Leena

I was banded on 9/10 and just started sleeping in bed on 10/12. I can even sleep on my stomach. I'm so excited to be out of the recliner and get to cuddle again. YEAH! You'll make it to that point it just takes some time. If I were a back sleeper I could have been in bed a while ago, but I'm mostly a stomach/side sleeper so I needed to wait longer. In terms of intamacy there are a lot of different levels. About a week post-op we returned to some of those levels. A month out we returned to most activities, nothing crazy. -Leena

Well I ended up not telling them. There were only 4 of us there and not my closer friends from the group. So I just kept quiet about the whole thing. I have told my parents, husband, sons, some family members and a few select close friends. I guess fear of failure is a reason that I haven't told some people. And also the whole lecture of why that way. Oh, and it's so true that sometimes it's easier to tell a complete stranger. -Leena

I love this thread. I was thinking of doing this, and one of my first goals is a 5k. I downloaded the pod cast and will start tomorrow with a M/W/F schedule. Thankfully I have a treadmill here to that's going to help since it's getting cold. -Laura- I just bought great sports bras at walmart last week. They're the danskin brand and actually have cups. I've shrunk to about a 42 b/c from a 46 c/d. They're racer back style and really comfortable. _Leena

I live just outside of Philadelphia on the NJ side. I went to Mehta Bariatric in New Brunswick, NJ, about 1 hour 45 minutes from Philadelphia. Dr. Mehta's prices for lap band surgery (private pays) is 14,500. He's great at what he does in terms of surgery and support groups. I'm not sure what his exact BMI cut off is, but it's worth calling to find out. I know he does take into account body fat and fat distribution when he decides who has to do a pre-op diet. -Leena

The first week after surgery I had a prickley heat rash and looked very flushed. Apparently fat burning and surgery can do it to you. Mine was only on my face and arms as well.

It took me 5 days to go post-op with the help of Milk of Magnesia (recommended by my doctor). He also said no Fiber drinks or fiber Cereal in the pouch (could stretch it). You'll also have to get used to the small quanitity that comes out, as well as ummmm.... the consistancy. And it's totally normal to not go everytime you eat. -Leena

I had surgery 2 weeks ago. I ended up privately paying for it. In January Dh has the option of changing our health insurance. Does anyone know if the new company will cover fills? My current one won't since I was self-pay. But will the new one? Thanks, Leena

My port placement is very similar to Bellas, with the exception of the fact that I had stitches and steri-strips instead of staples.

I also had the compression boots after surgery for a day. Post-op I was on Lovenox for 7 days, every 12 hours. I was told to stop taking anything that thinned my blood for 10 days pre-op.

I have to wait untilo 10/25 for my first fill. I'm in the softfoods stage of eating right now, yeah variety of things to eat. I stopped loosing weight last week and have been the same. I'm hoping a fill will change this. Exercise isn't doing a thing for my weight. -Leena

Yeah, I finally drank a protien shake and it stayed down. Myoplex EAS premade, on the expensive side, but I managed to stomach it. I can't wait for my first fill. I noticed yesterday that my restriction dropped quite a bit. -Leena

Speaking as someone who is 3 weeks post-op today I could have never done it alone. The fact that I have 3 children to drive to school and home too didn't help it. My husband took a week off, and then my mother came for the second week. I was okay by day 9. But those first 8 days were really rough. I have no idea how on earth you guys have done it alone. I was in no shape to drive home from surgery or even a few days later. You must be pros at having surgery. -Leena

I'm doing really well when it comes to fluids. I'm up to 60 ounces a day, just 4 away from my target. In the beginning I had a ton of post-op swelling. It took me about 20 minutes to get 1 tbsp of Water down. Now I don't feel a whole lot of restriction with fluids, as long as I slowly sip. As far as PB I've only had 2 episodes of it. Once with a protien shake and once with the egg & ricotta. For some reason protien shakes seem to get frothy in my stomach and come right back up or go right through me within 5 minutes. I have a support group meeting on Tuesday and my doc will be there. I'm going to ask him what he thinks about it. It's just crazy to think that I used to be able to eat 1800-2000 calories a day and now I'm struggling to get in less than half of that. -Leena

Some things you may want to add that I found useful: Tissues A&D ointment incase of bouts of diahreah Crushed Ice (if you know someone who has a crusher you can fill up containers and freeze them) Slippers (my feet were always cold) Lots of giant sized band-aids (my doc put them over steri-strips) Baby food grinder/processor for your meats (meat babyfood tastes gross) Recliner to sleep in. (I'm still sleeping in mine 3 weeks post-op tomorrow.) Someone to take care of you who really loves you. (hubby, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, mom, dad, etc) I have to say I used just about everything else on the list. Sweatpants, really comfortable worn in t-shirts and slip on shoes were my best friends. -Leena

My doc said yes. I took the red rapid release adult extra strength. It took a while for me to drink a tbsp of it in the beginning. So don't worry if it takes a few minutes to drink it. You're going to be very restriced and swollen. The clear liquids doesn't apply to meds. -Leena

I really think a lot of it depends upon your starting weight. I really needed 9 days to be back to regular activity. Day 6 was difficult for me as I had a horrible stomach flu and diahreah every 20 minutes. (that made my recovery longer). I found that prior to 9 days I was too uncomfortable to sit at my desk. -Leena

I'm in the same boat with you. I had surgery on 9/10 and lost 30 pounds prior to mushies. And now I'm stalled out. I eat 3 meals a day of protien. I have restriction though and can only manage to eat about 100-150 calories at a time. I'm on soft foods right now and can eat 2 egg whites at a time with a tablespoon of fat free ricotta cheese, anything more and I PB. And most of the time I don't finish that. I even started working out thinking that would get me off of this plateau. So far I haven't budged. I'm just doing cardio, no weights yet. My surgeon said to eat 3 meals a day and stay under 1000 calories. I can't even come close to 1000 calories. I usually end up around 300-400 calories for the day. My first fill isn't until 10/25. So 26 days to go. -Leena

I had an EKG and and Echocardiogram done as well. The EKG showed an arithmia and the echo was to make sure everything was working with my heart. I'm on toprol XL now because of it. -Leena

Ok you guys had an easy time. Right after surgery I was still on a morphine pump and in pain. This was my first surgery (other than tonsils and wisdom teeth) But it really hurt. I felt like an 18 wheeler ran over my stomach. But by day 4 I was just on acetaminafin for the pain. -Leena

Hang in there. I was banded on the 10th and by the 21st the shoulder pain was gone. I did a ton of walking. My mother dragged me to the outlet mall and about 10 other places last week. So my gas escaped. I still do have that port pain though, but it seems to be going down as I heal. I even managed to bike 6 1/2 miles today so I know I'm recovering. I still can't sleep on my stomach yet, but I can bend over. I do have a pinched nerve, which goes to my outer thigh and it's asleep. I'm hoping that will go away soon too. Hang in there, Leena

I see Dr. Mehta in New Brunswick (he banded me as well). I'm not sure if he'll do fills for new patients but it's worth trying. He also has a great support group and wonderful office staff (both have had the bypass). You can google Mehta Bariatric Center. Hope this helps, Leena

The first week it would take me 30 minutes to get 1 ounce down. It's mostly due to the amount of swelling you have. Trust me it gets easier to drink Water. In the beginning my liquid acetaminafin felt really thick, almost like pudding, LOL. Now it just slides right down 1 tbsp at a time. It does get easier to sip water. -Leena

Yup Darr, 23 in 8 days. I am scheduled to get on the scale at noon today, since I went in for surgery at noon 2 weeks ago. I'm thinking it's going to be less, since I started the purees on Thursday. 20 in a week was really nice. I'm hoping for atleast 10 this week. Now I have to kick my butt over to the treadmill and get in a workout today. -Leena

I'm on purees, so I bought a baby food grinder. I made pulled pork and put it in the grinder with a little bit of applesauce and cinnamin. It's soooo yummy. I also like cooked ground turkey pureed with applesauce and cinnamin. I usually have these with a side of yogurt. And I make a few servings at once and store them in baby food jars in correct portions. -Leena

Darr, You're allowed to have Ibprofin? My doctor said NSAIDs are a big NO NO forever. I'm on acetaminafin. You may want to double check with your doctor. -Leena