Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum - Considering Dr. Kirshenbaum

[DynamoMini 1]

Fatwidow - me too! My husband died 7 years ago. It still hurts. I just pushed down the feelings with food. But I am miles more healthy after having a medical crisis (lung cancer). I retired. Started working out with a trainer, went to therapy and acupuncture. Now, I am looking forward to the rest of my life. I live in Denver, so listen to the other knowledgable people on this site regarding travel and surgery.

Mal - you are doing great. I love your postings, don't be bashing yourself all the time. I have seemed to improve my head hunger problem by reducing my carb intake and taking up knitting (keeps my hands busy). But I do know that I go in waves. Sometimes I can't put myself to bed unless I have an extra bowl of Cereal. But the Kashi takes intense chewing. Today I took my son out for lunch. I had a gyros sandwich, I opened the pita, cut up the veggies and meat and ate about half of it. Man, I just can't eat that much any more.

Woofay - fantastic, you are doing better with the unfill. I may get just a smidge more taken out. I keep having to stop the car to spit out Water that I am trying to get into me. Hot liquids are easier. Do you have trouble with water?

Book - awesome about your clothes. Make sure to keep a running list of what you donate, come tax time. Since my audit, I even take a digital pic of the item, so I can itemize my donation. They are minimally accepting the "10 bags" of stuff I used to list now.

Tied - How is the pre=op going? Keep with it. You know these months seem soooooooo long, but we have a lifetime to correct and refine our new lifestyle. You go girl!

Marcy - miss moose meat queen, how are you handling the darkness? Do your kids drive you nuts during the winter. I was in Seattle in December, of course it rained for 6 days straight, but the darkness really bothered me. My brother, who lives there, says he gets unsettled when he experiences too many bright days in a row.

Hugs to all,

Michelle

[BellaPerdente 0]

Thank to all who responded. This site is exactly what I needed. I am feeling less freaked about traveling to Denver now. I can't wait to change my screen name to skinnywidow!!!!! My best friend is traveling with me and I just told her today that we should leave a day earlier to see some sites. Let me know the best ones.

I'll keep you guys posted.

[MissMom24 2]

Woofay & Dynamo~

What are you filled out right now? Do you think that you have/had hit your sweet spot?

Thanks!

Brandy

[Totallytater 1]

fatwidow,

I enjoyed Garden of the Gods and the Pikes Peak Cog Railway very much.

[nicnaknut 0]

Hi Everyone..... I am back from Denver after getting my second fill and have been catching up on all of the posts... Congratulations to all the newly banded and welcome to all of the new people and it is especially nice to see we now have a token male in the group.... :biggrin2:

Brandymom.... I'm right in there with you as far as being so hungry after your fill.... I have been so, so hungry after my first two fills that I don't feel like I have any restriction at all... I can eat almost anything I want to with no problems at all..... So I'm not able to give you any good hints for controlling the hunger until you get another fill.....

I have been so depressed and have been feeling like I am a failure and have just thrown $10,000 out the window.... I have been apologizing to my DH for spending the money for naught... I wonder what it is going to take to get some restriction so I can start losing weight again... I have not lost anything for the last two months..... I have been so ashamed and depressed that I couldn't even post about my failures to my band buddies here.... I felt like I needed to stay away so I wouldn't have to tell anyone that I was failing at this.... Sorry for the negative post..... :biggrin:

Wishing everyone a good weekend.....

[Woofay 0]

Nicnaknut! :biggrin: We're all giving you a big hug! Don't be so rough on yourself! You're not a failure! My goodness! I had a couple of months that I didn't lose too. You're still learning your tool! You've only been banded for three months! That's hardly enough to time to consider yourself a failure! You just got another fill...give it time! What are you filled to right now? What size band do you have? Talk to Paula, talk to Natalie...they can give you some pointers to get the scale moving again. Maybe you need to go low carb for a couple of weeks to jump start it? I have to write down everything I stick in my mouth for about a week, just to see where I'm having issues. (Man, I really hate doing that) But it can give you a clue as to problem areas. When you had your fill with Dr. K, did you express your concerns about this? Don't worry, you didn't waste your money! And you can always express yourself here...we won't judge! We're all in this together!

[Woofay 0]

Dynamo~ Even being a little tight for a couple of months...I've never had trouble swallowing water...unless....I had just eaten. (or was laying down in bed) Sometimes Water on top of the food would make a Pb, but other than that, I could always swallow water. When you have to spit, did you just eat? If you didn't, you probably need to get a little out. Maybe?

Brandymom~ Right now I'm filled to 1.65cc. From what I've seen over the last few days, I think I might just be at my sweet spot. I know that 1.8cc seemed to be too tight. And, 2.1cc lead to an emergency unfill. But I've heard that the more weight you lose, the looser your band can feel? I don't know about that. I don't think that has been a factor for me. But I'm not near my goal yet either... so we'll see! You really can't judge a thing from what other people are filled to though, that's for sure! It's super individual.

Have a great day all...Yesterday I shoveled snow all morning. And from what I understand...we are gonna get pounded with snow tomorrow too! Woo hoo!:biggrin:

[nicnaknut 0]

Woofay...... Thank you so much for the big group hugs and words of encouragement..... I am trying to be more positive about this and will work on it real hard..... I currently have 4.25cc's in my 10cc AP band which is down from the 4.65cc's that was put in on the first fill.... We are not sure why it's down, but will see how things are the next time.... Also, I'm not sure why, but it takes two sticks each time before Dr K finds my port and I have this huge needle phobia which makes it nerve wracking each time I go in for a fill... I can't look at the needle or I will pass out...

I didn't mention the part about my plane trip back from Denver that really threw me into a tailspin..... I had a window seat on the plane from Denver to Salt Lake City and there was a young fellow in the seat next to me... Just before take off, he looked over at me and said if the plane wasn't full he would move so I could have more room..... I told him I was ok and squeezed closer to the window and started reading my book I brought with me.... Then on the plane from Salt Lake City back to Yuma, I again had a window seat and my tailbone started bothering me so I was trying to ease the pain by shuffling in my seat... I looked over at the lady sitting next to me and apologized for wiggling so much and explained to her that my tailbone was hurting and she said that she has moved as far out towards aisle as she could to give me plenty of room.... I was so devasted from all of that, that by the time I got back to Yuma, I was feeling like the fat lady of the circus.... I'm now a little leary of flying back for fills until I lose a bunch more weight....

Anyway, that's enough of my ranting and raving..... I like your suggestion of going back on the low carb diet, which I think I will do plus, get to the exercise room alot more often.... I need to get control of my hunger and start on that losing trend again...... I want to be a loser instead of a failure.... :biggrin:

Thanks again Woofay for your words of encouragement......

[Lap_dancer 8]

Checking in friends. Hello gang. Wishing you all focus and direction this week. Work has been crazy busy. I did very well last week with my exercise. Did not complete all four days that I required of myself but I was out there and moving.

Love to read about reduced clothing sizes.

Everyone have an awesome week.

Patty

[Lap_dancer 8]

Happy Dr. King Day tomorrow!

[marcyinak 0]

Marcy - miss moose meat queen, how are you handling the darkness? Do your kids drive you nuts during the winter. I was in Seattle in December, of course it rained for 6 days straight, but the darkness really bothered me. My brother, who lives there, says he gets unsettled when he experiences too many bright days in a row.

Hugs to all,

Michelle

Michelle - Well, now that Dec. 21st is over (the darkest day) there's "hope" everyday with every extra minute that we gain...this is the GOOD gain! Haha! The darkness doesn't bother me that much, never has...I just turn on a lot of lights in the house...which Andrew hates, but oh well! I'll be spending my whole evening grinding meat..WAHOO! I can't wait! Can you hear the sarcasm? I like the rain, but not every day! It's been quite warm this week...even rained last night (super nnniiiiiiiiicccceee when there's a foot of snow you haven't shovelled yet!) Alls good here in Nome...

I'm sooo freakin' busy! :ohmy:I am now the proud "coordinator" for a speghetti feed on Friday and our BIG auction in Feb. Sooo much to do...keeps me busy and not eating though and that's important!

[Mal 0]

Ok, so I just have to share this. For the first time ever I am thrilled to say that I have nothing to wear (well ok almost nothing). I cleaned out my closet and all my drawers and got rid of all the clothes that were too big. Goodwill is getting three HUGE bags of "fat clothes" I a going to take them first thing in the morning so I don't chicken out and keep them "just in case" I am now more than a third of the way to my goal weight. :tongue::biggrin:

Welcome to all the newbies, you have joined a great community of lovely and caring ladies (and 1 guy)

Yay for you!...I like Dynamo's idea of taking pictures of our donations, just incase. I am soooo going to do that.

I LOVE cleaning out my closet, then I fill it up again and clean it out again over and over. I hope to remain one size for a long time some day???

Good job!

[GreenChrysalis 1]

Welcome fatwidow and best of luck! I think you will find that everyone is very friendly on this thread.

I'm just counting down still...the wait is just annoying. I bought a few different types of Protein Shakes at the store today to try. No sense in buying a lot of something if I find out that I hate it. Since Dr. K has us drink three a day, what does everyone like? I apologize if this was covered pages and pages ago -- this thread is a lot to dig through.

Happy MLK, Jr. Day tomorrow, especially to those of us who have it off from work!

[adorkbl 156]

Hi everyone... I am back in AZ finally. Thanks Mona for posting to let everyone know how I was doing.

Dr. K is awesome. I was so impressed with him. So talented with an excellent bedside manner to boot! We are so fortunate to have him as our surgeon.

My surgery was uneventful. I had a lot of nausea when I woke up. They maxed me out on the nausea meds and told me I had to eat Jello to get my blood sugar up. Jello just made me feel like vomiting. I was pretty miserable fo the first hour or two after I woke up. I eventually got over the nausea and didn't have any issues with vomiting. Thankfully!

My port incision bleed pretty heavily after a few hours of being home. i think I tried to do to much by myself. I got up out of the chair without help so I wouldn't bother anyone and I think that strained my incision too much. The front of my shirt was covered in blood and it took about 3 changes of gauze before it stopped bleeding through.

Dr K was great and called me right back. Had me come into the office the next mornig and he cleaned it up and put a new clear patch over it. Everything looks good now. I just hope i didn't open myself up to infection. *cossing fingers*

My pain has been very good! I really am just more uncomfortable than anything. Gas pain in the shoulder sucked ass for about 2 days, but that is pretty much a memory now. My throat was sore and annoyed me a bunch too. Also now just a memory.

I thought I would feel worse than I do. Very pleased that I am able to walk around and move around pretty easily. I even cooked dinner for my in-laws the night after my surgery!

I am pretty tired right now. Been sleeping a lot the past 2 days. Lack of food I am sure is the reason. I am so sick of broth, juice and Water. Hubby picked up some V8 fusion for me today. I am hoping that will give me some more nutrition. I also had some strained out Soup earlier. Man that tasted sooo good. I can wait until I can move onto full liquids and add oatmeal into my daily intake!

So that is about it. Gas pain and throat pain were the worst part of it for me. Much much easier recovery so far than I thought it would be.

[nicnaknut 0]

Viridescence..... I use the GNC 100% whey Protein Powder.... I really like it and it comes in a nice variety of flavors.... My favorite is banana Creme, I add a real banana to the shake in the mornings and it tastes yummy...

I talked to Paula at Dr K's office about the Whey Protein and she said it was within the calorie range she prefers.... Each scoop is 20 grams of protein and average 110 calories.... This morning I made a pineapple/strawberry smoothie with the vanilla Protein Powder and vanilla yogurt and boy was it delicious....

GNC does have them in a small 1 lb bag... I bought one of those first in the banana creme of course and I liked it so I went back and bought some more flavors in the 3 lb canister.... I also bought some unflavored to put in while I'm cooking to get the added protein....

Hope this helps....