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Words to live by,,great, thanx for sharing i see DOS was 12/10/12 hope you are doing well

Any advice? I have to lose 10 pounds by Oct 9th.

That's true, it probably will be 2011 so they would look at 09 and 10 then. From what I have been told, you don't have to have a bmi over 40 for the entire 2 years. They just want a history that you have been struggling with your weight. The weight lose and then the gain should help you to get approved. I was worried about losing weight during the 3 month because it would drop me below 40 bmi. So my goal is to maintain during the 3 month thing.

Happy Thanksgiving!! Since last posting, I have changed part-time jobs from the clothing store to Kirkland's Homestore in my local mall. It pays more per hour, I can get more hours and the atmosphere is a little better and calmer. Right now, I am only working 2 evenings per week plus either Saturday or Sunday so not too bad. I told them that I wanted no more than 15 hours per week. With this week being a big week with holidays, I am working 19 hours so that's pushing it. I have had enough time to get things around the house & other things done. Overall, I don't regret my decision to pursue a part-time job, my co-workers are nice and the money is definitiely useful at Christmas. I have my good and bad days. Still have to get used to the idea because I had become rather comfortable going home to a quiet house and chilling with most nights & weekends unstructured. Helps to think about fact that three years ago, it would not have been physically possible and it never even crossed my mind. No longer experiencing the Curves withdrawals but I still miss the ladies. I walk when it's not too cold (I get plenty of walking and lifting working my part-time job 4-5 hours when I go). I'm also working out with my Hip Hop Abs & belly dancing DVD's at home. Don't know if I will make 199 by end of year or even by January 19 which is my 2 year Bandiversary, but at least I am closer to it. I try to look at the big picture and reflect on where I came from to keep things in perspective & not get frustrated. I have now taken 6 loads of size 30/32 & 26/28 clothes to Goodwill and gave some to a cousin. For some reason, I cannot part with anything 22 and under. I am buying more clothes from the land of the Misses. I got some straight 16 pants the other day, not even 16W and a size L top. For all of this, I am truely grateful and thankful on this Thanksgiving Day. Looking forward to 199 in 2009. Luv U all, B

20 lbs in your first 10 days is not uncommon depending on your starting weight, try not to over do it until you start getting all your Protein and Water in. You need to make sure you get that in so you can heal, once you start getting all your protein and water in you will start healing and getting more energy. Sent from my Nexus 6 using BariatricPal

Thanks Nancie.....I have decided to go with the LapBand. So how are you feeling now that 10 days have passed?

I was just idly wondering if anyone else had an extreme amount of pain after their sleeve (or any weight loss) surgery? I don't mean to scare anyone away from having their surgery because my situation is pretty unique in this regard. I am a recovering heroin addict so at the time of my surgery (August 2016) I was taking a medicine called Suboxone. Suboxone blocks pretty much all other opioid painkillers from working. I told my surgeon and anesthesiologist that I was on this medication and I was concerned that it would make the post-surgery painkillers not work so I brought my prescription to the hospital with me so I could give it to them so they could administer it to me after the surgery. Well fast forward to me waking up after my surgery in agonizing pain. They had literally just made 6 cuts into my abdomen and cut out the majority of my stomach and I had nothing working to dull that pain at all. They wouldn't let me leave the recovery room (I think that's what it's called) until my pain was under control. I was literally screaming in pain which I had never done in my entire life before that and I have not done since then. The nurse actually kept telling me that I needed to be quiet! If I was capable of that I would have been! The nurse kept giving me Dilaudid (an opioid painkiller) injections on someone's orders -who? I don't know. I kept telling the nurse that it wasn't going to work because I was on Suboxone, which by the way takes a very long time to work out of your system - like at least a few days until other painkillers will work. The nurse must have given me at least 4 injections of Dilaudid with no effect whatsoever before she finally believed that it wasn't going to work. Hours had passed since I woke up after my surgery before they finally listened to me when I told them that my mother was in the waiting room with my Suboxone prescription and that would actually work. 15 minutes later they brought it to me and I put it under my tongue to dissolve. Within 10-15 minutes my pain felt like it disappeared completely. Now it hadn't actually completely gone away but compared to the agony that I was experiencing before, this might as well have been nothing. What relief! To anyone that actually read all of that story thank you for making it this far! I don't have a real reason for sharing this, I just like this forum and have recently gotten back to reading and posting here and wanted to share some of my surgery experience. Feel free to comment about my story, ask any questions you want, or share any similar experiences you had. -Joshua

Just wondering who all has been banded by Dr. Stowers. He banded me on 9/19! I think he was/is great! Just curious of his other patients and maybe their success thus far.

Hello, I live in killeen............... I just got banded 10/8/10...I go to golds gym and would love a workout buddy... or give me your email maybe we can hang out sometime

I am 10 days post op and am comfortably sleeping on my side and stomach comfortably. I think I started doing this about 2 nights ago.

Tony Horton's(Beachbody.com) 10 minute exercise is fairly inexpensive and gives you a good workout without spending a fortune on equipment. tmf

I live in MN so the who and where probably won't do you any good. I had it done as outpatient... went into the hospital at 10:00 am and left about 6:30 pm or so. The pain med they prescribed was tylnol w/codiene but I was affraid the codiene would make me sick so I just took extra strength tylnol... the pain was not so bad, but the surgery set me back more than I had anticipated... I thought it would be a walk in the park because when I had my appy, it was nothing. This was a little more than that. It was not so bad though and is worth it. I actually worked the next day but my job is not strenuous at all - basically just talking, but that was really too soon because I had to do a lot of standing around waiting and not resting when I needed too. I then took the following three days off and then back to work. My doctor had me go 4 days (counting the day of surgery) on Clear liquids... it was fine until the last day when I was really feeling like I could use some food... then it was full liquids and that was much better. then soft foods - which was actually a little more difficult then the full liquids because I think I tried to push it a little and tried things not really as soft as it could be... that would cause some pain and seemed to cause some more swelling. Good luck with your decision and follow the rules - that helps me the mose.

I admire those of you who have families to cook for and stick to your plan. I am single so i can put all my energy into myself. I agree with everyone else. Itmisnhard to change our mindset, but it's a great time to start. I had to realize that fear of failing is exactly what made me fail in the past. But then I also learned to look at my past failures differently. Failing would mean never having the courage to keep trying. Nobody that has chosen surgery is a failure becasue this sure takes a lot of courage. You could have just given up and said I'll just be fat. The fact that you are still trying makes you an overcomes, not a failure. I am 10 days post op and suffered from a little buyers remorse the days I felt so bad. But I'm just reminding myself why I did this. This phase is a healing diet. Liquids are not going to fill you up and get rid of hunger, but will allow your body to heal. Think of it like that and try to increase your protien if you have not done so. Like someone else said, use this time to eat more of the things the doc said yo can have. Like I have had more Popsicles than I can count! I would never eat all that sugar normally, but right now I'm concentrating on healing and there is no way I can over eat becasue my body just can't stand it. Good luck to you!

:notagree hi havent been on for a while and just need a boost had all my fill out last year when had gall bladder removed and havent had the courage to go back for it to be put back in have been slack and put on weight which i hate so am going to try and get the band tightened scarey as i have enjoyed my year off have had the band on for 6 years and it felt good to have a break now its even harder to get a refill but i must try total weight loss is 25kg and would like to lose 10 more so i must do it

Ok I really need to hear if anyone else has painful fills. My first fill there was alot of tenderness around my port site. My nurse practicioner asked the covering DR to come in and help. It wasn't too bad. I went back 6 weeks later for another fill and once again my nurse practicioner says there is alot of scar tissue around my port and she asked my surgeon to come over between surgeries to look at it. He just went right into a fill with no questions. He moved that needle around so much I almost passed out. It was so painful. I am not talking just a pinch and it was over. I am talking about like diving for a vein when an IV is being started. Now I am afraid to go back. They do not put anything on my stomach to numb it because they say it takes too long. My surgeon is brutal and after all of that he only put in .5cc. My NP was going to put in 2cc. Does anyone else have this painful scar tissue. He says it hurts so much because he has to go in laterally. My surgery date was 1/10/11 and I have lost 20 pounds. Just makes me sick to think about the pain of another fill. Any suggestions will be appreciated

Ummmm.... you sent me the pics the other night and you look great. I can see it in you face and neck. 30 lbs is huge! What an accomplishment! Look at it this way, go pick up a 10 lb weight (that's all you can pick up post op) and imagine carrying 3x that, walking around how long would you be able to walk carrying it in your arms!! You are getting there!! Congrats on your weight loss!

I went through my closet again and weeded out more things that were too big. I also tried on two tops and a pair of jeans that were too small last time. The tops both fit fine now and the jeans are just a bit too snug around the waist. I doubt I will ever wear them because they are already too big in the legs. They are a funny cut and I'm a funny shape. So this is basically it for closet shopping and everything smaller will have to be new now! Kind of a weird feeling. Also a weird feeling to be wearing some size 10s.

Hey everyone, I found your letter very touching as well as all the comments. My biggest fear and I am pre op is, that I might look 10 years older after all the weight is off and that my husband no longer finds me attractive. I would have to say that I am a little afraid of complications and also if I will still be able to enjoy life without my long and close friend "food". I have also not told my friends or children about the surgery because I don't want anyone to try and stop me from doing it. The alternative to the surgery doesn't sound appealing to me either, since I don't want to be fat for the rest of my life however long that may be. I feel older than I am because of all this weight and I just want to be able to break out of this shell I have hidden in far too long. I will be following you guys here because I may need a lot of encouragement as I am getting closer to surgery date. Susanne

Pouch enlargement Pouch enlargement (type-III prolapse) is diagnosed when dilation of the proximal gastric pouch is present with or without change in the angle of the band and in the absence of signs of obstruction. The lower esophagus may or may not be dilated. Pouch enlargement is a pressure-related phenomenon that may be surgically induced by band overinflation or overeating with resulting high pressure in the pouch. Symptoms of pouch enlargement include lack of satiety, heartburn, regurgitation and occasional chest pain. Nonoperative treatment includes complete band deflation, low-calorie diet, re-enforcement of portion size and follow-up contrast study in 4–6 weeks. If the band position and the pouch size return to normal, then the band can be incrementally reinflated. A study by Moser and colleagues9demonstrated that this conservative approach to pouch enlargement was successful in up to 77% of patients. Conservative treatment is considered unsuccessful when the pouch fails to recover its original size after 8–10 weeks. In this circumstance, surgical treatment with either band removal or replacement is indicated. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3038361/#__abstractid852845title

This surgery is one of the reasons I had this surgery. No period for over a year unless medically induced. I was hoping I woulf get one this month because I hate having to take pills for it to come. Alas nothing. I guess I should justvtake my progesterone and carry one. HW 420 SW 347 CW 327 Sleeved April 10, 2017

I’ll definitely have to try it soon. Thank you. HW 356 CW 318 GW 180 RNY 01/22/18

Exactly my experience. Neither my surgeon nor my GP ever wanted to set a goal weigh--instead stressing the health benefits of losing even 10% of body weight and focusing on the "40-60% of excess body weight" idea. I lost easily to 135 and here I sit. My goal chose me. I had some vague idea of being happy at 165 (the lowest weight I maintained for a period of time as an adult) or even 155 (lowest adult weight ever).

I also had surgery the same day. About 10 days after the surgery I had terrible cramps, mostly when I peed. They were mostly in the uterus/ovary area, and I hadn't had cramps like that in years. Turns out I must have been ovulating. I just got my period yesterday. I went off the pill for surgery to reduce the risk for blood clots, so I think it's the surgery and being off the pill that gave me those weird cramps.

The only pre-op diet I was required to do was one week of Carnation Instant Breakfast and water. I lost 10 lbs. in one week doing that, and I'm sure glad it wasn't for longer than that. I think most dr's. have their own format. I've heard of people with longer diets; different diets; and absolutely no diets. It depends on where you are having your surgery done and the dr. specifically. Hope this helps. I could not have done what you are doing for any amount of money. It seems incredibly strict.

Greetings. I had my sleeve surgery today. Was able to drink Water immediately and like a champ. But after I finished the little hospital bottle shots (about 10 oz), I began having pains in my stomach and I still do, even though I've slowed down on the water drinking. Are these pains from drinking too much water? Or are they simply the notorious gas pains? The pain is on the upper sides of my stomach. Hurts. Help.