ghostbuster

Thanks allaboutmefl, I am feeling a little better, but it does usually get worse at night and it hurts when I lean back in a chair. Karen, That is good and bad news, at least it's not your band right? but it does suck to have a hernia, let us know how it goes!

Wow, at lunch I was just having some soup, and I had to cough and I felt someting in my side kind of Pop or click, and now it hurts much worse. I called my doctors office but the soonest they can get me in is the 28th. They said they couldn't even get a message to my doctor. I'm kind of ticked off about that. They said if it hurts that bad I should go to the emergency room. That would suck. I'll see how I feel after work. I have tickets to a play tonight that I really don't want to miss.

I am also having intense pain in my left rib cage area. Right at the bottom of the ribs mostly on the side to the front a little bit. It started about a week ago, when I had an un-fill due to extreme post-nasal drippage, due to sever bronchitis. ( I am on antibiotics and a nasal spray and advair so I think it's getting better). The pain is really sharp and I can't lay on my stomach or left-side when I sleep. I don't think it's a slip because I haven't had any trouble eating or vomiting. But the pain is really sharp and specific to one spot. Is it possible that my band is pressing on my ribs? or something like that? My port is right under my ribs on the right side, closer to the middle and sometimes that gets a little sore.

Has anyone else had a problem with this? I have a really bad case of bronchitis that just won't seem to go away. With it I have had a ton of post-nasal drippage (gross I know, sorry). It tends to go down the back of my throat and it was getting really backed up in my stomach. I felt like I had something stuck when I hadn't eaten for 2 days since I had just had a fill. I had to go in to my doctors office in a shaky panic to get 4cc's removed. I'm super bummed because I have had a lot of adjustments to get to a good spot and start really loosing. I guess I'm just frustrated. They said to come back in when I am feeling better and get the fluid put back in. I guess I'm just venting really. Has this happend to anyone else?

and it went OK, I left a little early because I was so exhauseted. Everything I do totally wears me out. I'm still having a hard time with nausea from time to time, but it is getting better, and breathing is getting easier. I still feel a lot of pressure in my back, like I'm laying on a golfball even when I'm standing up. On Tuesday I went for my esophogram and post-op check up. I ended up waiting in the waiting room for over an hour and by the time I saw the nurse and he asked me how I felt, I started to cry, it was ridiculous. I told him felt horrible and I was waiting for over an hour and the front desk girls were kind of rude. I mean, seriously, I'm only 4 days post-op, I think I deserve to be treated with a little more compasion. He was very nice about it but still he seemed a bit distracted and left the room 4 times before the check-up was over. He ended up taking out 2cc's from my band, I didn't even realize there was anything in it! I thought they put it in unfilled. I must say though, it has helped with the nausea and I'm still loosing weight everyday. I keep trying to not weigh in every day, but I can't help it. So, for now I'm doing better, but I am starting to miss food a little. Like, I'm not very hungry, but this morning I really wanted a big bagel with cream cheese, and I can't really ever have that again, and that's kind of sad. But not as sad as my size 22 jeans, so, I'll get over it. I'm still on the post-op liquid diet so right now it's been almost a month since I've even eaten anything other than a protein shake or chickenbroth. I can't wait to eat real food again.

OK, so maybe I was a bit dramatic about my first 2 days of recovery. I'm starting to feel much, much better. this is probably gross, but here's some pics of my stomach right after surgery and Sunday morning when we took off the bandages.

hey there, I'm totally feeling your pain, after some long naps though, I'm starting to feel like I'm turning a corner. The nausea is going away and I'm feel like walking around a little more. Keep hanging in there, I've scrolled through the before and after pics a few times today already to remind myself why I went through this! What I can't even begin to think about now is going through surgery again for plastic surgery. ughhh.

Thanks Claramae, I was just scrolling throught he before and after pics to remind myself why I'm doing this. I'm trying to think positive thoughts, positive thoughts, positive thoughts, like napping!

Thanks Chase's mom, my sister is picking up a heating pad after work today for me! But to be honest friends, it's been a bumpier weekend than I expected. Yesterday I had a lot of nausea. I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't sip anything. I felt like I was going to throw up so hard I would turn inside out. My mom called my doctor's office (per the hospital discharge paperwork) and Dr. Fielding was on call. He seemed surprised, he said he had never had anyone with so much nausea before. He suggested some pepto bismol, watered down, and lying in a dark cool room. Which I did. Around 8:00pm I started to feel a bit better and could get up and walk into the living room to watch Big Brother 8 with my little sister. She fixed my about a 1/3 cup of broth and I drank that ok. But man, that was a rough day, and my mom left around 6:00pm and I know she felt bad leaving while I was feeling so bad, but my sister is here and she had to work today. I was able to sleep for about 5 hours straight, which is the best I've had since the surgery on Friday. So I'm feeling a bit better. But it's wierd that I just can't shake this nausea thing all the way. I'm trying to take it slow and just work through it.

Hello Everyone, I got banded yesterday! Woo hoo. Everything went pretty well. Dr. Ren was amazing and so nice. The only thing so far has been that my back hurts like crazy. I wasn't able to sleep at all last night. Those hospital beds are horrible. I'm home now and I have been walking around and drinking water just fine. Propel has been really great. Oh, and the other weird thing is that I had cotton mouth all day yesterday, but I'm back to good now. Good luck to everyone!

How about "niftyNines" or "to the Nines" or "99problems but the scale ain't one"

Good luck to everyone. I'm getting banded on Friday so I hope you are all feeling well enough to post some post-surgery thoughts by then. Think relaxing thoughts and heal quick!:eek:

Wow, I should really go to bed, I'm just rambling now, but seriously, how did people live before computers. I can remember my family's first computer with AOL, the first version, when I was in the 11th grade. I actually typed my college applications on a typewriter. I kind of miss that time though, when you were excited to get a magazine or the newspaper because you didn't already know everything that was going to be in it from e-mail and cnn. I wish someone would write me a letter and mail it. I wish friends made plans ahead of time instead of just planning to call on their cell phones and see what was going on. Oh well....

My surgery is confirmed for the 7th. THIS FRIDAY, I am a little scarred. My mom is taking off work to come and help me out and I live with my sister, so all should be really smooth. I am so anxious. Plus, not having work on Monday this will be a 3 day work week for me. The hard part is that I am starting a masters program this week as well. I am only taking 2 classes and one is online. The other is on Tuesdays, so I think I should be feeling well enough to go to class and just sit there on Tuesday the 11th. If not, oh well, I can miss one class.

Oh my, I feel the same way, this liquid diet is about to make me go crazy and I keep having dreams that my sweet little nephews died. Isn't that so weird, somehow facing my own mortality by going into surgery is totally messing up my mind. I really hope that after my surgery and I can eat normal food again (so tired of chocolate, royal chocolate, starwberry, etc) that my brain will relax.

I am getting banded by Dr. Ren in September. So far they have been amazing. I didn't have to do the 6 month diet. I have Empire BlueCross/BlueShield and from the time that I had all of my appointments done and Johanna submitted my file to my insurance company to the day it was done was literally 3 days. They are great and I am so excited for this to finally happen.

That SUCKS! Some insurance companies are the worst!

So I never had to tell my boss what was going on, he has been great about giving me time off for as long as I need. There are a few nosy girls in my office, so to finaly get some of them off my back I said I had to get a cycst removed from my ovary (I know that one of them has cyscts as well so it would make sense to her) it seemed to do the trick. Hopefully this will be the end of the issue at work...somehow I doubt it will...:paranoid:rolleyes

I have to take off about 3 hours from work for my pre-surgical check in and work-up. I had gotten in late from meeting with the surgeon and my boss knew I had a "doctor's appointment" so I just told him that I had to have further testing done (the pre-surgical appointment, I'm sure there will be tests) and that the doctor thinks I may need surgery. He didn't ask a single question, he said, that's totally fine, don't worry about work. And that was it. I think he's so scarred that it's "Female issues" he would rather die than know anything more. Also our firm just merged with another and apparently one of the new partners has recently lost a significant amount of weight and he eats so supper healthy and strict, not even cake on his birthday, that everyone is talking about eating healthier. So I'm just going to start talking about eating healthier too. And i'm buying the Nike ipod Nano and I'm going to sign up for a 5K. Since everyone in my office loves ipods that will be fun to talk about and then everyone will think that it's just the exercise. So there is no lying (well flat out lying) and I was surprised at how easy it was to get time off, even though I have taken up all my vacation time this year. Here's to no more beach pictures with a beached whale hiding under the worlds biggest beach towel and a t-shirt!:clap2:

I have to take off about 3 hours from work for my pre-surgical check in and work-up. I had gotten in late from meeting with the surgeon and my boss knew I had a "doctor's appointment" so I just told him that I had to have further testing done (the pre-surgical appointment, I'm sure there will be tests) and that the doctor thinks I may need surgery. He didn't ask a single question, he said, that's totally fine, don't worry about work. And that was it. I think he's so scarred that it's "Female issues" he would rather die than know anything more. Also our firm just merged with another and apparently one of the new partners has recently lost a significant amount of weight and he eats so supper healthy and strict, not even cake on his birthday, that everyone is talking about eating healthier. So I'm just going to start talking about eating healthier too. And i'm buying the Nike ipod Nano and I'm going to sign up for a 5K. Since everyone in my office loves ipods that will be fun to talk about and then everyone will think that it's just the exercise. So there is no lying (well flat out lying) and I was surprised at how easy it was to get time off, even though I have taken up all my vacation time this year. Here's to no more beach pictures with a beached whale hiding under the worlds biggest beach towel and a t-shirt!:whoo:

I went into whole foods today and noticed in their vitamin dept they had a ton of different protein shakes. A lot of them came in single serving packets and since I am getting so bored of the chocolat and vanilla options I grabbed some to try. The was one, I forget the brand, i think it's Apple Valley or something, it was Apple-Cinnamon flavored and it had lots of "vegetable" and Vitamins and stuff and it was only 120 calories with water less than 1g fat and 15g protein. And let me tell you, IT WAS GROSS!! Avoid it at all costs. Not to mention I have had serious gas all night:sick. That was the worst mistake of my life, well at least the past 12 hours.:rain:

Well, here is my experience so far. It's not fun to do a liquid diet, but in the end you know the more you can shrink your liver the better it is for you, the faster you will heal, etc... That is mainly what the liquid diet is for. Your liver stores a lot of "emergency" fat and glucose. That is why when you start a diet you seem to loose 3-5 pounds really fast and then it gets harder. It's because those first few pounds in the liver are the first to go. Also it's not easy to do a liquid diet, so maybe you can ease yourself into it so if you cheat a little it's not so bad. Good luck!

Good luck! My surgery date is the 7th as well. :whoo:

I'm getting banded in NYC.

Hey there Sep. bandsters. What does everyone have to do as far as a presurgery liquid diet? I don't have to start mine until thursday, but I wanted to start on a weekend incase it didn't agree with my digestive system. So far, it sucks!:phanvan I don't have a sweet tooth, and all of the protein shakes are chocolate or vanilla or strawberry. I'm trying several kinds to see if there is one I like better, but so far I don't like any of them. The only good thing is that in 2 days I lost 3 pounds. I know I shouldn't weigh myself everyday, but I did, so there it is. I also figured that if I start the liquid diet a week early, I'll have a little wiggle room if I cheat a bit here and there. But seriously, after 2 days, I can tell this is not going to be fun.:car: