Becks477

Count me in for Vegas 2008 I dont care when although I prefer later in the year. I would also like to stay on the strip and towards the middle like ceasars palace, mirage, paris ect. If i travel I dont like to be cheap! Whatever works though!

<p>Hey! I had a 3cc fill in my 10cc AP small band. 2cc's were already in there so I have a total of 5cc's. I have pretty good restriction I think, but who really knows what it feels like? My PA hit the port the first try. I didnt feel a thing! Easy as cake and i was really nervous about it hurting alot. You will do great keep me posted!</p>

Stef - Hey glad to hear your hubby is coming home I am sure he is missed alot while he is away. With the AP bands they dont remove all the fluid they initially flush it with. They just let it drain out on its own so as Toni had mentioned she already had 4ml's in her band before her first fill. My brother for example his band was so dry it caused negative pressure and it was sucking the saline out of the needle faster than the MD could push it in he was so dry. So he did get a 5 ml fill because it was so dry. So who knows how much you already have and how much you will get! Sorry I hope that kinda helps. I go for a fill monday too I begged my MD at my post op on Thurs and hes like well I will be in surgery monday but call me right in the morning and I will book a time for you in between. I guess now the big kahunas say that 4 weeks is the new time frame for your first fill not 6 weeks. Im excited because i am not losing nearly as fast or as much as any of you guys (WAY TO GO!!! :eek: ) so hopefully this fill will help. Good luck! Becky

You go Pippz! I am totally with you on that if you arent cool with what I look like now then to h^*l with you when im losing weight. I love your confidence good for you for sticking up for yourself. Becky

Hi Michelle! I am a proud owner of a 2006 Kia sportage and I love it except for the payment! :confused: I had to get the EX with all the upgrades so its not near the payment they advertise. It is great I can haul anything in it and we use it for all family trips because it is so roomy and comfortable. I love it but you will find many different opinions but yours will be the only on that matters! Becky

Attention Ladies and Gentleman! I think I have some good information for you! I have been reading alot lately (to replace eating ) and in the book "Fighting Weight" By Khaliah Ali (Muhammad Ali's daughter who had the lapband) her doctor from New York who also has had the lapband now for 7 years states "Have a settling drink if you enjoy social drinking. Up to one drink a day for women and two for men, helps keep the esophagus from having spasms." Isn't that interesting? I would share that with your doctors! Also I was reading and people were asking about getting more protein in and how. Our hospital hands out a whole booklet and in there is suggests to add 1/4 cup of non-fat dry milk powder (which = 10 grams of protein) to your milk/shakes. Sounds pretty easy to me for an extra 10 grams! let me know if this helps anyone. Great to see everyone is losing so well and doing so great. Great job I wish I knew your secrets! I myself feel disappointed in my weight loss. I have not been losing really and i am getting discouraged even though i am working my booty off . The numbers are not moving. What if I am just destined to be overweight? What if the lapband wont work for me? Sooo many concerns and no one to answer them for sure. FRUSTRATING! Take care all! Becky

Hi Pinky! I agree I like to just read too! I am retarded and if i do post and noone replies I kinda feel bad so i try not to set myself up for rejection LOL. Good luck on your upcoming surgery! Where are you being banded at? Thats totally funny about your dreams it sounds like something i would do! I was just talking about this yesterday its so bad but i miss that binge part of eating but ill get over it someday i hope! At lunch I see all my coworkers eat these huge plates of food and I think to myself I used to be able to eat more than that! Now its still kinda hard because my eyes are bigger than my stomach so i scoop up way more food than i could possibly eat. Its kinda cool though so i just have to keep thinking that way! Hope you have a great day! Becky

Hey FarmerE, I work nights but i have not since my surgery so I do not even want to imagine what its going to be like! I did 5 nights in a row while i was on my 2 week liquids pre op and I had to cheat by drinking pop since I cannot stand the taste of coffee What am I going to do? LOL everyone eats and snacks on nights but I find that i dont need food just the cafeine. And yea your right our meal schedule will be thrown way off. What are your plans? Becky

Hey guys just checking in. I go back to work tomorrow and I am excited. I have been so busy around the house this week getting ready for my brothers HS grad party I havent had time to rest so going back to work might just be the rest I am looking for LOL! Hope everyone is doing well and good luck to the rest of those to be banded you will love it! Lots of Love Becky

First good luck to everyone that goes tomorrow. I felt like it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be I was up walking 30 minutes after surgery lol! I wanted out of there bad! And honestly I am HUGE baby about pain but I feel great right now. It just feels like a dull period pain in my upper abdomen instead. I guess my hospital was a test pilot for the AP band so I got that one in a size small. I couldnt believe it. I havent been a size small since I was born premature!!!!! I was so excited because I had NO idea we even had the AP band in the hospital but when he told me that I have him a huge high five lol. Everyone just laughed they were like I have never seen someone so happy after surgery. Well i should rest since I havent yet but i just wanted to check in and see how everyone else is doing. Have a great night guys! Becky

Good luck Janine if i dont get on here tomorrow at all! You will do awsome ill say a prayer for you anyways though. We dont have long to wait and we will be banded!!!!! Becky

Hey guys just checking in! I got my pre op phone call this morning and I am scheduled for 10 am so I have to be there by 8 am. I am sooo nervous and I dont even know why right now. I am excited and i never once though nervous would be an emotion i would experience because if i think about it there is nothing to be nervous about but i am. LOL and look at me know I am babbleing on and on. I am really glad its gonna be early in the morning because if i would have to wait all day i would go insane!!!! I hope im even able to sleep Anesthesia makes me sick so I cant wait for all those drugs they give you for that which make you even more sleepy I wanna go home asap! Not hang out in the hospital all day. LOL id better just press send before I go on even more. Have a good day everyone and good luck to everyone tomorrow and hope everyone who is banded is doing wonderful! Becky

Insub - Thanks for the reply. It was hard for me to put that ticker up there but you know I thought about it and I was like I am sick of being ashamed of who I am. If others who have experienced the same things in life as me judge me because of what my ticker says then the H!@# with them! :star: A quick story here. I was at work one day working in the nursery with a lady that was bigger than I was. Well there was this 600+ man out side the door leaning on our hall railing because he was out of breath. She goes and stares out the window at him and says "He's so fat he's gonna break that right off the wall!" So then she goes and gets her other nurse friends to stand and gock and this poor man who is just standing there with his family. I have never felt so bad in my life so i said something. Im like "We are in the same boat as him so who are we to judge and stare. Would you like it if that were you?" And shes like "Umm no we are not even close to the same boat as he is." So tell me what is wrong with our society that even big people needed to judge and be rude to those that are extremely large? Ahhhhh I am getting so mad just writing this because I know that is where I would be many years down the road if I did not do this now (My dad was 500+lbs). So everyone just think before we stare or make comments about anyone of anysize! I am 5'4" and weighed at the start of this 313lbs which is the most ive ever weighed! I dont tell my friends how much I weight or what size I wear thats just too much Nor do I go shopping with them for clothes even though they know where I shop because I used to be a manager and Lane Bryant. Just and FYI I think on the ticker thing you can just track your BMI or weight lost so you dont have to post your weight if your not comfortable yet. I am sure it will come with time but I dont blame you at all for not posting it up there! There are alot of mean people in this world, just hopefully not on our June group . I hope that noone hear has made you feel uncomfortable in anyway. Any downward change in that BMI is a great thing so keep up the great work!!! If my memory is corrent aren't we being banded on the same day June 6th? Becky

MM and Toni - The bp thing might be from dehydration possibly (which I doubt since we have been on weeks of LIQUIDS!) , but my guess would be the low pulse and bp are complications from the anesthesia. It stays in fat cells so the more fat cells we have the more it affects us leaving overweight people more prone to complications. Also I dont know what meds MM takes (especially bloodpressure) then it would be common and they are just trying to be safe by monitoring. Hope this helps. Gosh I feel like I should have been a doctor! Maybe i need to go back to school again lol. MM - Im so glad it all went well! Just take it easy and let your family and friends help you out! Your in Green Bay huh? Im not too far from you in Minnesota! Gross weather we've been having lately. There has been no good days to start my garden! Take care keep us posted! Becky Becky

Toni I know its going to be very tough and at first my mom was very upset that i would schedule my date the day before his graduation so I got an earfull! I am hoping that I will just be goofy from the medicine and not care that i just had surgery so i can be pleasant to everyone haha! We are not having his grad party till the weekend after so that will be much better I hope. I have told my family of course and the people at work that have asked why i was not going to break and eating. As for my friends I have only told a few and the one that i thought would have been very supportive was the complete opposite due to him having a new girlfriend and no time for his friends. Sometimes I hate being so young because I wish the people around me would just grow up! My family is great though and my brother just got his band May 3rd and has lost 40lbs so far so he is gonna be my partner in crime What about you? Do you have a good support system? Do alot of your friends and family know your banded? What is your goal weight? I feel when i look at everyones ticker that I have so much farther than anyone else to go! Becky

toni - glad to hear you are doing so well and the pain is at least tolerable. I have a huge baby when it comes to pain so we will see how I do. I have my brothers graduation to attend the day after my surgery and I have to go pain or no pain so that will be a something! Just a word of caution for you after reading your post. The liquid Lortab you have been taking has tylenol in it (thats the acetaminophen part) so if you are really taking the Lortab every 4-6 hours make sure you are not adding ANY extra tylenol to that. Your body cannot tolerate more than 4000mg of it a day and more than that is known to cause liver damage. Did you doctor tell you this or not? lol sometimes they tell you when you are still really sleepy and you could really care less what they are saying!

Hope everyones day went well and everyone who had surgery is feeling well! Janine - Thanks for the update I was worried about you all day! My advice/opinion here I am afraid will not do you any good. This one is a go with your gut decision. I am so sorry about your awful situation and I just wish I could be more helpful :confused:

Hi Beckie! Great name :confused: Hope you get your date soon. I dont know why I seem to want to answer all the medical questions people ask but whatever :eek: Yes usually an EKG is only good for a month thats the only thing i know for sure has a definite time frame relating to surgery. Yea! I am happy for you. You must be really anxious and excited. I know I was just to set that date and make it mine. Hope you continue to stay with us Junies we need more Beckie's!! LOL Have a great day

Janine - I am so happy that you feel you can come to me. I am always here and willing to help! Ok here are my thoughts. First that nurse was wrong to leave the voice message on your phone and scare you like that. She should have talked to you actually and provided you an opportunity to ask questions! Second I do believe the doctor will decide to take that polyp out (which they will run tests on to see if its cancer but most polyps are not) because it is causing your body some harm like those elevated lab values which if he left it in would probably only get worse and you would not want to damage your liver its more precious than we all realize :confused: I dont know how your surgeon works but I have heard of many that do take those gallbladders out while putting in the lapband but like i said before it increases the risks of getting an infection. Life throws us curves doesn't it? Just when you are trying to do something good for your body something comes up. Keep up the faith you have come this far don't let anything including your gallbladder stop you from getting the band! Becky

Pippz, Musicalmomma and 2behealthyagain - I too have been going through these same things and its great we can come here for support. A guy I am friends with/have seen in the past asked me out on a date but when he found out I could not eat or drink he goes, "Oh well then, we can wait till you can." I was so upset. I told him I will never be able to eat or drink like i used to before and I havent heard from him for days. Also I thought I had a great guy best friend who was going to support me through this whole process like going to meetings with me and dr's appointments but he also bailed. The only ones that have stuck with me are my family because my brother knows how it feels since he just got his lapband in May. I have huge concerns that you married ladies dont need to worry about :confused: but finding that right guy after i lose weight is gonna be 10000x harder because everytime I am gonna wonder, would he have looked at me when I was bigger? I can totally see this is going to be very hard but if I could withstand years of fat comments and rejection I think I might just pull through but definately with lots of love and support! I have journaled about this and I could go on but ill tell you guys it really helps because i know there will be a day when i look back and say look at where I have come from! We will get through this guys!! Becky

Have a great day everyone and welcome new June Bandsters!

I know its so confusing theres the 4cc band and the VG and who knows what else but if my memory serves me correctly I think they are all made by Inamed they are just different models/sizes so to speak? Now that you mention this book your getting me worried! I want my Inamed owners/instruction manual lol :confused: I am going to ask my dr! I am sure he will be impressed! Just wait by the end of this month we will all be talking about how big our band is and how much it can hold and how much we have lost so far!!!! I cant wait. I am off to bed I worked way too hard last night.

Hotty - Am I wrong but isnt the Inamed Band the only one approved for use as of now in the USA? So aren't we all getting it? I want a booklet!!!!!!!! I think the standards on the lapband are awful and someone needs to make the uniform. We should all be on 2 weeks of liquids pre op and post op or we shouldnt!!!!!!!!! just had to vent Keep hanging in there 2 more days for you and you start your new life! Becky

Hi Janine! No problem! With that ultrasound they are probably checking for the size of your liver, any masses in that area, and for gallstones. My brother had one done and they push kinda hard he said but maybe that was just his technician . You will do fine and the surgery will go on as planned. I will say a prayer for you but u probably dont need it! Are you on a pre op diet? Mine is killing me lol I have lost like 15lbs but its so hard! Keep in touch Becky

LOL!!!!!!! Bengay under the nose haha! That is so funny. The things we do to avoid food!!! Thats great! Hope the movie was good