Cocoabean

Hi TanksMama, Welcome to LapBandTalk! We are given the post-op diet by our doctors (whatever it may be) because it is what that particular surgeon has found to be best for the procedure/technique he uses. He feels it gives his patient the best chance for a good outcome. This is especially true for immediately post-op, but applies for the rest of our lives. The band is anchored down with a few stitches pulling the stomach over the band. The stomach grinds when solid food is eaten. The risk of those stitches pulling is high if they haven't healed and we eat solids too soon. That's why we are put on liquids even though we may be very hungry post-op. That said. You ate a big mac. Ok, I am assuming that since you posted here about it, that you are not in excurciating pain and are not vomiting. If your surgery was in the very recent past, please please get back on your post-op diet. If not, forgive yourself and move on. Signs of a slip are reflux and vomiting. Along with an inability to get foods down. It takes time for a slip to develop. Until you get your fills and find proper restriction, you will be able to eat in quantities similar to what you could eat prior to surgery. As you find restriction, that amount will reduce. But if you push it, you can increase your chances for a slip.

Find out what your surgeon's post-op requirements are. He might not allow you to ride a ride for 8 weeks. It also sounds as thought you are unsure of his post-op diet requirements. But note that just because you are allowed to return to solids on day one of your vacation does not mean you have to. You can stay on mushies until you are home and closer to your surgeon. As a note, I was on Clear liquids 3 days post-op, then full liquids until 1 week, then transitioned to solids as tolerated. I did not do a puree stage at all. A friend of mine was on Protein shakes for a month post-op. So don't assume anything with post-op orders that you see here. Each surgeon is different, each case is different. With all that said, if I could postpone it without risking the insurance approval, that is what I would do. Rather than have the stress of a complication disrupting my family vacation, I'd wait. But do consider the timing of the surgery, if it is very soon after the trip, you might be on a liquid diet with no band while on a family trip. That could be a drag, but not impossible. Best wishes for whatever decision you make!

Oh my goodness, I am so far behind! ((((BOBBIE!!!!)))) Good to see you girlie! Sorry about the poundage, that totally sux. I've read others here using prescription appetite suppressants with a band. The discussion always brings a debate of why get the band if you are going to take the pills, taking the pills don't help you create new habits, and so on so forth. My two cents...if they are safe for your body, and help you get through until you reach proper restriction, go for it. Crystl, what a drag about the break in! Counselor, with Crohn's, the gluten problem doesn't show as an allergy, right? It's all about the digestive system? Melody, gotta agree with Shammah, 1 pound a week is a good loss rate. I averaged 3/4 pound. Of course, I know why I lost so slowly (wispering, "lack of exercise"). Just keep slogging along and in a year you'll be down 50 more! Leigha, saw Bob's update on FB, he looks great! The skin removed, a bit gross. Elcee, was wonder about your BP cause mine was high before surgery, now is low-normal. Sometimes it drops unexpectedly--when I have been standing longish periods (like 30-40 minutes). I gray out and get sweaty, nauseous, and wobbly. I did a 24 hour Holter monitor, but not the BP monitor. Nothing happended during that time, of course. My primary care doctor says this is something he sees in his weight-loss patients (not only surgical). My band doc's nurse practitioner says it is not band related. I thought perhaps it was Vagus Nerve stuff. It's been a wild a wooly week here. Had three days of training at work. On the second day, our trainer's daughter delivered her baby, so our trainer abandoned us. We made do and got through it. Fortunately, she gave us warning that it could occur, so we had contingency plans. But it was three days of lunches out and one dinner out with a co-worker from out of town. I am NOT going near a scale for a few days! MIL had two doctors appointments this week. DH takes her, that always sends him into a funk. At this point there is not much doctors can do, but they won't come right out and say that. Plus she won't answer their questions honestly. Cardiologist asks yesterday if she gets winded easily. Oh no, she says. She can barely get from livingroom to the bathroom without stopping to catch her breath. DH corrected that fib. She's been told again and again to keep her legs elevated all the time to help drain the Fluid, she does it for 15 minutes and thinks she is doing great. Then she complains about her legs. They bother her the most, but she won't elevate them. Whatever!

Hi Everyone, My New Year's Resolution to not get stuck lasted 8 2/3 days. shake and bake chicken thighs and a salad did me in last night! It was a doozy, too. Elcee, what is your BP doing? Mine likes to drop unexpectedly. My doctor says he sees it in his weight-loss patients, not just surgical patients, but those who've lost significant amounts. I did the holter thing, but it would not drop. I seem to do it after standing for a prolonged period of time. Stacie, I had a headache all last week. I think it was sinuses. Yours sounds like sinus to me, based on the location. But mine will often start as sinus that triggers a migraine...just lovely! Anyway, not much new in my world. We are finally drying out here!

My surgeon tests for nicotine and cancels surgery if it is positive. Done deal.

Hi Everyone! Welcome Councilor! It has been a crazy week! My two managers have temporarily (4 months) traded positions for a learning opportunity. So, I have been helping with getting that all sorted out. Due to all the rain we've had many FAA facilities and equipment were severely damaged. So, the manager who has never been a field manager before has had a baptism by fire...well, Water as it were. I downloaded an app on ipad called "lose it" to track foods and exercise (ha!). I was curious how many calories I've been ingesting. I was up a few pounds from all the egg nog. So, I tracked a couple of days' worth. I thought I was eating about 1400 calories a day. Turns out to be 1700! Yikes! But I've lost the egg nog pounds. Like Elcee, I wonder what I could do if I put my mind to it--even a little bit. A friend of mine who lives a distance away had GBP in July. She's down 66 lbs. I asked her to send me a pic. So I get this picture mail of her feet on a scale!!! Too funny.

Hi to everyone new joining the thread! Welcome! HB, the quilt is beautiful! I am crocheting another baby afghan for someone at work. Leigha, Sugarbaby is adorable! Butters and Stella spent the weekend locked in mortal combat, which is both locked onto a tennis ball--lightly growling at eachother. Just sitting there waiting for something to happen! So funny! I spent the weekend reformatting DH's computer. An IT person, I am not! URGH. But, it is finally working again! It is raining again. I love it. My hope for the new year is to not get stuck...yeah, right! Here's hoping.

I am here! Happy New Year to all! Welcome, Deb!

Congratulations!!! Well done, keep up the good work!

Hi Everyone! I am here! Leigha, puppy congrats!! Shad, you are doing great, but I understand your disappointment. That is why I don't set pounds lost goals. We cannot always control what our body does. We can control what we put into it, and what we burn off of it, bu sometimes calories in and calories burned just don't equal pounds lost. Things are OK here, MIL is doing alright. Not bouncing back like the family had hoped. But hey, at 95, every day your feet hit the floor is a blessing. My SIL is doing a great job taking care of her with cooking and such. Our neighbor had the idea of getting a baby monitor as SIL lives in 2nd house on the lot. Home health has been coming out to check on her, do physical therapy, and bathe her, but that will be ending soon. Not sure how she will get bathed. She's got a c.diff. infection. Same as I had in April, ugh. So, I have to be very careful when I am around her, as I am highly susceptible. Butters has his girlfriend Stella over for the weekend, she arrived an hour ago! We just love her to pieces! Elfie, I know what you mean about life on other threads. Do some doctors actually tell folks that they should not be able to eat solid foods? Ok, a little exaggerated, but still...I eat quite a bit more than a quarter cup of food. I love the Beelz and mentos-pool story! My weight is staying stable. I don't even get on the scale any more. My clothes are fitting the same, and I just don't worry about it. Strange to not be obsessed with it!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Crystl, losing during the holidays, way to go!! Welcome to size 10 land! I guess I'll be fighting you for all those size 10 jeans now, eh? Put 'em up! Put 'em up!!! DH and I did some last minute shopping yesterday. I got stuck at lunch. That's been happening quite a bit lately. I think it's the stress from the MIL situation. That's when it all started. She's such a pain. Her legs are still very full of Fluid, but she refuses to elevate them like she should. So, they are just getting larger and larger. Shammah, how's your mom doing? Still well, I hope! We are going over to MIL's house for Christmas, as always. It will be very strange to not have her puttering in the kitchen. But at the same time, maybe she'll watch the great grand kids opening presents. She's usually fussing in the kitchen even when asked to sit and enjoy the gift exchange. So, this year she's going to be forced to sit and watch! I hope she enjoys it.

Hi Sonya, and welcome! With a band being restrictive only, you should expect 1-2 pounds per week loss. 63 pounds in a year is awesome! DON'T compare yourself to others. There are so many factors that go into weight loss. When I was actively losing, my average was 3/4 pound per week. Less than one pound. But I got healthy. My blood pressure dropped. My cholesterol dropped. My blood sugar dropped. If I had compared myself to others, I'd have lost hope, but you know what? I kept plodding along, and here I am at a normal body weight, with healthy blood work results. Focus on the positive! You can do it, you are doing it! Keep up the good work. Before you were banded, could you have lost 63 pounds in a year? I know I couldn't have. I know for certain, if I had, I'd not have had any hope of keeping it off. Now I know I can keep it off. I have a very powerful tool to help me. So you do! Come here for support, there are bunches of people here to help, it is where I come.

The anesthesia can cause urinary retention. Here's an article about it http://surgery.about.com/od/questionsanswers/qt/UrinatePee.htm Best wishes for a flowing river soon!

Hey! Where HAVE you been?!? Good to see you back! By the way, I still eat pizza. DH and I split a small Round Table Veggie Pizza, I eat two pieces he eats four.

Some bandsters have problems with popcorn, some don't. I have no problems with it myself, but I do have trouble with bread.

I also got liquid Vicodin (Lortab) it worked well. I got 1 bottle and a refill for a 2nd. I used both. Tylenol 3 should be strong enough, but you'll want liquid if you can get it, rather than tablets.

I don't measure my portions. Never have since being banded. I had an upper GI in September. I had no evidence of a stretched pouch. I eat to the level of satiety and stop. It would take more than one or two meals to stretch it out. Also, without a fill you have little restriction, so mostly the food just heads right on through. Chalk it up to experience, forgive yourself, and get back on track. My surgeon reminded me that my eating habits were 43 years in the making when I was banded, they were not going to change overnight. I am allowed to make mistakes, but he wants me to learn from them!

What did the ER say? Did they contact your surgeon? If not, you should give your surgeon a call today. Keep your pain medication going to keep on top of things. Everyone reacts to the surgery differently. I had a moderate amount of pain the first few days. After that, it was just fatigue and soreness. I was told to sip one ounce over a 15 minute period. So taking a couple of hours it drink a few ounces is OK, if it is going down. Hope you feel better soon!

I have been on 6 cruises, two post banding, one I postponed my first fill to enjoy. I actually lost one pound during that one. Do not get an unfill for it, unless you fear complications and will be to far from home. That is why I postponed my fill. I did not know how I'd react to the first one, and he had to fly cross country and would be doing Panama and South America. Not easy to get home if I had problems, so I waited. But getting an unfil to have fun? Slipery slope, as has been noted. For what do you unfill, then fill again? Vacation? Long weekend? Family event? dinner party. If you do buffets, scope them out first and choose what you want, then go back and fill your plate. I also took advantage of things I don't usually get to enjoy, like sliced, fresh pineapple and other pre-cut fruits. On our last cruise over a year after banding, I got stuck a couple of times. All due to operator error. DH and I rarely go to the main dining room during a cruise, which actually works better for me. I tend to be more likely to get stuck when eating in a group, like at a table for 8 in a dining situation and having a conversation. So, at the buffet, it would just be the two of us. Just remember, you are there for the fun and sightseeing, not for the food. I've found the food did not live up to the hype anyway.

The sleeve wasn't available when I was banded. To be honest, I am not sure what I would have chosen if it had been. I have done very well with my band, and do not regret it at all. Bypass was too drastic for me. Talk to your doctors, see what they say is best for you and why. Spend time here and on other board for the various procedures. Only you can decide what is right for you. Each of us have our own preferences. You will find people on the boards who says their choice of procedure is "the best" and please don't get any other one! I don't believe that. Each procedure has its plusses and minuses. As Dave said, the sleeve has been around for quite some time as step one of gastric bypass for extremely obese. The newer Plication procedure, I don't know much about. This site: http://www.thinnertimes.com/weight-loss-surgery/wls-basics/weight-loss-surgery-comparison.html has a chart of various type is procedures, except Plication. Here's an interesting article about the sleeve: http://www.yourbariatricsurgeryguide.com/gastric-sleeve/ Best wishes for your decision.

Crystl, that is soooo cool! I must admit when I saw iBand, i thought it was lap band related! Leigha, I am still not crazy about it, but I've been using Google Chrome browser with an Ad Blocker add on. It works much better than through Internet Explorer. I miss some of the search features, like unanswered posts. I liked that one. There might still be a way to do it, but not as easily as it was before. It is supposed to rain here all weekend and through next Thursday, so I have no excuse to not finish the baby afghan I am working on for DH's niece's baby who was born a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I am a bit behind!

Being overfilled is no fun. I've been there, done that, don't want to do it again! It was such a relief to have just a tiny bit taken out. I took one swallow of Water and knew it was all good. Best wishes for a good unfill tomorrow!

Got to agree with Nicole. Are you on Clear liquids for a few days to let things calm down? After a fill there is usually some swelling, if you were vomiting there would be more, then the unfill was even more trauma. If you are still miserable tomorrow ask for a further unfill earlier. But if you can get fluids down, you won't get dehydrated. You might only be able to handle very small fills at a time. Just go very easy right now. Sip clear liquids, slowly. Hope you feel better soon!

Hi All! Elfie, send the cookies my way! Yummy! I haven't felt like baking. So, I've been stuck twice more this week. I guess my stomach is a bit swollen from the Changs shrimp incident. Today it was a banana. I urped more banana than I ate, how that is possible, I am uncertain, but I won't be eating them for a while now. Much tastier going down than up! Anyone seen Karen lately?

If you are hungry after 3 hours, have something to eat. A piece of fruit or string cheese. Most literature I've read says you should be hungry every 3-4 hours with a band. I cannot understand the surgeons who say eat 3 meals with no snacking or food in between. We run out of time. I eat Breakfast at 7am, have lunch around 11am, dinner is not until 6 pm, that is a big long stretch from 11 til 6. My surgeon says no snacking, his definition of snacking is brainless eating. I thought it was any food between meals. He is fine with me eating when I get hungry, but he wants it to be something nutritious and planned for. So, between lunch and dinner, I'll have a banana or string cheese or a handful of nuts. But I cannot go 7 hours without eating, it just isn't going to happen, banded or not. The band is not meant to be an apparatus of torture. Although sometimes, I'd argue that.