NowNotSoBigGuy

I had my first fill yesterday, 2cc in a 10cc band. There was no pain whatsoever with being stuck, analagous to getting a shot. Those of you who fear needles and are nervous about your first fill, just look away. I'm down 25lbs in the four weeks since surgery, 47lbs total since decision day 8/25. No PB's, no adverse reactions, no serious hunger, staying with mostly soft foods; recommendation is Clear Liquids for 3 days post-fill, then mushies for another 3 days, but I'm accelerating that a bit without any negatives so far. My band does feel tighter and my pouch seems to be adjusting to the fill. At the surgery center where I got my fill, they were prepared to give me up to 3.5cc, but having read of a few bad experiences necessitating an unfill, I opted for 1.5, then did the barium swallow and the fluoroscopy (instant x-ray). The PA said I looked "wide open" so we settled on an additional 0.5cc for a total of 2.0. Another barium swallow, another fluoroscopy and I was done. They made me hang around long enough to down a half a bottled Water. Next fill in 4-6 weeks, depending on rate of weight loss. Life is so good after being banded, I feel like kicking up my heels and screaming. I see a future in which I weigh in the low to mid 200's instead of the mid 300's. I have so much to be thankful for. Thanks for being there, all of you posters on LapBandTalk.

I realize we're in the minority here, so I wanted to share a male NSV with my "Band of Brothers" out there. Pre-band, I wore size 48 Jockey briefs. My local department store carries the Jockey "Big-Man" sizes (48 and above), but there's a catch. Big-Man briefs come in a package of 2 for $16.50. So when I'd need six sets of briefs, it was $50 or $8.25 a pair, rather steep, by what's the alternative? It's expensive to be overweight. Well, my supply of 48's is now much too large for me after dropping 40 pounds pre- and post-surgery, so I went back to see about smaller sizes. Now shopping in the regular Jockey section, a package of 3 briefs, size 44, is $17. Great deal so far, right; now it's "buy two, get one free". So 6 pairs is only going to cost me $34. But wait, as I'm about to checkout, I see a clearance table and guess what? Jockey briefs, package of 3, size 44, $8.50 (now we're under $3 a pair). So I grab two packages of 44 and, when do you ever find Jockey on sale, I grab 2 packages of size 42, planning for the future. I go to the checkout counter and the clerk begins to ring up the clearance packages and the register displays $4.99 a package. Hold on, now the cost per pair just dropped to $1.65. Back to the clearance table for sizes 40 and, just for good measure, 38. Grand total for 24 pairs of briefs was $42 tax included. I just bought 24 pairs of Jockey brand men's briefs for less than 6 pairs of "Fat-Boy" (oops, Big-Man) briefs. Damn that felt terrific. I was just tickled pink. And my DH was with me on the underwear excursion so she got to share my joy firsthand. I don't mean to toot my own horn; in fact, I have so, so much to be thankful for. I just wanted to share this experience, because I know how downright demeaning it was for me to have to shop at the Fat-Boys stores. Maybe someone on the verge of deciding whether or not to get banded will benefit from this rambling. Just as an aside, anyone looking for large-size name-brands mens wear, e.g. Dockers, Jockey, at reasonable prices may want to check out Gustwillers.com; it's a clothing store in Ohio that carries large sizes in name brands at below MSRP prices.

Hello and welcome. Spiegel did my surgery 9/13. Let me share a few notable things with you regarding my experience in weeks 1 and 2 post surgery. First: Liquid Tylenol solved my pain problem quite well; I refrigerated it to cut down on the medicine-taste. Also, there is now Tylenol on the Go, a mint flavored chewable tablet. Second: protein drinks: I found them awful, but protein is something we cannot do without. My advisor at Speigel's office said Ensure was NOT recommended, due to high sugar content. I tried Adkins Advantage and SlimRite (Kroger's name brand), but in the end, I purchase some Unjury unflavored protein powder (at the suggestion of multiple people from LBT) from the website Unjury.com. It come in flavors if you prefer; order the sampler package to get you started. I also purchased a Magic Bullet blender (on eBay or any department store) and began making my own protein drinks with skim milk, a package of unjury (20 gms protein) and one of two tsps of sugar-free jello pudding (butterscotch, chocolate, etc.), and 1/2 to 1/3 of a banana. The Magic Bullet mixes it very nicely and it is so much tastier than any pre-packaged drink. The Magic Bullet can pulverize anything to a mush consistency, just what I needed as I progressed to thicker liquids in week 2 and mushies in week 3. Hard Boiled eggs, some FF mayo and presto, egg salad; some tuna or canned chicken, mayo, presto, tuna/chicken salad. Other clear liquid favorites were SF popsicles, SF jello (in small 3 oz paper cups) and Gatorade. When chicken and beef broth became intolerable, I switched to egg drop soup; strain out the egg if you don't want to chance it, but the egg is a great protein source. Also, I found hummus to be an excellent source of protein. As for thicker soups in week 2, Campbell's Select (in the boxes) are great as are the Imagine Organic soups at HEB. Vitamins: Centrum Chewables, citus-berry flavor, twice a day for the first two weeks. Best of luck to you and again, welcome to the Land of the Banded.

Strain out the egg if you like, or just chew little pieces of it very well. Practically any Asian restaurant will have it. The Soup I get has very tiny chunks of chicken, which I chew until mashed. Both the egg and the chicken offer Protein. Egg Drop soup (or hot and sour) puts chicken or beef broth to shame. PS: The smell of chicken broth gives me vivid memories of stuffing, my favorite holiday "vegetable"; from there, my mind wanders to a big plate overloaded with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc.

Hi Mangojoy. Rest assured we were all at the decision point you are now. Pros and cons, good and bad, fear of losing the pleasure of eating, vagaries of insurance coverage vs self-pay, hoping against hope that a "fat-burning" pill would be invented, all the while lugging around all those extra pounds and kidding ourselves that anything was really going to change until we took control of the situation. I have been a fat person all my adult life; people never called me that, except my drunken trailer-trash neighbor, but I knew how they regarded me. I always compensated for my shortcoming and I always found comfort in my "friend", food; lots of food. I knew about the lap-band as far back as 2001, but I kept putting off a decision. At 364 pounds, I knew I was headed for a heart-attack. Finally, with the the necessary push from my dearly-beloved, we attended a seminar, watched videos of people my size, before and after, and I listened to their stories of life after being banded. Suddenly, I knew what I needed to do; from that point 6 weeks ago, my life changed. I went self-pay, but I was able to qualify for financing from Capital One Health Care Finance; rates are reasonable, terms of up to 4 years, similar to buying a $15,000 used car and paying a monthly note. The expense was and I hope will always be money well-spent; you have to ask yourself, how much are you willing/able to spend for a much happier and longer life? As for eating, I don't feel the least deprived; my tastes have changed since my surgery 9/13. I'm not sure why, but I'm preferring healthier, lower-fat choices and my portions are way, way smaller than before. I'm walking several times a weeks, distances increasin as the punds fall away. This old dog is learning new tricks as far as nutrition and diet are concerned. The results speak for themselves, see my ticker. I have my life back in control; nothing is going to stop me on this journey to "normal" size. Before the lapband, I was helpless and hopeless, but not anymore. I encourage you to continue doing your research, consult this board and any others you find, post your questions and consider all your options. My best advice to you is don't wait five years like I did before reaching a conclusion as to what you want your future to be. The worst decision is indecision. Should you decide to travel out of the country for your surgery, make certain you have lined up post-surgery support (fills) locally. The surgery is merely step one; the key to success with the band is discovering the "sweet spot", that amount of fill which both allows sufficient nutrition while providing the restriction all of us want and need. The purpose of my lapband is "to protect me from me". My sincerest best wishes to you, whatever decision you make regarding the lapband.

I'm in Cinco and would like to be included if anyone cares to put together a support group.

Welcome to Band Land, my friend. The first few days after my surgery, I too was sore. liquid Tylenol once or twice a day seemed to relieve the pain, at least enough for a few hours sleep. I also kept a pillow handy. I used icepacks on my stomach and heating pad on my back. By day 4, the pain had dulled dramatically to the point of just discomfort. I didn't feel like eating much of anything, but I choked down the Protein drinks plus some broth, Jello and many sf popsicles. When I reached my tolerance for any more broth, I moved on to egg drop Soup and strained out the egg portion. I did the same with hot and sour soup. Be thinking of soft, creamy textures, low low or nonfat, high in Protein, e.g. hummus. Hang in there man; the worst is behind you. I'm 17 days post-op and down 18 lbs from the day I was banded and 40 total from 8/26, the day when I made the decision to be banded. Best to you, Larry.

Consider UNJURY (unjury.com). Many people have suggested it to me in response to my recent post. Just received my sample pack. Order online; price and shipping charges are very reasonable.

I'm not sure every CPAP has this, but mine has a "Ramp" button that sets the pressure to the minimum (4), then over a period of time (10,20,30,45 mins), elevates the pressure to the specified level (16 for me). I was having difficullty getting to sleep and kept having to reach over and press the Ramp button, sometime several times. I had my the ramp time increased to the maximum (45 mins), and since then, I haven't had any problem getting to sleep. I'm looking forward to the day I can retire my CPAP. My DD shares the thought.

I'm 5 days post-op, nearing the end the Clear liquids week (juices, Jello, popsicles, broth) and looking forward to week 2 when thicker liquids (soups) can be added. I have reached the point where I simply cannot consume another Protein drink. I've tried Slimfast, Ensure, Atkins Advantage, vanilla and strawberry flavors. I cannot bring the cup, the can or even a straw to my lips without the gap reflex kicking in. I know I need the protein, but the taste and consistency is appalling. I realize I'm supposed to have one of these for Breakfast from now on, but I doubt that's gonna happen. Any shared experiences out there? Any suggestions, advice, counsel or ass-kicking is appreciated of course. BTW: I bought a Magic Bullet (on eBay pretty cheap), so maybe I can make my own smoothies and somehow derive enough protein that way.

Hi Larry: I was banded 9/13. I take my BP meds 2x, a small white pill, and a Walgreens OTC allergy capsule 1x. I tried liquid vitamins, but prefer Centrum chewable. For post surgery pain, I drank liquid Tylenol. I believe there is also liquid Motrin, but the liquid Tylenol does the job. Pre-surgery, my gag reflex kicked in big time whenever I took cough medicine, but the liquid Tylenol is fine. I store it in the refrigerator; seems to dull the taste even more. Have some liquid Tylenol or Motrin on hand before surgery and you will be glad you did. Best wishes to you for a successful journey to band-land.