December Bandsters

[VABandster 0]

That is so cute about your son bringing you Snacks and making sure you're boo-boos are ok!!! My boys are older, 13 and 17, and they don't even know I had the surgery!! I share custody of them w/my Ex so they were gone the week of surgery, and they just think I'm on a "diet", so they don't ask questions. I didn't tell them about it b/c I didn't want them to worry about me and I also didn't want them telling my Ex about it b/c I just don't need him asking me all sorts of questions (other than of course, are you losing weight??) LOL.

[sweethot143 2]

Hi everyone!

I just read about a million pages. We stayed overnight last night in the Netherlands and had a blast!

food was hard for me there. I was a good bandster and brought lots of Protein shakes, but still can't bring myself to drink them anymore.

I couldn't read the menus so I had a hard time making choices, we went to dinner at a place that said pizza and Pasta on the sign, so i was like, oh i can eat Pasta, chew really good. It ended up being a really cool MOroccan place. with Couscous and lamb and gyros i did get lasagne with no meat and it was delicious. I ate less than a quarter of it and the ower kept asking me, "why you no like my food? " I siad, no I loved it, i'm so full though. "I make you something else?" it was good though.

For Breakfast we had free bkfast at the hotel. Dutch Breakfast, i stayed away from all the breads and had a little scrambled eggs , but they were so weird and sweet and i had most bacon. Bad i know but i ate about 3 slices very small bites and I also had a few bites of apple without skin from the fruit salad.

lunch, bad bad bad, all i could eat there was french fries. we went to a Kinderstad which is a big indoor play place, so cool. They served just burgers and fries.

Went to Ikea around dinner time and ate 2 hotdogs without a bun. bad bad bad again.

Tomorrow back to being a good bandster.

We have so many new december bandsters!! Welcome all of you.

[ahubar 0]

Hi everyone I just found this thread. I am fairly new to this forum, so i am still bumbling around in it. I had my surgery Dec 15/06 with Dr. C. Cobourn in Ontario, Canada.

I am from northern Alberta, so had to fly out to Ontario the day before. But luckily they have arrangements with a retirement home so I was able to book a room there and have care for the first 24 hrs. Everything went great.

Christmas was a challenge for me as I was still on fluids, but I did sneak a very very small portion of turkey,potato,yams,carrots & just a little, little bit of stuffing and some cranberries. Everything went down ok, but i ate really slow, because i was really scared i was going to get a blockage.

I have been up and down since Christmas, but Hey, 2007 is going to be my year!

I still haven't read all the messages here on this thread but i will eventually.

Take care

[Levi27 0]

Jess- I too was banded on the 21st in Boston. I have lost a total of 17.5lbs. 5lbs of that was done on pre-op liquid diet. I'm feeling o.k. too but I get alittle tugging every once in awhile near my port. Other than that I can't wait for the mushies to kick in here in a few days.

[Banannie 0]

Did anyone else's weight loss come to a screeching halt when they went to mushies? I lost weight pre-op, also post-op on liquids, but since I went to mushies last Thursday, I've stalled.

I struggle to get even 1000 calories, so I'm not sure if it's Water retention from having more salt/sugar in real foods, or if my body's hit starvation mode due to the low calories.

Argh! This is SO frustrating!

Luckily, I'm hardly hungry which is part of the problem - I forget to eat! I know I'm lucky and it likely won't last, but I'm enjoying it right now!

Annie

[Just Jess 6]

I am posting for my husband who reads but never posts.

He was banded Dec. 8th. He also had Dr. Van Rueden Jessica. Your experience was same as his except my husband had no vein issues but was a bit nauseated in recovery and had trouble voiding but eventually went. Now he is 25 days out he is on mushy foods. He will have first fill at next doctors visit which is the end of January if I remember correctly.

Did you join him at the educ. session with Sloan? (sit at the end of the table opposite her, by chance?) I'm trying to remember if I met you!

GOod luck! I have my first post-op appointment tomorrow with the doc, so we'll see how it goes!! I can't wait to chew soemthing...... anything!!!!!

To everyone else - thanks for your welcomes!!!!! I look forward to getting to know you all better!!!

- Jess

[Just Jess 6]

JESS....welcome!!! I wasn't banded on the 21st...I was banded on the 15th, but I am in VA, so I'm not too far from you!

Howdy, neighbor!!!!

[StephC 0]

Hello everybody! I haven't been puree-ing my food at all since my dr's diet has pureed and soft foods as interchangeable. Today we went for chinese and I made a plate of what I thought I could have. I left about 1/3 of it on my plate and I was stuffed. I'm still full and that was at lunch! BUT I don't get why I'm never feeling "stuck" or like I've over eaten - sometimes like today I looked at my plate and said to my daughter that looks like more then 1/2 of a cup to me - and she said me too - I think if I packed it into a cup it would have all fit and I left some so maybe I'm not overeating? Thats why I'm so curious about those of you who have felt the golf ball or thrown up, I keep thinking ok this is too much but apparently not since its going in ok.

Today was scrambled eggs at 9am, chinese at 1 and now I'm still full so I don't think I'll eat until close to 7 or 8. Do you all think its normal?

Kay - don't worry about the crackers - I'm sure they're going down ok. Think about it this way, if they were in Soup and all mushed up would they be ok to eat? If you are chewing them to mush I think it should be ok. Thats another thing I've very careful about is chewing - so maybe thats why everything is going down easy. Last night when my friend was over we snacked on pretzels - definitely not soft foods! but I took my time and chewed and chewed and ate like a skinny person who plays with their food.

B-man - OMGoodness - drunk on New Years EVE! The shame of it~ jk! But the bacardi and Water - yuko! I've drank wine several times, not enough to get drunk but a glass now and then goes down fine. My gf brought over eggnog - with the 3 liquors in it - yuk! Her and hubby drank a 1/5th - LOL - I sipped on a glass of wine. I think as long as you are drinking slow it should be fine. I read about the dilating the pouch with even Water and that kinda scares me about drinking too much. I am a BIG water drinker and I don't have any problem downing a large glass several times a day so its been hard for me to stop at a few sips - which I never do - I gulp about a half a glass and then stop myself before I over fill my pouch. I think I'll have to talk to doc about this subject.

Sweethot - oh your day sounded wonderful in the netherlands!

[OfferRocker 0]

Hey Eric--Congratulations on a successful surgery and your success at avoiding all those wonderful foods on Christmas. I know the feeling. I was banded on the 11th of this month and Christmas Eve was difficult. But I was able to puree some prime rib and I survived. Feels great to see the needle on the scale going down though, doesn't it?

Denise-- Once you get to the mushie stage you won't feel hungry--at least that's how I feel. I can hardly look at chicken broth anymore. I'm still liking Protein shakes but don't have to drink those as much.

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!!

[skinnymom 2]

Hi, I'm Charelene and I was banded on Dec 22nd by Dr. Earl Fox in Auburn, Washington. So, far things have been going okay. However, I have pain on my left side, not near any incisions. I was wondering if anyone knows if the band can cause pain?

Thanks for any information you can give.

hi coatham - I was banded on 12/28 and I have that horrible left side pain - below the surgical site - dont know what it is either - going crazy from it though!!

:help:

[OfferRocker 0]

Hey Steph--I read in my doctor's manual that you will eventually need a fill at about 6 weeks from the surgery. So maybe that's why things are going down so well. The swelling from the surgery has gone down and you don't have much restriction. I'm kinda nervous about my first fill because I feel the same way. No PB's or nothing getting stuck. It's nice because even my pills are going down great. I don't want that to end. We'll see what happens.

Donna

[OfferRocker 0]

Skinnymom---I think that's where your port is. From what I understand the muscles get sore having something foreign around/in them. I think it gets better as time goes by---at least mine has. I occassionally can feel it, but it's not like in the beginning.

[ene 0]

Hello All,

I was banded on Dec. 28, 2006 so I am not quite a week out yet. I have

been following the clear liquid diet very strictly. However, today is

the first day that I have felt hungry quite often throughout the day.

How can I combat this and what can I have. All I have been eating is

Jello (sf kind), Water, and crystal light. I appreciate the suggestions.

I need help as I have significant less energy than I did in preop. I am guessing this is due to no Protein as preop I was getting 186 grams of Protein each day with my shakes.

Any suggestions for me now in this stage of the postop?

Let me know any thoughts you all might have. Also, I got the Sweedish

band as Dr. Joya said it would do better for me than the

Inamed...anyone else have the sweedish?? and is this the same as the

VG??? Sorry to sound stupid.

Thanks to all.

Eric

[skinnymom 2]

Hey all I wanted to post a update as I was banded on 12/28/06 by Dr. Joya in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. Everything went very very smoothly. I had a great experience there and with the staff.

I am not quite a week out and of course on the clear liquid diet for a few more days. It is very wierd to hear my tummy rumble as it's hungry and I take a few sips of Water and that just goes away....kinda cool! :biggrin1:

The hardest time for me was my family and I went to my parents for New Years Day and my mom was celebrating Christmas then since she and dad were out of town for Christmas and my mom made her traditional Christmas dinner and Desserts. Imagine everything you love in food on one table and then a whole other table filled with sweets and treats and you get NONE and everyone else is enjoying. That was tough but I made it and didn't touch a single thing!!! :clap2:

'm pretty happy with how things are going and can't wait till this Thursday as I can weigh again since it will be my 3 week marker from when I started the 2week pre-op diet.

The lbs are coming off and I am feeling GREAT!!!

Just wanted to share.

Eric

hi ene

I was banded the same day as you and you sound like your doin great - I am so happy for you. I still have some discomfort - but its getting less. How long do you have tobe o liquids - my doc says two weeks - a week and a half to go.

[Nathalie 4]

Holy Mackerel -

I see I can't keep up with you posting December Bandits anymore! I had to read 2 pages to catch up. There are so many of us now! WELCOME NEW COMERS!

I'm glad to see my steady girls are doing well - you know who you are!

And I am totally psyched to read about everyone else's victories and struggles. It really is a learning experience, isn't it?

I had my first post op appointment today. I graduated to FOOD! I have very few diet restrictions, but have essentially put myself half on mushies and half on the liquid diet since I've got so many products left. I think that will be an easy way to get in all of my Protein (90 grams) per day. My products are 15g each, plus if I supplement with powder, I should make it.

I was also given the go ahead to juice fresh vegetables, which is great. I am concerned about not getting enough fruits/veggies in me.

My first "meal" was 1/3c chicken and 1/4c cottage cheese whipped in the food processor. Oh man, it was SO. FREAKING. GOOD! I topped it with a little salsa. I ate that about 2.5 hours ago and I'm still stuffed. I ate too much though - I should have only had about half of what I ate. I won't eat anything else today. I figure that's about 15g Protein. I'll make it for lunch tomorrow, too!

www.bodyforlife.com is chock full of great ideas for high protein, low carb meals. It looks like lots of chicken and lots of cottage cheese. No problem. I'm going to make those egg cups, too - the mini quiches.

I get my first fill on January 25. I hope I can hold out that long. I figure if I drink those blasted Protein drinks when I get hungry between meals I should be okay. I want to maintain about 800c per day, some days more, some days less.

My doc said he wants me to try and eat chicken, steak and bread the day before I come in - that will supposedly determine whether I'm due for a fill.

Remember to exercise, December crew! I know it is a total pain, but it's the only way we are going to see the results we so desperately desire. I am about to get on my elliptical after I put my boy in bed. I think I'm only going to do cardio for another 35 pounds, then I'll join a gym. 2 months?

Okay Mamas and Papas, I need to get busy. I go back to work tomorrow. UGH! I should have asked for a few more days! Mercy Mercy Mercy.

Nathalie