fine. They could cause damage and ultimately be a factor in your band slipping, not now but later.

I hardly eat fruit these days. A lot of it is too slimy and it slips past without me being able to chew it properly, a pity because good fresh fruit (when you can get it) is wonderful

If I was that smart I wouldn't have tried to eat steak.

Thanks. If it hasn't improved by lunchtime then I will have to do something.

Not really. I am sucking on ice and still have to keep running to the bathroom. I am hoping I am just swollen and irritated and that the ice will eventually reduce the swelling.

And it got worse. Couldn't sleep as I kept getting reflux, I was lucky to make it to the bathroom a couple of times. It is now nearly 5am , I am feeling like crap, sucking on ice and hoping like hell that my band hasn't slipped. I still have a major pain in my back between the shoulder blades and it feels like there is a lump in my throat.I don't think there is still anything stuck - i did way too good a job of throwing up and that is what has me worried.

Just shows that we are all different. This food does not look appealling to me at all and it wouldn't have even preband. Yes I like pizza but that pizza looks dull and boring, I like lots of veggies and other stuff on mine. My favourite pizza used to be bacon , feta and avo and I could have managed a whole thin crust pizza at a push. Smoked salmon pizza is pretty awesome too. If I did eat a whole pizza then I could never have eaten all that other stuff with it, way too much pastry/doughy stuff. As for 6 cheese burgers !!!!!!!!!!! Preband a juicy real meat burger with a baked potato with sour cream and onion rings would have been one of my ideas of a great meal. Food porn for me would have to be chocolate, cheesecake, creme brulee or some other kind of amazing dessert. I love sweet stuff.

Lying awake in bed due to reflux caused by attempting to eat steak earlier tonight and I get this "revelation". ( Nothing like the clarity that comes in the middle of the night) My mind must have been thinking over some of the stuff I read earlier today and I suddenly realised that the symptoms in this article describe what used to happen to me in my early 20s. There were a number of occasions when I would feel hot, cold, nauseous,shaky have ringing in my ears and want to pass out. In fact the once I was at the pub with my BF who is now my DH and I literally dropped. I was fine 1 minute and passed out on the floor the next. It was so embarrassing as everyone must have thought i was extremely drunk when in fact I was on either my 1st or 2nd drink. At the time my GP said that it was probably a hernia but reading this dumping seems more likely. It was usually brought on by alcohol especially any type of clear spirit such as vodka. Luckily I haven't had those symptoms for years

Now that is SAD!

Had to share tonight's experience, freaky but I am sure you will all have a laugh. Decided to cook steak for dinner. I hardly ever cook it for hubby and I thought I'd be nice to him ( and my kids). Couldn't be bothered cooking something seperate for myself and as my band is fairly loose thought if I was careful it might be OK. Well it wasn't although it could have been the broccolli (soft) or corn ( teaspoon full) that caused the issue. No big deal, I am quite good at bringing things back these days. But we have an issue at the moment with the ground being so wet that we have an excess of spanish millipedes in the house. They are an alien invader and they are a pain. They get everywhere and they leave dirty brown marks everywhere. As most of them are in my bathroom I chuck them down the toilet. It amazes me how long they seem to keep on wriggling under Water ( OK report me to the RSPCA). In fact the other night I jokingly said to my husband that I could write a horror story about some giant millipede coming out of the sewer, it would probably be on a par with attack of the killer tomatoes! I am sure you can see where this is going.......... If you get grossed out easily then stop reading now. Anyway - first attempt at bringing the steak back obviously didn't do a complete job so I am back in the bathroom for a second time. I had also had some red wine so things were looking a little murky( and red wine tastes terrible coming back) when I notice this black thing squirming around in the toilet bowl. Now having your head over the toilet, throwing up and staring at some squirmy thing is not a pleasant experience. Although logic tells me that it had to have been in there from earlier the mind plays strange tricks. All I can say is it must be one hell of an underwater swimmer and maybe I had better get a toilet lid lock as they could be breeding down there!

That is a huge amount of "food". That is if you can call it food - it all looks like greasy, fatty, overprocessed muck!

Not being American I don't know how big your food portions are but I have heard from friends that have visited the US that they are HUGE. You do also seem to have an overabundance of highly processed foods. The ads that we get here are mainly for fast foods such as McDs or Hungry Jacks or things like packet recipe bases (maggi), yogurt, or heart healthy spread. We don't see ads with huge overflowing plates of food very often. I do look at food in restaurants though and wonder how people manage to eat that much. In La Porchetta the starter size pasta's are way too much for me and most people mange to finish the full size serve!

Do not put anything on your wounds unless your Dr says it is OK to do so. This is probably an allergic reaction. I have the same reaction to certain types of glue on some of the medical dressings. Phone your Dr and ask if it is OK to use a topical antihistamine or if they would prefer you to use an oral one.

You should check with your Dr what exercises are Ok at this stage of your recovery. I can't remember how long they recommend to be careful with abdo exercises. Walking etc should be fine.

You may have popped a stitch. Be careful when you get up and down, use your arms to help you not your stomach muscles. The best thing to do when you have a concern is to call your Dr's rooms. They will be able to tell you if you need to come in or not.

Who cares what other people think. Do what you need to do for your own health and the people that don't like it can go **** themselves!

I would be adding more veggies and healthy carbs. A small portion of boiled potatoes would fill you up far better than potato chips and they actually have some good nutrition in them.

Never heard of dumping with the band, it is usually a consequence of a bypass. This seems very strange.

It feels great once you start fitting into smaller clothes. Well done.

What would you consider extremely successful? My starting weight was 74kg and I am now between 50 - 51kg and have been maintaining that for 2 years.