faybie

When my favorite plus size store went out of business "Casual Corner's, August Max", I was forced to buy clothes elsewhere. I was overwhelmed and lost because I had been shopping there for over 15 years. I went to my favorite department store and wondered around for an hour looking for plus sizes. Almost giving up and thinking they didn't even carry plus sizes, I finally asked a sales person. The plus size womens department was on the top floor behind the furniture department. Doh! I should have known to look there.......

Amen! I am new and have no idea who these people are that got banned or why they are even mad. I read a few posts and to be honest I couldn't make out why people were upset in the first place. I have been on message boards long enough, (and just life experiences in general) that when someone blatently disagrees with you in a provoking hostile manner, they are just trying to bait you and bring you down to their level. Something I have been teaching my 7th grader since he was in pre-K.....If you ignore them, they have no control of the situation, you do.

I was banded on Wed. and went back to work on Tues., don't think I could have went back on Mon. The pain between day 6 and day 7 lessened significantly. I have a desk job also, not physically demanding in any way. However, I did take all of my medications to work with me in a small lunch cooler, liquid tylenol, gas X, pain meds, Vitamins. I didn't want to be caught needing something and not have it. The only thing I could not and still cannot do is wear a bra. It hurts my port and my diaphram too much. We are business casual, so this is easy to hide with jackets. Somewhere someone posted to wear a sports bra. pfft. I couldn't find one to fit, I just use a camesole (sp?) as a bra and it works really well. Also, the desk and conference room tables, come right to level of my port incision. I will be bringing a small baby blanket or pillow tomorrow to place on the edge because I keep bumping my port site. :think Owwwww.

mmmmmm. Cake batter bowls.....

This sounds good, I may even throw in a banana. I have yet to find anything that I can stand to put the Protein Powder in. I am going to give this one a try. cl_tx_42, Thanks for starting this thread. This has been something on my mind as well.

Boo Boo Kitty, I am a cancer survivor myself, however mine was a ewing sarcoma. I spent all of last year 2005, almost everyday at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. And still have to report back every 2 months. I talked to many different people who had all types of cancer. Skin cancer is one of the most common and also the easiest to cure. Just as Wheetsin said (I feel like I am always saying this, LOL), It is a very non-invasive out-patient treatment that involves no chemotherapy and no radiation. The only time that skin cancer gets serious is if it goes untreated. Which you are seeking treatment, so no worries there. I know that the situation itself can be a bit of a shock and that is completely normal. I think knowledge is power. The ONLY website my Dr. would let me look at was http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp?level=0 Their information is guaranteed to be up to date and as accurate as one can get on the subject. My thoughts are with you. :couch2:

Ah, I didn't think of that myself. Very true, its all about what your needs are bkwalling. If aftercare is very important to be with the same surgeon then maybe not such a good idea, but if saving money is a consideration......

I also found several choices from the vegetarian section. Low sodium vegetable broth For some reason the vegetarian section in my store has low sodium, low fat chicken and beef broth (go figure?) but it seemed much healthier than the campbell's choices and was still packed full of Protein. And good too. Chinese food restaurants have great egg drop and hot and sour Soups, but they will be high in sodium. As a matter of fact, I think I had hot and sour Soup on my liquid diet and it was just too darn salty. Of course, pre-this whole experience, it would have been perfectly salted. =P Must have Crystal Light, I even buy the generic brand and it tastes just as delicious. Let's see........Oh, I found a dry packed just add Water enchillada soup, kind of like a tortilla soup. I was allowed to eat the ingredients though, but if you were desperate for flavors you could strain out the ingredients. When I buy a soup or something now I try to stay under 500mg of sodium, that in itself is still very high, so very few that I buy have THAT much. But if you don't read the labels you may very well end up with sodium as high as 900-1200mg per serving. Browse the dry packet soup section you may find something there to your liking. Good Luck!

I had a personal trainer once tell me that your "set points" when losing weight are often weights at which you spent a good deal of time weighing. I am a yo-yo dieter so my weight had changed many, many times of the years. Each time I had gone on a diet, pre-banding, I saw exactly what my trainer was trying to tell me. As I reached the weights that I had previously been for long periods of time, I did stall. And just like wheetsin said your body is readjusting to the weight loss. Do you happen to be at a weight that you were once before? Just curious.

Welcome! Have you checked out Dr. Ortiz in Mexico? He is a much more economical option for self-pay patients. I am self pay, myself. If I could do it all over again, I would go to Dr. Ortiz and save $5,000+. I was banded in August and out of 35-40 bandsters in August, it seemed like 20% of them went to Dr. Ortiz. All of them came back very, very happy. The August thread is August Band Crew if you want to see their comments. Good luck and welcome to the board. Another helpful feature is the "Search" option on the blue navigation bar. I feel like I have barely read 3% of the information here. The search option has been very helpful to me in finding information on a specific subject pretty quickly.

Wow, boy was I hit with the post-op blues last night and this morning. I watched a pretty sad moving on TV last night and it made me cry. I didn't stop crying until over 3 hours later. I couldn't sleep, all I did was lay there and cry. This is very strange because I take medication that regulates my moods and I haven't had a cry like this in a long time. I know there is nothing wrong and there is definitely not anything making me upset. So, I just kept grabbing tissues and cried it all out. I was still tearing up this morning a small bit. I keep reading how at about 11 days post op, you lose most of your restriction because the swelling finally goes down. I really can't eat very much right now, but I really don't want it to increase. I like it how it is.... I feel perfectly full on very small amounts of foods and satisfied, I might add. Still can't wear a bra to work. I wore one today and took it off within the first hour. It is just too irritating to my port site and tight on my diaphram still. I asked the Dr. to move my port site a bit lower but that didnt happen. I guess when everything shrinks the top part of my stomach will no longer be touching my boobs anyway, and the higher the port the more discrete it will be. For the long run, I guess it will be ok. Now that I have finished lunch, I regret not eating a protein. I saw a nice pre-made tuna in the cooler section of where I got my potatoe that would have been a much better option. I need to find more sources of protein. I tried the unjury powder and gagged. I wish they had the stuff in a pill. LOL. hmmmmmm. That is what I will do this afternoon, browse the web for more protein supplement choices. Morning Scale: 211 Food today: cup of coffee black w/ 1 equal Breakfast - 1.5 eggs scrammbled with cheese Lunch - 1/5 of a baked potatoe w/sour cream, margarine, chives, lettuce and salsa. protein snack - Quick Weight Loss Center's Protein Supplement - Cappacino (left over from previous diet, obviously) Dinner - 1/3 of a chicken, broccoli, tomato crepe from La Madeleine. Excersize: None.

Notebook....hmmmm. I wonder if I have ever seen that one. I was watching "Phenomenon" with John Travolta. It's a pretty old movie and I had never seen it before. Hubby was driving, so I don't know if it was on HBO or regular programming.

I have to say ....this is a very entertaining thread. We have an "eyebrow" lady in our office too. I don't know her personally, but the word in the office is that she is very very nice. Eight years ago, I would have blurted out some unsolicited comment, thankfully that part of my personality has been supressed..... Oh, and I married one of these......very trainable..... When I met my husband, he did not have soap or shampoo in the shower, did not own deoderant or clothes detergent. I almost broke up with him the day I saw some fungus thing growing out of his ear. Mind you, this was back in my "unsolicited comment" days, so I promptly went to the store, bought everything he needed, showed up at the door and gave him a HUGE training lesson in hygiene and cleaning. Demanded that he take all of his clothes to the cleaners and hired him a maid. Threw away half (er most) of his clothes and made him go shopping for new clothes. Funny, he never questioned a word I said. He confessed he never realized he wasn't doing what he needed to do. I still have to remind him to throw away socks when they get holes in them, but other than that he cleaned up nicely. I found my diamond in the rough. =)

Shoot! I was working on a post and accidentally closed the window. Dang, I hate that.. LOL. Anyway.... As I was saying....LOL..... I have been on this site for over a month now trying to take in all the information that I can. I feel like I have barely touched the surface of the information that is available. I found an interesting post that I felt like I should share with you ladies and gents. I found it very helpful and full of information that I hadn't yet thougth about.... http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18676

Wow, I really hit those post-op blues you guys were talking about. I cried last night for 3 hours straight over nothing. LOL. Felt good, though, I just let it all out.

Wow, boy was I hit with the post-op blues last night and this morning. I watched a pretty sad moving on TV last night and it made me cry. I didn't stop crying until over 3 hours later. I couldn't sleep, all I did was lay there and cry. This is very strange because I take medication that regulates my moods and I haven't had a cry like this in a long time. I know there is nothing wrong and there is definitely not anything making me upset. So, I just kept grabbing tissues and cried it all out. I was still tearing up this morning a small bit. I keep reading how at about 11 days post op, you lose most of your restriction because the swelling finally goes down. I really can't eat very much right now, but I really don't want it to increase. I like it how it is.... I feel perfectly full on very small amounts of foods and satisfied, I might add. Still can't wear a bra to work. I wore one today and took it off within the first hour. It is just too irritating to my port site and tight on my diaphram still. I asked the Dr. to move my port site a bit lower but that didnt happen. I guess when everything shrinks the top part of my stomach will no longer be touching my boobs anyway, and the higher the port the more discrete it will be. For the long run, I guess it will be ok. Now that I have finished lunch, I regret not eating a protein. I saw a nice pre-made tuna in the cooler section of where I got my potatoe that would have been a much better option. I need to find more sources of protein. I tried the unjury powder and gagged. I wish they had the stuff in a pill. LOL. hmmmmmm. That is what I will do this afternoon, browse the web for more protein supplement choices. Morning Scale: 211 Food today: cup of coffee black w/ 1 equal Breakfast - 1.5 eggs scrammbled with cheese Lunch - 1/5 of a baked potatoe w/sour cream, margarine, chives, lettuce and salsa. protein snack - Quick Weight Loss Center's Protein Supplement - Cappacino (left over from previous diet, obviously) Dinner - 1/3 of a chicken, broccoli, tomato crepe from La Madeleine. Excersize: None.

Funny everyone is giving me the run around about my wellbutrin pill. I think I read on here that the best solution is to go back to my PCP and get two smaller doses to equal the greater one. I bet my insurance is gonna have a run with that one, they are very very finicky about drugs! LOL. Now, as far as the sausage, that is not on my Dr.s 7-day post-op diet. LOL. So, I shouldnt have been eating it in the first place. I think I will just stick to the diet from now on. =)

Well, this morning I have very little aching pains at any of my incision sites. When I move or bump things I feel minor pain from them. Desks and conference room tables are the perfect height to bother my incision sites. =( I am really glad that I decided to come back to work on Day 6, because I don't feel bad enough to be home, as a matter of fact I have more energy now than I did two weeks ago. I have no idea if this is "for real" energy or some kind of natural high from the excitement of the situation. I tried soaking my timed release wellbutrin yesterday. That didn't really seem to work because I soaked the pill for 6 hours and it hardly did anything to the pill. Well, today I tried crushing it just a "weee" bit and THAT was a worse idea. I got all of the medication and once and was a "jittery fool". LOL. I will just let is soak for 6 hours from now on as that seems to be the best of two not so good options. When I woke up this morning, my body felt lighter, and I just "sprung" out of bed. It seems like my body is carrying around less weight, which it is, 20 pounds to be exact. I am also not wearing a bra at work again today. I have been chosing my outfits carefully in order to accomplish this . Normally, I hate to go bra-less, but the pain of wearing a bra is so unbearable at the moment that bra-less doesn't bother me one bit. After yesterday's sausage fiasco, I gladly ate my Dannon carb solutions strawberry yogurt for breakfast. One of the things that has been on my mind is........that I anticipated much more pain. I read where women had excruiciating gas pains and extreme soreness at their port sites etc. I do have all of that, but I can't really qualify it as excruciating or extreme. After 2 years of going through chemotherapy, malignant tumor removal, removal of malignant tissue from the area of my tumor, and extreme pain that I would qualify on a scale of 1 to 10 an 8. Compared to the pain at my tumor surgery site during recovery this seemed almost like a cake walk. To give an idea of what my pain scale is like, I would qualify childbirth at about a 7. This whole ordeal was about a 3. I honestly have always thought that I had a very low tolerance to pain. I wonder if I do? It seems interesting how everything is relative, maybe this ordeal is more painful for people who would consider childbirth a 10. I guess because I know there are things out there that hurt worse than childbirth it may make my version of pain a bit skewed. Oh well, just something I was thinking about..... Morning Scale: 212 Food today: cup of coffee black w/ 1 equal Breakfast - Dannon carb solutions strawberry yogurt 4oz. (couldn't finish it all) Lunch - 2 oz of fat free cottage cheese and about 15 grapes cup of coffee black w/ 1 equal Dinner - 1/2 cup of organic creamy broccoli soup Excersize: None

I feel very, very restricted. I was just wondering.....if the people that feel no restriction have the larger band? I have the smaller one and right now I can't imagine a day without restriction, it just doesn't seem possible. I have read stories of people eating chicken, hamburgers, mashed potatoes....... huge meals...... 6 or 7 days out. Even if I wanted to do this, I couldn't, the pain and pressure would be unbearable. Just curious.....

debi717, I was exaclty where you are now, 2 years ago. And my DH was 1000% against the idea. He was convinced that we just needed to try a diet and excercise regimine "One more time". My DH's number one argument was "you don't eat large amounts of food" (of course, his skewed version of this conclusion was because I ate less than he did). After he made that declaration, he wouldn't discuss it any further. I would have to say that of all of the posts that have replied so far, I am most like Wheetsin. I have never had a problem losing weight on a diet. 3-day heart surgery diet, Atkins, Weight Watchers, Quick Weight Loss Centers, the old Phen-phen Dr., cabbage Soup diet, Slim fast bar diet (2 bars a day and a senisble dinner), Carb Addicts, Southbeach diet, oh and 5 area liposuction. All of the diets that I just mentioned have successfully worked for me. Every single one of them. The cold hard fact that I needed so many diets is that my comfort food addiction, emotional food issues and love affair with food took me back to where I started either +5 or +10 pounds heavier each time. I personally needed this tool as a permanent weight loss maintenance solution. Honestly, the only person's opinion I cared about was my husband's. We discussed it on and off for two years. I did my research each time, followed stories, but must not have been convinced myself. The day that I became 100% convinced that this was the right decision for me, I had a "come back" for every single one of my husband's disputes. With my conviction and determination, he was probably at 70% for and 30% against. My final plea to him was... "let's go to the seminar and make the decision together". Going to the seminar does not commit you to the surgery. You should not be reguired to sign any binding documents, if so, then I would look for another Dr. It educates you as to whether the surgery is right for you, IMO. Good Luck with your decision, I wish you the knowledge to make the decision that is right for you and the courage to stand behind it.

Well, this morning I have very little aching pains at any of my incision sites. When I move or bump things I feel minor pain from them. Desks and conference room tables are the perfect height to bother my incision sites. =( I am really glad that I decided to come back to work on Day 6, because I don't feel bad enough to be home, as a matter of fact I have more energy now than I did two weeks ago. I have no idea if this is "for real" energy or some kind of natural high from the excitement of the situation. I tried soaking my timed release wellbutrin yesterday. That didn't really seem to work because I soaked the pill for 6 hours and it hardly did anything to the pill. Well, today I tried crushing it just a "weee" bit and THAT was a worse idea. I got all of the medication and once and was a "jittery fool". LOL. I will just let is soak for 6 hours from now on as that seems to be the best of two not so good options. When I woke up this morning, my body felt lighter, and I just "sprung" out of bed. It seems like my body is carrying around less weight, which it is, 20 pounds to be exact. I am also not wearing a bra at work again today. I have been chosing my outfits carefully in order to accomplish this . Normally, I hate to go bra-less, but the pain of wearing a bra is so unbearable at the moment that bra-less doesn't bother me one bit. After yesterday's sausage fiasco, I gladly ate my Dannon carb solutions strawberry yogurt for breakfast. One of the things that has been on my mind is........that I anticipated much more pain. I read where women had excruiciating gas pains and extreme soreness at their port sites etc. I do have all of that, but I can't really qualify it as excruciating or extreme. After 2 years of going through chemotherapy, malignant tumor removal, removal of malignant tissue from the area of my tumor, and extreme pain that I would qualify on a scale of 1 to 10 an 8. Compared to the pain at my tumor surgery site during recovery this seemed almost like a cake walk. To give an idea of what my pain scale is like, I would qualify childbirth at about a 7. This whole ordeal was about a 3. I honestly have always thought that I had a very low tolerance to pain. I wonder if I do? It seems interesting how everything is relative, maybe this ordeal is more painful for people who would consider childbirth a 10. I guess because I know there are things out there that hurt worse than childbirth it may make my version of pain a bit skewed. Oh well, just something I was thinking about..... Morning Scale: 212 Food today: cup of coffee black w/ 1 equal Breakfast - Dannon carb solutions strawberry yogurt 4oz. (couldn't finish it all) Lunch - 2 oz of fat free cottage cheese and about 15 grapes cup of coffee black w/ 1 equal Dinner - 1/2 cup of organic creamy broccoli soup Excersize: None

Today, I am back to work. I slept about 21 hours yesterday, so I have plenty of energy. I had bought the sports bras to wear to work but this morning when I put it on, it was hurting my diaphram so I decided to wear my normal underwire bra. BAD IDEA! I have already taken it off and feel much better. I have on a business professional jacket so no one is the wiser! Every morning for breakfast pre-banding, I would go down to the deli in our building and get either a breakfast taco or a breakfast croissant. This morning on the way to work, my "Mind Hunger" kicked in again. I no longer wanted the sugar free yogurt I had brought for breakfast. I went to the deli and order one scrambled egg and a piece of sausage. =( I divided it into two servings with half an egg and half a piece of sausage. I cut the sausage up into really really tiny pieces. I must say the sausage gave me the worst heart burn I have had in a LONG time. Luckily, I had tums at my desk. I felt awful for about 2 hours until just about 10 mins ago, I let out the loudest most bellowing from the bottom of my stomach burp I have ever burped. Amazing! I felt better immediately! Also, a nurse called from Dr. Spivak's office this morning to see how I was doing. I asked her what size band I had. I remember the nurse telling me that I had a "small" band after surgery, but I was so loopy, I can't trust that memory. She didn't have my surgery write up in front of her and she said she would call me back. I mentioned to her that I can only eat 3oz at a time before feeling full. She said that was fine, but that I needed to up my meals to 4-6 times a day instead of 3. She said 3 meals a day is if you can eat 5-6 oz at a time. I also asked if I could schedule my "30-day" appointment with her and she told me that was actually a combined appointment for follow-up and fill and that I could choose the day. As long as I wasn't having any complications the Dr. didn't need to see me. She told me that it would be time for a fill when I felt no restriction and wasn't losing weight and that this time was different for everyone. I found this interesting because I have seen several women post that 3 weeks after surgery they felt no restriction and had plateau'd. I will post what my Dr.'s nurse said later in the ABC Sept. forum. I am off to have tilapia (fish) for lunch. I can't wait, I have been craving fish since surgery, so I am very excited. I will have my 3oz of fish and my husband will eat the rest of the meal. This is less for both of us. Oh, and my husband told me this morning that he has lost 6 lbs. since I began this journey. My measurements: I will enter the exact measurements later but as of this morning I am down 3/4 " off both my hips and waist, and 1.5 " off of my chest. Morning scale: 212 Food Today: 1/2 cup coffee 1/2 pkg equal Breakfast - one scrambled egg & 1/2 piece of sausage patty Lunch - 3 oz of tilapia with about 8 asparagus spear heads Dinner - 2 tsp. of guacamole & 2/3 of a cheese enchilada Snack - Sugar free jello caramel pudding cup Excersize: None

Hey Guys, My Dr.'s nurse called today to see how I was doing. She told me several things, which I thought I would share. 1. I am only able to eat 3 oz. per meal. So she told me to up my meals to 4-6 a day to make sure I am getting enough protein and nutrition. I thought that was interesting. 2. My surgery center said to be sure and call and make an appointment with my Dr. 30 days post op. So, I asked her if I could schedule that appointment now. I found her response very interesting. She said that the appointment was actually for my first fill and that it is different for everyone. It could be as early as 3 weeks and as late as 3 months. She said I would know when it was time for a fill , when I could eat with no restriction and am not losing any weight. Anyway, I found that response very interesting.

Today, I am back to work. I slept about 21 hours yesterday, so I have plenty of energy. I had bought the sports bras to wear to work but this morning when I put it on, it was hurting my diaphram so I decided to wear my normal underwire bra. BAD IDEA! I have already taken it off and feel much better. I have on a business professional jacket so no one is the wiser! Every morning for breakfast pre-banding, I would go down to the deli in our building and get either a breakfast taco or a breakfast croissant. This morning on the way to work, my "Mind Hunger" kicked in again. I no longer wanted the sugar free yogurt I had brought for breakfast. I went to the deli and order one scrambled egg and a piece of sausage. =( I divided it into two servings with half an egg and half a piece of sausage. I cut the sausage up into really really tiny pieces. I must say the sausage gave me the worst heart burn I have had in a LONG time. Luckily, I had tums at my desk. I felt awful for about 2 hours until just about 10 mins ago, I let out the loudest most bellowing from the bottom of my stomach burp I have ever burped. Amazing! I felt better immediately! Also, a nurse called from Dr. Spivak's office this morning to see how I was doing. I asked her what size band I had. I remember the nurse telling me that I had a "small" band after surgery, but I was so loopy, I can't trust that memory. She didn't have my surgery write up in front of her and she said she would call me back. I mentioned to her that I can only eat 3oz at a time before feeling full. She said that was fine, but that I needed to up my meals to 4-6 times a day instead of 3. She said 3 meals a day is if you can eat 5-6 oz at a time. I also asked if I could schedule my "30-day" appointment with her and she told me that was actually a combined appointment for follow-up and fill and that I could choose the day. As long as I wasn't having any complications the Dr. didn't need to see me. She told me that it would be time for a fill when I felt no restriction and wasn't losing weight and that this time was different for everyone. I found this interesting because I have seen several women post that 3 weeks after surgery they felt no restriction and had plateau'd. I will post what my Dr.'s nurse said later in the ABC Sept. forum. I am off to have tilapia (fish) for lunch. I can't wait, I have been craving fish since surgery, so I am very excited. I will have my 3oz of fish and my husband will eat the rest of the meal. This is less for both of us. Oh, and my husband told me this morning that he has lost 6 lbs. since I began this journey. My measurements: I will enter the exact measurements later but as of this morning I am down 3/4 " off both my hips and waist, and 1.5 " off of my chest. Morning scale: 212 Food Today: 1/2 cup coffee 1/2 pkg equal Breakfast - one scrambled egg & 1/2 piece of sausage patty Lunch - 3 oz of tilapia with about 8 asparagus spear heads Dinner - 2 tsp. of guacamole & 2/3 of a cheese enchilada Snack - Sugar free jello caramel pudding cup Excersize: None

Day 5 was yesterday, but I was too tired and sore to make an entry. I was more tired and sore on Day 5 than I have been so far. I also had a very throbbing headache. I didn't take any pain medication this day and only had a few doses of tylenol. I believe the headache was from "coming down" from the pain meds as this is how I normally react to vicodin and loritab. I slept all but about 3 hours yesterday. My husband said that he tried to wake me several times and that he has never seen me sleep so hard. I am normally a very light sleeper and the slightest noise has me O.O wide awake. For breakfast (at about 6pm): I had 3oz of my sugar free, low carb 4oz yogurt cup. each serving has very low sugar because it is made with splenda and a good amount of protein. Slept in between. For dinner (at about 1am): 1.5 pieces of lean cuisine ricotta ravioli I was down to 213 on my home scale today.