dawneb

RiahG Thanks for all your words of encouragement. It really helps!!! I'm doing OK again. Now that I've gotten it into my head that I have to wait another week it's not so bad. It's amazing how much our heads have to do with eating - kind of scary!!! I'm glad that you've got everything scheduled now with all the stuff that you have to do for your insurance. What a pain but it will be soooooo worth it in the long run. Plus, you'll already have great eating habits for after surgery when you're back on solids. You're always in my prayers - I just know that this will work out for you! See you soon,:car:

Ok, I'm really bummed out, I was supposed to have my first fill this Thursday with Dr. Srikanth and his office called and had to re-schedule it for next week. I kind of feel like "how can they do this to me"? I understand abouting rescheduling - I work for a surgeon so I know things come up. I guess now I'm seeing how the patient's feel. Still, I feel like I've waited sooooooo long, and I'm starting to pick at little things I shouldn't (food). Probably because I'm so hungry!!!!! Oh well, more time for my tummy to heal I guess. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Sue, that's awesome. Hope you're having a great time on your vacation. I went to my 20th class reunion last night. It was pretty fun. Interesting to see how some people have changed and others look exactly the same. I'm two pounds away from "onederland" and I'm so excited. I haven't been there in many years. It hardly seems possible.:clap2:

Sue, It would be great to meet all of you too. It was a very small group so I was able to tell that there wasn't anybody from here at the meeting. yes, Laura lead the group. She's great. She also did my pre-op nutrition class at St. Francis. She's just a wealth of information. Hopefully we'll meet up in a couple of weeks at the next meeting. I work till 5 in Maple Valley so I wouldn't be able to meet before hand. I'm stretching it to get there by 6:30. Have a great vacation.

Hello all, I haven't written for a while but I read the posts every day. I went to the meeting last night at St. Joes', very interesting. Lots of good information. It was nice to talk to people who have been through the same things we have too. I was definitely needing support too. Since I've gone to pureed foods my weight loss has just stopped. I actually went up a pound. YIKES!!! Terry from Dr. Srikanth's office said that can happen because the body is not used to food so it holds on to all that you're giving it. Glad to say that as of this morning I lost the extra pound and a couple more ounces. YEAH!!! It's very discouraging when you see that weight go up instead of down. Especially when I feel like I'm starving all the time. Luckily I get my first fill next week. YEAH. I'm hoping that will help. Hope everyone's doing well.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. It does help to hear from people. Also, just knowing that I only have 5 days til the next phase (pureed) helps alot. It doesn't seem like there is much difference between pureed and soft foods so I might end of mixing them up a little bit. Example, cottage cheese chewed a "million" times is basically pureed, right?

Hi all, I really like this part of the thread because it let's me know that I'm not the only one who's hungry. I'm three weeks post-op right now and I'm pretty sure that there's no restriction. It's a little hard to tell because I'm still on a clear liquid diet but with two Protein shakes a day. My doctor is really strict with his diet. We started on clear liquid 10 days pre-op and are on it for 4 weeks post-op, then 2 weeks of pureed then 2 weeks of soft, then a fill and regular food. YIKES!!!! I've been pretty faithful even though I'm starting my 6th week of Clear liquids. I will be so glad to have some kind of food. The good thing is that I've lost pretty fast. I'm down 27 pounds since June 2. That's the only thing that keeps me going. It's hard when I hear many people talking about eating regular food already. It makes me wonder why he's so strict, but he does have a .04% complication rate since 2003 so I guess maybe that's why. He hasn't had a band slip in a very long time. His weight loss percentage is also higher than the national average. Even so, please God let this liquid stage end quickly!!!!!

Hi all, Just thought I'd check in to see how everyone is doing. Things are going really well for me. I'm down about 26 lbs since June 2. (surgery June 12). One more week to go of clear liquids then on to pureed. YEAH!!! I'm really ready for something besides clear stuff. Glad to hear that eveyone seems to be doing well. To those of you who just got their first fills, congrats. Does it seem to help with the hunger? I hope so. Right now it's just complete will power that I have'nt cheated. I'm sure that it will be better when I'm off clear liquids.

Hi all, OK, so I'm almost two weeks post-op now and I have two weeks of clear liquids to go. All of a sudden (today) I'm really wanting to eat something. Even fat free cottage cheese sounds really good right now. It doesn't have to be something fattening, just something solid besides sf popsicles and sf jello. Any thoughts?! I tried the Miso soup a couple of days ago, yummy! Maybe I'll go back to the store and get some more of that. I wasn't sure if I'd like it so I just bought one. Hope everyone's doing well.

Hello all, Feeling pretty good today. I would say that just about all of the pain is gone at this point except at the port site. It worse when I sit upright, like in a car or at the computer. I get a really uncomfortable pressure feeling where the port is. It makes car rides almost unbearable. Has anyone else had this?? Please tell me it goes away!! It's kind of like something is stuck there, to which my primary care doctor said "it is!" She said she's sure that the feeling will get better. I don't meet with my surgeon (Dr. Srikanth) until next Thursday so hopefully it will be better by then. I'm very glad that I did this. I'm down 20 lbs since June 2nd when I started the pre-op diet, then surgery was June 12th. I was thinking yesterday that if I hadn't done this then even if I had tried again on my own I would probably only have lost maybe 5 lbs by now, if that. It's so gratifying to actually see results after alot of hard work. I can't wait til next summer. No more dreading summers because I have to shed my bulky winter clothes. Also, every year I knew that I was going to have to buy more clothes because last years probably wouldn't fit. Next year I'll have to buy more too, but praise God, it should be because this years are too big!!!! Well, enough of my rambling. Hope everyone's well.

Hello everyone, Well I'm two days post-op now and feeling pretty good. No gas pain really to speak of. Lots of diarrhea (sp!) though. It definitely does help to sleep in the recliner. I did that part of last night and it was much better than laying flat. The laying flat part isn't too hard it's when you try to get up. OUCH!! I'm feeling pretty good. SOOOOOO glad that it's over and ready to start the new me!! Thanks for everyone's support.

Hello everyone, Well 3 days till surgery. I can't believe that it's actually going to be here. It seemed so far away and now it's almost here!!! YEAH!! I've kind of come to peace with the clear liquid pre-op diet. I figure I better since it's the same (minus the protein shakes - yikes!!) for a couple of weeks after surgery. It's really strange though. I check my scale every day - which I know I probably shouldn't do- and even though I'm only getting about 450 calories a day, I've had a couple of days when I haven't lost anything. How is that possible??? You'd think that weight would just be dropping off!!!! It's kind of frustrating. Anyone else have this happen? Maybe I need to up my water intake. Also, I've had this pain in my left side to back for the last couple of days. Any ideas?? I could understand if it was my right since I have to have my gall bladder out. Could it be my kidney on that side? Hope everyone is doing well. Everyone that had surgery a week to two ago sounds really good now. It's encouraging to us about to go through it. Take care. Dawn

Thanks Merrillee for the words of encouragement. I'm going to try drinking a lot more and also not waiting till I'm starving for the protein shakes.

:faint:OK - feel absolutely terrible. I have cheated twice now on my pre-op diet. I'm just so hungry now. I had 5 bites of my daughters mac and cheese (which happens to be one of my favorite foods) and I had a special k breakfast bar last night - YIKES!!!! Did anyone else have trouble with this total clear liquid diet ahead of time? I feel so bad. :help: I hope everyone else is doing well.

Hello everyone, I had my final pre-op this am so now I'm cleared to go for surgery. YEAH!!! One week from today. It still seems so far away but I know that it will go fast. I'm going to have to have my gall bladder out at the same time. So glad I don't have to have it out first then wait til later for the band. Some docs make you do that I guess. I'm on day 4 of clear liquids. Not too bad. The protein shakes really help with the hunger. The only really bad part is that they put me on Augmentin yesterday for a throat, sinus, ear and eye infection. YUCK. The Augmentin is pretty hard on your tummy so the Pharmacist told me to take it with food - hah!!! I've taken it with my protein shakes and so far so good. Hopefully it will stay that way. Glad to hear that everyone is doing great.

Hello everyone, Well I started my pre-op diet today, clear liquids. So far not too bad. We've all been pretty sick with nasty colds though so I'm not really hungry anyway. The sugar free popsicles are great and the jello gives the feeling of having something more solid to eat. I'm using the EAS protein supplement from Sam's club. Pretty good deal. You get 6 lbs for $25.00. That seemed pretty good compared to some of the other things out there. Tastes pretty good to. I added some sugar free caramel sryup (like for coffee) to the chocolate earlier. Pretty yummy. I'm having a hard time getting in all the water though. I've never been good with water so it's a real challenge for me. Hope everyone's well and enjoying this nice weather. I think it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Take care.

Thanks for the response. That's one of the reasons that I picked him - his compassion really comes across. Also the way he interacts with his patients. He just seems like a great person as well as a great surgeon. I mean, he used to do organ transplants so he's got to know his stuff!! Question for you. I don't meet with him until June 6th again and I can't remember what his post-op diet is like. I know it's liquids for the first week, then what?? I'm totally dedicated to this so whatever he says, goes! I'm having a hard time believing that it's actually going to happen. I feel like I've tried for so long that it almost seems impossible to lose weight.

Hello all, Question - I just got done today with the rest of my pre-op testing, the abdominal ultrasound. The ultrasound tech said that I had a lot of gall stones. What if anything will this mean to my surgery? I have Dr. Srikanth. Him and Dr. Oh have worked together closely in the past and I think that they run things basically the same. So to any Srikanth or Dr. Oh patients out there - did this happen to you? If so, what became of it? I just dont' want my surgery post-poned. I did wonder that since I'm a self pay maybe if they need to remove my gall bladder, maybe they could do it at the same time and insurance would pick up some of the cost?! That would be a bonus!! Probably wishful thinking. Take care everyone and please let me know if anyone has had this come back for them. Thanks

o2bthin, I seriously thought about going to MX since I'm self pay, but then my mom said that she would help with the cost so I decided to stay here. From what I've read there are a couple of really good docs down there. Best of luck to you.

DooneyJC Hi there, I'm having Dr. Srikanth do my surgery on June 12th. Just curious - how has everything gone for you? Are you happy with him and his staff? He seems very friendly and knowlegdable. I also thought that it was important that he is part of the Center of Excellence at St. Francis. dawneb

Hello all, I'm going to be getting banded on June 12th. Can't wait. I'm hoping that I will be able to stop using my CPAP after I've lost some weight. Although, I have to say that since I got my machine (January 2007) I've never slept better. The only symptoms I had were very loud snoring (kept hubby awake) and being very sleepy all the time. My kids are 3 and 4 so I thought being sleep deprived was natural - ha-ha. My sleep study showed that I stopped breathing an average of 46 times an hour. YIKES!! If you even think there is a possibility of having sleep apnea you should definitely get tested. It does all kinds of bad things to your body including heart disease. It also runs in families so there's a good chance that some others in your family might have it and not even know. I've told everyone on my dad's side of the family because they are all snore heavily. You do get used to the mask. It took me a while but now I won't even think of sleeping (not even a nap) without it. The difference is fantastic. Good luck to all.

Sue - I'm glad that you seem to be feeling pretty good. 4 days post-op too, that's great. So how long does Dr. Oh have you on clear liquids after surgery? Can you do protein shakes? I'm scheduled for June 12 at St. Francis with Dr. Srikanth. I can't wait. I'm past the scared part and I'm to the "I can't wait" phase. I'm pretty calm about it all right now. I'm sure that could change the closer we get to surgery. Wendy and Pinenut, I'm glad that you seem to being doing really well too. It really helps to hear everyone's post-op stories. It actually makes it less scary knowing what to expect. jhut115 - I hope you're doing OK. We haven't heard from you in a while. Take care everyone and God bless, Dawn:)

Ljuht115- I'm glad that you're finally done but sorry that you had such the delay. I'm a little concerned because we have the same dr. and I'm a self pay. Did they make you pay for the extra night?? Glad to hear that you're not having that much pain. Hope all continues to go well for you. Sue - hope all's well with you and that your surgery went great. I start my 10 days pre-op diet on June 2. Evilah - I think it's great that you are already eating better. I seem to want to eat everything that I possibly can before I can't anymore - YIKES!!!! Does anyone else have problems with the "quick reply" part of this thread? It will never let me do that. I can only do a new reply:help:

ljuht - I hope everything went well for you. Let us know how you're doing when you get a chance. Sue - good luck tomorrow.

Wenjea and Pinenut- I'm very glad that you are both doing well. Wenjea, it sounds like you're getting better and better every day. I'm starting to get kind of nervous now, my surgery is June 12 at St. Francis. Today's bandsters, my thoughts and prayers are with you! Question - some of you have talked about shoulder pain. Why shoulder pain? Should I invest in a heating pad for after surgery?