June 2007 Bandsters

[Holliwagz 0]

LauraG I am in Manchester but I had my surgery in Mboro w/ Dr Eckles and Dr Westmorland! Isn't Dr. Dyer at Centennial? My mom is in the process of trying to find a hospital to accept Americhoice/TennCare and has just been cut off by Cent!! She is getting VERY discouraged! I feel for her so much!

BTW I noticed that I failed to mention that I have stopped when I feel full and have only felt the "OMG I'm so full I can't breathe" feeling ONCE and that was with a Protein Shake with part of a banana and some Bryers carb smart ice cream! If I would have stopped with ONE shake I would have been OK but I fixed the 2nd and didn't even drink 1/2 of it!! I was miserable for about 2 hrs afterwards!! UGH Won't do that again!!

[Waters 0]

Kland, I did want this, I wanted it soooo bad, if they would have told me to stand on my head in the middle of the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 1 week, I would have!! I may have challenged 2 weeks but I definitely would have done one week. AND without peeing!

The bottom line is, you're right. My incisions on the outside aren't healed, I can just imagine what the inside is still looking like and I AM grieving.

HOWEVER, today I'm gonna give up the ghost! I'm going to do what I can and not kick myself for what I can't do. I don't have babies anymore, just the grandkids, and my kids are going to have to ask before they drop them off cause gramma's going to bed for a minute and she's not cooking.

I told my daughter, when she decides to get banded (and God knows she needs it, which is another reason I have got to do well) I'll take the kids for a couple of weeks! But right now, I need some space!

Hey, I cooked a meal for 5 adults and 7 grandkids everyday since I came home except for the first day! I am done, done, done!

I'm NUMBER ONE!! I even rode the aerodyne bike today before I put the potatoes on the grill. How's that for selfish!! Good Huh?

Good gravy, my emotions are everywhere! Oh yeah, they took me off estrogen before the surgery! No wonder I'm nuts!:omg:

I'm making a Sign and posting it on the door:

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

HUNGRY FAT WOMAN WITH HOT FLASHES INSIDE!

Tick her off and she may EAT you one limb at a time!:faint:

Yes, I will be OK as will YOU and YOU and all of YOU!

Night, Ladies & Gents!

[faithmd 14]

Waters: I LOVE your sign idea!

I forget who mentioned heat in here last night, I didn't think it was hot, I think Heather and I were just both very passionate and committed to our thoughts. I responded to her again because I wasn't sure I had made myself totally clear.

I truly appreciate all of our thoughts and opinions in this thread. I think we've got a great group of folks here.

[kland 0]

LOL Waters! Keep that attitude and put yourself first and you're going to do great! It is way too often that we women put ourselves at the bottom of the list. We are worth being at the top of the list dammit!

[Holliwagz 0]

Waters you have cracked me up!! I was sitting here literally laughing out loud! You make me feel like a slacker! Last night I think was the first time I have cooked for my family since I started on the 2 wks of shakes pre-op!! So um yeah that makes 4 wks of me NOT cooking!! I know I know bad bad wife/momma!

[hottytoddy 0]

Holli, I'm going with Faith on this one... there was no heat... just candid conversation.

Wasabi - why can't I get that out of my mind? Wasabi Protein shake...no, nevermind...I took it too far. :sick

I got too full tonight. All good food - baked fish, salad, 1/2 baked pot. I never felt full in my upper and no pressure, but I've felt bloated ever since.

I watched one of the lap band surgery videos last night that's posted here. I've watched several of the surgeries and learn something new with each one. This surgeon spoke a lot about the fundus. The fundus of the stomach is an area that is to the left and ABOVE the opening to the esophagus. It holds excess food that you eat in reserve for about an hour. Well, it's the fundus that's sutured over the band to prevent slippage, and this surgeon said by doing that you also decrease the ability to overeat in the LOWER stomach because you lose so much of the fundus during suturing! That has been my experience and it confused me til I heard that. I really don't feel restriction at all. liquids flow just fine when I would drink with my meals (I don't do that anymore since week 4, my doc told me before that it was ok..). Anyway, I've just noticed that I get full off less food than before. I can still eat too much, but have felt "Thanksgiving Day" full off 1/2 or 2/3 what I used too eat routinely. Interesting, huh?!

My doc also noticed where people used to slip the band and it was in the same place everytime. He now sutures part of the fundus to the diaphragm as well - which is a great relief to me, the food weakling - and thus he hasn't had a slip in over 3 years. He's mentioned it to other surgerons at conventions and stuff, and they've all been very interested. Maybe it will catch on! :eyebrows:

[mvr 0]

HI my June bandies, I have just taken my 6 year old twins and autistic 11 yr old to the circus (OMG what a disaster, I just keep hoping I can make family outings work like a real family:eek:) I came home and ate Soup and it is ALL I can do not to suck a whole block of chocolate to soothe whatever it is all these mixed up feelings are. God I know why I overeat I just wish it wasn't so painful to change. I don't have much restriction and I am so scared I will lose it and FAIL yet again. So helpful to read some of you get down too, I feel mildly hopeless right now:cry. I want to keep the house and life in general in some sort of control but with the kids on vacation and not feeling 100% I'm not winning the battle. I know I will feel different when I get a fill. Thanks for listening it helps just to get it out.

[insubordination 0]

I came home and ate Soup and it is ALL I can do not to suck a whole block of chocolate to soothe whatever it is all these mixed up feelings are.

Oh I get that. I really do. I probably don't have a quarter of the problems you have but I still numb my negative emotions with food. We all do it. I guess we're going to have to find more constructive ways of dealing with this compulsion when we are experiencing negative feelings (if someone says 'go for a walk instead', I'll lose it).

I seriously think the band has the potential to work for us. I was grocery shopping the other day and didn't buy a few things because I knew they:

a)Would go off before I could finish them (10 dolmades won't fit in my stomach pouch now).

or

b)Weren't good for me and defeated the purpose of banding (Tofutti cuties - ice cream sandwich thingies)

I made a constructive choice for myself and my health. Of course, I don't do it every day but at least I'll have something to build on each time I do. I find myself worrying whether I'll get enough vegies and Protein and healthy carbs in at the moment rather than how much delicious stuff I can cram in my body. I think we should all encourage each other along this route but give sympathy and understanding when we have a blowout.

This thread has been so wonderful for me so far - like free therapy. Thank you all.

Oh and Marga, if I could pin a medal on you for today, I would.

[nvalicia 0]

Hi All,

Just checking in. I have been staying off the computer because I tend to stay on it all night and do nothing else, like exercise. I am doing great though. I don't have a fill until July 18th but I am not needing it yet. I get full when I eat about a cup to a cup and a half of food. I try new foods a little at a time and have found a few things that give me problems but can eat pretty much anything right now.

[Crabby54 0]

Yesterday was my first "outing" since being banded. I felt sad, depressed. I had tears in eyes and could have broken out crying a few times.

There was no way I could get out of it as it was my grandson's 6th b'day party. The night before I made my famous macaroni salad. And of course I had to have a taste. So I took a chance and ate maybe a total of a tablespoon. It was so good and I chewed it in small bites (probably a noodle at a time) and it went down without a problem. My first cheat!

Yesterday morning as I was packing my stuff up I started to feel so sad for myself. Ooops, the start of my pity party. Admit one please. That one was just me of course. So I made me a super sized strawberry Protein Shake to sip during the day. (It's the first time I had this kind and it will surely be the last, it was terrible!)

Then I got really ticked off at my hubby who was laying down watching TV while I was getting stuff together. OK fine, he has a bad back and will prossibly be need surgery within the next year and can't pick up heavy stuff and will be going for pain management shots starting the end of the month and ------ Ooop sorry, let me reel it back in.

So everything goes well at the party until my grandson wants me to get in the pool. Nope sweetie can't do. (Doc said no pool for the first month.) Then the food was served. While everyone was eating picnic type foods I was sitting there, party of one at my pity party, sipping on that yucky Protein shake and wondering what the hello I did to myself! :think

When we got home I shoved another tablespoon of macaroni salad in my mouth, chewed a little bit and swallowed. All I got to say is it's a good thing I slimed AND pb'd afterwards because I surely would have eaten the rest of it. :sick

So after my tummy calmed down I fixed myself a cup of soup/broth and SF Jello. Had a bit of a cry and tried to get over it.

This morning I feel better about myself and just chalked yesterday up to a phase I had to go through in order to move on.

So now I'm going to go jump on the recombent bike for 30 minutes. It's too dang hot to go for a walk!

Thanks for listening/reading.

[cbm818 0]

hey all, i started the mushie phase after my post-op visit friday.

i am nauseous every time i eat (even just CIB), does anyone have any experience with this?

[cbm818 0]

hugs to all those experiencing their first outings since banding...i totally identify with you. i am not looking forward to it, and am actually being quite a chicken and avoiding those situations.

[Waters 0]

Girl, You will NEVER be a slacker! I don't think anyone who has jumped through all the insurance hoops and stayed on a liquid diet for what seems like forever to have the banding is a slacker!

In fact, that's the one thing my husband tells me over and over "I can't believe you stuck to it!" Well believe it bud! I wanna lose this poundage or should I say tonage!

I do ask myself why I couldn't stick to it before? I can't quite answer that one. Any insights?

Waters you have cracked me up!! I was sitting here literally laughing out loud! You make me feel like a slacker! Last night I think was the first time I have cooked for my family since I started on the 2 wks of shakes pre-op!! So um yeah that makes 4 wks of me NOT cooking!! I know I know bad bad wife/momma!

[LauraG. 0]

WATERS- you are too funny I love what you wanted to put on your sign, thanks for making me laugh:)

MARIE - I too have felt like what the hello have I done. But it gets better, and I would guess there are quite a few of us who have experienced that feeling at least once. What a HUGE change we have just made:eek: We will get used to it, but it takes time to adjust and We will !!!

It really is so nice to be able read on this forum to know we are not alone in some of the things we feel and experience.

Thanks

Laura

[Waters 0]

I did put up a sign today, my husband was stunned! It simply read:

THIS KITCHEN WILL BE CLOSED AFTER 1 PM SUNDAY

He took it down brought it to me and said " What about dinner? "

I replied "Eat a big lunch"

He just went and put the sign back up. So we'll see how this goes..........

I love to laugh, it makes my head feel better and most of the time gets me in a good mood.

Maybe I'm closing the kitchen too early? HMMM?

WATERS- you are too funny I love what you wanted to put on your sign, thanks for making me laugh:)