mjsafari

Ja9va - I am not looking forward to nothing to drink post-op. Our surgeon let my husband have sugar free candy in the evening, since he was up and moving around so well, so I am going to take a couple of pieces just in case he says it is okay for me! Toni - thanks for the support - this is really tough, but I know I have to do it! I certainly have not been perfect, but I am doing better than I did the first 37 years of my life! My husband keeps reminding me that I was able to eat well when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes. I need to convert the focus I had on keeping my baby healthy to keeping myself healthy! Not the easiest thing to do when your body is screaming and kicking - hungry, hungry, hungry! Suzzzie - I am glad you found a ride and someone to be with you. I was going to offer - but realized I would be in the hospital myself! :-)

June 6th - :gluck::gluck: lo2us<O:p</O:p Becks477<O:p</O:p SuperKawaii<O:p</O:p Reeburgdon<O:p</O:p Insubordination<O:p</O:p Clarice<O:p</O:p JOJOSMAMA joeygirl Please let us know how you are doing as soon as you feel up to it!<O:p</O:p

There are actually several KC people here! My surgeon is Dr. Malley. When is your surgery?

Welcome Angeladarling! Congrats on starting your journey to health. You have joined a very nice group of people. Not every surgeon requires a pre-op diet. If yours doesn't, I would still suggest cutting back on fat and carbs. The reason for the diet is to shrink the liver to make surgery easier - but it also helps prepare you for the post-op diet. Gas - also different for everyone. My husband was banded 1 1/2 ago - he did not have any problems with gas at all. I am wondering how much that has to do with how you are positioned in surgery. Our surgeon has the patients in lithotomy(stirrups) and sitting up some, I think that would help expel the gas after the procedure is complete (at least the gas they use to inflate the abdomen).

thanks MM - I am doing better today. I am definitely CRABBY at home! I may give the surgeon a call to see what he says. My husband made all this look so easy - so that makes it even harder. Doing it together has good points and definite bad points - I told him he did NOT have the hormones that I do fighting against him. His is mostly mental, so it is totally different. I am proud of him though and want us both to succeed and to have our kids see us succeed - so I keep chugging along.

Wow - I don't log on for the weekend and it takes me an hour to catch up on all the posts! I am glad everyone is doing well that has joined Bandland! This Pre-op diet is kicking my butt! :welldoneclap: I have not been perfect like my husband. I woke up yesterday light-headed, dizzy and with blurry vision. I had to get some carbs in me, so I had 3 chicken nuggets. We worked all day in the yard, so I had some ham and cheese with my protein shake for dinner, I just had to have something more substantial than liquids could offer. I have certainly eaten MUCH less than before this, but man it is hard and I am only 4 days in to the pre-op! To make matters worse it is PMS week! My husband just said "I am not saying anything if you have to eat something." He is good to me, but definitely enables my eating habits - which is why we are doing this together. He saw the doc on Friday and is able to move to soft solid foods, since he is doing so well. That is fine and dandy, but I told him to PLEASE stop talking about food! We went to Wal-mart and he stood talking to 2 of his friends that work in the bakery for 10 minutes. I finally said - We need to leave NOW! He realized what the problem was and apologized. He did start to say something like - well if the pre-op is so hard, how do you think rest of your life will be with the band. THAT is totally different - I don't have to live on liquids the rest of my life, just smaller portions of normal food. Deep down, I hope that is true. I don't want to fail at this! Sorry for the long post - I needed to vent.

I started my pre-op diet this morning. It is going to be tough! I don't get caffeine headaches, I get CARB headaches, so low-carb is going to be tough over the next few days. I am also pre-menstrual, so hunger is a definite problem! I had my protein shake this morning, it wasn't too bad - skim milk, frozen fruit, and Isofruit Delite protein. I also had a cup of Better than Bullion soup. It actually tasted pretty good! I am going to have egg drop soup or wonton soup for dinner. My husband did well on his pre-op with these - he just didn't eat the wonton:). My husband is doing well 1 week out. He is sore, but has only taken liquid Tylenol a few times. He is usually big baby when he is sick, so I am very pleased! He was down 20lbs at last check and has his post-op tomorrow. I am sorry for those of you having problems with friends. I don't have any close friends or anyone I go out with other than my husband, so I haven't had that experience. It is definitely easier that way. Good Luck to everyone Tomorrow! The start of a whole new life!

I hope it helps. Since you aren't on liquids, just staying low fat, low carb, and sugar free should help, it must be really difficult being around the extended family though. I hope your extended family is being supportive. I think my DH is really proud and excited. He will be much better at this than me, I hope he can drag me along!

Toni - I hope you take this as an encouragement - because it is meant that way. One of the other patients banded yesterday with DH almost didn't get done. Dr. Malley said her liver was almost too big. All the patients were talking while waiting on their swallow - she admitted that she had not stuck to the pre-op diet and had eaten "like a regular person" on mother's day, because she was cooking. She was the first on done and was still lying in bed when my husband was dismissed. I am very worried about being able to follow my diet also - I can't stand artificial sweeteners, but I am more worried about getting in there and not being able to get the band, so I am going to work really hard at being good. I start my pre-op Thursday, but I have been trying to cut back this week and not eat again after dinner - that is the hardest time for me. Keep at it - it is worth the rewards! Missy

Musicalmomma - No I am not too worried about it. He will be on full liquids and mushies when I am on my pre-op. I think that is going to be the hardest for me. It won't take us long to get to the full diet together, so we can share food. I think it would be harder if we were even farther and I had gone first, so I feel for you. Suzzzzie - it is great to see fellow nurses taking control of their health! My DH is doing amazing! We went to Wal-mart after he was released today. We walked around for an hour or so, while we waited on his meds, then we went over to some friends house for a couple of hours. He is just a little sore and a couple of his incisions are itchy. He is drinking tomato soup and water without any problems. I sure hope I feel as good as he does! Missy

Hi Rita - My husband was banded by Dr. Malley today. He is doing great. Dr. Malley is very quiet, but he is a good surgeon. He came by this evening and talked more than I have ever heard him talk, except at the seminar! He had his daughter with him doing rounds - cute:) . She is 3, so my 4 year old was happy to have someone to talk to for a few minutes. I am being banded on the 14th at MMC - I assume you are at Heartland, since you are on Tuesday? Good Luck!

Just a quick update on my husband. He went in to surgery at 9:00am, surgeon came out at 10:15 and said everything was fine. I let him sleep until 1:00, then woke him up to take some deep breathes. He woke up completely - got up, walked to the bathroom and was sitting in a chair when I left him to pick up our daughter from the baby sitter. He has some pain when he first came out, but says he is fine now and ready to walk around. He is just complaining about his dry mouth. He can't have anything until his swallow tomorrow. FaithMD - I asked the surgeon about the new band - He said actually that is what your husband is getting. He does so many that the company gave him 5 to put in, so his 3 patients today were getting them. He said the cuff goes all the way around and they buckle and unbuckle easier.

What is the difference in the new band versus the old? I am of course scheduled that week, so I guess my surgeon isn't going! :-) Missy

JackieP12 - Its great that you and your husband are having surgery together - for us it is the only way to be successful! How far apart are you surgeries? We have been cleaning out the cabinets also - I have been eating some of it, since I haven't started my pre-op yet.:eek: The habit of not wasting food is a hard one to break. Things are beginning to look bare! It is a good feeling to throw JUNK away and know you will not be bringing it in again.

2bthinagn - Yes I am in KC -Belton actually. Dr. Malley is my surgeon. I thought others would relate to the love/hate food "stanza". I am a nurse not a poet! I just wanted to put something in to words. I am SOOO worried about the post-op real food diet. I am definitely a binge eater, so I know the band will help with that, but it is the snacking I am worried about. I do eat when I am not hungry and am concerned about learning not to do that, but my motivation is my 4 year old. She is already a grazer and will eat every time I eat or anyone else eats, so we really have to get food in check. We are taking junk out and bringing in only healthy snacks. I don't know what we are going to do about fast food though. I don't want the kids to feel like they are being punished because Mom and Dad are dieting, but I need to break their fast food habit also. I guess we will take it one day at a time. My husband has been amazing on the pre-op - his surgery is Thursday. I will start mine next week, just as he is moving to mushies. I hope to be as good as he has been! We found a stationary bike at at garage sale for $3.00, so I am going to hop on that in the evenings and pedal in front of the TV. I do hope to get to a comfortable weight for real bike riding some day! Counting everyday! Missy

I had been thinking about those things and thought I would post. I am not looking forward to my pre-op diets (4 protein shakes/day and SF clear liquids for 2 weeks), but if I can't handle that, then why am I getting the band? My husband has done amazingly well on it - he even gave up his daily 64oz Diet Dr. Pepper from QuikTrip. He lost 8lbs in the first week. I will be interested to see what he lost this week, when he goes in for surgery on Thursday. Heather - thanks for calendar - I love it. Hopefully someone will join me on the 14th.

I Love Food, it is my friend I Hate food, it is not my friend I love food, it makes me happy. I hate food, it makes me feel sad. <O:p</O:p I love food, it provides comfort. I hate food, it causes more stress. <O:p</O:p I love food, it helps me be social. I hate food, it makes me stay inside. <O:p</O:p I love food, it says you care. I hate food, it doesn’t care. <O:p</O:p I love food, it gives me energy. I hate food, it makes me tired all the time. <O:p</O:p I love food, it is always there for me. I hate food, it is always on my mind. <O:p</O:p Do I have a love/hate relationship with food – YES. I hope to trade that relationship for something much better with my band. I am sad that my old way of eating is going away, but I have to believe my new life will be better than anything I have ever eaten. I will no longer describe my self as having a relationship with food. I need it for energy; nothing more and nothing less. My relationships are with people, not with food. <O:p</O:p Now if I can just get there!

http://www.lapband.com/lapband/portal.do Inamed website

Unfortunately the samples I ordered weren't free - but they were very inexpensive. I counted last night and I had ordered 42 different samples - I spent about $70, I think. I bought every flavor! That will almost get my husband through his two week pre-op diet. He knows what I like, so whatever he decides tastes the best we'll order full sizes of. Here is where I went: Beth's Protein Boutique http://208.56.157.89/catalog/index.p...43defee8c557b1 Mother Soy http://www.mothersoy.com/freesample.html Bariatriceating.com http://www.bariatriceating.com/sazecais.html Vitalady http://www.vitalady.com/cgi-bin/comm...rder=ascending Missy

Brenda - if you do a search by the physicians name you should be able to find if there are any posts about him/her. I think there is also a forum to discuss doctors. Missy

<p><p>ja9VA - Join the June 2007 bandsters thread - you can keep in touch with people being banded around the same time. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=33199 3 kinds of pain pumps Epidural - catheter into the epidural space in the spine for continuous or narcotic infusions - typically used in Labor and Delivery and for big open surgical procedures PCA - patient controlled anesthesia - IV attached to a pump filled with a narcotic - patient can push a button for medication delivery at set intervals of time Localized pain pump - used at the incision site for local pain control - filled with a local anesthetic - lidocaine or marcaine usually. Pump infuses a set amount of medication continuously. This may make sense at the port site since it is an incision versus a puncture. I had not heard of anyone doing this, but not bad idea since the port site seems to give a lot a people pain.

I had the same issue, I tried, but never heard back. Dan - Do you have some pull with the administrator?

HI ALL:high5: I am glad I found this - I was about to start a June 07 thread! I can't tell you how excited I am about my approaching surgery date. My husband and I are on the journey together and it has been a long one - we first saw the surgeon on Nov 05! Because of insurance issues and miscommunications it took us until Jan 07 to get everything submitted - but once that happened we were approved in 2 days. Unfortunately we can only go to one facilty in town and our surgeon was booked through May! My husband is scheduled for May 24th - he starts his preop diet on Thursday. I will start mine on the 31st - not looking forward to it - but determined to make it work. Someone else mentioned nausea with hunger - I feel like my whole body is attacking me when I am hungry - nausea, headache, lightheadedness, and sweating - the first few days should be a lot of fun! :speechles I ordered a bunch of Protein drink samples from several websites to give all different types of flavors a try. 2 week pre-op diet is 4 Protein drinks a day, sf Clear liquids, coffee or tea, and nothing else - so I figured we better find a variety of things! Good luck to everyone on their pre-op diets. I greatly admire those starting to exercise also - I haven't even thought about that yet! Missy

Losing jusme - another question - my surgery is 3 weeks after his - he would go back to work 2 days after mine - if they deny him for his surgery based on insurance, he should still be able to take off some time with me under FMLA? FMLA doesn't regulate whether the leave is paid or un-paid correct though? Meaning - legally they have to grant him the time, but they don't have to pay him for it? thanks, Missy

Thanks all for the input. My husband works for Wal-mart - so I suspect as usual Wal-mart thinks it can make up its own rules. Any absence over 3 days at Wal-mart has to be taken as an LOA, since he has sick time available and surgery should qualify him, he was going to try and take 3 weeks off - 1 week as vacation the other 2 as FMLA. He is on his feet constantly with a lot of lifting and bending, so we are trying to be cautious. I went to the website and found a lot of info, but nothing that specifically states that an employer can or can not limit the covered procedures to their insurance. I spoke to my HR - she said she had never heard of limiting it to insurance either, so I am going to try and get something in writing from the labor board.