ayyypapi

I just asked my doctor this on Monday. He said four-five weeks but he said if everything looks good when I see him next, he will cut off a week or two. It depends on how well you are healed I guess.

I think you would be able to start light exercise now as long as it doesn't involve lifting or anything too strenuous. You might be able to do your church job as long as you don't lift more than whatever a gallon of milk weighs. My doctor said no lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk for 4 weeks! The whole lifting thing is going to be interesting for me this weekend when I move back to school... I see it taking forever lol. You can always call and ask your doctor to be on the safe side. Every doctor has different rules.

Try nectar. You can get sample packs and decide which flavor you like best. I am so glad I got the sampler pack because I was dead set on getting fruity flavors and it turns out I didn't like them, lol. My favorite flavor by Nectar is chocolate Truffle and I mix it with Skim plus. It tastes just like chocolate milk and doesn't leave a bad aftertaste like the ones you mix with Water. Do you have to see a nutritionist? Mine gave us free samples of unjury in different flavors to try out. If you can, find some way to get samples of different brands because you will be on the shakes for awhile and you definitely don't want to waste money on buying something that you absolute hate.

I have BCBS Anthem. I used to have regular BCBS I guess? I am not sure but just last year when I inquired about the lapband they told me that it would not be covered and they would only do bypass if necessary. Then our plan upgraded or something to anthem and now they cover it and lessened some of the requirements. I don't really know too much about insurance seeing as its on my dad's plan but maybe try calling them and asking them about it and why it wouldn't be covered might work. I heard stories about just the way you ask or what codes the doctors use can be a huge difference in them saying yes or no.

I got tylenol with codeine in the normal pill form. I was kinda surprised because I was expecting something in the liquid form but he said that I wouldn't have a problem with it since I didn't have restriction yet. I didn't have any issue swallowing them or whatever. I would have preferred percocets though.

Either a vacation to Miami or the Bahamas. Somewhere hot and sunny where I can just be at the beach the whole time :thumbdown:.

I wasn't allowed to take a shower until my third day. I don't know why? As soon as Sunday morning hit though I took a shower and just took it easy. I didn't have to do anything special about the incisions, I just washed over them lightly. The 2nd day (day I came home from the hospital) I had maybe two sips of Water but I figured I was ok since I had an IV in me for so long. I couldn't stay awake long enough to drink anything and then every day after that I gradually increased water. The pain lessens everyday and then one day you wake up and its almost gone, thats how I feel now 9 days post op. The hardest thing for me is the shoulder pain that comes and goes and drinking all the water. I have no hunger or thirst and its a chore to slowly drink all that water but I keep forcing myself to because I don't want to be dehydrated. I took gas-x strips but I don't really know if they helped at all.. the best thing was walking or moving my arms around and lots of ice or heat.

My favorite is nectar chocolate Truffle. It tastes just like nesquik chocolate milk. I don't even like milk lol and it has been really good so far. I can't drink the ones you mix with Water. It just has that off taste that I cannot stomach. Its a pain to drink those.

Hi all!! I just got banded yesterday and am a full time resident student at a small private university. Credits wise I think I am like one short of being a senior, but I am planning on graduating this may! I am highly involved in school and move back in a couple weeks! I am not planning on telling people about the surgery... soo I hope all goes well :biggrin:.

Oh I am so glad you asked this. I was thinking about this the other day on whether or not its safe to swallow. Haha would never ask my doctor that!

I just got home from the hospital today around 2:30pm. I just had the surgery yesterday. Thursday: July 23 2009 I get the call saying to be at the hospital by 8:30am. Friday morning: I get up around 6:30am and I take a quick shower and then I pack for the hospital. We leave our house around 7:40am and get to Southern Ocean County Hospital (SOCH) by 8:15. I check in and am surprised that I do not need an i.d. or anything. We watch the news thats on in the lobby and just wait about 20 minutes and then someone calls out my name. I go back and get changed into a gown that is seriously way too big. I make sure to tie it around twice so nothing is showing, ha! and then I get the comfy socks to wear. I first have to do a pregnancy test which was not needed but whatever. I then get into the waiting stretcher and am told to wait but first I need to untie my gown. I wait for a little bit and then I get the I.V. and get asked the many questions, when did I last drink something, what medicines am I on, allergies, etc. They are always surprised when I tell them I am not on any medicines. I don't know? Just fat and healthy lol. Anyway the anesthesiologist comes in and asks me more questions and explains the process and tells me he will be back. My surgeon Dr. Reich (awesome surgeon by the way!!) comes in and greets me and my parents and talks to us for a little bit and he tells my parents when to expect me back from surgery. My parents leave shortly after that to go out to eat lol (lucky them!) and I start feeling nervous. Like super nervous and scared. The nurse comes in and does my blood pressure and notes that I have good blood pressure for a nervous person? I don't know. I remember them giving me something to "calm" me down but I remember thinking it didn't really change anything. They wheel me to the operating room and have me shimmy on to the table next to me. I really wanted to ask what would be the harm of me getting up and climbing on it myself but I didn't ask and shimmy'd onto it. I remember a mask being put on me and them telling me to take deep breaths I think and then I was out. I got woken up all groggy in recovery. They were telling me to wake up but I just wanted to go back to sleep, lol. It took me awhile to keep my eyes opened and when I finally woke up, I found out that I was in PAIN!!! Not just pain pain but really bad pain. It was mostly my port incision, my stomach was sooo sore. It first started out as a 6 and rose to a 9. I was shocked, I didn't think it would hurt that bad!! I couldn't even talk at first because talking would just make it hurt more. The nurse asked the anathesiologist to give me more pain meds and whatever he gave me knocked me out for about an hour. I woke up more awake and the pain was lessening back to a 6. I was wheeled upstairs to my room and there was a guy and woman wheeling me up who were joking about something I can't remember but he was funny and when I laughed - it hurt! So I stopped laughing, lol. I got to my room and it was really nice. I got hooked up to the morphine and just relaxed a little bit with a heating pad on my shoulder and an ice pack on my stomach. My parents came in and we talked for a little bit and then they went home and I napped for a little bit. The nurse came back and asked if I wanted to walk around.. I first asked if I could put clothes on haha. I am not too comfortable in that giant gown!! I had to keep the gown as a top on but was allowed to wear my pajama pants which helped a lot because who cares if someone sees your back as long as you have pants on, haha. I walked for about two seconds and got hit with waves of nausea. They asked if I needed to urinate and I didn't so I went back into the bed which hurt and just tapped the morphine for a little long while I watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 on t.v. Meanwhile, I got a roommate and she slept for the most part. She was in a lot more pain than me. My pain was getting considerably better really fast and I was lucky for that. I didn't walk really at all except to use the bathroom because it would just make me too naseaous and my mouth would Water and I was sooo scared of throwing up. The nurses were great. They all made me feel at home and secure. I never had surgery before so I haven't been in a hospital and was very scared. They all made me feel at home and were way too sweet. I was a little upset that I couldn't have any liquids at all yesterday. My mouth was unreasonably dry and felt disgusting. A nurse did let me rinse out water as long as I promised not to swallow. It helped a little but still wasn't the same. I had trouble staying awake, maybe it was the morphine? I kept falling asleep and waking up, maybe staying awake for 40 minutes at a time. Nurses began to start the anti-blood clot shots in my stomach a few hours after I got there and I didn't feel a thing, I think it was because of the constant icing of the area, lol. I was told that I would do the swallow test at 8:am and would be able to have water afterwards on Saturday (today!). That did not happen as planned. I had to wait until 10 until I went down to do the test which was disgusting but bearable. It happened really fast but then I had to wait for the doctor to come back up and clear me. I got a chance to talk to my roommate and found out that her son went to my elementary school and she subs at my old high school, small world huh? We were both really thirsty and were justtttttt waiting to get cleared. Her mom and my parents showed up and we were all talking for a little bit. My mom bought me a smiley face balloon, lol. Dr. Reich then came in and cleared us both for Clear Liquids (yay!!). He was really nice and explained everything that we wanted to know. He is one of the nicest doctors I have ever met. Soo right after, I started buzzing the nurse and asked for ice chips asap!! She brought in a lemon italian ice and ice chips and it was like HEAVEN. We had to wait for lunch before we could be discharged and they brought a lot out for lunch, beef broth, sugar free Jello, tea, orange sherbert, and maybe something else? I just sipped the broth and pawned the rest to my mom, haha. I was full and then finally got to come home!! My shoulder hurts a little now and I am trying to walk more but my stomach is still a little sore. I got a script for tylenol 3s with codeine in pill form ( I was surprised at that!) All in all, everything is going good and I start my shakes tomorrow for a week and then I see my doctor on Friday and then its the mushy stage!! I can't wait to continue this journey :biggrin:. Woww sorry it was so long lol but I wanted to write everything down.

I was really good on my diet but then I had to go on a retreat for two days and really wasn't able to stick to my diet 100%. It was supposed to be just liquids but at least I didn't pig out on the retreat like I wanted to lol. I just ate a lot of salads, had a piece of chicken, had a turkey sandwich without the bread, had 2 pretzel rods, and ate a lot of tomato slices to fill in hunger. At my pre-op appt. I mentioned it to my nutritionist and she was fine with it. She was like "as long as you went right back on the diet its okay, you lost weight, nothing to worry about". I was kinda shocked lol. If I didn't go on the retreat then I would have never cheated. I am using Nectar Chocolate Truffle and Vanilla Torte and they taste so good and are filling that I didn't have the want to cheat. I just got banded yesterday so the cheating didn't harm anything but I was so worried about it beforehand. I would definitely recommend NOT cheating because it adds a lot of worrying that you don't want or need.