December 2010 Bandsters out there?

[TLawre2 30]

Hi all I am 10 days out and the pain in the shoulder has been gone for about 3 days know. I am so glad that was the worst. I feel good but , the weight is coming off very slow. I lost 4lbs after surgery and gained 2 back. What am I doing wrong.

[beergut 2]

Last night I think I got most of the gas out, but my incisions are still hurting me quite a bit. Surgeon wrote me a new prescription for some percocets, but won't be able to grab those til tomorrow. Slept better last night than the night before, and I'm working up the energy to take a shower in a few. Don't have any problems getting my Protein Shakes down...

[nate 1]

This may sound a little odd, but things are going too well for me...let me explain

I havent had pain, I have moved onto mushies etc a few days ahead of schedule and have not had a single problem or experience. I know I have 3 mls in thre now, so still plenty of tigthening to go, but come on...I havent felt a thing that has made me think 'the games changed and the jig is up'! Im sure if I bit into a crusty bread roll right now Id learn pretty darn fast, but I have had eggs, mash potato, mushed up meatball, even a few small pieces of cheese, and its all good so far.

I guess I will just wait till the day I go a little to far and quickly realise, but apart from the holes in my stomach, and few days of pain, its hard to tell anything has changed.

[CheckYes 46]

Beergut,

So glad things are improving for you. Today is a week since I had surgery and I woke up this morning feeling like my old self. I'm not hungry at all yet. I see my surgeon today so I suspect she will allow me to move to the purée stage.

[Dave_NW 92]

I wanted to check in and bring you folks up to date.

I was banded December 6, and stayed at the hospital two nights. They repaired a hiatal hernia and a ventral hernia while I was there, so I expected my recovery was going to be more of an issue. Where most banding patients end up with five or six incisions, I wound up with 13.

As it's happened, the banding has been almost a non-event. No shoulder pain (I think because I walked a lot in the first few days after surgery, and I sipped a lot of Water.) Incisions healing normally, no swelling or port pain, just the expected bruising and localized stiffness. Now, on Day 11, I'm feeling better than I have to date. I'm still off work, but all in all, I feel pretty good.

What WAS an event that I wanted to share with everyone, was that four days after I got home from the hospital I began to feel "off." My sense of taste went downhill, my stomach felt "wrong," I began to have diarrhea, and my whole (generally) positive attitude went right out the window.

On Monday morning the dry heaving started. I'm not a fan of vomiting under any circumstances, but this experience scared the hell out of me. My jaw clenched, I was in a cold sweat, my stomach began to roil, and then - BAM, the urge to vomit happened. Several long, protracted straining urges to throw up. But it produced NOTHING. Just the strain. I have never felt such a weird sensation.

After the second event that day, I called my surgeon's office to ask what I should do. Obviously something was wrong, and I was concerned it might tear the band loose. I was adivsed to see my regular doctor, because the dry heaving was very problematic.

Long story short, I ended up at the hospital Emergency Room. They gave me two doses of an anti-nausea drug, which stopped the vomiting symptoms, and took some blood. After an IV bag of fluids, since I was dehydrated, they sent me home. Diagnosis: Stomach virus.

For the next two days I couldn't eat anything, as the virus worked its way through my system. All I did was sip Water and sleep. I felt awful. Finally, today (Thursday), I feel much better. I'm eating again, (still on liquids only - I can't even go to mushies for another two weeks), and I feel a thousand percent better.

My point in sharing this is to warn you about the unexpected side effects you may feel that have nothing to do with the band. And to warn you about dry heaving. It was absolutely AWFUL.

On the plus side: I'm down 31 pounds since I was first weighed by my surgeon's staff at the end of September.

Dave

Edited to add on 12/17/2010: Now we're thinking it may not have been a virus at all. We're discovering I may be lactose intolerant, and that the symptoms I've been experiencing are related to that. Stay tuned...

[Chasing3310 0]

Hey there,

Banded on the 6th. I'm doing great! Just tried eggs for the first time last night, and did very well with them! I'm looking forward to getting off these Protein shakes and more towards whole foods. My husband made me two types of bean Soups and a squash Soup that I puree and absolutely lovelovelovelove. The pureed Soups are definitely a high point for me.

Are there any other December banders out there with infants? My son is 9 months old and he gives me a workout! I am pretty sore by the end of the day.

Also, I saw that there was another a vegetarian out there - yay! I prefer to eat to vegan, but will likely adding fish and eggs to my routine. I start my day with a green juice (kale-celery-cucumber-apple). I intend to do a spinach-banana-oj smoothie, too. What varieties are you going to incorporate to get your Protein in? I can't do soy/tofu - GM soy is no bueno for me.

[LavenderBrown 0]

Hello all! I haven't been banded yet but I'm scheduled for the 21st. I'm happy/nervous/excited/worried. Thank you all for your support!

[size10again 11]

Hello,

Dave~ I had the stomach flu a week before surgery and was glad it was then and not after surgery! Glad you are better!

Nate~ Things felt like that to me, too. I have had a bit of trouble now that I am moving ahead a bit with eating some bread type things I shouldn't. Dry, butter toast is fine. It's the doughy type bread I need to stay away from! I ate part of an Olive Garden bread stick yesterday, bad idea!!

Tlawre2~ Lots of people have shown a weight GAIN after surgery due to the swelling and IV fluids causing Fluid retention. Don't worry about it!

Today is my husband's and my 15 year anniversary! It will involve either eating out or bringing in (my choice since it's really yucky out).

Take care, Joan

[amyloveslou 11]

First off i want to thank all of you for posting what you have experienced..It has helped me more then any phone call i have made to my dr's office !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was banded on the 13th and things were a little ruff... 2 night stay and i came home last wed. today was the first full day home. i have had the worse gas pan ever !! gas x is a saver...someone wrote about chest pain THANK U i was getting scared ! the bathroom problems thank u again!! I only take 1 tylonal if needed but the killer is all Clear Liquids !! Jello and juice and broth is getting to me !!! I did get mom to make homemade veggie Soup and so i could have the broth ok never did I think I would cry over food until everyone sat down and mom made homemade bread with home made butter .... now I know why i am so over weight to begin with !!!

Thank you all for all of the input !!!

amy

[CheckYes 46]

Hey Chasing,

I'm vegetarian too but eat fish and organic dairy products (and cage free, free range eggs). I prefer to eat vegan too but I'm ok with fish and humane dairy.

I love tofu and am working on finding some simple marinade recipes for tofu. I'm also a huge fan on lentils and have a great Lebanese recipe for them (sans rice).

I could only find one organic whey Protein (Taras Whey) and it didn't agree with me. I did end up finding a soy

protein with 25g protein per serving and zero sugars!

I just ate my first purée meal... 1/4 cup!

[HeatherinCA 10]

I'm still on liquids my list says pureed bean Soup, I had a little bit of that tonight. Also sugar free fudgicals are very satisfying! Yikes can't believe you guys are cheating? My stomach is so sore I'd die if I threw up!

I'm finding I'm not hungry at all. Which is good, I miss the social part of food and eating out right now. But I'm paying attention to my feelings. I'm emotionally ok. Next week will be a test for me I'm spending 5 days in Vegas with my parents and it has always been one big food fest everytime we go there. So I'm a little scared. But my parents are supportive haha so extra gaming while they eat? Yes! Haha

I'm going on pureed food this weekend, trying to figure out what i can eat. Is that the same as mushies? Hmm

[beergut 2]

I'm still on liquids my list says pureed bean Soup, I had a little bit of that tonight. Also sugar free fudgicals are very satisfying! Yikes can't believe you guys are cheating? My stomach is so sore I'd die if I threw up!

I'm finding I'm not hungry at all. Which is good, I miss the social part of food and eating out right now. But I'm paying attention to my feelings. I'm emotionally ok. Next week will be a test for me I'm spending 5 days in Vegas with my parents and it has always been one big food fest everytime we go there. So I'm a little scared. But my parents are supportive haha so extra gaming while they eat? Yes! Haha

I'm going on pureed food this weekend, trying to figure out what i can eat. Is that the same as mushies? Hmm

yeah, im not even hungry at all, i have to force myself to drink my Protein shakes... forget about any regular food, just coughing hurts like hell. I had the hiccups and I thought I was gonna keel over, lol.

Just woke up in the middle of the night w/ back spasms that caused all my incisions to feel like they were spasming as well, that wasn't very fun at all... I'm over this phase already, ready for the easy part to come...

[vickyd 24]

I had my first meal out last night (now that I am no longer on shakes). It seemed to take forever for me to go through the menu but in the end I had a crab cake appetizer (1 crab cake which was mainly crab, not much breading at all) and a side of steamed broccoli. I ate the entire crab cake and about 3 florets of the broccoli (without the stems because they were a little too tough) in the same amount of time it took my family to polish off their full sized meals and dessert. In the end, I was satisfied but not overly full...I am very proud of myself!

[amyloveslou 11]

so when did you find the gas pain to be gone ?/ i am walking and doing the stairs at home to work it out. gas x is a GOD sent but last night i didnt sleep at all... i watched the clock tick ..the pain is a killer ! then this morning ate my Jello too fast !!!! that is pain I dont ever want to happen again !!! lesson learned....i can only have clear liquids until next wed after my appointment with the dr. then it goes to puree...mmmmm i cant wait!

hope everyone else is well....

amy

[Purpleshell 4]

My gas pains disappeared Day 4- thankfully as I can't buy gas x where I live. I hope yours goes soon Amy. Heat pads and walking helped too and I'm sure managing to sleep on my left side helped. I know if you need to get rid of wind, if you lay on your left side it will come up, so maybe this helped me too???

I live overseas (Middle East) and things are often done differently here. So, I would love to hear what your Dr's are saying about your diet. I'm on a liquid diet for 2 weeks which includes homemade Soups with lots of Protein, diet yoghurt and fresh juices. Week 3 I'm allowed the Soups to become a little thicker and introduce more pureed food and then week 4 he said I should be able to eat normally again! Which will be one day short of Christmas day!!

What are your Dr's telling you?

And-

Is anyone allowed a glass of wine (alcohol) on Christmas Day?

I haven't asked as this is a muslim country and my Dr is also Muslim. I don't want to offend anyone or let them think I'm an alcho lol I was thinking that 1 glass might be OK but not sure. What are your opinions on this?? I will be nearly 3 weeks banded by that stage.

Thanks!