Fenton

Hang in there, Christine! Not too much longer and your surgery will have come and gone, and you'll be eating real food once again. Oh! AND your DH will have returned! Eyes on the prize, eh?

Chris, nice work! Congratulations! Thanks for stopping in and letting us know about your progress - it really helps when people who've been in the program for a while give us newbies some idea of what to expect. Keep up the good work! And lakrull: if you're going to be on the road, the best thing to do is to make sure you understand the principles of how your band works - what foods you can eat, and what foods you shouldn't. You can pretty much always find something to eat at any restaurant, but it'd be a good idea to bring, like, a protein shake or something (like a can of Slimfast Optima) as a back-up for those times you're overworked and can't get into a restaurant or food shop to pick something up.

Whimsy- have you tried your left side? It's supposed to be the better side for people who have reflux to lie on, so I guess there's less pressure on the stomach in that position. If you take some Tylenol before hoppping in, and pad the bed with enough pillows on that side, you might be surprised to find it's fine.

Off-topic: TANYA! What IS that banana/"peanut butter jelly time" thing? I've seen it as a bit on FAMILY GUY, and I didn't recognize it. Where does it come from?

Haha! I was just clarifying my ChickenChewin' habits, because I knew you guys were worrying about me! I'll post a video of the state of my mouth contents when chocolate Chompin' time comes around... Post-op, my first worry was not getting enough Fluid in. Now it's not getting enough Protein - I don't want to lose too much hair - and calories. At my size, the recommended daily intake is over 4,000 cals, so I expect I'll get decent weight loss in this period of low cal intake. But I worry that my muscles will begin to get cannibalized for fuel if I don't raise my intake a bit. The thing is, I just don't want to. I haven't had my Isopure or my tom yam broth yet, and I'm not at all hungry. I feel full from the Soup I had at 2PM. I'm hoping this means that I'll be one of those people who gets decent restriction without having the band filled up too much.

Oh, wait! I also had some Tuscan white bean soup - 200 cals, 1 g total fat, 12 g protein.

My planned total intake today - full liquids day 7: 1. smoothie made with 1 cup of low fat pomegranate kefir with two scoops of Protein powder - about 250 cals, 2 g fat, 33g protein 2. Half a diet Snapple 3. A pineapple-orange-banana Isopure - about 260 cals, 45 g protein 4. The other half of the broth from my tom yam goong - maybe 10 calories? no protein And Water at will. I'm going to have to start taking in more calories. Hmmm... some mock tortilla soup might go nicely... Oh, medicine: 20 mg of Prilosec Two Flintstones chewables (over time - I worry that the granularity might irritate my stomach lining)

Welcome aboard, newer March bandsters! And Harleygirl, congrats of Day 1 of liquids! The headaches are day 1 or 2 stuff, and once your system gets used to that, you'll be fine.

I'm amused by the counterpoint attacks of me being a chicken Chewer! It's TRUE! But I'm not as much a hypocrite as I might seem - the chicken in the soup was cut into thin ribbons (Thai Soups tend to be quick-cooking affairs - indeed, Thai food as a whole is that way) (short cook times - prep can be lengthy), and most of it went to the cats. I had a couple of small pieces, and I chewed each piece for a couple of minutes until it was a fine paste, and then took more broth - my goal was to get the meat to something that I could sip through a straw, the criterion proposed in the bariatric center guidelines. Which I did. My suggestion would be that you save your outrage at my hypocrisy until Easter Sunday, when I have decided that I will have not one, but TWO pieces of high-end chocolate!

Post-op day 6. To my astonishment, I still have the steristrips! And the haloes of grime around my old IV and EKG lead sites! (I'm going to borrow some damn nail polish remover from my gf to take care of those, as God is my witness!) I get the occasional twinge from my incision sites, but no pain. Since the first night, I've been able to sleep at home on either side, so the incisions have really not been an issue. I can now bend with minimal discomfort, although, if I stay bent over, it begins to feel a little uncomfortable. Although that may just me being neurotic. I have less gas pain, but that might be related to the fact that I've been walking more. And I've actually been having a life - both yesterday and today I went to the movies. Bathroom-wise, everything seems fine. Peeing is normal, and I seem to be going to the toilet every 3 days maybe, and a very small amount. I decided to take two weeks off work for this, and am glad I did. I know many people go back to work a lot sooner than that, but I'm a fairly hefty fellow, and I'd like to think that it took more out of me than it did out of some of the more sylph-like types on this board! But I'm glad I have another week off to finish healing, to decompress and to recover from the last month of preop/op stuff. I'm trying to think - did I miss anything?

Thanks, lads. It's getting better - a week out and I still don't feel 100%, but I don't feel bad either. There has been minimal pain, but I'm still not used to my strangled stomach. I know it'll happen. Rick, when are you up for the chop?

HarleyGirl - I'd be psyched for a new model band! The technique isn't that old, and the technology is just getting better and better...

Those Soups sound pretty tasty, but I have to say that I'm a bit wary of them. Those refried Beans may be fat free, but those other tasty ingredients represent a heckuva lot of starch and fat. I figure that'd be good for the occasional treat, but just because it's a liquid, doesn't mean it's great for you! Obviously, in the early post-op period, you need as much liquid as you can get in, but apparently you have to be careful with fatty foods. Part of the band being a tool is that it gives us an opportunity to break from our old habits and start new ones. We have to be critical of what we're taking in, and making sure we're getting what we need - fluids, Protein, Vitamins. The delicious Mexican Soup, all riched-up with gooey melted cheese and slow-cooked beans, will give a little bit of protein in a good bit of calories; I think it's fine for the occasional delicious treat, particularly in the early days where your calorie intake isn't huge, but not too often! I'm sorry to be a killjoy here, but - and maybe this is more relevant to me than to you guys - I think it's a good lesson that just because we have a noose on our stomach doesn't mean we can eat whatever we want! While it isn't as delicioso, I suspect, as the soup, I had a pretty delicious shake today made with lowfat pomegranate kefir and Protein powder. Kefir is a cultured milk, a bit like yogurt, thick and slightly tangy, that you can get at health food shops. It was rich, and the taste of the dairy was enough to completely camouflage the taste of the protein powder. SCORE!!!

Mom, what is BFE? I'm a video game player, and BFE sounds so similar to an expression we sometimes use that my mind can't think of alternates for those letters!

Rhonda! I know just telling you to relax won't do any good at all, so I won't even try. The thing is, you're taking what is for you a difficult first step that's going to end up liberating you, making you half of the woman you are now and all of the woman you know you can be. It might be hard for you to walk into the hospital, but no one will laugh at you. At that moment, the only reason that hospital exists is to look after you, and no one but you. I was scared too, but I promise you: 1. Anesthesia: A PIECE OF CAKE! 2. The surgery: A PIECE OF CAKE! Look at it like a roller coaster: you pay your money, you sit down, and they put the bar down over your lap and you're off on the adventure that will change your life! Never forget why you're doing this. You're going to be fine. And when it's over, we can all have a good laugh about how scared we were. You're going to be great!

Congratulations, Ms Cathy! And I can only DREAM of the day when cracking open a Protein shake will taste like "heaven"!!! I have stocked cases of the damn beverages. I suppose I'll drink them overtime, but I still find them kind of yucky. I've bought a selection of DaVinci sugar free syrups - hazelnut, toasted marshmallow, vanilla, etc - and will start using those more to spice up the shakes.

Post op day 5 I wonder whether I overdid it yesterday. I think my Fluid intake was good, but that I might have just kind of *overdrunk* - taken in too much at a single sitting. I felt a bit overfull, and I woke up at 5AM, something I used to do when I overate. Tummy still a bit grumbly, a small amount of soreness near the port incision. I, too, have the feeling I'd like to be burping a lot more than I am. Yesterday, though, walking really helped that. Sometimes, when I'm walking, I get this feeling as if a bubbling froth is shifting inside my belly, and a sudden feeling of relief. For some reason, though, every day I have to learn over again how much better walking makes me feel. Basically, I'm lazy, and when I feel a bit less than 100%, my natural tendency is just to lay about - not today! I'm going to shower, have some more delicious, life-sustaining fluids, then... I'M GOING TO THE MOVIES!!! Wish me luck...

How great to see everyone from all over the world! And, since by now, about half of us are on pre-op liquid diets and the other half on post-op liquid diets, I'm beginning to think we should change our name to the Drinking Shamrocks...

It looks like things are going pretty well for you there, too, Loprofyl!

I LOVE Thailand! One of my favorite places on earth. Indeed, if the whole weight loss thing goes well, I'm seriously going to consider having my tummy tuck in Bangkok. (One of my favorite cities on earth.)

Hey, Kathy, glad to have you with us. It's really interesting to see all the different diets that different doctors are proposing. I'm doing my best to take the most conservative approach possible - although stretching it, obviously! I also had some yogurt today. I think I need to review my Acceptable Liquids list - I love oatmeal, and could do with some fiber!

I'm on Full Liquids until the 17th, but I seem to have kind of extended that a wee bit. My Fluid intake hasn't been great, but I'm still peeing, so, it's been enough. I'm drinking: Water Isopure (beginning to get sick of it) chicken broth (delicious chicken Soup that I've strained and splashed a dash of white truffle oil into to make it Special) Thai Soups - tom kha gai and tom yam goong. I've mostly skipped the solids, but have also chewed, like, the chicken pieces until they're a puree Mango nectar Reduced fat chocolate milk I'm not worried about the calories, although the carb content, I don't know if that's good for me - I don't sweat the calories because all told, I'm taking in less than 700 calories a day. Significantly less. At a cafe today, I had a sample of chocolate chestnut cake the size of a pencil eraser; although it dissolved instantly, I chewed it for a good minute. I didn't buy a slice, so, after that little display, they must have been thinking "This guy is the cheapest sonuvagun in history!". I guess that and taking a few small fragments of chicken and grinding them to a paste with my molars were my cheat moments. No solid food.

rlmoody, welcome aboard! HOw's it going for you? Discomfort? How's your tummy?

Oh, a sidenote: the worst pain I've experienced with this whole damn thing came from pulling off my EKG and monitor electrodes. DAMN! It's really some kind of Superglue, plus I had to tear out a bunch of hair.

Post-op Day 4 Hey, no fair! How come you don't have any bruising? I'm feeling pretty good today. Energy is decent, I'm able to drink pretty well. I still have the same low-grade grumbling disquiet in my belly, like it's the afternoon of a day when I got carsick in the morning, but it's not bad. My steri-strips are still stuck to me, somewhat to my surprise. When I shower, I keep the hot Water pounding on my back; my water pressure is strong, and I don't want to blow off the strips too soon. When I got out of the shower, I saw my tummy for the first time in a while. The wound areas all look fine, although covered by gray (eeww) steri-strips. There's a blush of tan bruising, with some purple darker bits, extending down and to the right from my port site, but otherwise it looks fine. And the bruising isn't severe - at first I thought it was some kind of leftover antiseptic scrub thing. My stomach hair is slowly growing back, and it's not itching - I don't think they shave you as close as they used to. One thing that's bugging me is the big haloes of schmutz sticking to the adhesive areas where my dressings and IVs used to be - how the hell do I get rid of that stuff? My girlfriend said you have to use nail polish remover, but, well, I don't have any. I'm also a bit wary of putting any solvent near my wounds, so I guess I'll just have to put up with rings o'dirt for a few more days. What else? Nothing really. Everything seems to be functioning OK. I scheduled my follow-up esophagram for Friday. NYU-ers, beware! The office is really busy, and they only do them in the mornings! The note that you should sked an esophagram, then book your follow-up appointment in the weight loss clinic for an hour later is optimistic at best! I have my esophagram appointment Friday, then, and my follow-up Monday morning - which is a pain in the ass. And that's me! HOw're you Last Weekers doing out there?