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That we have different opinions, different ideas, but I love this support group because we always express these different ideas in such a respectful manner. That being said. I didn't have a preop diet, and because of that I always forget that people who lost 75 lbs might not have lost it since Feb. and I think. Damn it, whats wrong with MY band. But at the same time, Good for them to be able to lose ANYTHING without being banded. Jaime, Crystal, and all my other VV you are doing amazing. I might be a slower loser, but that gives me the oppurtunity to be inspired by all of you. Thank you so much for continuing to come and post, to speak. I love you guys. I gotta stop typing. I want to cry. I must be about to start my peroid. TMI? I don't care.

I just want to agree with kgloverii, the constipation i was not expecting! Constantly I am struggling with this. I eat plenty of fresh veggies, but apparently not enough Water. DRINK YOUR WATER! I already knew how important water is, before i was banded any day that i did not have enough water my fingers would swell, i could tell right away. But now, it is hard for me to get enough water to keep myself regular. (probably TMI, sorry)

I am going to give it a few more days before I eigh to see if I have lost cause it is TOM and I feel so bloated... TMI, I know....

This is TMI, but you asked...I was lying down in bed the other night in a tank top (which I will only wear in the house) anyway, I happened to look down at my boobs which were of course slowing sliding up under my chin and they were wrinkled. Like really wrinkled, it was gross. I decided then that if they don't tighten up by the time I reach my goal, I'll have to get a boob job. I measure them as well (I'm weird I know) in inches all the way around the boob. I've lost 2 inches on the left and 1 1/2 on the right. Yet everywere else, it's only 1/4 of an inch.

I'm 8 months out and when I was banded back in October, you could get on their website and get a free sample. Maybe TMI :-) Any how, I don't care for their products at all. Everyone has different taste preferences but it's a no for me. Best, Aimee

Whew! I just spent the past few days with a major stomach bug.... The good news is, I finally lost the rest of the weight I put on not long ago and am back to 289. Between the barfing and the gas and the fever, it was not a fun way to go. I know, TMI! LOL! ElaineC: try tracking everything you eat on Fitday.com or dailyplate.com they help me keep track of protein and calories (I'm still on mushies, too). Also, try to drink lots of water, as soup has a lot of salt in it and can make you retain water (at least it does that to me). Good luck everyone. It is so nice to be able to read all your posts again. You are all helping me stay with this, as I haven't been driving an hour and a half to my doctor's support group (not with gas over $4/gallon!). You are a great support group! Nancy

Janet I feel you on being bored. This is killing me! All I do is sit here and watch TV. It sucks. I tried to read but my eyes get to tired...just not tired enough to sleep. I haven't been able to get more than about 20 minutes of sleep. The pain is a little worse today, but not by much. I feel like I have done about 300 too many situps. We took the binder off to see what I look like but I am totally covered by a bandage so I won't be able to see anything until the doctor changes the bandages on Monday. We will take pictures at that time. I have been drinking a lot but I am just not hungry. I did get over 1000 calories today and I am hoping to eat a few more in a little while. I just don't have an appetite. I am making sure that all of the foods that I am eating are all high in protein to aid in the healing. The worst part of all the drinking is all the peeing! I swear I am going to the bathroom every half hour! Speaking of which I need to go there now. I know TMI!!!! Steph I am glad to hear that you were not dissapointed with your time. I know that I always get the post run runs!!! I haven't had the issue during the run but I usually have to go right away when I am done running. Alright...enough bathroom talk. I will try to check in later

Sorry guys/....just a quick check in....gotta run again.... The shame on me was for drinking v8fusion before the race because half way through I had such a stomach ache and TMI!!!! diarhea and had to make an emergency stop in the bushes..... I'm super proud of the race and the time....just not of the stupidity of what I did before and the aftermath. Going for a bike ride. I'll check in this evening with more details. I am super excited, really. Sorry you are all worried about me. I'm great!!!

Karri I am so glad to here that you are doing so well and REALLY happy that you have a great DH... I am not super shy so the going pee-pee in front of DH wouldn't bother me - My Xdh would but hot wash cloths on my hemroids (again tmi) but imho that's what you do for someone you love - to me that's a sign of love..

The pain pump delivers numbing medication directly to the tummy. It doesn't make me groggy, but the vicodin does a little. I doze on and off. I am not eating much. I had 2 half cups of cottage cheese and a protein bar. I just don't have an appetite. I have been drinking though. She was was more concerned about liquids than food today. Tomorrow I will resume a more normal diet but today all she cared is that I ate when I took my antibiotics and that I either had a protein bar or a protein drink. I am resting. I am sitting in my chair with my computer on my now expansive lap and check in every once in a while. I am not a big TV watcher so I get bored just watching TV. I would much rather be reading. I can't do a lot of it cause my eyes start to get droopy but in short bursts I can do just fine. Alright I have to say one more time that I have the BEST DH in the world. The poor man has to go with me when I go to the bathroom and yes...I had to pee in front of him for the first time ever. I know...TMI! But he doesn't even bat an eye. He checks on me regularly but is not overbearing. I think I have the perfect man. He has to empty my drains and doesn't think a thing of it. In fact...I think he likes playing doctor! The fact that he is not working right now makes finances tight but it is very reassuring that he is going to be here with me. Okay enough mushiness from me. I am going to get up and walk. My butt gets sore if I sit too long. And yes...I am allowed to get up and walk every 1.5 to 2 hours.

I am 300 and still do mine. I sit on the couch and rest my foot on the coffee table. I can angle it enough to get all 5 piggies. Even when I was "regular" sized, I never could touch my toes while standing! Conversely, I could do a mean splits...always! Sorry for the TMI but I want to be able to easily wipe my bee-hind!

I just pb'd on spinach - but it's my fault - ate too much the last 2 bites came back up:drool: I know tmi - Gosh it seems like I am the only one who still want's to eat when they are full... I have been having major head hunger issues.... Well like I say it' never goes away. Well off to bed I am beat - ttyl

I want to be able to do the following: 1. wear shoes that tie (I don't bother trying to tie shoes anymore) 2. sit anywhere I want whether it be an airplane seat, theater seat, or restaurant booth 3. walk my students to lunch and back without having to basically collapse when I get back (I'm a teacher) 4. buy clothes from the regular stores/departments 5. comfortably get in the backseat of my two door car 6. see my "cat" (sorry if that's TMI) The only reason I don't worry about painting my toenails is that my loving husband has taken care of that task for the past ten years. (I'm such a lucky girl!)

SEX No port does not get in the way during sex, trust me it is the last thing I am thinking about. In terms of the scar, I have a long standing booty friend (I am talking 10 years) I just told him it was from a hiatal hernia repair. This partly true, since the doc did a hiatal hernia repair at the same time. TMI - I recently got a full brazilian wax, needless to say, I dont think the scar (or my hysterectomy scar) were noticed!!

Hi Edel, Welcome to LBT. Congrats on making your decision to be banded. Three stone by xmas may be possible. I think will take hard work and some exercise. I have lost 3 stone in 4 months (10lb of this on pre-op diet). It def slows down or stops when I'm being lazy. I did have a lot more to lose though. In relation to drink, if your a beer drinker, its bad news. Carbonated drinks are not recommended, they can stretch the pouch. However dont worry about not having a social life, its not a problem. I drink wine or spirits. I dont get drunk though because pre-band, drunk episodes were ALWAYS followed by a bad vomiting session (TMI?) I dont want to take a risk of vomiting as it can lead to a slippage and I just dont like doing it either, but thats just me. I can and do have great nights out and I haven't turned into a water drinking bore. Let me know if you have any more questions. I havent heard any bad stories about Dr. Dillemans. I believe he does bypass as well as band and can push the bypass sometimes. This might just be for higher BMI people though. Elsie

Long, Thank you and sometimes TMI is just what is needed. I hated to bring up that (gasp!) topic, but I guess it is a problem on all liquids. Indio, Thank you. I feel better after reading your words. I did update my ticker, and I gained 4 pounds (I dropped 2 of the 6 I gained). I hope the other 4 and many more, come off soon. I had some SF pudding and will try to up my calories to 800 or 900 (but I worry that might be too high). Oh, and I love Big Medicine, too and can't wait for it to come back on Discovery Health. I always want everyone on the show to succeed and get healthy -- just like we are all trying to do! Nancy

I guess I should be glad there's not much restriction right now. I was just so mad at myself, I mean how could I forget I have a band, for Pete's sake? ridiculous! Now I know what they mean about being mindful when you eat. Also, during my mushie phase, I gained 4 lbs one day and they didn't leave for several days. I was also very constipated. I had taken Colace, Metamucil, and Milk of Magnesia and still no relief. finally got some glycerin suppositories and that did the trick. The nurse at my surgeons office said to now take Colace daily until my 6 week checkup/fill and I've not had a problem since, also I am now on solids so maybe that is helping too. Sorry if TMI.

Hey there....Um, I've lost nearly a 100 pounds and still have some ways to go. I've noticed that I'm having some issues. Sex hurts now, now all the time, but the penetration isn't always as exquisite as it once was. If I angle myself differently, it isn't so bad or it goes away all together, but this is a problem I've never had before. :bored: Are any of you experiencing this or any other changed in your sex life? What about oral sex? Does...gosh, how do you say it without just saying it? Okay, is swallowing an issue? I mean you have to sip slowly right, but....:thumbup: Okay, maybe this is all a little TMI, but who else am I gonna ask? You guys are the ones living it, breathing it and well, anyway... :wink_smile:

I'm now 4 days post op. I'm still having nausea (no vomiting, yet) and a lot of pain which I think is gas. This is going to be TMI, but here goes anyway, I have not had a BM since before surgery. My physician said to take Milk of Magnesia. I opened the bottle and the smell of this stuff was enough to make me gag, so since I'm already feeling nauseated, I think I will pass. How long will this just not felling well last? I'm to go back to work Monday as I was assured that I would be fine by that time as long as I have a job where I'm not pushing or pulling anything. Any suggestions?

I was the 24th also! And yes, the big D has set in - OMG! I know liguids in, liguids out but jeez can't we catch a break - all I can say is be careful! I know TMI - I have been on clear liquids since the day before surgery - In regards to the protein - I bought protein bullets at GNC - fruit punch and mixed it with pink crystal light lemonade - not bad! Tastes like fruit punch drink - I actually like it! I don't like the protein shakes so this may be my saving grace. Try it!

Read this only if you have a lot of time!!! I just grabbed part of this from the post-op check in thread and added everything that came after. Hey everyone! I thought I'd check in. (Warning! I'm babbling alot - Blame it on the Lortab and I have a lot to tell! Some of this is from my diary but I thought it might help someone.) I was banded on June 4th. I was super nervous! Almost to the point of backing out nervous. I joked to myself that the anesthesiologist should lurk in the hospital lobby and put me out as soon as I crossed the threshold! So after dealing with my little voices arguing for and against surgery for the two days before, THE DAY finally arrived. I had tried switched to Clear liquids the last two day pre-op, and really tried to push Water as much as I could, because I felt a little dehydrated. So I drank and drank before midnight on the 3rd, but the morning of the 4th I was still peeing pretty dark. I figured I'd make it up with the IV. So I needed to be at the hospital at 7am and my surgery was scheduled for 8:30am (Dr McBride's 1st of the day) on the 4th. Got to bed around midnight the night before and work up at 6am. Got ready and it was just a 10 minute drive over to the hospital for us. Checked in at registration, waited a little, signed some paperwork, got my oh so fashionable bracelets, then back to the waiting room for another 15 or 20 minutes. Then a tech called my name and someone else's and both of us went upstairs with our families (I just had DH). Tech Jacquelyn showed me to my little pre-op area, and I met Nurse Geri. She gave me my lovely gown and told me to strip down and put it on. Then they took all my stuff and put it in a locker. Nurse Geri got me situated on the bed and put on the little booties, (and I hated that my legs were like hairy gorilla's because I'm getting them waxed next week! - so embarrassing!) Of course she didn't mind at all. Then she put a Scopolamine patch behind my ear, and started my IV and gave me a shot of Lovenox in the thigh. The Anesthesiologist's resident Dr Lowell, stopped by and talked to me for a couple of minutes about what to expect, and later my surgeon's fellow stopped by and said hello, double checked all my info and signed off on my procedure (initialed my tummy!). The pre-op area of UNMC was very nice, it's was all just built a couple of years ago with very soothing lighting and cool fiber-optic stars in the ceiling. I think it was almost 8:30 and I still hadn't seen Dr McBride, but I didn't worry. After another 15 minutes or so, Dr Lowell was back, and said he was going to give me some Versed. Then we wheeled off down a couple of corridors to the OR. I was surprised by how big and very white the room was! They moved me to the other bed, and I remember meeting Dr Margalles, and thinking as she introduced herself, "you're the anesthesiologist" and "I think I might have met you once before about 10yrs ago for some care for my DD" but I was too sleepy to say anything and that's all I remember until Dr Lowell woke me up in recovery! I got to recovery around 10:30am and my nurse there took great care of me, I had oxygen, and she gave me another shot of Lovenox in my tummy. We chatted about Mary Kay (my job) and I had brought goodie bags of samples for everyone. About 12:30, they moved me over to the Extended Stay area where I was going to spend the night. I wasn't in any pain until I switched to the bed, and it wasn't too bad sort of "too many sit-ups", with a bit of burning when I pulled at the incisions. I wasn't expecting too much because I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I was in a nice private room, and my DH came in and stayed until around 2:30pm or so, then I sent him home because he hadn't had anything to eat yet. I was on bedrest for 2 hours, and fell asleep for a while. I was only allowed a few ice chips for a few hours, and I was sooo thirsty! Around 6pm, my nurse (the 2nd one) brought me a cup of ice chips and just told me to limit them to a few at a time. Lots of pain. OMG. LOTS of PAIN. Apparently I was super swollen. I only was able to drink about 100cc of water all day long. Got up and walked around at 6pm and 11pm. Was able to pee after my 6pm walk (but it was still pretty dark urine). I think they hung 3 or 4 bags of IV fluids during my stay and I only went pee about 3 times! June 5 - The next morning, the hospital's surgical staff did general rounds, then the surgeon's Fellow, Dr Varnell, came in and saw me, and about 1pm I saw Dr McBride! I teased her that she must have been in the OR because she had left her marks on me! She's 8 months preggers, and apparently fell down after my surgery so they made her stay in Labor and Delivery for a few hours which is why I didn't see her yesterday post-op. I got to go home around 2pm. Got home and settled in and got a phone call from my DH's office - They knew I had surgery, but not what kind, and they called to see if I'd rather have flowers delivered or pizza. LOL! Since I already had 3 flower arrangements, I told them to send pizza for the family. That was a special kind of torture, because she asked me about a dozen questions about what we'd like. Irony at it's best! I can't fault them, I could have picked the flowers! And it was nice not to have the family fussing around in the kitchen and coming up to ask me a zillion questions about food. The pizza arrived around 6pm, they ate downstairs, and I stayed up in my flower scented bedroom! (Which is my major coping mechanism for the next 2 weeks!) Home from the hospital. I was pretty sore. I'm also having trouble getting down liquids. I'm still a bit bloated from surgery. I hope the swelling goes down soon because I'm starting to get dehydrated. I took one dose (10ml) of pain meds when I got home and one dose at bedtime (20ml). Took a colace gel cap - had a very hard time getting it down it got stuck and I had major pain and nausea until it went down. I'll skip those until the swelling goes down a lot more. Slept with a heating pad. Slept pretty well. June 6 - Actually I'm just feeling pretty dry and in a little pain. More muscle soreness today, and now (6am) I've got a lot of gas rumbling around in my stomach. I'm going to take more pain meds and see if I can stay ahead of the pain today. 4pm: I've managed to get down nearly all the rest of my Isopure. So that's 10oz Fluid and 20g Protein. I've also had my chewable Vitamins and Calcium. Still have a lot of gas pain with every little sip, but not as much in between. 8pm yay me! I had a whole protein bullet and it went down well - still took a couple of hours, but it's progress! Got a shower for the 1st time since surgery. Removed the bandages. Looks sort of icky. Had a fruit bar. Feel pretty bad, thirsty. I'm going to take some Lortab and got to bed. June 7 - Ok, still having trouble with drinking without pain. I worked all morning to get in 8oz of water. Took lots of gas-x. Still working on the vitamins. 12:30 took more Lortab. Mixed up a shake of 8oz labrada lean body banana & cream and 1 scoop of chocolate Protein powder plus a splash of divinci SF caramel. Much better than the banana plain. I'm going to try to get it all in while the pain meds are working then grab a nap. 7pm: I think Ive had a break through! I've felt awful all afternoon, hot, low grade fever, gassy, dehydrated. Just miserable. Finally I decided to take a 20ml dose of Lortab, lie down and wait for it to work, and then try to get in some fluids. It worked! I've had about .75 liters so far. I'm going to try to drink some more. TMI alert! - I finally had a BM today. (Ok, it's totally a liquids in/liquids out situation, but at least something is happening! June 8 - Well that was exciting! At 2:30am we were roused out of bed by the tornado sirens. (It turned out to be an EF2 tornado in the SW part of the city. The damage missed our area by a few blocks) Had to hustle down two flights of stairs into the basement. Major pain. Got the all clear and went back upstairs around 3:30, took another dose of lortab and got back to sleep around 4am. Good news is even though my stomach was just roiling with gas, I was able to pass a lot of it, so I feel a little less bloated today. 11am: I've been able to drink about 16oz of water! Yay! Did take one swig too big and paid for it dearly. Pain, nausea, saliva glands in overdrive - but I was able to stand up and walk it off, so I didn't puke. I'll take it easy for a little bit, then get back to the water. I think I have a big gas bubble sitting up under my diaphragm, because I'm feeling a little short of breath this morning, like I can't quite draw a deep enough one. Some shoulder pain too. 3pm- I took a nap for about 2 hours. I'm feeling better now, except for the shoulder pain. Oh and joy...TOM started. At least it's still on schedule. After my nap, I took some more Lortab, and about 4pm I started on a protein bullet. I finished it around 5pm. Yay! Now back to water. 7pm starting to have more pain and getting short of breath again. It's the pain - I start breathing more shallow and just cant draw a deep breath. Took more lortab. Got my water and vitamins in after my 7pm lortab. Feel much better. Also had another Protein Drink. 11pm Ok I've had my protein drink. I feel good. Clearly the key is to keep the pain under control. I'm sure in a couple of days I have recovered enough not to need the pain meds. June 9 Today, I feel better. I'm still having a lot of pain when I swallow and I had one incident where I took a sip too large and felt like I was going to hurl (I still need to keep the sips in the teaspoon range), and I'm still having to work pretty hard to get in enough fluids and protein, but now that I've figured out I HAVE to take the Lortab first then wait, then drink, I'm at least making progress. Feeling less muscular/incision pain today. Actually got out of the house (had to go to the pharmacy for a refill on the Lortab. I'm actually really surprised by how much I've needed the Lortab! I hardly ever need pain relievers. But I'm not fighting it. I know it's just for this week or so and things will be back to normal. I had to take off one of my steri-strips today. One of my incisions was bleeding a little in the hospital, but it eventually stopped. When I took off the bandage on Friday, and showered, that steri-strip looked like it was a bit puffier than the others. Pain was similar to the others, no redness or excessive warmth (they all felt warm). I've been running a low grade fever -mostly 99ish, since coming home. It went up to 100, then briefly to 101 (like an hour) when I was at the worst of the dehydration, but hit normal once I finally got that first liter of water in. So today the steri-strip oozed out a tiny bit of gunk - like less than a drop. I pulled off the strip, checked the wound, no redness or streaks, no other drainage. So I cleaned the area, put some peroxide on it, let it dry a bit, then covered it with a band-aid. I'll shower tonight, then pull off the bandage and let it dry out again. It's not open much. I think it just leaked and stayed more moist than the others right after surgery. I'll keep an eye on it!. Temp is 99 which is consistent with how much water I've been able to drink. I don't think it's infected. That is all I wrote before I went to the ER on the 10th with a 101+ fever and serious dehydration. Here's what I wrote afterwards - I was emailing a friend and journaled each day in the hospital. So I had the lapband surgery on Wed June 4, and everything seemed successful, except I was a bit dehydrated going in. At the hospital I was still pretty dehydrated even after all the IV stuff, but I figured I'd make it up in a couple of days. Problem was, I had a LOT of pain while drinking, and was only managing to get in about a liter or more a day even with constant sipping. So everyday, it was one baby step forward, one bigger step back, and the next maybe two baby steps forward, and one baby step back. Adding to the fun was that at 2:30am on June 8th, the tornado sirens went off, and it was for real, so we had to get out of bed, wake up Em, and rush down to the basement. By Tuesday the 10th, I knew I was getting in trouble. Late afternoon my temp finally hit the "call if over..." range. So I called, and got an on-call guy who hemmed and hawed a little. I wasn't ok with that, so I hung up and tried to reach one of my surgeon's team, (patient coordinator, or nurse, or case manager) before they closed up shop for the day. I got the patient coordinator. She was great. Told me to head to the ER. I was convinced that a few bags of IV fluids and I'd be on my way. So DH and I got to the ER around 6pm. They caught my surgeon before she headed home for the day I saw her around 8pm,she said she was on her way home but would monitor all the test results from there (she's 36+ weeks pregnant), and her surgical fellow came in after he picked up his kid from daycare and got his family situation settled. They gave me the Upper GI from Hell. I could barely swallow, and the contrast fluid was horrid. Possibly the worst tasting stuff ever. And they made me drink it in coffee cup proportions. There was a point where I just couldn't swallow another drop. There was just this one tiny spot that didn't look quite like a leak or quite normal either. So they decided to admit me while they pondered it all and I was sent upstairs around midnight. I was a LOT of pain by then, but they gave me a shot of morphine and that smoothed it out. I didn't sleep very well, but they had hooked me up to an IV down in the ER, so I figured I was moving in the right direction. (TMI - I was peeing the color of strong coffee and running a fairly high fever). Next day (Wed), they drew a bunch of blood (no small feat when my blood was about as thick as pancake syrup) and sent me down for another upper GI and later for a CT scan. Both showed the same mystery spot - not quite a leak, not quite normal. My surgeon offered up all the options and said at this point, she wasn't sure which one was better than the others - wait and see, run more tests, or go back in and have a look with her own eyes. In the end we decided to do the exploratory surgery and off she went in search of an OR (this was about 10am). So we waited and waited and waited. Each time the nurses checked, nothing was on the schedule. That evening was the second round of tornadoes (the one where the Boy Scouts were killed). So the nurses rounded us all up and out into the halls which were beastly hot. When I walked out, I saw my surgeon's Case Manager who was also a patient. She grabbed DH and I and took us to a private waiting room which was nice and cool, and had couches and a TV so we could keep up on the weather. Given all the excitement, the lateness of the hours, and the Boy Scout traumas, we assumed that they'd just do my surgery the next day. DD was downtown for dance lessons. DH stayed with me until shortly before he was due to pick her up, and ventured out into the storms to get her. He got there, and they were all fine, but the sub-basement to the theater had begun to flood and the streets were flooding badly, so they stayed put there for a while. They called when they got home around 10pm. We finally got the all clear from the storms about 10:30, and I was debating hanging out in the waiting room a bit more where it was cooler, when my nurse came and found me and said I was due in the OR. I gave DH a quick call, and told him, and they swept me off to surgery. On the other end, there were the usual missing paperwork snafus, so I spent about 45 minutes sitting in the pre-op cube yakking with the two surgeons (which was fun). Then since there wasn't much in the way of staff on duty, they pushed me down to the OR themselves. We joked about that. The plan was if she opened me up and things looked good, I'd only be under for about 15 minutes. I knew things hadn't gone well when they woke me up and it was really hard to wake up. She had had me under for about an hour and a half. Had an NG tube up my nose, and my throat was killing me. She told me that it looked like there had been a tiny leak that had attempted to repair itself, and that spot was infected. So the surgeon took everything out - all the band stuff she put in the week before, went over my stomach with a fine tooth comb trying to find the leak, did an endoscopy so she could see the same places from the insides. She couldn't make it leak. So they stapled me back up (so they could get in easier if I developed a wound infection) and put in the NG tube to suck up anything on the inside of the spot and a drain that ran out my tummy to catch anything on the outside of the spot. In the recovery room for a while, then back to my room. Overall I didn't feel too bad, but my throat was screaming. I told the nurses I felt like I was gagging on the tube. They sort of patted me on the head, and I think they wrote it off to whining. Meanwhile I spent all the night using my pain killer button (I can self administer just no more frequently than every 8 minutes) more for my throat than for my incisions. Next morning (Thurs) I was miserable and I couldn't talk. I had run a fever all night again (been running one continuously since I arrived) My day nurse went off to hunt down some throat numbing spray. Meanwhile the surgical fellow dropped by and decided to take a look. He tugged at the NG tube a bit then pulled out about 10in of hose, which hurt like hell. Turns out, the NG tube had looped and kinked (think like an old corded phone). Once he pulled out the part that was double thick and poking me all over the place, I felt 100% better! I still wanted the whole tube out, but at least it was tolerable. The doc said they might take the whole tube out the next day. The rest of the day went pretty well. I was still getting too much blood drawn, and running out of veins and fingertips to use. Still running fevers. Still peeing dark brown. Still some pain. Friday the 13th. That really did turn out to be my unlucky day. The docs ordered a Foley catheter since I wasn't peeing much, which took 4 nurses to put in instead of the usual one. I was being hunted by the blood sucking vampires every few hours. The doctor decided to order a PICC line (it's like a permanent IV port) so they could draw blood without all the pain. Good plan. Had trouble with the execution. The nurse that tried to put it in was great. I was just too darned dehydrated still. She tried 5 times. Ouch times five. She finally declared she couldn't torture me anymore, and wrote a report suggesting I go to Interventive Radiology. There they'd use better ultrasound and xray to guide in the catheter. The vampires continued to stalk me the rest of the day. And the doctors decided to keep the NG tube in my nose for a least one more day. It made me miserable. It was getting harder to keep a good sense of humor about it all. And Friday night DD called asking if I could braid her hair before she left for summer camp and I was so tired and my fingers were so sore from the blood draws that I just wasn't sure I'd be up to it. She couldn't understand. (She just doesn't realize how seriously ill I've been.) I tried to problem solve it with her, but she was frustrated and I just broke down and cried and prayed and cried and prayed some more. Saturday, things started to get better. My surgeon took the weekend off to put up her very pregnant feet, so her partner (hereby known as "The Russian") was going to handle my care, but my surgeon had assured me that she was still running the show from her home, and that if anything went wrong over the weekend, she'd come back in to handle the surgery. That was nice to know. So I waited all morning for the Russian to show up, because I was pretty sure they were going to take out the NG tube. And the blood sucking mosquitoes came in at 4am, 6am, and 8am. By the 3rd time, I told the nurse to hang garlic over the door, and tell them not one more drop until the Picc line was in. so we waited for Interventive Radiology to call so I could get the Picc line in. Got to be later in the day, and IR finally called and we went down stairs. They were great. A lot like the OR experiences you see on TV, right down to the rock music. So I got the picc line in and life was good. They took out my old IV, drew some blood, and also started me on some IV nutrition since I've been living on nothing but a few ice chips for 5 days. Sunday, still had the fever. They've hung enough antibiotics to knock off half the microbes on the planet. The Russian came by and again said no to removing the NG tube. It was making me miserable. Nothing came out of it under suction ( which was its intent), it hurt, and to top it all off, it was irritating my nasal passages so badly my nose started running and I was getting congested which made it even harder to breathe. I began to hate the Russian LOL. So I set my hopes on Dr V, the surgical fellow, who has the best bedside manners of the bunch. He came to see me later in the day, when I was getting an ultrasound on my legs so that they could be sure I wasn't getting any blood clots. We chatted for a while, and he said to wait one more day on the NG tube. Bah Humbug! It had been one more day for 4 days! LOL. So he left and I thought a few less than kind thoughts, but I did understand. My nurse however was livid! I think she wanted it out more than I did because she knew how miserable I was. She was ranting a bit about surgeons, and doctors in general, and we were sharing the joke about how the difference between surgeons and God, is that God doesn't think He's a surgeon, when Dr V, came back in and told me that the ultrasound was clean as a whistle. I laughed and told him that it was true, he does think he's God, but I still loved him anyway even if he wouldn't take out my NG tube. Then about an hour later, in a moment of irony, the tube just fell out of my nose. It worked itself out on its own. Too funny. Rest of the day went pretty well. Monday - Officially a day of rest. Nothing major scheduled. My kidneys decided to come back online. A very good thing since I had gained about 15lbs from the IV fluids my body was stashing all over the place. Of course it meant that I spent my whole day and night in the bathroom. I seriously peed about 5 liters before the day was done. Felt better though! Still a fever. Blah! Tuesday - second day of rest. Felt funky, sort of out of sorts, tired from the long night getting up to go pee etc. Good news of the day was the digestive tract woke up. I'll spare you the details. Wed (still officially today so I'm finally caught up!) - I'm not not having a fever about as much of the day as I spend having one! Ok today we skip all the rest and heal stuff. Back for another cat scan. This one finds what the other tests couldn't find. The golf ball sized abscess that's causing all the trouble stuck right where that funky spot has been, between my stomach and spleen. Which is why my surgeon was in wait and see mode - she wanted it to have time to develop so they can finally treat the darn thing! Problem is an encapsulated abcess doesn't have a blood supply so the antibotics can't get in to it to kill the buggaboos. So the plan was at I'd go off to Interventive Radiology once again, and they'll do their magic, and place a drain right in that stupid cyst. They'll suck it all out, then leave the drain in place so they'll know if it is still producing more gunk because they will drain out and culture what they suck out so that they can be sure that the antibiotics we're using are the right ones. Once all that looks good, they'll check for a leak one more time - I'll get to eat blue jello! Trust me, you can get excited about stuff like this when you've only been allowed a few ice chips for 10 days straight. (except for when they gave me the cat scans when I was allowed 2 Diet Sprites each time, because they have to mix in the contrast dye for me to drink. (It's very sad when you realize "whoohoo! Im going to get a something with a little flavor! I think I like CT Scans!) So I get to eat blue Jello, and if nothing blue shows up in any of the drains, then we'll assume the leak is sealed. Then they'll give me a day or so to transition to clear liquids, then on to real food for the first time in nearly a month. LOL this is not the weight loss program I signed up for! Long term outlook, I should get out of here Sunday or Monday. Thursday - IR was too busy to see me Wed or Thursday! I just hung out in holding mode. Friday - I finally got the call from IR in late afternoon. They took me down, gave me another CT scan, and found that the abcess had shrunk on its own down to only about 1cm! Yay! So the radiologist said no drain. That made me very happy because the radiologist had told me that the abcess was in a tough place to reach and she thought she'd have to stick a needle through my spleen to get to it. I wasn't too happy with the thought of damaging even in a small way, an organ that wasn't giving me troubles when I was already under the weather! So hurray for good immune systems! Since I was finally not having fevers and there was no new drain in place to use for the blue jello test, I got to skip the blue jello. The doc ordered up a tray of clear liquids for supper. It was heaven! I had the whole bowl of chicken broth and thought it was the best thing ever. I also had a little cranberry juice. Skipped the rest of the tray - jello, and 2 popcicles. I was stuffed. No new pain or fevers. Saturday, I was in "learn to eat" mode. They ordered up another clear liquids tray for Breakfast. The chicken broth wasn't quite as good the second time - really - it was watery and flavorless - I think the Soup just hadn't cooked long enough yet. So I ate the jello and drank the grape juice. Skipped the popcicles. Later they came and told me I could order off the menu. Just to keep it to the low fat stuff. So I asked which ones and was told to just order stuff with the hearts. Hmmm not too much soft stuff with hearts after them. So I kind of went crazy - ordered a cup of tomato soup and a yogurt, fruit cup, and cranberry juice, and a grilled chicken sandwich. Had a couple of spoons of the soup, then took one small bite of the sandwich. HUGE PAIN!!!!! OMG. I didn't know what I had been thinking! So that was the end of that meal! I couldn't eat another bite and I was in a lot of pain. To make it worse, they had taken away my dulaudid pump earlier that day. So I sat there feeling miserable and sorry for myself. I actually went into the bathroom and cried my eyes out for a while. I was really sleep deprived by this time, (I keep having roommates that needed lots of care, so I never got more than 2-3 hours sleep a day.) A couple of hours later I finally asked the nurse for some Lortab, which they had Rxd when they took the pump away. That made a huge difference! I also "ran away from home for a while" - I took my book and went down to a garden they have and just got out of the whole hospital thing for a couple of hours and that did me a world of good. Later that night I ordered a cup of soup and a yogurt. That went down ok. I felt a lot better. Sunday, the doctors popped in on rounds - first my favorite - Dr Larson - really nice guy - good doctor, then the whole surgical staff showed up. They said I could go home! Yay! I told them I'd only go home if they took out the PICC and the JP drain I still had! So later that day they pulled out the PICC and took out the JP (very weird feeling). Then I did the usual paperwork and GOT TO GO HOME! Went home, crashed on the sofa on my front porch for most of the afternoon then later we went to Whole Foods and I got some good Soups and some chicken salad from the deli, and I had dinner - soup with protein powder and a bite of DH's hamburger (very well chewwed!) Followed by Lortab and bed. Monday and Tuesday I mostly napped. I had a couple of Protein shakes, and I had a few bites of some soft protein each day - chicken salad mostly - I could manage a couple of Tablespoons if I chewed them to mush. Wed - I finally got out of the house. I did a girly thing to help me feel better about me - I went to the dematologist and had a little laser hair removal done and treated a couple of sun spots, and booked an appt to get waxed. It's nice to feel like a human again instead of a hairy gorilla woman! The Demmie also looked at my scars and gave me some scar gel to use on them. Thursday - I had my 2 week follow up with Dr McBride. We talked about what went wrong, and she said it was probably a small error- that she might have nicked me with the electric caudery when she was removing the fat pad they take off when they fold and sew over the stomach. It either punctured the stomach or caused a small burn that ulcerated in a day or two. It probably wasn't excessive swelling (except in responce to the injury) or caused by me hurrying down the stairs after the tornado. An unfortunate incident. She said she's never had a complication like this with a Lapband before. I forgive her. We all want our surgeons to be perfect all the time, but the truth is, they're still human and imperfect. It was a small mistake. I landed in the hospital for two weeks. But as soon as she knew I wasn't doing well, she did everything in her powers to make me better and she did. Now I'm in wait and see mode. We'll need to wait at least 3 months then do another upper GI to see how things look on the inside, and we won't know how badly the stomach is scared on the outside until the next time someone goes in and looks. With luck, I'll have minimal scaring and it won't interfere with a new band. Dr McBride said if the scaring is bad, she'd either have to place the band lower than is optimal or we'd have to opt for another method. She did say next time she'll use the largest band on me, even if it means a few more fills before we reach the sweet spot, so there's less worries about swelling and damage right after surgery. So we'll just have to let me heal, then cross our fingers that I can get a second chance. We may also have to fight the insurance company for round 2. If I lose another 10lbs I'll drop below a 40BMI which is my insurance's criterea for someone with no co-morbidities. When I mentioned this to Dr McBride, she wasn't concerned because she thinks without the band, I'll regain some of what I've lost. I don't think she understands my determination not to let that happen! I'm planning to stick to the low carb/low fat plan that has worked well for me in the pre-op diet phase and get serious with my exercise. So at minimum I plan to maintain, and hope to lose. I just may have to show up next time to be weighed with lead plates in my pockets Last night, I started getting my life back to normal. DH and I went out to an annual Shakesphere on the Green show. Took a picnic dinner (soup for me, and I was able to eat half a panini sandwich) and enjoyed the show. I didn't eat too much, and got very full and a little uncomfortable, but it was fun. I was very tired walking back up the hill and I crashed as soon as we got home. Slept in this morning til 9am. That was nice. Today, I'm taking it easy, and tomorrow, I'm trying to get back to normal. Off to get a wax (driving myself for the first time in 3 weeks), shop for an evening gown and some cute shoes, (I'm going to be crowned queen at my Mary Kay event coming up because I'm the #1 consultant in my National Area so I need a cute dress!), and run a couple of errands. Life as usual and after the past 3 weeks, that's a very good thing! Always Hunzi

I used to have the gag reflex. Sorry this is TMI but if you keep a pepsemint candy or altoid in your mouth you create good saliva and the gag refles is eiter gone or lessened. Hope that was not too much. lol But if you like doing it this helps.

WOO HOO, Janet!!!! Way to go!!! When I grow up in bandster life, I wanna be just like you!! Today is 3 weeks post op!!! THE DAY MY SURGEON ALLOWS SOLIDS BACK INTO THE DIET!!!!!!!!!! Oh what to have for lunch???? I'm going to Red Lobster for dinner!! (no biscuits) I've not lost a pound in 2 weeks (lost 22 from preop through one week post op though, plus 10 I lost before that). My nurse said this was very normal in this phase as I'm eating so few calories my body thinks it's starving. She assures me this will change when I get my first fill. Also, I'm sooooooooo constipated (sorry if that's TMI), nurse told me to get some milk of magnesia or suppositories. I'm already taking Metamucil and colace nightly.

This thread is seriously like heaven for me! I'm also being banded on the 30th, also in my 30s, and also had my pre-op appt yesterday. :embaressed_smile: We should pull together a yahoo group for june 30th'ers since we'll all be taking the exact same journey. The pre-op diet is coming to a close soon -- anyone else actually excited to be able to eat Soup and the like after surgery? I'm getting so sick of shakes, though I'm getting accustomed to the Atkins Advantage ones and after the first sip or so can 'enjoy' (I'm using that word loosely) them. I had lost 11 pounds to get to 231, and then some constipation (Tmi?!) happened and I gained 2 1/2 pounds -- so infuriating when you aren't eating over 700-800 calories!! Things are better in that dept today so I'm hoping my loss will keep happening over the weekend and I'll be down into the high 220's for surgery on Monday. Are you girls nervous? What are your eating plans post surgery? My surgeon has me on blended/mushy foods right for a month -- but there's no liquid only stage. I'm trying to get a handle on what I'm going to want to eat... what are you all buying for the first few weeks?? SO GLAD to have found you! (And my birthday is July 1st, so I get to spend the first day of my 31st year as a newly banded girl!) Erin

Froggi you are not a whore for asking. It is one of my favorite things to do on my hubby ... .... wait was that outloud???????? Just tell them to go stuff it cause they don't know what they are missing. (TMI ALERT!!!) The thrill to know that I am in charge of that one thing, controlling every angle movement and speed ... its wow .... it just flat does it for me ... (/end tmi)