39andholding

I don't have a date yet, but I am having my gall bladder removed friday and have to wait about 6 weeks to heal. I think that puts me close to the first week in July. I'm formerly from Md., now living in Florida. (Nevermind, I see doc is in Md., you are in Pa!)

I'm in Lakeland. I'm seeing a doc in Zephyrhills. I;m sorta new to it all too. This is what I did: Find a doc near-by. Go to seminar. Fill out info for doc. Have consult. Call insurance. Doc also submitted request for coverage on medical necessity. (I am 4'10 and 190-ish at consult, 180-ish now due to gall bladder attack induced starvation diet) Psych eval tomorrow. Gall bladder being removed Friday... have to wait at least 6 weeks for lapband surgery. No date scheduled yet, but I guess the soonest would be first week in July. ETA: my insurance policy does not have any awesome hoops to jump thru.

I was very VERY dehydrated last week from my gall bladder issue (got sick from an attack and continued to be nauseous for a week) and my pee was dark orange. I was freaked out and called the doctor, I thought I was having liver failure! (I laugh NOW!) But he suggested I was probably dehydrated from the not eating/drinking... and so I made a concerted effort to drink lots of H2O... voila, back to nice light yellow pees in 2 days. I think you definitely want nice almost clear pee... I think as a banded person, you are not getting the Water from foods you normally would (if you were overeating) so it is harder to maintain proper hydration, plus the added factor of not drinking at meals. I'm not banded yet, I have no experience, and no tricks to help... just saying that might be why it's so hard to keep your pee nice a clear.

Can you add more fruit to your yogurt? And how about a higher calorie soup? This way you can still eat on your pattern but get maybe an extra 200 cals in... 50 from fruit and 150 from a heartier soup (if you can tolerate it?) Can you tolerate butter? If you add a pat to your veggies, that could give you 40-50 more cals too?

I have heard that too much Protein can leach your Calcium from your bones, not sure on the validity of that. Anyway, I researched this last month when I was going to give dieting one more try before lapband (then had a bad gall bladder attack, and it's made me decide to get the gall bladder out and 6 weeks later if I am cleared just get the lapband and stop screwing around...) I found all kinds of suggestions. I liked 40/30/30 because it was easy to remember and allowed me a high "low fat" So that's 40 % cals from protein, 30 % from carbs and 30% from fat. Don't forget fat has more calories than carbs so you can't just use the same number of grams for both. Let me go to my sparkpeople page and see what I entered... Ok: Consume between 1000 & 1500 calories per day Consume between 33 & 50 grams of fat per day. Consume between 137 & 206 grams of carbohydrates per day. Consume between 38 & 56 grams of protein per day. Consume between 0 & 2300 mg of Sodium, Na Consume between 100 & 150 %RDA of Iron, Fe Consume between 100 & 150 %RDA of Calcium, Ca Consume between 25 & 35 g of Fiber, total dietary Consume between 0 & 120 mg of Cholesterol Ok, now I am not sure what values I went with... Sparkpeople is mentioning ratio of 15/55/30 (protein, only 15% ?!!) so maybe I set it up for that. I don't think I'm being much help here after all! Does that protein intake seem too low for a bander? Yikes!

Try doing the bowling, a few games... and use both arms. Try to use real form like you are throwing a real bowling ball... Wii Bowling made me scream in pain for two days afterwards because of all the muscles it worked out. :thumbup:

I am seeing Dr. Grossbard in Zephyrhills/Dade City.

Wow, 800 cals for dinner sounds awesome. :thumbup: I've been doing 500 or so. : I don't have any good recipes really, I get moderately convenient food, like instant frozen potatoes or frozen veggies. Speaking of which, veggies make a good filler for not many calories. I like the mixed veggies (corn, peas and carrots) with a little tiny bit of butter or spray. Mashed potatoes without a lot of butter are still pretty healthy. Good luck!

I don't know for sure, I am pre-banded and new, but from what I heard, it is a lot of puking that can cause slippage. And since over-eating can cause the PBing, they want you to not over-eat. (Besides it's defeating the purpose!) Weight Watchers gave me the mantra "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" and I have been trying to remember it. :thumbup:

Disney rents wheelchairs. It makes access to the tame rides faster. I rented one when I was pregnant but perfectly capable of walking just because I didn't want to overdo. It was great. If you opt to do that, you can walk some and then be pushed. Would your boyfriend hate pushing you everywhere? I dunno, I live 40 mins from Disney and I'd probably go. Since your trip is longer, can you borrow or rent a more comfy vehicle, like a van/minivan or something where you could "kick-back" a bit and not be cramped for 4 hours? Good luck whatever you decide!!! :thumbup: RE: the liquid diet... I've never had anyone complain about the sippy cups I bring in for the kids. You can call ahead and see if you will have a problem bringing in liquid diet stuff, and if they take issue with it, determine if there is a restaurant that could serve you something you could eat (I am still pre-op and don't have all the dietary things memorized, so I'm just thinking Clear Liquids, right???) They don't want to "lose" a customer and I am sure they would prefer to take the 20$ loss on the food over you canceling your trip. Not trying to encourage you to go, I am just saying if you want to do both, it's not entirely crazy.

Call the insurance company. Go to the meeting. That is your assignment for the month of May. :cool2:

I didn't read all the responses. But my friend who did lapband (I'm not banded yet) was 240ish and is now about 140 (in a year) She chose to have a tummy tuck and boob job. I suspect the 80-90 lbs I hope to lose will also mean I need a tummy tuck. I just kinda feel it's a package deal. I know the excess skin is not "fun" and especially if you can't afford the cosmetic surgery. But it's important to get the excess weight off before it affects your health (I am also perfectly healthy except for my dumb gall bladder and this excess weight) The way I look at it - my food bill is going to go way down from not over-eating and the amount of money I will save over 2-3 years of eating excessively (groceries and eating out) will help pay for the cosmetic surgery. If I had as much to lose, I would probably consider gastric bypass. My cousin did gastric bypass and she also "only" had 100 lbs to lose. She's running half-marathons now, 8 months post-op and 90 lbs down. Good luck with whatever you choose. :cool2:

My gall bladder pain was on the right, in the middle, in my back, in my front, everywhere LOL. This last attack was "over" in a few hours but the pain did not go away for days, and I needed meds to help me survive those days!!! So I decided enough of that non-sense (I was pretty much wanting to keep my gall bladder and just try naturally cleansing and stuff like that, but I am DONE!) Good luck today with your appt. Candi.

My doc recommends and prefers the Allergan third generation, but will put in the others if requested. I thought the realize band felt "cushier" but I have yet to meet someone online or IRL who is banded and says they "feel" their band... so I'm not sure that even matters. :thumbup:

I agree with the above because emergency surgery would most likely be open surgery... not as easy to heal from! Also, if your attack pain is bad enough, you will vomit and that could jack up your lapband (I guess that is "slippage".) :thumbup:

Lots of people have their gall bladder removed. Every one I talk to tells me "my mom had hers out" or "I had mine out." I think if you have open gastric bypass they will take your gall bladder at the same time. I have heard some doctors take out the gall bladder at the same time as other weight loss surgeries. My doc said it would risk infection to do both at the same time, but I think that is due to them both being laproscopic and he says I will end up with 9 places to heal (holes) but only 8 visible because one is in the navel. I think that the faster the weight loss, the more risk to forming stones. I am not sure if ALL bariatric docs recommend gall bladder removal. Hey, it's probably another 10k, so I bet they do, LOL!

No you are not crazy... my first attack felt like bad gas, and when I vomited at that first attack, I then thought it was food poisoning. I have heard gallstones and kidney stones are the worst pains to have, worse than childbirth (I agree!)

It sounds like gall bladder to me too. Now that just might be my bias as I just had a major attack two Saturdays ago, bad enough I say "uncle" and it's coming out this Friday. From what I understand, the gall bladder stores bile and empties the bile under certain circumstances. Apparently when women in their 20s go on low fat diets, they make themselves susceptible to the gall bladder just STORING the bile and not emptying regularly. The estrogen in our bodies makes the conditions right for stones to form because the bile is staying stored (I think the gb likes to empty after a fatty meal... many people have attacks after fried food... my first attack was after I had taco night and chose not to drain and rinse the ground beef like I usually did; my most recent attack was after I decided to finish up my son's chick-fil-a strips and fries.) Additionally, stress may be a factor in the "attack" equation. It is for me! I think they teach doctors that if the patient is female, fair, fat, fertile, she is a prime candidate for gb issues! How you find out? Go in the midst of an attack to the ER or make an appt with your GP and tell him your symptoms and ask for a referral for an u/s, OR ask your bariatric surgeon to refer you out for a scan. My bariatric doc removes gall bladders either before or after lap band surgery. I am getting mine out before!

Any surprise foods you did not tolerate? In other words, foods no one warned you would cause a blockage but they did? Do you still eat citrus? If so, do you just cut off the outside of the membrane (the white "skin" stuff, not the rind of course?) Do you drink with your meal (against advice?) If you did, did you lose despite it, or feel hunger due to the food not staying in your pouch? If you did not cheat with drink, do you think very teeny sips just to wet your mouth and help you chew would affect your weight loss? (The reason I ask this is because I am prone to anemia and do not want to stop eating beef; which would likely happen if I could not moisten my mouth for chewing purposes.... but I would not want to cheat!!! There's a reason I want to do this surgery, and it's not to cheat! :thumbup:)

So far then it sounds like the only surprise for some people has been cereal. I am glad I broke my cereal and Pasta, white bread and rice addictions already. My 2 year old son was dx'd last year with a bunch of allergies so I just avoided buying those items... now they are saying he's not allergic anymore but thankfully those things aren't staples right now. I really like fruits and veggies. In fact, if ever someone got fat eating fruits and veggies, it's me. :tt2: LOL! (I can sit down and eat 6 clementines, just woof them down... hence my fatness!!!) I don't even need butter or margarine on my veggies, I just love the taste and texture :ack2: (but I find a little dab of butter makes me satisfied better) But anyway... Thanks for answering. I have been practicing taking small bites and chewing like crazy. Well, now that I am eating again... the past week I'd had gall bladder troubles so haven't been able to eat much other than apple juice and apples. But yesterday I had some roast beast and some for lunch today (real roast beef, not deli style stuff) and so it gave me good small-bite-lots-of-chewing practice :thumbup:

I'm not banded yet, I love Wii Fit. Unfortunately I do not do it often enough because I am annoyed by my 4 and 2.5 year old fighting over taking turns. LOL I mean, I want them to share and be active but I don't want to spend 3 hours trying to get exercise because I have to keep logging out and logging each of them in! So I recommend if you get it, hiding it from the kids Haha!

Good luck if you make the trip. Cinco De Mayo seems like a fun time to go but obviously not this year Anyway, I read on Mercola.com to up your Vitamin D supplements. :thumbup:

Your gall bladder pain can be on the left, right or middle. Trust me, I have been having attacks for two years and in the midst of recovering from one now (bad attack Saturday, the pain still has not gone away... had an u/s yesterday and the techs told me NOTHING but I suspect a stone is lodged in there currently given the fact I've got stabbing pain directly thru my chest, midline but it "comes from" my back.) Before I knew what gall bladder pain was, I thought it was gas, really bad gas. My pain can also be under my back shoulder blades, either of them. A hot shower beating on my back helps the pain, as well as pain pills :thumbup: It doesn't matter what it is, it's serious IMO. I'm not going to argue about pain I feel. I believe the appendix is another organ that is on one side of your body and pain can present on either side. Besides, no offense to previous poster, people confuse their right and left sides all the time. If you walk into an ER and complain about STABBING PAIN that happens AT NIGHT AFTER YOU EAT and then GOES AWAY and you are OVERWEIGHT.... they are going to check out your gall baldder. It might be something else, but again it doesn't matter, please get it checked out, pain is never a good sign!!! :sad:

Sounds like gall bladder pain to me too. Losing a lot of weight can cause gall stones to form more rapidly than normal. Have it checked out. A severe attack will leave you vomiting a lot and that isn't good for your band!

I've had these deep thoughts too. I am pre-band, so the idea of not being able to turn to food for "support" does scare me a little. :thumbup: I think having these thoughts has been helpful to me. I hope. :ohmy: Do you have any hobby you would have liked to do but haven't due to the various aspects of the kids' lives? Maybe gardening or scrapbooking? The volunteering is a good idea, too.