wilbe

I am Type I and got my lapband about 7 weeks ago. I now carry a small bottle of liquid glucose called "Dex Glucose 4 - Liquiblast" which I have found at both Shoppers Drug Mart and Walmart in Ontario (in the diabetic section of the pharmacy). It is available in berry burst and lemon-lime flavours (both of which I find pleasant). The bottle is small (59 mL or 2 oz) and nice for purse or pocket and contains 15 g of dextrose. I like this solution a lot! Each bottle is about $2 - $2.50, sometimes on sale... The amount of liquid is about 2 medium swallows and I find I can get this small amount down well enough and no chewing needed! Hope that helps! Cheers, Wil

Cookie - I just want to tell you that you responded to this terrible hurt with such courage and integrity that I really admire you! I had to break up with my boyfriend of over a year when I told him I was looking into this surgery and he made very similar arguments against it..."I don't want you to be cut up", "you can't afford it", "why wouldn't you just use more willpower to control what you eat", "why don't you hire a personal trainer for all that money?"...etc.... It was horrific to find out that he had such issues that he could not see beyond his own needs to recognize how I couldn't afford NOT to have this surgery for my own health. We split up prior to me making my decision about surgery but I am much happier without him now. I did not see at the time how much negativity he was bringing to me. I hope that you can heal from this hurt and eventually find that you are better off without her in your life. I have to say again that I really admire how you handled this situation with such maturity and the letter you wrote was just perfectly worded and I hope will make you feel empowered - as you should be. I would be proud and amazed to have a friend like you! Keep looking after yourself so you can share your love with someone who really appreciates and reciprocates it. Hugs...

Hi all, I'm new to the site but this is a great thread. It was all I could think about ("When will I feel normal/good again?") as I went through early recovery. I was banded Jan 19 so tomorrow is 3 weeks out. I can say that week 1 was pretty bad with pain and nausea, mostly from the gas rather than incision sites. Week 2 I started to feel better when I had full liquids, especially something with Protein in it. I had a lot of that feeling like my heart was in a vice being squeezed - I gather that was actually my stomach from what I've read. Happily that seems to have passed now too. I did cry a few times too - I'm not really sure why but I think I was just feeling crappy and wishing I felt better and then felt like I was going to miss eating normal foods. That feeling also passed. Good to acknowledge it and then just release it again. Things definitely got better every day and I went back to work on day 13 post-surg to a desk job. I worked for 3 days last week and then on the 4th day, was just exhausted and needed to go home at noon. I am still feeling exhausted today but otherwise, the surgery stuff itself is not a problem (feels much more normal!). I felt I finally had the energy to walk on my treadmill quite comfortably on day 14 post surg but I can't count on that energy from day to day yet. I still feel uncomfortable sleeping on my left side which is where my port is, but my right side is great for sleeping. The bruising aroudn the port site went away around the end of week 2 but it is still a bit tender. I now get a funny feeling when sitting or driving long periods that is uncomfortable where the port is. This is relieved by sitting up very tall and leaning back slightly to take pressure off the port site. I am taking Tylenol rapid release gelcaps to help with discomfort as needed (these have not gotten stuck and are much more convenient than splitting the larger tylenols and tastes better too). Hang in there everybody - it does get better each day and a week seems to make a world of difference in how you feel overall in these early stages. I am pleased also to say that I've lost about 22 lbs since Jan.5 when I started Optifast. Most of it was lost post-surgery (I only dropped about 6-8 lbs pre-surg) so the band seems to be working at least!