March 2011 Bandsters

[rosie50a 0]

Thanks for all of the info Marcy,,,I haven't been quite so brave as you... tomorrow I get to start on pureed foods,,, that means I can have some oatmeal, or a scrambled egg!!! My dr has me on that for 2 weeks. I am not going back to work til the 28th and have a follow-up with my dr on the 25th. In the mean time, I walk as much asd possible, and only take pain meds at nite,,,but gonna try without any tonite. I feel just like you that this band is going to be a great tool. My daughter had RNY a couple of yerars ago, but I didn't want to do that to my body. I am drinking all of the time it seems,,, Again,,, thanks for the info,,, and I will keep watching your posts,,,Hope your walk was nice,,, Take care,,,

Rosie

Rosie I gained about 8 pounds from surgery. They give you IV fluids, and the body tends to hold onto what it has as a way of responding to the traums of the surgery. I was banded the 15th and yesterday finally lost a half pound from my preop weight...and today am up 1.5 pounds from that. I actually am having some scale issues so plan to go buy a new one tonight. My doctor told me to not even worry about losing anything the first 2 weeks out...but I'm still hoping to. I'm almost back to normal, I worked Saturday night and had sore abdominal abs afterward (of all the nights to actually have to LIFT a patient...had an emergency situation and had no choice).

I'm off pain meds now...even motrin. Please no one tell me how horrible I am, I know htis already but I already moved on to soft foods days ago I had Soup get stuck once, and last night I was nibbling on ham and totally forgot to chew well. It came back up and now i understand what exactly "sliming" is. I've backed off since and have a huge focus on hot liquids. It's still a struggle. Sometimes it hurts to eat or drink, I'm belching a lot, and either I eat too quickly (then am overfull for awhile) or I eat foods that are soft enough to pass thru quickly and I get hungry after 2-3 hours. I can tell, though, that once I really learn how to use the band it's going to be a FANTASIC tool. I want bread so bad, but after the potato Soup got stuck the other day I KNOW if I even try a bite of something doughy it'll get stuck and hurt. That pain is a big incentive. I'm managing soft meats ok (except tuna, go figure) and granola with nonfat milk or yogurt...and scrambled eggs with onion chunks. I have yet to try well cooked veggies.

I haven't started exercising yet, Saturday night on my feet for 12 hours was enough LOL...but I'm planning to walk to the bus stop to get 2 of my 3 kids in a few minutes. Only half a mile total, but that's more that I did in my unbanded life.

Sorry to be a horrible example. I also found a piece of chocolate today and ate some. The rest is headed to work with hubby tomorrow...I'm doing a LOT of that. And I felt like an idiot this morning. DH bought flavored carbonated lemonades last night and I set a mug out to get flat, then dumped it this morning not wanting the SUGAR...it was perfectly flat and ready to be drunk....I dumped it out then read the bottle. ZERO CALORIE. D'oh.

[Pammy S Lewis 2]

had my surgery on 3/15 and i'm feeling almost back to normal. just went for a walk with my dog and am getting out and about more every day. have lost 8 lbs but i wonder how much the weight loss will slow down once i stop eating. thank god for the liquid diet at first to give you some quick weight loss / hope and incentive!!

[MarcyLoo 12]

I wish I could walk my dogs! But they are 150 and 200 pounds'ish and truly only my hubby can handle them...they PULL! Walk tot he bus was cancelled, it started pouring...but I did walk the property a bit, threw some bread into the pond for the black goldfish my husband discovered is living there.

[azbtrfly 2]

I started eating on Tuesday, March 15th, just a week after surgery. I took it slow and chewed and chewed. Started out with an egg, cheese and avocado omelet and fruit. It took me as long to eat my few bites as It did my husband and son to eat their meal. I learned right away to share a kids meal with my son or have my son share a meal with me and we still had food left over. Took low carb slim-fast and adkins shakes for when I was hungry and needed some Protein. My favorite was an egg,cheese, turkey and broccoli quiche, was very hard to stop eating after just a couple of bites. I cheated and had a small soft piece of cake and a few bites of my son's pancakes but other than that I tried to stay low carb. So far, so good, with nothing getting stuck. After 5 days in Disney, I still managed to lose 1.5 lbs, which I'm happy with.

I did get a cough starting on Wednesday though that's just not wanting to go away. I was supposed to go back to work today but I have a phone/customer service job that I'm on the phone all day and I can't talk without couching.

[Dusty_S 1]

Hello this is my first post, I'm post opt now about 12 hours since surgey and I feel ok, bit sore and little gas pains, but all in all ok, tomorrow maybe a different story

[aromanek 13]

My doctor explained to me that it is actually very normal to weigh more after surgery because the body is healing and may hold on to Water as a healing mechanism. You also were filled with gas and saline which, as my nurse explained to me, adds to the weight a little bit as well. As long as you are following your doctor's orders I wouldn't worry too much about the scale for the first 4-6 weeks since your body is healing.

I am not sure if this is normal, but I was banded on the 15th and came out of the hospitqal weighing more than when I went in,,, It has taken me until this morning to get back down to my weight the morning of banding,,, strange. I have been following the liquid diet to a "T" but now am wondering what will happen when I start on pureed food tomorrow. Think I will just try getting an extra walk or two in each day,,,Was just wondering if anyone else had this problem? No matter,,, I am still happy I had it done!

Rosie

[Navywifey88 0]

Hello everyone! Started my two day clear liquid diet today. Will be banded 3.24.11. Getting a little anxious, not to mention im starving! Im definitely ready to start this process, and start losing! So, my question is for all of you who have already had the procedure done, How was the first week post-op? As far as drinking stuff.. Did you still feel hungry? I've seen a lot of people talking about gas issues etc.. Is there any other side effects you've experienced? Any info that I can't get from the booklets or mysurgeon would be appreciated! And good luck to all my fellow March bandsters!

[NCBanded 0]

Hello everyone! Started my two day clear liquid diet today. Will be banded 3.24.11. Getting a little anxious, not to mention im starving! Im definitely ready to start this process, and start losing! So, my question is for all of you who have already had the procedure done, How was the first week post-op? As far as drinking stuff.. Did you still feel hungry? I've seen a lot of people talking about gas issues etc.. Is there any other side effects you've experienced? Any info that I can't get from the booklets or mysurgeon would be appreciated! And good luck to all my fellow March bandsters!

I was banded on March 4th... very, very, very sore and swollen for about 5 days after surgery. I experienced very little gas (unlike a lot of posts that I have read) but I also lived on Gas-X chewables because I was afraid I would have horrible gas pains. Really my only bad experience post-op was that I developed a stomach virus and it was HORRIBLE!! I know this is TMI BUT my stools were so soft/watery that I was not able to hold them... ugh!!! I felt like I was going to die from embarassment. I called the dr's office and he was able to call in a prescription... 5 days later I was good as gold .

I had my first post-op appt with my dr. 4 days after surgery. I was still soooo swollen that I could hardly sit in the car, let alone wear 'normal' clothes but my dr seemed satisfied. He explained to me that I could move on to mushy foods within the next day or so (which I thought was a little early) and he then said that I could start on 'normal' foods whenever I got to the point that I was eatting buckets and buckets of mashed potatoes and still feeling hungry... I remember thinking to myself... Oh Boy... I can eat buckets and buckets of something I love... well, after about 2 days of eatting potatoes I thought I was going to puke... just the thought of eatting another potato made me want to scream. Needless to say I progressed onto other foods quickly. I am now eatting pretty much whatever I like (just not the quantities I would have pre-banding) and have lost 26 pounds thus far. I go for my first real fill on the 28th (they put in 3.5 cc's during surgery) and am feeling a bit nervous about it... mainly because I am going to have to start watching what I eat a little more cautiously and I am afraid with pollen season right around the corner that I might have some issues... with all that said I am also looking forward to a little fill because I am getting to the point that I am getting hungry more often.

The main thing post-op is to listen to your body, take your pain meds, and walk (that helps with the gas)... I was up and making laps around the interior of my house within an hour of coming home after surgery.

Good luck on your surgery!!!!!!!

[sherry092571 0]

I ve been reading your post and I would like to know really what to expect from someone that is going through the process . I have my consult on March 30 and my Therapist appt on April 1st . I see that the prcess from consult-surgery varies from 5 mo-10months does it really take that long to actually do the surgery? why does the process takes so long? or is there something that can make the process faster? any help walking me through the process what to expect would be greatly appreciated

Sherry

[laura5127 1]

ok so its 7:09am wednesday 23rd march and its and hour and a bit till my surgery, im not as nervous as i thought i would be. I feel fine. i hope the surgery goes fine

[Pammy S Lewis 2]

my surgery was pretty whirlwindish. i went and met with the dr for the first time on march 2nd and my surgery was 2 weeks later on the 15th! unfortunately my insurance wouldn't cover it because i fall within the new fda guidelines for people 50lbs or more overweight and insurance companies aren't covering all of these yet unless you are diabetic or have a serious condition caused by the weight, which i don't (mere high cholesterol wasn't cutting it with blue cross. i did think about eating a piece of candy before going to my fasting blood sugar test though! ha). i felt it was important enough to me though so i just decided to self pay, which is a bummer. but at least i got it done.

[MarcyLoo 12]

Laura good luck today! I'll keep you in my prayers

well, I ate Breakfast at 9am and am starting to get hungry...although I think it's more emotional than physical...am hoping to wait till 1pm for lunch. I'm trying to work towards only the 3 meals a day. Am trying to convince my 3yo son to take a walk with me....am going to have to just shove him out the door cause he says "me just wanna stay inside da house."

I have my post op appt tomorrow. It'll be a busy day....get the other boys off to school at 8:20, then will drive into downtown Seattle with my 3 yo for an auction, then north for my post op appt at 1:15 while my hubby comes home early to get the kids off the bus (they have short days the next 3 days in school)--I guess it's good to stay busy

Just out of cusiosity, what kind of scales do you all have at home? I had a health-o-meter digital, but I always had toruble turning it on and it'd occasionally blink "Lo" (battery?) even though it was fairly new...and it'd tell different weights in one session. So last night I sprang for a new one (on sale for like $24) -- a Taylor glass digital. It seems to be on track with the other but turns on more easily.

[MarcyLoo 12]

Oh, it took me a couple months for the process, way shorter than I expected. I first called insurance to see if they covered it the tail end of December, Seminar on Jan 5th, and was declined by insurance once then approved 2-3 weeks later....so from the very end of December till surgery on march 15th. I was prepared to have to wait till summer.

[ElizabethNYC 1]

Heyyy everyone!! Sorry I haven't been around much, I'm trying to catch up on the board now. I'm a week out of surgery and feeling great. I had one of my best friends engagdment party on SUnday night and I got tons of compliments which made me feel AWESOME. My post op is tomorrow and then back to work on Thursday (boooo!!). Right now I'm still on liquids and getting tired of it quickly but I fight through the cravings to eat whole food. I've been slacking on my Water intake and probably should pick up on that. So far I'm down about 18 pounds and it feels great!!!

To everyone who is going to be banded good luck and to those who have been banded congrats!!! I love hearing how all my fellow March bandsters are doing.

[fly4kidsrt 1]

Went yesterday for my surgical clearance from my PMD, then to the exercise and nutrition class. They are telling me it will be 4 weeks after surgery that I get my exercise clearance??? I am going to the gym 3 days a week now-I think I will do what my body says. Having said that off to the gym. BBL