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

[towens 0]

Hi everyone,

How much has everyone lost? I have only lost 28 lbs, but my last fill seems to be perfect. I am up to 9ccs and can really tell a difference when I eat. I hope everyone is doing well--but miss everyone's posts.

[ovahkummer 11]

Hey everyone,

Ovah reporting for duty...

Well I finally had my first fill on 1st March and it went smoothly. The only unpleasant thing was drinking that chalky, glassy tasting liquid for the dr. to see how fast the liquid was going down. I lost 15lbs in all without anything in the band! I thought I would have gained because I was able to eat so much. It feels like I lost more though.

He put in 5 cc at first then asked me to drink and everything stayed put so he pulled back .5 cc and things looked perfect from there. So now I have 4.5 cc in an 11 cc band. It is working like a charm. One of my uniforms that I wore last Friday fit me differently when I put it on today! That said to me I've lost so I bought myself some exercise dvd's as a reward.

Towens 28lbs is not "JUST", you need to reward yourself. Don't try to measure your results against others. How hard would it have been in the past for you to take off whole 28lbs?! Congrats. To me any loss is success. I would be devastated if I went on the scale and it wasn't keeping still or wasn't going down! As long as it's not moving up, I'm happy!

Here's to everyone, even if you think you should have lost more weight by now and have not!

[Skinny_Jill 36]

Hi everyone,

How much has everyone lost? I have only lost 28 lbs, but my last fill seems to be perfect. I am up to 9ccs and can really tell a difference when I eat. I hope everyone is doing well--but miss everyone's posts.

You should be proud of that 28 pound loss. I've lost 29 pounds and I am thrilled. You are doing great! It has been 15 weeks since I was banded and that is roughly 2 pounds a week which is great! I've lost 13.8% of my weight. Be proud of yourself! :thumbdown:

[bandpal 7]

Dear 11/20'ers,

Fond greetings to all of you, sorry for not having been in touch for over a month.

First of All

If any of you don't know, our friend Longhorn needs our encouragement and support – please see her thread, "A New Medical Issue for Me" under November 07 Bandsters.

Congratulations All Around!

Everyone who's posted here in the last month seems to be doing well – nice gradual weight losses all around – congratulations! What a contrast this is to the highs and lows of the white-knuckled, guilt-ridden days of yo-yo dieting, eh?

Unbelievable...

I have to say, I really feel as though this thing is changing me for the long term, not for the intense three week periods which were the longest amount of time that I could ever keep to a diet (now there's a four letter word if I ever heard one). Over a period of months now, I've been binging much less and only rarely for more than over a two day period. My food choices are much better and my serving sizes much, much smaller. I've almost entirely stopped taking second helpings. There is no comparison between the rate at which I ate before and now. I get full much quicker and stay full for much longer. Tell you what – for me, that's unbelievable. I thought I was incorrigible, and doomed to a short life of misery and death. If this keeps up I'm going to have to devote some serious thought to what to do with the next thirty or forty years…

Go Ahead, Compliment me - I Can Take It!

Along with my own weight loss, I've been enjoying closet shopping and the compliments I've been getting. Here too, something is different this time – the compliments aren't threatening, I don't obsess about getting them or not getting them and who has or hasn't noticed. I don't feel that "oh, I don't really deserve that" feeling, or feel that the compliments themselves are pushing me closer to falling off the wagon. Maybe it's not too late to grow up at the age of 48, huh?

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

I'm busy at work, hosting my parents who are staying with us for the last week of an eight week visit (I drive them to the airport on Thursday and return the next day with my inlaws, who are in for two weeks) and starting to plan my two week trip to the States - I'll be in New York and in San Antonio for my cousin's wedding, first time in the Lone Star State! I'm taking along my five year-old daughter, which I'm very excited about.

Food for Thought

I saw an interview tonight with the Italian neurologist, Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, who was the 1986 Nobel Prize laureate in Medicine and Physiology and who is still working daily in her lab at the age of 99. When asked for her secret for staying intellectually acute for so long, she unhesitatingly answered, "not thinking about myself". That's food for thought for me, tell you what.

All the best, everyone - hope to hear often from all of you here,

- Bandpal

[bandpal 7]

Dear Firebolt, Marissa, MarilynC, Skinny Jill, Ovahkummer. Towens, Tlwempen and Longhorn (all steady posters to this thread going back a few months),

I just want to say that I really miss this thread. Hearing your voices, voices that have been on this journey with me since Day One, has been a help and a comfort along the way, and it's unfortunate that we seem to have hit a lull in communication.

Silence can mean many things; what does it mean for you? Is this a tough time? Or are you just breezing along? What challenges have you faced along the way? What milestones have you passed? What victories have you celebrated? Please share them and let the rest of us share in them and benefit from them!

Wishing each and all of you happiness, initiative and some free time at the computer - Love, Bandpal

[Skinny_Jill 36]

Happy 4 month anniversary everyone. I am going for my 4th fill today. I honestly don't know if I need one. Some days I feel that I do and some I don't. I know that I don't need a lot maybe even less than .5 cc. I am getting it done under flouro so the doc should be able to tell how well Fluid is flowing through the band.

Hi Bandpal, I miss everyone too. I am still checking in everyday. I am doing quite well with my band. I am losing about a pound a week and I am happy with that. I think the weight loss will speed up as I just bought sessions with a personal trainer. The exercise should help tremendously.

I am starting to fit into some of my old clothes that I had grown out of. I saved the nice clothes because I knew that someday I would get back in them.

I would never say that the lapband is easy but for me it has been somewhat easy. I have difficult moments and days where I struggle with my food choices but I always seem to maintain even when I make bad choices. The amount I can eat is just so much less than before that my mistakes aren't as costly as pre-band. I've only gained 3 times since banding and they were less than a pound. That is truly monumental for me. Sometimes I wonder if my scale is working because it will stay exactly the same weight for 3 or 4 days in a row. I mean exactly like 180.4 for 4 days. I would think that would vary more often due to Water intake and retention. I am not complaining just surprised.

I hope everyone else is doing well and checks in soon!

Love,

Jill

[Longhorn 1]

Losing weight hasn't been my main issue these days but all of you are important to me. I care about how you're doing and appreciate your care and support of me. It makes me feel good to hear about your progress and watch your numbers change. I do think that "no news is good news" in this case. We're all actually getting used to our new way of eating and our thinner selves! :biggrin2:

[tlwempen 0]

hi all glad everyone is dong so well. sorry for my "silence" but i haven't made any real progress. i got my 2nd fil feb 27. i'm up to 3.0 ccs in a 10 cc band. not much restriction. weight gain/loss has stopped. ive lost 38 lbs but it has stayed thesame for last couple of months. next fill is april 16th.

my port site is very very sore and red. i can only ware loose loose fitting clothes because the port is right on my pants line and rubs it. it hurts to touch it, get hugged, and no way can i lay on that side!!

talk to u later, promise to check in more!

[tlwempen 0]

well went to the doc on monday and found out why i was hurting.... my port has flipped onto it's side. i'm having surgery to fix it on friday. which sucks!! i have to go to the hospital and pay the deductable for this year. wasn't counting on a 2000 dollar expense this month. but i guess it has to be done. i'll check back in and let everyone know how it goes.

[bandpal 7]

I had my second fill on Thursday, April 10th - made the two and a half hour drive across the desert to my doctor's office in Be'er Sheva. He was half an hour late, and although I had the first appointment at nine p.m., I didn't make it out of there and back to my car until nearly ten. The fill itself was nothing - lie down on the table, a swab of local anaesthetic, needle in the chest for a few seconds and button up my shirt on the way back out the door - but I had to stay to drink two glasses of Water and make sure they went down. I made it home by 12:30 am.

This was a 2cc fill, so I'm up to 5cc in a 10cc Swiss Johnson & Johnson band. It's very tight. I've slimed up saliva a few times, but it seems to be loosening up a bit even though I haven't even thought seriously about trying to eat. I've been on liquids since Thursday, which means I haven't had anything to eat in three days.

Having been on liquids for a week after the surgery has become a point of strength I keep coming back to. So much of our eating is by choice, isn't it? Out of want, not need. When I think I want to eat, sometimes I remind myself that I made it a whole week on liquids and nothing happened to me - so do I really need whatever it is that I want? Now I'm back to liquids, and I'm following the same routine I did after the operation. I know I'm not going to start eating again until I feel ready, until I can get thick liquids down without bringing them back up.

It's amazing, meanwhile, how I'm nearly never hungry, and how much more clarity and presence of mind I have when I am not thinking about what I ate, what I'm going to eat, what I would eat if I could, etc.

Tlwempen, I hope your surgery went well. What a lousy break - but you sound like you rolled with the punch pretty well. Let us know what's going on. SkinnyJill, how did your fill go, and how's the personal trainer working out? Longhorn, we are all rooting hard for you...

All the best, hope to hear from everyone soon,

Bandpal

Edited April 13, 2008 by bandpal

[Skinny_Jill 36]

Hi Bandpal,

It sounds like you have a lot of restriction now but it sounds like you are handling it well. Stay strong, it will pass soon.

I didn't end up getting my last fill. After discussing with the nurse we decided I didn't need one and that was the right decision. I am eating 1000 - 1200 calories per day and I'm not hungry at all. Well, maybe a little right before meal time but I can handle that.

The trainer is working out great. He is really kicking my butt and the inches are falling off. The scale was stuck for a bit but it is moving again. I am down almost 4 pounds this week. It feels great!

I am glad you are doing so well. Check in when you can!

Jill

[bandpal 7]

Dear SkinnyJill,

Thank you very much for your encouragement and support. Guess what - my restriction eased significantly during the day today. I was able to keep down pea Soup for lunch and yoghurt for dinner, so I think things are moving in the right direction. But the best experience was simply being able to drink a nice, full, tall glass of Water. Ah, the simple pleasures of life.

I hear you on passing up on your fill - why get it if you don't really feel you need it? I held off on this fill until more than three months had passed. It's not like there's an unlimited amount of space in the band, you know? I want to be able to use it when I really need it.

Your training experience sounds great (and congrats on the weight loss!) - I'm going to have to get me some of that at some point. I've had lifelong difficulty spending quality time with my body, I'm sure the input from someone else would be very helpful for me.

Thanks again, your words really helped,

-Bandpal

[tlwempen 0]

the surgery was postponed until yesturday the 16 of april. besides a lone hospital wait, it all went well. i am being told that i must of had a pretty large infection. i'm now on my third round of antibotics. (one was for an illnessand self prescribed... but good thing i did!!) doc things that is the cause of the slippage... i would like to know what the cause of infection was!!! eveyoneis being very vauge about it.. they did take some cultures of tisue.. and are going to let me know.

otherwise not in any real pain.. no meds needed and i was able to go home on the same day. i have 4.5 in a 10 cc band.. hoping to feal some restriction with this fill. ( doc did at the same times as surgery) my fills usually take a few days to kick in. right now nothing...

hope everyone has a great day and thanks for keeping me in your thoughts!!

[Skinny_Jill 36]

the surgery was postponed until yesturday the 16 of april. besides a lone hospital wait, it all went well. i am being told that i must of had a pretty large infection. i'm now on my third round of antibotics. (one was for an illnessand self prescribed... but good thing i did!!) doc things that is the cause of the slippage... i would like to know what the cause of infection was!!! eveyoneis being very vauge about it.. they did take some cultures of tisue.. and are going to let me know.

otherwise not in any real pain.. no meds needed and i was able to go home on the same day. i have 4.5 in a 10 cc band.. hoping to feal some restriction with this fill. ( doc did at the same times as surgery) my fills usually take a few days to kick in. right now nothing...

hope everyone has a great day and thanks for keeping me in your thoughts!!

I'm so sorry you had to go through that but at least it is fixed now. I hope you get some answers about the infection. Let us know.

I hope your fill kicks in soon.

Take care,

Jill

[cindyg1212 0]

tlwempen, glad the surgery went well. When will you have the results about the infection? So sorry you went through this. Hopefully you'll feel a lot better now.