Melinco

Mine is on my left side, just below my ribs, directly under my nipple (if you were to draw a line from my nipple downwards to below my ribs). I can currently feel it if I put a little pressure on my side. I expect that once I lose a serious amount of weight, I will be able to see it, but I highly doubt I'll ever be in a bikini, unless I get some serious plastic surgery. Also, from what I've read, there are low profile ports available, so it is possible once you've reached goal, your surgeon could replace your port with a low profile port so it won't be as noticable. I don't know if it would be completely invisible.

I too was banded 12/17. The only discomfort I have any more is at night when I first lay on my tummy. The swelling had pretty much gone from around my port, so when I lay down, I have to "arrange" myself so that I'm not putting too much weight on it, as I can definitely feel it. Also, I find that if I drink too much Water close to or right before bed time, my tummy is uncomfortable just because it's full of water. So I have to make sure not to do this again. lol But, the thing to keep in mind is that if something doesn't feel normal, do not hesitate to call your surgeon. It's better to have him check you out and find that all is OK, then to assume all is OK, then something go wrong. Good luck!

I'm 5' 5.5" tall and my initial goal weight is 160, which is still considered overweight. I figure, once I hit that, we'll see about readjusting it. Let me get there first, then I'll worry about it! lol

I am on antibiotics due to one of my incisions being slightly infected. They are kind of large tablets, but I have been taking them with no problem. I forgot to take one this morning so I had my husband bring it to me at work. I had to wait at least one hour after my lunch to take it, since it needs to be taken with lots of Water. Now that I've taken it, I've got the hiccups! And they won't stop! I'm wondering if perhaps the pill is stuck in the pouch or opening and the hiccups is my body's way of helping get it through? Any advice or suggestions? Thanks!

I'm using my Walk Away the Pounds videos and Wii Fit Plus. So far, 3.5 miles.

I don't have any statistics as to how many fail, etc. However, I know that in order for MY band to succeed, I have to use it properly. Which for the most part, should be pretty easy (in managing portion sizes). What I know I WILL have to work on is my cravings for sweets. Over the holidays, this was tough for me, as when I went to my mom's for Christmas, she had lots of sweets, and even though I said I'd allow myself a little, my little became a lot. We had a New Year's Eve party and while I didn't provide any sweets, a couple of people brought over Desserts. The leftover strawberry cheese pie was left at our house, and I ate more that I care to admit. However, now there are no sweets in my house. I have my sugar free jellos and puddings and popsicles, but nothing else. I also have to keep my desk free of any sweets. If I don't then I know I will crave. So for my band to be successful, I have to do my part and make sure I stay away from the sweets. I will allow myself something (maybe once a week, once a month, not sure, haven't decided yet). But this will be something I'll battle every day. Oh, and one other thing. While one of my goals in getting the band was to lose weight, that was actually just a side effect goal (if that makes sense). My main reason for getting the band (in order to lose weight) was so that we can try to have a baby. We've been through IVF and it failed. We will have to do it again using donor eggs or embryos (full story on my blog), and to reduce any complications during the pregnancy due to being morbidly obese, I have to lose weight. So keeping that in mind (and the fact that I was self-pay), I will not allow myself or my band to fail!

For me, I did need help the first few days, as there were times I could NOT get off the couch. I just hurt too much in my abdomen area. I'd have my hubby gently help me scoot to the edge of the couch, then I'd hold both of his hands as I'd use my legs to lift me up. Even the first day or so getting off the toilet I needed his assistance. He also sat right outside the shower as I took my first couple of showers, which I did sitting down on a step stool covered with a towel (I have a hand held shower wand). Plus, you just never know how you're goign to respond to the anesthesia, so it doesn't hurt to have someone there. Hopefully your friend can perhaps help you. Good luck!

I'm in! I joined this on another board, but will move it here. As of 12/30/09, my weight was 266. So by 2/14 my goal will be to weight 254. Eek! That's almost the weight that shows on my driver's license (250). lol As of this morning, I weighed in at 261.4. So that's down 4.6 pounds. Woohoo! Gotta love the exercise (and hardly eating anything yesterday - bad day emotionally - normally would have pigged out).

I'm going to wait to join this challenge until after the Valentine's Day challenge is over. That's my first goal, and I want to wait until then to see how I've done before setting my next mini-goal. I know what my ultimate goal is, but I want to be careful of setting my mini-goals so that they are realistic and achievable, but that they go along with where I actually am, if that makes sense.

I was banded on the 17th, and progressed pretty quickly from liquids to mushies to solids (albeit soft solids). My food intake right now is about 3/4 - 1 cup, and I am feeling restriction, even though there is no fluid in my band. I don't go for my first fill until Feb. 2. My surgeon is pretty strict on 6 weeks before first fill, to give your stomach complete opportunity to heal. After that, he will fill you as your hunger dictates. My second fill will be on Feb. 8, as he says the first fill doesn't last long at all. I'm hoping my current restriction lasts as I've been doing really well with the weight loss. In fact, I was nicely surprised this morning when I stepped on the scale to see I had lost another 3.5 pounds. Also, as I was dressing for work this morning, I could button one of my jackets another button, where I normally leave the top 3 buttons undone because it's too tight. And the jacket fits so much looser! What a great NSV! (non scale victory) I'm also trying to eat like I was when I was on my pre-op diet (high protein, low carb solid foods). Although I'm not restricting myself to 30 grams of carbs a day, I'm still trying to get in lots of protein and keep my carbs under 150 grams. I have been out to dinner once - had to have some chinese food. Otherwise, all of my meals have been home cooked (well, except when I had my hubby bring home some refried beans, shredded chicken, cheese, onions, tomotoes and a tostada shell from his restuarant). I think that in and of itself has helped bring the weight off because before I started my pre-op diet, I was eating out at least once every single day. I have also started incorporating exercise into my routine. This is helping too with the weight loss. I'm doing my Wii Fit Plus and Walk Away the Pounds videos. Good luck!

I was scraping of the last of a tiny scab on one of my incisions when I figured out what I was scratching at wasn't a scab after all! It's the end of an internal stitch! I guess I'll have to call the surgeon on Monday and see if there is anything I need to do about it.

Call your surgeon! Even though today is Sunday, call his office and tell his answering service to page him. My surgeon told me I can do this regardless of the day or time if I thought something was wrong. It may be gas as others suggested, or swelling, but if you're not able to get liquids down after five days, something seems to be wrong. Let us know what happens.

You might want to go to myanthem.com and print out a temporary ID card. Otherwise, just call Anthem's customer service number and they can give you your member ID number as well as the telephone number your doctor needs to call to get the ball rolling.

We found the Wii Fit Plus at Sams Club for about $80 in November. Hopefully, if you have one near you and are a member, you'll be able to find one there too for that price.

Not sure where you live, but there are some good doctors who don't charge an arm and a leg right here in the US for self-pay patients. One is located in Denver, Dr. Kirshbaum (sp?). From what I understand, he's around 9k-10k. I too am self-pay, but used a surgeon in my home town, so that I wouldn't have to take time off work to travel to Denver for my fills or any other appointments with him. What I did to finace it was take a $5k distribution from my IRA, $5k loan from my 401(k) and then financed the rest through www.surgeryloans.com using a Health One Visa. I only have to pay back the 401(k) and Visa loans. I think that you will see such an improvement in your overall health if you decide to go ahead with the lap band that your medical costs will be cut significantly, which will help pay for your surgery. Just because past diets have failed does not mean that the band will fail. You've got to go into this with a positive attitude, and know that each and every one of us here are behind you and will give you all the support we can. Good luck and let us know what you decide!

In addition to the above recommendations, I'd suggest a heating pad on your shoulder for any gas pains that settle there. Also, stay ahead of the pain with your pain medications! If your surgeon says you can take it every 4 hours, then do it! If you let the gas pains get too bad, then it takes even longer for the pain meds to react. So stay on schedule. Otherwise, time will help. By about day 5-6, I didn't have much gas pain at all, and if so, it was in my shoulder (like the actual upper part of my arm where you might get a shot) late in the evening.

Way to go, Jon! Keep up the good work.

I am in the do not tell camp. If it were up to me, the only people who would know would be my husband and my best friend, in addition to the medical personnel, those here, and those who read my blog, and one person at work (my assistant) in case something happened. However, my husband thought otherwise. He told his folks. He told my brother, who told his wife and my mom. He also told the people who work for him. To say I'm slightly pissed off is an understatement. This is my journey. Not his. Yes, we are in this together, but it was not for him to tell. So I've not yet forgiven him for this. I actually felt like quite the fool when we went to my Mom's for our Christmas dinner on Saturday. By then, my brother already knew. I had asked him not to tell anyone, as I would do that. Much to my dismay, he had already told his wife and my mom. So, when we get there, I'm thinking only he knows. So I'm eating dinner, cutting everything up in small bites, eating slowly, wondering why my SIL was watching me. Mom gets to talking about when she is going to start her next diet (she's all about when the Farmer's Almanac says you should start a diet), when I say I started mine on the 17th. I got the lap band. She was like, yeah, I know, your brother told me. I was mad! People just don't get it sometimes. Ugh. Anyway, I'm starting to get mad again, so I'll stop. But anyway, each person should be able to choose who they are going to tell and who they're not, and not worry about it getting spread around. And it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with being ashamed. I'm not ashamed of my band. I just don't think I should have to tell every Tom, Dick and Harry what my personal medical issues are. Do I ask you if you have Erectile Dysfunction? No.

For your headaches, you might want to try liquid tylenol. My instructions were to use it when I had pain (such as headache) that didn't warrant use of the stronger pain meds or low grade fever. I'm pretty fortunate that I didn't have any headaches, but I did have plenty of other aches! lol Back, neck, arms, shoulder, tummy. But, eventually, it all went away. My only issue now is that one of my incisions is red. The nurse thinks it might be the internal stitches aren't dissolving like they should, but rather trying to make their way out. She's going to talk with my surgeon, who is in surgery today, to see if I should take some additional antibiotics. I'm putting neosporin on it in the meantime to help.

I tend to chew it right after lunch, while I'm waiting for the hour to pass before I can drink my Water. Since I'm at work, I tend to focus on the time before I can drink, and tend to need something to keep my mouth wet. After Breakfast or dinner I'm fine, but it's the lunch time that gets to me. Other than that, I rarely chew gum, even before surgery, except if driving and needing something to keep me awake.

Yes! I see a difference. It helps me get my heart rate up there, the games are fun (meaning I'll continue with them), and it helps track calories burned as well as my weight and BMI. I think that any exercise you can have fun with you are going to stick with. At least, for me I will.

They put the legs wraps on prior to going into the OR, as well as the IV, the electrode thingy's on my chest. When I woke up, the leg wraps were gone, and I wasn't tubed either. I think they take the tube out in the OR, but I honestly couldn't tell you 100% for sure as I was out of it. Maybe there is an OR Rn here who could answer that. Or I can ask my sister in law who is an OR Rn and see what the general procedure is. Good luck with your upcoming surgery! You'll do fine. As far as waking up from the surgery, there were really no problems with it. It was like waking up from a lazy nap. Nice and relaxing.

It was 3-4 days after surgery before I was getting in all my fluids. I just couldn't drink that much, between sleeping, taking tiny sips, etc.

The first few days after surgery, I started out in bed, but had to move to the couch after about 3-4 hours, as I couldn't sleep on my back in bed. I'd have to prop myself up with pillows on the couch. Eventually, I was able to stay in bed, once I was able to sleep on my tummy. Best recommendation is to make sure you take your pain meds before going to bed, to help relieve any pain.

Walk, walk, walk! Gas X strips. Pain Meds. And, the last few days, I find after eating, if I move my torso around a bit, I tend to burp followed closely by a few hiccups. But I'm 13 days out, so that definitely helps. I'm sorry you're in so much pain. Make sure you stay ahead on your pain meds. If the doc says you can take them every 4 hours, do. Don't try to be brave because that makes it so much worse when you are already feeling the pain and then take the meds. Sending gentle gas relieving hugs your way!