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Well Im back from my trip to Mexicali to see Dr. Aceves and his wonderful staff. I was told by all of you who had seen him how wondeful he was and YES he was!! What a nice man and such a dedicated surgeon. I asked him if he takes any time off, well Sundays of course. He said he loves his profession so much that he could spend every waking hr in the surgery room, now that says a whole lot about the quality of this man and the love of what he does. I was in such good hands. I was scared to death to have the spinal ( i had a bad bad expeience with my baby) but the anaethesist put my mind at ease and i put my trust in him which he thanked me for.... it was a snap, he also had a wonderful bed side manner and made me laugh which lightened the moment. Surgery was over in a blink..literally and Im now one week today and down 6 pnds. I have had the normal abdominal discomfort, but id say having a C section for me was wayyy worse. Im able to get down all of my fluids and Protein requirements so i think that makes a big difference in how I feel and heal. I am sure to take my Nexium first thing in the morning and have had no problems with acid or discomfort in that dept. I have had to deal with head hunger, its so strange your instinct to eat is still there but your new tummy is not hungry. It hard to explain until you experience it, the airport was the toughest for me...even though i would never order pizza in the morning, when we went by the pizza place i just about fell to my knees..haha, but it seems to have passed(tongue in cheek), I made grill cheese sandwhich for my daughter yesterday and tomatoe Soup...a definite head hunger challenge because i just cant take a bite! pretty simple. My stab wounds are healing well, actually all but the drain incision are close to healed. I have two kids, one 5yr old and one 6 month old, id say that has been my biggest challenge...taking it easy. How in the world do you rest when a baby needs you? so im just extra careful when i lift him and try to rest when he is napping. I have had a couple of stings bending over so it just makes me put things in check and remember i have just had major surgery. Im still anxious to make it out of the complications zone, but with a surgeon like Dr Aceves on my side I feel like I made the best best best choice! Anyone trying to decide on a surgeon and worried to death like I was, rest assured your in amazing gifted hands!! Thankyou to Dr A and all of his people! I look forward to my new journey ahead... Cheers, Nikki XX ps; not to mention I met some wondeful patients while I was in Mexicali. When you talk to people you find out that we are all in the same boat just trying to get healthy, happy with oursleves and find a different quality of life that we have lost or never had.

Hey everyone! I had the sleeve done on 4/6/16. I just started my phase one yesterday I'm drinking pretty fast but I'm kind of getting worried. I use the one ounce cup when I'm home but if I'm out I just drink slowly and take my sips. I'm not getting in all my 64oz of liquids, but I am getting all three Protein drinks in. Has anyone had trouble with getting all 64oz along with Protein Drinks in everyday? Is it bad I'm not using the 1oz cup every 5 minutes? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I have my last nutritional visit in one week and they will send my stuff off to insurance right after. For this whole time, I've just been cruisin along, doing what I need to do, not really worried. But, now that its coming down to the wire w/insurance, I am getting really nervous. I got all my bases covered (two cormids - longstanding high bp not well controlled w/meds and sleep apnea requiring CPAP) and my BMI is around 38 now and was 35 in 2008. I have a long long history of failed diet attempts. The only problem is that I was successful on WW in 2007 so my BMI was below 35 for that whole year. I have weights past 2 years that show I was 35+ previous though. I just anticipate that I will be denied automatically because of that and have to go through the appeal process. So annoying because its like you are damned if you do (diet and lose) and damned if you don't (cause they also require that you tried to diet). (BTW, I have Aetna) I feel like its a long shot, but I hope they will just approve me the first time. What are the chances of that??? :thumbup: Anyway, I am rambling, but any words of support you can give me are very much appreciated. Thanks!

Hey everybody - My first post. I must say lurking around this forum and hearing the success stories and positive attitudes gave me the extra push I needed to get banded. I fell a lot better today than earlier in the week and actually went back to work 3 days post-op (i have a desk job). My incisions seem to be healing fine but I do have one concern - Looking down at my incisions from my perspective , the third incision from the left is sore and lumpy between incision 3 and 4. Can anyone explain why? I dont want to call the doctor just yet. Thank you very much.

Hey All, About a week and a half ago I went for my 2nd adjustment...and I'm not sure if its too tight... I'm not sure I know the difference between restriction and too tight... it takes me about 35-45 minutes to eat about 1/2 cup of tuna... chicken breast even if well chewed gets stuck or comes back up... however weird things like baked tostitos and salsa go down... ice cream unfortunately goes down! But is that restriction??? Is that what I'm supposed want to happen? help please.... Thanks in advance!

I don't think the concern is the popcorn itself but the small pieces of the kernel. Most surgeons ask that you don't eat seeds or things of that nature until three months because your stitch line has not completely healed. Obviously this is your call, but the relevance isn't whether or not it doesn't make you sick or not, but how it effects your stomach.

I am three weeks post-op and saw my surgeon today. He advanced me to soft food (from pureed or mushies). I weighed 188. I was 196 on the day of surgery. He wants me to lose 10-15 pounds in 3 weeks. Doesn't that seem like a lot? Aren't we supposed to (as with any diet) lose about 1-2 pounds a week? I have been exercising. I have not had a fill yet. My other question. My port area still hurts. Is that normal? My surgeon said it's probably because I am doing more. Then I remember that my abdominal incision from my hysterectomy was sore to the touch for 3 years and my lumpectomy (for breast cancer) still is sore to the touch after 6 years. Thanks.:laugh:

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on what to expect from 2nd port revision. The first one was done 12mths ago, and the tube broke, and i was in extreme pain and had to stay in hospital over night. I went for a fill last week and the stitching has broken and they need to go back in, they couldn't find it. I'm going in first thing in the morning.....am i a whimp, and i'm trying to work out if i will be going home or will i be staying. Is it painful surgery, they have booked me in for a general anaethesia??????? Can anyone give me some advice. Cheers

I was banded 2 weeks ago by Dr. Baptista at Memorial hospital in Jacksonville. Sorry I don't have any experience with Dr. Chappano.

The liver shrinking diet is when I have to go on an all liquid diet for ten days before the surgery. This three month pre-op diet is something my insurance company requires. It is 'Eveidence that comprehensive non-surgical treatment of obesity has been attempted prior to surgical treatment.' Thanks for your reply!

The supervised diet period is to accomplish multiple things: - shrink your liver. - lower the amount of fat around your stomach. - prove to the insurance company you are willing to change your eating and exercise habits. - prepare you to modify your eating habits for the rest of your life. 10% is far from extreme over a 3 - 6 month period. It is not difficult to lose a pound a week. Just cut 500 calories out of your daily diet or else eat the same thing and exercise 30 minutes more a day than usual. I think most surgeons have patients logging their daily caloric intake and exercise routines. Use these to make even the smallest changes every day. You can't get upset when you don't lose or when you gain a little but don't try to justify it either.

One week. There just isn't much there when you are on fluids only. My second week was 6 days, and now 4 days and I am 3 weeks post op today. I used be very regular so its definitely different.

You might be losing fat off your stomach, or maybe you had residual swelling from the surgery and subsequent stuck episodes, it's really hard to tell why you feel less restriction now than you did previously. Maybe your body is just adjusting to the band. It never hurts to call your doctor, but I know some people have reported not getting the full effect of their fill until two weeks have passed. I did have one or two fills at two week intervals when I was feeling very little restriction.

Been on a break from the site for a while... had my surgery back on 11-12-13. Sw 257lbs, Reached goal of 150 at 14 months out (January 2015)....got pregnant literally less than a week later. Baby girl is almost 2 now. Since my surgery I have suffered from reflux and its gotten continually worse to the point I feel like my inside are literally on fire. I also have no restriction whatsoever since my pregnancy and have managed to get back up to 185. I had an esophagram done may 5th and my surgeon wants to revise me to RNY sometime this month. They have already submitted to my insurance and I am just waiting for my approval. I am nervous and excited all at the same time. so happy to get relief from the reflux and get back on track

I had the same problem for almost 2 weeks. I was told that the pain meds can cause it, so if you can do without them. Do so, plus if you take some fiber suppliments without enough daily water intake it can basically dry like cement in your system and make it worse. Try using Milk of Magnesia to see if it helps, if not you may have to buy an over the counter enama or a daily stool softner to help get you moving again. May sound extreme, but I was amazed how badly I felt being backed up that long. Once you start eating normal foods it will help get you back to normal as well. Hope this helps.

I have always had BM problems and was super concerned it after surgery. I had a BM the day before surgery and the day after. Then I went almost a week without one. A friend told me to do a tablespoon of milk of magnesia and I would be ok. Well hot damn was she right. About an hour after taking the MOM you could have eaten out of my colon. It was clean as a whistle. Seriously about an hour after take the stuff it cleared out everything. I also weighed something like 2 lbs lighter the next day.

Weight loss happens in funny places, huh? Sometimes I notice saggy skin, but a couples of weeks later, it looks better.

So my big day is so very soon. I am excited but not looking forward to the recovery. I am not the type of person that can lay around, so I need to be careful not to do to much. I already have too much scheduled for this weekend. I have a crop nite to go to for my scrapbooking club (which I need to go to because I get a free scrapbook this month) lol. I also have a wedding shower to go to for one of my employees. And then her wedding the week after. So hopefully I can get at least hour into each of those. We will see. I do have a question. Can you do cream Soups on the liquid diet (like tomato or pea)? Or should those be saved for the mushies stage? I guess I can ask in the hospital on thursday, but am trying to get everything I need before hand. Wish me luck!!

I agree I am confused about all the Protein myself. Some days I feel like I do NOT want to eat the protein at all. I can get full on just the vegetables and fruit and screw the protein. But other days I am hungry all day long and could eat every few minutes. I hate those days and wonder if on those days if I ate more protein the hunger pains would stop? Ever since the banding my stomach is just growling and growling and making all kinds of racket! It has changed the way I feel about being hungry too! I'm only 5 weeks from post-op and am getting ready to head into my first fill. I think I will definitely sit down and talk to my doctor about my concerns with the protein vs not protein issue.

At 2 weeks post op, you still have a wide opening between your '2' stomachs, and I think your gum will go right through it. It isn't until after you have some fills that you experience many things getting stuck. I am 6 cc in a 10 cc band, and to be on the safe side, I cut my pills that I swallow in half so they don't get stuck. Just call and ask your doctor what he thinks. It will only take a phone call to know for sure. God bless. Patty

I was sleeved seven days ago today, and my doctor told me that the top part of my spleen lost it's blood supply when they removed my stomach. It's called a spleen infarction. He indicated that I would have pain in my upper body for approx 3 weeks and that I should get a CT done in a few months. I didn't have any pain up until last night and it has been hurting all day today. Has anyone else had this issue?

Every doctor is different. My doctor does only lap band surgery, he's been doing it for years, and he has done well over 1000 of them with a high success rate, very low band slippage rate (which he says is mostly from vomiting, which can easily be avoided) and many very, very happy patients. He has his patients on one week post-op of liquid diet and then one week of mushies, then on to regular food. I don't really like to see people posting scare tactics from other doctors.... let's everyone just follow the advice of their own doctor, ok? That being said, follow the advice of your doctor. And peanuts right after surgery is totally wrong by any doctor's advice!

I went back to work 2 weeks after surgery and brought a tiny Rubbermaid container with 1/4 c cottage cheese in it. A lemon greek yogurt, etc...The yogurt took me a couple of hours to finish. Just a small spoonful at a time.

Many people report that their fills 'kick in' a week or so afterward. It just reaches out and grabs you sometimes. Since you've have an 'episode,' you need to limit your intake to liquids, then mushies for a day or so. And it helps me if those liquids are warm, not cold.....loosens the band and eases the pouch. As for 'avoiding bread and crackers'.....most bandsters can never eat bread very successfully - it wads up, swells and sticks. And eliminating them permanetly will help with the weight loss anyhow. As

My band tightens up a few weeks after a fill. If you had a golf ball, you should have immediately went on liquids for 24 hours. If you didn't do that, you need to now.