Search the Community

My surgeon actually gave me a card to show when I go out. It says that I have had a surgical procedure that limits my consumption to 1/10 of an adult meal and basically ask the to reduce the price of my meal to senior or child's meal. Not sure if all restaurants will honor it. I'm two weeks out and tonight is the first night I will go out to eat. I plan to have soup but curious to see how I will do

We moved into a place owned by a friend of ours. It was located about 3 miles from any store and our friend offered to help as much as he could in keeping Steve sober. I started working a second job and after a few months of moving into this new place everything started going really well for us! Steve was sober and money was coming in, he and I were happy again. I had gotten my son into special education pre-school, he was doing great! During the time we lived with my parents I had a second miscarrage, we really wanted to have another baby especially now that our life together was looking great. I started seeing a specialist who helped me figure out why I kept losing pregnancies and what we could do to help prevent it the next time. After Steve had been sober for a year and 3 months I found out I was pregnant! Around week 10 we found out we were having twins!! Once this was determined we started working very hard at getting Steve his license back. The babies were due in Jan 2007, we were to have them by c-section in Dec of 2006. My doctors were only going to let me work until Oct of 2006. On Oct 8th 2006 Steve got his license, On Oct 10th 2006 I had my last day at work. On Oct 11th 2006 Steve started his new job! Hows that for handy work!! In Nov 2006 we had a big problem with the friend we were renting from. There were many different problems. I would tell my sister about them and eventually she offered that we move in with her until the twins were born, this way I would have some help with them when I came home from the hospital. Sounded like the best option since we didnt have much money to work with at the time. So we moved in with my sister mid Nov. Now let me explain my relationship with this sister. She and I have always had a rocky relationship, right up until her first child was born, at that point it was like we both just said "oh okay, its time to be a grown up now". We moved into my sister's within a week of living there she and I went right back to old times, we didn't get along we could hardly stand to look at each other! I don't know why and as easy as it would be to blame her for it all I just can't. Steve and I were still doing alright, he was working most of the time so i had to take care of our son alone most of the time. On Dec 20th 2006 at 7AM I gave birth to two beautiful babies! Baby "a" was a boy and baby "b" was a girl, both were healthy and perfect. I too was healthy and the three of us returned home on Dec 23rd just in time to have Christmas with the family! Steve went right back to work a week after the twins were born, So I was running this ship solo. In Jan I started noticing some money coming up unaccounted for. So if we started with $300 and ended with $50 I could only explain where $175 of it went. The rest was just.. gone! This was horrible since I was trying to save up so we could get out on our own. Steve never had an aswer for it. One time $260 came up missing, and to some people out there that may not seem like a big deal but to me at that time, that was half a pay check! And remember I had twins to care for! Steve had no real explaination at all, he said he got the money out of the bank so he could get tires for the car then when he went to get the tires the money was missing. When I was cleaning up our rooms at my sisters house one time I had found a perscription bottle of mine from when I had the twins, my doctor put me on very strong pain medication and the bottle was empty! I never took any. I asked Steve about it he said he had been taking them for a toothache. In April 2007 we moved out of my sister's and into our own home. When we first moved in Steve was still working, he would complain of headaches and or toothaches that always landed him in the doctors for pain medication. I started getting worried about it and confronting him. He assured me it wasnt a problem and then he backed off going to the doctors. I started seeing a change im Steve that I couldn't explain, he seemed less and less motivated. Often money would come up missing and I just couldnt put my finger on what was going on. In Nov 2007 he came home and said that he had gotten laid off from his job. Mind you it was highly unlikely that this was the truth and I knew that. So the next month or so he went around "looking for work" non stop. He ended up getting a job in some factory but he needed boots and special clothes and all of this was expensive so his mother said she would give him the money for it. He got the money from her but never made it to work there. Also never bought the items he needed. A woman moved in next door to us who was a single mom and she had a son who was the same age as my oldest so we got pretty involved with her. She seemed like a nice enough lady. Steve got a job working for the school district, cleaning. I slowly noticed that the woman next door seemed to be getting too close for comfort. One day while Steve was at work and I was home alone with my neice and my 3 kids, two complete strangers came to my door. It was two ladys who lived near by and they each had kids that would play with my kids sometimes. They asked if I would step outside with them for a minute. I did, the one lady said she was so sorry to be the one to tell me about this but if it were her husband she would want to know. After that she let it loose! She saw my husband with the lady next door sitting at a park at a picnic table holding hands and touching each others legs ect. She said she has seen him park his car down the road and then walk in her house through her back door. In not so many words my husband was cheating on me! I thanked them for coming to me with it and they left. I had a lot to deal with, alot to process! I asked my neice to sit with my kids for a few minutes and I went outside, got my bike and rode it to the school (about 2 miles away) where Steve was working. I found him and asked him about it, he said no way these people are just trying to cause problems. I didnt believe him, but I didnt have proof he was wrong either. I went back home and I decided I would just watch how things went. Over the next few months my world got turned upside down! There were times that Steve went fishing with his friend, he wouldnt come in until 4 am and the woman next door would be waiting outside for him! I confronted him about it and he said she just had a bad day and needed to talk. I told him that she needed to call her girlfriend then, not wait up for my husband. He said I was just jealous. On mother's day I woke up and was making a cup of coffee, none of the kids were awake yet. Steve came to the kitchen and said we needed to talk. I told him to go ahead, he said he didnt love me anymore and wanted to change things. I didnt believe in divorce! I found it hard to believe that this would be how it would end... after all I have done so far for him, for my children?! No, we will seek help. After he and I talked he went to his sister's house to see his mom and his father stopped by the house to see me. Dad and I talked a while and he just told me that no matter what Steve says, he still loves me and not to give up on our marriage. He encouraged me that I had come so far with Steve and all of his problems, if I could get through his drinking with him I could get through this too! When he returned I sat him down and just eplained to him that I understood his feelings but if they were the way that they were because of another woman then maybe he needed to remove himself from that situation so that he could think more clearly. He agreed, he was going to stay awaay from this woman and see what happened with he and I. Roughly a month later I realized I was pregnant again, within days after finding out (I did NOT tell Steve) Steve and I were having a rough day, someone had come to me and said they had seen him with her recently so I confronted him about it and it blew up into this big fight. During the arguement I began spotting, and yet another miscarriage! I told him I was having a miscarriage and I just couldnt handle him yelling at me or us fighting, I wanted to talk to him like a civilized human being! He asked me to give him a minute and he went outside. I thought, Oh good, let him cool down and then maybe I can make him see all the efforts I have put forth and how stupid it would be to throw that all away! I waited, and waited, and waited some more. An hour had gone by and still he hadnt returned! Two hours... nothing! Somewhere around hour number 5 he finally called and said he was fishing with a friend, which I knew wasnt true because that friend had just called for him. I told him this and I also told him his son was asking for him, I told him I would drive to this park that was down the road from our home and I would wait there 25 minutes for him, if he showed up I knew he wanted to work on our marriage and our family.. if he didnt I would know he had other intentions and if that be the case, he needed to go some place else to stay. I got into my car, now let me explain. I had a saturn ion, I had NO gas in this car the needle was on E! I had a 5 dollar bill in my pocket and that was all, hardly any food in the house, but if I were to go to this park and wait for him, I was going to need that $5 in my gas tank! So I went to the local gas station, a small run down place and I went inside and told her I needed $5 in gas on pump 3. She took my money and said go ahead. I went outside and I put the nozzle in my car and began pumping... I was lost in thought, I didnt want to be late if he were to show up and I wasnt there I would just die inside! I then snapped back to the here and now to realize I had been pumping gas for a while now! I looked and it was just over $10! So I went inside and told the cashier I did not have anything but $5, she said not to worry it was her mistake. I promised to have the money to her tomorrow. I left the store and went right to the park and there I sat, I waited, and waited. I think I was there for about 45 minutes and no Steve. My heart sank to my feet as I drove home. I was home for around 2 hours when I started to become annoyed and restless, I got up and went to my car, I am unsure what my intentions were. As I reached my car I saw the woman next door come home and Steve was not with her. I got into my car and backed up I got onto the road and saw him walking towards the house. At this point there was no doubt in my mind that he was in fact with her the whole time! I was so angry!! I floored it, gas all the way to the floor! I got up to around 30 MPH and was within feet of hitting him when I slammed on my brakes! I threw the car into reverse and I backed into my driveway. I got out of my car and yelled to him that he'd better see if he can stay at his tramp's house! He laughed and said he would be staying at home and there was nothing I could do about it. I knew he was right, but I was not about to admit to it. I said to him "how dare you leave me after I tell you Im miscarrying YOUR child! you leave for hours at a time! No worries at all about me or your children. Just to go tie one on with the tramp next door. She doesn't want you! She doesn't even know you! Does she know about your drinking problem? Your drug problem?" The woman from next door jumpped in at this point she said "I am no tramp, I will have you know!" then she turned to Steve and asked him about me being pregnant and he said that he hadnt slept with me for months, which was a lie (obviously) but then I began to wonder why he would defend him sleeping with his wife to the neighbor? It was then I had made up my mind, if he did come home he would be on the couch for the rest of his life. At that point I could have cared less if he were to return to me, I was so heartbroken and depressed there was nothing he could ever do to fix this. I realized it was important for me to be civil and act like an adult for our children. My oldest son being autistic, he needs structure. The twins were so young still they too needed for things to be stable. I went in the house and got a pillow and blanket, put it on the couch for him then I went to bed. In the weeks to pass I slowly came to realize the one thing i needed to focus on were to get Steve sober and clean, it was more of a challenge now since his girlfriend fed him both drugs and drinks! But I needed him to be something like a father to my children, I needed him to be clean for them. This was my goal from this point on, I laid out a plan to get him clean and the two of us could just carry on with our lives, living under the same roof but not tied to each other. This would allow my children to still have mom and dad. I didnt care if I ever remarried or got with another man, at this point the one man I trusted with my everything has done nothing but destroy me! Who wants another?! That being said, I did just that. I took all of his prescription medications and offered to hand feed them to him. This is when I realized he had been taking over 50 pills a day, of various different pain meds! It was a wonder I hadnt found him dead yet. There was a point when he admited to snorting the pills. He said that he would get pills from the woman next door as well. Then I found out he was stealing pain patched from his brother in-law and pills from my mom. All together somewhere around 47 a day that he stole, was perscribed himself, or he would buy! At one point I was giving him all of his pill sin the morning, like if the max a day was 6 pills I would give him all 6 at 7 am and no more until the following day. I hid the bottles, he always seemed to find them and eventually I got sick of him cheating at the plan so I flushed the pills! He got so mad that he busted the bathroom door in! He called his mom to take him to a detox center, I refused to entertain the idea of a detox center that fed him pills to help him get off from pills! Seemed a waste of time to me. But his mom came running, she helped him pack his things and then she took him to the detox. Two days later he was home again with a whole new bottle of pills! I started to realize there was a good chance I wouldnt be able to actually help Steve clean up his act, but at the very least I could try and make a home for my kids. I had gotten a call from my landlord telling me I was 3 months behind on my rent and that he was willing to work with me but for only so long. It was time for me to get a job! I began working for a retail company, a few months later I got a job also with an insurance company and a few months after that I started also working for a medical center! I was working from 7 am to sometimes as late as 12 am no less than 6 days a week. I got our money situation back on track! Eventually I got a job offer at a fuel company that was less than 10 miles from my house so I took it. I left all three of my other jobs because the money I was making at the fuel company was good enough as long as I could put in the hours. Steve always slept on the couch, the neighbor girl had moved (without him) and their relationship had come to an end. He tried to patch up things with me but there was just no way I could trust him again. During all of this I had found out so much about his drug abuse, he had spent so much of our money on pills and cocaine and God only knows what other drugs! He slept on the couch and looked after the kids while I worked. I started talking with someone from the church about the way the church veiws divorce and weather I was in the right for wanting one. I started feeling this was the route to take when my father in-law (a man I felt very deeply for!) became very ill and eventually died. I became worried about Steve's mental well being if I were to bring to him the idea of a divorce. So I continued helping him build himself up, keep clean and sober. Roughly a year after my father in-law passed away, in August of 2009 a friend of mine was in a car accident and I was very worried about her. I was trying to tell Steve about it when he cut me off to tell me about a movie he got. I was devistated that he cared so little about me that he couldnt even pretend to listen to me when I was obviously upset. This was my wake up point, when I realized it was over, the battle no longer needed to be fought! I wanted a divorce.

Hello, I am in your same boat x2 I originally had band place in 2005. Then revised in 2014, however it failed me again. Converted to sleeve on 02/18/2019. Hope it goes well for both of us post lap banders.

Today I would like to talk about exercise. First, I would like to say that if your doctor or bariatric team has set an activity plan for you, you should do your best to follow their plan. This blog entry is more about those who are out there who have not started exercising and have no plan. Maybe you have never had an exercise regimen in your life, maybe you have tried exercise before but hated it and couldn't stick with it. This is just one girl's opinion and it probably goes against anything a personal trainer would want you to do. The thing is, I'm talking about starting from ZERO. So many times, the people who are telling us where, how, and how long to exercise are probably not people who have started from zero. They may have never been overweight. They may not know what it's like to be obese and have very little activiity and very little muscle. Now, you may look at my profile and say, where does this girl get off, just four weeks after surgery, weighing 270 pounds, acting like she knows something about exercise? Well, O.K., I'm not a personal trainer. I did, however, lose about 70 pounds 12 years ago. I got up to the point where I could jog 3 miles! I had never even jogged a mile in my entire life. This blog entry is to let you know how I did it back then. How I found what worked for me. And how I am pretty much approaching exercise the same way this time too. About 12 years ago, I found myself at what was then my heaviest weight ever (250). I decided that I had to do something. Being a young single woman, I just wasn't ready to go on a food diet because I had done those before. I decided I would try exercise. (Watching what I ate came later after I was seeing the success of exercise.) Don't try that with WLS. Please, watch what you eat! I thought about what had kept me from being a successful exerciser over the years. A few things came to mind: being the fattest, slowest, person at the gym; starting out gung ho and having sore muscles that made me not want to exercise the next few days and therefore falling of the wagon; doing things I didn't enjoy. I decided that I was just going to get out and walk. I didn't have a length of time. I didn't have a set distance. I wasn't going to be concerned with how fast I was walking. I wasn't going to be concerned if I got my heart rate up. I didn't need to have exercise outfits. I was just going to walk around the neighborhood. I was going to take a stroll. Look at the houses. Check out the neighbors. Get away by myself and give myself time to think. Time to work out my issues. It was wonderful. I didn't go home exhausted. I went home happy. I was happy that I did SOMETHING. I kept doing this for a few weeks. Eventually, when I was ready, I decided to walk a little faster. If I got tired, I slowed down. I didn't push myself. I was new to exercise. I wasn't gonna be Florence Griffith Joyner. I reeaaallllly eased myself into exercise. And every now and then, I upped the pace. After a few months, I measured out a mile around the neighborhood and I walked the full mile. And so on. Until miraculously, about 9 months later, I could jog 3 miles! Why do we feel impelled to push ourselves so hard, only to fail? I'm sorry, but C25K (Couch to Five Kilometers) is not for people who were really laying around on the couch. Unless those people were not overweight and had underlying muscle tone. Find something you enjoy. Don't feel like you have to spend money on a gym membership that you might not use. Walking is free. Hiking is free. Riding a bike is free (if you have one). Spend just a little bit to join the Y. They have a pool. Do a little swimming. Dancing to music in your house is free. Some cable companies have cardio and yoga sessions on demand. Hell, youtube has everything you could ever possibly want. Start in the privacy of your own home if you're worried about being embarassed about coordination. And if you can only do that video for 10 minutes....that's fine! Only do that video for 10 minutes for the next two weeks. Then up it a bit. Another thing I did, early on, was focus on my breathing. A lot of people who don't exercise are very shallow breathers. While you are walking or even lying in bed at night, practice filling your lungs to capacity when you breathe in. Feel not just your chest inflate, but your abdomen too. Increasing your lung capacity will help you get that vital oxygen to your muscles when you decide to up the activity. I also focused on breathing with a rythm. Sounds funny, but it really helped me keep from getting out of breath. I would inhale with so many steps and exhale with so many steps. It really made a difference to me. You'll have good days and bad days. But it will start to get easier and maybe, hopefully start to be enjoyable. That satisfaction from having done SOMETHING. You feel good about yourself. It shifts your mindset. You don't have to push yourself so hard. You're already worried enough about WLS and changing your eating habits. Just find SOMETHING that works for you. Do it at least three days a week. Plan it and do it. Your self esteem will love you for it.

Oh my.. You need 10 more surgeries in other words? That's horrible but extremely happy your a cancer surviver thumbs up darling the rest of the surgeries when are you having done? Why couldn't they find this before WLS so you can have it all set. At least you know what's going on.

I know the excitement! The wait from now until then is hard, I just jumped my final hurdle was the egd, I was afraid after coming this far for some reason it would keep me out, but the doc said it looked fine and we are a go for August 19. Plus huge relief as I was nervous. Now counting down is very real. Write me for any help! L

I am almost 10 months out and I could snack/eat all day. I notice at night I could eat more. I tend to pick slider foods. I fluctuate between 132-134. If I ever go over, I'll do a protein day. I will never risk gaining back the weight. I would have to try really hard to gain weight...eat frequently and make poor choices consistently. I will always be a food addict and I still crave the same foods, but I can only eat them in small portions. Congratulations on your weight loss. You rock.

OH thanks for that... i dont see my surgeon till next week. you know... getting hungry and bored..lol so tomorrow i will head to the gym that will help. yeah i had some goldfish like 10 slow to mush and it made me feel full. i'm so thirsty for water i was always used to gulping and its so different now. lol so drink more, think less and do more... lol

@@snickysnack78 You are making very good progress! Think about losing 27lbs in 5 weeks, that is over 5lbs per week! As you get closer to your goal you won't see numbers like that. If I lose 10 per month now that is an exceptional month for me. I just saw my bariatric team yesterday, they don't set a goal. They want to ensure you are happy with your weight loss. Well, they were extremely happy with my progress and as I said, I lose on average about 10lbs per month. I may or may not get to my personal goal before my one year anniversary which is at the end of September. The big thing is that you follow the plan. If you do that and not stray off, the weight will come off. For some it happens a little slower but in the end everyone catches up over the long haul. I would not worry about your follow up, it should go well for you.

I have it in 10 days

I have a big decision I need to make and I hope you can give me some opinions. I have a great job that I love and I only work 10 months a year (education field). I love my boss and she gives me a lot of freedom and respects my input. I also run a summer school in July for my district. I start at 8am and I finish at 3:00 everyday. I make great money too. Sounds great right? I wentto school to get an advanced degree and certs and now an opportunity has come around to be a supervisor. I applied and it seems I am the front runner. I would work 12 months a year and work until 4:30 everyday. I am guessing I'll make about 14k more a year. It would be a great career move and an exciting, though very busy job and help me gain administrative expperience. But having 2 months off in the summer is hard to give up! My kids are older now so I don't have little ones at home anymore. What would you do? I have asked everyone and they all seem as stuck as I am. I will need to make a decision very soon! All input is appreciated!!!!

I was banded... 10/31/2006.

Hi Boudala! I have had 10 surgeries in my life, and this one was by far the easiest, next to having a cyst removed from my hand. I was self-pay as well, but ended up having to stay 2 days in the hospital....the reason was because I had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia, so they kept me another day just to be safe. But in regard to the pain, it was very, very minimal in the surgical area. I had some gas pain in my shoulder, but it was bearable. Just make sure you walk, walk, walk. I had to walk 20 laps around the hospital floor before I could be discharged. I definitely recommend the walking about every hour...it helps tremendously with the recovery. I also have a two story house, so the first night home, I decided to sleep downstairs in my recliner. But my butt was starting to hurt from being in the chair too long, so the second night home, I went up the stairs and to my room. It wasn't bad at all. I just took them slow and held a small pillow to my abdomen. You will do great, and I wish you the best luck!

many of us "gain" weight from the IV fluids they pump into us at the hospital. Some people have reported "gaining" up to 10 lbs from the fluids. However, it's not a true gain - it's just water (and water with sodium in it, I might add, which makes some people retain it for awhile). It takes a few days for it to work its way out of your system. I'd stay off the scale until your first post-op appt (most of us have our first post-op at two or three weeks out). Your weight should be on a downward trend by then.

Hi everyone! Happy Holidays!! I am looking to start a topic with bandsters in the Grand Rapids area. My surgery is scheduled for Dec 30 with Dr Beane. I am starting my liquid diet this Thursday. I had to go through the 6 month diet with Dr Beane and I have lost 19 pounds since May 2010. I'm very excited to get to this point and can't wait to begin 2011 with a new me!! Check in and introduce yourself and say hello! Chris

I "fit" better in the car and in movie theaters - I am not embarrassed to go clothing shopping anymore and can shop in the regular stores... even bought size 10 jeans at GAP last week... My three kids are proud of me... and finally... I AM PROUD OF MYSELF!!!

Or.. the canned crescent rolls. I've always been partial to them, I have a billion recipes using them to make something a hand-held food. I use them to make a mini-quiche thing for family cook outs. Would make a good pizza too! I make it with swiss cheese and pieces of ham. But you use a mini-muffin pan, squish pieces of crescent roll into the bottom of each, then top with whatever you want and bake for 10 minutes. Could put a spoon of marinara, pinch of mozzerella and ta-da!

Today is my first day of my two weeks liquid fast, my surgery date is 10/23 too! I am drinking Optifast I purchased from my surgeons office. The already made shakes are good, but a little more expensive. The shake powder is not that yummy. But I will only be doing the Optifast for two weeks, then after that I'll probably go back to my EAS or unjury.

I only have 1cc in my band and I had my surgery in may 2012 and its a good restriction for me. I also had the plication with mine. I've been steadily losing about 10 pounds a month.

I was banded on Oct 10, 08 since then I have lost 87 lbs. Since I started on this journey I have tried to not eat emotionally. When I get hungry, I ask myself "Are you really hungry or is something else going on?" Since I started this process another "appetite" has developed... for sex. Is this normal?

Happens on Youtube too. They lose their weight and then disappear. A FEW people stick around to try and pay back the support they got when they were new. There are a couple of channels (Back to basics, ProofWLS works) but for the most part, a lot of people that I was following in 2009/10/11 have stopped updating.

I went through gastric bypass surgery with my daughter 3 years ago. She lost 100 lbs. the first yr. and wears a size 10 (down from a 24) and looks wonderful. She still has trouble keeping some foods down. Can't eat mashed potatoes at all. She cried for 2 weeks after her surgery....so depressed at the big change in eating. I'm convinced a lot of it was because she simply loved food (whereas I just eat to get full) and she knew it was permanent. I think with the band you always know there are choices and adjustments that can be made. I hope I'm not as depressed as my daughter was. I have no idea what to expect. Hope the seminar fills me in, but they are only going to tell me the good things. I want to know real life experiences.

Hi my surgery was 10/31/11. Nine weeks after surgery I lost 23 in 4 weeks, 6 lbs in 3 weeks, and 4 lbs in 2 weeks. It did get discouraging the second month because it is coming off slower. The scale is moving weekly but not very fast. I know it took years to put on and in 2 1/2 months I am down 33 lbs so I am still happy.

My sleeve is scheduled for 8/19/15 my nerves are really kicking in. I found this and I'm excited there's more people out there going thru what I'm going thru. I start my liquids for preop on 8/4 any recommendations on decent tasting proteins?