March Bandsters: MASTER THREAD

[anniedub 0]

Phew! Is anyone else becoming addicted to LapBandTalk?

I think it's time for an intervention!

I'll try to restrict my surfing to once a day.

On topic, does anyone use thedailyplate.com or a similar site? Any good?

[Mikala365 0]

Hi all,

Thanks for all of the support. I will check out Walmart and Walgreens for the liquid Tylenol.

Yesterday I saw my primary care doc for my pre-op exam. Boy was she thorough - ht/wt, blood pressure, EKG, ears/nose/throat, rectal exam, then pee in the cup.

Today I had "fasting" blood tests - seems like they filled enough test tubes to give someone else a transfusion. I also had an ultra-sound of my gall bladder, kidneys and spleen. Then I had to pee in the cup. My primary care doc asked if my lapband surgeon planned to remove my gall bladder (to prevent gall stones) during the lapband surgery. Is this common? Will I need my gall bladder for something in the future? What does the gall bladder do anyway? My primary care doc is also testing my FSH levels (follicle stimulating hormones) to determine my fertility pre and post surgery. I don't have kids yet, so this one I actually care about.

Tomorrow I have to take my current prescription list (printed out by my primary care doc) to my pharmacist. I'm supposed to ask him if I'll be able to absorb the time-delayed medication and if there are liquid substitutes. I guess Saturday night will have to be my official "Last Supper" and I can't think of a thing that I want to eat. Maybe, I'm just tired from the blood loss.

On Sunday (the day before surgery) I start my pre-op diet - Clear liquids only. What does this mean? Water and what else? I'm supposed to take Milk of Magnesia Sunday night to "clear me out" and help avoid Constipation post surgery. Gonna have to shop for my post-surgery liquid diet at GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe.

Monday's the big day and I'll finally get some sleep. Looking forward to it!

[lynnt1215 1]

My doctor and nutritionist says:

sf Jello, crystal light, sf popsicles, broth

I was told no red dye, so i am sticking with the lemon, orange and green jello and sf pops.

I have 2 days of Clear Liquids before and after surgery, 3/19

Now i am trying to do 1 or 2 meals a day as Liquid Protein. yummy

Hang in there

[hopeinapril 1]

Hi Annie:

I'm glad that someone else admits to an addiction to this board! I want to see all the new March posts! I even look at the other threads from time to time. I am guessing that once I have the surgery, it won't be quite the same because I will have actually gone through the surgery, but this pre-op time is interesting. I spend not a lot of time here, but I check it several times a day. Yikes! I don't check my email that much!

I guess I am the oddball in that I like my Protein shakes! I have some recipes to make them taste different because I think I would get bored with just chocolate and vanilla. We received this recipe from our class called "skinny monkey" and it tastes wonderful! Of course, I taste tested a bunch before I found the ones I do like......

[Fenton 3]

Out with it, Hope! What's the recipe for Skinny Monkey?

I've not been able to restart with the Slimfast Optima since my surgery, and I have cases to consume...

[mom007 0]

Well guys, I'm back and banded! Never should have told my boss that I'd be back at work by Friday, having been banded on Wednesday! I expected everything to be so easy and not bother me at all but I've been having a hard time.

When I was down for the surgery my Dr. found a hiatal hernia "big enough to put you fist through" so he fixed that and I'm thinking that that's a lot of the pain. Especially under my rib cage and the fact that I can't take a deep breath. Burps hurt too.

I'm nauseous, can't really drink anything exept Water without wanting to puke, tried SF Jello last nite and had about 4 small spoons of it until I gave up. Maybe I'll try broth tonite when I get home.

But I'll survive. I am at work but will probably be leaving around 3:00 or so, the sleepyness is getting to me too.

Good luck to all of you being banded on Monday!

[HarleyGirl 1]

Congrats on your surgery!

Glad they were able to fix the hernia.....ouch, though!

I don't envy you being at work, glad you're able to leave a little early.

Thinking good thoughts to get you through the rest of the day!

[thin2bme 2]

Hi Robin, glad to see your surgery went well. Wow, I can't imagine going back to work so soon, your younger than I am so maybe that's the trick, lol. Time will tell, I get my band next Friday and I'm starting to get nervous. I had my preop labwork and EKG done this morning and I start 2 day clear liquids on Wednesday. I was told by my behavior modification therapist a week and half ago to start making better food choices and cutting down the amount of fat I eat, so I've been doing that and I've lost 7 pounds since then and on top of what I've lost since I started my journey back in November. I'm down 20 pounds so I'm giving myself a big pat on the back and ready to lose more with my band.

Does anyone know if the Protein drinks that are fruit flavored that look kind of like a Diet Sunkist Orange soda considered a clear liquid? I guess I can check with my dietician, but thought I'd ask.

[whimsy 0]

Well guys, I'm back and banded! Never should have told my boss that I'd be back at work by Friday, having been banded on Wednesday! I expected everything to be so easy and not bother me at all but I've been having a hard time.

When I was down for the surgery my Dr. found a hiatal hernia "big enough to put you fist through" so he fixed that and I'm thinking that that's a lot of the pain. Especially under my rib cage and the fact that I can't take a deep breath. Burps hurt too.

I'm nauseous, can't really drink anything exept Water without wanting to puke, tried SF Jello last nite and had about 4 small spoons of it until I gave up. Maybe I'll try broth tonite when I get home.

But I'll survive. I am at work but will probably be leaving around 3:00 or so, the sleepyness is getting to me too.

Good luck to all of you being banded on Monday!

I'm sorry you're having a rough time, Robin. When you finally make it home, get comfortable and get lots of rest. Please keep us posted on how you are doing.

Does anyone know if the Protein drinks that are fruit flavored that look kind of like a Diet Sunkist Orange soda considered a clear liquid? I guess I can check with my dietician, but thought I'd ask.

I honestly don't know. I will say that my doctor told me that grape juice was fine for my clear liquid stage. I don't know about you but I can't see through a glass of grape juice. *grins* I imagine it should be ok but I suppose asking your dietician would be the safest solution. I'm curious to know what the answer is!

[hopeinapril 1]

lol, Fenton it is as follows:

8 oz skim milk

1 scoop chocolate Protein mix (I use Bodry Fortress)

1/2 frozen banana (or 1 packet health wise banana shake - if you use this, add an additional cup of skim milk)

1 Tbsp smooth Peanut Butter

1 packet of splenda (I don't use it, because it tastes good to me without it, but if you want something really sweet go ahead and add it)

put everything in a blenda and blend until smooth.

My doctor's office allows us to have this during the "full" liquids phase because the banana is not in chunks.

I love it.

Enjoy!

Peppermint Patty:

8 oz skim milk

1 scoop chocolate Protein powder

2 drops peppermint extract

ice cubes

put in the blender and blend until smooth

Citrus shake:

8 oz light lemon or orange yogurt

1 packet Healthwise grapefruit drink

8 oz Water

1 scoop vanilla Protein Powder

1/d drained frozen mandarin oranges

blend until smooth. If you are in the liquid phase, delete the oranges and add ice

Pina Colada:

12 oz skim milk

1 package Healthwise pneapple orange drink

1 scoop vanilla Protein powder

1/2 drained frozen pineapple chunks

2 drops coconut extract

put it in the blender until smooth. If you are in the liquid phase, delete the fruit and add ice

Tropical fruit smoothie:

1 packet healthwise strawberry Kiwi drink mix

10 ox Water

1/2 cup frozen strawberries & one small kiwi or 1 cup frozen strawberries

put it in the blender until smooth. If you are in the liquid phase, delete the fruit and add frozen juice or ice

[HarleyGirl 1]

Day FOUR of liquid goo phase......

[rant]

Well, today is the first day I've really felt "hungry"......and mean as a snake.

I'm feeling deprived and a little sad. Just had a mini blow out with the hubster because he made a simple comment that that pantry needed to be cleaned out....which of course, it does.....but hey, let's go in to over-reaction mode and just start throwing things out of the pantry (me, not him)....yes, I am a three year old inside a very large adult body. After a few minutes of embarassment we started laughing and cleaned out the friggin' pantry. So, that's done and we're fine.......he understands and is no stranger to my occasional irrational outbursts (we've been married 23 years).

Sigh, I keep telling myself that I'm HALF WAY THERE.....at least to my surgery date.....I know part of it is nerves, part is hunger, part is just feeling a little out of step with the universe because my eating habits have been disturbed....it has, however, made me VERY aware of how much mindless eating I've done IN THE PAST....as I still open the pantry 20 times a day looking for something.....IN THE PAST, each time I would have grabbed a handful of crackers, a granola bar, a pudding cup, or SOMETHING.....but this is a good time to break that habit......perhaps one of those timed locks like they put on the vault at 7-11?????????????? NO......just changing the damn mindset.....hard, hard, hard.....but DOABLE!

OKEY DOKEY........

[/end rant]

[Fenton 3]

POD 8

Well, I think I'm almost back to normal. My stomach still feels unusual, but I'm basically fine. THe bruising is nearly invisible. Half of the steristrip dressing came off my port incision; the incision is a fine pink line, with a little bit of crusting, but I'll be damned if I'm going to yank the steristrips off the others quite yet!

My guts are... OK. Sometimes a trip to the toilet is an adventure in wind, but it's been basically fine.

I'm doing OK on the eating - well, drinking, to be more precise. I'm occasionally even feeling hungry! I've not had enough to eat/drink today - I had my esophagram this morning, and that paste I slurped down is probaby leeching all the Water out of my system even as I type. I've managed a cup of sugar free hot chocolate, and some white bean Soup, about a cup. I'm going to spend the rest of the day sipping Isopure to boost my Protein and Fluid intake.

My sleeping remains a problem, but that's because yesterday I crashed for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then couldn't get to sleep until after 2AM, then was woken at 6:45AM by my battling cats. I expect to sleep well tonight - I'm going to be putting up a sign saying No Cats Allowed In Fenton's Sleep Chamber, which ought to take care of things nicely.

[Fenton 3]

Mom! Congratulations! You might not feel like celebrating right now, but you know very well that there's a handful of upcoming bandsters who'd happily swap places with you - now that you've gone home! What WERE you thinking, woman? It's not major surgery, but it's surgery, and big people feel it more than little people. I'm impressed by your courage, but I'm absolutely thrilled that you're going home to relax and take it easy for the weekend.

I've worked pretty hard in the last year or so, so I had enough sick leave banked to be able to take off almost two weeks. It's a luxurious stretch, but I'm so hopeless at organizing that everything - eg abdominal surgery - completely interrupts my smoothly functioning life. I needed the recovery time - and now I'll need recovery time to recover from the recovery!

[Fenton 3]

Teri - good to hear you've made it onto the runway! The hard part will be over before you know it.

Hope! Thanks for the recipes! I'm trying to force myself to drink my SLimfast Optima, which I shall try and adulterate in the pattern of your recipes...

Harleygirl: I hope you feel better for blowing off that steam!

[hopeinapril 1]

Fenton:

You are too funny! I have 2 cats and they wouldn't read the sign even if they could read. They ignore the Water that I squirt on them at times! I am also slightly concerned about my one cat as sometimes she seems to live on my lap! I always enjoy reading your posts.

I hope you can make the recipes work, I'd change the milk/protein to your shake and add the rest. I have to admit that some of them taste pretty good.

OK, I am getting ready for 3 hours of pre-op testing and such on Tuesday. I have no idea what I am in for......anyone want to share?