Who's benig banded on 11/20???

[Skinny_Jill 36]

Hi everybody,

I too have hunger pangs every few hours. I've heard from some people that they were hungry at all for the first month. I was hungry 3 days after surgery. I eating something small like a pudding cup or yogurt when I get hungry and that helps.

[bandpal 7]

Hi Everyone,

It's Friday night in Israel and my house is filled with squeaky - clean kids and the smells of a big Friday night dinner coming from the kitchen. I'll have a small plate of hummus and tahina while everyone else chows down on pot roast, and then half a bowl of clear Soup two hours later.

I walked outside for about 50 minutes under bright sunshine and felt one day, slowly-slowly closer to being 100%. It's great to see new people here - welcome to hungryforchange (congrats on the weight loss!), Karmen (you certainly don't have to be having problems to belong here) and marissa (2 miles in 38 minutes is more than I did today - how is the weather in NC now?) !

Tlwempen - Glad you are feeling better, way to go.

Skinnyjill - yep, pangs here too, but definitely a smaller appetite and hungry for longer especially considering the small amounts I have eaten.

Towens - hope the port pain is better - I definitely have some sore spots, but I can live with them as long as the kids hold off on the flying hugs, which they are being very good about.

MarilynC - Great to have a colleague on board! 8 - 11 is a nice age. I was a fifth grade teacher in Manhattan before heading off to Israel. I didn't have very good luck here- ended up in tough schools with unmanageable situations. I'm much happier in the world of informal education. My Mom and sister are teachers too.

Firebolt - send us a sign! How ya' doin'?

All the best - have a great weekend!

[hungryforchange 0]

Mmmm....I love hummus. I always ate it with a pita though. It does taste good with cucumbers!

[Marissa 0]

Bandpal - my corner of NC is so beautiful right now. It's very sunny & 60ish. My baby (furbaby) Bella is going to LOVE her afternoon walk today. This weather makes me in such a great mood.

I want some hummus! But...I guess I'll just stick with me Unjury chicken Soup for dinner. :bored 5 more days of liquid, 5 more days of liquid. <--that's what I have to keep telling myself.

Have a great day!!

[Firebolt 3]

Firebolt - My surgeon found a tumor on my liver too, it was benign - thank God. (What a coincidence, huh?) I had a severe car accident almost 5 years ago in which I suffered many life threatening injuries - including a broken neck - so, my surgeon thinks the tumor was actually scar tissue from the wreck. Which makes sense and is quite relieving.

Marissa, Thanks for sharing with me! It is very hopeful to hear someone else had the same problem and is doing fine!

I did call the Dr. to get a followup on the biopsy. They said that the tumor was 'un-diagnosable', but non-cancerous. I have a followup appt on 12/6 with the Dr. I will grill him in more detail then.

BTW- Welcome aboard! Glad you're doing well....

[Firebolt 3]

Firebolt - send us a sign! How ya' doin'?

Hey Bandpal & Friends,

I'm sorry I've dropped off the radar for a while. I'd felt rather crummy the last couple of days (honestly, caused by irregularity from the codeine), as well as generally sore because I'm no longer on the pain meds. But, I'm much, much better now - Thanks for checkin' in on me!

It's Saturday, and I've travelled with my family from Ohio to Michigan to pay a visit to my Mom & Dad this weekend. It's currently snowing, raining & freezing rain outside (needless to say, I didn't get my walk in today). The weather is supposed to warm up some tomorrow (up to the 40's) so that we should be able to make the 4 hour drive home with out any problems.

I did want to share with you that I was able to eat some Wendy's Chili - OMGosh was it good! My Dr. told me that this was one of his patients favorites when moving to the mushy food stage. Since we were travelling & on the road for 4 hours, we had to eat dinner in the car. I was able to eat 1/2 of the small Chili. I was also surprised that I was able to eat 2% String cheese. I chewed it really well, and it went down fine. I've also enjoyed scrambled eggs, baked potato, Lean Cuisine Mac & cheese (1/2 pkg) & some Angel hair Pasta tonight.

While I've added some of the mushies, I'm still doing 1-2 Slim Fast Low Carb drinks (they taste better to me than the unjury - which isn't bad, but I just like the Slim Fast better). However, like Hungryforchange & Marissa, I too think that some Humus sounds terrific. What do you eat it with? I normally eat w/Pita, but am afraid to try any bread right now. Fill us in on your secret, ok?

Skinny Jill - Have you really lost 19 lbs already? You go girl!:clap2:

HungryForChange - 9.5 already? Woah!:whoo:

Marissa - 36 lbs since banding or does that include pre-op? Doesn't really matter - that's a phenominal weight loss so far...Keep up the good work!!:clap2:

Tlwempen - Girl Scouts? You too? I've got two troops (I lead one and co-lead the other). Got my first meeting post surgery this Wednesday. Lord I pray I have the energy!

Ovakumma - it's good to hear from you. I too, like Bandpal will standing outside the caboose waiting to pull you aboard!

Towens - my port site also is the most sensitive at the point, but it doesn't burn. My MD located it right at "Counter Height". This means whenever I'm at my kitchen counter, it hits right on the port and OUCH! Ya, I remember right away that I've got a port there! Hang in there and let us know how you progress, ok?

Karmen - of course you belong here. You have a band don't you? I, like you am going back to work on 12/3 - I'll pray for you if you pray for me, OK? I hope your job isn't too strenuous. Welcome to our thread & thanks for checkin in! PS - I love your avatar!

MarilynC - Hopefully as you move to mushies you'll be able to get in more of that Protein. Have you tried the Slim Fast Low Carb? It's got 20 gms in each one. I think it tastes better than the whey powder too.

CanadianComfort - We've haven't heard from you recently - how's it going?

Talk to you all soon. I should be back in Ohio tomorrow, if I can get out of this snow/ice storm!

[towens 0]

Hi all,

This is a great discussion board! I am feeling much better--I can see 100% in my future--FINALLY. My port site is still hard but not as sore as it was on Wed. I have been eating milkshakes--probably not the best thing, but I love the eggnog ones :-). I have a yogurt for Breakfast, milkshake for lunch and mashed potatoes or refried Beans for dinner. I still haven't felt like I am going to throw anything up--I am so afraid of that feeling and my doc told me if I eat too much or too fast it will happen.--Have you guys had that feeling? I can't believe you all are walking for 50 minutes--that would kill my back!! I have lost 16 lbs since pre op diet--yippppeeee

[Marissa 0]

Firebolt - I've lost 37 pounds since pre-op, 15 since surgery. I wish it were 37 since surgery though...soon it will be!

Towens - Welcome! I haven't thrown up (haven't even been nauseas at all), but I'm still on liquids. I can have soft foods beginning Wednesday - and I CAN'T WAIT. AH! :whoo:

Hope everyone had a good weekend!!

[bandpal 7]

Good Morning Everyone,

A Good Time, Soon to End

The sun is streaming down on us after a rare overcast morning here, and the last of the mist is veiling the mountains on the horizon. Sunday is a workday here, and I can see cars and farm vehicles pulling in and out of our parking lot, and people walking around purposefully and necking with their cell phones.

I guess I'll be one of them in a few days. I'm due to return to work on Wednesday. I'll be ready, but boy, am I glad I took two weeks to recuperate after the surgery. It has been a time for resting, healing, getting to know my body, thinking, writing, and spending more time at home with my family. I've always been a get back to work quick type of guy, bored and fearful of spending time alone at home, but I'm glad I was ready for a change.

Smaller Portions of Life

All in all, I have to say that I find myself much more restrained - less involved with who or how many people have or haven't come to visit me, whether or not people can see that I'm losing weight, or on affairs in my community and beyond. It's almost as if the band is teaching me how to digest life in smaller portions - to swallow it slowly, to savor it's taste, to be satisfied from it, to make do with less and to obsess about it a whole lot less.

The 500 Ton Gorilla Has Left the Building

I weighed in at the clinic today - 11 kilo, or 24 pounds, down since surgery. While people here haven't noticed the loss yet, I've gotten a few comments about how I seem much more calm and content. No big surprise there - life without a 500 ton gorilla on my back shrieking FOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! non-stop into my ear is another thing all together, apparently. For now, I'm eating very small portions of food, which I find delicious and which fill me up for hours, enjoying my drinks in between meals, and not obsessing about food at all! I've been feeding my kids without nibbling on their leftovers, eating in our dining hall without hearing the siren song of foods I can't have and reacting differently to situations which would've freaked me out before.

Squash and Plastic, Anyone?

One example here - on the evening of my second day of mushies, I was Page Rankingeparing a meal of pureed zucchini and asked DW, who was standing next to me washing the kids dinner dishes, to wash off the blending component of the hand held mixer which we had recently bought and which I was using for the first time. She did so, but overlooked the plastic cover which was on the blade. Innocently, I blended away, only to find little bits of plastic in my mouth when I tasted the first spoonful. Of course, that was the last zucchini in the house.

In the past I would have responded to this situation by getting annoyed at DW and then becoming withdrawn (and, ofcourse, by overeating to compensate myself). Instead, I literaly laughed out loud as I thought, "hey, I don't really need it anyway- I just lived through a week on liquids!" I just joked about it, threw it out, and made myself something else to eat. I think that this is the real battlefield - long after the weight will have hopefully been gone, I'll still be contending with situations like this (and a whole lot worse!) without misusing food.

All the best,

[CanadianComfort 0]

Hello Fellow November 20th Bandsters!!

Sorry for being out of touch so long. I’m very bad at corresponding Sounds like everyone is doing a great job!! Pats on the back to you all!! :whoo:

I’ve been doing pretty well, especially since this past Monday. In an earlier post I mentioned a problem I was having: “When I drink anything and it hits my stomach I get a burst of pain that lasts for several minutes and often the Fluid heads back up my esophagus. It's not vomiting, it more like a clogged drain and everything gets backed up. And sometimes my diaphram goes a little spazzy (like hiccups without the hiccups), which is really very painful.” Well, after 6 long days of this, I decided to drop by my clinic on Monday to talk to one of the nurses.

Turns out, I needed a de-fill. I thought the bands were installed empty – and maybe some are – but mine was partially filled. I had no idea! The nurse found my port and after 2 attempts withdrew 3.4cc’s of Fluid from my band. Ahhhh the relief!! Since then it hasn’t even felt like I have a band – I feel no restriction whatsoever. Maybe that’s normal? I have my 2-week check-up at the clinic tomorrow so will be finding out. Also, of the 5 holes they poked into my stomach, one is about 3 inches long. It feels really hard underneath so I’m not sure if that is just healing tissue or if maybe it’s the hose that leads to the port I’m feeling under my skin. The port itself in about 1½ inches to the right of this scar so it’s not that. Anyhow, I guess the nurse will tell me tomorrow.

I’ve recently been learning about the joys of a food processor. I hate cooking (fast food junkie) so never really had the need for one before. I’ve been using it about 3 times a day for the past 5 or so days and it’s great! It’s just a small 3-cup one and it doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, so even I can use it! I’ve been doing great on the liquid and mushies stage, and think I’ll even manage the soft food stage, but will have a problem when I start back on solids. Meal planning, cooking and Portion Control are NOT my forte I’m afraid And no drinking Water with my meals will be a major adjustment. But hey, I gave up my 5 Diet Coke/day habit cold turkey on November 8th so I can handle anything! :Banane52:

Keep up the great work everyone!!

Initial Consult: November 8, 2007

Surgery Date: November 20, 2007

Banded by Dr. Mumford, SWLC, Mississauga (Canada)

[MarilynC 0]

Hi everyone.

After reading all of your posts, it sounds as if everyone is doing so well. I can't believe the weight loss from some of you. That is absolutely fabulous!

I have only lost a mere 5 pounds since surgery . I did lose 20 pounds on a six month diet before my surgery could be approved by the insurance company. I've just been a little disappointed that the weight loss hasn't been more significant especially given the small amount of food I am actually taking in. My husband, Joe, has actually hidden my scale because I seem to be so obsessed with weighing daily. I think it's just that I need to see the progress. I have been overweight for so long that I just can't imagine life without the weight.

My little one had a B-day party this weekend and I began comparing myself to the younger, thinner moms. The feelings of wanting to binge were almost overwhelming. I didn't, thankfully the surgery doesn't allow for this. I'm just worried that if I don't start seeing more progress soon, I will give into those feelings. Joe keeps reminding me that it took many years to put on the weight and it may take many years to lose and keep off the weight. It's just that society has taught us to want what we want NOW!!!! Later doesn't cut it for me. I know this sounds unreasonable. I do realize a "quick fix" is not the issue. The issue is with me and my own body image. I'm sure many of you can relate to these feelings.

Enough of the self-imposed pity party...

I have been able to eat a little more and have even tried some mushy Pasta. Joe went and purchased a Magic Bullet blender for me to use. It is great in pureeing food to a pulp and I have been able to enjoy smoothies. He has also made sugar-free Jello and puddings. I was not a huge sweets fan anyway but just to be able to slightly chew something feels good. I miss my bread, though. I grew up in deep southern Illinois on a farm. Everything I ate was country cooking. Translation...lots of bread, butter, and good old fattening, stick-to-your-ribs food. It also doesn't help that I am a really good cook. Of course, also cooking with all that fattening stuff because it tastes so good. It has been a huge change for me to go from that to counting fat content and calorie content for the family. However, Joe has been a great support and my daughter has always eaten really healthy. It's funny that I watched her diet so closely to ensure that my genes would not influence her to be overweight while continuing to eat the same. I have always preached a healthy lifestyle to her while not necessarily following it myself. Do as I say not as I do. Wacky, huh!

Enough rambling for now...Thanks for the venue to just let some of this out.

I hope all of you continue to go down the road to success. Keep posting and let me know how all of you are. For those returning to work, expect to be tired and good luck! :Banane52:

Marilyn

[Marissa 0]

Bandpal - I hope your transition back into the 'working world' goes smoothly. I went back to work just one week after surgery, I sure wish I had been able to take more time off...I wasn't the least bit productive at work anyway! Squash and plastic is one of my absolute fav.'s! Ha! That's too funny...and totally sounds like something I would do. I'm so glad that you're learning new ways to deal with situations. I'm still working on that. I seem to be quite the opposite, actually. I have been so stressed out the past week - I don't know what the deal is, but I'm sure it's just a phase. I'm sure my husband is thinking the same thing - poor guy! :speechles

Canadian - I am so glad that you're feeling better. Who would've thought that you needed a de-fill? My surgeon said he put some Fluid in mine during surgery, but, thank God, I've been problem free. Great job kicking the Diet Coke habit! I'm sure that wasn't easy. I don't care for sodas, so I didn't have that problem...however - I do have a love for FULL caffeine coffee, a minimum of 2 cups in the AM. :straight I've kicked that, and it wasn't easy. I know that I could go back to decaf., but there's no point, I'm already over it.

Marilyn - Don't fret about your weight loss, it's 5 pounds GONE FOREVER!! Think of it that way. Add the 20 pounds that you lost pre-op, that's huge! Our bodies are all adjusting differently to this new lifestyle, give yourself time. I lost a mere 2 pounds this week, quite a contrast from the first week. Soon you'll be dropping weight - hang in there and give it time!

Happy Monday (or Tuesday for Bandpal) everyone!!

[ovahkummer 11]

Glad to hear you are doing well Canadian comfortand don't worry about the hardness under your incision, your tissues are just filling back the gap and after it will return to normal again. (I'm not a dr. I am just experienced, after witnessing the same thing from my own recent incisions and from two prior scars from c-sections that are aprox.10 inches long! - so trust me. It's a good sign.

I went back to my dr yesterday and he has ordered a wide range of tests, he has also started me on asprin and betablockers??. He says I'll come off the asprin about a week before the surgery because it will thin my blood. I should go back to him in the next 2 weeks for him to do an ultrasound of my heart, the other tests results should be in by then and if all is well I'll go back into surgery the week after christmas.

Those of you who believe in prayer, please remember me.

All the best to everyone and keep up the good work.

[admarino2001 0]

:cryI DID NOT DO ENOUGH RESEARCH BEFORE I HAD IT DONE AND NOW I AM PAYING THE CONSECUENSES.

I WENT TO Tijuana AND NOW BACK HOME, MY REGULAR DOCTOR TAKES CARE OF MY PAINS BUT THAT IS ALL SHE CAN DO.

I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER SUPPORT HERE. I NEED TO LEARN FROM YOU LADIES. THOSE OF YOU HOW ARE UNDER THE CARE OF A MEDICAL TEAM AND HAS EVERY STEP, EVERY DIRECTION FROM YOUR DOCTORS. I WILL BE FOLLOWING YOUR STEPS IN ORDER FOR ME TO BE ABLE TO MAKE IT.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU LADIES THAT DECIDED TO HAVE THE SURGERY DONE. GOD IS GOOD AND HE WILL HEAL YOUR WOUNDS AND YOUR HEART.

[tlwempen 0]

hi all just checking in. i'm ready for realy food!! i have had to sit through 2 christmas dinners so far, and one more this weekend. this 3rd week is liquids with the addition of bananas, apple sauce and pudding. i'm so very jealous of those of u eating!! i get to add mashed potatoes cream of wheat, babyfood and well cook veggies next week.

glad to hear from everyone, welcome new people!!

2 toops firebolt?? i can barely handle to one! glad the tumor was non-cancerous, wtg!