Gaylancsu

I had surgery on Thursday and worked from home the following Tuesday-Friday (federal holiday that Monday). I have a desk job as well and I was able to sit up and stuff fine.. I worked from home cause I didn't want to be wearing my "work clothes" and peferred loose fitting stretchy pants, esp since my largest incision was right over my belly button where all my pants hit. Even working from home that week wore me out though. I just didn't have the time to take from work.

It literally gets better EVERY DAY. I had nausea from the pain meds, so I switched to plain liquid tylenol (no hydrocodone) and did MUCH better.

I am one month out from surgery and down 23 pounds. I live in Clayton and work in Raleigh and had my surgery with Dr. Moran in Raleigh at Rex. Feel free to message me.

I'd also like to cast my support for Dr Moran. I felt really comfortable with his staff and his expertise. He is direct and to the point, but I didn't need him to be my cheerleader, I needed him to be my surgeon. It really helped when I talked to people who work at Rex and they recommended him as well.

I looked at Dr Enoch, but for some reason didn't get a happy feeling, so I went with Dr Moran. So far I feel really good about the people I have dealt with in his office.

See if your Dad will go to a support group or Doctor appt with you. There's just some people that don't understand. I wish I could have had the opportunity and courage to do this at 18. I am 31 and it took me this long to admit and understand I couldn't do this myself. I have been blessed with EXTREMELY supportive family and friends. NO ONE has been negative or acted judgemental, at least not to my face. My closest friends and family all made a point of telling me how proud they were of me, it's meant so much to me. My husband was a little annoying pre-op cause he didn't understand why I was so scared, but since surgery he has been WONDERFUL (I think the actual surgery day and stress associated with it, esp since they had trouble getting my vitals up to normal in post-op and left him in the waiting room with no information freaked him out and well honestly, it made me feel better that he got to feel some of the stress I felt). Good Luck!

My doc says a cup of food to get full is NORMAL for his patients and everyone is a little different. I go for my first fill next week (though he did put some in during surgery) and I am getting nervous about the needle talk. Normally his PA's do all the fills in the office I don't even think the Dr is there as I go on Wed and he does bypass surgeries on Wednesdays. Right now I can eat between 1-1.5 cups of food at a meal, but I feel pretty full with that.

Anesthesia takes a while to work itself out from different people... plus if you are on clear liquids then you are feeling pretty weak. I was about 5 days post op before I left the house and all I did was go with my mom to Target to walk around, it wore me out SO BAD. The first day I worked I worked from home and it exhausted me to just sit at the computer. As you heal and your protein and calorie intake increases you will feel better and better every day. Your body just went through surgery and was put under anesthesia there's a bit of shock involved in that, but it does get better.

That was the #1 concern for me as well. Helped that a person who works in my Dr's office has had the band 6 years and just had her second baby. They said bandsters have VERY healthy pregnancies because they gain weight as a normal controlled pace. They will loosen the band if need be and they can tighten it back up after baby to aid in weight loss. That's really what sold me on the band.

My husband decided over a year ago he wanted to lose weight, so he did.. 50 pounds (I know, I hate him too). He's now a size 32 waist and is wearing small or medium shirts and I CANNOT convince him that he's SKINNY. In his mind he's the chubby guy. It's a hard thing to change who you are mentally. Probably won't be so hard for me, my mom always said I had too much self esteem and when I looked in the mirror I saw a skinny 300+ pound girl.

I went through the same thing... 20 pounds in the first 2 weeks and then NOTHING. It's NORMAL. your body can go into freak out mode on you and wants to level itself off to make sure you won't keep starving it. The key for me was to keep working up to more calories, more Protein and LOTS OF Water. By the end of week 4 I had lost another 3 pounds and I had eaten more food that week than in some of the previous 2 weeks combined. I keep telling myself the first 6 weeks is about HEALING, but I know what you mean for the first time in my life I was LOVING getting on the scale everyday. Then I took a week off the scale and refound my sanity. Besides, on how many other diets have you lost that much in such a short period of time? It'll pick up again, but you do need to be feeding yourself more if you can.

That's the standard stat... "the avg lap band patient loses 50% of their excess weight".... AVERAGE. It's up to you if you want to be abover average, but they have to give you the party line :biggrin:) I mean think about it... I wonder how many people just stop going for fills and dont' follow the diet etc. It's like anything else, it's up to you to make it work.

This was also shocking to me as my surgeon, who performs bypass and bands really prefers the band for long term healthy weight loss, as does my nutritionist. Find a surgeon who has a great track record and few problems. Mine has performed something like 1000 of these and ONLY ONCE did a patient need to have it removed and do bypass instead and that was bc she couldn't get to a sweet spot, either she couldn't eat at all or she ate as much as she wanted. But that's 1/1000. I was so excited when I learned about lap band because it sounded like the tool I needed. I was not the person to sit down and eat a half gallon of ice cream or a whole bag of chips, but let me load up my plate as a meal and I could do some damage and left to my own to make meal choice decisions and I made BAD ones. I figured at least with this when I made those decisions I would do LESS DAMAGE. For me, bypass was out.. too many health risks and I was a very healthy fat person, I was not willing to risk everything else. The band makes you eat less. That's all I wanted and I couldn't be happier with my decision at this point. In the past I was so prone to overeat that I defeated myself from the get go... now it's so much easier to turn down food or just get a taste. Find a doc that is good at the band and you might get a better answer... sounds like this guy just isn't a good lab band surgeon.

Fish and Seafood entrees are great cause they are usually lighter and easier to chew so you wont have to sit there forever with food in your mouth chewing, esp when conversation is called for. I have done well with crab cakes (order appetizer version or on a salad) I find that mouth fulls of lettuce and salad things take a while to chew, but I can also eat more of it, so it's not so obvious that I'm not eating much. My problem pre-fill #1 has been I fill up FAST but then get hungry soon so I'm wanting to eat more frequently, though the firmer the foods the longer I can stay full. If I were to try and just have soup I think I'd feel starving too soon. For an easy snack on the plane, think abour bringing a little cooler lunchbag and maybe some hummus and reduced fat crackers... it's got Protein and it's satisfying.

I know it takes a lot of people several fills to find the right spot. When they do a fill your stomach will swell which causes the sense of restriction in the immediate aftermath. Like they said, go ahead and schedule appts 3-4 weeks out WHILE YOU ARE STILL in the office... if you don't need the fill, cancel the appt. My doc wants you to schedule before you leave. Also, the amount of food you eat differs from patient to patient based on your own stomach, 1/2 c is not the "right" amount for everyone. My doc said his avg patient can consumer 1 cup per meal and still lose weight.

I forgot to mention how I am totally saving money too when I do go out to eat... even when I order smaller meals they are turning into 2-3 meals for the price of one! Right now I am addicted to meditteranean/middle eastern food.... before if I got this combo I would eat it all and ask for extra pita... today I brought a bunch of it back and only ate half a pita and I am STUFFED. I love not feeling so controlled by the food.

Mine was similar... clear liquids week 1 (I ate broth, drank G2 gatorade/crystal light, water and consumed jello) Week 2 was full liquids (which could include pudding and yogurt) I became a huge fan of mixing protein powder in with pudding. Week 3 pureed... 4 mushies... I'm pretty much eating anything I want right now. I have my first fill next week. I chew, chew, chew whatever I eat and I am not drinking when I eat. I fill up fairly fast on way less than I ever ate before. Sometimes I get hungry too soon, so I finish eating what I started at meal time. Right now I am starving (it's lunch time) and I DO NOT want the chili I brought with me from home... grrrrrr

Gastric surgeons are usually anti carbonation in any way shape or form. Some new studies in Europe point to drinking soda as being linked to cases where the stomach tissue has broken down at the band site or something along those lines... enough for me to stay away.

I haven't heard a negative word about it from anyone I know... EVERYONE has been supportive and I told pretty much everyone and now the hospital I went through is talking to me about being featured in an Ad. At first I was a little hesitant, but it's really growing on me... keep me motivated (mostly to exersize) and maybe help other people. A few people will ask "can you eat that?" and I'm like YEAH.. watch me... granted I don't eat much of it.. but I eat it ;o) I don't feel left out of life... it's great.

I don't think the band is right for everyone... you have to figure out what makes you overeat and decide will the band be the right tool for me. I knew my problem was overeating at meals. I wasn't someone who gorged on sweets or Snacks, but give me mealtime and I couldn't stop. I tried weight watchers, I sawa nutritionist... it took A LOT for me to admit that I couldn't do this on my own. I had been over weight MY ENTIRE life... I'd have some success on diets, but never get to a goal weight (or even close) and it always creeped back up. I looked into bypass, but knew that wasn't right for me then one day I looked into Lap Band and it all made sense. I was SCARED to say the least. I'd never had ANY surgery, I hate needles and I hate to throw up. But things just fell into place. Before I knew it the surgery was scheduled and I was keeping it a secret, but then I started telling anyone and everyone (I think as a way to keep me from backing out). I haven't regretted it yet (i'm one month out and down 23 pounds). I haven't had a fill yet, but I'm excited for it. The best thing you can do is ask questions now, learn as much as you can and trust yourself. Good luck!

I had 5 incisions, most of them tiny ... all were sitched INSIDE and glued outside... healing has gone VERY well. My largest incision is 2 inches maybe, next is an inch and the other 3 are like 1/4 inch... my port isn't particularly near any of them

I was only on clear liquids for a week (including 2 days pre-op) and was told not to worry about protein, the whole point was just keeping hydrated. Talk to the doctor for some recommendations. My staff gave me a detailed plan each week of what I could eat.

I think it's a very valid fear and it can be common for people who loose A LOT of weight to almost become obsessed with it, the fear of gaining back can be overwhelming. While I had to do a psych and nutr. visit pre-surgery, it might be something I'll check back into throughout and when I am maintaining, just to get that reassurance and someone to listen.

BEFORE surgery I used to get compulsive sneezes when I ate too much, it usually only came after filling up on carbs... but I haven't had that since surgery I don't think. Now I do get these really deep weird hiccups, but they don't last long.

I was also banded on Oct 8... trying more "regular" foods everyday. I know I'm not eating as much as I used to, but often feel like I am still eating too much, but I think part of that is mental. I don't go in for a fill for 2 weeks... trying to hold it together until then. I only had to pre-op diet 2 days, so all of my weight loss to me is surgery weight loss, which is at 20 pounds, where it's been for 2 weeks. I started eating out late last week, it's just so much my lifestyle since I work full time and I'm in grad school and boy it costs me a lot less now. dinner at wendy's last night was under $3 for chili and plain baked potato ;o) Went to lunch today with friends to a cafeteria style place and the selections were harder. Opted for chicken tenders but pulled of most of the breading and skipped over the dessert and bread section. yesterday at lunch was the first pain I've had from eating something. I grabbed one of those California salads from the Target cafe and I was sitting at work doing work and eating it and wasn't conscious about my chewing and felt a good bit of discomfort as my stomach tried to process it. I will chew from now on! I have a lot to loose, but I'm still very motivated and excited. Can't wait to get a fill.