Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum - Considering Dr. Kirshenbaum

[Lap_dancer 8]

Lizzieann we all are different which is something I keep in mind when I read about other people's experiences. I do have sleep apnea but wearing the mask is impossible for me. I actually yank it off in my sleep. I did have a sleep study done but for me, it would not have stopped me. My weight was the greatest health risk I saw. For me, having my surgery was paramount. My snoring has reduced significantly according to my husband. I'm sure losing weight had much to do with it.

PR

[GreenChrysalis 1]

Dee, Michelle, John, the Red Robin pic is fantastic! You guys look wonderful and happy. I wish I could be there but it is so nice to know that Dr. K's patients hang out.

Ameriu, congratulations on reaching Twoterville!

I sent my card for Dr. K's birthday the other day. Hard to find a good birthday card that fit, but I wrote a note about how much I appreciated him doing the surgery at a reasonable cost, very important for us self-payers. I also told him that I appreciated how warm and kind he was; even on the phone I immediately felt comfortable talking to him. I hope he gets lots of cards!

Well, the drama about my first fill was all for nothing -- stupid admin at work had the date wrong, it's 4/18. So I will be there next week for my fill, on 3/18. I'm just going to pop in and out, leaving late on the 19th. I wish I could stay a week and really see more of Denver but I don't have the leave from work, sadly.

I had my first big family lunch yesterday since surgery and it didn't go very well. To make a long story short, I PB'd. It is so much more difficult, I'm finding, to eat slowly and chew a lot when there are a lot of people around and chatting with me. And I always feel like they're watching me, as the resident fatty, when I eat anyway. If I eat a lot then I'm a pig, if I don't eat much then I must be sick. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Too much pressure. Luckily the PB didn't really hurt much, no slime either, I just knew that was what was happening thanks to reading so much about it. I felt just fine after that but had no appetite.

The evening wasn't so great either. I let DH -- my bad food enabler -- talk me into eating some unhealthy stuff. Obviously not the mass quantities I used to consume, I still barely broke 1100 calories for the day, but I knew it was wrong. And then I had a, um, Constipation issue. Unpleasant. I'm having a hard time getting in all of my Water. So I took something for it and had the other problem get me up at night a few times. Sigh. It'll get better, though, right?

[MissMom24 2]

officially packed my bags and moved to TWOterville this weekend!!!!! WOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just wanted to share in all the happy dancing going on in here!!!!

:sneaky::drool::Dancing_ shocked:

YAY FOR YOU!!!!

[MissMom24 2]

I had my first big family lunch yesterday since surgery and it didn't go very well. To make a long story short, I PB'd. It is so much more difficult, I'm finding, to eat slowly and chew a lot when there are a lot of people around and chatting with me. And I always feel like they're watching me, as the resident fatty, when I eat anyway. If I eat a lot then I'm a pig, if I don't eat much then I must be sick. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Too much pressure.

I know exactly how you feel. Take today, ate way to fast. Got stuck, waited 40 minutes to drink and when I did, I PB's the Water. Nice. Why is it so stinkin' difficult to eat slow????

[lizzieann 0]

Lap Dancer

Did you us your CPAC machine in recovery or how did they handle your situation?

Sorry to keep going on about this.

Lizzieann

[DynamoMini 1]

GC - I think relearning how to eat is on of the biggest challenges with the band for me. I have a great deal of difficulty eating while being social. I also go too fast, don't chew enough, and there are specialty foods that get stuck no matter how I eat them. I am still learning and it has been almost a year. Like tonight I was at a friends and we did the salad bar type of thing. I filled up once, thought I had room for me and now I am walking around with a great gastric discomfort. If I had waited between trips to the salad bar, I would have realized enough is enough. But the greed factor took over. The other part of this that gets me is that ice cream, Cookies, etc. go down really easily. It is the real food that is harder. And even with the good stuff - enough is enough. Which is the source of the disease we have.

Hugs to the rest of you. Staying the course, learning from mistakes, not giving up or in to old patterns, are all a huge part of this for me.

Michelle

[adorkbl 156]

Lap Dancer

Did you us your CPAC machine in recovery or how did they handle your situation?

Sorry to keep going on about this.

Lizzieann

I am not LD... but I will answer this for you for me. I brought my CPAP with me and was told to use it for sure the night of my surgery. When I woke up in recovery after surgery they did not have me on a CPAP. Just laying around, groggy as all hell, wanting to go home. :blushing:

I used my CPAP the few nights I was in Colorado, and to be honest, it is still sitting in the corner of my room at home not being used. I haven't unpacked it from it's travel case from when I had my Surgery in January. I should be using it... but I have been sleeping pretty good, and the increased energy from my weight loss has offset any decrease I may have felt from not using it.

HTH!

[ShelbiCallie 0]

Lizzie -- I have sleep apnea too. I think most of us who battle obesity probably do, so Dr. K and his anesthesia team are very used to dealing with the situation during and after surgery. I didn't bring my CPAP, because I'm like Lap -- I can't tolerate it. I agree with everything Lap and LA have said, just voice your concerns to Dr. K et al. The beauty of this surgery is that my sleep apnea has improved greatly -- you'll be amazed at how much better you sleep in a few months!

Marcy, Ameriu & Bookholder -- congrats on your milestones!!

Thank you all for your very kind words, support, ideas, resources and for sharing your personal experiences with me. We are making progress here, but have so very much to do yet. Unfortunately, my very poor coping skills are rearing their ugly heads -- smoking again, for example -- but I am at least recognizing them for what they are and that's the first step, right? I sure wish I would PB on Cookies and not brocolli :tongue:

Love to all and hugs back at ya,

Karen

[GreenChrysalis 1]

Thanks Dynamo and Brandy for the empathy. Sometimes it's one thing to know in your head what you're supposed to do and another thing altogether in practice.

I had a pretty good idea that the meat was going to be too dry, but I hoped that with a lot of sauce on it, it would be OK. Couple that with eating too fast, talking while eating (my family tends to talk all at once and it's hard to get a word in unless you're quick) and...PB is the result. It just shows me how little attention I actually paid to eating. I paid plenty of attention to which foods I put on my plate and how much of them, but once it was there, a lot of times I was like a vacuum just inhaling everything without really thinking about it. Now I have to think about it, and relearning is definitely going to take some time. But I know I can do it. :tongue:

[linzchavez 0]

Hi everyone,

I got my first fill yesterday...now I'm not feeling too hot...is this normal...I don't even want to THINK about food, because my stomach just doesn't feel "settled". Agh...Also, I got an elliptical on Friday...tried it out and lasted all of 2 minutes! I think it actually took me longer to get ready to get ON the elliptical, than I was able to last...and with only two minutes...my inner thighs are still hurting...wow...I used to be able to do 30+ minutes on the elliptical without a problem...I didn't realize just how out of shape I was...this whole experience is becoming very "eye opening".

:tongue:

[Taynuh 1]

officially packed my bags and moved to TWOterville this weekend!!!!! WOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just wanted to share in all the happy dancing going on in here!!!!

:thumbup::thumbup::wink::Dancing_wub::Dancing_ shocked:

YAY FOR YOU!!!!

That's TOTALLY awesome! Way to go!

Tina

[DynamoMini 1]

Lindsay - I was where you are on the elliptical. Just take it slowly, but doing a minute or two at the lowest reisistance is a first step.. Don't add the angle or reisitance until you have developed some endurance. Just know, that being able to do a minute without exhaustion, is a step toward your former level. I was amazed how out of shape I was when i started working out. It has taken many years of consistent effort to build up endurance. I had weight and inactivity fighting with the want to be doing what I did when I was 20.

Happy night all to those who sleep,

Michelle

[Woofay 0]

Hey, guys! Thought I would pop in to say "Hi" and I hope that everyone's band is treating them well. My weight loss seems to have stalled a bit. I'm also able to eat some things that I haven't been able to eat in quite a while, so I'm thinking I may need a slight adjustment. Not sure though.

Anyways, even though my life seems crazy, I'm thinking about you! Here's wishing you all well! I'll try and post more this weekend! Have a great night! :smile2:

[Lap_dancer 8]

To Ameriu, congratulations and way to go on reaching Twoterville! :cursing:

I had my first big family lunch yesterday since surgery and it didn't go very well. To make a long story short, I PB'd. It is so much more difficult, I'm finding, to eat slowly and chew a lot when there are a lot of people around and chatting with me. And I always feel like they're watching me, as the resident fatty, when I eat anyway. If I eat a lot then I'm a pig, if I don't eat much then I must be sick. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Too much pressure. Luckily the PB didn't really hurt much, no slime either, I just knew that was what was happening thanks to reading so much about it. I felt just fine after that but had no appetite.

Chewing slowly and enjoying my meal was THE hardest thing for me. Forget about the surgery, forget about the recovery, forget about the change in food items...eating was the most difficult thing for me to re-learn.

>> I use to eat like it was a pie eating contest.<<

The first PB I had I ran outside in the backyard and ran around like my pants were on fire. The dog was barking and everything. All I could say was, "mooiiiiahahhaah". Totally slimed myself. SLOW is what I have learned and I said in a previous post that enjoying a meal, enjoying the conversation, the pauses, the slow process of eating and TASTING the food (instead of huffing it ) has been a gift since getting banded.

I am not LD... but I will answer this for you for me. I brought my CPAP with me and was told to use it for sure the night of my surgery. When I woke up in recovery after surgery they did not have me on a CPAP. Just laying around, groggy as all hell, wanting to go home. :wub:

it is still sitting in the corner of my room at home not being used. I haven't unpacked it from it's travel case from when I had my Surgery in January. I should be using it... but I have been sleeping pretty good, and the increased energy from my weight loss has offset any decrease I may have felt from not using it.

HTH!

Not that I'm condoning a dusty CPAP machine ( like mine ) but I haven't used my machine, I also haven't taken any diabetes meds. I never bothered to get my RX refilled and CHECKED MY SUGAR and it was sitting at 140 which for me is normal. They like it at 100 or below (and if I medicate I can get it that low) but if I'm at 100 or below I'm drooling and talking to the walls. I very much do not function well at that low of a sugar level so 140 is a good place for me.

Woofay, I'm ready for a fill. I'm definately adding more volume to my dinner and it is not sticking with me as long. I'm off my sweet spot (which lasted a long time) and got spoiled being there. You still look amazing, you're doing great and I think we tend to forget where we were and where we are now. Keep it up. You are doing superbly.

Hey Dynamo. I have to tell you I really admire your workout ethic. :angry_smile: Man, I am struggling with exercise.:cursing: Consistancy is a problem.

[GreenChrysalis 1]

Thanks Lap -- it is definitely the hardest part. I wish I'd been at home for my first PB, I would've liked to run around! But since it was elsewhere, it was just me sitting at the table thinking "oh no, oh no, it's stuck" and then standing in the bathroom wishing that it would hurry up and end.

Well, I get my first fill next week. I know I am ready for it; I am no longer losing weight (I've gained back a pound or two but I'm not changing my ticker, goshdarnit), I can eat more and I get hungry between meals. I'm looking forward to the fill, a little nervous of the unknown but I know that everyone's been through it and I'll be just fine. Happy Friday!