January 2010 bandsters...

[Avril67 0]

I am feeling very excited for those who are about to take the plunge!!

My surgery was exactly a week ago and I am feeling SO much better than when I posted on here a couple of days ago.

I will regularly check in an see who's posted and how your feeling and am more than happy to offer whatever encouragement I can! Just getting responses to what I put online has been an enormous help. More than I expected it to be!

Thank you and I am hoping I can pay it forward!

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!

Av

ps: Happy Australia Day! :wink: (couldn't resist!)

[bennigancat 0]

I'm getting banded tomorrow, Jan. 27. I'm scared and excited, but I think I'm ready.

Angie:scared2:

[DB1119 0]

DH & I are getting banded tomorrow. I am nervous....Just want it to go well for both of us:wub:

Good Luck to everyone!

[lavenderlady 0]

hi i am being banded on Jan 27th. I live close to chicago as well. hope we can become band buddies..it hasnt been easy so far. good luck hun

[lavenderlady 0]

Hi all, I am getting banded tomorrow Jan 27th. I am excited and nervous. I have been on Clear Liquids for 5 days now and it really sucks. Had a break down on sunday, but my best friend was here to help me threw it. She was banded over a year ago. I am looking forward to my new life but hope i can do everything to get the weight off. Wishing everyone good luck. Oh, my ticker isnt showing right have to wait for my friend to help me lol..sorry

[LapBandBobbi 8]

My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, Jan 28th. I've very excited, but concerned because I have come down with a cold today :thumbup: I hope this doesn't delay my surgery. I have read posts where some surgeries have been delayed and others haven't. Wish me luck!

[sewperfect 0]

I was banded on Jan 15th. The gas pains were the worst of it. I feel like a human again and it only took three or four days. I have no soreness or anything now. Not even at my port site. Sometimes I wonder if I even had anything done. I can tell the difference though when I eat. I do get full fast. Only, it doesn't last long. I think this will change when I get a fill.

Congratulations to everyone who is making changes in their lives and taking control. :smile2:

[Avril67 0]

I've been having some really strange and enlightening experiences with this banding.

When I sit down in the evening after the children are all in bed that I automatically begin to feel low, guilty and a failure about my weight.

The next thing I do is go through in my head what I've eaten through the day (usually to beat myself up a bit more about how useless I am) I've done this for years but haven't really noticed it until now...

Since the banding, every night that same feeling hits, and I list off what I've eaten/drank thought the day;

1. Protein Drink

2. Soup

3. Optifast

4. 4 Ritz crackers

5. Two or 3 cups of tea

6. A Barocca

7. Lots of Water

And then I go through the day in my mind and look at all the times when I had opportunities to eat (and before the banding would have eaten)... the list is enormous!! Little picks and pecks here and there, a boredom cookie or 5, a snack with the kids after school, many many samples of whatever I'm cooking for dinner, an after kids in bed pig out session.... the list goes on...

I have to really talk myself into congratulating me for how well I've done... I have to counteract, the self talk that says 'it's the band thats doing it, not you' and 'give it time, you'll probably stuff this up too'. My head is being terribly negative about this even though the achievement is there staring me in the face!!

After so many years of failure, I am finding it so difficult to believe in myself but despite that, I am doing it! (negative me says 'It's only been not quite 2 weeks').

I am fairly certain now that the battle with the brain is going to be the hardest one. I have to be very aware of my self talk and recognise and correct it every time it drags me down.

I would be really interested to know how others are experiencing the psychological aspect of their banding.

Thanks for listening to my ramble.

Av

[candyglg 0]

I have not posted anything because I don't feel very positive either and I couldn't be very encouraging! hahaha! I'm sorry you're feeling like this but It's good to know i'm not the only one! I was banded on the 18th and i'm still sore. It took 2 days to stop having nausea. The 1st day I thought I was going to die. Now even with the protien shakes, cream Soup and flavored water I want food!!! Oh well.... One Day at a Time, Sweet Jesus...... My daughter did this 2 years ago. Jenn has lost 90 lbs. She said it was hardest for her too that 1st month.Sometimes she would put food in her mouth just to taste it then spit it out. lol. I know another girl who did this too! So I think we are all within the normal range in our thoughts and feelings. We need to remember where we are going. We need to remember the past. Thats the only way we won't repeat it! We will succeed!!! -----God Bless Us All---- candy

[gwins 0]

Avril - I couldn't have said it better myself! I felt like you were inside my head when you wrote your reply! I am two weeks out too (Jan 13 banded) and lay awake everynight with all these same thoughts in my head. I also calculate in my head every night how much weight I should lose by what date (I have set goals for every possible milestone - 1st day of the month, valentine's day, next dr appointment, Easter, etc). And I am obsessed with weighing myself -- was doing it 3 times a day but have at least dropped back to only 1 time per day. I head directly to the scale every morning as soon as I wake up to see how I am doing. I know I need to stop obsessing but tackling one thing at a time!

One thing that has helped me a lot is to track my food online every day. I use The Daily Plate because I found that it has the best food database. At the end of each day, I look at my daily totals and find that I am only getting about 800 calories in. While my doctor and my DH both say I need to up my calories to at least 1000, I am secretly proud that I am actually too low. When has anyone ever said to me that I need to eat more before?! It feels kind of good in a way!

The thing that has helped me the most psychologically is this board. It reminds me that my feelings are normal, that I am not alone, that others have the same issues. My DH is very supportive but has never been a pound overweight in his life so he really doesn't understand.

Keep positive thoughts and keep active on this board!

[KathyinAZ 0]

I was banded on January 5th and haven't had any problems. Didn't have any pre-op diet though. Went for my post-op visit 10 days after surgery and had lost 14 pounds. I go for my first fill on February 12th. I just started to eat soft foods this week with no problems. Can start a regular diet next week. So far I haven't had any real hunger but I figure I will start getting hungry after I start eating a regular diet.

[Ready2 4]

I will be banded on Sunday 1/31 - so I am the last of the January bandsters. I am really excited and so glad to have found this forum.

My doctor only required all liquids 2 days pre-op. This morning I had an Iso-Pure - YUCK. I'm hoping to find something that tastes better. Any suggestions?

[ranch417 0]

I was banded on 1/26. All i ever heard was how easy it was and people go right back to work. We'll not to be negative but, I had a hard time with my banding. So nauseous after the surgery I had to stay in the hospital an extra day. I guess the anesthesia affected me terribly. I was getting Reglan and Zofran as much as they could perscribe. Also I asked for and received a Scopolamine patch which goes behind your ear and lasts three days. Finally today the nausea has subsided. Another side effect no one mentioned was uncontrollable shaking, which is another side effect of anestesia (really bad stuff). I felt like a junkie or something with the shakes well they seem to be gone today. I am still very sore and have trouble getting up and down and out of bed. On a good note, every day past surgery I start to feel better. I guess just take it one day at a time. I feel indigestion right now. good luck everyone!

[lolly1123 0]

Ok, it's done, no turning back now! I have the steristrips to prove it. Oh my Gosh that surgery was very painful. When I came to, I was yelling out in pain. I did not know that the gas they put in you for the surgery would be so painful. They maxed me out with Fentanyl and antiemetic meds. Take it from me, when they say get up and move, you move. It is the only thing that will help. I also found that a heating pad made it much more comfortable too. I did have some nausea that day and woke up the next day with it too, but moving around and drinking cold fluids helped. I am glad that I did this, but had no idea that my 2 c-sections would hurt less.

[candyglg 0]

ranch 417-Yeah that nausea was awful! They gave me 6 different meds to control it. none worked! they gave me a prescription which didn't work either. I too had those uncontrollable shakes. They released me that day (around 5:00pm . I was there at 6am) I could hardly walk. I couldn't move all the next day either from the nausea. I kept waking up with the shakes, freezing and nausea. I don't know why they didn't keep me that night. It wasn't 'till the 3rd day that I could function. I'm still sore and was banded on the 18th. Thank God every day is better! And I DO feel way better! I too was shocked at my reaction to everything after reading how everyone feels so great and going back to work so soon. Also I've had anesthesia before and never reacted like that . I was kinda scared, let me tell ya!! Well for sure I will watch how I eat. I don't want band slippage or anything! I'm NOT going through that again! Well at least its done now. Onward we will go and success is what lies ahead! God Bless Us All! ----Candy---