HelenC

My doctor wanted 2 wks of liquid diet. I made it 10 days. After 10 days, I would have liquified instant mashed potatoes one day, maybe a cream soup the next....just a little something to help get my extremely low energy kick started. Then at 14 days, I went mushies. He wanted mushies for two full weeks, and again, I made it to about day 10, and introduced full soft foods a little each day to day 14. If you absolutely feel you're going to break, I'd stick with it just as long as you can...at least 10-12 days. I understand completely

I have BC/BS of IL - Plan 121. They covered the surgery at 100%, after deductible, and fills are likewise 100%. I did have to do 6 months of a physician supervised diet, but I had no co-morbidities, so that's probably why. I also had to provide 5 years of medical history showing I had a weight issue.

I found these awesome chips yesterday at Walmart. They are baked fruit crisps in Peach-Mango (although they had other ones, fruit was what I was craving). They crunch, but practically dissolve to liquid as you chew. Very tasty and satisifies that crunching need. They aren't the best food choice for calories, as a serving is 14 crisps, 130 calories, but I only ate half a serving. Edit: I wanted to add, that the name of the product is Flat Earth, made by Frito Lay. They also make a Tomato Ranch, Cheddar cheese, Garlic & Herb, Wild berry, and Apple Cinnamon. Each serving of the chips contains 1/2 serving of real fruit or real vegetables. Here's a link to the nutritional info: http://fritolay.com/fl/flstore/cgi-bin/ProdSubEV_Cat_302_SubCat_552290_NavRoot_361689.htm

Dave, I had my surgery in Dallas on 2/14, and was supposed to fly to Ohio on 2/16. My doctor had no problem with it whatsoever. I ended up NOT going because I still felt like I had been hit by a truck, but I could have.

Welcome, and congrats! Nice loss!

A PB is a "Productive Burb". If something covers the stoma (the opening to the stomach), it will make you feel like you need to vomit, but what comes up is stringy saliva and maybe a little bit of what you ate that caused the PB in the first place. There's no stomach acid involved, so no sour taste, and you usually feel better after you've done it. The way to prevent PBs is to take very small bites and chew very very well.

There are lots of posts here about surgeons in Mexico. In a nutshell, they are professional, the hospitals are clean, and they take good care of you.

You need to leave the steri-strips uncovered, they'll be fine! Leaving them covered will delay healing.

You'll be hungry again, trust me :girl_hug: Welcome and good luck!

I'm down 30 lbs and mine aren't hitting quite as hard as they used to.

Thanks Leatha. Yes, after breakfast this morning came back up, I decided enough was enough. I just had a Soup at Hand awhile ago, and am sipping some water now. I'll have some Gatorade later (love that mango one!) and maybe some more soup later tonight.

Have you seen this? I haven't had any experience with him, but based on his before/after pics, it looks like he does nice work. http://www.locateadoc.com/folio.cfm/Action/Gallery/sid/44/id/305238

My doc gave me my first fill of .5cc on Tuesday the 20th. I ate fine on Tuesday, fine on Wednesday (although lunch was a PB because I apparently ate too much) and since Breakfast Thursday (which stayed down), everything else has come back up...oh wait, my oatmeal stayed down yesterday morning too. But literally, everything else has been causing PBs. I'm eating small amounts, small bites, and finally today, decided to go back on mushies and give myself a break. How likely is it that this is actually caused by being too tight with a tiny .5cc fill? And could it be that I'm tighter in the afternoon and evening, than in the morning? The good(?) news from this is that I've lost 2.7 lbs in the past 72 hours :/

I've spent Thursday and Friday bringing back up everything I eat, so I've decided to go liquids and mushies for a couple of days and take it easy on myself. Thus: Breakfast - Cereal lunch - Cup at Hand Creamy Tomato (gawd, I love that stuff) dinner - haven't gotten there yet.

I had 1/2 of a slice of wheat toast the other day. I can do red meat if it's very tender, but chicken (except chicken salad) seems to be near impossible for me. I can eat pasta and angel hair spaghetti. I can also eat cereal. It's going to depend on your chewing habits, and exactly what your band will tolerate.

Dissolvable stitches inside, glue and steri-strips outside.

Feeling full does NOT feel like full did pre-band! I wish someone had explained that to me better. Instead of feeling FULL in your stomach, you'll now feel FULL quite a bit higher...like between your breasts, at the top of that space between your rib cage. But don't eat until you feel FULL...just eat until you no longer feel hungry.

Thanks Skinny :welldoneclap: Yeah, you sound like you're ready for a fill. After my fiasco, I urge you to go slow. Dr. B was somewhat surprised that the fill clinic did a 1.2cc fill on me. He said they aren't usually that aggressive on a first fill. He gave me .6cc and I can tell the difference. I'm able to eat, but 1/4c is pretty much my limit tonight!

Thanks all :welldoneclap: Again, it strikes me as odd how different all these doctors are with their rules! Girl - thanks for the compliment :Banane20:

Saw my doctor for my follow-up appointment. He said that I'm doing wonderfully as far as my loss (18 lbs since day of surgery...by his scales), and he even gave me a .6cc fill after the fill/unfill fiasco of last week! Oddly, he didn't say anything about going on liquids for a couple of days because of the fill. :welldoneclap: A lot of the people I went through pre-op and surgery with were there too. Some had only lost like 7 lbs, and one had lost 30 lbs, so I guess I'm just average...and that's fine :Banane20:

For me, it can be within two minutes of eating...or even 10 minutes.

Congrats! You've got some tough work ahead of you, but you can do it!

Canteloupe goes down pretty well!

The preop diet is to get some fat off your stomach and liver, because they have to lift the liver to get to the stomach to put the band on. It helps prevent any injuries to your liver. I encourage you to stay as close to your doctor's instructions at all times as you can. The preop diet is one of the worst aspects of being banded, but you can (and will) survive it

Um....a...er...friend tried at a couple of days after surgery, but ya know..it just didn't seem to be effective. About a week was right.