Leena

I have 3 sons, ages 3, 6 and 7. I told them about the surgery, granted the 3 year old didn't get it. But my 6 and 7 yr olds had a lot of questions about the surgery. They watched the videos online before hand and saw my incisions/scars afterwards. I don't think 6 is too young to understand it. However, I did not take my sons to the hospital with me. The surgery waiting area is only for people over age 12 anyway, atleast at the hospital I was at. After surgery dh was there with me, but there is no way I would have wanted any of my sons there. My surgeon keeps patients overnight as well. So my sons ended up staying with a friend of the family for the night anyway.

I'm almost 4 months post-op and can eat pizza, but only one slice of thin crust or domminos crispy melt. So pizza can be eaten, in moderation. I only eat about 1 slice a month now. I used to be able to eat about 4-5 slices at a time and now one is a lot and takes a long time. I know some people who can eat regular crust pizza, but I'm not one of them. Some people get stuck on bread-like things and others don't. Personally I can't eat bread, even when I'm really loose.

Chicken/vegetable broth is good, home made is the best. I also kept some pedialite on hand for dehydration issues I had. Decaf tea was really good too. There are also a lot of sugar free liquids/drinks now made with Splenda so you may want to check out the grocery aisle. I lived on icee pops, but don't know what sweetener they had.

Post-op I walked around a lot, drank a lot of water and took a few gas-x strips to get rid of gas. Honestly I think walking around helped me more than the gas-x.

Birth control pills don't work with me, and I've tried 4 different brands. I also tried the patch and the ring. The ring irritated dh and the patch was good with the exception of falling off all of the time. And I also had a reaction to the glue/adhesive from it. So right now I have the Mirena IUD. I use it to reduce my period's severity and length, not for birth control. Anyway I've had it since June and really love it. It does release hormones and has to be replaced every 5 years. Hope this helps.

I had a previous surgery and this happened to me, tonsilectomy. I was awake for part of it, accidently and then even told my mother after they brought me back to me room from recovery. I was able to make moaning noises apparently. When it came time to have my lap-band, almost 10 years later, I told my Dr. about my previous experience and spoke with the anestesiologist, who said it does happen and he would monitor me closely to be sure I wasn't waking up early. Lapband went smoothly, last thing I remember I was moving from the gurnie to the OR table and just layed down. I asked about the monitors, were they HD/ Plasma/etc and don't even remember hearing the answer. The next thing I knew I was in the recovery room with a pulse monitor on my finger and the nurse came by and explained how to use the morphine pump. 8 hours later I was moved to a room, yes they were short on beds that's the only reason I was in the recovery room for 8 hours.

I've only goofed up with water once, and I ended up projectile vomiting it right back out, poor dh was in the line of fire. Granted I was less than a month post op at the time, but I'll never do it again.

I can not even imagine being on soft foods right after surgery. I had problems getting down clear liquids, it would literally take me 15 minutes to have 1 ounce of Water, yes I was constantly drinking. It sounds like you need to either slow down eating or maybe thin out those soft foods with some milk or other Fluid. I couldn't get a protien shake in until 3 weeks post-op, they made me slime and foam. I wasn't on soft foods until 4 weeks post-op. And in the mushie stage I couldn't even finish 1/4 cup of ff ricotta cheese at a time. I was really swollen from the surgery and had AMAZING restriction. Trust me it goes away.

I started jogging last week on the treadmill, about 4.2-4.4 mph. Well now my belly flop is starting to hurt from being jostled around while jogging. My boobs are having the same problem inspite of being in a sports bra. Do I need a smaller size of sports bra? And what can I do about the belly flop? Thanks!

What about something detectable by bloodwork: cholesterol, insulin resistance, etc. I know depression related to weight is even a comorbidity with my insurance.

Really, considering my dh was born in India and lived there until his 20s and my MIL and FIL 9until he passed) spent their lives there I'm quite shocked. Neither one has ever lived in a mud hut or even had a dirt floor, let alone been to a hospital with one. So not all of India is mud huts. In fact, I asked all of the Indians whom I know about this and not one of them has ever been to a mud hut/dirt floor hospital. And trust me I have quite a few close Indian friends. I even had dh ask his friends at work about this as well. Maybe you're referring to REMOTE VILLAGES in India, but surely not all of India. I just find it offensive when people generalize India snf its nationals in such a light.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but I say just take the card and say thanks. If your ticker is current we're very close to the same weight. I just bought some jeans at Lane Bryant last week as well as some undies. They also had a lot of draw string pajamas there that will last through a few different sizes. Plus right now if you buy winter things you'll have clothes to wear for the winter. By spring/summer you'll be wearing clothes from a different season anyway.

I was very afraid of going under, as my last experience with it was when I had my tonsils removed in 1998 or 99. Apparently the anestesoligist told me that general anesthesia has improved a lot since then. I had woken up too early with my tonsils and still had my eyes taped shut. This time around it was very relaxing and I was fine, out through the whole surgery.

I like Old Navy. I can wear their XXL tops, pretty much the equivilent of a 18/20 from Lane Bryant. Their jeans run a bit smaller and I'm bigger on bottom so I still can't fit into their jeans. Gap also has cute things. If you have an outlet mall near you Bass carries 14s and 16s in their stores in addition to smaller sizes. My mother loves their clothes and she's a size 10.

i had an episode of emotional sliming over thanksgiving. I had finished eating about an hour before and started to do the dishes at my parents house. Well my mom started yelling at me about something meaningless (honestly i can't even remember what it was). Well the next thing you know I'm sliming into the kitchen trashcan and then the PBing starts. Then she starts yelling more because I'm PBing in her trash can, and that's just not appropriate. AHHHH! Holiday family stress really tightens my band. We've decided not to visit my parents 6 hours away for Christmas as it's too hard on my band.

If it were me I'd say no fill. When I'm tight (like right now) I can't eat most meats, ground turkey is the exception. But a lot can change in a few weeks, especially in the beginning (i assume you're in the beginning since your ticker is at 11 pounds down). I'd call your dr and ask if you can schedule an appointment and possibly cancel it with 2-3 days notice, just incase you don't end up needing a fill. I know my drs office permits this as long as I call about 4 days before the appointment.

I use toddler silverware, yes my 3 yr old and I share. It does help with taking smaller bites. But there are still some things that I hate to chew, mainly steak or roast. I've tried to eat them before and after a while it just gets to be a gross chewed up mess and I have to spit it out. Turkey that's too dry is another one of those things. I do miss certain foods, like bread, but everytime I've tried to chew it I no longer like it. I seem to have lost my taste for a lot of things. As long as the numbers on the scale get smaller I don't mind not being able to eat things.

I didn't have to do any of that pre-op. Post-op my dr gave me oral anti-nausea meds and they worked just fine. As for short arms. Post-op I was really swollen and unable to wipe with my short arms. DH was such a saint and ended up with a new watch since he put up with me. Have fun!

I'm now at 2cc in my band. So far I think this may be my sweet spot. I had the fill a week ago tomorrow, and it's still feeling oh so nice. I'm hoping this one lasts a long long time. -Leena PS. I think the reason for not polling the fill amount is that people's fills change on a regular basis, increasing and dereasing for various reasons.

No carbonation! It's a rule. My dr. permits alcohol, just not carbonated drinks. I went out with my little brother over thanksgiving and he ordered me a "red headed slut". I have red hair, so thought it was a bit odd. Anyway it was yummy and I no longer have any sort of tolerance to alcohol. It also took about 40 minutes to drink. Stay away from carbonation, it can stretch your pouch.

I think everyone is different. Fills for me kick in within a day or two and are very noticable within a week. I had one fill that didn't make a difference and went in the next week for one. Now I can say I'm restricted again.

Would you really want to go back to her if she did indeed loose your fill for you? Just a thought. I know my 2nd and 3rd fills were close together, a week apart, because I felt like the 2nd one didn't add any restriction (.2cc in a 4cc band that already had 1cc in it). Also partially my fault because I told him to be conservative as my first fill made me really tight. So he erred on the side of caution. So on my 3rd fill the Dr pulled out what was in there, 1.2cc and added an extra .8cc. At 2cc I found restriction the same evening. So you could have a case of a lost fill or just not enough of a fill. Personally, I stick to the same doctor; he did my surgery and continues to do my fills.

I waited about 3 years before getting the lap band. I considered have a bypass instead, and then decided not to. And at that point the lap-band was still fairly new in the US, and there wasn't a lot of research published. I didn't like the mortality rate of the bypass along with dumping and vitamin/mineral defeciencies. So as more information has come out about the band I was steered in that direction. I think the show Big Medicine swayed me towards banding. And then the last straw was when I went to take the Praxis (teaching exam) and didn't fit into the flip down lap style desk and had to ask for alternate seating. That was in June and I spent a month really depressed about it. Then started working out and getting mentally ready for surgery. I had my consultation in August and surgery in September. For me I really needed to research surgeons and mentally and physically prepare for surgery.

Well I'm 5'5", but with shoes make it to over 5'6". I started at 333 and a size 28. Now at 275, I'm a 18/20 in tops and a 24 in pants. I have been able to fit into some XXL tops and dresses from Old Navy, but not their pants. One day I'd love to be a single digit size take your pick: 2, 4, 6 or 8.

Honestly, for the first 9 days post-op I didn't have any protien shakes. Every one that I tried mad me sick, even the fruity flavored test-tube shots of protien. For some reason they frothed back up. I did manage to get in Water, homemade chicken broth and sugar free popsicles. But it was very slow going. I was very swollen and it would take me 25 minutes to eat a sugar free icee pop (the ones in the plastic sleeve). I spent every awake moment drinking something. Slow and easy wins the race when it comes to post-op fluids.