Devo-tee

Hi! Had my first massage since band on 11/9. It was like HEAVEN. This whole thing has destroyed my back so much, since I can't sleep the way I need to since the band, and it really helped so much to see the massage therapist. I am not losing at all- in fact, I put on two pounds since the lowest since the surgery. I have no restriction- nothing- and didn't right after the band, either. I could easily sip 8oz protein shake in a couple of minutes, even the day after I got home from surgery. I worry I'm one of those with so little restriction in the band as placed that it will take me forever to get to restriction and lose. And that make me sad- it's easy to get disheartened! I can eat as much as I want, and I am trying to be good, but without this extra tool, I'm sure my portion sizes are 4 times as big as they will be once I get restriction. I"m just trying to eat as healthy as I can and work out as much as I can (easier to do with the extra food!) and prepare for restriction... whenever that may be. I'm happy for those of you with quicker loss/restriction after surgery- my gosh, there seem to be a lot of you in november!

Agreed. There are just more women getting the band on here. I had horrible pain with this surgery, especially with the port area. Different surgeons put the port in different places, using different methods. This is VERY DIFFERENT between people. Some people (like me) have reactions to dissolvable stitches. That is not fun. Some people have restriction, some don't. I never did. So I was in a ton of pain, but could gulp down whole vicodin very easily and never had trouble reaching my Fluid or Protein goals. I was upset with how my surgeon responded when I called about the pain, and my inability to tolerate the vicodin due to rebound headaches. My pain was definitely under-treated. I had to be away from work for two full weeks. FYI, my pain scale is: the worst pain I ever had was horrible back labor that turned into an emergency c-section. So my 10 really is a freaking 10, and little a guy goes through can match that 10. (I hear kidney stones are up there, though.) So it really just does vary for so many reasons. Usually I don't take painkillers after surgery (I had sinus surgery, both carpel tunnel surgeries, shoulder surgery, etc.) I think it would have been better had I had adequate pain relief. I had surgery two weeks ago and I am on soft-normal foods now. Weight loss completely stopped a week ago. I'm probably gaining now with the complete lack of restriction. I am walking 2 miles 5 times a week at minimum (did a few 3 miles in there), so that's ahead of the curve in terms of expected exercise. I'm just looking forward to that first fill, and hopefully I"ll get restriction in not TOO long! hopehope!

I was banded 9 days ago. My port still hurts like hell, but the stomach is totally back to normal. No more grumbles, no more bathroom troubles, I have absolutely NO restriction, etc. I think it is just the healing we go through. It does get better with time but some of us seem to have very painful ports, and some don't, but that will get better too. I had complications with the pain medication and so could not take even that, and I even called the doctor to get alternative medicine and ask what to do, and he totally blew me off. "oh, it will get better". That pissed me off- I usually don't take pain meds, so it was REALLY bad if I was calling. It would wake me up multiple times at night. That is starting to get better. I would actually not recommend my surgeon to others because I'm so upset about that. However, now am feeling like a human again. Also: extremely hungry. I see why a lot of people don't lose weight after the surgery until a few fills. Oh, I hope I don't need such large fills, because having no success for six months until I finally get restriction will make me go BonKerS!

UGH. I am so sorry. Definitely contact your surgeon back in Lebanon, and make sure you get copies of your files AND XRAYS. I don't think anyone is going to want to un-fill you without knowing exactly where your port is, and no-one is going to give you X-rays when you are pregnant (as they shouldn't). how do you feel, and how is your current weight gain? As long as that is on track and you can eat healthy foods, I don't think it is 100% the case all the time that you get unfilled for a pregnancy. If you aren't throwing up, and can use healthy slider foods to gain the right amount of weight, you might be OK! Anyway, if you can get a copy of your file/xrays that might really help regarding getting someone to help you, and if your surgeon knows anyone in the US, maybe that person could help?

Thought I would see if anyone out there is in my boat. I'm 6 days post surgery, and in more pain than ever. I really envy the people on here who reported only mild pain, who weren't taking pain meds, and who were up and driving and the like! There is no way I could do that. I am getting one mile of walking in (very slowly), and doing everything else right (liquids, protein- no problem at all getting the required amount in, tracking everything). No throwing up (I am a master at not throwing up, though!) But the PAIN, ugh. It's the port, but also diffused all inside around the stomach area (not the short, sharp gas pains that dissipate quickly). This is really starting to stress me out and get me down. I can only take vicodin once a day or I get horrible rebound headaches, and that is only lightly touching the pain. I see the doc on wed, and I will call today, but it just seems that I have a lot more pain from this than others on here. I'm very bruised, one of my incisions is still leaking a bit (but is not infected), so I'm wondering if the surgery didn't go as easily as it might have and I'm just more banged up inside than some. I think I had a hiatal hernia repaired, but I don't know for sure- Ill ask on wed. While my surgeon is good he is horrible about talking and I was too out of it to remember to ask. Anyway.. anyone else in this boat? Any pain relievers other than vicodin/tylenol anyone is using (in the US) that work? I am definitely under-treating this pain and it is making me mental.

I am going to be totally honest with you. If this were happening to me, I would immediately call the psychologist with whom I had the screening consult. You can really hurt yourself and completely defeat your surgery by doing this. You must understand that. Therefore, there must be something else you can't control here, and that needs to be dealt with. That is what I would do. I would also be honest with the doctor about what happened. If you can't do this, the band isn't going to be successful for you in the long run in any case- sounds like there are some issues for which a psych trained in eating issues could really help!

Hi! Please- don't drive! I had to sign a form saying I would not drive. The pain medicine we're taking, including what we had during/after surgery, would make driving a DUI. I had luck with propping myself with giant pillows from the couch, all the way down my back. I get about 3.5 hours of sleep in and then wake up due to the pain. I think the best thing to do is take the maximum amount of pain meds allowed, and just move slowly and gently. I think we will feel a lot of improvement in the next few days. We have the best excuse ever to be lazy and not do anything- let's all take it

I wanted to share a note about weight gain during the surgery. As a few posted before, the fluid from surgery makes you GAIN weight when you get it, so don't be sad or look at the scale for a while! I knew I would gain fluid, also since I missed a few doses of diuretic meds during/after the surgery. I gained TWELVE POUNDS when I got home- and this is after almost no calories for two days! So far I have lost two of those pounds (TMI- peed them right out, ha ha). It will take some time for the rest of the liquid to go away- I can feel a lot of it in my gut, etc. Even more TMI- my main incision (I have five- the big one is right above my bellybutton) is definitely worse than the others, and last night there was a lot of bloody drainage out of it. Hopefully this is normal, and it seems to have calmed down. Not fun cleaning that off the floor through :rolleyes2: I'm sure this happens to a lot of other people, so I think we should just not look at that scale (or realize it's all fluids!). I have to say I think I have more pain than some others on here, along with a killer headache- I think maybe it's just the different ways we are affected by surgery, and how much they have to dig in there to do the surgery. I have to take two vicodin every four hours just to manage. I found that instead of grinding them and putting them into a spoonful of yogurt, it actually tasted way less bad to just chew them a bit and swallow with water. It is lovely here in MI today so I walked outside, slowly, for half a mile. Being outside was a relief! I hope the rest of you are doing well!

Good idea- maybe I will steal all of the pillows from the couch and put them on the bed. heh. Elevation really does help. I"ve been very active tonight with moving around and especially using the breathing exerciser. This is extra important since I have asthma. (TMI alert) when using it, and then coughing like we are supposed to, it felt impossible, but I did cough up some nasty chunks of goo. That goo is really important to get out, and it surprised me that it was in there- so there's some motivation to use that device! I've been working hard at it and it seems to be paying off. I know tomorrow will be better. Thanks so much to all on here- having these boards to refer to has been a lifesaver!!

Hi All: I'm home from being banded yesterday. Everything went great, but the pain was greater than I expected it would be. The meds knocked it down, but I had to ask for them and communicate well about the pain to have it treated. Especially in the recovery room- it was bad in there. It was interesting- the floor I was on was pretty dead, and noone bugged me to walk- I pushed myself to walk, which was a good idea. However, I got barely any sleep due to the pain. The constant burning pain is OK and treatable, but that gas pain that comes and goes seems to wake me up just as I fall asleep every time, urg! I'm sure things will get better with time. I'm trying to take drinking really slowly and I've already devoured six SF popsicles, which are nice since they sort of automatically make you ingest the liquid slowly. I've never looked so forward to a Protein shake though- tomorrow!! My doc (sigh) gave me vicodin big giant pills (WHY?), so I'm crushing them with a spoonful of yogurt and swallowing it carefully in three tiny swallows. That is working very well, and I will crush my other meds too just to be safe, and follow them with some warm tea. I sort of can't believe I actually finally got this done! It's like a dream. Well, the vicodin helps with that feeling. The XRAY test was not bad at all, btw. It was super quick, and the stuff you swallow is gross but not SUPER HORRID or anything, and it's just tiny swallows. They showed me the xray when I asked when I was waiting to go back to my room, and it was really cool to look at- I suggest asking if you're interested! You can see your very own band. I was like: hi band! Obviously I am loopy and intend to stay that way as long as this pain is so bad. Off to shuffle around the house again. The only really frustrating thing is that I just cant' lay down in the bed, it hurts like crazy. The couch is fine though, but I don't want to drag my cpap and everything else down here. When did you guys find that you could lay down (propped up by some pillows) in bed comfortably? Thanks and good luck to everyone about to get their surgery! I have to say the people at Alma/Great Lakes Surgical Center were fantastic.

You can get this just from going under general anesthesia! The four month timeline looks right for that. It's just that the hairs all went into "resting" phase vs "active", most likely. That hair will come back, but it will take some time. This happened to me after a completely unrelated surgery, and then it happened again after getting pneumonia and taking prednisone (I lost half of my hair that time!). So it's not just protein or vitamins- it can be the surgery itself. Just take care of yourself as best you can, and it'll come back :crying:

I get banded tomorrow! I am sort of freaking out!! I found something that helps so much with the Protein shakes. I found sugar free chocolate soymilk at Meijer. It's only 50 cals/serving, sweetened with splenda, 6g protein. So I make the shakes with that instead of Water (tastes horrible) or milk (too many carbs) and oh my, it makes them SO much better. Have to wait for the bubbles in the shakes to go away after surgery, though, so I"ll shake up a few canning jars worth in the morning and just let it sit in the fridge. I predict the rule I will break is: no straws. However, I have been practicing on taking the first sip, holding my tongue on the end of the straw, blowing the air out of my mouth, and then taking a drink. No air that way. And as long as you keep sipping slowly and don't break the vacuum, no air gets back in. Good luck all you other nov 9thers :thumbup: -j

It is so interesting to hear of others' post-surg diet requirements on here. I can understand the need for different pre-surg diets, depending on liver size, weight needed to be lost to be able to do the surgery, etc. But why some can't even take anything but Clear liquids + Protein shakes, vs strained cream liquids, vs mushies, is interesting. I think the plan my doc gave us goes overboard since it was also written for gastric bypass patients, and I'm hoping I heal faster so I can advance through the stages more quickly (10 days on clear liquids!! then 10 on cream liquids!! then 10 on puree, then on to soft, is a long time, but I understand if you've actually had your stomach cut up..!) Thanks for posting. My surgery is on tuesday PM, come home wednesday, and I"m sure I'll be posting loopy pain med posts :eek:

There are a few of us Nov 9th-ers out there :eek:. I don't get surgery until 1:30PM that day (I am going to be soooooo thirsty late in the morning.) I'm on the very low-carb 10-day pre-op diet (which is nice- it's not just liquids). No weight loss needed before surgery, it's just the shrink-and-toughen-up-your-liver-by-using-up-all-your-glycogen diet. I've lost some weight but really it is just water- like with any high protein diet, you'll lose 5-7lbs of water after you use up that glycogen. It's a good sign it is working like it should. Cutting caffeine out entirely was harder. God I'm tired. I would lie if I said I was not terrified, but I"m happy at the same time. I'm more terrified of the post-op diet (which is liquids for a long, long time) than the actual surgery!! I learned my lesson when getting an unplanned c-section, though: TAKE THE PAIN MEDS ALL THE TIME, and never let the pain get bad. Don't try to tough it out. Ever. So I will be following that to a "t" this time. :thumbup:

Hey lashonda23- you're from flint? Where are you getting your surgery done? I'm in Midland and I'm going to the center in Alma. We're not too far from each other!! Cool :sneaky:

Hi All! I have hardly posted on here at all since I was so upset insurance was not going well.. but... TODAY I WAS APPROVED!!! I feel like it is a miracle. Aetna has been really horrible the past couple of years, but it seems that requirements have been clarified a bit finally. I have 100 lbs to lose, and I'm being banded on Nov 9th! The day after I get back from two fun trips I'm taking- my biggest worry is that I will catch another cold! This year has been a virus-fest already. I am so excited and so ready for this. I have to do a 10 day very strict protein-only diet, but don't have to lose a certain amount of weight (just the shrinking/toughening up the liver diet.) I'm nervous about the mental implications of the surgery most of all, and finding a better way to handle stress than food. I've appreciated so many of other people's posts on the board and will be filling out my profile more, and being more active on here, because I'm Getting The Freaking Band :thumbup:

Hi! Definitely get a specific note from your doctor for your Protein, on doctor stationery with a contact number, and you should be fine. Just be really nice, and ask to talk to a supervisor if they give you any trouble. Sometimes inexperienced people don't know the rules. Going to the FSA website and printing out their rules about this wouldn't be bad. Good luck on the flight- what an adventure! (I'd still bring some powder as backup, though!)

My first post! :laugh: I am tentatively scheduled for nov 9th. Paperwork being submitted tomorrow after a horrible and arduous two-year Aetna Adventure. I am... SO... freaking excited. I've been hoping for this for a long time and was just about to give up hope!