GE Mom

I got my first fill this afternoon, in the clinic, no flouro. He put a folded pillow under my back, injected a bit of lidocaine, told me to do a partial sit up and simply injected the saline. 5cc in a VG band. Then he had me swallow (over several minutes, in small sips) half a glass of water. My stomach feels a bit strange, like I'm aware that it's there. Otherwise, no problem. Then I came home and walked to the library on this beautiful, crisp fall afternoon. I'm supposed to be on liquids/pureed foods for the next three days. Then I take my band for its first real tryout. I'm plateaued at 23 lbs down from my preop visit, so I'm very, very anxious to get this show on the road!

I have my first fill (I hope) tomorrow, too. I'm really stuck at 23 pounds down -- which is great, but I need to get going again.

I just got back from a week's vacation at the beach with DH. I was really worried about how I was going to manage going out to dinner etc. It worked just fine -- I came back 1/2 lb less than I started a week ago. AND -- I had a size 16 swimsuit that I basically had never worn because it was uncomfortably tight (I've been in a 22), and I thought, "What the heck, I'll try it on." AND it fits! And DH says I look great! Also, I had two pairs of size 3x shorts from last summer, and they're literally falling off. My weight has basically stabilized (first fill is this week), but the clothes are getting larger and larger. I've had a few revelations -- I do better if I eat protein, like the dietician said. It lasts longer and I don't get so hungry. The band doesn't make dieting unnecessary, it makes it possible and effective. So where, last year, I would have eaten very little and still gained weight, now I can eat a small but reasonable amount and actually lose. And I'm not calling it a 'diet', I'm calling it an 'eating plan'. When I was out shopping, I turned into a Pepperidge Farm outlet store, and started thinking, "Oh, what the heck, I deserve a cookie", then my guardian angel said "Wait. Why would you do that? You just went through a $30,000 operation that really was major surgery, and you did it to save your life, so why would you blow it on cookies?" So I turned and walked out of the store with nothing. It really did make me stop and think about every bite I put into my mouth.

I agree with the posters above -- I discovered I had severe sleep apnea as part of the pre-op testing. I tried to talk the doctor out of it, as I thought I had no symptoms. But turns out I had it, and am now on CPAP. And sleep apnea is, itself, a cause of obesity. So being on the CPAP can make weight loss easier. AND -- it's a really serious co-morbidity that got me approved for the surgery very quickly.

You know, sooner or later, you're going to have to deal with your issues about your mom. Is mom maybe a bit over-involved with your weight? Did you do this surgery for her or for you? Is she obese? Sometimes, moms and young adult daughters get an unhealthy interaction going where mom is too involved with daughter's weight and daughter unconsiously selects weight as the battleground for independence -- after all, no matter how hard mom tries to control your eating, you can always make her lose the battle by staying obese. The question is, do you really want to do that? I'm thinking that Pasta, of whatever type, is not the best meal for someone trying to lose weight, and wonder why you chose it? At age 20, you're old enough to manage your weight without advice from mom, unless you've asked her for help. Of course, I don't know the situation, but I'd be thinking that you should be seeing the doctor on your own, and making your food choices without her involvement, by following the advice of your health professionals.

I think, during the liquid phase, there's simply nothing in your intestine to move. I had the trots, and asked the dietician for advice. She said: take benefiber, and add applesauce and/or banana to the high protein shakes. Once that gave my bowels something to work with, it got back to normal quickly. Now that I'm on mushies, I BM about every other day.

Last night, we had strawberry shortcake for dessert. I had a very, very small serving, and so we had leftover strawberries this morning. I pureed them and mixed them with some fresh cottage cheese. REALLY good. (Now, leftover strawberry shortcake -- that's a novel idea in my house!)

Thanks for the advice about dinners. I'll try your ideas. It's extremely reassuring to know I'm not the only one who's hit a plateau. I did drop a pound this morning from yesterday morning. I walked 2.51 miles yesterday, and really focused on getting my Protein and Water. I'll try that again today. I don't think I've ever walked 2.5 miles in a day in many years!! DH is wonderful. Since I've asked him to help make sure I walk, he's devoted a lot of effort to planning interesting walks. We walked around a local reservoir yesterday, and he was quite willing to go at my pace, and rest when I wanted to. He told me all the years when I was too fat to walk, he really missed walking with me. We used to walk and hike when we were dating and it was one of the losses for him of me gaining weight. He's been just wonderful through this whole process. It's really true that we are not the only ones affected by obesity. Although I'm at a weight loss plateau, my clothes are suddenly too big. I've been able to 'shop in my closet' and can wear things that I bought too tight (dumb, I know) and have been hanging there for years with tags still on. And my 19 year old son was standing on the driveway when I got out of the car and he said "Hey, is that my thin mom?" There were two people out on the path who were roller blading -- one an older man, who looked winded toward the end, and a younger woman with a great figure. She just raced around the path 6 or 8 times in the time it took us to circle it once. Maybe someday I'll be able to do that... Although anyone who thinks surgery is the 'easy way' to lose weight is nuts, this was SO worth it.

Well, I'm going on vacation in September, and should have a fill on September 20. So if I can drop 5 to 8 pounds, I'll be doing ok. I walked 1.21 miles yesterday according to my pedometer. DH has been great at helping me remember to walk. (I'm channeling his nagging tendencies into that because it's something I really want to do.) I'm supposed to still be on pureed foods until week 6. I'm having a problem with dinners. I'm doing the high Protein shake for Breakfast, yogurt or shake for lunch, but dinner is a challenge. What are y'all doing for dinners in the mushy stage? Also, I've been STUCK for over a week at exactly 20 pounds down from my preop visit. )And that's 2 pounds up from 2 weeks out. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???

I did a lot of the carnation instant breakfast with a couple of scoops of protein powder added. And yogurt, and gourmet soup that I put in the blender with skim milk. That was really good. After a week or so, I was having really bad loose bowels, probably from no fiber for almost a month (including the presurgery liquid diet), so my dietician said I could add half a banana to the shake. Or applesauce. Or add benefiber, which I didn't try. When you get on the scale and see what's gone, it'll be worth it.

The pain meds are a real possibility -- vicodin and percocet both make me throw up. So I'd first consider that. You could ask the pharmacist if vomiting is a side effect of whatever you're taking. Then I'd ask the doctor about a Transderm scope patch. This is what they use for seasickness, and it's a little patch behind your ear. They put one on me in the operating room (or someplace! -- maybe recovery) and it totally prevented nausea for three days. By then I was able to have liquids so something was in my stomach.

Thanks, Jill. That's a horrifying thought, building up matter in my colon. (Does that mean I must be full of s***?) I think I may be short of both protein and water.... I'll work on both. About the port. It's right between my waist and my bra. (After reading about that issue on this board, I interrogated my surgeon about where to put it, and he marked a spot to put it. I'm short-waisted so there is really only about 2" to work with, but I think he got it in the right place.) This is a deep inside, very sharp, intermittent pain and it's been going on since Friday. I called the nurse and she said they get a lot of complaints about port pain. It only happens when I move, or sit up, or lie down, or reach around... Any other ideas?

Oh, No!!! I had lost 21 pounds within the first 2 weeks after my surgery. Now I've been stuck there for a week and I've now gained a pound. I just moved from liquids to purees. Should I go back to liquids?? And also, now my port is really hurting. What's wrong?

I just got the hospital bill for my lap band that was placed on August 7. Unicare HMO paid $23,000, and I have to pay $285. They approved it pretty quickly, with minimal hassle (They lost the first two sets of paperwork but when the doctor's office faxed in a third set, they had it approved within a week.) One request for more information. I don't have the surgeon's bill yet. I think I got very, very lucky. Thanks, Unicare!

I was banded 3 weeks ago tomorrow and am basically back to normal, except for these small marks on my tummy and some port pain. I wasn't expecting so much pain around my port. I'm still on pureed foods, and I'm basically following directions except for a few small lapses, which had no untoward consequences. I don't feel any restriction, except I'm eating a small fraction of what I used to eat. Last night, DH and I went to a Mexican restaurant, and he had a normal meal. I ate half the refried beans that came with my dinner, and a few bites of taco meat with some mild salsa. (No Margarita!) Tasted great, but I got full with 80% of my meal left on my plate. The server asked if anything was wrong! So I took it home and will have it for lunch and dinner today. I think I was getting short on protein, and it made a big difference when I started focusing more on that. My energy level is back to normal. AND -- my feet don't hurt, my knees don't hurt, my bra hooks in a tighter hook, no more heartburn. Life is good! I've lost 22 pounds, which is not quite 10% of my starting weight. It made a much bigger difference than I thought it would. Nobody has yet noticed the weight loss, so hopefully that'll start soon. I've asked DH to nag me about walking. I need to overcome my negative association with exercise, and establish a new habit of being more active. He's a natural nag, and instead of fighting that (which doesn't work, anyway), I'm going to use it to help me do what I really do want to do. So all in all, the band has been a good thing to do. I'm looking forward to my first fill in mid-September. The doctor says it's realistic to expect to get to 150 pounds in a year plus, a loss of about 100 lbs. That would put me back to where I was after my second pregnancy at age 36, when I could still wear a size 8 dress. I'd be ecstatic with that. I so very much appreciate all the information I've gained on this Board. Thanks to all the participants!

I had to do a pulmonary function test and a sleep study which resulted in a diagnosis of sleep apnea and a CPAP. What a shock! I did have problems with maintaining my oxygen levels the night of surgery because every time I went to sleep the darned oximeter alarm went off, waking me up. That never happened with previous surgeries...So it was good I had all those tests.

I just came from my 2 week post op visit, and I've lost 15 pounds from my pre-op visit. (My scale at home shows me a little lower, but I always gain a bit in the course of the day.) I'm still not feeling it in my clothes, but it has to come sometime. I started into pureed foods on Monday, and I feel a lot better because I'm getting a good dose of protein. The dietician told me I should be eating almost nothing but protein (B-O-R-I-N-G!) but I'm losing weight and feeling great, so I'll comply. What more can I ask for??? Is everyone being instructed to have this heavy emphasis on protein?

So, although nobody likes spiders and snakes, most of the time they're more afraid of you than you are of them. If you swat, sweep or otherwise physically remove them or yourself, they won't hurt you. On the other hand, pesticides are very closely related to deadly nerve gas, and they work by damaging the nervous system of the bugs. What do you suppose it does to your nervous system? Especially cumulatively over a long period of time? There's no free lunch -- either you live with critters or you live with the unknown but significant effects of pesticides. Personally, the idea of spraying nerve gas in my bedroom or my child's bedroom gives me the chills. Remember, there are a whole lot of conditions that simply did not exist prior to the industrial revolution -- like Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, to say nothing of new conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. I think later on, after we know more about these conditions, we'll likely learn that there's an environmental component to these and other diseases. The most common cause of mental retardation is "unknown prenatal influence" -- do you suppose the environment might be involved here? I'm far from a nut on this issue, but I'm far more afraid of what we don't know than I am of a few bugs.

I'm 2 weeks past my surgery, have lost 21 pounds (YES!!!), but all of a sudden my port is hurting. I can feel a hard lump just below my longest incision, and it really does cause some significant discomfort. What's that about? Will it last? I'm now moving from liquids to pureed foods, and I'm wondering whether there's any link. Also, although the scale says I've lost 21 pounds, I'm not feeling it in my clothes. How can this be?

Well, there's a downside to using pesticides, too. Contrary to what the exterminators will tell you, NONE has been demonstrated safe and many of them can be extremely dangerous. Most of them are chemically very closely related to nerve gas. They work by causing neurological damage to the insects. And many people who are knowledgeable are very concerned that they cause nerve damage to people, too, especially fetuses, infants and small children. Just be aware that there are a lot of illnesses that we don't know much about (including obesity?), and these chemicals we're pouring into our environment may have an impact that we are ignorant of.

When I had the surgery, they put a transderm scope patch behind my ear in the operating room (or someplace!). I discovered it the next day when I went home. It did a great job of keeping me from being nauseated, though I was sleepy and had a very dry mouth.

I think you should let your doctor know you're having this problem.

I'm really puzzled at the differences among doctors regarding the post op diet. Some of us are on Clear liquids for one week, some for two, some on full liquids for one or two weeks, etc. Since we're all having the same procedure, how do you account for the wide variations in instructions? It sort of says to me that there is no single right answer. Can you help me understand this? How important is it to stick strictly to what my particular surgeon told me to do? What is the worst that could happen as a result of some post op minor noncompliance (Note: I have not been noncompliant, just contemplated it!)

I've had my CPAP machine for about 2 weeks now, one week before the surgery. I use nasal pillows for a mask and it's really ok. The machine itself is completely silent, but there's some windy sound when I take the mask off to go to the bathroom during the night, so I turn off the machine for those few minutes. This is one of the benefits of the surgery, that I discovered I have a life threatening condition. Otherwise, I'd never have known.

My husband just came in while I was in the shower, took a long look, and said "Boy, you really are smaller". YES!