HelloGoodbye

I've been experiencing port pressure as well, but I'm thinking it's from wearing pants that are too tight at the waist area... Even leggings are causing discomfort. It's only bad when I'm sitting for long periods of time. Not sure if it's related.

What are the foods that you've learned [the hard way] no longer sit well with your stomach/band? I just had surgery yesterday, but once I start incorporating solids into my diet, I plan to try some of my favorite foods to learn what my band likes and doesn't so I can silently rejoice/weep and work around it. I hope I won't have a laundry list, but I am prepping myself for at least a handful.

I'm 10 days post-op and I crunched 4 cheez-its into my soup just the other day and let them get super soggy before eating the soup. I chewed and chewed and chewed just to be safe... I asked my nutritionist if whole wheat saltines/crackers were allowed since technically they got mushy in your mouth, and she said YES, except they're carbs so it's not exactly ideal. As much as I loved munching on food with texture finally, I don't want to go overboard.

Glad you're keeping positive about this. I would recommend going to an endocrinologist to get tested for a potential hormone imbalance. It might be that you just have something that is preventing you from losing weight. I hope this is not the case just for the sake of your health, but I have a friend with thyroid problem that was gaining weight even after her WLS. She's now medicated and back on track!

I was originally going to post this under the "Special Interest Lap Band Support Groups" but it seems to be pretty desolate over there. Anyway, I'd love to start a monthly support group for fellow NYC bandsters. I've always found it inspiring to meet people who share similar problems and experiences with me, but since my doctor offers in-person support groups out on Long Island (a bit of a trek for me since I live in Brooklyn), I figured I'd see if I can form one in the city instead. I thought meeting in Central Park would be a perfect location (if weather permitted)... We can have a healthy picnic, share our stories, and then, go on a scenic walk around the park. How many of you New Yorkers would be interested in something like this?!

Thank you! Carol, completely understandable. You sound like you have your hands tied, and I commend you for that! Very inspiring. There's a NY-based group on these boards. Let me see if I can add you to it

I bent down ever-so-gently to tie my shoe laces and actually felt my port bend along with my stomach?!?! I didn't feel any pain, just light throbbing. I panicked and called my doctor and he said I shouldn't worry and this is normal, but just so I can get a peace of mind, I thought I'd ask about this here as well. I've bent down before (I was banded just last week on the 21st) and never felt my band or port react to it. It's really only when I would get out of bed that I'd feel any kind of throbbing or discomfort, but now I feel the port when I walk... Perhaps it's now just on my mind, so I'm focusing on it more. Anyone experience this before??

Good question, I have no idea what type of band I got! Doc never told me and it didn't cross my mind to ask. I'll find out on Wednesday at my 1 week post op. Luckily I was sent home from the hospital on a soft foods, so I commend you for your patience this week... I'd be losing my mind even more so. Hope you get the upgrade to soft foods! It's not as exciting as solids, but I'm getting by (even though I'm hungry more often... probably not enough Protein on my part).

Ugh solid foods... don't even get me started! I hope my doctor gives me the OK to upgrade to solids in a month. My first fill appointment isn't until July 9th and that's usually when he approves patients to move on to solids He only sees patients in my area once a month, otherwise I have to trek out to his other location, which is very far. I may just suck it up and travel if I'm not upgraded sooner

Congratulations! Hitting under 200 must be such a great feeling. I keep joking that I will get a celebratory tattoo once I reach 199... Not sure that will happen, but I'm definitely going to celebrate

My surgery was May 21st... I was advanced to stage 2 (mushy/pureed food) the day I got discharged. Every doctor has their own rules and reasoning, that's one thing you'll learn on these boards! There are even some people on here that didn't have to do a 2-week pre-op liquid diet. I guess it varies on the person, their health, and recovery.

Well, my 4th day post-op is already almost over and I have to say... my appetite is BACK! I feel like I eat a few bites and then have enough, but I get hungry every couple of hours. I think it's the lack of protein, even though I put protein in anything I eat (cottage cheese, tuna, soup, pudding, etc.) but because I only eat a few bites of it, it's not enough. Does your stomach still rumble/growl? I'm trying to understand why it does that besides just being gassy. It grumbles the most while I eat cottage cheese or tuna... hmmm could this be my band telling me it's bad for me? I think by week 2, I'll begin to understand my band a lot more. Still can't believe I actually got banded! It's been almost a year in the making.

How is everyone's appetite in general? I get hungry every couple of hours, but I only eat a few bites of tuna or cottage cheese and I'm satisfied. Today I had Soup (put Protein in it) and then some apple sauce. But I do feel hunger. I just worry about eating too frequently! Stomach continues to rumble... rumbles when I eat cottage cheese... sometimes when I eat tuna... Is THAT how my stomach reacts to bad food, or am I just gassy?

I am 3 days post-op and I am STARVING today for the first time since surgery. And when I mean starving, I mean "hungry hungry hippo" starving Luckily, I am able to eat mushy food, so I tried some tomato Soup and later pureed tuna with a teaspoon of fat free mayo. As much as I was hungry, I ate a couple of spoonfuls and couldn't eat anymore because my stomach began to growl and I'm unsure if it was because I might've eaten too fast, or stomach is just adjusting. I'm head hungry and believe me, there's nothing more that I want than to throw some tortilla chips into that soup and call it a day... but I keep telling myself that with TIME, I'll get to eat that. Right now though, I have to follow doc's orders and allow my stomach to heal before I can progress to solids next month. And I'm craving just about everything right now... It's going to especially be hard once I go back to work and have to be taunted my the vending machine and all the delicious smells from everyone's lunches. I don't even want to think about it yet! Don't let that donut stick win. You have so much more to look forward to in a couple of months!

Hey fellow May 21st bandster! I finally showered today as well. I am regaining my appetite slowly but surely. Trying to eat as slow as possible, but when I do start to eat (and it's not a lot- -- a spoonful at a tme), my stomach begins to growl angrily. I am on to mushy foods, so today I attempted to eat some tuna and cottage cheese (not at the same time obviously), but i don't know if the growling is food not sitting well with my stomach, or if it's just my stomach adjusting to food since i haven't eaten much since today.

Whenever I feel the need to burp, or cough (which I am still afraid to do), I have to put a lot of pressure on my stomach with a pillow to avoid any more pain... usually what feels like a burp will come out as a rumble, like you described. I'm only 3 days post-op so everything is still pretty sore, but you're definitely not the only one experiencing this kind of gas!

Congrats! I had my surgery yesterday (Tuesday 5/21) and beginning to experience the gas pain now that I'm at home and trying out very small portions of Jello, tuna, etc. I'm not very hungry, but I sometimes feel my stomach growling so I feel like I should put something small it in it, especially to keep with the Protein. I hope that by the weekend, I can walk a little outside. I'm due to go back to work on the 28th... I hope I can do it! What were/are you eating (even though you say you were not hungry)?

My doctor also gave me the Hibiclens (in 2 small packets). You should call your doctor and see if the have any to give you. You won't ever use it again, so it'd be a shame to spend money to buy a larger amount at the store.

Hellooo! I'm 2 hours away from getting banded! Given my natural state of paranoia, every imaginable thought has run through my mind already (what if my liver isn't small enough? what if i'm in massive pain? how will i survive 4-6 weeks on mushy food only? what if i have complications? when will i begin to lose weight? WHEN CAN I START TO EAT AGAIN, EVEN IF IT'S JUST COTTAGE cheese AND Jello???? I'M STARVING! #$^&&)$#(@#) But, I'm still trucking along and would like to begin to share -- in as much detail as possible -- my journey from this moment on... For starters, this morning when I showered, I also had to wash my stomach area with Hibiclens to kill the germs and prevent infections. Now I'm just letting it air dry. What I'm wearing to the hospital: a slip-on dress and slippers so it's easy to put on when I'm discharged tomorrow. AND a firm pillow for the car ride home to hold over my stomach in case of any bumps in the road. What I have stocked in the fridge: sugar free jello, sugar free pudding, low-fat plain cottage cheese, greek yogurt, turkey burger patties (will soak in chicken broth and puree a bit to make moist), Protein shakes, diet snapple, oatmeal, a bottle of egg whites, and ice pops. As I mentioned, I am STARVING right now, so everything to me sounds delicious. I'm not sure how much of an appetite I will have in the next few days, or even week, but right now, I'm thinking about EVERY HEFTY MEAL I've had in the last YEAR and regretting not savoring it more. Okay okay, I'm going to go start getting everything ready. I'm not sure I want to take my phone or laptop with me to the hospital, so I'll try to take mental note of everything I experience in the next 24 hours. PRAYER CIRCLE FOR EVERYONE UNDERGOING SURGERY TODAY!

After a pretty boring and uncomfortable night at the hospital, I'm finally home! The nurse pulled me out of bed every 2 hours to walk, which I was able to do painfree, but because of the constant walking, I barely got a wink of sleep... and the bed was just not allowing me to comfortably adjust. Oh well... it could've been much worse. The best thing was being able to chew on ice chips... Never thought i'd be so happy about ICE like that in my entire life! This morning I was given 1/2 cup of cream of wheat, and unsweetened cranberry juice (and a 15 gram Protein boost). I got about 10 spoonfuls of the cream of wheat into my system before losing interest and appetite (which is funny because a few hours after my surgery, I had such a huge appetite. I couldn't stop thinking about TUNA FISH of all things). Everything sat well with me, save for some gas that I began to experience with the food in my system. Before I got discharged, they brought me some lunch to take home with me... 1/2 cup of pureed tuna fish with low-fat mayo (YES! dreams do come true!). Unfortunately, I tried to have some, but it didn't sit well with me... Not to the point of nausea, just more gas pain. I might've been eating it too fast (I guess I got a little too excited to be eating tuna fish and didn't control how much I was practically inhaling.) Excited to regain interest in food so I can start introducing mushy foods to my body... Scared about some of the foods not sitting well with my new stomach though. I'm going to sleep propped up and completely elevated tonight. I feel like that's my most comfortable position for some reason. I do sense the tightness in my stomach, but too squeamish to touch around to see if I can actually feel anything - like the port. The only way I can describe this sensation is the feeling of being constipated for a week. It also hurts to get out of bed, but that's really as far as my pain goes. Oh! There the gas growling in my stomach. I want to burp so bad. And on that note... HOW IS EVERYONE ELSE DOING?!

Hi guys... I think aside from the actual surgery, I am most scared about possible scarring. My skin is prone to developing scar tissue pretty easily... Any advice on how I can treat the incisions to avoid permanent scarring? My doctor said he can probably perform the operation via one incision through the naval, but since I have a hiatal hernia that needs fixing, he may have to do multiple incisions.

Woops, hit send too quick. Wanted to end my post with this: I know that everyone's recovery and pain threshold is different, but i hope the pain free and appetite is normal and I'm not the only one? In any case, I hope all the others who got banded today or sometime this week are on to a speedy recovery! Please keep us posted

Greetings from the other side! I have my phone with me (i couldn't resist) to kill the time away. After I got to the recovery room, and the anesthesia began to wear off, I went from shivering to just plain ol' groggy. Even though I was fully responsive, i wasn't able to open my eyes for the life of me. Once I got back to somewhat normal, i was expecting pain, especially a gas-induced ache, but NADA. I did a single pump of pain killers just in case, but I'm not feeling much pain, let alone discomfort. Only discomfort really is from laying on this bed. I feel totally restless and so tempted to roll on my side. Anyways, my surgeon managed to make a single incision via the naval (to band me and repair my hiatal hernia, so i have a scar on both sides of my belly button. Really hope with time it fades (i'm very prone to permanent scarring because of my skin type - just to give you an example, my cat scratches me and it will leave a permanent mark). I also have somewhat of a mental appetite (i could so eat something right now but I know that's impossible). I know

Thanks everyone! Some incision was my on the naval so I'll start treating it as soon as I get home.