h.landry85

I was just looking through the Before & Afters on here. I'm literally crying. Everyone looks so amazing. I cannot wait to finally be healthier & happier, like all of you. The reason I originally wanted to post was because I was ecstatic that I'd lost 21 pounds as of today. I'd been stuck in the same 19 pounds lost for the last week or so, & I'd gotten so frustrated. I've been making sure I'm following everything to the "t", & I guess it's paid off. I just weighed myself, & I lost 2 pounds. I'm just so excited. Seeing all of you that have lost so much weight makes me push myself harder. I want to be one of the success stories. I AM going to be one. I can assure you that. I go for my first fill on March 10th & I'm even more excited about it now. I cannot wait. I want to lose weight, & I'm determined to lose weight. Thank you all for being such an inspiration, even though you may not believe you are. Trust me. There are people out there, like me, that need this inspiration to keep going. To motivate myself. To make myself believe that I CAN do this. Thank you. :biggrin:

Well, it's good to know I'm not losing slowly, like I thought I was. It just makes me so proud to think I took this step to becoming a better person. I cannot wait to post before & after pictures! Keep up the good work, too! Good luck on your first fill!! :biggrin:

It's not a nice feeling. I was losing so much, so quickly before. I was SUPER happy at my results. I knew it'd come to a standstill eventually. Alas, all good things must come to an end, right? I'm kidding. I know I'll continue losing. I just know it won't be until I've had my first fill. Good luck with everything!

Hey there! I'm new to this site/forum. I was banded on 2/4/10 & am super excited to get this show on the road! I'm lucky to have had my insurance cover my surgery, & I'm very fortunate to have family members on my side during this process. I joined because I wanted to hear about other people's experiences along their way, & if I had any questions about any of this. I hope to give some insight about a few topics, too! Happy Banding, Heather :tongue_smilie:

Wow. You've been on a liquid diet for a long time. I've been able to return to normal eating as of last Wed. I'd be murdering someone if I'd have to go THAT long on liquids. I guess each doctor is a lot different, though. PS - Yes, gumbo is amazing strained when you're on liquids. I did it! :eek:

I read up on it when I was having this problem in my pre-op liquid diet stage. It's actually very common. The main thing you WANT to remember is to make sure you're hydrating yourself enough. When you have diarrhea, you're body's losing a lot of your water & could cause you to get dehydrated. We don't want that, now do we? I continued with the diarrhea until I started on the mushie food stage. It was never overly horrible, but trust me, it goes away! If you're that concerned, contact your doctor! That's what he's there for.

My job isn't nearly as physically demanding as your's may be, but my jobs requires me to lift heavy furniture. I was banded on 2/4 & I'm returning to work on 2/25. My doctor only wants me to lift up to 10 lbs for the next 2 weeks. After those 2 weeks, he's not giving me anymore restrictions. I had to use Short Term Disability for my leave. My work only covered 40 hours, which was my sick pay, so 1 week. Then, Short Term took over from 2/11-2/24. I could have had it longer, if needed, but I can go back to work with a light-duety return. I hope this helps some! Good luck with your band! It's truly a life changing event!

Well, I posted about my surgery here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f178/surgery-day-stories-64287/index33.html#post1420497 As far as pain, I was in a good amount of pain for a few days. Now, I'm sore in my lower stomach (the dr said it was from stretching/pushing on my organs to place the port). Now, the port is a little weird. It doesn't hurt, but it's an odd feeling. You can TELL there's something under your skin, but it definitely doesn't hurt. Scaring seems like it's going to be pretty minimal. I had my gallbladder removed about 5 years ago, & it's the same type of procedure. I had VERY fant scaring from it, so I'm assuming this will be along the same lines. There's a bigger cut where my port was placed, but it's nothing major. My scaring tends to turn into a lighter shade of my skin color. It's not extremely noticeble, but I can see it. Hunger isn't that big of an issue. I tend to only get really hungry when I first wake up. I tend to drink a lot of Water & Protein, so I'm not hungry often. The biggest thing to remember is that in the beginning, you're body is still healing. I didn't feel that true "hunger" feeling until about a week or so after my surgery. You're apetite it's quite the same in that healing stage, so you don't go looking for food, like you might have before the band. Honestly, the hardest part of this entire thing so far has been the pre-op diet. It was so hard being on full liquids, then Clear Liquids after that. I broke down 2 days before my surgery. I just started crying because I was so hungry. The next day (day before my surgery) I was different. I guess I kept telling myself "just get through today". Other than that, I hope I answered all your questions. If you have anything else you want to ask, feel free. I'm an open book.

I was told to buy supositories (sp?). Use that. It'll help a lot! I didn't have constipation, but I think it's because I have Colitis. Colitis = LOTS of potty breaks.

I had the same problem when I started on being able to eat well-cooked veggies. TONS of trips to the bathroom. I was hating "real" food at that point. I would have taken a liquid diet over that any day! But alas, it got better. It's just your body re-adjusting to no food intake. It takes time, but within a day or so, everything was smooth & has been ever since! Good luck! :tongue_smilie:

I did. As of last Wed, I've finally eaten "normal" food, meaning meats, veggies, etc. I've lost almost 20 pounds so far, & no, it's not fluid weight either. I've been on fluid pills for over a year because I retain a lot of fluid in my ankles. So where most people lose that "fluid" weight, I didn't. This is actual pounds being lost! I'm kind of at a stop right now for the last week, but I think it's due to eating more dense foods.

It depends on the person & the type of work you do. I had my surgery on Thursday, 2/4, and I'm returning to work on Thursday, 2/25. My surgeon was allowing me to go back on 2/22, but my Short Term leave was approved through my work until the 24th. So, alas, I'm going back on the 25th with a light return. I work in retail, so I'm on my feet for 8 hours & we lift furniture. I'm only allowed to lift up to 10 lbs for the next 2 weeks. Once those 2 weeks are up, I'm in the clear. Hope this helped!

I was banded on February 4, 2010, by Dr. Todd Belott at West Jefferson Medical Center. I arrived at the hospital at 6:30am with my Mom & fiance, Stephen. I had to wait for them to put me into the computer. After doing so (which took almost 30 minutes), we went upstairs to Same Day Surgery. I was put in a room, & the nurse came to get my vitals. I was super excited for this day to FINALLY be here. Then, she tells me I'm going to get a shot in my stomach for clotting, and my nerves started to really work then. I'm not too keen on needles & tend to be a big baby about them. Shortly after, another nurse came in to make sure what I was allergic to, the meds I'm on, & she gave me my wrist bands. Then, the dreadful shot in my stomach. :laugh: I was NOT happy about it, to say the least. Alas, I made it through, though. After waiting what seemed like forever, a man came in to wheel me back to the pre-op room. But not before he raised cane about my fiance's shirt he was wearing (It was a Saints shirt, go figure! :tongue_smilie:). The entire time he was taking me to pre-op, he kept talking about how the Saints were going to lose the Superbowl. It kept my mind off of the surgery itself, that's for sure, but it got me a little worked up, too. He then said he was putting me in slot number 9 because that was all the points the Saints were going to score in the game. I waited for a long time, & I couldn't see a thing. They made me give my glasses to my fiance before I was taken back, so I was as blind as a bat now. I had a nurse come over & she got me to sign some concent form saying they were going to tape the surgery. I didn't care. All I wanted was for them to hurry up & get it over with. She started my IV, which was all sorts of painful. Then, they gave me a breathing treatment because of my asthma. After my breathing treatment, Dr. Belott came in to talk to me about the surgery. I started getting nervous, but I knew I was ready for this. Someone finally came to bring me back to the OR. I met some really nice ladies who gave me wonderful meds that knocked me out! :cool2: The next thing I remember is waking up, but not opening my eyes, in the recovery room. I remember moaning in pain & them telling me they were going to bring me pain meds. I must have kept falling asleep because I remember very little. One thing I DO remember was some crazy man in the bed next to mine. I heard them telling him that he couldn't take his IV out. I think it was the morphine pump he was on that was making him loopy. They kept yelling at him. It was actually kind of amusing. When one of the nurses came over, I asked her if I could see my mom. She then proceeded to yell at me & tell me that my mom wasn't allowed back here. I almost cried because she was being so mean. Finally, they told me I was going back to my room. Because of my insurance, I had to stay overnight. When I got to my room, my mom & fiance told me that I'd been in recovery from about 11am-8pm. I couldn't believe that! All because they didn't have any "open rooms" or anyone to transport. BOLOGNA! Either way, I finally made it there. The only downfall.. I had to use the bathroom. All those fluids made my bladder hate me at that point. I couldn't, in any way, use the bed pan. I had to get up. Painful, yes, but I had help. I'm glad I had to stay overnight, though, because I like that there's multipul people there to help you in & out of bed. Plus, the hospital beds are awesome! It really helped my back not die after laying on it for so long. I was finally discharged at around 2pm the next day. All in all, my surgery wasn't that bad. I knew what to expect because I'd had my gallbladder removed. It's a very similar surgery, so I was mentally prepared for it.

Wow! I've never heard of them banding this way. Seems like an awesome way to avoid scars! I was banded the good 'ol 5 small incisions way. The only thing I CAN say is that before my band, I had my gallbladder removed. It was done laproscopically, too, & one was through the belly button. I have minimal scaring & by my belly button, there's a small line, but nothing major. On my stomach, I did have 2 scars that showed, no biggie, though. Hope this helped! :tongue_smilie: