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

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

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

I'm 13 days out. You do have to sip fluids. I started purees on Thursday. I was really excited for them, but actually miss the liquids. Waiting an hour after eating before I can drink anything drives me nuts. Hopefully it will get better soon. I'm going back to liquids today, just to rehydrate some. Plus my mother made me a ton of broth which I LOVE. I still can't sleep on my stomach, too sore in that area. But I'd say if you're not sore then it's probably fine. Most people I know say it takes about a month to be able to sleep on your stomach. During the first week I was very swelled and it took forever to drink. Half of a sugar free icey pop (the kind in a sleeve) took me 30 minutes to eat. And that's about an ounce of Fluid. I had a lot of restriction. As the swelling has gone down I have been able to drink more. I just constantly sip fluids all day long. The only time I am really thirsty is when I wake up. But I keep a Water bottle on my bedside table. Hiccups could mean that you're drinking too fast, gulping in air while you drink. If you drink too fast you can stretch out your pouch. -Leena

Thanks, at least I know I'm not alone. I see my surgeon in 5 weeks so I'll ask him about it. I see my primary Doc just after that for bloodwork. I did add a Multivitamin recently so I'll see if that does anything for me. It does seem to be worse in the morning though. And I have been waking up with a sore neck. I'm still sleeping in a recliner as my bed just isn't as comfortable (I'm a stomach sleeper and still too sore to sleep on my stomach). -Leena

I was banded on the 10th, so a day before you. Isn't it funny how the bad the pain meds are. I had nightmares about a giant slice of pizza getting stuck in my band. I woke up covered in sweat and crying. I stopped my pain meds 4 days out. I was a mess on them. Acetaminifin is so much better. -Leena

At 4 days out I had pain/trapped gas in my left shoulder. Helpful things were a heating pad, set on low for about 30 minutes and walking. Try to get as much gas out as possible. I was a burping machine on day 4. Day 4 was also when I switched from oxicontin to 500mg of extra strength acetaminifin three times a day. Honestly the trapped gas in my shoulder hurt more than my incisions and actual band site. Hang in there. It does go away. I'm 13 days out and the pain in my shoulder is gone. I'm actually even going to use my treadmill today. So you'll get better. -Leena

Ok this is really wierd, but yesterday I developed pins and needles in my thigh. The day before that I had some soreness in my knee pit (if that's a word). It almost feels like my thigh has fallen asleep. But I can walk around just fine. It's been like this for 24 hours. It's only my left thigh as well. Has anyone else experienced this? In all of my life I've never had my thigh fall asleep, feet yes, even momentarily legs, but never a thigh and never for over 24 hours. Any advice? Leena

I am so happy to have found this thread. I was recently banded 9/10 with a starting weight of 333 at 5'5". My surgeon really wanted to bypass me, but I'm so happy I chose the band instead. So far I'm down 23 pounds and couldn'tbe happier. Recovery has been much more difficult than I expected it to be. The first week was the worst. I ended up with a reaction to protien shakes and 24 hours of diahreah every 20 minutes. (5 pounds were lost that day alone.) I'm still pretty sore, but can walk upright now, get in and out of a chair without help and thank God wipe my own butt. Why don't we get our own space on the forum instead of just a thread? Something like over 100-150 to loose? -Leena

I also have steri strips on. I was banded 9/10 and they're still in tact. I see my surgeon on thursday for my post-op follow-up so I'll ask about them then. -Leena

I'm scheduled to get banded today, well in 9 hours. I'm both excited and nervous. I'll be staying over night at the hospital so that's somewhat of a relief. But I am soooo thirsty right now. My Dr's rule is nothing after 9pm. How on earth am I going to make it to 1:30pm without any Water. I am a big time water drinker. Oh and I just realized my period won't be over by the time of surgery either. Can I wear underwear and a pad? This is the first surgery I'll be having as an adult so I've never run into this problem. I have an IUD so I'm not on a regular monthly cycle, more like every 2-3 months I have a light period so scheduling surgery around it would have been difficult. Thanks, Leena