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debbiepolk

LAP-BAND Patients
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Posts posted by debbiepolk

  1. Posted

    I'm Dec. 19. I can sleep on my right side but not the left side where the port is. I still think my tummy is slightly bloated. No more pain though. It was hard not to eat/drink alcohol at a New Year's Eve party last night. But I survived. Surgery day I was 171. The pounds were coming off so fast and now for a few days the scale hasn't moved. I like it better when it was falling off:)

    I'd love to hear how the earlier December people are doing.

    Good morning. My port is on my right side and I definite cannot sleep on that side. I was banded December 18. My stomach is still a little tender but not really sore like it was. I can feel my port when I touch my stomach and it made me queasie. Girl 171 was good. Are you weighing yourself @ home if so maybe you want to stay off of the scale and just weigh in when you go to the dr. The scale can stress you out if you are not loosing and it make you disappointed also. My dr told me not to weigh myself in the meetings just let him do the weighing and that is what i am doing:) so if can just let them do it for awhile. Hope all is well and the scale will start to move sooner or later.

  3. Posted

    How are you feeling? We were banded on the same day and I am still sore, still cannot wear anything on my waist because i'm bloated. I did start mushies today! I had egg salad (puree), som Philly chives and onion cream cheese and three or four tiny non fat/ no salt potato chips! So far so good! My port is just always so sore! Sorry to complain, I'm just a big wuss!

    . Hey how are you. You are not a wuss because it is going to be sore for awhile. I am still sore especially on the port side. Egg salad sounds good. Gone give that a try. You are not complaining because this is what this site is for:). My stomach is still bloated also it will be a minute before it goes down. I look like i am pregnant.lol . I am doing pretty goodover all. Your stomach will go down gradually.

  4. Posted

    I known exactly how you feel:-) . I am in my 10 day after surgery and to me also the liquid was rough. You will still have one more week to go after surgery. But hang in there. You will get through it and good luck.

    Oh and I was starving :-) but I got through it and you can to.

  5. Posted

    Well' date=' it's been a bit of journey, but here I am. I have surgery scheduled in 5 hours, but I have to be at the hospital in 3 hours.

    I've been fasting the last 2 days (been rough!) and I'm happy it's going to be over soon. I've done all my post-op grocery shopping. My copayment is paid, and a ride secured. Nothing to stop this from happening and no turning back!

    I'm excited and a little nervous, miserably hungry but I'll live. Wish me luck![/quote']

    I known exactly how you feel:-) . I am in my 10 day after surgery and to me also the liquid was rough. You will still have one more week to go after surgery. But hang in there. You will get through it and good luck.

  7. Posted

    Girl I have not been banded yet will be Tuesday the 18. Right around the corner and far as I concerned I will not be sharing with nosy people. They will have their own assumption any way. I told some of my family not all of them even just a few. But it is my and your business because the lap band is not a miracle pill you still have to exercise more and eat right. I will be offering any information because we do not owe them any explanations. I cannot wait til Tuesday and by the way you have done great on your weight loss. Congratulations.

    CHEZNOEL and dee257 reacted to this

  8. Posted

    You should have stopped at the yogurt and fruit you definitely ate too much. There is no way you can eat yogurt fruit eggs and fish all in one sitting

    Congrats Queen B on reaching your goal girl:)) That is fantastic. I will be banded on Tuesday. So looking forward to it and still nervous in a way. Again congrats. I know you feel wonderful! Glad to see something positive come out of the band:)

  10. Posted

    I'm in the exact same boat! I keep dreaming that I cheat and then I feel really guilty. Ha!

    It will be better I'm sure! Good luck! I think we have surgery about the same time!

    . Girl i know what you mean. Feeling guilty is a good thing. My time is 915 am. Well,, that is the time i am to be there. I have to make sure to take my blood pressure pill because i know i will be nervous and excited and a little scared all @ the same time. Do not cheat:). Keep me posted and good luck lady.

    CHEZNOEL reacted to this

  11. Posted

    Good luck and do well:)) We got this Missy:)

    Good luck and do well:)) We got this Missy:)

    MercedesRed. I just realized you said your surgery is Tuesday as well:)) Good luck girl and we are really going to do well I have to stay positive and just do everything the Dr says to do that way hopefully I can get this together. Stay in touch and let me know how you made out. Have a good day.

    CHEZNOEL reacted to this

  15. Posted

    Hello. My name is Jenny and I have posted on here around the time of my surgery back in August of 2010. I'm not really sure where to post this but I'm guessing that the "General Lap Band Support is the right place because I do need support but I also want to share my story.

    I was banded on August 24' date=' 2010 by Dr. Luis Reyes. On my pre-op diet I had lost around 10 pounds and on the day of my surgery I weighed 220 pounds. I recovered quickly and an appointment was set up to see Dr. Reyes in 1 week's time after my surgery. During that first week I drank nothing but pain medication in liquid form, chicken broth, and Water and could only drink all these liquids from a 30 ml medicine cup and it would take me about 45 minutes to get it down. I thought all this would surely drop a few pounds and it did. I went from 220 pounds to 217 pounds in about 3 days, but when the 7 days were up and I was set to go to my appointment I was 224 pounds. While in the doctor's lobby there were other patient's that either had lap band or gastric bypass and they were all excited and I found out that they were also there for their 1 week check in and they were all on cloud 9 saying "I already lost 10 pounds. I have lost 15 pounds. I have lost 20 pounds in a week!" some of these were lap band patients saying this. They seemed so ecstatic about the weight loss and I was happy for them but then I thought about my reality of gaining 7 pounds when these people had lost all this weight in 1 week after surgery. I got called in and was weighed and I was so embarrassed when I saw 224 pounds and I had to fight to keep the tears in. I was sent to a waiting room and when Dr. Reyes came in he discussed my weight and I guess at this point he mentally pinned me as a patient that was going to be noncompliant with the surgery's rules and the diet.

    He regarded me with suspicion because of my weight gain and I told him I was doing everything the rules stated and he told me that the gain was probably due to swelling. I went on my way and made an appointment to return in 1 month. In the middle of that month I was given the thumbs up to start exercising lightly so I chose Walking off the Pounds with Leslie Sansone and did it about 4 days a week for 40 minutes. I was still in the stage 1 of the eating menu and was slowly making my way to stage 2 and was feeling good. I got down to 212 and I surprised that I had because I was also in the middle of finishing up my last year of nursing school and it was pretty hectic. I was so excited that I was 212 because it was the first time I had hit that number in about 12 years.....but it didn't last. I kept with the same exercise regimen and transitioned fully to mushy food when I got the okay to do so by the doctor's office and the weight began to stagnate at 212 pounds and then slowly crept up all the way up to 224 pounds again. By the time my 1 month appointment came around I was furious and annoyed by all the happy people in the lobby proclaiming that they lost this amount of weight and that amount of weight. I was almost in tears when I saw the 224 pounds on the scale and thought "don't cry. the doctor will know what is wrong with me. he'll know why I'm not losing weight." I had my mother with me at the time and even she wanted to cry because of the anguish I was going through and she was also frustrated that the weight loss was not happening.

    The doctor came in and shook our hands and asked me how everything was going and I blurted out. "I don't know what's happening. I don't think it's working" and I think he took it as a personal attack on him and his work which I didn't mean it to be. It was out of my desperation. I told him what had been happening. That I got down to 212 then all of a sudden I was 224 despite the dieting and despite the exercise. He proceeded to cut me off mid sentence and told me "It's your fault. You must not be following rules. You have to change your eating habits or it's not going to work." and I furrowed my brow in disbelief and just stared at him and finally said, "No. I'm following the rules. I'm eating nothing but liquids and soft mushy foods. I stop when I get full. I try everyday to get in 60 oz of Water a day. I'm exercising as much as my surgery allows me to at this moment. I'm following the rules but I keep on gaining!" He talked over me and told me, "Stop drinking the sugary drinks. Stop eating the candy. Stop drinking the cokes. Stop eating the chips. Stop eating the pizza because this is why you're gaining."

    And I looked at my mother for help because there was no point in telling him again that he must be talking to the wrong person because I am not cheating and I'm following the rules that he set for me. My mother told him "Look doctor. Before she had the surgery and when she was little I let her eat whatever she wanted, but this surgery was big and I don't think she would throw this all away to cheat. I live with her. When she's cooking her food I'm there in the kitchen as well cooking for the rest of the family. I watch her. She does not cheat because we both want this to work." and it was the God honest truth. I wasn't cheating. I did have cravings when she was cooking for other people I would resist tasting and leave the kitchen immediately and would be successful in doing so. So he told my mother "Does she have her own room?" my mother said yes. "Does she go to sleep after you go to sleep or does she stay up late?" and my mom said she stays up as long as she wants to stay up. And mind you I'm 26 years old and a nurse and he still treated me as if I was a child. then he told my mother "well, ma'am. that's it. there's the problem. She's sneaking in food late at night while everyone else is asleep. The candy, the Cookies, the sodas." At that point, I zoned out and was unresponsive to anything else he said after that. I hated him for accusing me of behaviors that I was not exhibiting.

    After that he decided that what I needed was a fill. It was my first fill and he told me I have a 7 cc band and he put 2 CCs in that day. He made me left my own feet so band can protrude out making it easy for him to eye the port underneath my skin. It was hard holding up my legs especially as an obese person. He saw me struggle. Then he poke and prodded me with the needle and hurt my with each stick. and that was that. He sent me out, I went home, drank some Powerade, couldn't keep it down, couldn't keep my own saliva down, and ended up having to have a cup with me for more than 24 hours to puke my bile into. I called the office and told them that I needed an unfill and they told me I couldn't come in right away that I had to wait til 2 pm and I had called around 10 am. I was miserable. I went in and they weight me again after a day and I had gone down to 217 pounds and the lady that weighed me was all "OMG! 2 pounds in 1 day! that is awesome!!" if only she knew the hell I was going through in that 1 day. I was told that Dr. Reyes wasn't in because he was busy at the hospital and I would have to see his colleague Dr. Garza. When I began talking to Dr. Garza. He actually sat there and listened to me and didn't interrupt me while I was talking. I told him that it wasn't working and that I was having more difficulty trying to lose weight than when I was trying to lose it on my own without the lap band. I told him I was following at the rules and he told me "well, it's different for everyone. but I don't want you to give up. Keep trying and if nothing helps then come in and we'll try to figure out what's wrong." So then he got me ready to removed 1/2 cc from my band and he actually had one of the ladies come in and hold up my feet for me which was so much more comfortable and when he stuck me with the needle his hand was steady and gentle and it didn't hurt. But what surprised me the most was how after I got unfilled he sat me down and gave me a a tiny cup of water and told me to take my time drinking it and if it goes down without any complications I was free to go and if it didn't then I'll come back in and I'll readjust you again. I wanted to cry because Dr. Reyes didn't even care enough to do this for me. He just told me bye without testing if I could drink and keep down the liquids after having my band filled. So I went home and I could drink and eat but less which was how the band is supposed to work. I lost about 2 pounds and ended up going back to see Dr. Reyes.

    He told me he didn't know what was going on but not to blame the lap band because it's the patient's job to to work with it. So I went to my main doctor and there was this new PA there and she diagnosed me with hypothyrodism because of my symptoms of not being able to lose weight and stuff and I went back to Dr. Reyes and told him I had hypothyroidism and I guess to him this was the reason I wasn't losing weight and he seemed to become nicer after I told him that. So then the PA calls me to tell me to buy some potassium pills to take with the thyroid medication she gave me and I did because I finally thought that the reason for not being able to lose weight was finally revealed. A couple of days later my doctor called me and told me to come in and when I did he told me that he had fired the PA because she was diagnosing multiple people with diseases they didn't even have and prescribing medications for these "diseases" so he told me that I don't even have hypothyroidism and told me to stop taking the pills that the PA gave me. So I was at square 1 again. Around this time my enthusiasm started to dwindle. I didn't care about losing the weight anymore. I didn't care about exercising. I didn't care what I ate. I thought what for? I'm a failure. I've been doing everything right. I followed the rules and maybe it just wasn't meant to be. I stopped going to Dr. Reyes' office and now weigh 230 pounds and have weighed this much for months. I recently went to the my main doctor for a 3 month check up and saw my weight at it was 232 pounds and something just clicked...that I need to continue losing weight and get rid of all the negativity and let go of the past. There was a time when I thought of revision to gastric bypass or gastric sleeve but I don't think that I could do this all over again.

    So, I'm trying to become more positive and I feel like this is my time to really lose the weight this time. Without the band. The band means nothing to me anymore. And one day I want it removed. I'm not focused on it anymore. I'm just focused on eating healthy and exercising. I'm currently doing the 17 day diet by Dr. Moreno and doing turbo jam and/or zumba 6 days a week and I have lost 10 pounds so far and contribute nothing to band anymore. It's all me! and will only be me.

    I would still like to come here on these boards for support on my weight loss journey though. I find that music really helps in situations and I just wanted to share a song that resonates with me and relates to my lap band situation with my doctor and everything and wanted to share it here. You can look for it on youtube. It's Called Monarch by Natalie Walker.[/quote']

    Hi. I am scheduled to be banded Tuesday December 18 and when i read posts like this it makes me wonder if i am doing the right thing. This is why i try not to read these kind of posts because it makes me have 2nd thought if i am doing the right thing. But i i have waited for 6 months and i have gone through a lot and money to haven gotten to this point. But i hope things work out for you and things get better for you. Good luck.

  16. Posted

    I had surgery in August. I was 232 and now I am 185. I use fitnesspal and I track every bite I put in my mouth (600-700 calories a day). I drink 75 ounces of Water a day. I exercise 5 days a week. Everyone loses weight at a different pace. It may take longer but as long as it comes off and stays off.

    Good luck with your journey!! You are doing great!!

    Hi. How do you manage to get down 75 ounces of Water. That is fantastic and great on the weight loss. I will be having lap band surgery on the 18 of this month. I see some positive weight loss and some negative weight loss where everyone is really loosing differently. Let me know how you manage to get all that water in:-)

  17. Posted

    Officially today is the big step into the operating room I am very greaful to my doctors and my success as of right now I have lost 204lbs and hopefully I continue on my journey it hasn't been easy but well worth it!

    Girl that is fantastic. I will be banded the 18 of this month. A few weeks away and i hope i am that successful. Congrats and i am so happy for you.

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