virginiann

Hey Karen! Welcome, We are here! Where are you going to have your surgery? We also meet once a month here in Phoenix.

Erica! What made me think Diane? I don't know, sometimes I think they put the lap band around my brain and not my stomach! I finally lost another pound! But I'm not gonna change my little ticker thing till I go for my first fill. How is everyone, it is so quiet on this board! Wake up Arizona!

So what is going on with our little group? I am starving! But I'm really trying not to get me crazy. I'm trying real hard to practice what I preach! I am missing my laptop so bad! I think that is half my hunger problem. Normally when I am at home I can sit on the couch and read, chat and do whatever else I feel like doing. But yesterday watching a movie in the evening I felt like I needed to be doing something so my hunger got the best of me! Diane, how is your hubby doing? I will be out of town on vaction for the next meeting. Do you all think we could do it on the first Saturday or the third Saturday since it looks like we will be doing this on our own? I'm seriously thinking about trying to start up our own support group. Tell me what you guys think of it. Hey SheShe.. I'm sorry I haven't respnded to your last message. I've been crazy with a new job I have (same job.. new role). But I'll try and get to your letter sometime today. Gotta run..

SheSheGirl, I don't think I have talked to you! Are you here in the Valley? Where did you have your surgery done? When? Shauna, LilMonkey, her husband and I all had our surgeries done at the same place on the same day! We met right here! Well Shauna and I talked while we were in the hospital, but actually really met here on the board. The book really helped me understand a lot. You can order it on Amazon.com if you can't find it in the stores. I'm sure you are doing fine, I have a friend who just got her second fill and that did it for her. She was losing very slow up until then, it was almost at a stand still for her and she was very bummed out. It is too cool for me to have her, this board and I read a lot, so I am able to calm myself down when I don't think I am doing well. Good luck to you and I can't wait to hear back from you!

I highly reccommed the book Fighting Weight my Kahlisha Ali. I may have spelled her name wrong. It is a very good book and it does much more than tell her story. Which, by the way, is very interesting. The book is co-wrote by her doctors/surgeons and has a ton of useful information. I loved it because it reassured me about this 'healing time' prior to the first fill. All the fears I had were lifted and I feel much more confident in what I am going through, now that I know it is normal. Check it out!

Would you be interested in attending a Saturday AM Support Group at WLIAZ?

Reminder from: AZBandsters Yahoo! Group Title: Bandster Brunch Date: Saturday June 9, 2007Time: 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Repeats: This event repeats every month on the second Saturday.Location: Chili's Bar and GrillNotes: 20th St & Camelback Rd. in Phoenix

The scales (I should be working... (wink)) say to maintain my weight I would have to consume 2300 calories a day. I had to program it with my height/age/activity level and something else I can't remember. Okay so check this out and if my math is wrong someone correct me. At 2300 x 7 = 16,100 calories per week - subtract 7,000 (it takes 3500 calories to make a pound) = 9,100 calories a week. Take 9100/7=1300 calories a day. I should lose 2 pounds per week! whew! That made my brain hurt.... Your snack sounds wonderful. . . ok I'm gonna do some work now... oh yeah... no fills... sure.... we should gang up on him at the same time when we see him on the 28th! I wonder how many cc's our band holds, do you know?

Oh Shauna! I feel your pain. I have no idea what the heck is wrong with my port area, it is really hurting today! I bought the coolest scales at Bed Bath and Beyond today. It calculates your Water weight, bone mass, how many calories to maintain your current weight (you can also calculate how much to subtract from daily calories to lose weight), umm something about age and one other thing. I love it! However, it shows the same dang weight the old ones did! Anway, I'm okay, I know the numbers will move. The only thing is I am so close to getting under 200, you would think one pound wouldn't be such a big deal... but it is! My friend Jaye went for her second fill today... she said that Dr. DeBarros has lost 35 pounds already! They filled him 7cc already! He is cheating! Did you know that Becky is his wife? Boy I am just full of info today! Okay.. back to work I go.....

I'm sorry to hear your hubby is having such a hard time. Both of you are in my prayers! We will be happy to meet up with you next time! AGAIN what is your name and your hubbys name? Get better!

oh yeah, and the scales have not moved one little tiny bit! But I am not fretting.... honestly..... really.... ok... well.....maybe a little.....

oh oh if we were told 8 weeks I'm in big trouble! I think you can do anything ya want as long as it does not involve excess use of your stomach muscles. Dr. Orris told me 4 weeks for swimming in a pool. Longer if it is in a lake. (bacteria). And that was in the same area as (well you know).. hehe My port area is finally healed. There is one steri-strip left that I have no intentions of pulling off. It only hurts once in a while and is still tender to the touch. I am getting more and more hungry. But I'm still doing good right at 1000-1200 calories a day. About 250 of that is a Protein shake though. I am still having one of those throughout the day. Did you know that a serving size of saltines is 5 crackers? I had some chicken and lite mayo I made into a spread of sorts and I put it on a cracker, and oh my goodness was it yummy! I am still thrilled that I do get satisfied with 1/2 -3/4 cup of food at a time... wow isn't it a-may-zing? I know, I know... back to work I go...

I'm not getting my alerts anymore! I thought you guys had all fallen down and couldn't get up! I thought I better check in on things and wow I'm missing two days of conversation and a newbie!!! Glendale! I live at 71st and Peoria!! Welcome NewLife! That is so cool that you will be joining us.. how can you tell who we all are? Just look for the gang of chunkie ladies! Heck fire I don't know! This is the first one all of us will be going to.. so I guess look for a bunch of people looking lost? I talked to Jill the lady who hosts the meeting and she said just tell the hostess we're there for the AZBansters meeting and she will show us the way. So... I will be there at 11am sharp. If you go to my web site A dash of Ginger... and a little bit of Rick you will see what I look like. There is also a little video my husband took (two of them) the day of my surgery and the morning after. It is kinda funny if I do say so myself. Shauna has seen it! I still do not know LilMonkey's name or our newest NewLife. LilMonkey: Will your husband be joining us? I am really looking forward to meeting all of you. My laptop keyboard has been acting up lately and I need to send it in to be serviced. I will be without my laptop for about two weeks. Is there a 12 step program for living without a laptop? I'm gonna need it! Okay back to work. Will check things out on my last break! Shauna! Back away from the cookies!

When I talked to Mike last Thursday he explained to me that when we first come from surgery we are swollen, that is why we first felt restriction. As we heal the swelling goes down and the easier it is to eat soft foods. They go down easier. Dr. Orris said it was OK gulp Water now. I was real stressed when I started to eat more. But I use fitday.com and I input everything I eat each day and so far I have not gone above 1100 calories. Mike said at this stage of the game that is a good figure. Remember we are still healing. When I make my lunch for work I use several 1 cup little containers and only fill them half full, some a little more than others. But each container is under 200 calories. LilMonkey: The Banster Brunch is monthly. The second Saturday of each month at the same place same time. It is very hard sitting at the computer at work all shift. I am short and my desk rubs right where my incisions are, especially my port. I am constantly placing my hand on my port area to protect it. I wonder if I will ever sit at my desk without my tummy hitting it?

The Bandster brunch is something I heard about when I first joined the yahoo group. I still get those e-mails but I'm not too active on that board like I am here. But it is a support group I have been wanting to attend and now that I know you girls and the lady at work I'm excited to go! I wish WLIAZ had morning support groups or a Saturday group. I wanted to suggest it when I was there last but I forgot (duh). I heard (and read) that Pasta will never be something we can digest very well. Then again, I'm sure some can and some can't. It is my last break at work, the day has been going quickly since I had a new girl sitting next to me.. we were chatter boxes all day! I'm really feeling good! I hope you get some good rest tonight!

Bandster Brunch Saturday June 9, 2007 11:00 am - 2:00 pm Location: Chili's Bar and Grill Notes: 20th St & Camelback Rd. in Phoenix

I'm doing ok. Wishing I was home on the couch, but I guess I've got to get off of it sooner or later! (kidding). My port is sore, it is so funny how you and I are feeling the same. Did you read where I woke up a few times last night on an earlier post? Today as I sit at this computer, I get little stabbing pains in that area. I have to keep grabbing my side and applying pressure. food wise I am doing really good. I've decided to eat at 2/4/6 and 8. I packed myself some of that refried beans/splash of cheese/lowfat sour cream/ goodie I made myself yesterday. One cup. ah couple of hard-boiled eggs with lite mayo.. yesterday I had regular mayo.. ouch! I'm still discovering things I have to get out of my fridge and pantry. Some cottage cheese and oh yeah, I got some canned chicken and added some broth to it. So those are my 'at work' meals. This morning I had my usual oatmeal. For Snacks I made SF pudding out of Protein shakes. So I have a couple little 1/2 cups of those. Seems like an awful lot of food. But it is right at about 1000 calories. I am doing good food wise. Now if I can get my port to catch up! I am so dying to eat salad! Next week... humm scary? ShirleyBee: I too am a WLIAZ patient and I just love them! The people there are really friendly and I find I am very comfortable. (even if Dr. DeBarros ticked me off over the weekend) I am very out-going and I will give him a thing or two when I see him again! Anway, I like it there, I feel safe. Welcome to our board!

Lilmonkey! I could just slug you! I was really in a pissy mood that day anyway, I was ticked at my husband. Can't remember why now. But I wish you had said something! There is a AZBansters meeting this coming Saturday at 11:00am. Can you join us? It should be really cool to all meet each other. It is at Chili's and I will have to get you the addressl My port site is doing much better, the bleeding has stopped and this TIME I will will just let the steri-strips fall off on their own. It is still sore. As a matter of fact it woke me up a few times last night. But I'm sure this too will pass. I am at work, so I better get to it! I will check in at lunch!

Well I finally took a shower last night and took the top layer of bandage off. The bleeding has stopped and I am going to just let the steri-strips fall off. My port area still hurts. Today marks three weeks since my surgery. Last night rolling over woke me up a couple of times. I hope this week goes better for me. My first fill is the 28th and I'm going to need every minute of that to heal. Right now I can't imagine anyone touching that area, let alone stick a needle there! I have experienced hunger, but I'm trying real hard to manage my eating and stick to a good diet. Hope everyone has a good day!

All day today on TLC story after story about Morbidly obese people and what they eat. So far it has been very interesting. Thought I would share. Check it out.

Hey Shauna, how's it going? I just posted a little rant on the May 2007 board. My port site has a little area that isn't healing and bleeding pretty good if I don't keep pressure on it. Anytime I move it soiled my bandage. Dr. DeBarros says it can't be blood. Like I don't know what blood looks like. I am tempted to take pictures. Anyway, it's more of a nuisance than anything. I'm sure I will be fine. I am VERY hungry! I know it has a lot to do with the fact that I didn't get all my Protein in today or Water. I will try and do better tomorrow. I bought some Mederma today for my incisions. One of the reasons I bought it was that my port area is hard and itching. That is how I got the bleeding going again today. I wanted to change the dressing. So how are you doing? How are you feeling? I wonder where all the other Arizona people are? Well I hope you are having good weekend. I'll check in tomorrow.

Hi all, my post-op visit was last Thursday and I was told I could take off the steri-strips. So that night after my shower my husband started taking them off slowly and as he was pulling off one from my port area it started bleeding. Very thin blood, I figured because of the heparin shots I had to take. Not thinking anything of it we just bandaged it back up and forgot about it. Well this morning, we saw that the bandage was well stained. So this afternoon I began to take it off again and the dang thing is still not healing, this time it is bright red blood. I had to hold pressure on it so it would stop. My husband said this was getting crazy and to call the doc. I called the doctor on call and he called me back saying it could not be blood! He said it had to be a pocket of 'fluid'. I explained to him it was bright red blood and it was more than seeping. He instructed me to go to the pharmacy and get a 4x6 and hold it on there to stop it, then to bandage it up and not to take a shower tonight. Well we have it bandaged up again, but I can see that it is squirting blood each time I move. I know I'm not going to bleed to death. But I am a bit concerned and a little more than ticked at my surgeon. My surgery was on Monday May 21st. This thing should not be bleeding this late in the game! Any thoughts?

Funny girl! I too am hungry today. So far I have eaten everything I have brought with me to work today. Fortunatly, I have some instant oatmeal and Protein shakes with me. But today is the first day I have been this hungry. I'm not going to fret about it through. As long as I keep my calories to under 1000. I can't believe just a couple of days ago I was worried about getting in all my protein! What a few days will do eh? I'm glad your appointment went well. Didn't Lilmonkey have her surgery with WLIAZ? Did you find out what band we have? Boy I sure wish I had a picture of it. I too get to stop the shots! Dang I didn't like that at all. My tummy has all kinds of little bruises. Earlier today I noticed a while back (as short as a month ago) there were many people who post on this board. Lots of AZ people. Where are they now? Come out, come out, where ever you are! (I know I'm losing it... must be lack of something........)

Hey my new Arizona Banded Buddies... I blew it and went to my Post-op visit today thinking it was June 1st, and the funny thing was, I didn't have an appointment today or tomorrow! Must have been the left over Morphine! Anyway, I am doing good, I have lost a total of 27 pounds since I started all of this craziness. I don't know how you can know exactly what was lost this past week. I went in the hosptial weighing 208, but by the time I got out of the hospital I weighed 217. Today I weigh 201.6 on the 'BIG' scales at the Weight Loss Institute. So I guess it was 7 pounds? Heck fire, all I know, is when I first weighed at the Institute I weighed 228 on 03/29/2007 and today I am down 27 pounds. I am way happy about that! I saw Dr. Orris (sp) and he was very nice (young). Business like not like Dr. DeBarros. Speaking of which, he is doing very well, complaining of bloating and gas. It sure is cool having a Doctor go through exactly what we are going through. He is doing good also. I had Dr. Orris explain the new band to me and he said we are like two 'fills' up on the people who had the old band. Well I am at work, still energy low and I could really use a nap. I'm sorry I won't be able to meet you! Where the heck is Lilmonkey? Gosh we just all met I hope she is ok! My first fill date is June 28th at 11am... try and make yours the same time and I promise not to mess up again! Let me know how you guys are doing!

Julie, I was banded in Tempe on May 21st. Dr. Debarros WLIAZ! Good luck to you! Write me anytime!