dwright

I was banded Friday 12th and today's Tuesday 16th. Yesterday my left shoulder was killing me on and off. It's from the CO2 they pump in during surgery. Also, below my left rib hurts (where the port is located) when I take deep breaths or try to pull myself up from a lieing position. Yeah, it's kinda irritating and will be happy when this part's over. I guess I'm not one to make a major deal over a minor inconvenience. I've watched women who are pregnant with attitudes like they can't do anything and the world revolves around them because they're pregnant. For me it was no big deal. If you are a drama Queen when pregnant you will probably find a few days of tightness and pain as a bigger issue than it should be. If you are have had a band installed, put your big girl panties on and SUCK IT UP! In all probability you will live through this..... :bored: You took a major step to improve your life. It's a process.

By the 4th day post op the shoulder pain had pretty much stopped. I was banded Fri and Tues saw the doc for a followup. He said the shoulder pain from gas should be gone by now. I told him that laying on my right side alleviates the pain in the shoulder and left side of abdomen. When I get up, it will often return. He said because of this he did not believe it could be a blood clot in the lung. The pain should not go away no matter what position you lay in. When I told him I took docalax 3 days in a row without relief he said that is probably what's causing the pain. Take MIRALAX (or store equivilant) and if it doesn't work, take some more. Today is day 7 (Thursday). My abdomen still hurts some (quite shocking when I yawn or cough, but the shoulder doesn't hurt often. I hope the abdomen hurting on the left side after 7 days is normal???????? Taking 4mg Hydromorphone??? does wonders if you need it.

NOTE on the protein diet: Two days before surgery I went to see the doc for the pre-surgery visit. I was 5' 5" and 208.6 lbs. That's a very low BMI for surgery. I got to talking to him about the protein diet and he said, "At your weight the protein diet won't make the least little bit of difference" SERIOUSLY!! :bored: He's a great guy (Dr. Brient in Gainesville FL), wish he was a general practitioner. I looked at him like he was crazy and thought, "Really, you think I'm staying on this diet now? I will be chowing down on BREAD until noon the day before surgery." Apparently the protein diet is important when you are closer and over 40 BMI. I was banded on Friday Nov 12 and wanted to record my experience for others. At 6:45 am I went into the Surgical Pavillion and was home by 1:30 pm. I could have been home earlier except my husband was stuck at a dr's appt AND I couldn't seem to get my eyes to stay open long enough to go home. Good drugs I guess. I felt fine, just a little stiff with the exception of nausea when I got up to go to the bathroom. Then it was just dry heaves. I held my stomach and tried to keep the heaves as gentle as possible. I got them again when I got home and got out of the car. Haven't been nauseous since. They gave me shots in the IV and a motion sickness patch. I took the patch off a few hours after I got home. I am pleasantly surprised on how NON-traumatic the whole experience has been. It's not like you can feel anything inside your body. The funny part is I had a little voice in my head ask a few times; "Are you sure he did anything?" That's how NON -traumatic it was. :thumbup: Today is Sunday. The doc told me because it's a LAP-BAND®® and not by-pass, drink as much liquid as you can (beginning in the recovery room). So I've been pretty much drinking low cal GatorAid, Apple Juice, Sugar Free Tea, Coffee (with cremora and splenda) non-stop. I also ate Jello, sugar free popsicles and chicken broth. I haven't been hungry but it seems my brain has a problem dealing with not eating anything of substance for 48 hrs. My stomach has cramped up on and off. I just get up and walk around. Lieing back in a recliner seems to be the most comfortable position. Today (Sunday) it's just a little stiff. My stomach felt/looked like it was puffing up last night, but seems back to normal now. Could have been my imagination. I will be eating cream soup etc today. I tried instant grits and at a few small bites but that's all I wanted. I drank 2 oz of a protein shake. So far so good!:smile2: I will see the doc on Tues for a follow up and he'll do the first fill 4 weeks from surgery date.

I just wanted to put a note on here after something my doc told me. He said there are studies being conducted on the Lap Band for people as low as 30 BMI. It would not be for someone who just put on the weight. More for someone who has been there a long time and it's doubtful they will ever get the weight off and keep it off. Yo-Yo dieting. Anyway, he said they're having great results and other countries will be approving the lap band for folks at 30 BMI soon and eventually it will be approved in the U.S.:bored:

Don't chicken out. I was banded 2 days ago and it was no big deal. I went into the Surgical Pavillion at 6:45 am and was home by 1:00 pm. I would have been home about an hour sooner but my husband was at a doctors appt and they were running behind. Feels like I did a bunch of situps. I'm going to write on my blog so check it out if you want to know what happened. Good Luck! dwright

Hi everyone, My name is Deb, I'm 47 and I've been dieting on and off since I was 12yrs old. I'm 5'5", 212lbs and I will be banded on Nov 12, 2010. I've wrestled with getting the LAP-BAND® since I am barely at a weight where it can be done. I am a self pay and they have agreed to $12,600 for everything. Now I know why I've had those savings bonds sitting in the safe all these years. I've looked on the internet for folks around my size who have decided it was worth the risks and haven't found much. I have decided to take care of the problem and not spend the rest of my life fighting an endless battle. I have not always been fat but have fought my weight all my life. My weight has been a major issue for me for as long as I can remember. Now I've gotten to the point where I just don't have the stamina/heart/inspiration to stay on the diet and weight gain roller coaster. My goal weight is between 130lbs and 145lbs. Because of my age (and the fact that to much weight loss may result in wrinkles and sagging skin) I think around 140lbs will be good. Once I get there, I plan to get an inner thigh lift (I have bags), breast lift, chin lift, and eyelid surgery. I was pleased to find out I could get all of this for about $15k in Gainesville Florida (2 operations, can't do it all at once). I started the protein diet today. Dr. Brient's diet entails 4 protein shakes/bars and one high protein/low calorie meal daily for 14 days. I bought several brands with under 160 calories ea. to try. I plan to put the shake in a blender with ice and turn into a milk shake so it will take longer to drink. Very soon I will find out if it's all worth it. It may be the biggest mistake of my life.... we'll see. The closer it gets, the scarier it gets. :thumbup: I just know I've been dreaming of buying great clothes and looking fab for 47 instead of like a fat grandma.

Good luck! I will be banded Nov 12 so I'll enjoy watching/reading about your journey while I start on mine.

Sounds like your doing great. 10lbs a month seems to be the max weight loss once the initial phase is over. Works for me! I could lose 100lbs but I'd be Hollywood thin and I'm not into the swizzle stick look.

I think you are going to find yourself losing a lot of weight just becuase of portion control. I found myself fixing larger and larger plates of food for dinner as well as eating/picking at candy and junk. You are on your way to a whole new life!

I think I may be figuring out how this site works (answering or commenting on blog.... comments). Hi again. :cursing:

It was great to hear from everyone. Seven more days to go before banding. I have seen blogs on a few folks that did not see weight loss for awhile until after 1st fill. I have not weighed to see if protein diet has done anything, but I can feel a difference at the waist. Yesterday I went in for the upper GI, EKG, Lap tests, Chest X-ray etc. No food or drink. By the time I got back to the town I live in and to the voting booth I thought I would die from starvation. I went into the store and bought a routisserie chicken. On the way home I could imagine sucking down the entire chicken myself. I ended up eating a thigh and wing and that was plenty. At least it was protein and not sugar or carbs. I have looked online and seen a big discrepancy on what to eat on the liver shrinking diet. Fortunately, it looks like the biggest deal is if you are over 45 bmi. and an occasional cheat is not going to totally negate a week of great dieting.

I am getting banded on Nov 12 and would like to lose about 75lbs. I'm excited and a little nervous. Just started the protein diet today. I ended up as a self pay because insurance said NO WAY. I, like you, am fed up with the struggle and figure at 47 yrs old, I don't have THAT many years left to look great in clothes and still have the physical ability to do what I want. So to heck with anybody who thinks it's crazy. My weight is my personal demon and everybody has one. At least I have (hopefully) found a cure for my demon and can get on with my life. Good luck!

After smoking for 33yrs I quit using Chantix. It is an AMAZING drug. I swear to you that you will not have withdrawal symptoms. I continued to smoke for 2 weeks after starting Chantix and found that I didn't even think about stepping outside to smoke for hours on end. When my husband tried to get me to step outside for a smoke in less than 2 hrs since my last one, they tasted terrible. You will soon realize that they are not doing anything for you when you take the Chantix. Then if you even think about cheating (just for the heck of it and not because you have cravings), you'll know that the 1st cigarette after quiting always tastes TERRIBLE, so what would be the point. Sometimes insurance pays. Sometimes you can't take with other drugs because you'll feel queezy. But it is a miracle drug!

It will be worth it! You didn't gain that weight overnight and I know you didn't expect a magic wand to take it off. Think of this TEMPORARY suffering as a potent reminder that you will NEVER do this to yourself again. Kind of like a military boot camp instructor may make a recruit do horrible things to ensure that they will never repeat an action that may cost lives. This is YOUR life and NOTHING can defeat you! If you have to be sick as a dog for a month before it gets better.......... so be it. Whatever it takes to get the job done! You will get through this and your life and sense of well being will be transformed!

Hi Dawn, I am getting banded Nov 12. Just started the protein diet today. I'm excited but it is a little scary. I think the hardest part is the frustration in myself that I have to resort to this to control my own actions. I am SO looking forward to getting back to a decent weight. I put the shakes in a blender with a lot of ice to make a milk shake. Made only one so far. For some reason it tasted like it had a lot of air in it. Good luck!