Knee2010

Completely normal!!! Just get as much rest as you can right now and let your body heal. You should start seeing a drastic improvement in your energy levels and feeling better in another couple of weeks at the most. Just keep trying to get as much liquid in you as you can. If the Protein drinks give you problems (sometimes they are too thick), then thin/dilute them with either a fat free milk or Water. For some people it is easier to drink warm drinks rather than cold. If that is you, (it was me) then keep your Protein Drinks & water in the ice box and just pour a small amount (1/8 -1/4 cup) into a coffee cup and warm it and drink that, then repeat, repeat, repeat, all day so that you are conistently sipping your liquids/protein. At first I would fix a cup of chicken broth and put some in a coffee cup and I would put/set it on my electric mug warmer plate to keep it warm-it would take me so long to drink that coffee cup amount. I remember celebrating when I realized I had finished an entire cup of Soup amount by lunchtime. Just remember, this takes time. Allow yourself the time to heal and you will get thru this!

In my opinion, 46 days out is too early to be eating any kind of bread, even the "thin" ones. The humus and turkey slices are good choices, but the bread will stick and swell. As far out as I am my lunch consists of just cheese slices and chicken slices, no bread. So I eat a "breadless sandwich". Try rolling up some cheese, turkey, chicken, string cheese etc. and see how that feels for you. Even though we have all had the same surgery, it is still a little different for each of us and it is a trial to sometimes find things that work for you. If the bread isn't working right now (and I think that's what is giving you problems), stop eating it and if you really feel like you need bread then try it again in a few weeks. That's one thing you will find out, our tastes change. Somethings that we liked before surgery or right after surgery, all of a sudden we no longer like the taste or the texture of. Give it time, don't loose the faith and make sure and follow YOUR doctor's/nuts plan for you.

Using the mall was a good example to show your friend. It might also help to pass this website on to your friend. Even though she isn't getting the surgery, she can get as much knowledge as your getting from here. I have passed this site on to lots of people (both surgery interested and those who aren't). A lot of times I think those that love us just need extra reassurance that we will be OK, and the unknown is scary.

Our vacation this year (Oct) will be riding the bike from San Antonio to Key West, FL.

In 2008 we rode from San Antonio, TX to Sturgis on a Heritage. Awesome trip! We're thinking of doing it again in the next few years.

Fellow VSGrs, I have a huge dilema. My husband and I will be traveling this weekend to a family get together (surprise 70th birthday for his Dad). Nobody in my husbands family has seen me since the surgery and my dilema is: I am so excited for everyone to see the "New Me", but last year one of my husbands "step/half brothers" passed away. He had started the insurance approval process for the lap-band (I'm guessing he weighed between 300-400 pounds) and during the process he suffered a heart attack. He left behind a wife and 3 young children. How do I handle this? I don't want to upset anybody in the family and while I'm sure they will be happy for me I am also sure everybody at some point will be thinking "what if he had started the process sooner" or something along those lines. Thanks for any words of wisdom and/or guidance given. Karen

Welcome to the losers bench! Elka, thanks for the update on Patrick. Encourage him to sip sip sip, all day. Those teeny tiny sips will add up throughout the day and that's the most important thing at first, staying hydrated.

What a wonderful frame of mind going into this. You so got this!!! I'll be waiting to hear from you afterwards telling me how well you are doing walking the halls and sipping. Here's to keeping the positive vibes coming your way!

Welcome, I'm glad you are doing so well. It just gets better from here on out. This site is a great place to get answers to all your questions so please check in frequently, also, let us know how you are progressing. Even those of us who have been here for a while still enjoy reading about other peoples success!

Good Luck!!! Let us know how you'r doing afterwards and WELCOME TO THE LOSERS' BENCH.

I think you look fantastic!!! You need to send this pic to the Brazilion family so they can see the difference.

Since you don't have a binder, do you have any "ace bandages" or anything that you could wrap real tight, mummy style around your stomach. Just to hold everything nice and tight and still, no jigglying. Hopefully it will be something simple and not the "L" word. Good Luck and let us know. Prayers are with you!

Warm liquids do seem to work better than cold ones at first. I even bought an electric coffee cup warmer/plate that I could set my coffee cup on to keep it warm all day. If you can get one, do so. Make whatever your going to be drinking in a coffee cup and just sip on it all day. To this day, I still drink my bottled Water at room temperature. Some things I can now drink cold (my frozen Protein smoothies), but for me, my water has to be room temperature. I know it's hard to not panic, but take a deep breath (and then take another) and try to relax. If something doesn't seem to be working for you, try something else. You will get a lot of suggestions and help from this site. Not everybody goes/gets thru this the same, but everyone here has at some time or other had questions, so don't be afraid to ask, someone will help you. And it does get easier as time goes on. When you get to advance to foods (even mushies) you might find that what you used to love now you can't stand. Or, you will eat a bite of something and it won't agree with you, don't give up on it completely, wait a couple of weeks and re-try that food. All our stomachs heal at their own pace and sometimes it takes an extra couple of weeks for all the swelling to go down and for your stomach to stop being mad at you. That's what I used to tell myself in the beginning, that my stomach was mad at me for what I had done to it and I would just have to be patient and wait for it to completely heal.

Probably because as you are losing weight you are perhaps starting to stand a little taller (not weighed down so much), possibly you are a little more active now? And as you lose the weight, things will shift, just like during the later part of a pregnancy your hips will spread to accomodate delivery so will you find that things will shift as you lose weight. Maybe if you were large in the stomach area you might have been kinda "resting" on yourself when you were sitting and now that you are losing your muscles are being used to hold yourself upright when sitting? Maybe? At least that is some of the explanations that I have read in past posts from others. How much have you lost so far?

I did take my measurements the night before my surgery and was horrified. While my "brain" always knew I was overweight, my "mind" thought just a little bit. Now I am so glad I took my measurements because when I hit a stall (and I've been stalled for the past 2 months) I take my measurements and can see that the inches are still dropping even though the weight loss has been the same.