May 2007 Banders

[cfred 2]

According to my doc you would be ready for a fill. My Doc told me ot come in at 3weeks for a fill. To aide in not gaining weight. I'm on mushies as well and can't believe how much I eat less. Actually I don't really get full, I just quit after a few bites bc I'm scared to feel miserable and don't really know when enough is enough.. It is quite a different full feeling.. I have a hard time leaving that much food still in the bowl or on the plate as well. I started only puting very little to try and trick my brain.. It helps til I go to clean the Kitchen.. Being addicted to food is much harder to break then other addictions I think, but I've never had other addictions to try and break. This was the one goingto kill me..

Michelle - I believe my Dr gives fills at 4-6 six weeks PO. I guess I could always call tomorrow and see if I could at least schedule my first fill appointment. That would give me something to work towards.

[cindyluhu 0]

Yes, I know what you're saying. As far as bms, someone said in another thread...liquid in, liquid out! (which makes sense to me!)

It's also taking me a lot longer to recooperate than I thought it would. So, I just have to take it one day at a time and be encouraged that there is steady, but slooooow progress. Again, I didn't even plan on returning to work soon. My doc said he prefers his patients be off of work for 2 weeks, which is what I chose to do, and I'm just adding 2 extra days on because I'm not crazy about having to go back and I've got STD that will cover most of my time off.

The hunger and boring diet are driving me nuts. I should stay on full liquids another 3 days, but I've decided to go to the next phase (pureed) tomorrow. It says in my paperwork from the doctor that everyone advances at different stages, to take it easy, and don't skip any steps in the process. Well, I'm moving up my food by 3 days because I think I'm ready for it and that 2 weeks of full liquids is too long. Also, I think I'd have more energy if I advance to the next step and get something with a little more substance into me. I don't care if the Protein I get in the shakes is good, I don't think it can stay with me as well as something more solid.

Same here! It will pass, but I DID call my surgeon to see if the extreme fatigue and lethargy were normal. He had me add in scrambled eggs and my chewable Multivitamin a week early. That SO did the trick. Call your doctor and tell him how you're feeling. Maybe he will have you do something similar. As far as the liquid bm's, I had that as well. Liquid in/liquid out. Keep the faith though, honestly it does get better. I wasn't so sure for a while, but it really does. I can honestly say now that I am happy I did this. (10 days ago I couldn't have said at that point.)

Good luck, and keep up the good work!

Cindy

[keiko 1]

Cindi,

I did start the pureed today and it's made a big difference. I also think psychologically being able to have a Breakfast, lunch, and dinner of something other than the liquids mentally satisfies me better. So far I've not had a problem by pushing it up 3 days, and I really didn't think it would matter. And just think, by the 4th of July, we will be eating real food (just a small amount though, hah!)

[deb24 0]

I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 5:45 am! I am excited and scared and nervous! The first day of the rest of my life! I will keep in touch.

[keiko 1]

I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 5:45 am! I am excited and scared and nervous! The first day of the rest of my life! I will keep in touch.

Deb, good luck to you and everyone else having surgery tomorrow! I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. See you on the bandside:p

[METALBAND 0]

Good Luck tomorrow, we will be thinking of you!

[NimbleBean 2]

SpecialK77, bun1 and deb24,

Hope all goes well for each of you tomorrow. We'll be thinking of you.

Check in when you feel up to it.

Cheers,

Margaret

[ginger205 0]

WOW we are almost to the end of the month! I am so excited for you all who have waited patiently for this week!!

For those of you thinking of cheating, DON'T!!! It is not worth it, I was in pain all night last night!!!

NOTHING can taste as good as THIN will feel!!!

I am ready for a fill, but I have to wait until June 18th. I can eat WAY TOO Much!!!

Again, good luck to all this week's banders!!

[ljuht115 0]

I have been taking it really easy and am starting to feel better since surgery. I just started back on my Protein drnks and thought I would never miss those from the pre op diet, but i do have to say yummy. I am still on a small portion of vicadin to help with the residual pain and help me sleep some.

I am down 15. since the preop diet and about 5 or so since surgery. I don't get the fullness golfball feeling but neither am I that hungry yet. My port is REALLY sore especially if I move the wrong way. I was supposed to return to work tomorrow, but think i will put it off until wed or thurs. I don't want to hurt my port for any reason, i do have a desk job but it is really stressfull.

I do miss my ergonomic keyboard, this laptop keyboard sucks. Once I can stand in the shower and dry my hair - I will go back and do what I can.

I truly hope everyone is healing as they should. How are my may 22 (23rd ) band mates doing?

I highly recommend if you go to St Francis for a lap band bring books and your lap top if you can - My wait (which i am told is unusual was 24 hours). Of which I did not agree wiht but everthing went excellent afterwards, so far... Normal wait can last 6-8 hours...

__________________

[ragdollx19 1]

For those of you banded earlier in the month how long was your port site swollen for?

[GREATFUL 24]

Hey Everyone,

Tomorrow will be four weeks since I got my band. I has been an adventure so far. I am on pureed food until tomorrow then I start my week of soft food, then regular food. At my support meeting the nurse told us about this liquid Fiber product, it has no flavor and you can add it to anything. We were talking about this stage where the hunger is kicking in, She said that this fiber would help you stay fuller longer. (it would also help in the BM departmert) I picked up a few packets of it, it I have to say it helps. I was getting hungry about 2 hours after eating and now I dont have the hunger pains until about 4 hours. So going to pick up more of that today. We were out of town all weekend for a wedding and I have to say the food choices were limited. But I took it all in stride, reminding myself of the bigger goal.

Good luck everyone!

[Melissa S 1]

For those of you banded earlier in the month how long was your port site swollen for?

I was banded on 5/14 and my port is still a little sensitive... but not swollen at all.

[Melissa S 1]

Has anyone hit a plateau yet?? My scale hasn't moved in about a week..and I've been very active and eating all the right things!!

[Wenjea 1]

It took me a while to read the five pages of posts since the last time I was on but I'm all caught up now so here is some thoughts of mine.

ball in the throat - For those of you who are experiencing this it lasts for about five days and then starts to get less and less noticable over the next couple of days. At one week my throat finally felt normal again. I really think it is from the breathing tube during surgery.

Flavor change - I had several people tell me before hand that you would tolerate sweets less. I wonder if it has something to do with the type of food we are having, whey Protein and SF liquids. Does your taste buds go back to normal after you start back on normal food again?

BM's - It seems there are two extremes, hard or liquid. Mine have a very yellow tinge to them. I don't know if that is from the Vitamins or is it stomach bile?

Protein - my doc says your body can absorb up to 30 gr. per drink and we are required to have three per/day. He only wants us to eat an ounce of food at a time when we can have mushies, after the Protein Drink. We can only have 4-5 meals a day. Does that mean I'm on protein the rest of my life? I don't think I could take it.

Kacee- sounds like you had what they call a 'productive burp' or PB.

I still have port swelling, like a small half of football size. How long does that last?

[Wenjea 1]

melissa - I totally hit a plateau and haven't moved at all in the last four days. What is up with that? I didn't get all my Water in yesterday and I haven't been walking like I was so I am going to work harder on that and see if things get moving again.