MsAnn6550

Thank you Jim1967 for your input and insight. You are obviously a man with great something but I am not able to say what it is here. I feel so glad that you and your wife are both banded.This means that you have each other with which to both support and comiserate.Hurrah for you!

MsAnn,

I would feel sorry for you but it seems you're doing a pretty good job feeling sorry for yourself and blaming everyone else around you. I agree having support around you is very important however it is not impossible to succeed without it. Not sure what your deal is with your husband but it sounds pretty old school to me (Wife belongs in the kitchen type stuff). Fine make him his food if you must but it doesn't mean you have to eat it. As for the PB and bread for a stuck episode...in a normal non banded situation that would work so maybe he is just lacking some education on the band and what a stuck episode means? Has he ever taken any interest at all in what you are trying to do? Has he bothered to learn what is important to you and your needs? Doesn't sound like a very supportive spouse to me or at least that is the way your describing him.

As for your brother are there any other support groups you could attend without him? I know around here there are several other facilities which have groups and there is no cost associated. My Wife and I are both banded and I know it would be quite annoying if we were being compared all the time. It has come up from time to time but not very often as we were band a year and half apart.

You mention switching to the sleeve and I ask what is the point? All of your issues with lack of support will still be there regardless of the surgical option. I am not against any option but at the end of the day all of the obstructions you mention above will still be there.

I am sorry my post is coming off so negative but at the end of the day this is your journey and at some point if you want to be successful you need to take the bull by the horns and tame the beast. Find a new support group....get your husband on board and if he isn't willing to put time in to what is important to you then I guess you know where you really stand on the importance scale in his life....(in his kitchen being his wait staff, cooking and cleaning his house and making sure he has clean laundry). My Wife wouldn't put up with that crap nor would she ever have to. This isn't 1950....it's time he wakes up and smell the roses however he isn't going to just do it if you keep giving in.

Good Luck to you.....

In my case I would not do it again. Having a lapband take support from the peoplearound you and I have none. My children do not live in the same town as me and my husband......well let's just say it is hard to have a band and all he does is ask me what he can have to eat. The man wants me to think he cannot even make his own microwave popcorn. His idea of helping me if I have a "stuck" moment is to offer me bread with Peanut Butter. My brother also had the band one month before me. I quit going to support meeting because theyalways seemed to be comparing my weight loss to his. I do not want to be compared to anyone, lest of all my brother. If I could change today,I would have the sleeve, but I don't see my insurance paying for anything again. Matbe when I turn 65 Medicare will spring for the sleeve, but I doubt it. The only good thing I can say Is thatI quit smoking to get the band and have not started back. After 4 and 1/2 years I eat what I want when I want most of the time. pills still have to be chopped up. Some things make the band raise it's ugly head one time and go right down another. I guess you could say I quit!

Alabama here, Saying you're a southern bell can mean you're from anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line. I never considered Texas as southern but some do. How about you?

Quit smoking 6 months ago. Unfortunately, I still think about it every day. It is getting better. so, hang in there. If I can do it, you can do it.

In response to my eating at IHOP,,,,,My surgeon is different. First 4-7 days post-op is full liguids, When you fell a little hungry you try a soft food like scrambled egg. If that goes well, you go straight to meat (chewy). Everyone is always amazed how fast I went to chewy.

I was surprised by MsAnn as well. I don't remember eating those items a week or two out.

As far as what to order, if your husband likes to share, one entree and one appetizer and you are golden. I eat about 1/4 of whatever we order, he eats the other 3/4. It works for us. I've been banded for nearly 2 years now. Lost 75 of the 88 I wanted to lose the first year. Haven't lost any since. But that's OK. I'm still nearly 20 pounds below where the dr thought I would be 3 years out.

I didn't have any problems with bread the first year -- now, I can't tolerate it. I have never been able to do eggs and chicken can sometimes create a problem.

I try not to drink with meals. I usually ask for a glass of ice. Drink whatever melts. Works for me.

I was banded June 3. Went out to eat with hubby two nights ago. Went to IHOP. Ordered cheese and mushroom omelet but told them not to put any pancake batter in eggs. Also had a little hashbrowns with catsup on them and two pieces of bacon. I only ate about half the eggs. Skipped the pancakes, of course. Everyone was happy. In talking with other bandsters, eating out is sometimes challenging but not impossible. Doggie bags are a good thing. With seven kids, someone is sure to appreciate the leftovers. Save your salad for after your meat, eat no bread, and either order your drink in a go-cup or order Water (even though you can't drink with your meal, this keeps waitstaff from bugging you)