Alexandra

Hi Ladiebird, Everything you say sounds perfectly normal indeed. When I had my last fill I was surprised to discover I couldn't chug Water the way I'd always been able to, either. Small swallows is the way to go. As for food, anything at all is fine but remember to take it slow and chew, chew, chew!! It will take a while for you to get used to this. If you're really too tight you'll know it because you won't be able to keep anything down. Whether your fill will lessen or not only time will tell--for me it only does so after a loss of 20 or so pounds. Good luck!!

I'd suggest you call your doctor. I know there's medication for this sort of thing. You're still on liquids, right?

Betty, I hear you. Just hang on though and this too shall pass. Actually, it's the first negativity I've seen at all and I've been here since the very beginning. That must be some kind of record!!

Hi Daisey Mae, In my case a fill typically "lasts" as long as it takes me to lose 20 or so pounds. As you say, everyone is different, but so far I've been very aware of lessening restriction as I lose weight. This last fill, though, was 17 pounds ago and has shown no signs yet of lessening. Sounds like you're doing great! Do you still feel the same level of restriction as you did shortly after your fill? How hungry do you get and how hard is it to stay satiated after eating? And has your weight plateaued for more than a month or so? You probably don't need a fill unless you're having trouble with these issues. It certainly might happen before August, but you may be one of the lucky ones who does great on very little fill.

I'm totally amazed that Dr. Kwon would fill your band more than halfway at surgery. That goes against everything I've ever heard about Inamed's recommendations. Many people with the 4cc band don't reach 2.5 ccs until after two or three fills, and that is often a good amount for significant restriction! That's why I'm so surprised. But the truth remains--whatever the facts are with regard to the size of your band and its fill--that once you're healed from surgery hunger does return. And since you're still in the healing stages you don't want to make your stomach work hard to move or digest food. Stick to liquids and then mushies next week, and don't worry about calories. You ask if it's possible to gain weight during this period? Well, of course it is, if you take in more than you expend. In my experience I lost weight pretty quickly in the weeks after surgery, and once I got back on solid food the loss stopped and I gained a few pounds back. Then I had a fill and the loss started again, along with many adventures in learning how to eat like a bandster. But I don't know what to say about what your experience will be, if you're truly filled to 2.5 ccs right out of surgery with the 4cc band. (That is not the Vanguard band, btw. The Vanguard band has a capacity of 10cc or so.)

Jasper, who was your doctor who filled the 4cc band with 2.5cc during surgery?!?!?!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again--do not let yourself get too hungry while in the healing phase. If you're hungry, have something else to eat/drink! If you're only three days away from mushies, you're well into the thick soups and shakes realm. I'd stay away from egg salad as yet, but there are lots of options still out there for you. Don't worry about calories! As far as whether it's normal to feel so hungry, the answer is YES. You're eating next to nothing compared to what you were taking in pre-band, so of course your tummy is rumbling! Even with a fill (I assume you have the Vanguard band, in which 2.5 cc is a very small amount), your body is adjusting to a drastically lower calorie count and it would be a surprise if you weren't hungry. Every single new bandster goes through this exact same thing. You're normal, and while it's hard please remember that this phase is temporary. You're doing great!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana

Because THIS time there is a physical barrier to eating too much! That is what the band offers that plain old willpower has never been able to provide. Every time I want to overeat or munch on something I don't need, I have my band to remind me to take it slow, which gives my time to put the food down.

Emmy, one of my favorite NSVs was discovering that I was finally ON the chart at my gym. The BMI chart helpfully goes up to 38, and when I started this process my BMI was 47. So it took a while, but when I saw one day that I was actually ON that chart I was dancing for days.

Congratulations on your first milestone, Rachel! There will be many more. :D

So there I was, at the gym, at the end of a 35-minute workout on the elliptical, watching the minutes tick by and getting ready to be done. But then through my headphones I hear the one song absolutely guaranteed to get me crankin' up good: It's Raining Men, by The Weathergirls. I'm sure people thought I was a lunatic, because I was doing everything but singing my lungs out. So what song gets you going, no matter how drained you are?

OK, so who has a CD burner? Let's make a list and get someone to burn the ultimate LBT workout disk!! Some are old favorites and others I've never even heard of. Just thinking about these songs has me bouncing in my seat. :D

Donali's post about MO being a disease has been revolving in my head the last few days. It occurs to me that extending that analogy is very helpful when it comes to understanding the band and its role in my future. What I am doing, with the help of my band, is MANAGING my chronic disease of morbid obesity. That's why I don't have a "goal" and why my "journey" will never be over. This is not a disease for which I will find cure, but one which must be managed for the rest of my life. Like many people with MO, I've been totally unable to even minimally manage my disease in the past. Short-term searches for cures have been pointless, of course; the only surprise about that is that anyone ever expected they'd be anything else. Chronic diseases require PERMANENT management, and it is not shameful or weak to pursue help in this regard. Help is available to the various degrees that people need it--up to and including the implantation of an assistive device. The good news is that it's working. My MO has receded to a degree I've never thought possible, and I'm counting on my band to help me keep it in check. I refuse to feel like I'm any less of a person because I have a medical device implanted to help me manage a disease I did nothing to deserve.

Lisa, I can't take credit for bumping this but I'm sure glad it's there! It's a great reminder that we don't fall off the wagon with regard to managing this condition. It's not a short-term diet we can fail at. I hope your binging is over, sweetie! How's that office coming? Got the lock in the door yet?

Jasper, I promise you that nothing you have eaten will have damaged the band or compromised the healing process. I've heard stories of prolonged vomiting in the week after surgery that resulted in no damage or problems. But you really want to give your body the best care you can while it's healing. And as you said, it really is hard to train yourself to eat slowly. It's all the harder if you're hungry, which is why I caution everyone to NOT let yourself get hungry. I think of egg drop soup as a thick liquid, yes. It can go through a straw, can't it? Mostly? As you heal up you'll find that even when you're eating solid food it will feel almost perfectly normal, so don't be alarmed. You have no fill, no restriction from the band so it's not going to have much if any effect. You're probably not going to get any signals from your banded tummy until you get a fill. Some people do have restriction straight out of surgery that stays for a while, but most do not. So if you're eating normally after three or four weeks on soft foods, you're perfectly NORMAL.

Hi Jasper, You're doing fine, not to worry. Egg drop soup was one of my favorite thick liquids, since it's so high in Protein and kept me satisfied for a long time. One thing bears repeating. The liquid phase is not about weight loss, it's about healing. So don't worry about calories during this time! I found that it was much more important to NOT get too hungry during this time than to stick to some absurdly low number of calories. There's no point in trying to starve yourself now; it just makes this hard time all the harder. Go ahead and have snacks! Liptons Soup at Hand is a great thing to explore, and there are lots of mushy dips and spreads you can discover. Keep those munchies at bay while you're healing, and there will be much less chance that you'll lose control over at the tortilla chip bowl!

Donali, I LOVE your name. And I love the story behind it! Of course I've been pronouncing it wrong, so I'm really glad you cleared that up. I can relate to being classified as male on occasion. When I was in high school I went to a convention at Princeton University for March of Dimes volunteers. Upon arrival I discovered I had a male roommate! (And just for fun, his nametag said that his middle initial was NMI, as in "no middle initial.") Wow, did they screw that up!

If she has both coverages she may still not have to pay for much. Submit the claims to Medicare and let them pay what they will, and then submit them again to Mailhandlers. Whatever is covered by MH and not paid by Medicare should be paid in accordance with the MH policy. The fact that Medicare is primary just means that it gets the bills first.

Well, Bright, I'm glad to see someone enjoying the snow! We got another 6" or so on Sunday night, and another dusting last night. I don't mind it so much in February, though, since it warms up during the day and we can see that spring is on its way. Enjoy it, Niamh!! Send us pix of the snowman you build with your son. :D

Rachel, did your doctor not give you ANY post-op eating instructions? That's pretty shocking, if that's the case. Post-op diets vary quite a bit but I think everyone agrees that AT LEAST for the first three weeks you should NOT be eating solid food. As you say, it's not all about what you can tolerate, it's about letting your esophagus and stomach stay as still as possible during the healing phase. If you're feeling perfectly fine then I'd venture to guess that you have done no damage. But please, try to stick with mushy foods or thick liquids for the next week or so. This is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your band at this point.

Yay, lethalwoman!! Sounds like you had a great day. May there be many, many more! :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana :banana

Congratulations and welcome to bandland!! Did you have to fly after your surgery or did you drive home?

You're young, too, Tropicana, so you'll have a much easier time of it than many people. My BMI was 47 when I started and while I certainly have some extra skin it's not enough to call a surgeon about.

Isn't it a miracle how wonderful food tastes, Lauren? Congratulations on progressing to solids and I'm sure Dr. Bertha will approve. Are you coming to the meeting tomorrow night? Be sure to say hi to me--I love to connect faces to the names I see here, but don't get mad if we've met already and I don't remember. Mommy brain, for real.