building_a_new_temple

I, too, was glued shut - had one open up and get slightly infected, but some thorough attention closed it up pretty quickly. I ended up buying some butterfly bandages and holding it shut while it healed to give the new skin some time to get established. RE: the saltwater...while I know we are not horses, when I was a kid, we'd always take the horses to the beach and walk them in the Water if they had any kind of infection on their legs (and they healed quickly and with less scaring). My father INSISTED on gargling with salt water for a sore throat (and it really did help). When I had an infection in my finger, the doctor told me to soak it in hot salt water to draw out the infection. Salt water is nothing but good for healing wounds (though I admit it CAN sting a bit)...it's the nasties in the water you need to be careful of - if you are going to a place where the water is pretty clean, I would encourage you to get in the water:thumbup:! Of course, MY only PhD is in BS, so I can only recommend what I would do. :confused:

I really hope Brandy's acct wasn't suspended just because of this post. C'mon, have a sense of humor! If you can't handle the topic material, don't read it - it's not like the title didn't give away what she was going for!:w00t: Honestly, if we can have a 30 page thread about anal sex in the powder room, what's wrong with a thread about oral sex? Prudes!

Just an FYI, my sites weren't stapled either - I was glued shut. I had one open up and it is taking longer to heal - went back to the center to have it checked out after the weekend (I was banded on the 30th and it opened the 31st of December...new years eve....fell right before a weekend, too, so I was about 4 days without anyone to call/ask). Since I had to wait to see them, I cleaned it carefully with some peroxide (not the best, since it kills good skin and bad stuff, but it was all I had) and put some neosporin on it, then covered with a bandaid. They checked it out on the following Monday and said it looked ok, but since it was red, they gave me another round of antibiotics. I will admit, I only took the antibiotics for two days and stopped because they were making my stomach hurt so bad. For the record, I have never stopped taking antibiotics before - I know it's really bad to do, but the pain was unbearable. But I kept cleaning it, putting antibiotic ointment on it when I covered it (if I was going somewhere wearing pants that came up to the incision), and tried to leave it uncovered when I was home and in pj pants in order for it to have a chance to scab over. So far, it's healing pretty well. Still red, but that is gradually going away, and it is almost closed now.

EEEK! Viv, you're making me nervous! 600 calories a day IS considered starvation, regardless of whether you feel hungry or not. You should ask your nutritionist about this please, please, please! I'm not trying to make you feel bad, but if you eat more, you WILL lose more, because your metabolism will kick up to burn more. At 600 calories a day, it's screaming on the brakes and saying, OK, if this is what I get, I'm gonna hold on to everything I can. Eventually, however, if you maintain such a low calorie count you will begin to lose muscle mass and even bone mass. Hair falls out, etc. I am not a nurse or a doctor, and I don't want to sound like I'm telling you what to do, but as someone who has watched more than one friend suffer from extreme anorexia, I hope you will at least take it to heart and ask a person who IS qualified to tell you I'm wrong and you're right. Or vis-versa.

Got a quick question....and a small confession... So, my best friend from college lives on the opposite side of town from me and so we try to get together for lunch every month just to catch up and get her out of the house (she's a stay at home mom of a one year old and two months preggo with #2). Today we met at the Cheesecake Factory, thinking they would have a nice selection of soups...alas, they only serve one soup a day and today was mushroom. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE mushroom soup - but I like the stuff I can buy in a can from Campbells for 88 cents, so have a hard time justifying an $8 cup of soup! So, knowing tomorrow I am technically allowed to move on to mushies, I ordered some mashed potatoes with a bit of white gravy on the side. Only $4.50 and I knew it wasn't the best choice, but I also knew I wasn't going to be eating much. Here's the question: Has anyone else been so "trained" in their life to clean their plate that they are having a hard time putting down the fork/spoon/spork and leaving food behind? It's not like I kept eating constantly, but I'd keep reaching for the spoon after I'd pushed the bowl away and just nibbling! SO FRUSTRATING!:thumbup: I knew I was going to be extra full, but I was STRUGGLING! My friend finally put the bowl on the other side of the table so I couldn't reach it....how embarrassing that I can't manage that small act of self control! Do any of you struggle with this? If so, how do you handle it?

Hi guys and gals - I, too, was hungry pretty close out of the gate, and had some issues with the trots....but found that if I added a drink flavor with some Fiber in it, I wasn't quite so hungry and it firmed me up. I wasn't able to eat any Protein in the first week because I was on Clear liquids, so that's how I got through the week. Second week is easier with the ability to eat some thicker stuff, but adding Protein powder definately makes it more do-able. My 2 cents.

Some people find that their tastes change after banding, but as far as what you "can't" eat due to digestive issues, there should be no change. Aside from those items that can cause harm to your pouch (soda, for example), your body is perfectly able to process things like it did before the surgery. Remember, lapband is NOT changing your body's actual structure like gastric bypass does, it just changes the shape of one of the structures - the stomach. All the enzymes and gastric juices are still produced and come in contact with your food. This explains why we still have to be watchful of what we eat - we are able to continue absorbing all the nutrients - both good and bad - that we put into our bodies.

Drinking liquids before/during/following a meal makes your food more dilute and "soupy", making it easier to pass through the constriction your band creates. This means you feel full for a shorter period of time, makes you hungry faster, thus defeating the purpose of the band. It pretty much turns all food into "sliders", or foods that pass through the band quickly. My nutritionist also made sure to mention that you need to eat your food within about a 20 minute period because after 20 minutes your stomach begins to break down the food...meaning you can get more in there...adding more calories, etc.

Curious - I, too, was banded on the 30th, and I, too, am experiencing more shoulder pain today. Now, I have had the pain from the get-go, but it has definitely increased. I have tried everything - heating pad, hot shower, boyfriend "burping" me, laying down, gas ex chewables (I stopped with the strips when I realized I could eat my vitamins with no issue - and the chewables seem more potent to me), etc. I have less pain if I stand than sit, but MAN does it hurt when I have to bend down for something! My thought is that it may be possible that because the "gas pain" in the shoulder is actually the diaphram being irritated (so says my surgeon, at least), the act of bending over adds more pressure to the diaphram and increases the pain. Just my thought. I had one small problem soon after surgery - one of my incisions opened up! Of course, with the new year holiday backing up to the weekend, my clinic wasn't open :smile2: So yesterday I went down there and they cleaned up the incision (I'd been keeping it clean and covered) and prescribed more antibiotics. Can't wait to start yogurt so I can replace some of those lost bugs in my intestines! Hope you are all doing well, considering.