StephC

and this is the barrel belly - I know its hard to believe but I'm actually sucking in.

ok this is for kay - my butt - not a shelf butt.....

hi everyone! Well the kids are gone - whew! Maybe life will get back to normal now. For those of you who don't know - when I say kids I'm talking college age kids. Its been busy this weekend, I didn't realize I haven't been on since like Thursday! I think I'm doing ok - seems the scale is stuck but I hope to get my fill in a week and then maybe things will start moving again - downward. I'm really trying to eat 1/2 cup, no Water for an hour after... all that jazz. But I feel like I eat more this way then when I was eating a cup at a time. I ate salad at lunch today - very little of the lettuce - I hope its ok. They said stay away from lettuce since it tends to ball up in side but I chewed very well and I feel ok now so we'll see. Kay - I was checking out the list - I put Shanksville - thats where I'm from but I had my surgery in Windber, PA. Just thought I'd tell ya, I guess it was my mistake.

I'm baaaaaaack! Wow you girls can talk! I had about 6 pages to read! Bk - tell me your story, I read everyones posts about adoption and went back to read your story and couldn't find it - pm it to me - please. I burp. Not alot but every now and then this LOUD burrrrrrrrrrrp comes out of the pit of my stomach on up through my band over the esphogus and out of my mouth telling the world it is free! Kids have been here all weekend - I guess to some you youngster they would be your peers. So I'm mom - made lasagna, cake, banana bread - all that shtuff. I had my first at 22 and now he's 22 and married and kids in college , kids in high school - its great not to have to worry about potty training. Now its just about weddings, and education, boyfriends and sex. Lets not go there. I haven't had time to check out the Dec. bandsters - but I'll go over and post. I hate to hurt feelings - (like I did with KarenAR) - but it was getting so confusing. And I kinda felt like we were going over the same stuff again and again, although if I were one of the later banded ones I would want to be where I could learn too. Just wondering why they didn't join in at the beginning tho. I've been doing my 10 minutes on the treadmill. I ate a very small amount of the lasagna - couldn't have salad - but I did eat a few olives and feta, onion with a little dressing. I miss salad. I go tues so maybe dr.dreamy will let me eat salad. I go on regular food then. I've been trying to eat 1/2 cup amounts but seems like I'm hungry all the time that way. When I was eating a cup it was sticking with me 3-4 hours. I'll be sooooo glad to get my fill! I gotta get a shower - get ready for church. My daughter and friend are doing service today. They are going on a missions trip to new orleans in March so trying to raise money. Its sad how we forget so soon. You know they still don't have water and still rebuilding - still need to be remembered. I love the reunion thing - money is usually an issue and doubt hubby will ever let me go to europe without him! But NYC is cool. Guess we have a while to think on that one! I'm a size 16 - almost a 14. I'm 5'3" and my first goal is 150 - been a long time since I saw that one and my ultimate goal is 130 - haven't seen that in 20 years! I wasn't fat until after I had #3 - she broke me. We were just talking about what we gained when we got pregnet and I gained 50 lbs with #1 and still only weighed 162 when I delivered - 143 when I went home! OMGoodness! To be there again! The last time I felt attractive, or comfortable at my weight was around 165 - so big change in the head! Rambling - shower - later!

Hello my steadies! I love this! only a page or 2 to catch up on. I did pretty good today - trying to measure 1/2 cup servings all day. Had my shredded wheat, at about 7, then at 11 I had cottage cheese and pears, 1ish I ate a some left over casserole, 5 I ate a small peice of a wedgie (ham and cheese on pizza crust) stayed away from the pizza crust so it was more like a snack of ham and cheese, then at 7 I ate a bowl of my frozen Soup from my nesting days. Everything was measured in 1/2 cup servings - dr told me its better to eat small portions several times a day, so I worked on it today. And a small tootsie roll - damn candy has me this TOM! Which btw is really sucky because I'm going thro the change and I'm "irregular" so its like every 20 days instead of 28. Then there will be a month where i'm 3 weeks late and I'm like YES! I'm done! And then 20 days later I have it again. My best friend was over the other night, we were ROFL, we've been friends for 17 years and went from the potty training stage to the college stage - and now we are both having hot flashes and night sweats - its a blast <--- scarcasm All I have to say about potty training is boys are a b-tch Nat - my girls were a peice of cake compared to the boy. And the fact that they can whip it out when ever they want .... one day in the car I had pee spraying all over - yeah that was fun but not as much fun as the poopy pants! He just about drove me over the edge with poopy pants - remember 22 years ago they didn't have pull ups - it was rinsing out those little underwear in the toilet - ENJOY! My big deal for the day is I cleaned my bedroom, moved furniture so I could get my treadmill in the right spot for the tv. I did 10 minutes and am determined to stick with it. My youngest daughter wants to start running at the high school - they have an indoor track we like to walk. She does track so she's thinking its time to start training now. Hopefully we'll get into that next week. She also does cheerleading for basketball, boy and girls so she has games almost every night - she's in drama at the church, and worship team, then she is in the local fire queen pagent so I don't know when she thinks we will get to the track. Besides all that she has a boyfriend. Oh to be 16 again! I'm going to spend some time with hubby. See ya tomorrow!

wow you girls are fast! I had to read 2 pages! I cleaned my bedroom today and walked 10 minutes on the treadmill. Technically not suppose to until the 11th - broken knee cap - I was sweating! Hubby will be stumbling around tonight - he loves it when I change the furniture around. LOL I love you all - you're all so positive and encouraging. So a shelf butt hu? thats gotta be better then a barrel belly! I'm 44 and last year I had 3 people ask me when the baby was due! Yeah that was humilating. But by next Christmas we will no longer have barrel bellies or shelf butts! The dd - and thats not dear - time for her to get back to college! Needs the computer - her laptop is broke and we all have to live in hell because of it! Talk to you later!

I started out on a yahoo group - I hated the format and I hated that your posts didn't come up right away. I don't know if it was just they way they set it up but the moderators had to proof read everything - I found LBT and haven't been back since.

btw - I was kinda getting into all the pms - that was cool - bam bam bam! Never had so many in all my LBT time!

Ok to answer my own question - I checked out the stomach stapling - ow! Can't understand why someone would opt for that rather then the band. Confession - I ate a freeking candy bar last night! My daughter brought home a bag of those really good ones to sell and I was like omgoodnesss! I thought I'd take just a little bite and ate the WHOLE dang thing! 300 calories! I will blame it on TOM since he came yesterday. UGH! Just when I think I'm over him and ready to move on to a "change of life" he comes and upsets my whole scheme of things! But the good news is when I weighed my self this morning - after I had eaten a bowl of shredded wheat - I was still at a steady 209 (my scale - proabably 211 on the doc's) - Lord give me strength to eat a proper diet today! w8t4me - I was banded on 12/11 (hey Kay I think I forgot that part) and I feel good. Are you getting in enough Protein? Do you still have the shingles? Maybe you should call your dr, just to be safe. I hope you feel better soon. B-man - if I can eat venison I supose I can eat seal - but wait! I know its high in protein but what about the fat? May have to pass if its too fatty. Nat - your little egg quiches sound good - but I'm too dang lazy to make anything. I've been eating my Cereal, leftover casseroles, cottage cheese and peaches oh and CANDY BARS! Today I must clean the guest room - we have a guest coming - my daughters guy friend on the way to college -he's spending a night and then they are off to college - its been good having her home but always good to send her back. How horrible is that?! She's 20 and its so hard when they are half here and half there and not totally independant (still using daddy's credit card on a reg basis) but still very independent in all the other ways. So thats our goal today - clean house for company. I just got all the christmas stuff put away yesterday so I guess its time to clean. Wish that nesting thing would hit me again. mystique - good luck on a new day - sounds like you are in control! Thats the way to do it! Denise - my mom lived in Portland area for a few years - she loved it but I'm sorry I wouldn't be able to deal with the rain - I know it sounds stupid but I would rather have snow any day than rain - I would be one of those people with the fake suns in the house just to keep me sane. Winter is tough on me too - but PA has had a very mild winter so far - I hear Jan and Feb are supose to make up for it tho. Ok - I'm off - for now - when I'm tired of cleaning I'll be back.

OH another question for anyone - have you heard of stomach stapling? I thought that was a thing of the past and when I emailed my step-father in laws son to see how he was doing with the band he said he didn't have the band but had his stomach stapled and wished he'd have gone through with a full bypass. I didn't know they did that.

Denise - hair loss shouldn't be an issue IF you are taking in enough Protein. Thus - all the talk about protein. BK - I haven't had the same issue as you with someone who has gastric bypass but everyone I know thats had weight loss surgery has had the gastric bypass - not all of them have done so well and some have even gain weight back. Don't let her get you down. I've told people at church and every week everyone tells me how good I look - I'm like you, thinking ok so how much can you really tell? But I smile and say thanks I'm working at it. I'm not so sure I'll eat pizza when I do get passed up to regular foods - just a thought. I haven't really had the craving yet, or if I did it passed. I can't wait to get my fill - I really look forward to restriction. I wondered about the dr visits because I kinda feel its a waste of time and gas for me to go but they just want to stress the next step in the food lists to me and check my weight and stuff. Mystique - don't beat yourself up! WE ALL have our down moments but you just pick yourself up and start again. B-man - how do you like the elliptical? I was really thinking about asking hubby for one - but I was afraid after he spent all this money on a treadmill coat rack sitting in my bedroom - ugh! I had to take my dd word for it and believe it would be another peice of unused equipment. I do like to walk and hope to get back in the swing of it as soon as dr gives me the ok on my knee - I think its the 11th. Maybe then I'll start to lose some weight. I got my nails done today. I love getting my nails done and when I had to take them off for surgery it was heart wretching. Now I have to get used to typing with them again. Something about nice nails make me feel pretty. while we were in the salon a lady came in with 2 little girls about 6 or 8 years old and let them get their nails painted. It was so cute! I kept watching the one and she was smiling and oh so cute! Girly girls. Talk to you all tomorrow - I finally got most of my Christmas decorations put away.

I was just wondering how often you all see your doctors? I had a 2 week visit, and a 4 week is scheduled and then my fill at 5-6 weeks. I also popped in 3 days post-op to get more tape on my incisions. I saw him at the support group at one week post-op too. How often are your support group meetings - mine are once a month at the dr's office and then daily on LBT

Ok so I just got off the phone with the dr (actually the PA) and they said about the water - at this point its not going to dialate my pouch because the opening is so big that its going right through BUT they don't want me doing this because the whole idea is to get into the post-fill habits and after I have the fill it could stretch my esphosgus, the same with the amount of food I've been eating. I told him I know I'm eating more then a half a cup, more like a cup - he said at this point without the fill I can but shouldn't - there again with the whole habit thing because after the fill I won't be able to eat more then a half cup, so its better to eat several times a day, half cup at a time then to eat a whole cup and only eat 3 times. Have I made any sense at all to you? The wonderful news is that after my next appt - next tues - the 9th - he thinks I'll be able to get a fill the following week - since I'm tolerating food so well. I told him nothing has ever made me sick, or golf ball feeling, I've never even felt nauseated, he said well you will probably be able to get a fill a week after going to reg. foods. Wow - its hard to believe that next tues I'll be going to regular foods! Think we may have pizza for supper that night. LOL

btw thanks for the protein chart Nat - I'll check out that site too.

Ok so I'm gonna shock you all and say I don't count my Protein AT ALL!!! No kidding! At my last visit I told the dr I haven't been drinking my Protein drinks and he said you shouldn't have to. He said if I eat properly I'll get enough protein. So I haven't really worried about it. I do think about things like cottage cheese and milk (more because I'm not taking a Calcium supplement and already have bone loss) yesterday egg & toast - 8 g chinese(mostly the chicken) I'd say 20 g crab cake w/shrimp alfredo whole wheat linguine - 30 g 1/2 c cottage cheese 15 thats over 70 grams of protein and probably too many calories I'm guessing that I've been eating enough protein but I'm probably stalled because I'm eating too many calories. Its strange tho because I do not snack at all - and my portions are WAY smaller then what I had been eating - so I don't know. I guess I better start tracking it better. And looking at that I just realized I'm not getting much fruit and vegies - I am taking my flintstones and I'm still drinking alot of Water. UGH! I'm so confused!

you are all too freaking fast! I just post a comment and theres already 10 more to read!

Kay - too funny! I actually knew what you were talking about before you sent it! I'm thinking oh yeah they look like crap but dang they're comfy! I tried jeans on in Walmart yesterday - not that I don't have enough in the bottom of my drawer - but they have these ones that have a built in tummy control - I didn't get them because the ones that fit are the same size that I'm wearing now and I'm not ready to get new jeans yet - but how cool is that? Tummy control! Jess - towards the end of my liquid phase when I was starving - I started making Soups like potato - then pureeing the the potatoes and added it back to the liquid so it was thicker - and bean soup, I mushed up the Beans so it was so good and thick, then you can also melt in some cottage cheese - which is very high in Protein - like into your tomato soup. I tried the protein powder but found out that it doesn't work in hot foods. Carol - good luck on the job interview! Kay- I know what you mean about the fresh sauteed foods - but no asparagus or brocoli ends - too stringy - that and celery - doc says it all balls up in the pouch and gets you stuck. I ate some of the brocoli tops at chinese yesterday - they were very well done but then from one of the other dishes they weren't as well done so I stayed away. I'm allowed casseroles so I figure if its mushy it should be ok to eat. How's the bm's going? LOL Everyone past the mud butt stage? I'm trying to eat shredded wheat every morning to keep me regular but I miss the pre-op poops. <---- ok sorry but that was in tribute to the "steadies" Love ya girls! (Nat I assume we are all your steadies?) Nat - its so good to hear you are back to you're old self! Let us know how work went.

Hello everybody! I haven't been puree-ing my food at all since my dr's diet has pureed and soft foods as interchangeable. Today we went for chinese and I made a plate of what I thought I could have. I left about 1/3 of it on my plate and I was stuffed. I'm still full and that was at lunch! BUT I don't get why I'm never feeling "stuck" or like I've over eaten - sometimes like today I looked at my plate and said to my daughter that looks like more then 1/2 of a cup to me - and she said me too - I think if I packed it into a cup it would have all fit and I left some so maybe I'm not overeating? Thats why I'm so curious about those of you who have felt the golf ball or thrown up, I keep thinking ok this is too much but apparently not since its going in ok. Today was scrambled eggs at 9am, chinese at 1 and now I'm still full so I don't think I'll eat until close to 7 or 8. Do you all think its normal? Kay - don't worry about the crackers - I'm sure they're going down ok. Think about it this way, if they were in Soup and all mushed up would they be ok to eat? If you are chewing them to mush I think it should be ok. Thats another thing I've very careful about is chewing - so maybe thats why everything is going down easy. Last night when my friend was over we snacked on pretzels - definitely not soft foods! but I took my time and chewed and chewed and ate like a skinny person who plays with their food. B-man - OMGoodness - drunk on New Years EVE! The shame of it~ jk! But the bacardi and Water - yuko! I've drank wine several times, not enough to get drunk but a glass now and then goes down fine. My gf brought over eggnog - with the 3 liquors in it - yuk! Her and hubby drank a 1/5th - LOL - I sipped on a glass of wine. I think as long as you are drinking slow it should be fine. I read about the dilating the pouch with even water and that kinda scares me about drinking too much. I am a BIG water drinker and I don't have any problem downing a large glass several times a day so its been hard for me to stop at a few sips - which I never do - I gulp about a half a glass and then stop myself before I over fill my pouch. I think I'll have to talk to doc about this subject. Sweethot - oh your day sounded wonderful in the netherlands!

Happy New Year Bandsters! Nat - I didn't think you'd starve yourself on purpose sweetie - just giving you the old mom talk - eat your vegetables and all that stuff. I forgot your doctor has you on packaged food right? Is it still liquids? I had my appetite back the 2nd week, I wish I had felt more restriction. Anyway I'm glad you're resting and feeling better. I went to my 2 parties last night. The first on had a ton of food! I ate some bean dip with a crackers, a sliver of lasagna, which was about 2 normal bites - I made it last longer and didn't finish it, about 3-5 shrimp and then crab legs. I ate a bunch of crab legs but they are so much work that I think the food definitely has time going down. I didn't feel stuffed at all - and then I had a half of a slice of custard pie, it probably had as much sugar as some of the rest of the Desserts but it felt healthy, I know the main ingredients are eggs and milk so thats how I rationalized it. At the 2nd party I didn't eat much, I think I may have had a couple crackers and dip. I tried to drink wine at the first party but it wasn't good so switched to Water. The next party I had a small glass of wine. I'm thinking I may have washed the food down faster then I would if i was at home. I really focus on nothing to drink for at least 45 minutes after I've eaten. I've found the mushie/soft foods stay with me so much better then the liquids did - as long as I'm not flushing them down with water. I'm only eating my 3 regular meals and a small snack before bed. I don't remember who asked - and btw - WELCOME to december bandsters all you newbies!!! - anyway someone said they go back to work the 8th? I think you'll be feeling fine by then. I felt close to 100% by the end of the first week. Its 3 weeks out today for me and it feels like its been a couple months! I feel great! I actually don't feel like I even had surgery. If it weren't for me KNOWING I need to be feeling full, or not drinking ... I wouldn't even feel banded. I loved the first week when I felt restriction and I'm looking forward to my first fill. Nat - just thought of something. Your doctor said he gave you some fill when he banded you right? I wonder if it was more then the normal amount. My dr said that manufactur recommends after the band is in place they fill it and then let it drain out until the band is lax. So everyone has a little bit of fill to start with - but you said your dr put some fill in right away so maybe he started you with a little more then normal. Could be why you aren't hungry and its hard to get all the fluids in. Just a thought. kkleslie - I felt the same love for cream of wheat when I was in the liquids. It felt like I was actually eating something. KarenAR - I sometimes have a "way" with words - I'm sorry. I hope to hear from you soon. December Bandsters - Hope you all have a wonderful thin prosperous successful healthy banded New Year! Wishing all of God's greatest blessings upon you!

when you do finally go don't be suprised if all you get is a little bit of mud butt. My doctor allowed me oatmeal - very milked down during the liquid stage since its fiber and keeps things moving, but its been 3 weeks and I still don't go like I did before the surgery.

Nat my love! I've missed you! I've been so worried and now I know why! I hope you take it easy - rest, relax, and recover! And EAT! you really do need food to lose weight - starving yourself is not the answer. Its just so good to hear from you - xoxoxoxo Kay - We are going to friends for a party from about 7-9 then to my son's house to welcome in the new year, he just got married so this is their first New Year partay! I'm making buffalo chicken dip - way too many calories - and cherry cheesecake pie - way too many calories. I'll just take a bite of each and focus on something else. I just read about pouch dilations - oww scarey! I especially am concerned because I never feel STUFFED - I think I eat about a cup at the most at a time - I wonder if I should cut back. I never feel sick but I do burp - not PB's just a bubble type burp. I hope I'm not one of those people who haven't got a strong gag reflex. I never throw up - its probably been years - even when preg. I only threw up once with each kid - I felt nauseated alot but not pukey - when the flu comes around it doesn't come up, it squirts out - if you know what I mean. Guess this will be a question for the doc next visit. Going to watch a movie with my daughter - talk to you all later - Nat - so good to hear from you again.

Hi all - I wasn't able to get on yesterday but came back and you are all doing so well! I think I'll get my first fill around Jan 22/23. Thats 6 weeks for me. I go in again on the 9th just to have another food talk - thats when he'll tell me to eat regular foods. I'm not doing bad on mushie/soft foods. My diet now is interchangeable with soft foods and its been pretty easy. Yesterday we went to a wrestling tournament - my great nephew just started in the peewee's - so darn cute - anyway, for Breakfast I ate a banana, lunch 3 pirogis, and a little Soup, supper was chicken and rice in general tso's sauce. I woke up in a hot flash tonight and started thinking about what I had ate so I had to get up and check the calorie content of the chicken - it was 240/cup - so I think I'm keeping my calories well below 1000. I also had 2 bites of my daughters milky way. I haven't felt sick at all since I had the surgery. None of the golf ball stuff or pb's - has anyone else? I keep worrying that I'm making the right food choices and now and then I feel like I need to burp - which if I get up and walk I do burp - big loud burps but thats probably from eating too fast. And I also find it so much easier NOT to snack between meals - I don't feel hungry at all unless its meal time. I LOVE MY BAND! The clothes swap sounds cool. I'm fitting nicely into my clothes again, yesterday I went through a bunch of old ones that still didn't fit and tried a pair of jeans on that did but then I remembered why I didn't like them. I hate low riding jeans! Why on earth would they make fatlady jeans that button below the belly button? I know I've got an odd shape with a apple belly and not pear shaped but still my belly button is low and these jeans still come 3 inches below MY belly button. I get no sympathy from my daughters who are a size 6 and 10 - they can wear crap like that. They usually start giggling when it comes to me and jeans. I hate the look but its so much more comfortable to wear the old lady stretchy slacks that come up above my belly button. My daughter has a pair of jeans that are all ripped up - you know they buy them that way for $50 - I"m old, I know - anyway I told her that next christmas I'm going to wear them. LOL not that I want to wear ripped up jeans but dang I can't wait to be that size! Well I've been up and hour - the hot flash is over so I guess I'll try to sleep again. This is my insomnia. I haven't had it for a while and when I feel like I haven't been sleeping well I take and otc sleeping pill - usually a half will give me a good nights sleep. Its so irratating because I know that tomorrow is New Years Eve and if I don't sleep tonight I will be crashing before the ball drops tomorrow. Which btw - Kay - I have 2 partys to go to - I'm taking mushy/soft food that I can eat - you know they are always potluck - I may have a glass of wine - I had one on Christmas and it went down well. I'm not a big drinker anyway so its not a big deal. Its funny because other then a glass of wine now and then the only alcohol I drink is dark beer and now I can't drink that at all. If I don't see you all later today - have a Happy safe New year celebration! Love ya bandsters!

B-man you do not suck! You're doing great! Do you like your new machine? I asked my daughter about it and if I would like it and she said no - you wouldn't use it. LOL ok then I'm going to repeat myself but this is what I ate today. No bkfst 1 scrambled egg, rye toast, cottage cheese and canned peaches went to dinner - cajun seafood alfredo - ate about 1/4 of the huge plate - cut up the shrimp and loved the scallops and the noodles were very soft went to son's for his b-day - had sliver of cake had 1/2 cup of chocolate yogurt before bed - except I didn't go to bed yet. On the one hand it doesn't seem like much but then on the other hand I think I'm eating alot - I don't snack in between because I'm really not hungry. So Paloma - have you ever gotten sick before this? I never ever have felt nausated except right out of surgery and they gave me something for it. Did you throw up. You need to be very careful about that you could hurt yourself. I haven't always made the greatest choices but nothing has made me sick. Do you have a fill yet? Grumpy - I felt the same way, that I should sit up straight. Did you take a shower yet? Once you shower the strips will start to fall off. Siyah - good to hear you are doing better - take it easy for a few days and you'll be back to your old self in no time. Gasx, heating pad

I know it can be frustrating but we are all still healing and shouldn't even be worried about weight loss. I know thats alot easier said then done. The other thing is if you are eating 700 calories your body is in starvation mode. Kick it up to 1000 or 1200 for a few days and then back down to about 900 and see if that doesn't do the trick. I know I feel like I'm eating alot more and the scale isn't moving anymore. I'm determined not to get on it until next dr visit in 2 weeks. My doc also said after the first fill then we will talk about weight loss but for now just let my band heal. For those of you on mushies what is a typical day? I have an egg with rye toast (I know technically I shouldn't be eating the toast yet) or oatmeal then lunch is something simple like mashed potatoes, canned fruit, and cottage cheese (today I had a scrambled egg with the fruit and cottage cheese), then supper has been almost what the family has eaten. I had tuna casserole last night, along with peaches and cottage cheese. I should slow down on the cottage cheese but its the LF kind and has so much Protein and I like it. I have something before bed too - I can't think right now what I had last night, maybe some frozen yogurt, but I think I'm eating 4 small meals a day from 200-250 calories. I have to say I never feel FULL - satisfied and the other thing is I think my pouch holds more then 1/2 cup! I havent' measured but it seems more like a cup before I even feel satisfied. I made oatmeal the other day and I made 1/3 cup uncooked - so I guess that makes about 2/3 cup and I didn't eat it all. I haven't written it down and figured out the calories (just in my head) and the doctor said after the next visit when I move to regular food he will have me track my food, we'll see if I lose and thats how he will judge my fill. He said some people don't need a fill for 3 months (I know thats not me!). I went to work today - I was there at 9 so I didn't take the time to eat Breakfast, just drank a half cup of sugar free cappiccino around 11 my stomach started to growl like - woman I am hungry! But then it passed and I finished work and didn't eat until I got home at 1:00. But when I did eat I wasn't starved like I had felt earlier - kinda strange. Resist the PH demons!

I had surgery on a Monday and Wednesday most of my strips had fallen off. Doc had me in on Thursday and re-taped me but by Monday they were itchy and he said take the tape off - I was pretty much healed within the couple of days, at a week only one incision had a tiny little scab.