parisshel

Great thread for us March bandsters who are waiting for that first fill. Thanks, everybody.

Congratulations! You are almost there! Everybody is different, but here's an account of my surgery: http://thelapbandchronicles.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/the-surgery/

Rosie---you are too energetic! Slow down! You probably stressed the site a little too much with all the activity that you do. Believe me, I've got my kids waiting on me hand and foot.

I also was very tired after the surgery. I greatly admire those lapbanders who got surgery, went home and then walked around the mall (or something like that) the next day. I could barely get from the hospital bed to the bathroom the morning after my surgery. It wiped me out for a couple of days. One week post op I was indeed walking around the mall, but it did make me very tired the next day. For me, I did not get my normal energy level back until about 10 days post op. And now I'm feeling completely normal, aside from a residual bit of pain around my port. Our bodies really are miracles, aren't they? They just do their healing thing in their own time, but they do recover.

I feel ya! I'm 12 days post-op and the stabby pain just receded as of yesterday. I still feel it if I roll over on that side of my stomach without being careful (I've got a roll a certain way to avoid triggering the pain) but I can tell things are getting better. This is my last incision to still be reddish, which makes sense. Everyday it will be a little bit better!

My sense is that we should always follow our surgeon's directives. With that out of the way, I will tell you that my directives had me on pureed foods from 2 days post-op, graduating to mushy foods this week (one week post-op). I never had a liquid only stage, nor even a pre-op diet. At 11 days post-op I'm eating what you describe as "cheating" (flaked fish, potatoes mashed with a fork, veggies mashed with a fork, ground beef) but for my surgeon, this is his prescribed progression. His research shows that the stomach needs to work, to "grind", if you will, to get back in the game, and that liquids are not to be used as a meal since they don't provide the feeling of fullness. I was reading a blog (I think it was Lapband Gal) who met the inventor of the Lapband (he's not a surgeon) and talked with him. He said that actually there never were any eating rules set in stone, but surgeons make up their own according to what they were seeing as patients recovered, and what worked best for a good recovery and success down the line.

I hear ya! Banded March 20th and my hunger is just now waking up. I was banded empty and won't get a fill for a month. I'll make it thru the next four week alright---I know I can do this---but I am ready for that hunger switch to be turned to "dim" as it was right after being banded.

Good to read this. I noticed the further away I get from my surgery (I'm now 11 days post-op) the hungrier I feel. (I had no fill at the time of surgery and won't get one until 6 weeks post-op). In fact, I didn't have any appetite until a couple of days ago. And I knew I'd entered Bandster Hell. My appetite is not at all back to where it was pre-op, but it is not switched off as it was right after surgery. Just concentrating on sticking to all my post-op directives and walking walking walking...getting out of the house getting my mind to switch off from feeling the beginning of hunger.

Very good set of videos, well-presented and thorough. What surprises me is how different the Australian meal protocol is from my experience in France. He is very adamant about the three small meals or less; my surgeon is equally adamant about three smalls meals and 3 Snacks required per day...even if not hungry. (A snack is a bit of cheese or a couple of spoonfuls of applesauce.) Thanks for putting these up!

Oh, sorry, I see you've been banded a week (like me)! Oh man. I feel for you. Sorry you had to go thru that. I admire that you are on a trip with a bunch of high school kids so soon! I get exhausted doing the grocery shopping; I can't imagine traveling with a load of rowdy adolescents! My hat is off to you!

Just curious--how long have you been banded? What I'm asking is had you been cleared for salad, pasta, etc? Please don't think I'm asking this to made a judgement about anyone's foods---it's more to see about how I should approach certains foods at the stages that they are introduced. Was this the first time you'd eaten "raw" (lettuce) and pasta-based dishes? If not, what do you think was different about them that made you not be able to tolerate them?

3/20 for me. At this stage my incisions are itchy, too and I like the idea of wearing a slip or camisole under my shirt; thanks! Otherwise, my energy is good and chest is no longer tight due to doing my breathing exercises. It was helpful for me to remember frpm previous recoveries (childbirth, etc) that the upward climb isn't gradual (at least for me). You really go from feeling UGH to "more normal" quite rapidly. On Saturday I felt so low I couldn't take a walk outdoors, but on Sunday I got up, went out and picked up the Sunday paper and strolled around the neighborhood.

Bravo to you on your dedication and work to make this work. I hope you are not in the hospital for anything serious.

First of all, KatieDee I'm so grateful to you for posting this. I needed to read this. I'm five days post-op and the reality of what I've done struck me hard last night. I think it came on because I've metabolized the anesthesia and am no longer tired and in a fog about it all. One of my kids was saying about how she loved this one BBQ place we had gone to on vacation in Florida and it hit me: I will no longer ever be able to eat BBQ AND cornbread AND Beans and..... And I had more than ittle sadness over that. Then I tried to focus on how GREAT it will be that I can go to a restaurant and have small bites of things I will truely taste and savor, and still be present for my friends and family at that table, not lost in a food coma or distracted by my thinking that I need to eat this and this and this. What I'm trying to say is that a lot of my recovery is going to involve reframing how I look and use food. When I made the decision to have lapband surgery, I was also making the decision to no longer stuff myself for the sheer pleasure of it. I'm determined to find my "sheer pleasure" in living in a healthy, aesthetically-pleasing body and being energetic and HAPPY again. But this takes work. And it is scary work, because it is much much easier to find the temporary pleasure in the food for me. But I hate what overeating, and eating unhealthfully did to my body more. So much of what we have to do post-op to succeed with this band is mental. Last night, when I freaked out that I will never get to eat the way I've eaten in the past, and then I freaked out that I had this "thing" in my body that is not part of the body I was born with (anyone else freaked out by this thought?) I did a lot of self-talk. I reminded myself of why I made this radical and difficult decision. I re-read my journal and blog posts where I talk about how much I hate my weight and what prevents me from doing. And this morning my emotions are much more positive. I think a lot of what you may be feeling (this was my case) is the accumulation of the fatigue and the physical stress the surgery has on us. It releases lots of emotions. And that is probably a good thing, because you can "clear out" this sorrow and start focusing on your transformation. I'm really glad you wrote this because it made me feel I wasn't alone. Know that your feelings are temporary, and normal, and that I totally get what you've written here.

Yes, I figure this is what I'm consuming currently. But I know that will change as the swelling goes down....so I'm riding this "non appetite" thing like a wonderful wave! Also, since I'm off work until early April, I can deal with the low energy that the lack of calories is provoking. It would be much worse if I had to be back at work.

I was also banded March 20th but don't have to worry about returning to work yet; I'm off until April 4th . I cannot imagine going back to work the next day; I could barely get out of the hospital bed, plus my brain was still foggy from the anesthesia. Good job on the 12 pound loss! As for fiber: I knew that going to the bathroom was never going to be the same; still I was glad when I finally went yesterday. I'm sure there are fiber supplements sold but I'd check with the surgeon because some might bulk up too much in your system. I read a post on here from someone who took Metamucil and it was the wrong thing to do...they were in great pain from the bulking effect. I'm adding a teeny bit of prune juice to all the Water I drink. Don't know if it will be effective but I figure it's better than nothing.

I have five; three little ones and two larger ones. All are grouped to my left side (thankfully, so I can sleep on my right side currently). They are pretty high up, too, nowhere near my belly button. It is funny how surgeons go in differently, isn't it? You'd think our stomachs would all be accessed by the same areas.

That was me last week! Nervous and ready to get this thing rolling. May the next two days pass quickly and I wish you an easy surgery/recovery.

This is my experience right now, 4 days post op. What I eat or drink just "sits there for a bit". It's not annoying at all, just different. When people ask me if I can tell I have the band in, I tell them yes, my food just can't be downed quite like before. And that's a good thing!

True! And peppermint tea helps with the gas pains. It's what they gave me in the hospital when I had my first kid (by c-section). Worked very well.

Me too. The only significant pain I've got currently (4 days post op) is at one of the incisions. Oh Lordy it keeps me up (and walking) because sitting and getting back up off the couch is just not fun.

Wishing you an easy operation and recovery, sunflower72. And may the next few days pass quickly for you!

I had mine on March 20th and recovering at a normal pace, I'd say. My biggest complaint is not being able to sleep on my left side, where my incisions are. At least my surgeon left the right side untouched...I'm a side sleeper. Otherwise things have gone well and I'm already down 6 pounds!

Hi March bandsters! I'm back from the hospital after my March 20th procedure. Everything went well; no complications. I was first on the roster so I was taken down to the block at 7am; they started at 8:30am and finished at 9:30 am. Couple of hours in recovery and then back to my room. My surgeon extracted most of the CO2 so I had minimal gas pains; mostly in my shoulders. I'd say my biggest complaint post surgery was feeling very tired and weak; I didn't get out of bed until the next day (everytime I tried to stand, the room would spin). But once I was up, things were fine and I was walking the hospital corridors as my energy permitted. Wishing all the March people who are waiting their turn a good experience!

Hope everything is ok, Rosie. I'm thinking of you!