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Hi gottaluvme, Dr. Ehrlich is awesome. He is very patient and explains everything. His staff is great also. I think there are four of his employees that had the band done. I know one of them is Kevin. He's lost 100lbs. since I last spoke with him. The time will go by quickly because there are so many tests that have to be done. Like anyone on the board would probably agree, the time that "kills" you is when you get the actual date. Then it takes forever. But it really isn't so bad. He does have you do a 2 week Optifast, followed by 2 days right before the surgery of Clear liquids. It really isn't that bad. The first couple of days are because your body isn't used to not having all the food. But they are there 24/7 if you need anything. If you'd like you can email directly, gubby214@gmail.com and I will be happy to answer questions you have. I just took a shower, wiped me out a little, and my husband & I are going grocery shopping. I think that will be it for the day. Looking forward to hearing from you. Hang in there!

Hi, I was banded on 03/09/2009. So I am now 2 weeks and 2 days post op. Starting from this week, I began to eat soft food - including fish, eggs, fat free cottage cheese, well-cooked non-stringy vege and tofu. I haven't had a fill yet so I don't know where my port is. I could not feel it on my left as well. I have a realize band. Sometimes I feel the muscle being pulled and tightened to the left of my bellybutton. Tonight after dinner that area (under the left breast to the left of the bellybutton) felt sore again. Could this area be where my port was placed? Is it normal to have this kind of soreness? Has anyone else experienced it? Thanks.

I am 2 weeks post op and last night I was leaning forward and went to reach my right arm and felt a pull/pinch around my largest incision line where the port is. I was awake half the night thinking I did something really wrong and made a suture come undone or the port flipped. It hurt last night to get in and out of the bed a few times. I took tylenol this morning and feel a little better. I don't know if I should call my surgeon. It is Sat. and I do not want to get him pissed. It was just a strange feeling and I am really not sure what happened inside. Anyone out there felt the same thing in your past experience and what did u do ?

I am 2 weeks post op and last night I was leaning forward and went to reach my right arm and felt a pull/pinch around my largest incision line where the port is. I was awake half the night thinking I did something really wrong and made a suture come undone or the port flipped. It hurt last night to get in and out of the bed a few times. I took tylenol this morning and feel a little better. I don't know if I should call my surgeon. It is Sat. and I do not want to get him pissed. It was just a strange feeling and I am really not sure what happened inside. Anyone out there felt the same thing in your past experience and what did u do ?

I have the actitrainer and LOVE it.. However, the 'novelty' of it wore off for me after about two weeks. I want to start using it again now... BUT it involves wearing a chest strap, and since I just had my lap band surgery, I have some tenderness and scars along wear the strap goes.. I think I'll be without it for a few weeks.

I don't cook an awful lot, either, maybe 2-3 meals a week. I'm pretty diligent about breakfast, though - I whip up something quick like oatmeal with protein powder and peanut butter/raisins, or make a whole bunch of oat pancakes with blueberries ahead of time and just heat them up. Otherwise, we eat out a lot, so I'm always packing leftovers. Even sushi and sashimi is fine the next day - I just put the leftovers in an airtight container and stick an ice pack in the bag in the morning, I just make sure to eat it no later than lunchtime the next day. I try to make healthier choices when we eat out. For example, tonight I opted for grilled fish tacos with dressing on the side - so it was mostly lean protein, veggies, and a corn tortilla with like a teaspoon of mayo-based dressing. Not unhealthy at all, IMO! And now I have another taco left over for lunch tomorrow. I also pack healthy snacks to have throughout the day - I like fruit, veggies such as baby carrots and edamame, and Oikos single-serving yogurts. When all else fails, there are always protein bars, although I try not to eat them too often.

Just had surgery on the 11th...I am on 2 week clear liquids diet...to avoid dehydration, what are some typical daily meal plans. Because I'm not hungry, I'm not sure if I'm eating enough.

Long term care is so stressful on your back and knees. I know exactly what you are talking about. Even with another person (or two) to help you lift the resident, it is still strenuous. I definitely recommend you talk to your surgeon, but if it were me I would take off a couple of weeks. I know when I worked at one facility ( a really ritzy continuing care retirement center), a couple of the CNAs were pregnant and they got to sit down a LOT and were given the "easier" assignments. Maybe you could see if your facility could do something similar?

I am a labor and deliver nurse and I took 8 weeks off. I felt ok at 6 weeks but my energy level kept going up and down. With another 2 weeks I was ready to get back to work. I work 12 hour shifts and overnight. Everyone is different. As a wound nurse you may only need a week or two. I had pain the first two so I was on heavy pain meds. Hang in there I was sleeved on May 1 and have lost 126lbs and reached my goal weight last week. Went to Vegas and had a great time to celebrate !

im a week post op and have yet to hit 40 oz a day let alone the 62 reg.

I stick to a schedule. At first, it was 1 oz every 15 minutes I was awake. Now that I'm further out, it's one cup before Breakfast, two more cups by lunch, three cups before dinner, and I.5 cups after dinner. The other 1/2 cup comes during the night. I always wake up and have a sip or two of wTer. I count all fluids towards my eight cups, but doctors Cary on what they count as fluids. During the winter, I drink my Water warm to hot because I'm always cold. Lynda

As Betsy said, postop food plans vary according to physician. By the end of week 2 I was back on solid foods. The biggest problem is that they usually stitch a fold of your stomach over the band to help keep it from slipping. My surgeon did this and explained that it is extremely rare for a band to slip, even with vomiting, when this is done *but* since your stitches are only a week old, if you eat something solid and end up urping it back up because you get stuck, you run the risk of tearing stitches as well. .

Hi, Rahnava... I too was sleeved by Dr. Garcia..Surgery day was April 27.. So far I've lost 55.3 lbs post op, but I lost 16 lbs pre op..for a total of 71 lbs. I completely understand about the 5-6 lb weight gain during TOM. I'm currently going through it right now and its' so frustrating, but even if we're smaller and at our goals this would still happen..I see it as one of the woe's of being a woman.. You'll break out of the 60's I'm sure of it.. I was stuck for about 3 wks at 300 lbs and within 2 days... i literally dropped 4.5 lbs. I upped my workouts and spent more time outside sweating and I believe that helped a lot... I agree with Lauranbob... 60lbs in 6months is awesome! Sure we'd like for it to be more, but I've found that we all lose differently.. I've read on here where some have lost 100 lbs by month 4 but that clearly isn't in the cards for me.. As long as we're losing that's what's important, right? My goal is to lose 9-10 lbs a month. Anything extra is just icing on the cake... Sometimes I've exceeded that and other times like this month I have not.. I've only lost 7.8 lbs for July, but it's 7.8 lbs less on me than before. I have about 100 lbs to loose myself. So I figured 9-10 lbs in a month in a 10 month period is feasible. I don't think I'm reaching for the stars with that amount... We can do this!! Set backs..stall's or whatever you call them are bound to happen.. But as long as we're following the plan we can't lose... Stay encouraged, okay?

In case any of you wondered what to expect. Of course I wasn't going to see my surgeon, he's too busy/important (I will see him Wednesday), but I saw his nurse and then one of the resident surgeons who I hate to say, did not instill confidence whatsoever. The nurse went over everything, was able to answer all my silly questions. Assured me the doctor will do the surgery and not the resident. Actually she herself had a gastric bypass 10 years ago, and gave me some tips (the usual ones we find here on this forum). She had me sign some more papers. She didn't have the gallbladder removal, so she went back in the computer and found that, and added it. ugh. The document did list that it was a laparoscopic sleeve with 5 incisions, or (possibly open) don't recall the exact wording. She said that is on every surgery "just in case". Not like they can wake you up if they run into a problem. I was okay with that. She gave me a pre op and post op instructions 2 pager (again, the typical stuff their nutritionist gave me months ago) I asked her about washing with hibiclens the morning of. She said that isn't necessary. To shower as usual in the morning. She said they do tell patients to wear clean clothes after showering in the morning to the hospital. (not worn before). She went into detail how the operating room staff will be putting something on my body to sanitize. I'm been dreading the dye drink leak test, but the nurse said they no longer do that. I was surprised to hear that. Maybe they check it another way, forgot to ask her that. After the nurse left, one of the resident surgeons came in. He just had it all wrong. Wanted to schedule me for surgery (I was scheduled a month ago (scheduled this Wednesday). Told me the wrong surgeon's name. (another doctor in the practice). So he went on to say, that there are three resident surgeons that the bariatric surgeons work with and one of them will be with my doctor during my procedure. I truly hope it isn't him. Then off to my anesthesia pre-op. This department was running about 30 min. late. ugh. He just wanted to know all of the clearances I had, if I had any list of issues, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, a slew of things. He determined I was healthy, checked my neck range of motion,, looked in my mouth, down my throat visually. Discussed the general anesthesia protocols. I asked him how long the surgery may take as how long I'd be under. He asked what doctor I was having, and when I responded, he said, OH, one hour, he's the best. I was happy to hear that. I brought up my surgeon thick eyeglasses. He laughed and told me the surgeon eye sight is fine, besides, he said my stomach is going to be on the best high definition gigantic screen in the OR. Funny, I know what laparoscopic is, but I didn't really think about the monitor it displays on. He did say all bariatric patients go to this one area for recovery, because so many obese patients have undiagnosed sleep apnea, so they need more nurses monitoring them while coming out of anesthesia. then I was sent to the lab for one more surgical test - a blood type screen test. then I came home and put most my Post-op stuff in one place, rather than squired away in between my families food. (see photo) I think I'm ready!!!!

Hi Dr. Watkins, First I would like to say how much we appreciate that you come here and are so informative and helpful. We are lucky to have you here! I read on another post where you were talking about a leak. I am afraid I have one. I got a fill and it was too much, so my doctor said he was going to take some out and leave 2.75 cc's in a 4cc band. I just got another one last week ( 2 months later,) and he was only able to pull out 2.0 before he did the fill. He said it does not necessarily mean I have a leak. I had great restriction the first few days after this last fill. Now, not so much. Is it because when you get a fill, there is some swelling? Is there any way to find out if I have a leak other than the next time I go for another fill and check and see what's left in there? That is how I got overfilled to begin with. He thought I had a leak so he put me up over 3.0 and I was miserable. That was when he moved me down to 2.75. He was able to pull out all of it out that time, when he left the 2.75 in there. I could really test it out and try to eat something that I can't normally eat with a good fill, but I don't want to do that and risk throwing up.

the soup will go right thru you. There really is no reason to make large amount of borth and freezing it. you'll be able to drink about half a cup every 30 minutes or so. You wont feel like drinking anything but you will have to if you want to keep your tummy calm. I got tired of broth about three days out and started on sugar free ice pops then powerades. i suggest you buy the ramen noodle packs in different flavors and just use the broth packages. it's the only way to change it up.

I tried using a straw to get down my protein shake. It was so thick that most of it stayed high in the straw and I didnt get much air. I was ok. I think if you drink thinner liquids you might get a lot of air especially if your drink fast and dont sip. I am only 5 weeks out and I cant gulp or drink more than a sip at a time.

Welcome to the forum. As others have said... thre are so many success stories from people who hang out here at LBT... you are sure to be inspired. I did the Optifast 2 week pre op.... Once you get past the 4th day you will be fine. Best wishes!

Hi there I had an arm lift and a boob lift with implants 4 weeks ago. All has healed nicely except a small pea sized area on my right nipple, the nurse at my doctors surgery says she does'nt think there is any infection. has any body else experienced problems healing ? Any advice appreciated. Thanks Gaynor

I also live alone and while I spent three days in the hospital, I drove myself home from the hospital and didn't interact with or see anyone for the next week. I stopped on my way home and picked up a prescription for liquid hydrocodone, which in terms of cost is usually cheap on most insurance plans because it comes in a generic version. I actually didn't end up needing it. I had narcotics the first 24 hours after surgery and then I stuck to liquid Advil. You will be completely fine on your own, just have your bed all made up and comfy, the tv remote nearby, and things within easy reach. Before surgeries I always make sure my house is clean and work is done so that there is nothing that can annoy me while I'm trying to recover. The first few days are fairly miserable. You will likely be exhausted, sick feeling, Water hurts going down your throat, and you may potentially be emotional. A lot of people have done it entirely on their own and you can too. Just remember that time passes and soon enough you will feel normal again.

Hi there from Australia. I am booked to be banded on 18 Dec. Start 2 week Optifast pre op diet next week. I have been trawling the web for anything to do with the lap band. I want to share with you my two new lap band heroes that i love from you tube. First is bandedwendy - she is like the good angel that sits on your shoulder and yells like a drill sergeant into you ear about sticking to the lap band rules! The second is lizlovesherlapband. Liz is very real - and is Australian. Liz tells you what is really like living with a lapband. Her posts about the week post surgery have given me real confidence. Both of these women have been very successful and are real inspirations to me. Do you have any heroes to recommend ? I am looking for as much info as i can get.

Im gonna eat on thanksgiving lol For the past 2 weeks, I've been on a strict diet (never cheated once) and lost 8 pounds. Im going to continue this until thanksgiving where Im going to allow myself a small portion of reg food. I think in order to maintain my weight, I can eat whatever just in small portions. But when its time for me to LOSE the weight, I jus cut out alot of things. And thats because I have my own deadline lol I want to reach -50 by dec. So far I lost 35 I jus need to lose 5 more pounds by the end of this month and then 10 pounds in dec...And then hopefully by June I will have lost over 100 pounds.

I stayed at 700 calories on average per day until i hit the 9 month post op mark. I then had a very long stall - 28 days and I was told to increase my calories by adding more veggies, fresh fruit and some Protein. I was also told to reduce excercising from 1 hour per day to 30 minutes 5 times per week. I increased to 800 -900 per day until I hit 1 year and then slowly increased to 1100 per day. I was still in weight loss phase until 18 months. Then increased to 1200 to 1300 per day. I did and my stall broke. I continued to lose weight for the next 9 months until i reached my ultimate goal.

I did not measure last week or this week but I will tonight I had been losing inches as well. My doctor still says no straws cause I know I would do a lot better if I could use a straw. My blood sugars are still running on the higher side for the most part. My A1C was not as good as we hoped for it was 7.4.