giveyouthemoon

I took a week and a half and am very glad I did. Mainly the anesthesia made me SO tired that I ended up taking long naps every day. I *could* have returned to work on the 5th or 6th day but will always be grateful that I didn't. When I did return to work it was still very tiring so if you go back sooner than a week, make sure you take it very easy. You'll get worn out quick.

Wow....that website is pretty damn amazing....the butt plumping one I thought was pretty shocking. edit: Wow, Vivica Fox looks pretty tired in the 'before' shot. I think she's simply gorgeous but WOW on that before.

I'm sad to report....I got you beat. I got my first fill on Wednesday and it took SEVEN sticks. Two sticks each with three progressively larger needles and then finally one stick with a HUGE needle (and he had to DIG around in there). OUCH!! No numbing here either. I can count the poke holes in my tummy, they are all red and scabby. The dr was getting REALLY frustrated but he was so jubilent when he finally hit it, it was kind of funny. Here's my sad story http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=9045 I managed to stay strong through it tho and I got 1.2cc's. I feel pretty good restriction now. PB'd real bad yesterday so I could hardly even get down hot and sour Soup last night. Half cup cottage cheese for Breakfast this morning. I'm hoping this level of restriction stays around!!

itsyvonne - are you on it as well?

Margo! Big huge wonderful CONGRATULATIONS!!! Yay you! You're now ready to learn the secret bandster motto....walk, walk, walk, sip, sip, sip. Slow and easy! You'll be back up and around in no time!!

Well....I had my first fill, a big one, and managed to PB earlier today. Ew. I was SO hungry but SO swollen. I tried some warm decaf green tea and that helped soothe things a lot. Warm helps the swelling, helps open you up. Give it a shot.

Mine did too. I ended up waiting 8 weeks because of schedule issues.

Are you trying blended cream soups? Progresso potato, broccoli and cheese, little milk added, blended LITERALLY saved my life. It's very hearty and sticks with you. Also, hot and sour soup. I LIVED on that stuff. And other than that.....just hang in there. It sucks. A lot. A BIG LOT. I just got a fill yesterday and PB'd today so I'm joining you on the liquids wagon..... :think Hot and sour soup for ME tonight......

Wow. You have the BEST Mom ever. My mom would tell me to go pound sand if I made that request. Give your Mom a HUGE hug and a kiss and tell her she ROCKS. Wow. That's true love.

Oh hey...and BE CAREFUL with your fill....holy crap I just had my first ever PB. Oh ow. I didn't actually vomit, but I ran to the bathroom because I was close. I stood there sliming like all get out and I kept making myself burp and burp and I thought one burp would suddenly get productive...but it didn't. MAN that hurt. I just kept burping until the pressure went away. Well.....looks like I'll be enjoying the all liquids wagon for a few days....... :cry

Yeah, my drs give it to everyone. They do a ton of bands. I found a webpage on line that listed under "uses": "Actigall is also used to prevent gallstones in people on rapid-weight-loss diets." The lap band would qualify for that.

So when I got my fill yesterday my doctor fully expects that weight loss will speed up now so he prescribed me something called "Actigall". It's basically a medicine for people who have gall stones. He gave it to me because losing weight fast can be hard on a gallbladder. Anyone taken this or something like it? There was quite the list of mild to scary side effects. I started it this morning so we'll see how it goes. The pharmicist said "your dr will need to monitor your liver while you are on this."

Yer a better woman than me if you are able to get them things up there where they need to go.......

I got my first fill yesterday and it was 1.2cc's. My dr said he usually does only a max of 1cc but since we had such problems hitting the port, he went big so I wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. So I don't think that your 1.8 fill is out of the range of reasonable.

I also noticed that I'd been booted out on all of my computers even tho I have the "keep me signed in" thing checked. There are also some other minor changes I've noticed. Maybe they did a board update???

I cannot BELIEVE the change from yesterday to today. Yesterday, three eggs easily for Breakfast...today, barely half a cup of cottage cheese. I LOVE my fill!! I guess it was worth the agony in the end. I had it done in the SJ office I don't know if he removed air, I sure as HELL wasn't looking while he did it. And I would wholeheartedly agree, DON'T WATCH. He showed me the needle *after* he was done and I almost passed out. I was honestly shaky getting up from the table and for about an hour afterwards. I have a *nice* big bruise and that area is VERY tender right now. The waistband of my pants is getting it. Oh well, it should heal very quickly. I can count the needle holes....there are in fact, seven. Yeesh. I guess seven was my "lucky" number?

Nope he did it all by "feel" but that's how he does all his fills. He said if we couldn't get it done I'd have to do a flouroscope but I could tell he'd prefer not to do it that way. I hear some people here always get flouro to do fills. For my docs it's the exception.

I went to support group tonight and someone asked my dr this question. He says he uses the larger band in patients that have a lot of fatty tissue around their organs because you can't go in and take off that tissue to get the other band around there due to bleeding concerns. He said that ultimately the two bands get to pretty much the same place of restriction, it just takes more fluid in the Vanguard.

No stitches, just glue and LOTS of it.

No, I didn't have to do liquids before the fill and I only have to do liquids and mushies after the fill. I asked him twice to be sure that mushies were okay and he said yeah. Four days. I also didn't have to do liquids before the surgery. I did it for three days before to "get in the groove".

Let me just say, don't get scared off by my bad experience. My doctor said he can count on one hand the number of times he's had patients with problems (the bands he's done number into the high hundreds) and he said mine is by far the deepest he's done. But we both agreed that it being so deep is a good thing in the long run and will bode well for when I've lost the weight. But for now it's problematic. I've heard tons of folks on the boards say that their fills are easy peasy. I have to say, the first stick he did didn't really hurt at all, just a pin prick really. If it had been just that, I would have had no problem with no numbing stuff. But that first needle wasn't long enough...both times he tried....nor was the second needle long enough...both times he tried (while digging around)....nor was the THIRD needled long enough...both times he tried (still digging)....and he finally got out a frickin' car antennae and that seemed to hit the spot. He was so happy when he hit the port "FOUND IT" he declared. I think he was beginning to feel bad about what he was putting me through. Guilt from a doctor is a rare and beautiful thing.

Well, I had a crappy day too, tho yours was MUCH crappier than mine. Long story short, went for the fill, dr says my port is very deep, he can't find it, he sticks me 6 or 7 times with consecutively longer needles until he gets out the scariest long needle I've ever seen. He's digging around in there. OW. This story has a happy ending because he found it finally, and put in 1.2cc's (more than he'd usually do because he said "you don't want to be coming back for a fill anytime soon) and he's right. I definitely have restriction. I just hope over the next couple days it's not too much....sigh. So, that sucked. Here's hoping 1.2cc's holds me for a long time. Now back to you.....first, here's a {{{hug}}}, I think you need one. Oh girl, I'm so very sorry.

Went in for my first fill today and the Doctor had a heck of a time finding my port. He said it's very deep, which will be a good thing when I've lost weight but is a very BAD thing right now. He kept sticking me and digging around in there. No numbing, all me. Holy Mother of OW! He also kept graduating to longer and longer needles. I said "if you go much more, the needle will go right through me". The one he finally used was SCARY long. He DID finally (thank god) hit the port and just to be safe, put in 1.2ccs which he said is .2 more than the max he'd ever do on a first fill. He said "you don't want to come back for a fill anytime soon". I quickly agreed. So wow, I definitely have restriction. Water gurgles like it did just after surgery. I'm nibbling a soft Protein bar now (he said soft foods and liquid for four days) and the fill is working. Yay! But ow. I'm going to have the HUGEST bruise. He stuck me at least six and maybe seven times. :whimper:

"Hard" proteins fill me up the most and quickest. I had rack of lamb the other night in a restaurant and pre band I could eat an appetizer, a salad and the whole rack of small ribs. On that night I had a few bites of salad and about two ribs. I was STUFFED. That rack made two more meals too. Nummy!!!

When were you banded? June 23, 2005 What was your weight ON DAY OF SURGERY? 292 What is your weight now? 265 What size do you wear? 20/22 (at Avenue, a plus size store. I don't shop anywhere else.) How tall are you? 5'7"