How Bout New Zealand

[amourette 5]

Would you guys be interested in transferring to a Facebook page? I have such limited time to use the internet and facebook is easier for a lot of things, I would make it a neutral name so noone knows what it is and a private group, just a thought as I would drop in more often then......x hope you all good

[AAAJJJ 0]

Hi All,

Sorry it has been a few weeks since I have been on here. My surgery day has been and gone. I must admit I was quite tense and nervous for the 48 hours before the op. To add to my stress I travelled to Auckland for a meeting on the Wednesday and stayed the night there. I was booked on a flight back to Wellimgton Thursday morning in time for my surgery Friday. Only problem was that the ash cloud was hanging around. I woke up at 4:30am wondering if my flight was going to go or not! 2 things saved me. I was booked on Air NZ and only flights to the South Island were cancelled!

So my day of surgery arrived. I arrived at the hospital at 6:35am having been told to report at 6:45. I was taken down to my room at 6:55. The nurse shaved my stomach area then got me to have a shower and wash the area with a special soap gel she gave me. I then got in to my gown and the anesthetist and sugeon paid me a visit. I had the surgeon on a bit and said I hoped he was a good starter (I was first on the list of 5-6 he was doing that day)! He said that he was glad it was Friday as he took his "special" medication on Tuesday. Good to see he had a sense of humour. :-)

So it was on with the socks and the (rather grumpy) theatre matron type person turned up about 7:55 to get me down to theatre. I walked down to theatre behind the the bed (couldn't work this one out as the bed was on wheels?) and transferred straight on to the surgical bed which was a lot narrower.

Then the anesthetist came and put the IV in my arm. The last thing I recall was her telling me that she was about to administer some medication that would make me feel nice and relaxed and happy. Boy that was good stuff!!

I don't recall any countdown or other medication at all. I just remember waking up in the recovery room. I was then wheeled in to my room. No pain, but quite a dry throat. I wasn't allowed to drink until 2.00pm so until then I just kept taking a mouthful of Water and spitting it out. broth and jelly for tea and Breakfast. The surgeon said that things went very well and he fitted the smaller band of the options available and that that was good news. The pre-op diet had worked well and he could see around the liver no problems. I got up and about pretty quickly and took a few walks in the hospital. I was discharged about 10:00am.

One of the nice things about the hospital visit was i gfot to meet ,most all of the other patients and have a brief chat with them. I even got the wife to bring in a DVD of a new movie out and let them all know it was available on their TV's to watch. It was nice to talk about the anxiousness beforehand etc etc with someone eho knew what you were going through.

I took panadol gel caps regularly for the week after the surgery and visited the gym 3 times.

My diet called for liquids the first week then soft foods the next then mince sort of foods this week. It is all going very well but I am getting the odd referred left shoulder "gas" pain, but the literature I have read told you to expect this - so no dramas. I go fo my first fill next Thursday though the surgeon said he had put 1ml in the band during the procedure. The weight loss is tracking well although this week hasn't been as good as the others - probably because I am starting to eat more "filling" foods now.

I have to say I am very happy I made the right decision. I am also very impressed by the pre-surgery information I was given. It really did make the whole experience a lot easier to go through. I have also already been invited to a post surgery seminar!

I look forward to the next chapter.

AJ

[laura5127 1]

awsome to see your doing well and that youmanaged to get back to wellington in time i had a flight to wellington on thursday 16th and i got cancelled cos it was jetstar but managed to get on one for friday thankfully (no lack of drama). i went for a fill today and felt like a pin cusion eventually she had to get the ultrasound machine out and find how my port was sitting because its on a funny angle (but i was tough haha). i tried to eat a pita bread at lunch but after about half of it, it decided it didnt want to stay down. im hoping dinner is easier(fingers crossed) but im finally at 100.something so i've renewed my gym membership and by my next appointment i will most certainly be under 100kg.

[amourette 5]

is anyone interested in the Facebook page or should I just leave it? I understand that some of you may want anonymity and wouldn't want you to feel pressured

Great news about op AAAJJJ, it is the start of a great adventure for you

Laura good luck with the fill.......

[laura5127 1]

i would do the FB thing but i bearly ever go on it???

[amourette 5]

Hehehe, we will have to convert you to facebook.....

[laura5127 1]

well i do use it but i just dont get around to going on. the only reason i visit this site is that i get emails when someone posts and that i have one in my body otherwise i would probably forget about this to hahaha.

[PaleoKris 0]

I do use Facebook but while I'm more open about this than I used to be I still prefer to know who I'm telling before I tell them - I think whatever I write on a facebook page turns up on my wall page which means any of the people on my friends list would be able to see it. I'd rather if anyone found out about the surgery I had they found out from me in person because I want/need them to know rather than stumbling across it by accident (and there are some people who I'd prefer didn't know, if I'm entirely honest... hehe).

Well, I just have to say there are some definite advantages to moving countries a few years after having the surgery. I'm well known at work for eating very small amounts, which made the recent two weeks of conferences quite easy and relaxing. Helped that a person at each conference knew that I'd had the surgery, that always makes me less stressed when I'm with someone who knows, and less stress = easier eating. You'd almost think I didn't have the band last week actually, had three nights of three course meals (AMAZING restaurants in Krakow... Seriously.... Michelin recommended... Yum.) and I think I ate more than I eat in a week. OK, that's really bad of me, but... I don't do that very often. And doing things like sharing a starter then having a starter as a main seems to work.

On the flip side I had a good friend visiting this week and tried to go running with him - something that would NEVER happen a few years ago, and can barely happen now (he runs very fast!). I've been running for almost 10 months now but this was the fastest paced run I've ever done. Quite pleased with myself, even if I had to stop a couple of times. Oh, and on another travel related note... I prefer to use my macpac tramping back when I'm travelling... And one thought keeps popping into my head: me + macpac = still not as heavy as I was before surgery. ... ... ... Erm. It's a very interesting thought, especially if you start to think your bag is heavy while walking around for a while with it on your back!

Anyway, enough random thoughts from me....

AAAJJJ - well done I can't remember what the shoulder pain is called, something to do with transference, your body makes your shoulder hurt even though your stomach/diaphragm is actually what's hurting so you can keep breathing. Always thought the body was quite smart when I heard or read about that... Hehe.

Laura - Mmm, bread products are annoying sometimes. I was craving crumpets recently (bought some in Cardiff a couple of weeks ago, yay!) but they take me ages to eat. Though pita is probably better than normal bread, think it depends how you're (and your stomach) are feeling at the time...

Oh, random note, heard recently that a friend's sister had a miscarriage at 6 weeks or something - she had a gastric bypass a while back and wasn't eating enough food or getting enough nutrition or something... Apparently it was nutrition related. Reminded me that I'm so glad we get the option to deflate our bands if we need to for whatever reason, related to kids or not! :S

[amourette 5]

The Facebook page wouldn't have lapband in the title believe me, It would be a weightloss page or something completely unrelated.....if the group is private your friends can see it anyway......believe me, I wouldn't be risking facebook if people could see I had had a band put in LOL, I thought more along the lines of annonomity between ourselves, as in you might not want to put a face to the name........

Wow, sad about the baby, she must have had an extreme diet or something for that to come about do you think. Especially when starving countries carry ok.......I let my band out straight away but they told me I didn't need to, you really don't need that many extra calories, about 2oo a day I hear but of course I stuffed my face lol, paying for it now.

Will write more soon.....off to see my sister, she is in town from Atlanta and leaving tonite........then finally I may get on top of my chores......have a great day everyone

[Gordana 0]

Would you guys be interested in transferring to a Facebook page? I have such limited time to use the internet and facebook is easier for a lot of things, I would make it a neutral name so noone knows what it is and a private group, just a thought as I would drop in more often then......x hope you all good

Great idea, I'd be interested for sure. Much easier to keep in touch that way

Hope everyone is well, have a great weekend,

Gordana

[AAAJJJ 0]

While I commend the idea I have found with Facebook it is easy to get confused and next thing you know all your friends know about the surgery. I understand what you say about "private" groups but I would be too scared of something going wrong by myself or someone else making an inadvertant mistake... I think you will find a lot of people on here don't use their real name.

Just my view though - go for it

[AAAJJJ 0]

Hi All,

Just an update - this is as much for me to look back on as it is for you!

It has been a really interesting couple of weeks. Things were tracking really well until the last week of my post op when I had healed and I could eat pretty much what I liked. It is amazing how those old habits come back to haunt you! I had a great week and sure enough a slight gain in weight was a result!

I had my first fill last week and have pretty much been able to still eat anything I like although now I can feel some restriction and although I haven't got anything stuck I have had a couple of things sit there for a few moments. It is an uncomfortable feeling! :-)

So the result - after losing pretty close to 15kg I have gained 0.6kg in the last 4 weeks. I'm not worried about that for a variety of reasons. Those old habits are pretty hard to break and I know as the fills start to kick in I will have some assistance there. I am still head eating (my head thinks I am hungry) and I need to work hard on that and my portion size. In saying that I am nowhere near eating what I was pre surgery (both quantity and type of food). No takeawys since the pre-op started. As always I blame no one but myself for the gain and I am able to understand why it happened. The belt notches are comintg in and I am feeling good.

The great thing is that everything that has happended I have been ready for and understand. This is a great resource and the ionfiormation I was given by the surgeon and orgnaisation I used was first class!

I hope you are all well.

AJ

[AAAJJJ 0]

Hi All,

I haven't been on for a while so thought I would give you all an update. I am going in today for my 3rd fill. My weight is still trending down but weight loss has been slower than the pre op diet weeks. That is only to be expected. We are not perfect and I have been a little naughty at times - though nowhere near to the same extent.

The restriction on the band is starting to "kick in" now. I had my first instance of something getting temporarily stuck the other day. The good news is that, due once again to the excellent infortmation I have been given, I was able to understand what was happening. I was also empowered to deal with the situation effectively and quickly.

Some other interesting things have been happening. I have been getting very few comments about weight loss from people I know and see every day. Work mates and friends have either noticed and not said anything, or have not noticed.

Very noticable is the comments from friends an acquaintances I have not seen for some time. Many have commented they have noticed I am losing weight. I find that to be quite interesting! The comments are very motivating. I have stuck by my decision to tell very few people about the operation for a variety of reasons. When people ask i just tell them that I am being careful what I eat, have cut down my quantities and am exercising more. The truth - but perhaps not the whole truth!

I must say though, that if I was asked by someone struggling with their weight I would tell them and encourage them to take step to have the surgery. It still remains the best decision I have made!

I trust this finds you all well.

[qwertui 0]

Hi,

Just wanted to introduce myself in this thread, I'm 27 and have a long history of weight problems, I currently have a bmi of 33. I have just been turned down for surgery because I'm pretty healthy other than the weight issue, and my bmi sits in a grey area.

Did anyone else go through something similar? What would you recommend I do next?

Thanks

Sara

[amourette 5]

AAAJJJ, exciting to hear your updates, it just seems like yesterday you were heading for surgery.....it will take a while to get settled at a good level. Sbear, I was borderline overweight for the operation and was rejected by insurance so I had to self pay.......was happy to do it, I wish it got funded more though. I will write more everyone in a weeks time, I have just gone back to work after my maternity leave so busy this week but will have heaps more time next week........happy, healthy eating everyone!